Sister Suffragette (from Mary Poppins)

Yesterday (August 18) marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment:  “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

Grant Peeples did a wonderful Clay Tablets livestream last night, with special guest Eliza Gilkyson, on the topic.  Here's a link to Episode 6, now archived.

The New York Times presented a comprehensive online overview yesterday, Suffrage at 100:  A Visual History, which I hope you can access.

Below is my "book report" for our March bUUkies (UU book club) meeting to discuss The Woman's Hour (see link below), which I chose to skip because it was scheduled for March 18, when the proverbial sh*t was hitting the proverbial fan, COVID-wise.  (NOTE:  we have only gathered online since then... 😢 )

As a long-time feminist and activist, I was aware of the historical outcome, but nowhere near informed on the specifics that got us there. Much information to digest, such that I continue to be "entertained and ephiphanated" (my new favorite phrase by Brian Doyle). It reads like an unfolding mystery novel, as the 36th star of ratification finally appears on the banner. 

As I was reading, I couldn't help but channel my 10-year-old self, watching Mary Poppins and having to ask what a suffragette was*** (and I still know all the words to the song). 

***["The battle for woman’s suffrage was in full force in both Britain and the United States in the early 1900s. Reporters took sides, and in 1906, a British reporter used the word “suffragette” to mock those fighting for women’s right to vote. The suffix “-ette” is used to refer to something small or diminutive, and the reporter used it to minimize the work of British suffragists. 

Some women in Britain embraced the term suffragette, a way of reclaiming it from its original derogatory use. In the United States, however, the term suffragette was seen as an offensive term and not embraced by the suffrage movement. Instead, it was wielded by anti-suffragists in their fight to deny women in America the right to vote."] 

And, if we were still bringing snacks tonight (and I of course understand why we aren't), I was going to use this plate (photo attached), given to me by my dear friend/college roommate, Linda... 💗 

And I would have worn white...  :-)

SONG:  Sister Suffragette from Mary Poppins

BOOK:  The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss

POEM:  19th Amendment Ragtime Parade by Marilyn Chin

Birthday, birthday, hurray, hurray
The 19th Amendment was ratified today

Drum rolls, piano rolls, trumpets bray
The 19th Amendment was ratified today

Left hand bounces, right hand strays
Maestro Joplin is leading the parade

Syncopated hashtags, polyrhythmic goose-steps
Ladies march to Pennsylvania Avenue!

Celebrate, ululate, caterwaul, praise
Women’s suffrage is all the rage

Sisters! Mothers! Throw off your bustles
Pedal your pushers to the voting booth

Pram it, waltz it, Studebaker roadster it
Drive your horseless carriage into the fray

Prime your cymbals, flute your skirts
One-step, two-step, kick-ball-change

Castlewalk, Turkey Trot, Grizzly Bear waltz
Argentine Tango, flirty and hot

Mommies, grannies, young and old biddies
Temperance ladies sip bathtub gin

Unmuzzle your girl dogs, Iowa your demi-hogs
Battle-axe polymaths, gangster moms

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Lucy Burns and Carrie Chapman Catt

Alice Paul, come one, come all! 
Sign the declaration at Seneca Falls!                                                                
Dada-faced spinsters, war-bond Prufrocks
Lillian Gish, make a silent wish

Debussy Cakewalk, Rachmaninoff rap
Preternatural hair bobs, hamster wheels     

Crescendos, diminuendos, maniacal pianos
Syncopation mad, cut a rug with dad!

Oompa, tuba, majorette girl power
Baton over Spamalot!

Tiny babies, wearing onesies
Raise your bottles, tater-tots!

Accordion nannies, wash-board symphonies
Timpani glissando!
             The Great War is over!

Victory, freedom, justice, reason
Pikachu, sunflowers, pussy hats

Toss up your skull caps, wide brim feathers
Throwing shade on the seraphim

Hide your cell phones, raise your megaphones!
Speak truth to power
                          and vote, vote vote!

WARNING: 

Nitwit legislators, gerrymandering fools
Dimwit commissioners, judicial tools
Toxic senators, unholy congressmen
Halitosis ombudsmen, mayoral tricks
Doom calf demagogues, racketeering mules
Whack-a-mole sheriffs, on the take

Fornicator governators, rakehell collaborators
Tweeter impersonators, racist prigs
Postbellum agitators, hooligan aldermen
Profiteering warmongers, Reconstruction dregs

Better run, rascals     better pray
We’ll vote you out      on judgement day!

Better run, rascals     better pray
We’ll vote you out      on election day!

