Turning Point Blog and website (Click the “Donate Now” button to make a donation).
Facebook Page: Become a fan!
Facebook Cause: Join the cause and feature it on your Facebook profile. You can also make a donation here.
Turning Point (815) 338 8081. 24 hour crisis line 1-800-892-8900.
For a very brief presentation about the changes Turning Point advocates can bring to the lives of their clients, please click here.
August 26 2009 | Events and Fundraising | No Comments »
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) used to be something (almost) everyone in Washington could agree on. The Act first passed into law with bipartisan support in 1994 and was reauthorized in 2000, again with bipartisan support. Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly denounced the law as a tool to “fill feminist coffers” and argued that the Act promoted “divorce, breakup of marriage and hatred of men” but she was a decided minority.
That is, until now. Re-authorization of the Act is in doubt after two very different versions of the bill were passed by the two houses of Congress. The Senate bill adds provisions to protect same-sex couples, as well as immigrant and Native America victims and passed by a better-than two to one margin. The House Bill strips out these protections and passed with primarily Republican support.
Locally, Congressman Joe Walsh has issued a press release explaining his vote:
“It is our duty as both Americans and Members of Congress to stand up against domestic violence.
“Victims of domestic violence should be protected by all levels of government: local, state, and federal. Since the original legislation passed in 1994, the number of annual incidents has decreased by 53%, while the number of reported incidents has increased by 51%.
“This is evidence that VAWA is making a difference and keeping victims safe.
“Our country was founded on the principle that the core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore the government should foster and protect its integrity.
“This bill does just that.
“It is crucial that we maintain a presence on this issue and continue to fight to end domestic violence in this country.
“This question was asked to me during the debate.
“I promised that since the vote was this week, I would let people know how I voted and why.”
Meanwhile, the National Organization for Women and Domestic Violence groups are urging a prompt approval of the senate version and are considering a vote for the House version a vote against VAWA. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is appealing to her party to approve the Senate version of the bill: “We should not let politics pick and choose which victims of abuse to help and which to ignore. Each previous reauthorization substantially improved the way VAWA addressed the changing needs of domestic violence victims by addressing challenges facing older victims, victims with disabilities, and other underserved groups. The Senate’s bipartisan VAWA Reauthorization Act continues this tradition by placing greater emphasis on training for law enforcement and forensic response to sexual assault, and by strengthening protections for all victims regardless of where they live, or their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.”
The immigrant provisions are seen as particularly important. Abusers will use any weapon they can to control and hurt their partners. We at Turning Point see immigration status used quite frequently: A husband might threaten his immigrant wife with divorce if she does not cooperate with him, telling her that divorce will end her citizenship and she might be deported and never see her children again. In addition, female victims often believe that reporting abuse or even calling 911 might lead to her deportation and loss of citizenship. The Senate version of VAWA protects immigrant victims from deportation in those situations.
We hope this situation does not endanger the important work that VAWA makes possible.
May 17 2012 | In the news and Programs and Women's Issues | No Comments »
Haven Coneaux made some adorable fleece owls for our Turning Point kids. She was looking for a service project to go along with her National Honor Society membership and decided to make these owls. Thank you Haven! That’s her (and her mom) with one of the fuzzy little critters ave!
May 17 2012 | Volunteers | No Comments »
In Florida, where there has been a mass of news coverage about Trayvon Martin being shot and killed under the states “Stand Your Ground” law (which states that you can use force to protect yourself if you are feeling threatened by an attacker), domestic violence advocates are outraged by this week’s court ruling that will be sending domestic violence victim Marissa Alexander to prison for 20 years for shooting at her abuser in self-defense. Time magazine looked at the case in their April 30th issue:
“The story reads like a Kafkaesque nightmare, where the law seems to turn its back on someone in a way that would make Josef K. from The Trial say, Damn, I thought I had it bad. Marissa Alexander was a 31-year-old, 5-ft. 2-in. mother of three, her baby just 9 days old, living in Jacksonville, Fla., a “Stand your ground” state. Her 36-year-old husband Rico Gray was arrested in 2009 for attacking her and sending her to the hospital, after which she got a restraining order against him. In a 2010 deposition, Gray said, “We was staying together and I pushed her back and she fell in the bathtub and hit her head and that’s the time I went to jail.” In the same deposition, he admits that this was not his first incident of domestic violence against women, saying, “I got five baby mamas and I put my hand on every last one of them except one. The way I was with women, they was like they had to walk on eggshells around me. You know they never knew what I was thinking or what I might do. Hit them, push them.” He also admits that he and Alexander had “four or five” episodes of domestic violence leading up the August 2010 incident that landed Alexander in prison facing a 20-year sentence.
