December 22, 2016 by IdealisticRebel

Advice for the New Year

Advice From 10 Iconic Feminists To Get You Through 2017

Jenavieve Hatch Associate Women’s Editor, The Huffington Post

”Your opponents would love you to believe that it’s hopeless.”

Activist and writer Rebecca Solnit said this in the foreword to her book, “Hope in the Dark” ― a book originally written during the Bush Administration about avoiding the pitfalls of cynicism in the face of injustice and fear. This year, shortly after Donald Trump won the presidential election, “Hope in the Dark” sold out.

For many women, 2016 was a wildly difficult year, and “hope” often felt like a difficult thing to come by.

After all, we didn’t just watch a man accused of sexual assault win the 2016 presidential election ― we watched him win against a significantly more qualified candidate, who happened to be a woman. We watched him win with a running mate who has spent his career trying to diminish the rights of women. We’ve watched him fill his cabinet with men who have been accused of domestic violence.

But in moments of despair and uncertainty, we can, and should, look to the women who have spent much of their lives fighting the relentless fight against injustice of all kinds.

In the words of 10 trailblazing women, from Angela Davis to Cecile Richards, we can find the comfort, shared rage, and motivation necessary to move forward.

bell hooks

”Cultivating the mind of love is so crucial. When love is the ground of our being, a love ethic shapes our participation in politics. To work for peace and justice we begin with the individual practice of love, because it is there that we can experience firsthand love’s transformative power.” ― bell hooks, Lion’s Roar, November 2016

Gloria Steinem

”We have to stop looking up, especially with Trump now, and start instead looking at each other.” ― Gloria Steinem, in a speech at the Make Equality Reality Gala, December 2016

Angela Davis

”How do we begin to recover from this shock? By experiencing and building and rebuilding and consolidating community. Community is the answer…Whatever we are already doing, we need to do more. We need to accelerate our activism.” ― Angela Davis, in a speech at the University of Chicago, November 2016

Cecile Richards

“We’ve got work to do, and not a minute to waste. Those of us with privilege have a responsibility to use it as allies in the fight for justice and opportunity for all. And every one of us has a responsibility to stand up for what we believe. Don’t wait for permission or an invitation to get involved ― reach out, start organizing, send a message to anyone who will listen. The election doesn’t define our country ― what we do next does.” ― Cecile Richards, to The Huffington Post, December 2016

Diane Von Furstenberg

”We must believe in the values of tolerance and inclusiveness that are the fabric of our country. We must believe we can make a difference and use our influence by creating beauty, optimism and happiness. More than ever, we must embrace diversity, be open minded, be generous and have compassion.” ― Diane Von Furstenberg, post-election email to Council of Fashion Designers of America, November 2016

Lea DeLaria

”In this heterosexist society every male is preferable for any position of power than the most qualified female in the world. Maybe I had forgotten this simple fact. Maybe I believed we as humans had moved forward. Maybe I was lying to myself. This concept has once again been made painfully clear to me. I am a radical butch dyke queer activist. I intend to keep my rage.” ― Lea DeLaria, to The Huffington Post, December 2016

Alice Walker

”Real change is personal. The change within ourselves expressed in our willingness to hear, and have patience with, the “other.” Together we move forward. Anger, the pointing of fingers, the wishing that everyone had done exactly as you did, none of that will help relieve our pain.” ― Alice Walker, in a post on her personal website, November 2016

Dolores Huerta

”It always gets better before it can get worse. But it will get better. Like everything else, and like our past struggles, at some point we win, but before that win, there’s always that loss that spurs us on.” ― Dolores Huerta, Santa Fe Reporter, August 2015

Rebecca Solnit

”Your opponents would love you to believe that it’s hopeless, that you have no power, that there’s no reason to act, that you can’t win. Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away.” ― Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark, March 2016 (third edition)

Hillary Clinton

”Believe in our country, fight for our values, and never give up.” ― Hillary Clinton, in a speech at the Children’s Defense Fund gala, November 2016

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Things have been tough since election day. Now we look at a New Year and the the inauguration of a president most of us didn’t want. The “You are not my president” marches continue around the country. Boston is planning a large march. On the 21st there will be a million person march in Washington D.C.

It appears that Trump will keep some campaign promises and others he is no longer interested in. We have talked and discussed and worried about the people around us. 2017 will bring us the answers to all that is unknown presently. Women are facing a renewal of sexism and inequality as many other groups will also experience.

