Topic 125: Beyond My Horizon

Carol:

Remember the Ladies                       

           

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."  Louisa May Alcott

Thank you, Louisa May Alcott, for giving American girls high aspirations through the story of four special Little Women.  Against the backdrop of the Civil War, loving Marmee struggles to raise her 4 children while their absent father serves as a chaplain in the Union Army. I might have liked history more if a teacher used Little Women as a window to the Civil War, or showed us the birth of a nation through the letters of Abigail Adams.  

Abigail Adams

March 1776 was an eventful time in our history.  The British had evacuated Boston, pulling out 11,000 soldiers, a sign of hope for leaders of the Revolution.  On March 31, John Adams received a letter from Abigail, another mother raising 4 children as an  absent father met with the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.  Abigail advises her husband: “In the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors” (source: America.gov).  

 March is National Women’s History Month. It honors women who wrote letters, marched, rallied, stayed behind, and  pushed to the front of the line-- all to gain the right to vote, raise healthy children, earn a fair living,  and dream beyond their horizons. March is a time to “Remember the Ladies.” 

 

March 8 was also the centennial of International Women’s Day. United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon read a  special declaration, Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton honored “International Women of Courage, “ and countries like China, Bulgaria, the Ukraine and Russia celebrated an official holiday.  That morning’s New York Times did not have a single news article photograph about International Women’s Day. I guess they forgot to “Remember the Ladies.”

The Times did include two full-page corporate advertisements.  Goldman Sachs highlighted its “10,000 Women” program, a global project to expand business and entrepreneurial opportunities for women.  L’Oreal Cosmetics announced its annual “For Women in Science” awards in partnership with UNESCO to promote women scientists and provide fellowships to young women in science research. Both announcements are tangible evidence that we need to “Remember the Ladies” of the future as well as the those of the past.
  
Our little Prescott book club “The Distinguished Literary Ladies”  meets this evening to discuss Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Kristof and WuDunn).  This  book is a sobering (and sometimes horrific) reminder that women around the world are still enslaved, living in abject poverty, suffering abuse and paralyzing discrimination.   The book is also about hope. The final chapter describes “Four Steps You Can Take in the Next 10 Minutes,” simple ways to connect with agencies and grass roots groups that make a difference in the lives of young girls and women around the world.

Every Spring, as I peel away the calendar from the chill of February to the hope of March, I think about women.  Their stories invite all young people to aspire beyond their horizons, to “believe in them, and follow where they lead.” 

 "Hope is a thing with feathers, That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without words, And never stops at all." (Emily Dickinson)

Thanks, Louisa May Alcott. Thanks, Emily Dickinson. Thanks, Abigail Adams.  Thanks, Mother and Daughter for your patience and support as I aspired to “move beyond my horizon.”

Sources:

Abigail Adams. America.Gov.  

International Women’s Day. http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Kristoff, Nicholas D. and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky. Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Vintage Books: 2010.

Megan:

Beyond My Horizon

Over the weekend, I got an email from a friend of mine in England who worked with me in the prison library. It was a perfectly normal update, but it sparked a deep feeling of homesickness for the place I used to live. I received the message on my phone after having breakfast with a friend, and on the drive home I tried to figure out how I could move back to England and get my old job back and be happy again. Even though I wasn’t happy there, and I am not unhappy here.

The mind is a weird thing.

When I got home I yelled at my parents for not being perfect specimens of humanity, and then I cried in my room for a while.  The last time I was that upset, about that very thing, they put me on a plane and sent me back. But that was five years ago, in a better economy, and the reasons I had for returning to the United States are still true.

For all my recent talk about having a zen-like, in the moment contentment with my present situation, it’s just not always true. Last week was also the anniversary of when I handed in my resignation, even though I didn’t leave until June.  I know my recent frustration has more to do with feeling useless than missing an old life. And it seems when I don’t know what’s coming, I reflect more on what’s passed -- at least when I’m writing.

When we pulled this topic yesterday, I originally thought I might write about the landscape. Mom talks a lot about seeing Granite Mountain out the window.  Because our house sits at its base, the mountain is definitely the dominant feature of our view to the west.  I’ve only hiked it once, but as a kid, I spent a lot of time wandering the dry creek beds and horse trails in the valley. The ashes of my maternal grandparents were scattered there. Sometimes in a storm, the mountain disappears behind the clouds or the fog, and ever since childhood, I have found those moments thrilling and scary at the same time. It can be a little overbearing in its presence, because really it is the only thing to see if you look that way.

Looking to the east, our view really opens up. Whenever we have guests over, my mom takes them straight out on the back porch and says look at what we get to see every day. The view from our back porch encompasses all of Williamson Valley until it reaches the Bradshaw mountains about 30 miles away. We can see the San Francisco Peaks, in Flagstaff, almost 100 miles away.  It is a splendid view, but except for during the lightning storms in the monsoon season, and eating dinner on the deck in the summer, we don’t spend much time looking that way.  Our writing desks and chairs are turned towards the west, to Granite Mountain.

On a map, West is on the Left and East is on the Right.
On a time line, the Past starts on the Left and progresses to the Future on the Right.
For this reason, I think of the West as the Past and the East as the Future.
The Past is an ever present, semi-oppressive (but beautiful) mountain and the Future is an expansive, wide-open area that stretches for miles into the unknown.

  
                             

(Turn up your volume for the full effect)