QUOTE:  “If your voice held no power, they wouldn’t try to silence you.” - unknown

I Love to Laugh (Ed Wynn, Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins)

From Today's Writer's Almanac:

Today is April Fools' Day, a holiday celebrating practical jokes of all kinds. Some people say that April Fools' Day began in France in 1582 when the Gregorian replaced the Julian calendar, making New Year's Day fall on January 1st instead of April 1st. At the time, news of such things traveled slowly, and it took many years for everyone to get up to speed. People who continued to celebrate New Year's on April 1st came to be known as April Fools.

The news media have been responsible for some of the greatest April Fools' Day pranks in history. In 1977, the London newspaper The Guardian published a seven-page supplement commemorating the anniversary of the independence of San Serriffe, a completely imaginary small island nation located in the Indian Ocean. The article described the geography of the nation — it consisted of two main islands, which together formed the shape of a semi-colon; the northern one was called "Upper Caisse" and the southern one, "Lower Caisse."

The island's natives were of "Flong" ethnicity, but there were also the descendents of Europeans settlers who had colonized the nation: "colons." The two groups had intermarried over the years; their offspring were "semi-colons."

The capital of the nation was Bodoni and the national bird, the "Kwote."

In the supplement, there were even advertisements from real companies. Texaco announced a contest whose winner would receive a two-week vacation to the island's Cocobanana Beach. Kodak placed an ad saying, "If you have a picture of San Serriffe, we'd like to see it."

The day it ran, The Guardian was flooded with calls for more information. Travel agents and airline companies complained to the editor because the news had been disruptive to their businesses — customers refused to believe that the islands were only imaginary.

The Guardian has reused the prank on a few other April Fools' Days — in 1978, 1980, and 1999 — and each time the island has changed location, moving from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea to the North Atlantic.

On this day in 1992, National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon was running for president again. The news came on the show Talk of the Nation and included excerpts of Nixon's speech announcing his candidacy, in which he said, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." It also featured analysis from real political experts.

Masses of people called in to express their surprise and indignation. In the second half of the show, host John Hockenberry revealed that the announcement was a practical joke, and that Canadian comedian Richard Little had impersonated Nixon.

I've been loving all the April Fool's Day jokes flying through cyberspace this morning - first an e-mail from folk-distributor Fifty Fifty Music announcing the release of five new albums (including LuLu Roman's "Now Let Me Sing", Tino's "Por Primera Vez", Christian Crusaders' "With Al Davis", Swamp Dogg "Rat On!"... and of course Millie Jackson's highly anticipated sophomore album: "Back To The S**t"!), the Ideal Bite's suggestion to "turn used condoms inside-out for another go" and this one from Danny Seo's eco-friendly blog... :-)

Trying to come up with some sort of practical joke to play on my co-workers and/or family... but 1) it's not in my nature to do anything even semi-mean-spirited and 2) I have a hard time keeping a straight face, usually laughing before the prank even has a chance to sink in - I'll keep you posted!

SONG: I Love to Laugh sung by Ed Wynn, Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins

BOOK: Made You Laugh: The Funniest Moments in Radio, Television, Stand-up and Movie Comedy by Joe Garner (Editor)

POEM: Common Cold by Ogden Nash

Go hang yourself, you old M.D.!

You shall not sneer at me.

Pick up your hat and stethoscope,

Go wash your mouth with laundry soap;

I contemplate a joy exquisite

In not paying you for your visit.

I did not call you to be told

My malady is a common cold.

By pounding brow and swollen lip;

By fever's hot and scaly grip;

By those two red redundant eyes

That weep like woeful April skies;

By racking snuffle, snort, and sniff;

By handkerchief after handkerchief;

This cold you wave away as naught

Is the damnedest cold man ever caught!

Give ear, you scientific fossil!

Here is the genuine Cold Colossal;

The Cold of which researchers dream,

The Perfect Cold, the Cold Supreme.

This honored system humbly holds

The Super-cold to end all colds;

The Cold Crusading for Democracy;

The Führer of the Streptococcracy.

Bacilli swarm within my portals

Such as were ne'er conceived by mortals,

But bred by scientists wise and hoary

In some Olympic laboratory;

Bacteria as large as mice,

With feet of fire and heads of ice

Who never interrupt for slumber

Their stamping elephantine rumba.

A common cold, gadzooks, forsooth!

Ah, yes. And Lincoln was jostled by Booth;

Don Juan was a budding gallant,

And Shakespeare's plays show signs of talent;

The Arctic winter is fairly coolish,

And your diagnosis is fairly foolish.

Oh what a derision history holds

For the man who belittled the Cold of Colds!

QUOTE(S): "Even the gods love jokes." ~ Plato

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” ~ e.e. cummings