On Aug. 1, 2010, Alexander and Gray began to fight in the home where Alexander lived. Given Gray’s history, it’s predictable that Alexander was scared. She described the fight through her ex-husband and spokesperson Lincoln Alexander:
[Gray] assaulted me, shoving, strangling and holding me against my will, preventing me from fleeing all while I begged for him to leave. After a minute or two of trying to escape, I was able to make it to the garage where my truck was parked, but in my haste to leave I realized my keys were missing. I tried to open the garage but there was a mechanical failure. I was unable to leave, trapped in the dark with no way out. For protection against further assault I retrieved my weapon; which is registered and I have a concealed weapon permit. Trapped, no phone, I entered back into my home to either leave through another exit or obtain my cell phone. He and my two stepsons were supposed to be exiting the house thru the front door, but he didn’t leave. Instead he came into the kitchen that leads to the garage and realized I was unable to leave. Instead of leaving thru the front door where his vehicle was parked outside of the garage, he came into the kitchen by himself. I was terrified from the first encounter and feared he came to do as he had threatened. The weapon was in my right hand down by my side and he yelled, “Bitch, I will kill you!” and charged toward me. In fear and desperate attempt, I lifted my weapon up, turned away and discharged a single shot in the wall up in the ceiling. As I stood my ground it prevented him from doing what he threatened and he ran out of the home. Outside of the home, he contacted the police and falsely reported that I shot at him and his sons. The police arrived and I was taken into custody.”
You can read coverage of her sentencing today and the protests that broke out around the courthouse at the Florida Times Union.
May 16 2012 | In the news | No Comments »
Super chef Batali displays a not-so-super (but affordable and filling) plate of dried pasta with tomato sauce
Mario Batali is one of a handful of chefs who could be classified a celebrity- he’s a cookbook author, owner and chef of several renown restaurants and host of his own “Food Network” TV show (and a former “Iron Chef”)- so it’s very good to see him put that fame to work calling attention to a major problem in America Today. The Associated Press has the story:
” To much of the world, it was Monday. To Mario Batali, it was Day Four.
The chef, his wife and their two teenage sons are eating for a week on the equivalent of a food stamp budget in protest of potential cuts pending in Congress to the benefit program used by more than 46 million Americans.
That’s $31 per person for the week, or about $1.48 per meal each.
Goodbye restaurants, free nibbles on his talk show “The Chew” and all the luxe offerings at Eataly, the high-end New York City market he co-owns. Hello Trader Joe’s, Jack’s Dollar Store, Gristedes and Western Beef, a low-cost supermarket chain.
“I’m (expletive deleted) starving,” said Batali, who’s on the board of the food relief agency Food Bank for New York City, which issued the challenge to celeb pals like Batali and anybody else who wants to know what it’s like.
Batali said his first reaction when asked to join was a big “gulp,” then he realized while shopping for Friday’s start of the challenge that with a little forethought it wouldn’t be all that brutal.
One lesson: forget organic and anything pesticide- or hormone-free. “The organic word slides out and saves you about 50 percent.”
So what’s on the Batali menu through Thursday? Lentil chili with onion, water and cumin was one dinner that came with a complaint from his wife when he bought two bags of lentils instead of one, until he convinced her the extra cost would mean cheap eats for the next day.
“Rice and beans is in my lunch every day,” Batali said. “We got a bag of mini gala apples for $3. We bought a pork shoulder roast for $8 and got two and a half meals out of it. I got a whole chicken for $5, but it was spoiled so I had to return it and got a $7 chicken instead. They were out of $5 chickens.”
Convenience also has been sacrificed, like the afternoon his boys, 14 and 15, were running late and the family really wanted to grab hot dogs before a basketball game but couldn’t.
His kids are doing well and didn’t have to be dragged into what Batali described as less of a publicity stunt and more of a conversation starter about what it means to be hungry in America today.
“They’re having more peanut butter and jelly than they’ve had in the last 10 years because bread is inexpensive and peanut butter and jelly, if you buy it at the right place at the right time, is cheap,” Batali said.”
Turning Point maintains a small food pantry to supplement the diets of our clients in need.
May 16 2012 | In the news | No Comments »
Tina Fey (1970- )
Elizabeth Stamatina “Tina” Fey had a family that always appreciated a good laugh. “I remember my parents sneaking me in to see Young Frankenstein. We would also watch Saturday Night Live, or Monty Python, or old Marx Brothers movies. My dad would let us stay up late to watch The Honeymooners.” She grew up in Pennsylvania and went to the University of Virginia to study Playwriting. She graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theater.
She headed to Chicago to try to get work with the Second City comedy troupe. She had always been a fan of Catherine O’Hara and her work on SCTV and she was very excited to write and appear in sketches at the legendary comedy club. Tina loved her time in Chicago and often tells interviewers she’d rather live there than New York- but that seems like hyperbole. Her love for Chicago might be limited to its food; one popular internet video that showed Tina urging a student to come to Chicago was pretty much limited to restaurant tips: After listing off Muskie’s Hot Dogs, Jimmy John’s Sandwiches, The Golden Apple Diner and Athenian Chicken she reflects “That is how you cruise your way to a cool 150 pounds, and I did at that time.”
