The future is decidedly Female?

Matt Thornhill, president of the Boomer Project, has written a fascinating column this week, entitled, "The Future is Decidedly Female." He based some of his reasonings upon an article in The Atlantic, "The End of Men," by Hannah Rosin.

Their arguments are sound and convincing, for a thesis that the modern, post-industrial society may be better suited to Women.

In education, in industries showing growth patterns, even in life satisfaction studies for today's productive age-60 and up life stage, Women are taking the lead.

These are simple, emperical facts, not wishful thinking on the part of ardent Feminists.

For me, it raises a number of questions. I have always believed that Women have a slight edge of greatness over men in virtually every aspect of life, except the primitive application of brute force, which has historically been used to hold them back. (I.e, if you have an opiniated Woman in your village who won't kowtow to male leadership ... declare Her a witch and drag Her to the square to be burnt.)

But I am a man myself and must examine my place in the new reality. It is one thing to malign glass ceilings when they still exist and pat yourself on the back as forward-thinking and magnaminous. It is another thing entirely to behave appropriately in a day-to-day world in which glass ceilings have been shattered and the tide of change calls your bluff.

To make historical parallels: It was one thing to be a West German calling for the Berlin Wall to come down; another thing entirely to live in a reunited Germany. It was one thing to be an ardent, antibellum abolitionist, another thing entirely to handle the reality of post-Civil War free African-Americans competing for employment, living in your neighborhood and dating your daughters.

If the trends continue, and Women come to fully outnumber men in government, business and other fields of life, how shall we men react? Our options are:

To fight back, reimposing male domination;

Surrender and crawl into corners to lick our wounds and stagnate;

Or learn how to handle the new reality in a manner that benefits humanity overall.

Of course, I support the latter option. Fair competition for excellence, can only be a good thing. As Women can learn from men in some aspects of leadership and success, so can men learn from Women.

Very interesting food for thought.

A man is a facade ...

I put on a clean shirt, clean pants and a tie every day. I scrape off the beard that insists on trying to grow anew each morning. I behave in a serious, respectable, responsible manner. I project dignity, gravitas and maturity -- or at least make an effort.

It's all a sham.

I am just a little boy trapped in this overgrown man-shell, who would happily spend the day examining ant hills and splashing in puddles if I could.

And I am just a teenager still riding the raging stallion of passions that will dog me,probably, until the day I die. I cherish the gold band upon my left hand and my beautiful Beloved is and always will be my Goddess, She and no other. But I would be a liar if I were to say that there is no other beauty in the world and even if there were, the presence of such beauty would have no effect upon me.

A visitor came to my office today -- like my Sweetie, a trim, brunnette Lady with a delightful smile. She wanted to talk about a computer system that we have installed. I kept a professional air, forced myself to look away when She leaned over the desk, refrained from drooling -- in short, struggled mightily in a manner that I certainly would not have, in the presence of some aging, balding man.

Why is it so hard in such a situation to even make eye contact?

Ah, I am pathetic. All men are pathetic. Marionettes dangling from invisible strings. Monkeys nicely dressed up to mingle with the crowd.

Do You Women just laugh at us amongst Yourselves?

A story

A woman was taking a much-needed vacation to Florida, after enduring the break-up of her marriage, the loss of her job – since her ex had been a friend of the boss – and a number of other miseries.

Strolling alone on the beach one morning, barefoot in the sand, comforting herself with a Capri Menthol and contemplations of better days, she spied a brass lamp ahead of her, half buried above the surf line.

Not being a woman who passed up opportunity, she scooped it up and gave it a rub. A rather odd-looking genie appeared. He appeared forlorn rather than feisty. Much like herself.

“This is a non-smoking beach,” the genie said, jerking his purplish thumb towards the woman’s cigarette.

“Your lamp might make a nice ashtray,” she warned, not in the mood to take guff from another man, especially a purple one.

