I've been thinking a lot about the election lately...how can I not when I'm confronted with it on all sides. This is the time of year I almost completely withdraw to print media, refusing to allow all my senses to be manipulated, but election time also provokes me to thought outside my usual boundaries. In that light, I was listening to commentators on NPR today and realized we are again riding a swinging pendulum. When President Obama ran, he was the first 'black' man to run; Romney is the first Mormon to run for president. How we do love labels, but this goes beyond mere labeling--Americans are searching for something and using elections as a tool to find whatever it is but there seems to be an element of hysteria this time around.
My question is this: must we vote on someone's personal issues? Aren't there bigger things out there than someone's color, religion, preference for alcohol or non, abortion or no--these things are huge triggers than can move a voter's finger in a heartbeat, but how about poverty; hunger and pain in a country held in a corporate death-grip? We are so vulnerable to those triggers that we will overlook the warts on our noses once the trigger is pressed. Maleable, self-centered, fear-filled minds are not given to rational thought.
The story goes like this: we elect a president who is different and we are absolutely positive will solve all our social and international problems. Turns out the problem takes longer than anticipated and is extremely complex, so let's push that pendulum as far as possible the other direction to see what happens--get someone else who will reverse everything, take four years to do it and figure out it didn't work. Somewhere, we may decide to literally think for ourselves and make rational decisions without our strings being pulled.
About Me
- saundra
- Born in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, I am a genuine Florida Cracker--a descendent of sturdy women and men who farmed their way south from North Carolina in the early 1800's. I am a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Social Science, and earned an MA in Education/Storytelling from East Tennessee State University. My work is deeply influenced by a love and reverence for the natural world and environmental issues and my love of story. Performance Photos by Valerie Menard, Silentlightimages.com.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Follow Me
I just signed up for the Following gadget which you'll see near my photo on the right. It's my hope that you will join me so that we can have a conversation about all the interesting things in our world and beyond.
Having just completed Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, this topic is on my mind. I write stories, tell them, too, but folks can rummage around in the brain matter and come up with some pretty incredible material. Of late, I've been writing darker stories. I don't know if has anything to do with the last four years of recession or not, but I do know I've been influenced by this period of time, much like rings on a tree. We cannot live untouched by what happens around us.
By the way, since the world loves stories, check out the Jonesborough Storytellers Guild website. We are also on Facebook.
Having just completed Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, this topic is on my mind. I write stories, tell them, too, but folks can rummage around in the brain matter and come up with some pretty incredible material. Of late, I've been writing darker stories. I don't know if has anything to do with the last four years of recession or not, but I do know I've been influenced by this period of time, much like rings on a tree. We cannot live untouched by what happens around us.
By the way, since the world loves stories, check out the Jonesborough Storytellers Guild website. We are also on Facebook.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Rich Man, Poor Man--a folktale for today
So what is America's story today? We are now a country of dark contrast that sounds more and more feudal: an unrestricted and petted upper class, and a pacified lower class consisting of former middle class members with fond memories of a better past. We somehow find it difficult to require our wealthy elite to share the wealth, still thinking our lottery ticket will come through some day.
A recent rumor resonnated with me, since I've been feeling this way for some time: tax the rich, drop health insurance for all public officials; discontinue pensions for elected officials, and stop paying the student loans of politicians, their families and friends. Those in high position would be restricted from taking employment for 5 years after leaving office in fields related to their recent employment by the government. Nice, yes?
I'm thinking of a story about a rich man and his poor neighbor. There are loads of these folktales all over the world since disparity is an age-old problem. In this version that I tell, the two lived side by side and shared all that they had until famine struck. The rich man fired his shepherd who just happened to be the neighbor in question, caused a great wall to be built around his property and brought his family and herds into the compound to ride it out in safety.
Finding no work, the poor shepherd and his wife prepared their last meal, but they had no salt for the little pone of bread they would eat.
"Go next door and beg a pinch of salt." said the wife, so the man went but the door was closed to him. Starving and hurt by rejection, he sat down and leaned against the wall. Smells wafted from the window over his head and he realized it was food cooking. He sat there until the family's meal was done and went home for his wife. They came back and sat together under the window while the rich man sat at table, and savored the smells of real food.
The next day, the shepherd was looking for work at the market and saw his former friend. He told him what had happened but the rich man was angry. "You stole from me!" and hauled him to court.
The judge, who just happened to be appointed to office by the rich man, adjudged the poor man guilty of theft and fined him one donkey.
A donkey! He who could not afford a pinch of salt had to find a donkey and give it to the rich man. Desperate, he headed home to his wife, passing the village storyteller, who was leading a donkey, on the way. "Why are you so downcast?" she said.
He told her the awful story and she gave him the donkey and some food. She told him to care for the animal, and take it to court the next day. He had to be silent and do exactly what she required of him.
He and his wife loved the little donkey and dreaded parting with, but he took it to court and prepared to give it up, or whatever the storyteller asked him to do.
She approached the judge and told him their version of the story. The rich man looked uncomfortable and refused to look at the shepherd.
Strike that donkey with your staff," she told the shepherd. He never struck his animals--he couldn't hurt the little animal, but he had promised, so he hit the donkey. The donkey was so surprised it brayed and jumped and bucked and it took all he could do to get it to calm down.
"Now," said the storyteller, "you have payment for the smell of your food. Take it and leave this man be."
Speechless, the judge and the rich man had little recourse. Besides, the rich man saw the folly of his ways and felt foolish. The storyteller told the man to care for the donkey and keep it with him always and so he did. The rich man caused the walls to be torn away from his home and rehired the shepherd to watch his flocks and herds. Best of all, they both shared what they had with one another and others and all was well.