Meanwhile Saturday Night Live head writer Adam McKay (a former Second City colleague) was urging her to come to New York. She submitted some scripts to SNL and was hired as a writer. Two years later, Tina was promoted to head writer, the first women to hold that legendary title at SNL. She thrived in the “boys club” atmosphere. Each new show starts off with the writers all pitching their ideas to the host and producer: “I liked the competitiveness. It was like, “Let’s see what everybody’s got this week!” She missed performing, but seeing herself as an extra on the show made her uncomfortable and she lost 30 pounds. As she explained to Oprah, New York (and television in general) had a different esthetic. “When I came to SNL, I was increasingly just sitting around eating bad food, but I wanted to get control of my weight. So I did Weight Watchers.”
Producer Lorne Michaels saw her and Rachel Dratch perform a two-woman show and invited Tina to audition for the “Weekend Update” position. She was paired with Jimmy Fallon and the duo was an instant hit. Tina’s on-air successes led to NBC offering Tina the chance to develop and star in a prime-time sitcom.
She wanted a “behind the scenes” sitcom set at a TV show and pitched NBC the idea that she’d play the producer of a successful political show hosted by a popular but insufferable pundit. She always envisioned Alec Baldwin in the role. The show was slow to take off and when it won an Emmy for best comedy, Tina thanked the shows “Dozens” of viewers. Never a big hit in the ratings, it was nevertheless renewed by NBC for its seventh (and probably last) season this spring.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton
While Tina’s sitcom may not have connected with a mass audience, another role sure did; that of 2008 Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin. When she was selected by John McCain, pundits immediately noticed a resemblance between the governor and Tina. Coupled with old friend Amy Poehler (as Hilary Clinton) the two were pictured bemoaning the sexism inherent in the campaign and Tina was an instant hit in the sketch which she repeated several times on SNL, eventually winning an Emmy award for her best guest star appearance. Tina eventually had to tell her old boss Lorne Michael “No more”: “You know, in the beginning, it was this special performance I did. But then….Every time I performed, I felt like it wasn’t as good as the time before. … So even if McCain and Palin had won, I would have had to stop. I’m done.”
Tina has also made a few films, including a well-received turn adapting (and appearing in) the hit “Mean Girls.” Forbes magazine named her TV’s highest paid actress in 2010. Tina has been honored with several Emmy awards and was the youngest recipient of the Mark Twain Humor Prize. She has been active in Autism Speaks and Mercy Corps, a campaign to end world hunger.
May 15 2012 | Extraordinary Women | No Comments »
Volunteer Joan Rost brought a group of 20 4H kids ranging in ages from 8-18 years old to put in a garden at the Turning Point Shelter. They planted herbs, flowers and vegetables in the raised bed shown and also put flowers in the patio planters. Shelter residents will appreciate the added beauty as well as fresh vegetables this summer and fall. Thank you 4H!
May 15 2012 | Volunteers | No Comments »
President Obama spoke to the graduating class of Barnard College Monday. Barnard is an all-female college (sister school to Columbia University) and had some words that seem good advice to women everywhere: (You can read the full text of his address here.)
“Of course, as young women, you’re also going to grapple with some unique challenges, like whether you’ll be able to earn equal pay for equal work; whether you’ll be able to balance the demands of your job and your family; whether you’ll be able to fully control decisions about your own health.
And while opportunities for women have grown exponentially over the last 30 years, as young people, in many ways you have it even tougher than we did. This recession has been more brutal, the job losses steeper. Politics seems nastier. Congress more gridlocked than ever. Some folks in the financial world have not exactly been model corporate citizens. (Laughter.)
No wonder that faith in our institutions has never been lower, particularly when good news doesn’t get the same kind of ratings as bad news anymore. Every day you receive a steady stream of sensationalism and scandal and stories with a message that suggest change isn’t possible; that you can’t make a difference; that you won’t be able to close that gap between life as it is and life as you want it to be.
My job today is to tell you don’t believe it. Because as tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher. I’ve seen your passion and I’ve seen your service. I’ve seen you engage and I’ve seen you turn out in record numbers. I’ve heard your voices amplified by creativity and a digital fluency that those of us in older generations can barely comprehend. I’ve seen a generation eager, impatient even, to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course.
And that defiant, can-do spirit is what runs through the veins of American history. It’s the lifeblood of all our progress. And it is that spirit which we need your generation to embrace and rekindle right now.
See, the question is not whether things will get better — they always do. The question is not whether we’ve got the solutions to our challenges — we’ve had them within our grasp for quite some time. We know, for example, that this country would be better off if more Americans were able to get the kind of education that you’ve received here at Barnard — (applause) — if more people could get the specific skills and training that employers are looking for today.