He thrust his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Okay, okay, keep the smoke. But I can’t wish away the fine if the warden catches you.”

“Warden?” she snickered. “You are one confused little genie. Wardens hunt for poachers, not smokers.”

The genie threw up his hands again. “So sue me. I’m a foreigner.”

“Ah, you don’t look as foreign as some of the university freaks I’ve seen around here,” the woman said, taking another drag of her Capri.

“I will take that as a compliment,” said the genie.

“It wasn’t meant to be,” said the woman.

“Look, I ain’t no ordinary genie,” the apparition said.

“Is there such a thing?” the woman asked, exhaling a stream of smoke purposefully at him.

The genie coughed and said:“Yes, there is. Most of us grant three wishes. You know the drill.”

“You can give the coughing routine a rest,” she said, “since you are made of smoke anyway. You men are all alike. Playing your head games.”

“I could say something about you dames, too,” the genie grumbled.

“’Dames’ hasn’t been in the lingo since the ‘40s, genie,” the woman said. “Who taught you English, Al Capone? Just run the wishes routine and get lost. I’m in no mood for men right now, of any kind.”

“Sheesh, what ingratitude,” the genie said. “Like I tried to tell you, I ain’t no ordinary genie.”

“Ain’t isn’t proper English,” said the woman. “So what makes you special, Archie Bunker Genie Boy?”

“I don’t grant wishes, I grant curses,” the spirit said. “Just one, please.”
The woman sighed and sat down upon the sand. “Figures. Men and curses, a natural pair.”

“You don’t get it, lady. I grant you a curse on someone else, anyone. The ether of the universe has sensed the injustice that you have suffered and wishes to balance the cosmic scales.

“You may wish upon your enemy death, poverty or a debilitating disease. You may curse him to be the victim of identity theft. Or to hear Muzak constantly in his head. Or to have chronically irritated bowels, incurable flatulence, bad breath, insomnia or a lazy eye. Or to be impotent, unemployable, itchy, annoying to all who meet him. I assume, since I have been sent here, that you DO have an enemy.”

The woman took a long, thoughtful drag on her cigarette, staring off into the distance across the waves.

“Yeah, I do,” she said, finally.

“Well, what shall it be then?” he asked. “I could give him horrendous heartburn. I could make a harpy fall in love with him and drag him through hell. The real one. Not the metaphor.”

“Care for a drag?” said the woman, extending her cigarette.

“Don’t tell no one,” said the genie, gingerly taking the Capri from the woman. “But thanks.”

He blew a perfect ring that danced away over the ocean and wiggled itself into the shape of a fish, ducking down into the waves and disappearing.

“Nice trick,” he said to himself, since the woman said nothing.

The woman sighed deeply.

“For my enemy, a man who once claimed to love me but broke all his vows, I wish …” she said.

The genie rubbed his purple hands together.

“… I wish him no evil but one,” she said. “I wish for him to have a conscience.”

###

New member of the garden family

From a vendor at the Farmer's Market in Williamsburg last week, I bought a fine-smelling pot of Winter Savory, a perennial herb that is new to my ken.

Yes, I am a guy. Yes, I also love herbs. Have since I was a teenager. I firmly reject the notion, revived on certain commercials recently, that "men don't bake," or involve themselves in other, similar activities.

I bristle anytime I hear the old, sad, tired myth that "Women don't" this or "Women can't" that. A Woman can hang sheetrock, fix a car, drive a truck, hit a fastball or pursue a career in science, as well as any man.

And I also get quite annoyed when told that men can't do this or that either, without compromising their manliness. In my opinion, a man can bake chocolate chip cookies, enjoy fine fashion or shopping, style hair for a living and any of the many other things supposedly the provenance of Women, and still be very much a man.

So this here man will find a good, sunny place for this new herb, and snip off a little tonight to put into the ham and butterbean soup that I am making for dinner. And I will cuddle with my Beloved as the darkness falls and enjoy Her delightful company whilst all the belching boneheads of the world who base their manliness on old stereotypes can continue to sit alone in their drab apartments gnawing on t.v. dinners.