Learn from the wise among us and share that which is given.
Photo by Becky Campbell
A recent rumor resonnated with me, since I've been feeling this way for some time: tax the rich, drop health insurance for all public officials; discontinue pensions for elected officials, and stop paying the student loans of politicians, their families and friends. Those in high position would be restricted from taking employment for 5 years after leaving office in fields related to their recent employment by the government. Nice, yes?
I'm thinking of a story about a rich man and his poor neighbor. There are loads of these folktales all over the world since disparity is an age-old problem. In this version that I tell, the two lived side by side and shared all that they had until famine struck. The rich man fired his shepherd who just happened to be the neighbor in question, caused a great wall to be built around his property and brought his family and herds into the compound to ride it out in safety.
Finding no work, the poor shepherd and his wife prepared their last meal, but they had no salt for the little pone of bread they would eat.
The next day, the shepherd was looking for work at the market and saw his former friend. He told him what had happened but the rich man was angry. "You stole from me!" and hauled him to court.
The judge, who just happened to be appointed to office by the rich man, adjudged the poor man guilty of theft and fined him one donkey.
A donkey! He who could not afford a pinch of salt had to find a donkey and give it to the rich man. Desperate, he headed home to his wife, passing the village storyteller, who was leading a donkey, on the way. "Why are you so downcast?" she said.
He told her the awful story and she gave him the donkey and some food. She told him to care for the animal, and take it to court the next day. He had to be silent and do exactly what she required of him.
He and his wife loved the little donkey and dreaded parting with, but he took it to court and prepared to give it up, or whatever the storyteller asked him to do.
She approached the judge and told him their version of the story. The rich man looked uncomfortable and refused to look at the shepherd.
Strike that donkey with your staff," she told the shepherd. He never struck his animals--he couldn't hurt the little animal, but he had promised, so he hit the donkey. The donkey was so surprised it brayed and jumped and bucked and it took all he could do to get it to calm down.
"Now," said the storyteller, "you have payment for the smell of your food. Take it and leave this man be."
Speechless, the judge and the rich man had little recourse. Besides, the rich man saw the folly of his ways and felt foolish. The storyteller told the man to care for the donkey and keep it with him always and so he did. The rich man caused the walls to be torn away from his home and rehired the shepherd to watch his flocks and herds. Best of all, they both shared what they had with one another and others and all was well.
Learn from the wise among us and share that which is given.
Photo by Becky Campbell
Sunday, August 19, 2012
The 2012 Campaign: Big Money, Deep Pockets, and scare tactics
I've been paying close attention to the political posturing of our candidates of late and must confess that I am concerned. I am a Democrat and my admiration for President Barak Obama knows no bounds, but I confess to thinking something is really wrong with our way of campaigning. The Supreme Court's decision to allow superpacs to exist and contribute to campaigns is little different from corporations, except these corporations and individual donors join together to create staggering amounts of money in virtual anonymity. Such power is almost unthinkable, and on top of it, we have a Republican candidate who is so wealthy that these guys jump right into his pockets and make themselves at home. Now, even though President Obama has been backed into using Superpac money, the Republicans still outspend him
. And we wonder where our money goes when it evaporates...it's not gone, that money was lured to those big pockets like a magnetized vacuum cleaner--suctioned to the top.
I find myself even more concerned when voting districts are re-cast to ensure success for certain parties. I am worried about folks not getting a chance to vote--those most needy who would benefit from voting for a broad-based platform the Democrats put forth. What's a vote worth? I'm not sure anymore, but I keep doing it. Earlier this year I went to the polls in my town to vote. "But there's nobody for you to vote for," they said. I answered, "Oh, yes, there is," and went over to the booth and pressed the button for the Democratic Primary--President Obama. Don't let anybody else make up your mind for you--vote.
It bothers me too, that a voting public, we can be bought and paid for, and so easily swayed by advertising. It seems the candidate with the most bucks to spend on it wins. Whatever happened to listening to candidates and making up our own minds, then following through at the polls? For instance, how many times I have we heard Romney contradict himself? I've lost count. We simply cannot let someone else make up our minds for us. I will not answer a political call, I do not watch television, and I'm darned careful what I read. If I can't hear it from the candidate's mouth, and read what that person has written, I'm not interested.
. And we wonder where our money goes when it evaporates...it's not gone, that money was lured to those big pockets like a magnetized vacuum cleaner--suctioned to the top.
I find myself even more concerned when voting districts are re-cast to ensure success for certain parties. I am worried about folks not getting a chance to vote--those most needy who would benefit from voting for a broad-based platform the Democrats put forth. What's a vote worth? I'm not sure anymore, but I keep doing it. Earlier this year I went to the polls in my town to vote. "But there's nobody for you to vote for," they said. I answered, "Oh, yes, there is," and went over to the booth and pressed the button for the Democratic Primary--President Obama. Don't let anybody else make up your mind for you--vote.
It bothers me too, that a voting public, we can be bought and paid for, and so easily swayed by advertising. It seems the candidate with the most bucks to spend on it wins. Whatever happened to listening to candidates and making up our own minds, then following through at the polls? For instance, how many times I have we heard Romney contradict himself? I've lost count. We simply cannot let someone else make up our minds for us. I will not answer a political call, I do not watch television, and I'm darned careful what I read. If I can't hear it from the candidate's mouth, and read what that person has written, I'm not interested.
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