ideas

Andrea Dworkin

As an aside, I nearly wrote RIP after her name which brings to mind the strange emptiness of what must have been a truly heartfelt tribute at a local high school. Recently a member of one of the school's sports teams died (cause unknown to me). The students filled the chain link fences around the school with styrofoam cups arranged to spell out phrases like RIP #64 and You Will Be Missed. Real and plastic flowers were piled on the ground in front of the make-shift effigy. Apparently even grief is awkward at that age. Perhaps it always is.

Andrew Dworkin died Saturday - at only 58. A crusader against pornography and (other, she might say,) violence against women. As a feminist and a writer, she was concerned with neither conflict or risk.

Her work was something of a lightening rod for the debate on pornography and censorship that raged through the 1980s and remains contentious on university campuses. A battered wife herself, Dworkin indicted pornography as an incitement to violence against women and dangerous hate speech that affected individual and group perceptions about women.

In her first of many books, "Woman Hating", Dworkin took on the battle against men's historical domination of women. She was even critical of consensual sex between women and men, which she saw as an act of everyday subjugation in which women were accomplices.

Dworkin was often dismissed by critics for her ranting and diatribes, but within the feminist community, she ignited fierce discussion and debate about the issues that will continue to frame politics for decades. It could be fairly said that she was the feminist's O'Reilly. But, somehow those screaming radicals are much more appealing when they're on your side.

Rest in peace, Ms. Dworkin.

Good bye, Ronnie

I was sitting on the floor in the living room; Ben Yeager - the surly year-older neighbor that my mother babysat around his parents' work schedules - was sitting on my dad's recliner, the same corduroy LaZBoy that so many of the dads had. We were watching TV, watching with some mix of excitement and obligation and boredom. Then, the Challenger exploded. Like many of the other kids watching, we didn't immediately know what happened or how to react. I remember Ronald Reagan's speech that evening, his grandfatherly presence, his reassurance. I believed. In bravery and heroes and the worth of man’s ambition.

Later, I also remember him talking at Camp David, maybe, or some other getaway, about Iran Contra. He spoke candidly, in the way other politicians can't, about the good intent, the negative consequences and the naiveté that made such a breach of trust possible. He would later say, "I was stubborn in my pursuit of a policy that went astray."

I can't imagine how difficult it was for the Reagan family over the last 10 years. For any family, watching a loved one deteriorate with Alzheimer’s must be nearly impossible. But how much worse when your husband or father is sleeping in a hospital bed in his former office, struggling for the most basic functioning, unable to recognize the faces of the people who care for him - and every day, you see him mocked and reviled on television or in other media. Mocking even his illness, while his family looks on.

I've noticed as the week has gone on, that most in the media can no longer resist the impulse to go negative on the Reagan years. They claim to "debunk" myths while creating more. Sigh. The one that gnaws at me the most is the mantra that "the rich got richer and the poor got poorer." The gap may have spread, but I've read the GAO and Census reports first hand - real income (adjusted dollars) increased for every quintile in the 1980s. Every one. And, I've always thought it odd that in international politics, Americans can embrace the maxim that "give a man a fish and he will eat for one day; teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." And, yet they still mock supply side economics as voodoo - when putting money in the hands of individuals who can create jobs is an unquestionably more sustainable solution than throwing another transfer payment at the problem. At the crux of this, and so many other Reagan attacks, is, of course, our doubt in the motivation of our fellow man...

In the way of his record, Reagan is much like Clinton - so loved by his supporters and so reviled by his detractors that it will be long after all our deaths that a true record of their presidencies can be sifted out of the mess of truth, lies and "conventional wisdom."

___

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them...

posted by Leigh Householder

Good bye, Bob

After a somewhat nerve-wracking funding presentation at Ohio State a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of listening to an inspired speech by Gary Hoover ... he had me at the statement that we only get 5% of our educations in the classroom. With my shoddy attendance, I'm sure that must be true! But for all I learned at school, surely another 5% of that education must have come from NPR - and, largely from Morning Edition and Bob Edwards who tells me every morning what happened while I slept, who is hurting and who is celebrating, what secrets lay on the other side of the world, and what will come next.

Although he has been broadcasting longer than I've been alive, today was his last day as host of Morning Edition. The execs at NPR have called for a new format and so goes the voice of history - a source of news cut with a laugh and a steady hand in rough times.

In a time when so many of us are separated by geography and schedules and distraction, Edwards' show was the context, the enduring bond across each of our generations. He will be terribly missed.

