The Library

[Frybabe]

The Library Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is  always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not). Let the book talk begin here!

*Suggestion Box for Future Discussions
*SeniorLearn's Archives  
 

Speaking of suffrage, Jean, I just finished reading Kim Edwards new book, The Lake of Dreams. The storyline is that our heroine (Lucy) finds a few pamphlets and notes hidden away and discovers family members who disappeared from the family history. She follows a trail that leads her to a suffragette (Rose) and her daughter (Iris). Because Rose had been jailed for her involvement in the movement, she was ousted from the family home and history. There is a little information about the suffrage movement, but not a lot. It left me wanting to know more. Can you recommend a good general book or two about the movement? Some of these women paid a very high price for their convictions.

[Tomereader1]

So, Jean, am I understanding this right?  You are one of the ones who purchased the Paul property?

[rosemarykaye]

Jean, that is fantastic - you have been hiding your light under the proverbial bushel!

What a marvellous achievement.

Rosemary

[mabel1015j]

One of my friends, Barbara, who was a volunteer president for 15 yrs, of what was then called the AP Centennial Foundation, honchoed a campaign for us to first get a mortgage from a bank - one of the bankers we approached asked "how does your little group of women expect to do this?" and another said "well, you know it's not like this house belonged to someone important like Tho Jefferson, or Geo Washington"- and we did get a mortgage. Then we raised the money thru donations and grants and fund-raisers to pay it off in just over ten yrs. Then we got more grants to have a renovation/restoration, which is the picture on the API site. In 2000 we hired the first paid staff. We think Barbara channels Alice she has the same perserverance and "when she puts her hand on the plow, she doesn't  remove it til she gets to the end of the row." Sage advice stated by Alice.

 When AP's artifacts were put in auction, in 1987, we went to the auction with $27,000, with a promise from a donor to match what we had raised. We were very worried that her papers of
her lifeand the suffragist movement and the Equal Rts movement, plus a desk that belonged to Susan B. Anthony, would be divided up piecemeal among various bidders. Only one other group bid and we got everthing for under $25,000. We gave the posters, etc of the suffrage movement to the Smithsonian and the papers and books to the Shlesinger Libray at Smith and we keep her persoanal effects, some furniture, diplomas, jewelry and duplicates of the posters and books. They are now housed in the local library, close to Paulsdale, in the Paul's township. The desk also went to the Smithsonian........we founders have all "retired" from active participation and a younger generation carries on..........not always to our satisfaction, but we try to not nag .......jean

[Frybabe]

I guess it wouldn't surprise you that the only names I remember mentioned in school associated with the suffrage movement in the US were Anthony, Mott and Stanton.

[ginny]

Jean, what an exciting thing for you to have done! My goodness what a satisfaction that must be! We are so proud of you!

[marcie]

I agree, Jean. What a wonderful achievement. You've established a lasting legacy.

[mabel1015j]

Thank you all, it is very satisfying, but the best part, besides saving some women's history and teaching people about Alice Paul is thr great group of women who have been a part of it for 26 yrs. My amazing friend Barbara - who is a steaming locomotive- was just tonight talking about a women's history tour she is organizing in NYC. She has been instrumental in creating a national organization to save and restore women's heritage sites. In the group also is a NJ state senator, a Republican - i mentionthat bcs she's a center of the political spectrum, enthusiastic supporter of women's rts and issues Republican, an endagered  species - who was a tv anchor in Philadelphia, been a champion swimmer and markswoman and recently survived a very rare throat cancer. The others are not as much Renaissance women as Diane, but just as interesting and supportive of women and especially of each other. I've known 3 of them for 35 yrs. We have loud, political and social duscussions and agree abt the broad issues, but have disagreements about the hows and whys.but always end up still friends even tho we have vastly different ways of working or doing things. I just love being w/them.

This whole group gets together at least once a yr, some of us meet abt every two mos for lunch to catch up. Some of meet abt 4times a yr as a book group and some of us w/ our spouses have dinner or go to a jazz concert in Philly a couple times a yr.

Even tho it began to snow abt the time we got to the restaurant at 6:30, we were there til 9:45. We love being together.........i'm so grateful for them.......jean   

[rosemarykaye]

Jean - what a fantastic group of friends to have.  And a women's history tour of NY sounds absolutely fascinating.  How did you all meet up in the first place - were you all working together or did you come together in some other way?

Rosemary

[Steph]

Jean, You always amaze me..I too wonder how you all met.