A win for Women and all people

It is wrong to pay a Woman less than a man for doing the same job.

This seems to me to be so commonsensical as to hardly be worth discussion. It is also wrong to pay an equally qualified Hindu, or a Texan, a Toyota driver, a redhead or anyone with the middle initial J. less for doing the same job.

And if you keep this discrepancy hidden from the employee against whom you discriminate, you still deserve to be punished, regardless of how long it takes to discover your wrong-doing. If you don’t like that, then play fair, pay fair, and it won’t be an issue for you, will it?

Finally, the United States is coming to its senses in this regard, with passage in Congress this week of the so-called Ledbetter bill.

Miss Ledbetter was a Goodyear worker who of course was not told, for years, that She was making less than Her male colleagues. That’s not exactly information that employers make available to their employees. Yet She was expected to figure it out within a certain “statute of limitations” – the onus was on Her, in other words, to play detective.

And, in other words, since the company failed to do what was right within a certain of time, the company – and our government, until now -- felt as if Ms. Ledbetter should be the one punished.

That seems to me to be nonsensical as to hardly be worth discussion.

I am very conservative in most of my politics. I find that supporting this bill does not violate my conservative viewpoint at all. If you do the same job, having the same levels of expertise, educational degrees, whatever, then you deserve equal pay regardless of whether you wear boxers or panties under your uniform.

You are beautiful!

Oh, that this website I have found, could be viewed by every Woman and Girl on Earth!

What an awesome concept! My deepest admiration goes out to the exemplary Ladies who have created it!

http://iambeautiful.com/

Their credo: "Our mission is simple: to create a world in which every woman and girl can proudly proclaim, "I Am Beautiful!"

"How do we redefine feminine beauty to make it more inclusive? How do we combat the damaging media messages and distorted cultural ideals about women and beauty? How do we show our daughters, sisters, friends, mothers and grandmothers the power in naming their own beauty?

Self-acceptance is the first step.
That is what the I Am Beautiful Project is all about: self-esteem through
self-discovery!"

And They even quote the delightful Audrey Hepburn, one of my most favorite people, who was and eternally will be beautiful in body, mind and soul:

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness;
for lovely eyes, seek out the good in people;
for beautiful hair, let a child run her fingers through it once a day."

Women in leadership ...

With permission from American Forum (please see link), I am posting this very profound editorial because I agree with it passionately.

Despite my reservations about President-elect Obama, I am not posting it as a chance to score points against him, anymore than its original author intended it to be thusly used, which obviously She did not. Please note that in Her column, She also points out Pres. Bush's egregious error in eliminating several means of Women's high-level contributions to White House political discourse and I agree emphatically with Her that that was indeed a serious error on his part.

Women absolutely belong at every level of government and in every corporation and organization, every place that They have a mind to be, fully active, fully equal, speaking Their minds freely, doing, being, achieving, not just on behalf of other Women but on behalf of all humanity. -- ECD

"To Achieve Change President-Elect Obama Needs to Bet on Women."
Posted by American Forum, written by Linda Tarr-Whelan


"President-elect Obama has now moved swiftly to name talented and creative people to Cabinet-level offices and the key members of the White House team. But a nagging thought keeps coming back to me: Why isn't he naming more women to bring our experience, creativity and energy to address the problems that face us?"
Until only recently it looked like Obama's Cabinet-level composition held only three women. But the announcement that Gov. Bill Richardson will not be taking the Commerce Secretary slot leaves an open position to fill, and one more chance for diversity.

Whereas the presidents of Chile and Spain, also elected as change candidates, appointed women to one-half of their Cabinet seats, Obama has named (including Richardson), 12 men of 15 Cabinet-level departments heads. Leaving his team very diverse in terms of race and ethnicity -- but not in gender. This is a diminished representation from both Bush presidencies and the Clinton administration.