We know that we’d all be better off if we invest in science and technology that sparks new businesses and medical breakthroughs; if we developed more clean energy so we could use less foreign oil and reduce the carbon pollution that’s threatening our planet. (Applause.)
We know that we’re better off when there are rules that stop big banks from making bad bets with other people’s money and — (applause) — when insurance companies aren’t allowed to drop your coverage when you need it most or charge women differently from men. (Applause.) Indeed, we know we are better off when women are treated fairly and equally in every aspect of American life — whether it’s the salary you earn or the health decisions you make. (Applause.)
We know these things to be true. We know that our challenges are eminently solvable. The question is whether together, we can muster the will — in our own lives, in our common institutions, in our politics — to bring about the changes we need. And I’m convinced your generation possesses that will. And I believe that the women of this generation — that all of you will help lead the way. (Applause.)
Now, I recognize that’s a cheap applause line when you’re giving a commencement at Barnard. (Laughter.) It’s the easy thing to say. But it’s true. It is — in part, it is simple math. Today, women are not just half this country; you’re half its workforce. (Applause.) More and more women are out-earning their husbands. You’re more than half of our college graduates, and master’s graduates, and PhDs. (Applause.) So you’ve got us outnumbered. (Laughter.)
After decades of slow, steady, extraordinary progress, you are now poised to make this the century where women shape not only their own destiny but the destiny of this nation and of this world.
But how far your leadership takes this country, how far it takes this world — well, that will be up to you. You’ve got to want it. It will not be handed to you. And as someone who wants that future — that better future — for you, and for Malia and Sasha, as somebody who’s had the good fortune of being the husband and the father and the son of some strong, remarkable women, allow me to offer just a few pieces of advice. That’s obligatory. (Laughter.) Bear with me.
My first piece of advice is this: Don’t just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table. (Applause.)
It’s been said that the most important role in our democracy is the role of citizen. And indeed, it was 225 years ago today that the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia, and our founders, citizens all, began crafting an extraordinary document. Yes, it had its flaws — flaws that this nation has strived to protect (perfect) over time. Questions of race and gender were unresolved. No woman’s signature graced the original document — although we can assume that there were founding mothers whispering smarter things in the ears of the founding fathers. (Applause.) I mean, that’s almost certain.
What made this document special was that it provided the space — the possibility — for those who had been left out of our charter to fight their way in. It provided people the language to appeal to principles and ideals that broadened democracy’s reach. It allowed for protest, and movements, and the dissemination of new ideas that would repeatedly, decade after decade, change the world — a constant forward movement that continues to this day.
Our founders understood that America does not stand still; we are dynamic, not static. We look forward, not back. And now that new doors have been opened for you, you’ve got an obligation to seize those opportunities.
You need to do this not just for yourself but for those who don’t yet enjoy the choices that you’ve had, the choices you will have. And one reason many workplaces still have outdated policies is because women only account for 3 percent of the CEOs at Fortune 500 companies. One reason we’re actually refighting long-settled battles over women’s rights is because women occupy fewer than one in five seats in Congress.
Now, I’m not saying that the only way to achieve success is by climbing to the top of the corporate ladder or running for office — although, let’s face it, Congress would get a lot more done if you did. (Laughter and applause.) That I think we’re sure about. But if you decide not to sit yourself at the table, at the very least you’ve got to make sure you have a say in who does. It matters.
Before women like Barbara Mikulski and Olympia Snowe and others got to Congress, just to take one example, much of federally-funded research on diseases focused solely on their effects on men. It wasn’t until women like Patsy Mink and Edith Green got to Congress and passed Title IX, 40 years ago this year, that we declared women, too, should be allowed to compete and win on America’s playing fields. (Applause.) Until a woman named Lilly Ledbetter showed up at her office and had the courage to step up and say, you know what, this isn’t right, women weren’t being treated fairly — we lacked some of the tools we needed to uphold the basic principle of equal pay for equal work.
So don’t accept somebody else’s construction of the way things ought to be. It’s up to you to right wrongs. It’s up to you to point out injustice. It’s up to you to hold the system accountable and sometimes upend it entirely. It’s up to you to stand up and to be heard, to write and to lobby, to march, to organize, to vote. Don’t be content to just sit back and watch.
Those who oppose change, those who benefit from an unjust status quo, have always bet on the public’s cynicism or the public’s complacency. Throughout American history, though, they have lost that bet, and I believe they will this time as well. (Applause.) But ultimately, Class of 2012, that will depend on you. Don’t wait for the person next to you to be the first to speak up for what’s right. Because maybe, just maybe, they’re waiting on you.
Which brings me to my second piece of advice: Never underestimate the power of your example. The very fact that you are graduating, let alone that more women now graduate from college than men, is only possible because earlier generations of women — your mothers, your grandmothers, your aunts — shattered the myth that you couldn’t or shouldn’t be where you are. (Applause.)
