Monthly Archives: September 2026

It Happened in Virginia

history, human rights,

Virginia has a very complicated history. Home to 8 presidents, all of whom owned slaves themselves or, in the case of Woodrow Wilson, came from slave-owning families. Hotbed of segregation following Board v Board, in some cases choosing to close public schools rather than integrate.

Through my book group’s September book selection, I have learned of Virginia’s leadership in another infamous chapter in US history: the eugenics movement.

The Lies They Told by Ellen Marie Wiseman is a powerful and disturbing novel. Wiseman focuses on the eugenics movement in the United States in the years between the world wars. She does so through the story of Lena, a German immigrant who arrives in Ellis Island in 1928 with her mother, brother and young daughter. We follow Lena through the often humiliating process of being admitted to the country on Ellis Island and learn more about those who are turned back from our shores.

From there, the story moves to the hollows of Virginia’s Blue Ridge. Plans for Shenandoah National Park include removing the families whose ties to the mountains go back for generations. Eugenics plays a large role as outsiders use dubious science and deceptive tactics to label the people inbred and feebleminded, institutionalizing and in many cases sterilizing them.

What makes this novel so powerful is the way Wiseman brings horrific history down to human level. The mountain people understand the injustices being done to them but are trapped in a system beyond their control, some literally imprisoned against their wills for decades. Sections of this novel were tough to read. Wiseman does not spare the reader the horror of the treatment of people who were deemed not quite human. And now, some 100 years later, we are seeing a resurgence of these repugnant ideas.

I am sad that Virginia was a leader in this movement.

Dolly & Gloria

advocacy, books, politics, reading, thinking out loud, ,

Gloria Steinem’s death came just a few days after that of Dolly Parton. They seemed to be two women who spun in very different orbits. However, their lives intertwined in a way that shows that feminism is more complex than the anti-woke crowd would have us believe.

Ms. Magazine republished Steinem’s 1987 tribute to Parton, the year the latter was named of the magazine’s Women of the Year. (Days later, the same magazine published a tribute to its founder.)

I encourage you to read both articles. For me, the most powerful statement is Steinem’s simple but powerful definition of feminism: “If feminism means each of us finding our unique power, and helping other women do the same, Dolly Parton certainly has done both.”

I think Steinem gets it right and it is simple. Everyone gets to discover and embody their unique power. Create a life that makes sense for them as individuals. Define themselves in ways that make them feel whole. That’s it: no one is forcing anyone to live as a trad wife or a childless cat woman. Have babies, don’t have babies; get married, don’t get married; work outside the home, don’t work outside the home. You get to choose.

If early feminists were evangelical in their quest to get women out of the home and into the world, it was because of the context of the times. Women were ruled by men in their personal, professional and financial lives. Opportunities to work outside the home were limited and often ended upon pregnancy. Even as late as 2008, I had a man tell me that, if he was able to provide continuing grant support for a project, he would probably only be able to keep on my male colleague since he had a family to support. I was married without children at the time so I suppose he thought I was working for fun even though I was actively consulting and finishing up a doctorate.

I was born on the cusp of the first and second waves of feminism. One of the best books I’ve read that shares the experiences of my mother’s generation is The Book Club for Troublesome Women. Here’s my review from LibraryThing:

“The Book Club for Troublesome Women showed up in my Hoopla recommendations. Four women in the new suburbs of Northern Virginia come together to read Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique even as the world and their lives are changing irrevocably in the early 1960s. Bostwick’s story was heart wrenching in many ways as we see women belittled by the world, and in many cases, their own husbands. But Bostwick also explores ideas about how the enforced roles of women required enforced roles for men who may not find bread winning to be their real desire. Of course, there are pretty petty men as well, and I found myself shouting “a*****e” a few times along the way.

She weaves history into the story as the women in Concordia, Virginia, were right on the doorstep of the March on Washington and lived through the assassination of Kennedy. We see them grappling with their changing roles, coming to understand the importance not just of friendship but also mentorship. And, I am a huge fan of Katherine Graham who shows up as herself and provides some support for one of the characters in the novel. It felt a little “Forrest Gumpy” but helped underline the turmoil of those years.”

We grieve the loss of these women. We watch in horror as their work is belittled and dismantled. So, we do what people have always done: we pick up the mantle and march on. Labor Day is a great day to write a letter to your legislator to let them know where you stand on the issues.

Sigh

advocacy, poetry, thinking out loud

Writer, farmer, and activist Wendell Berry died yesterday, aged 92. He told the stories of his people in quiet prose and reflective, if sometimes combative, poetry. I have read a few of his novels, but it is his poetry that speaks to me most strongly. He is my favorite poet as I resonate with his love for rural life along with his anger at environmental destruction. I have written about him often on this blog. I suspect “The Peace of Wild Things” is his most beloved poem as we all find ourselves longing to escape to a place of quiet tranquility.

Berry, however, was much more than just a rural bard rambling through the fields. He was an environmental activist who used his poetry to lament the loss of nature and with it the diminishment of our own lives. Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry documents the challenges of being a farmer in the 21st century through the eyes of Berry, his family and his neighbors and friends. It is not so much a biography of the man as a portrayal of a disappearing way of life. In the trailer, Berry recites a poem written in 1997 from his collection of Sabbath poems titled A Timbered Choir.

Hanging With the Old People

Life, thinking out loud,

My mother celebrated her 91st birthday last week, and I was thrilled to be able to spend time with her. I spent a week visiting with her and my father, also 91, and their friends. We went out to dinner with a long time family friend, and I sat in on my mother’s Bible study group, something I have done several times. I am sorry I missed the discussion of Bad Girls of the Bible.

I am incredibly fortunate to still have both my parents in my life. While my mother has mobility issues, she is able to get around with a walker. My dad is in better physical shape and still drives short distances to the grocery store, Starbucks and their favorite sandwich shop. When the weather is nice, they take a picnic to the local park. They repeat themselves (as we all do) and their memories can be faulty (mine, too), but they keep up with the news and participate in events at the retirement community. Our dinner out was at the new fine dining bistro on campus. I enjoyed delicious gourmet potstickers and lobster ravioli in pesto cream sauce.

I am also fortunate to be able to connect with my parents’ friends as well. They talk openly about the joys and challenges of getting old. The leader of the Bible study made a comment that has stuck with me. In a discussion of what kind of evidence we use to support our beliefs, she said she tends to dwell more in the mystery of her faith, not doubting but finding the human explanations of the divine and the afterlife to be inadequate to describe her widening sense of the beyond.

The women in the Bible study also talked about the challenges of continuing to find purpose in their lives. Most of these women married, raised families and, as part what I think of as the Betty Friedan generation, a few went to college and most worked outside the home in some capacity. They had opportunities to travel. They volunteered in their local churches and communities while they worked and more so after they retired. Now, even as their world gets smaller, they see the next generation moving into their places as committee chairs and event organizers.

I don’t remember if the group had a specific answer to the challenge of finding purpose, just that it was a struggle. For me, the answer lies in the way they live: they are active in the world they inhabit. They participate on committees, offering their historical knowledge (the retirement community is 75 years old); they meet in various study groups; they attend lectures, concerts and, if possible, go on field trips. There are several choral groups and a bell choir that participate in the weekly chapel service. The retirement community has partnered with the Rodale Institute, which operates a small farm on the campus. Residents are invited to help with the farm as they are able, and everyone benefits from easy access to fresh vegetables. There are lots of public spaces where people can socialize. Usually, one table in the gathering area holds a jigsaw puzzle. Together, these elders are creating a new purpose, supporting themselves and others through the process of growing old and dying and providing an example to the next generation about how to live your whole life.