More important than numbers is the talent that is missing and how out-of-step we are compared to the rest of the world in terms of who leads and why it matters. Since 1995 the global standard has been at least one-third women at power tables to revitalize economies and advance democratic participation.

Here we are stuck or moving backwards compared to the rest of the world.
The U.S. is ranked 27th on the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Report and 71st in terms of women's representation in Congress. Outside of government representation at the current rate increase it will take women 73 years to reach parity on corporate boards.

Why does Obama -- and all of us -- need more women making decisions?
Women "get it" about the importance of education and have gone to school in droves. Women now earn 58 percent of college and master's degrees and are at least even in professional and Ph.D programs. Women-owned businesses, despite persistent obstacles, generate sales equal to the gross domestic product of China. Women make 80 percent of the consumer decisions. As almost one-half of the workforce and the bulk of nurses and teachers, women are the secret to achieving improvements in the economy, education and health care.

Failing to maximize the power and potential of women as leaders for change is neither smart politics nor good business. Women were the majority of all voters -- and with a 7 percent gender gap over men voters, the majority of Obama voters. In part that was because the campaign specifically addressed pressing problems in women's lives where there has been little action for decades -- family and work, health care, equal pay and violence.

I've had my time to serve in government. Based on my experience, I would recommend a plan recently presented to the Obama-Biden transition by the heads of 38 prominent women's organization who represent 14 million women. They proposed the creation of a Cabinet-level Office on Women reporting directly to the president, an Inter-Agency Council on Women and an Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach.

As the former head of the White House Office on Women's Concerns for President Carter, I know first-hand the importance of the coordination between the president, the administration and women across the country.

In the Clinton administration, as the CEO of a nonprofit, I worked closely with Betsy Myers, later head of Women for Obama, and others who headed the Office of Women's Outreach. All of us found it difficult to deliver the president's agenda for women without Cabinet status. In my role as ambassador I met women ministers from around the globe and saw how their work informed progress for women and their countries and participated in the work of the very effective Inter-Agency Council on Women.

All of these offices were cut out by the Bush administration -- our next President will face a clean slate and a pressing need. President-elect Obama -- and all of us -- will be well-served by taking on board the full recommendation of an integrated approach on women led by a Cabinet-level Office on Women.

An Obama administration will move the whole country forward when it effectively tackles existing inequities, eliminates possible disparate impacts of supposedly "gender-neutral" policies and taps the full potential of our women. Women are not a special-interest group. We are the current and future talent for the economy, the anchors for most families and the change agents for a better future.

Women have embraced the Obama call for change. Now we want to be sure it happens.
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Tarr-Whelan is a Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow on Women’s Leadership. Her book, “Women Lead the Way: Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World” will be published in 2009. She is the former Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
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Copyright (C) 2009 by the American Forum. 1/09

http://amforum.blogspot.com/2009/01/to-achieve-change-president-elect-obama.html

Pixels from the Edge: On How to Be a Girl

This is a beautiful, heartfelt post, from Rebecca, who has given me permission to repost it here on Isis.

Pixels from the Edge: On How to Be a Girl

Shattering the glass of ignorance

I get so tired of people who apparently know nothing of history, insisting that civilization is men's doing.

In refutation of yet another such ignoramus, I posted the following on a message board:

It is utter fallacy to assume that, just because they were not "allowed" to read, write, etc., in some cultures, that Women contributed nothing to civilization. There is probably no field of human endeavor to which Women have not contributed -- sometimes quietly, sometimes overtly.

Even the briefest glance through history would disabuse anyone of the notion that civilization is all men's doing. From Hatshepsut of Egypt to Elizabeth, Queen of England; from Sappho to Susanna Centlivre; Molly Pitcher to Marie Curie, Women have been leaders of nations, writers, scientists, artists, warriors, even pirates on the high seas.