[Babi]

 Good idea, JOAN, listing a link to the archives in the Library.
So often people have problems locating the archives; this will be
a great help.
  I know seniors who are not all interested in a computer. Either
they don't want to bother with learning how to deal with it, or
they are simply active people who prefer to be up and doing. Don't
read a great deal either, probably. To each his own.

 ROSEMARY, you are funny!     If I may say so, tho', your Council
sounds very much in need of younger blood. Are the members voted
in?  Perhaps you could stand for office. You'd be a refreshing
voice there.

  JEAN, it is so impressive what your group has accomplished.
I am filled with admiration. You've paid off that huge debt and
a complete renovation. Good for you all and a round of applause.

[bellemere]

Reading "the Nine" about the Supreme Court justices, it seems that the search to fill a vacancy during the Clinton administration was striking out for someone Clinton wanted, after Mario Cuomo bowed out.  Janet Reno and Pat Moynihan pushed for him to appoint
Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her championship of women's rights.  The vetting staff did the initial interviews and were less than enthusiastic, considered her "cold" and "unresponsive"  But when Clinton interviewed her, he asked about her entire life, not just her rulings and writings.  he saw what the others had missed:  a truly heroic woman.  He picked her instantly and her confirmation went through.
She had such a clever strategy for working on discrimination based on gender.  she found instances where state laws were discriminating against MEN first.  In Oklahoma, girls between the ages of 18 -21 were permitted to drink "near beer" but men of that age were not.
By getting rulings against discrimination based on gender as applied to male plaintiff is, she paved the way for the same in favor of women.
She was part of " We've come a long way baby." 

[mabel1015j]

Steph and Rosemary - In the 70's we were all involved with something having to do with women's issues in the county: i was Director of the YWCA and i hired Janet to be the Program Director - she is now a tv program producer; Barbara was a counselor at the community college having her consciousness raised by joining a group of women who were filing a discrimination suit against the college, which they eventually won. The irony of BArbara being this very activist feminist is that she was born in NC and upon mtg her you see the very picture of the southern lady! Judy was very active in the local NOW chapter - the Alice Paul chapter, of course  . So we all knew of each other. In 1977, some of us were very fortunate to get to meet Alice Paul on her 92nd birthday. She was not in good health and the local Quaker community brought her to a Quaker nursing home, just up the street from the Y offices. In 1984, the NOW was planning a candidates night, several of us were at that mtg. I said "Next year is Alice's centennial year, we should have a celebratory event." so we formed a "corporation" so we could use the event as a fund-raiser, and Pat - who was at the dinner last night was the atty who lead us thru that process- Judy solicited food and desserts from restaurants, Barbara began her 15 yrs as the voluntary, full-time president and our "leader". Janet did all the publicity and met Sally Ride at the airport, and the rest of us filled in the gaps. Diane, the senator, was the m c for the evening, she was a news anchor at the time and brought us tv attention.

The irony of last night, was the beautiful snow that came while we were having dinner - 26 yrs ago on the night of the event w/ 225 people coming, we had ahuge storm the night before and there was a flurry of phone calls trying to decide if we should go ahead w/ the dinner or postpone. We decided to go ahead, there were too many pieces to try to change it and the
restaurant assured us that their parking lot woyld be clear and their staff could get there! We
decided that Alice and all her colleagues saw us thru.

A fun piece is that we have a full-sized cardboard cut out of the picture of Alice toasting the banner of states after the 19th ammendment was ratified, just the figure of Alice w/the glass in her hand. Judy brings it every year, so Alice is w/us and we toast her and whatever event is apropos that year. This yr it was a toast to Diane, because last yr at this time she was deathly sick, but she had an experimental procedure at the U of Pa and is fine.

That is way more than you wanted to know about us......can you tell i love these women and the organization!?! . ......jean

[BarbStAubrey]

Thanks you so much for sharing Jean - I wouldn't have wanted you to omit one word - a wonderful life's achievement - your story is a grand example of how community is created around a passion acted upon. Not only your love but your admiration for you friends comes through as you tell the story. Thanks for reminding us of what is good about a group of women achieving together - interesting, have you noticed women seem to choose to roll up their sleeves and act on what seems impossible to many. And best yet, your group achievement has a lasting icon to place Alice Paul in remembered history.