I think of a friend of mine who’s the daughter of immigrants. When she was in high school, her guidance counselor told her, you know what, you’re just not college material. You should think about becoming a secretary. Well, she was stubborn, so she went to college anyway. She got her master’s. She ran for local office, won. She ran for state office, she won. She ran for Congress, she won. And lo and behold, Hilda Solis did end up becoming a secretary — (laughter) — she is America’s Secretary of Labor. (Applause.)
So think about what that means to a young Latina girl when she sees a Cabinet secretary that looks like her. (Applause.) Think about what it means to a young girl in Iowa when she sees a presidential candidate who looks like her. Think about what it means to a young girl walking in Harlem right down the street when she sees a U.N. ambassador who looks like her. Do not underestimate the power of your example.
This diploma opens up new possibilities, so reach back, convince a young girl to earn one, too. If you earned your degree in areas where we need more women — like computer science or engineering — (applause) — reach back and persuade another student to study it, too. If you’re going into fields where we need more women, like construction or computer engineering — reach back, hire someone new. Be a mentor. Be a role model.
Until a girl can imagine herself, can picture herself as a computer programmer, or a combatant commander, she won’t become one. Until there are women who tell her, ignore our pop culture obsession over beauty and fashion — (applause) — and focus instead on studying and inventing and competing and leading, she’ll think those are the only things that girls are supposed to care about. Now, Michelle will say, nothing wrong with caring about it a little bit. (Laughter.) You can be stylish and powerful, too. (Applause.) That’s Michelle’s advice. (Applause.)
And never forget that the most important example a young girl will ever follow is that of a parent. Malia and Sasha are going to be outstanding women because Michelle and Marian Robinson are outstanding women. So understand your power, and use it wisely.
My last piece of advice — this is simple, but perhaps most important: Persevere. Persevere. Nothing worthwhile is easy. No one of achievement has avoided failure — sometimes catastrophic failures. But they keep at it. They learn from mistakes. They don’t quit.
You know, when I first arrived on this campus, it was with little money, fewer options. But it was here that I tried to find my place in this world. I knew I wanted to make a difference, but it was vague how in fact I’d go about it. (Laughter.) But I wanted to do my part to do my part to shape a better world.
So even as I worked after graduation in a few unfulfilling jobs here in New York — I will not list them all — (laughter) — even as I went from motley apartment to motley apartment, I reached out. I started to write letters to community organizations all across the country. And one day, a small group of churches on the South Side of Chicago answered, offering me work with people in neighborhoods hit hard by steel mills that were shutting down and communities where jobs were dying away.
The community had been plagued by gang violence, so once I arrived, one of the first things we tried to do was to mobilize a meeting with community leaders to deal with gangs. And I’d worked for weeks on this project. We invited the police; we made phone calls; we went to churches; we passed out flyers. The night of the meeting we arranged rows and rows of chairs in anticipation of this crowd. And we waited, and we waited. And finally, a group of older folks walked in to the hall and they sat down. And this little old lady raised her hand and asked, “Is this where the bingo game is?” (Laughter.) It was a disaster. Nobody showed up. My first big community meeting — nobody showed up.
And later, the volunteers I worked with told me, that’s it; we’re quitting. They’d been doing this for two years even before I had arrived. They had nothing to show for it. And I’ll be honest, I felt pretty discouraged as well. I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought about quitting. And as we were talking, I looked outside and saw some young boys playing in a vacant lot across the street. And they were just throwing rocks up at a boarded building. They had nothing better to do — late at night, just throwing rocks. And I said to the volunteers, “Before you quit, answer one question. What will happen to those boys if you quit? Who will fight for them if we don’t? Who will give them a fair shot if we leave?
And one by one, the volunteers decided not to quit. We went back to those neighborhoods and we kept at it. We registered new voters, and we set up after-school programs, and we fought for new jobs, and helped people live lives with some measure of dignity. And we sustained ourselves with those small victories. We didn’t set the world on fire. Some of those communities are still very poor. There are still a lot of gangs out there. But I believe that it was those small victories that helped me win the bigger victories of my last three and a half years as President.
And I wish I could say that this perseverance came from some innate toughness in me. But the truth is, it was learned. I got it from watching the people who raised me. More specifically, I got it from watching the women who shaped my life.
I grew up as the son of a single mom who struggled to put herself through school and make ends meet. She had marriages that fell apart; even went on food stamps at one point to help us get by. But she didn’t quit. And she earned her degree, and made sure that through scholarships and hard work, my sister and I earned ours. She used to wake me up when we were living overseas — wake me up before dawn to study my English
lessons. And when I’d complain, she’d just look at me and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.” (Laughter.)
And my mom ended up dedicating herself to helping women
around the world access the money they needed to start their own businesses — she was an early pioneer in microfinance. And that meant, though, that she was gone a lot, and she had her own struggles trying to figure out balancing motherhood and a career. And when she was gone, my grandmother stepped up to take care of me.