Social sanctions, backed by the threat of brute force, which are what have historically been used to keep Women down, do not equate to superiority. The man who holds a gun to my head in order to take my wallet, is not my superior. He has a gun, that is all.

Without such a figurative, and sometimes literal, gun to their heads, Women in the modern world are now surging ahead of men in all important human endeavors. Thus we see clearly their true superiority.

I support Lilly Ledbetter

I will add to this post later.

Here is the legislation: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02831:

Lilly Ledbetter is a Woman who was paid considerably less in Her job doing the same tasks as Her male colleagues. That is wrong, that is insufferable and yes, the company that She worked for should be punished. Yes, She is entitled to compensation, and lots of it -- enough to convince other companies not to pull the same crap on any other Female employees ever again. Why is that so hard for certain politicians to grasp?

Two minds

I like to think, as I browse my personal library in my leisure moments, that my fingers are touching the greatest minds in history -- both men [that's for You, Molly!] and Women.

But great minds do not live forever, do not communicate themselves, solely through the printed word. We see, we experience emotion, wisdom, genius, also through art.
So I can touch a chipped bit of rock that was once in the hands of some ancient arrow-maker and feel of his or Her intelligence. So I can let my eyes follow the curve of a ceramic piece that I bought from an artist several years ago, and contemplate Her mind.

I bring to your attention two artists of whom I know: Ela, whose works are sometimes enigmatic, sometimes astounding; and Nivi, who draws with something of an Impressionistic feel. Both these Ladies are, through Their work, sharing with us something of the genius and complexity of Their respective minds.

What I find truly wonderful is that two people can take the same medium and create completely different beauty with it.

What I find truly wonderful is that this also reveals how silly it is to put all Women [men too, I suppose -- that's for You again Molly (o:] in the same box, to believe that They all think alike, act alike, have the same likes and dislikes, etc.

Ela's a good blog friend and Nivi is someone who needs to be on my blog list -- I communicated with Her briefly when my blog was new but only rediscovered Her blog today.

Ela's work is found at timeparticular.blogspot.com. She's in a cosmic mood this week, as this painting of Hers reveals:



Nivi is at ravemyreflexions.blogspot.com.



I'm out of time to blog any more today. But if either of the above persons visits this post today, I'd like Your permission to post samples of Your work here to help make my point.

ECD attempts to explain himself

I have a message to share.

I do blog about trivialities quite often but from time to time I will return to my themes.

I installed one of those widgets yesterday that gives me an idea what kind of blog traffic I am receiving and from where. It may be annoying to some of my visitors but it makes me happy to see that I am getting some readers from all over the world.

I am not perfect. I am about as far from perfect as Boston is from Byelorus. But I have ideals, and one of my main ideals is that Woman is the best idea that the universe ever had.

Some of my regular readers perhaps get tired of it. That is one reason why I created a Sister blog, For the Love of Woman, which serves that theme exclusively. But every now and then, I let it spill over into this blog, Isis.

I repeat, I am not perfect. I have arguments with my dear Wife from time to time. I find that there are a few, a very, very few certain Women in the world whom I simply do not like. But yet, I have an ideal and I strive for it, and that is to devote myself, for my whole life, to uplifting that amazing being, Womankind, whoever She is, however I can. And that means each and every Woman on the planet. Shape, size, age, background --- it does not matter, there is simply a certain magic in what an XX chromosome creates, each and every time.

If they gain nothing else from it, I hope that visitors to this blog (and to FLOW), if they are men, come away thinking about their relationships with the Women in their lives and resolving to treat each of Them, at minimum, as equals, fully worthy of respect, fully capable of achieving amazing things. For myself, living with a quiet realization that Woman is even just a bit superior, mortal yet still a Goddess, gives me a certain joy as I go about my life. Hence, the capitalized pronouns.