These women each hold up some hope and suggestions for the future. I encourage all of my readers to read and use anything that speaks to you. I think that as we learn how to respond to next year’s challenges and protect the marginalized around us, we will grow in kindness, compassion, and understanding. Will our words and actions be challenged by some other citizens? It is possible. But as we stand up and speak out, we will be showing our children and our children’s children that we lived our convictions and we cared about injustices that happened to the unfortunate. We care about racism, misogyny, deported immigrants, disabled people, anti-semitism, and Neo-Nazis. We will work to eliminate these hate groups and will protect their victims.

Namaste

Barbara

August 25, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

What is Good

Hold on to What is Good

Hold on to what is good,

Even if it is a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe,

Even if it is a long way from here.

Hold on to life,

Even if it is easier letting go,

Hold on to the hand of your neighbor,

Even when we are apart.

—Native American Prayer

My garden in Avon. Photograph and copyright by Barbara Mattio 2014

It is important to hang on to what is good in our lives. The good gets us through the bad, the stressful and the painful. Each day we are given a new portion of good for that day. Hold on to it because it is the love of God manifested for us to sustain us. Life isn’t always easy, but we are ever in the care and love of the Divine.

The Promise of This Day

Look to this day,

For it is life,

The very life of life.

In its brief course lie all

The realities and verities of existence,

The bliss of growth,

The splendor of action,

The glory of power—

For yesterday is but a dream,

And tomorrow is only a vision.

But today, well lived,

Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

—Sanskrit Proverb

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January 13, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

A Little Something Uplifting

Right now, the world is full of a lot of hate. Not only has the attack on Charlie Hebdo changed France forever, but anti-semitism is growing and racism is on the rise.

But I want to remind all of us that the world also is full of love, generosity, kindness, passion — the good things in life. This story, from CNN, is the story of a miracle: a miracle of love.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and I hope you smile.

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boy and girl flower girlrotated

(CNN) Briggs Fussy doesn’t remember much about walking down the aisle 20 years ago with the woman who would eventually become his wife.

“I don’t really remember the wedding part at all,” Briggs said. “I didn’t even talk to her.”

A groom not remembering the wedding could undoubtedly crush a bride, especially a bride like Brittney Fussy, who admits she’s been planning her wedding since she was a little girl.

But Brittney Fussy said the only thing she remembers about their trip down the aisle was her partner’s unique name.

“I don’t remember too much about being a flower girl,” she said.

Briggs and Britney Fussy took their first walk down the aisle when they were just 3, as a ring bearer and flower girl in the wedding of Briggs’ godmother. The couple took their second walk down the aisle Saturday to become husband and wife.

The couple, who failed to leave an impression on each other at their first wedding, reunited years later in their ninth grade in a government class at Blaine High School, north of Minneapolis.

Briggs had just transferred to Brittney’s school; she said she knew the moment she heard the teacher say his name that it had to be the same Briggs who walked her down the aisle all those years ago.

“I confirmed it with my mom,” Brittney said before she said anything to Briggs and then the couple laughed about how both of their moms had pictures of the pair hanging up at their respective houses.

They didn’t become a couple until junior year and eventually separated to attend college in separate cities — Briggs to the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, and Brittney to Minnesota State University, Mankato.

A few years into the long-distance relationship, Briggs returned to Minnesota State to be with his beloved.

“I knew I was going to marry her,” he said.

Before they tied the knot over the weekend, the couple viewed the video of themselves in the wedding.

Briggs called it “hilarious.”

Brittney said she was the “obnoxious flower girl,” who can be seen on wedding video weaving in and out bridesmaids. At one point, she pauses in front of the bride to look up at her. Briggs, on the other hand, stood calmly in the same place for the entirety of the ceremony.

“I’m such a rule follower — I’m sure someone said ‘stay still,’ and I never moved,” Briggs said.

Brittney promises she’s a rule follower now, too, but contends she and her groom can both be “pretty weird and outspoken” sometimes.

The picture of the two of them at age 3 is now framed in their own home, and they even reenacted the photograph at their own wedding.

boy and girl married

Here’s the same couple — this time, they’re the ones getting hitched.

“I’m pretty cheesy when it comes to love stuff, I’m not going to lie,” Brittney said.

Briggs and Britney, who are both finishing up their degrees in economics and elementary education at Minnesota State, Mantoka, said they didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about regarding their story at first. But they said they have known all along that they were meant to be.

“It’s all a part of God’s plan,” she said, “All fate for sure.”