Good luck, Bob!

posted by Leigh Householder

Lost Heroes and Twinkie Scapegoats

I mentioned Harvey Milk in something I was writing the other day and each of the people I showed it to asked who he was... Somehow his story is lesser known; recognizable to activists and cultural historians, but not a touchstone for most. I'm not sure why that is ... Milk was one of the great politicians of our lifetime and an irrepressible community leader. And, his story was one that deserves telling...

In the 1970s, Milk was one of the few gay men in San Francisco to live an honest, proud life and accept nothing less than total acceptance (this was at a time when medical professionals were still calling homosexuality a mental illness. There was no significant national gay movement or lobbying group.). He ran for office three times and lost three times before his successful run in 1977.

Milk became the first openly-gay elected politician in the U.S. when he won a seat on S.F.'s Board of Supervisors. His win came from the most grassroots of movements - convincing people who only months before lived in fear and shame to form human billboards and rally for votes.

Milk was all ego, believing that he could change the world - out on the streets every day registering voters, inciting action, changing minds.

In 1978 fellow-Supervisor Dan White, a troubled anti-Gay conservative, resigned from the Board following the controversial passage of the Gay Civil Rights bill Milk had championed and he had adamantly opposed. The following day, White returned to City Hall to ask the Mayor (George Moscone) to reinstate him to the Board. When Moscone denied his request, White shot and killed him. White then reloaded his gun and walked down the hall where he shot and killed Milk.

Thanks to a psychologist's testimony that junk food had exacerbated White's depression (the original "Twinkie defense") and a carefully selected jury, White received just five years with parole. The resulting gay riot led to the hospitalization of more than 160 people.

Milk served in the Korean War, was a banker on Wall Street, and later lived and died as a symbol and a leader to his community and the thousands of others that watched... No stranger to death threats, Milk had once said, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."

posted by Leigh Householder

Dr. Frank Henderson, Ohio University, Memorial

I just returned from the memorial of someone who had a truly profound influence on my life - Dr. Frank Henderson. Frank was a professor and friend to me and many - a mentor who showed a generation of students what education really could be.

Thinking about his class reminds me of that great Utah Phillips line ... talking about California, he says "you gotta be open. If you aren't open - they'll pry you open." That was his class - his teaching and the smart, wonderfully brash people who were a part of it.

If I were to describe the change in my life - it would be that before I met Frank, my political heart was 10 sizes too small - I was a bit of a citizen Grinch. It's too much to say that one person can teach another empathy, but by teaching me what to think about - he showed me the great depth of humanity that I had somehow missed.

I hope that I have grown up to be what he would call a "good citizen." I know that many of the people I openly fought with there would be surprised to know just what kind of citizen I chose to be - but, maybe, I'll see them in line at the Democratic primary...

The Memorial for Frank was lovely - a full house at the First Presbyterian Church. A couple of hundred fellow travelers who just stopped by to say thank you to someone who always took the time to talk through an idea, to lend a shoulder, to tell a story... he will be long missed.

Athens Messenger1/26/2004 2:03 PM
Memorial service for Dr. Frank Henderson
ATHENS — A memorial service celebrating the life of Dr. Frank Henderson will be held Saturday, Feb. 7, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, Athens.All are welcome to join the family in commemorating Frank's personal and professional impact on the lives of his friends, students, colleagues and in the community. Those planning to attend are asked to include something bright in their attire in celebration of his life. ...

Bio
James "Frank" Henderson, Jr. was born in Little Rock, AR on June 18, 1943, the only child of the Rev. and Mrs. (Mildred Simmons) Henderson, Sr.

Dr. Henderson received both his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in political science from the University of Missouri, after receiving his undergraduate degree from Park College in Parkville, MO. Following graduation, he taught at SUNY-Buffalo before coming to Ohio University to teach in the Political Science Department in 1972. His areas of specialization were political and legal theory, and civil liberties. While at Ohio University, he taught both graduate and undergraduate courses until taking early retirement in 2002.

As one of the first African-American graduates of Little Rock, Arkansas' historic Central High School, Frank's life was profoundly influenced by the Civil Rights struggle. His teaching reflected his deep commitment to education in the areas of public policy and law.

While at Ohio University, Professor Henderson won numerous teaching awards, indicative of the quality of his teaching and dedication to his craft. He received the University Professor Award five times and held the title of University Professor in Perpetuity. He also received the Jeanette G. Grasselli Teaching Award.

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