For my blog visitors who are Women, I hope that You are helped, via this blog, to stand a little taller, to love Your amazing selves a little more and to resolve more strongly to achieve Your fullest possibilities.

In me and more other men than You might think, You have a determined advocate, who will uplift You and applaud You until my last breath escapes me.

It is not about altruism or being noble or pretentious. It is about a way of life that genuinely makes me happy. It began when I realized that a sincerely spoken compliment not only brought a smile to a lovely Feminine face but also made me feel very, very good. It continued through my years of schooling, with more and more such opportunities unfolding. A loaned umbrella or help with homework, a cold soda offered to quench a Lady’s thirst, those were little things but joyous nonetheless.

I was as giddy as a kid with candy the time a certain military colleague of mine got out Her wallet, after I had stood Her nightlong watch on post for Her so that She could do something instead that She really needed to do, visit Her family before Her transfer or something, I think. Such substitutions were not unknown but we all generally paid dearly for them.

“I’m just glad You were able to go home,” I told Her, flatly refusing Her fifty dollars.

It was a happy, happy moment for me.

We are strongest and richest, together

A strange, disturbing and fatally-flawed, misconception seems to fester in the minds of some men – hopefully no Women – in this world.

It is in regards to male-Female relationships, in regards to discussions of equality and superiority, gender roles and such.

When such discussions come up online, and in real life, too, a man who declares that Women have made significant contributions to civilization, that They are quite capable of doing anything that men can do and, perhaps, even do it better, is declared to have been “whipped.” He is said to be afraid. He is advised to “turn in his manhood.”

This puzzles me.

The conundrum is perhaps analogous to the typical attitude towards male cheerleaders or ballet dancers. What is a male cheerleader? He is a man who enjoys the close company of Women, who certainly doesn’t feel threatened by Them, and who must indeed be very manly, in a physical way – able to lift Them up with both grace and power.

Yet what is the stereotype of such a guy? As fruity, as Feminine, etc.

Seems to me the strongest, most manly kind of guy is one who celebrates the power, beauty and capabilities of Women. Who is not so weak as to hide behind stereotypes or shield himself from the competition of Female colleagues with a so-called glass ceiling. Who is fully confident of his manhood and does not find it threatened in a way by having a Female CEO, by sharing household duties with his spouse or by, really, anything at all.

Seems to me such a man is the happiest kind of man, confident, strong, living in a world in which Women are not his enemies nor his downcast servants to be “kept in their place” by tradition and brute force. By recognizing Them as his equals, by recognizing Their worth and intelligence, he finds himself daily in a position to be edified, inspired and enlightened.

He might even step beyond that and recognize in his heart that Woman is even, just a little bit, superior and thus he will walk daily in the company of Goddesses – and what could be more pleasurable than that?

Nowhere in these scenarios is there any pretense of fear, is there any emasculation. He is strong, he is happy, he is blessed. His manly strengths and talents pair with the Womanly strengths and talents of the Women in his world, to create the ultimate synergy.

Woman’s strengths, Woman’s gifts, are like fine gold in society’s bank. We would all scorn or pity the fool who stumbled into a cave full of treasure and then walked back out declaring that his own pocketful of pennies was more valuable and he had no interest in adding the cavern’s bounty to his own.

We would also wonder about the man who owned a gallery of fine art but refused to add anything more to it because he insisted that no art in the world could possibly be better than what he already had.

And if I had five dollars and someone offered me five more, would I turn it down?

No, my way of life is not about fear. Not about being a wimp. I am a relatively strong man, I think, physically and mentally. I do not fear the progress and success of Women. I celebrate it, not from compulsion but of my own free and happy will.

To me, it feels like simple common sense.

Awards

I am a terrible blogger. I have learned the hard way to stop making blog promises. I get asked to do memes and then somehow never follow through. I've even been given a few awards here and there, that I have utterly failed to mention or even for which I have not properly thanked the giver. And I do not visit my blog friends or answer responses nearly enough.