She only had a high school education. She got a job at a local bank. She hit the glass ceiling, and watched men she once trained promoted up the ladder ahead of her. But she didn’t quit. Rather than grow hard or angry each time she got passed over, she kept doing her job as best as she knew how, and ultimately ended up being vice president at the bank. She didn’t quit.
And later on, I met a woman who was assigned to advise me on my first summer job at a law firm. And she gave me such good advice that I married her. (Laughter.) And Michelle and I gave everything we had to balance our careers and a young family. But let’s face it, no matter how enlightened I must have thought myself to be, it often fell more on her shoulders when I was traveling, when I was away. I know that when she was with our girls, she’d feel guilty that she wasn’t giving enough time to her work, and when she was at her work, she’d feel guilty she wasn’t giving enough time to our girls. And both of us wished we had some superpower that would let us be in two places at once. But we persisted. We made that marriage work.
And the reason Michelle had the strength to juggle everything, and put up with me and eventually the public spotlight, was because she, too, came from a family of folks who didn’t quit — because she saw her dad get up and go to work every day even though he never finished college, even though he had crippling MS. She saw her mother, even though she never finished college, in that school, that urban school, every day making sure Michelle and her brother were getting the education they deserved. Michelle saw how her parents never quit. They never indulged in self-pity, no matter how stacked the odds were against them. They didn’t quit.
Those are the folks who inspire me. People ask me sometimes, who inspires you, Mr. President? Those quiet heroes all across this country — some of your parents and grandparents who are sitting here — no fanfare, no articles written about them, they just persevere. They just do their jobs. They meet their responsibilities. They don’t quit. I’m only here because of them. They may not have set out to change the world, but in small, important ways, they did. They certainly changed mine.
So whether it’s starting a business, or running for office, or raising a amazing family, remember that making your mark on the world is hard. It takes patience. It takes commitment. It comes with plenty of setbacks and it comes with plenty of failures.
But whenever you feel that creeping cynicism, whenever you hear those voices say you can’t make a difference, whenever somebody tells you to set your sights lower — the trajectory of this country should give you hope. Previous generations should give you hope. What young generations have done before should give you hope. Young folks who marched and mobilized and stood up and sat in, from Seneca Falls to Selma to Stonewall, didn’t just do it for themselves; they did it for other people. (Applause.)
That’s how we achieved women’s rights. That’s how we achieved voting rights. That’s how we achieved workers’ rights. That’s how we achieved gay rights. (Applause.) That’s how we’ve made this Union more perfect. (Applause.)
And if you’re willing to do your part now, if you’re willing to reach up and close that gap between what America is and what America should be, I want you to know that I will be right there with you. (Applause.) If you are ready to fight for that brilliant, radically simple idea of America that no matter who you are or what you look like, no matter who you love or what God you worship, you can still pursue your own happiness, I will join you every step of the way. (Applause.)
Now more than ever — now more than ever, America needs what you, the Class of 2012, has to offer. America needs you to reach high and hope deeply. And if you fight for your seat at the table, and you set a better example, and you persevere in what you decide to do with your life, I have every faith not only that you will succeed, but that, through you, our nation will continue to be a beacon of light for men and women, boys and girls, in every corner of the globe.”
May 15 2012 | In the news and Women's Issues | No Comments »
The 2011/ 2012 concert season of the McHenry County Youth Orchestras (MCYO) will crescendo to a grand finale with a very special tandem awareness and fund-raising event. On May 15 to 17, Mr. Gene Power, Music Director of the MCYO, will bicycle from the University of Illinois in Champaign to Crystal Lake to raise awareness and funds for the MCYO and Turning Point of McHenry County. Both organizations are not-profit groups. Maestro Power’s 174-mile bike ride will end at the Lakeside Center in Crystal Lake, home of the McHenry County Youth Orchestras, on Thursday, May 17th. Pledges per-mile and/or outright donations may be made by contacting MCYO Executive Director Cathy Ames at 815-356-6296, or at cames@mcmusic.org. The event information is also available on the MCYO web site at www.mcmusic.org. The MCYO will present their final concert of the season, “Drama and Passion”, at 4 PM on Sunday, May 20th, at the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake. In April 2011 the Illinois Council of Orchestras selected the MCYO for the very prestigious Youth Orchestra of the Year award. The MCYO has given the musical dreams of McHenry County’s young people wings to fly for thirty-two years in an environment that nurtures a love for music.
May 14 2012 | Events and Fundraising | No Comments »
Today’s Northwest Herald carries the news about our Executive Director Jana Farmer.
The executive director of the county’s domestic violence agency has been on extended medical leave since suffering a stroke three weeks ago.
But Jane Farmer’s family said her condition is improving every day, it expects her to make a full recovery, and has no doubts the 56-year-old will return to the helm of Turning Point.
