Tag: women’s rights

Back Up the Hill That Prays Part 1

May 19

Dear Liza,

Lyon keeps surprising me! The other day we intended to have a simple museum visit and ended up climbing twenty flights of stairs! And right back up the Hill That Prays.

Let me start from the beginning.

The Musée de la Histoire de Lyon is housed in a Renaissance-era mansion in Old Town called the Gadagne. This museum is not on the hill, but on the flat by the River Saône.

The museum is spread over five floors of the mansion, with wonderful exhibits that tell the story of Lyon from pre-history to recent years.

There were, to put it mildly, STAIRS. These Renaissance standard, stone-carved spiral things went up and up… when I finally stopped to take this picture, we were on the next to the top floor.

The graphic at the top shows all the spiral stairs, but they look cuter than they feel.

But the exhibits are top notch, with sophisticated projections showing how the rivers Rhône and Saône caused the city to develop as it did over the millennia.

There was also an extensive history of the silk manufacture and lives of the workers.

This history of silk workers rights continued into the WWII era, with worker’s and women’s rights campaigns. It was fascinating to see what I think of as current events played out in a history museum.

By the time we had reached the current day, we needed some sustenance. We took the elevator down (whew!) and met Grandpa Nelson at a nearby café.

More on that, and the continuing adventure, tomorrow!

Love,

Grandma Judy

I Worry for My Trans Friends

Dear Liza,

The election of Donald Trump as President of the U.S. has me worried for many reasons. I worry how a Presidency founded on greed, anger, misogyny, and racism will effect our country.

I worry about how people’s bodily autonomy (their right to be in charge of their own body) will be affected. Will my grandchildren be able to get the health care they need? Or will their rights be taken away because they violate some else’s religious beliefs?

I am also worrying about how these laws will affect my trans friends. Again, this is a matter of bodily autonomy. Do people get to decide with their doctors which medications or surgeries they need to be healthy? Or will their health care be declared illegal?

Talking to my friend Misha, I have learned that many trans people are needing to move from their home states, where this sort of care is under threat, to places where it is available. Trans folks also need legal services to change their names on documents. All this is expensive.

If you are worried too, and want to help but don’t know where to start, Misha works with a group called Outside In. The link to one of their fund raising sites is right here.

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Foutsidein.org%2Fabout-us%2Fdonate-now%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cb83ac8357bb948c9f3a608dd0040760b%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638666999034410306%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=yCtuECgqRMf4LpjNB2GWPYbh1%2ByhA8ffJD9%2FJRMIyF0%3D&reserved=0

Love,

Grandma Judy

RIP Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Dear Liza,

A very special woman passed away this past weekend. Her name was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As a lawyer, a judge, and then a Justice on the Supreme Court, she fought for women to have the same rights as men. She fought and argued and wrote so the phrase, “…because you are a woman” would not have any place in banking, real estate, business, or courts of law.

The Notorious RBG, from the ACLU website

Without Justice Ginsburg’s work, Auntie Katie would not have been able to buy her bookshop. I could not get a credit card in my own name. Millions of women would not be able to buy property or even sign a lease in their own name. Unmarried women would still be controlled by their fathers, married women, by their husbands.

One of the many strong women she enabled….

There have been hundreds of thousands of words written about Justice Ginsburg, and though I have nothing new to add, I felt the need to appreciate her here.

As we all worry about what the next few months will bring for our country, I hope we can live up to her example of standing up for what is right, going out on a limb, and making a difference.

Love,

Grandma Judy