I Would Never Want To Go Back There

Just a longer response to a former student's "nothing will change", in her response to the Harvey Weinstein mess - the #MeToo hashtag and the MeToo Facebook postings. Need I say that she also was part of "MeToo".

If history and personal stories tell us one thing, it is that things do change. Sometimes it seems like it is for the worse, but in the case of sexual abuse and harassment of women, things are getting better - if only by millimetres.

The stories that I and my peers could tell about the "good old days" would remind everyone that they weren't that good - in fact, they were horrible, but even then there were always men who did the right thing.

Just one example. In the early 70s, I was working as a teller at National Trust in Montreal (St. Catherine's branch near Concordia (Sir George Williams at the time). I had one customer (dirty old man) who constantly harassed me - came to my till and made remarks, asked me out & wouldn't take no for an answer. I finally told the branch manager about him. The branch manager called the man into his office and told him in no uncertain terms to leave me alone (there was an or else in there as I was told). I was forever grateful to that manager - the man never came to my till again, nor did he harass anyone else in the bank - a small victory, but a victory nevertheless. Don't remember the manager's name, but I do remember his face. 

I only wish that all harassment outcomes went as well - I and every woman I know could certainly write more than one book!

History teaches us that for women, there is no such thing as the "good old days". Things were just hidden behind closed doors and we had little recourse. 

And I would never want to go back there.

My Tears Fall in Gratitude to the Man Who Made All the Difference in the World. Without him I do not know whether I would have survived as well as I did.

The last few months have been filled with deaths of people who have been important to me in my life's journey. While Neville Taylor died over 2 years ago, I just discovered his passing a few minutes ago, so my tears are fresh. I was not surprised because in the spring of 2013 when I was in Ottawa, I dropped by his office for a chat, it was clear that he was not well. I am so glad now that I did that - he had been a critical support for me and everyone in my family for over twenty years, and he knew that we were all doing well. He was unique and a model for the best that any therapist could be - he walked side by side with us through all the turmoils of our lives.As I let my sons and my ex know, we will all shed a few tears - in my case more than a few.
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http://www.legacy.com/…/neville-taylor-condolences/174505157?

Neville TAYLOR's Obituary on Ottawa Citizen

Read the Obituary and view the Guest Book, leave condolences or send flowers. | TAYLOR, Neville A., PHD September 10, 1933 – March 6, 2015 A memorial celebration of his life is being held at the Central…

It's about time

The New York Times and Harvey Weinstein

Still can't believe that no-one brings up that 13 episode TV series Action. I have read all of these stories and keep going: "so the writers of Action were just writing a slightly disguised biographical miniseries" - it was obvious at the time to anyone paying attention (I suspect that Weinstein was - hence only 13 ep.). The series was vicious about how "Hollywood" operate(d)s.

Never mind, maybe there will be a revival.

Maybe, Trump's presidency will be good for one thing - more of these men are being called out publicly. If you can't get the CIC for sexual assaultl, maybe some of the other big 'uns can fall.

I just wish that people would take all of this seriously, all of the time.

There are people who try to tell it "Like it is" - few others really listen.

Just my 2 cents.

IMDB link for Action:

Amazon link for Action:

Well that's bizarre

The links for my research to "academic room" are no longer working. So I put some of the papers on Research Gate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sheila_Redmond). Then I tried to add the new links to my blog. While they still exist when I go to the edit function, the new links don't seem to take. I will figure a way to fix them at some point in the future.

However, right now I am watching Ray Donovan again before the next school term starts. I just finished the fourth season and am very disappointed with the turn that the show has taken. I will start Season 5, but it is probably time to finally do the episode by episode analysis that I promised way back when RD started. It has lost its way and the final sequence of Ep. 412 was so wrong, so wrong.

Thank you, Fred Clark - nail on head once again

Local News 2: Look at me! I’m a hero! I’m Corrie Ten Boom times William Lloyd Garrison!

Very Interesting! Who knew that Steve Bannon was a conservative Roman Catholic?

This Is How Steve Bannon Sees The Entire World

Go to the end of the article and read the Corrections, then read the article, remembering the corrections - the last one is important, dare I say critical.

You can also just listen to the entire talk and Q & A instead of reading it.

It was a very interesting and informative read. I reposted it on my Facebook feed with the suggestion that people read it. It may help alleviate some people's fears and apocalyptic nightmares (may not!). As I said on my post the morning after the election - the world will not fall apart. However, it will be a little difficult to swallow for some time to come.

As for me, it just further reinforces the problems that I have with all American politics and global western/mid-eastern politics - too much religion. I have no use for "Judeo-Christian values". I have spent a lifetime ripping them apart. I am a "pull the mote out of your own eye first kinda gal".

I am a humanist - there is no God - there is just us.

Therefore, any appeal to "Judeo-Christian values" has no more appeal to me than the appeal to "real Islam - not violent, not jihadist, etc. etc."

It all posits that somehow following "God" or whatever he/she is called, means that you can justify anything that you do in the name of that deity. 

Any ideology - and religion is an ideology - is a problem because it separates us into "small and very large tribes" - how human beings solve that problem will await the future,.

As an endnote:

Who knew that Steve Bannon is a right-wing Roman Catholic (Opus Dei??) - makes sense though. 

John F. Kennedy's election gave us Steve Bannon - nobody worries about what brand of Christian you are anymore.

What it didn't give us was a woman in the White House.

Well, maybe it's progress?????

The Marganilization of Women: (a Huffington Post blog by Christopher Rollston)

Women have been talking about this forever - even here the patriarchy rears its ugly head - there is nothing wrong with what Rollston says - in fact, I agree with him in spades - and as readers of this blog can attest, I would go further (see my article The Personal is Still Political, for example)

However,  my problem is the following: just that how many women have lost or been threatened with the loss of their positions for saying the same thing and less - maybe there is lots of women who have happy endings after challenging the "powers that be" but ..

On the other hand, at least, Rollston didn't have to recant to get another job - that's something, I guess, See Hershel Shanks: First Person: Misogyny in the Bible Biblical Archaeology Review March/April 2017

The academic version of this is Christopher A. Rollston, “Women, the Bible, and the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” in Frances Flannery and Rodney Alan Werline, eds., The Bible in Political Debate (New York: Bloomsbury, 2016).