While my familial world rocks and rolls with mothers going down and bruising ribs in the middle of the night, ambulance rides in the cold darkness to the hospital, new bells and buzzers for each parental unit to summon me from anywhere in the house, and a confused dog who doesn't know what the hell is going on, the outside world spins merrily on.
This past week, the Noble Peace prize was awarded to a wonderful peace activist technology group that monitors and disarms chemical weapons of destruction. They narrowly "beat out" Malala, the young woman education activist who was shot in the head for merely going to school--surviving the attack, healing in England, and returning to organize peace and education workers around the globe, all for the rights of girls to become enlightened in a male dominated world. As some newscasters in America commented: "She's young; she's amazing; she is going on to a stellar career that will surely include a Noble Prize down the road...chemical weapons, given current events in Syria, are more in the forefront right now..."
(Well, I disagree, but, again, who am I to say this? Just another female educator in a western country, far from the wars' edge...hmmm.)
Also in the American news this week: the third season of the t.v. series "American Horror Story". This year, the storyline involves witches--witches who have fled persecution in New England and sought refuge in New Orleans. Witches who truly possess magical powers--talents passed down through their genetic code. These aren't the innocent bumpkins seeking emotional release, from Salem's uptight communities in the 1600's, but are powerful females who fight back when discriminated against--even against each other. As I tuned into the season opener, I was shocked and delighted to see that the series continues exploring many of the "taboo" subjects from American history usually swept under the carpets (or into the closets). Issues of slavery, misogyny, rape, torture, sadomasochism, illicit love, poverty vs. over-abundance, and the on-going stereotypic roles of women through the ages--and how individuals are always striking out against these stereotypes. Quite heady stuff as the world goes into another cycle of wars, misogyny, government corruption, shut-down and overall mayhem. (How ironic when a "horror series" isn't quite as horrible as the everyday reality surrounding us...maybe it is this irony that demands horror films to now include humor, in order to be lauded by viewers of the genre?)
I must admit that "American Horror Story" is well acted, paced and written. It is "smart t.v."--and it knows that it is, even as it delivers. The returning cast from the other two seasons are familiar faces with new roles to flesh out. They include actors from all races, some with disabilities, some old and some new. The prevailing common denominator is that each one is a superb craftsperson and a consummate ensemble member. While this plot has, in its first hour, countless threads flying off in many directions, I have no doubt it will spin them together and catch us in its inevitable web of terror.
Still, the real world intervenes...
As I watch my parental units struggle with yet another round of illness, bodies letting them down, weakness and lack of freedoms hemming them in, I see women in Syria suffering from their own lack of freedoms, lack of access, their bodies both prison and destiny. I also watch Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange bemoan their losing battles with age, physical rot and secondary power, surrounded by men who rise without even one wit of their intelligence or ability. Yeah, its t.v. mirroring world politics. Yes, it is the political and the personal meeting in my living room. Yes, if you involve the stories of women--real or imagined--there is a history of blood. There is betrayal and frustration and too much hiding behind whatever disguises society deems necessary to control our rawness, power.
As an educator, I smile when Jessica Lange's "head witch" character chuckles at the school for young witches in New Orleans (run by her daughter) teaching young women to "blend in"...she compares it to another dream: Harry Potter's Hogwart's. (Art imitating art, while, in real life, women's educational activism is seen as secondary to chemical weapons of destruction...)
A witches' school for empowering young women, gone rogue, doesn't seem like such a bad idea...O how different our reality would be...girls taught to claim their God-given gifts most profoundly...without the need for disguise or regret. What a world...what a world, indeed.
Malala, you should have won...Girls, we have to keep pushing to remember who we really are...We have to set ALL the slaves free.
This past week, the Noble Peace prize was awarded to a wonderful peace activist technology group that monitors and disarms chemical weapons of destruction. They narrowly "beat out" Malala, the young woman education activist who was shot in the head for merely going to school--surviving the attack, healing in England, and returning to organize peace and education workers around the globe, all for the rights of girls to become enlightened in a male dominated world. As some newscasters in America commented: "She's young; she's amazing; she is going on to a stellar career that will surely include a Noble Prize down the road...chemical weapons, given current events in Syria, are more in the forefront right now..."
(Well, I disagree, but, again, who am I to say this? Just another female educator in a western country, far from the wars' edge...hmmm.)
Also in the American news this week: the third season of the t.v. series "American Horror Story". This year, the storyline involves witches--witches who have fled persecution in New England and sought refuge in New Orleans. Witches who truly possess magical powers--talents passed down through their genetic code. These aren't the innocent bumpkins seeking emotional release, from Salem's uptight communities in the 1600's, but are powerful females who fight back when discriminated against--even against each other. As I tuned into the season opener, I was shocked and delighted to see that the series continues exploring many of the "taboo" subjects from American history usually swept under the carpets (or into the closets). Issues of slavery, misogyny, rape, torture, sadomasochism, illicit love, poverty vs. over-abundance, and the on-going stereotypic roles of women through the ages--and how individuals are always striking out against these stereotypes. Quite heady stuff as the world goes into another cycle of wars, misogyny, government corruption, shut-down and overall mayhem. (How ironic when a "horror series" isn't quite as horrible as the everyday reality surrounding us...maybe it is this irony that demands horror films to now include humor, in order to be lauded by viewers of the genre?)
I must admit that "American Horror Story" is well acted, paced and written. It is "smart t.v."--and it knows that it is, even as it delivers. The returning cast from the other two seasons are familiar faces with new roles to flesh out. They include actors from all races, some with disabilities, some old and some new. The prevailing common denominator is that each one is a superb craftsperson and a consummate ensemble member. While this plot has, in its first hour, countless threads flying off in many directions, I have no doubt it will spin them together and catch us in its inevitable web of terror.
Still, the real world intervenes...
As I watch my parental units struggle with yet another round of illness, bodies letting them down, weakness and lack of freedoms hemming them in, I see women in Syria suffering from their own lack of freedoms, lack of access, their bodies both prison and destiny. I also watch Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange bemoan their losing battles with age, physical rot and secondary power, surrounded by men who rise without even one wit of their intelligence or ability. Yeah, its t.v. mirroring world politics. Yes, it is the political and the personal meeting in my living room. Yes, if you involve the stories of women--real or imagined--there is a history of blood. There is betrayal and frustration and too much hiding behind whatever disguises society deems necessary to control our rawness, power.
As an educator, I smile when Jessica Lange's "head witch" character chuckles at the school for young witches in New Orleans (run by her daughter) teaching young women to "blend in"...she compares it to another dream: Harry Potter's Hogwart's. (Art imitating art, while, in real life, women's educational activism is seen as secondary to chemical weapons of destruction...)
A witches' school for empowering young women, gone rogue, doesn't seem like such a bad idea...O how different our reality would be...girls taught to claim their God-given gifts most profoundly...without the need for disguise or regret. What a world...what a world, indeed.
Malala, you should have won...Girls, we have to keep pushing to remember who we really are...We have to set ALL the slaves free.
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