Sarah Hale, one of my all time heroines, was a young widow with five children when she published her first novel in the early 1800's. This landed her a job as the editor of Ladies' Magazine, one of the first periodicals for women in the United States. Besides being a poet (ever heard of "Mary Had a Little Lamb?") and an author and editor, she was a political activist, writing articles to her readers and letters to her political leaders. She called for public schools for girls, public parks, an end to ridiculous corsets and bustles, and an end to slavery.
Those battles have been fought and won. I'm especially glad I don't have to wear a corset. But generations later, there is still plenty of evil to fight. I got up this morning and typed out a letter to the governor of Nevada, telling him what I think of his recent cuts to the public education budget. I'm going to try to get everyone on our school's PTA board to sign it, and then I'm going to put it in an envelope and send it to Carson City.
I so enjoy fighting evil before breakfast.
3 comments:
i would love to sign! heaven knows it is well written-and i havent read it yet :)
I have sent letters to my district and to our CA Gov. (I'm not going to try to spell his name) when he planned to cut so much from education last year. School districts all over CA sent "pink slips" in to the Gov's office in protest to the pink slips handed out to many outstanding teachers. I also wrote letters and fought for the things I felt were most important when the district was deciding what had to be cut. I also kept writing on my van windows urging people to protect the education props we already have in place.
Gratefully, many teachers received their jobs back, and the governator is not seeking to cut educational funding as much now.
And now I fight evil with prop 8, at the expense of being called a bigot, racist, discriminatory, and a gay-hater, even though my heart feels very tenderly for those who I know are gay.
If you can handle some mid-morning evil fighting, I urge you to read my blog and post, and/or contribute to prop 8. Though the post responses are lengthy, they are still worth reading, like the fact that more out-of-state money is currently being raised in opposition to prop 8 than for it. We have been asked by Pres. Monson to donate generously to help prop 8 pass, but I don't know if that is being asked of LDS Californians or all church members.
It really makes me wonder, you know.
Obviously, cuts have to happen somewhere in order to balance the budget. Granted. However, why is it that education is even *considered* for cuts?
Our children are our future, and their education is absolutely critical if we want the long term future of this nation to be secure. Any politician who thinks that cuts in the educational system will return us to prosperity is woefully short-sighted.
There are other places to cut! (pork pork pork pork...)
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