Farmer was traveling with family in Georgia on April 13 when she suffered a minor stroke, son Jeff Farmer said. She spent a week in a Georgia hospital before returning to Illinois for treatment.
Jane Farmer’s speech and mobility were affected, but her son said she is doing well in rehab.
She is undergoing physical, speech and occupational therapy, Jeff Farmer said. Her family declined to say where she was being treated, and asked that people respect her privacy.
She’s up and walking and has been able to raise her right arm over her head, Jeff Farmer said.
“Her spirits are high like they always are. She’s a fighter.”
At Turning Point, it’s business as usual because Jane Farmer had left detailed instructions for managers in the event of her absence.
“We’re managing over here pretty well,” Turning Point Development Director Mary Anne Weltch said. “Nothing is ever as good as it could be if she could be here, [but] we expect to see her sunny face back as soon as she can be here.”
If you’d like to send her a card, please send them to Jane Farmer, Turning Point, Box 723, Woodstock IL 60098. We will make sure she gets it.
May 04 2012 | In the news | No Comments »
"Liberty Leading the People"
She last had some major cosmetic work almost 20 years ago and is looking great for a hard-working woman of 116. An Egyptian model of a Roman Goddess who was born in France, she represents the USA around the world. She is the Statue of Liberty.
During the Civil War, French politician Édouard René de Laboulaye remarked that if there was ever a memorial erected to celebrate America’s independence, it should be a French one, owing to France’s role in the fledgling nation’s fight for freedom. A young sculptor who was present at the dinner when le Laboulaye made that observation, Frédéric Bartholdi, seized on the idea and immediately began toying with the concept of a French-American monument to liberty. He had been working on a proposal for the Khedive of Egypt and designed a statute of a woman holding a lamp to serve as a lighthouse at the mouth of the Suez Canal. The project was never built and Bartholdi tucked the idea away.
In June of 1871, armed with a letter from Leboulaye, Bartholdi sailed to America to sell his idea. As his ship arrived in New York, he seized on the idea of locating his statue on Bedloe’s Island; a small piece of land owned by the United States that virtually all New York bound traffic had to pass. He pitched the idea to President U.S. Grant and crisscrossed the nation on a railroad tour drumming up support. He even sketched American women to serve as models for the statue.
He at first thought the statue should represent Columbia, a uniquely American figure that represented the young country modeled on a mythical Indian princess. But the Roman Goddess Libertas was featured on many American coins at the time, and adorned the great seal of the republican of France. In France, Libertas was often depicted as a warrior, as in the iconic painting Liberty Leading the People, but Bartholdi wanted his Libertas (or Liberty) to have a peaceful countenance. He wanted his Liberty to wear not a helmet as she often did in France, but a seven pointed crown- symbolizing the sun, the seven seas and the seven continents. She held a large torch to illuminate the path to Freedom and at her feet, broken chains were shown peeking out from her robes. In her other hand, she would hold a tablet with the date of American Independence. Bartholdi wanted the face to convey wisdom and love and so he chose as the model for the statue his own mother.
As the American centennial approached, Bartholdi and Leboulaye took the idea to the French people and launched a Franco-American Union to raise money for the project. Grant had agreed that France would provide the statue and the USA would build a pedestal to hold it. The idea captivated French society and donations flooded in to build La Liberté Eclairant le Monde. Wile funds were being raised, Bartholdi constructed the statues arm and brought it and a huge painting of Liberty to the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Although it had arrived too late to be listed in the exhibition catalog, the “Colossal Arm” proved a popular draw and after the Exhibition closed, moved to New York’s Madison Square Park where it was a tourist attraction for year. Captivated by the arm and torch, New Yorkers rallied to raise funds for the statue’s pedestal.
Upon his return to France, Bartholdi continued to fundraise and build excitement for his statue. He completed the head in time for it to be exhibited at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair where miniatures were sold to raise money for the project. With help from celebrity designer and engineer Gustav Eiffel, Bartholdi was able to change his plans and completely assemble the statue in France, then dismantle it and ship it to America where it could be reassembled on site. In Paris on July 4, 1884, the Statue was officially presented to the American Ambassador to France. In January of 1885, she was dissembled and crated for her trip to America.
Like many immigrants of the time, Liberty made the trip to America without a place to call home when she arrived. Fundraising had proved difficult and the statue was widely unpopular. Newspapers of the time found the idea of a French statue distinctly un-American and the Civil war and subsequent financial Panic of 1873 had left the United States economy in a shambles. The New York Times weighed in by saying “no true patriot can countenance any such expenditures for bronze females in the present state of our finances.” The Washington Monument had been seen as something of a national embarrassment when it took over 30 years to complete and New Yorkers had no desire to see another huge, uncompleted statue dominate their skyline.
