Day of Rest

Such beautiful weather. Our azalea, often a late bloomer, is gorgeous this year. Our peonies are well on their way to the best blooms ever. One set of neighbors is re-doing their back patio, another is planting grass seed and making improvements before moving. On the other side of our house, our neighbor has put in a beautiful raised flower bed which has been adopted as home by an adorable frog she has named "Flower."

Margo and I went to the Talbott Springs pool yesterday on the first day of the season. (The weather was lovely but the water was cold.) I can't wait to see that pool filled with summer activity. Pool staff were knowledgeable and friendly and I just have a good feeling about this summer. For many years I lamented that our pool looked sad and unloved. I have to say that, little by little, all the small improvements are adding up and it now feels fresh and appealing.

Today should be a day of rest. And yet, despite the joys of Spring and love of neighborhood and home, I cannot feel entirely restful.

Because of this. In a week when I pondered the sexism of middle school dress codes and the unfathomable stupidity of a status posting about rape, a rich white kid in California went on a killing spree because women weren't handing over their bodies to him for his sexual gratification.

How can I rest? How can we rest? In fact, some women haven't. They've been up all night on Twitter participating in a powerful trending hashtag: #YesAllWomen. I found many of my life experiences as a woman there. And also much, much worse. There's so much violence against women, simply because they are women.

A man posted this, and was subjected to hateful pushback from other men:

@maltmonkey: Feminism should just be called equality but unfortunately then too many people would miss the point. #YesAllWomen

Today I will go to the Farmer's Market with my daughter, and support her as she cooks her first full meal for the family. That's what moms do. But is there anything I can do to protect her from hateful, violent, marginalizing, controlling, sexualizing, demeaning behavior which is what #YesAllWomen experience?

 

 

 

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