Perfecting Our Union

Welcome New Readers, Sorry For Our Absence, Some Updates And A Bit On Prejudice!! April 18, 2009

We’ve had so many new visitors over the past couple of weeks, and I want to say welcome to you all!  Welcome!  Unfortunately, this new burst of readers coincided with some difficulties on the blogging end of things, and I apologize for not getting up new material for the past two weeks.  We generally post every Friday, and I will work hard to maintain that schedule going forward.

I want to touch base about a couple of things.  First, I will put up new posts Monday (both mine and Liz’s).  We had the misfortune of being hacked just before Good Friday!  Can you believe it?  Before the holy holiday? Anyway, the misguided soul blocked my access to the Word Press server, and I couldn’t even get access to make Liz the administrator so she could post for us.  My apologies to Liz, who worked very hard and fast to write a timely piece, only to have it sit in my inbox for over a week.  It is out of date now, but she is making it current again, and you will see it Monday.  I wrote a piece especially for Good Friday, and I will hold it until another appropriate time.

From time to time I may be absent, but I will try to make that as infrequent as possible.  After being hacked, which was bad enough in itself, I had to contend with a more serious issue.  I have a terrible back and a relatively small accident left me in more pain than I’ve suffered in years.  So instead of writing, I’ve been going from doctor to doctor, getting all kinds of spinal injections and other fun things…  I’m starting to feel better, though, and it doesn’t often get so bad.  My doctors and I are considering several options to address the problem long term.  Send wishes that they don’t strongly advise another surgery, as I really do not what to take that route, and I will likely decline in any event.

But enough about my woes!  I have been contemplating adding new writers on a regular basis, but I am putting that idea on hold for now.  I am turning much of my attention to writing a book.  I know… can you believe it?  Just a few months ago, I was terrified of writing for the consumption of others, now I’m taking on a huge project, and I am very excited.  

I will write about African American politics from the time of the American Revolution through the Civil War era.  And, guess what lucky readers… I will begin to share some of that work with you here.  Now, stop!  I see you out there… my sister is sitting in the front row rolling her beautiful eyes, saying, ‘OMG, I don’t want to read history.’  But it’s really fascinating.  Just you wait.  For example….

This week I will tell the stories of two fights.  One a rite of passage; the other, a fight for life.  One involves Abraham Lincoln; the other, Frederick Douglass.  I’m sure you can guess which is which.  Had the outcomes been different, these two physical encounters could have changed the course of American history.  

I often say that reading history, especially when you focus on a few historical figures, is like watching the West Wing (only you have to read it and they have horses rather than cars… details!).  But the people are every bit as interesting.  I read about their public lives, yes, but I also read about their private lives, and I read all I can find about their inner lives.  I will try to keep it interesting.  

I will still write about today’s politics.  Sometimes I will link history to the present, sometimes I will stay in the present.  Either way, I’m having great fun, and I hope you will too!

So, again, welcome to all our new visitors.  And a big thanks to our regulars.

Before I move on, I would like to encourage everybody to leave comments.  I want this to be a learning experience for me, and you all have valuable perspectives and knowledge that I don’t.  So help me learn and keep things lively!

… So now to prejudice.  It’s such an awful thing, and we’re all susceptible to it, try as we might not to be so closed minded.  I was reminded of it this week when a friend posted a video from ‘Britains Got Talent’ on Facebook.  Susan Boyle stepped on stage to sing for the judges and a large audience in the audition phase of the show.  When they asked her how old she was and she replied that she was 47, the crowd and the panel reacted rudely because she looks a bit older than her age.  She then got rather sassy, which brought more tortured faces (and lots of applause, some of which may have been in her favor, but some was decidedly not).

Now, she could look younger with just a few changes as part of what made her appear older was her hairstyle and her clothes.  Still, she is a little overweight (which puts her in the majority in today’s world, right?).  And she could benefit from some strengthening and toning exercises (again, who among us could not?).  But, what, really, does that have to do with her ability to sing?  Are physical beauty and talent intertwined?  Well, those present evidently thought the two connected, and scoffed at her before she even began to perform… you can see for yourselves.  Suffice it to say, I think this should remind every one of us to be less hasty in our judgements.  

Happily, she won every one over within seconds, and everybody there seemed genuinely happy for her.  We are, I think, at our cores, good spirits.  So let’s remember and honor that part of us (and, yes, I’m talking to myself, too).  

I’ll close here for now.  Please come back Monday, and check in each week for new posts!  In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Suzanne