"Walking a careful line, avoiding missteps that could easily lead to lynching..." There was one thing they had, then, though - their society was stable, and they knew where the lines were. In these days of flux, I imagine it's pretty hard for all of us, sometimes, to figure out exactly where a person of an exterior gender lies, in terms of being "WOKE." If that check had laid on a table with a group of women from my professional organization at a convention, we would have gotten our pencils out, done a little math, and put piles of money on the table.
For me, I run into it at glass doors a lot. A man opens the door and holds it. I stand there and say "I'm capable of opening my own doors, even though I have the help of a cane." The usual reply is "My mother trained me to open doors for women." Once, the man on the other side said "I have muscular dystrophy, and it actually is hard for me to hold this door for you." I felt ashamed of making a big deal of it, then. His "handicap" topped my social handicap - looking like a "weak female," so I unrooted myself from the floor and walked through.
Perhaps, with the check situation, you might jokingly ask if the woman was "Liberated" or "Old Style?" If she says "Liberated," then you could pull out pen and paper and figure your own share, then put the money on the table. She'd get the point, I think. In a few years, a decade, perhaps, we'll have gender equality worked out more or less. Then, whoever arrives at the door first will go through and hold it open for the other person to catch and deal with. Pencils or pens will come out at paying up time after meals, etc.
Breaking old conventions can take time, but it can be done!
Dear Garrison, a particular question has been dogging me for many years. Are there any lawyers in Lake Woebegon? While we are at it, I have a lawyer joke for you. When my son was about 3 he had a hearing problem. He was a fan of He-Man and his warriors (who battled Skeletor and his warriors). One day he said “You know why He-Man always wins? It’s because he has more lawyers,” mistaking “warriors” for “lawyers.” Later he refined his assessment and said He-Man won because he had BETTER lawyers. I told this joke to a stone-faced federal judge one day and I swear he smiled, albeit just a little. Now my son is 42 and is a lawyer, too. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for posting that clip by the Bethel Gospel Quartet from 1928. After hearing you talk about it and sing it in St Paul last week, I googled it -- but I couldnt find it. Yes, a sorrowful song can lift one's spirits. But more than that, you reminded us of the lives of the original singers, which made the song all the more moving.
"Walking a careful line, avoiding missteps that could easily lead to lynching..." There was one thing they had, then, though - their society was stable, and they knew where the lines were. In these days of flux, I imagine it's pretty hard for all of us, sometimes, to figure out exactly where a person of an exterior gender lies, in terms of being "WOKE." If that check had laid on a table with a group of women from my professional organization at a convention, we would have gotten our pencils out, done a little math, and put piles of money on the table.
For me, I run into it at glass doors a lot. A man opens the door and holds it. I stand there and say "I'm capable of opening my own doors, even though I have the help of a cane." The usual reply is "My mother trained me to open doors for women." Once, the man on the other side said "I have muscular dystrophy, and it actually is hard for me to hold this door for you." I felt ashamed of making a big deal of it, then. His "handicap" topped my social handicap - looking like a "weak female," so I unrooted myself from the floor and walked through.
Perhaps, with the check situation, you might jokingly ask if the woman was "Liberated" or "Old Style?" If she says "Liberated," then you could pull out pen and paper and figure your own share, then put the money on the table. She'd get the point, I think. In a few years, a decade, perhaps, we'll have gender equality worked out more or less. Then, whoever arrives at the door first will go through and hold it open for the other person to catch and deal with. Pencils or pens will come out at paying up time after meals, etc.
Breaking old conventions can take time, but it can be done!
Dear Garrison, a particular question has been dogging me for many years. Are there any lawyers in Lake Woebegon? While we are at it, I have a lawyer joke for you. When my son was about 3 he had a hearing problem. He was a fan of He-Man and his warriors (who battled Skeletor and his warriors). One day he said “You know why He-Man always wins? It’s because he has more lawyers,” mistaking “warriors” for “lawyers.” Later he refined his assessment and said He-Man won because he had BETTER lawyers. I told this joke to a stone-faced federal judge one day and I swear he smiled, albeit just a little. Now my son is 42 and is a lawyer, too. Keep up the good work!
Julian Karpoff
Lewes, DE
Thank you for posting that clip by the Bethel Gospel Quartet from 1928. After hearing you talk about it and sing it in St Paul last week, I googled it -- but I couldnt find it. Yes, a sorrowful song can lift one's spirits. But more than that, you reminded us of the lives of the original singers, which made the song all the more moving.
If you truly believed in Anthropogenic Global Warming, then you would never get on airplane. The rest is hypocrisy.
https://news.yahoo.com/paul-delespinasse-may-discontinue-nearly-051502482.html
Walk the talk, Sir.
John