Fundraising efforts had all but stalled when the statue began its journey to America. Congress could not come to an agreement to pay for the project and work on the pedestal was stopped. Cities across the Northeast began to float ideas to steal the statue away and locate Liberty in Boston or Philadelphia. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer announced his papers would raise $100,000 and print the name of every single contributor. Soon, stories began to flood the paper like the group of children who donated $1- “Money we’d saved to go to the circus with.” Residents of a Brooklyn Alcoholics Home donated $15 and that inspired UN-reformed drinkers in bars across the city to match their donations. New Yorkers suddenly loved their soon-to-be neighbor and when the ship bearing Liberty arrived in New York Harbor over 200,000 people and hundreds of boats formed a welcoming committee. On August 11, 1885, Pulitzer announced that over $102,000 had been raised and 80% of that was from donations of one dollar or less.
The Pedestal was complete in April of 1886 and the statue began to be assembled. Eiffel constructed a steel framework and the statue’s copper segments were bolted to that. Floodlights were installed to illuminate the torch and a power plant was built on the island to provide electricity. Shortly before dedication however, the Army Corps of engineers began to worry that the external floodlights might blind passing ship captains so a new plan to put lights inside the torch with holes cut to allow light to seep out was implemented.
October 28 1886 saw a huge parade step off from Madison Square, the park that had exhibited the arm years earlier. Bands from all across America made their way from Madison Park to Battery Park, with its view of the new colossus. To pass by Pulitzer’s World building (home of the paper that had been so influential in raising the money to erect the pedestal) the parade made a slight detour and when it passed by the New York Stock Exchange, exhilarated traders rained ticker-tape down on the procession, beginning the tradition that continues to this day of the “ticker tape parade.”
A procession of boats kicked off from Battery Park led by President Grover Cleveland’s yacht. Dignitaries assembled at the statue’s base to hear the President say that her “stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man’s oppression until Liberty enlightens the world.” Despite Liberty being female, no women were invited to the dedication; only Bartholdi’s wife and the granddaughter of one of the French dignitaries were present. Organizers explained that they feared for women’s safety in the crush of excitement at the dedication. Suffragettes were outraged at the exclusion and chartered a boat that took the quite near the island but they were unable to dock. They weren’t the only ones outraged. The Cleveland Gazette wrote a scathing editorial ridiculing the idea that a nation which treated women and minorities so poorly could hold itself up as a beacon to others. “The idea of the “liberty” of this country “enlightening the world,” or even Patagonia, is ridiculous in the extreme.”
The Army Corps’ fears had proved misplaced however. Liberty was hardly shining a beacon and was all but invisible at night. It took a few years, but Bartholdi returned in 1893 to make some adjustments. The torch was gilded and much more powerful lights were installed to give it some greater visibility. By 1900, the statue’s bright copper skin had begun to oxidize, changing the great lady from the copper color of a penny to a soft green shade called verdigris. Congress was horrified and authorized a whopping $62,000 to paint Liberty, but a howl of protest arose. Visitors had already begun to love their green lady and engineers determined that the oxidation actually protected the copper underneath and did not harm structural integrity. By 1917, huge floodlights illuminated Liberty 24 hours a day, and the image became a symbol of America, popping up on war bonds and recruiting posters in WW I. During WW II she went dark as a security precaution but on D-Day, the statue lights flashed “dot-dot-dot-dash,” the Morse code for V, for victory and she was soon burning brightly again.
Liberty was remodeled and restored in 1938, then again in the years leading up to her centennial in 1986. Continuing maintenance continues to this day. The statue continues to be a symbol throughout the world and a tourist attraction here in America. She has served as a symbol of the country and has appeared on coins, stamps, t-shirts and souvenir reproductions. She’s been featured in hundreds of books, TV shows and movies. Perhaps most tellingly, when creators of the science fiction film “Planet of the Apes” needed to show that the bizarre ape-lead nation that its time traveler had landed in was actually a future USA, they had him spot a long-forgotten statue of liberty mostly buried in the sand. The image of the iconic lady so startled audiences that movie goers gasped and cried when they spotted her so mistreated.
In 1883, during the efforts to raise money to build the pedestal on Bedloe Island, poet Emma Lazarus was asked to contribute a sonnet to an auction that would raise money for the cause, Initially she declined, but when a friend talked with her how about how inspirational Liberty would be welcoming immigrants to a new land she came up with a sonnet about the experience. The poem was well-thought of and recited at the fundraising party and then promptly forgotten. In 1901, a friend of Emma’s, Georgina Schuyler, was involved in an effort to dress up the pedestal of the statue and she suggested Emma’s poem be inscribed. In 1903, “The New Colossus” was installed at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Paul Auster wrote that “Bartholdi’s gigantic effigy was originally intended as a monument to the principles of international republicanism, but ‘The New Colossus’ reinvented the statue’s purpose, turning Liberty into a welcoming mother, a symbol of hope to the outcasts and downtrodden of the world.”
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Emma Lazarus, 1883
May 02 2012 | Extraordinary Women and In the news and Programs and Uncategorized | No Comments »
Next »