As for their second time down the aisle, the couple said it’s far more memorable than their first.

“It was wonderful,” Brittney said. “As close to perfect as you can get.”

October 10, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Are you Happy?

Happiness

There’s just no accounting for happiness,

or the way it turns up like a prodigal

who comes back to the dust at your feet

having squandered a fortune far away.

And how can you not forgive?

You make a feast in honor of what

was lost, and take from its place the finest

garment, which you saved for an occasion

you could not imagine, and you weep night and day

to know that you were not abandoned,

that happiness saved its most extreme form

for you alone.

No, happiness is the uncle you never

knew about, who flies a single-engine plane

onto the grassy landing strip hitchhikes

into town, and inquires at every door

until he finds you asleep midafternoon

as you so often are during the unmerciful

hours of your despair.

It comes to the monk in his cell,

It comes to the woman sweeping the street

with a birch broom, to the child

whose mother has passed out from drink.

It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing

a sock, to the pusher, to the basket maker,

and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots

in the night.

It even comes to the boulder

in the perpetual shade of pine barrens,

to rain falling on the open sea,

to the wineglass, weary of holding wine. —Jane Kenyon

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Autumn at my house

Cleveland skyline from Huntington Beach.

February 21, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Happiness

Natural heart rock

“There’s just no accounting for happiness,

or the way it turns up like a prodigal

who comes back to the dust at your feet

having squandered a fortune far away.

And how can you not forgive?

You make a feast in honor of what

was lost, and take from its place the finest

garment, which you saved for an occasion

you could not imagine, and you weep night and day

to know that you were not abandoned,

that happiness saved its most extreme form

for you alone.

No, happiness is the uncle you never

knew about, who flies a single-engine plane

onto the grassy landing strip, hitchhikes

into town, and inquires at every door

until he finds you asleep midafternoon

as you so often are during the unmerciful

hours of your despair.

It comes to the monk in his cell. It comes to the woman sweeping the street

with a birch broom, to the child

whose mother has passed our from drink.

It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing

a sock, to the pusher, to the basket maker,

and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots

in the night.

It even comes to the boulder

in the perpetual shade of pine barrens,

to rain falling on the open sea,

to the wineglass, weary of holding wine.”

—–Jane Kenyon

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The Swan

Swan, I’d like you to tell me your whole story!

Where you first appeared, and what dark sand you are going

toward,

and where you sleep at night, and what you are looking for…

It’s morning, swan, wake up, clim in the air, follow me!

I know of a country that spiritual flatness does not control, nor

constant depression,

and those alive are not afraid to die.

There wildflowers come up through the leafy floor,

and the fragrance of “I am he” floats on the wind.

There the bee of the heart stays deep inside the flower,

and cares for no other thing.”

—–Kabir, translated by Robert Bly

Eye Blessings

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July 8, 2012 by IdealisticRebel

Summer Escapades

Photograph by Barbara Mattio

The best part of summer is the ability to just be. To be in the present moment. The past is gone. For better or worse, you never can get it back and you must let it go. This is not always easy for people to do. Letting go can be frightening. Often we don’t want to let the good memories fade, or sometimes, the pain of some times in our life doesn’t heal. It takes effort on our part to let go and trust that it will be all right. You don’t lose the memories and they actually become more golden with the passing of the years. The pain will diminish and your heart will heal. Divinity is always with us and we never walk alone. Divinity is within our souls so what we experience, it experiences.

The future is an enticing siren. It sings its song to us and we want to know what is coming. We want answers about love, finances, travel or a job perhaps. The siren sings and we ache to know what is coming. The future is like Tinkerbell. She flits here and there but when you reach out for her she is gone between your fingers. The future or the fairy disappears because as soon as you come close to grasping it, the future turns into the present.

The present moment of time is where we exist in the now. The beauty you are experiencing at this exact second is the present. The fragrance you catch on the wind, the dragonfly that glides across your field of vision. Each moment is a priceless gift for us to use and enjoy. Some choose to spend some of these precious moments in hatred or violence. Some choose to use them to add beauty, acceptance and inclusiveness to the world.

If each of us took the moments we are given in a twenty-four hour period and used them to make someone smile, to laugh with a child, to reach out a hand, or to acknowledge the amazing blessings each moment brings with it, we could begin to have the energy to change the world. So, I am trying this summer to fill my present with escapades of joy and happiness. So pass it on and by autumn we will be able to harvest bushels of goodness in our lives.