Lyn (womanlyn.blogspot.com) gave Isis an award last week that I just noticed today. I absolute adore Her blog and all that it stands for and I have got to make a habit of going there daily, as it uplifts me everytime. I encourage all my readers, male and Female, to visit Her site and visit it often.

Here is Her header: "IT'S A WOMAN'S WORLD
Women are the backbone of the world! We carry the weight of the world on our perfectly sculpted shoulders, we carry the waters of birth, we carry on the family tradition, plus, we are gorgeous, sexy, sassy, and may be domesticated, or NOT!!!! Many men have reminded me that it IS a man's world, and, that is fine... I was not being literal when I named this blog, when I designed this blog, I was thinking that within this blog, lies a woman's world..."

The only quibble that I have with that header is that Lyn should not be letting any man tell Her "it's a man's world." Then again, with the current state of the world, thanks mostly to poor male leadership and decision-making, perhaps Women should wonder why men would be so proud to claim the world and so quick to make such a statement.

Another interesting thought. Twice now, people who are unfamiliar with me have read my blog or my comments elsewhere and mistaken me for a Lady. I am a guy, definitely a guy, very much a guy and happy to be the gender that I am. But I will say, and I mean it, that the intelligence, the strength, the incredible qualities of Womankind are such that I certainly don't take those assumptions as an insult but rather as an honor. However, it is an honor which I cannot claim. (o:

Do not be so surprised that a guy, a rather ordinary guy, could believe so strongly in the worth and the beauty of Women. There are more of us enjoying this enlightenment, than one might at first believe.

Our code is simple: The Women in our lives will be treated with absolute respect, adoration and devotion, cherished, indulged, uplifted and celebrated on every possible occassion. Publicly, we will acknowledge that Woman is in every respect equal to man and support every law, measure and movement that works towards that goal. Privately -- and when it is appropriate, publicly -- we know that the truth is, Woman is not just equal, She is superior to man in every respect, a Goddess to whom we render quiet worship in our souls and hearts.

We will never insult, degrade or put down a Woman. In the workplace, we will never stand in the way of Her advancement or support any glass ceiling. We will celebrate Her strength, not fear or denigrate it.

We will extend this joyous enlightenment to EVERY Woman, regardless of age, background, education or appearance.

We know that something magical and wonderful, beyond explanation, happens to a human when the conceived particle of life takes on the xx chromosome pattern, We of the xy persuasion daily count our blessings that at least half the population is thusly blessed and we cherish our every interaction with said persons.

Some men call us "whipped." I am utterly unconcerned about that. My enlightenment brings me nothing but joy.

What October brings ...

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Thoughts: Mammograms save lives. They are not a luxury but a necessity. If You are a Woman, please get one. If you are a man, gently encourage the Women in your life to have one.

Be familiar with the Center for Disease Control's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which provides access to high-quality breast cancer screenings and treatment to uninsured or underinsured Women, with an emphasis on Women between ages 50-64.

More information: 1-800-ACS-2345.

Honoring the life of a luminous Lady -- L'Engle

Isis and F.L.O.W. join -- albeit tardily -- the literary world in mourning the passing of a Titan-ess of literature, Madeleine L'Engle, who died on Thursday, Sept. 6.

Wrote the New York Times:

"Madeleine L’Engle, who in writing more than 60 books, including childhood fables, religious meditations and science fiction, weaved emotional tapestries transcending genre and generation, died Thursday in Connecticut. She was 88."

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/books/07cnd-lengle.html?ex=1204776000&en=b8c04cc938dda37f&ei=5087&excamp=OVGNlengle

ECD notes: Ms. L'Engle should be remembered as the rare kind of writer who could get a child to sympathize with mitochondria.

I, like so many other children, read Her books and have never forgotten them.

New concept for this blog

I had an idea this morning, an exciting idea – perhaps fueled in part by my happy mood since Sweetie’s sinus infection appears to be very minor this time. Thank heaven for Advil and the 24-hour Walgreen’s that sold it to me late last night. I’d crawl into hell on my hands and knees or at least make a middle of the night drive for my Goddess’ sake.

This blog exists to celebrate, adore, empower, uplift and rejoice in the magnificence of, Women. Not just magazine models – all Women, for every Woman in the world is beautiful in Her own way, a being of incredible power and potential and worth.

That is why I exist, too, to share this important message, and it is my joy and my passion.

Lovely red-headed Dawn (whose blog I have not visited in a day or two – sorry Dawn, I promise to visit tonight!) has offered me technical guidance in setting up a website that will be dedicated to the above goal, in a way that a blog cannot.

But this blog will continue along with that site. And I had an idea this morning to share the steering wheel.

What if Isis could become a true community where trusted Ladies who visit here often, could have posting privileges alongside me, posting whatever came into Their brilliant minds, plugging Their own delightful blogs shamelessly, adding appropriate links, adding resources that They, as Women, believe are important for other Women?

Can you imagine the cybervoices of possibly hundreds of Women, sharing each other's concerns, offering advice on everything that matters to Women, right here on this little blog?

I am so excited about this idea that I could burst. What do you all think?

More exploration of beauty

I sat in a long meeting today and during the course of it, noticed that one of the speakers had a scar running beneath Her throat, near her collarbone.

But She glowed with life. She was a survivor, of whatever it was that left that scar. And She was beautiful, in so many ways.

Real Women have scars. Real Women have laugh lines. Some wear glasses or use wheelchairs, others nurse aching joints. Some battle addictions or ghosts from Their past.

They have curves -- delightful flesh on Their bones and sometimes an extra bulge here or there that They just can't seem to make go away. Sometimes, too, They are gaunt and thin -- not from trying to be a catwalk wonder but from a battle against cancer that took on the wrong Woman and is losing.

They get angry sometimes. Sometimes They have raging moods. They get insecure or scared. They do the wrong things every so often.

But real Women are beautiful Women. Beautiful when They are angry, beautiful when They rejoice. Beautiful when They open Their eyes in the morning, before the first dab of make-up has been applied; and beautiful when They close Their eyes to sleep again at night. Beautiful when splattered with grease from fixing Their pickup truck or with dirt from the garden or the baby's breakfast.

Boys may love Girls but men love Women, real Women.

Most Powerful Women

An article on "the most powerful Women in the world" today. My comments will come tonight.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20516848/

"For the second year in a row, Angela Merkel, the first woman to become chancellor of Germany, ranks No. 1 on our list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. She continued to impress the world with her cool leadership at two back-to-back summits.

"First, she stuck to her principles, getting G-8 leaders to agree to significant cuts in carbon emissions, among other things. She later corralled European Union countries into an agreement on a treaty to replace the E.U. constitution..."

Everything that I have read of this Woman (Chancelor Markel) adds to the esteem that I have for Her; She is neither a dreary, knee-jerk anti-American nor a puppet of Washington. She is a smart, no-nonsense leader -- a very good thing for Germany and for the world.

I pray that this 21st century will see dozens, even hundreds, of such leaders of nations -- Women changing the face of history, leading our world into a better era.

Why can't we have more people of such caliber in the running for president back in these United States?

What Laura learned

A recent thought from the blog of Laura Stamps, posted with Her permission:

"I truly believe an overdeveloped sense of responsibility can cripple your life. Yet it’s a tough habit to break when as loving, giving women our lives are full of so many needy people.

"One way to gain a right sense of responsibility is to realize you are not responsible for anyone’s emotional happiness but your own. Simply, happiness comes from within, and there’s no way around that.

"Knowing this will loosen the bonds many emotionally needy friends and family members place upon generous women. Even our children are ultimately responsible for their own emotional happiness, and it is our responsibility to gently empower them with this teaching."