[MaryPage]

Jean!  Oh my goodness, how the years roll by!  Haven't heard Sonia Johnson mentioned in such a long time.  Eons ago, was it in the eighties?  I cannot remember!  But I went, by myself, over to Reston, Virginia to the Mormon stake there and demonstrated on behalf of Sonia's not being thrown out of the church due to her views re abortion.  There were other people there;  I just did not know them.  She was meeting with the bishops that day.  I seem to remember it was autumn, but of course, I am probably mistaken.  I was there for hours and hours, but never got to meet her.  It was a very emotional time, and I was glad I was there.  She was excommunicated despite our efforts.

[MaryPage]

Googled her just now, and it must have been in '79!  Funny, but I can remember finding the church and finding parking nearby and walking over to where the group was demonstrating.  That's about it.  It was about the ERA, not abortion.  I get confused these days!  The older I get, the more it seems all one ball of wool!

[serenesheila]

I am really enjoying all of the posts about the Women's Movement, and Alice Paul.  I had never heard of her, until my youngest granddauhter, talked to me about her life.  GD wrote a report about AP's life.  The only women's contributions to equal rights for women with whom I was familiar were Margaret Sanger and Susan B. Anthony.  That is certainly a sad part of American education, in my lifetime.

I have always been interested in politics, and American history.  But, I was in my thirties before I truly realized how unfairly the rights of women were.  My mother was 5 years old, when women won the right to vote!  To my surprise, I later found out that Great Britain had women's sufferage prior to the USA.

One instance of discrimination that really made an impression on me, was after bleeding for 2+ weeks, I went to the hospital for a hysterectomy.  The hospital required the signature of my husband, before they would operate.  They only performed a partial hysterectomy.  Several years earlier, my husband had a vasectomy.  My consent was not required!

I have had the flu and been in bed for a week.  Being able to keep in touch with all of your posts has kept me company.


Sheila

[kiwilady]

New Zealand was the first country where women got the vote. It was in 1893. We were such a new country then. My ancestors came here in the eighteen fifties and they were part of the big wave of migration of the middle classes from Britain to NZ. When you think our country was only 53 years old when women were empowered it is mindboggling! The first permanent settlers came here to Petone near Wellington in 1840.

Carolyn

[rosemarykaye]

Sheila - I agree, my consent was also not required when my husband had the same snip!  though I don't think husbands have to consent to hysterectomies any more - but really it's shameful that they ever did.

I saw a programme a while ago about an English woman living in Switzerland - apparently women's rights there were practically non-existent until very recently - women only got the vote there in the 1970s!!  We in the UK tend to think that all of the European countries are more or less the same in these things, but clearly they are not.

Rosemary

[BarbStAubrey]

It is only since 1974 that a married or an unmarried women could buy a house without the signature and credit of a husband, father or brother - it was the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that gave women in the US the right to establish their own credit.

[Steph]

 Hmm, my husbands doctor must have been a forward thinker, because when he got the snip, I had to sign as well as he did. When I had the hys in 91,, noone signed except me..
Womens rights are interesting and somewhat complicated.. Originally in New York, when just the dutch were in charge, women had quite a lot of rights. They owned stores, ships, etc.. but when the English came, that was all taken away.. Many Dutch women also kept their own maiden names as well.

[Babi]

That is way more than you wanted to know about us......can you tell i love these women and the organization!?! .

......jean
  No,really?!! 

 A different side note on buying a house in Texas, at least some 40 years ago. Since the house
was to be the woman's domain, the sale of a house could not be final if the wife did not
agree to it. Of course, I didn't learn that fact until the very last minute. A bit late if I
hadn't liked the house.

[ALF43]

I still become incensed over much of this.  After my third child I wanted to have my tubes tied and the permission required my husband's approval and signature! GRRRRRRR  (I worked that one out with my favorite OB-GYN doc and because of Roe vs. Wade it became legal shortly after the fact.)

When "he" deserted us two years later, even though I had a full time job, the bank refused me any credit because he was a dead beat dad and I, a single mother.  GRRRRR- again.
I marched myself into the president of the bank's office and sat there until he heard me out.  He guaranteed me a credit of $50 for 30 days.  I paid it off in full and asked again.  Finally, I was guaranteed credit for $1000, which was a lot of money in the early 70's.  My argument was that I was the one who was responsible for the bills- not the "dead beat" dad.

Yes, indeedy, we've come a long way baby.

[ginny]

Such great posts here, loved that, Andrea. grrr indeed. hahaha I can just see you there, a mini volcano, oh times have really changed. I love the Alice Paul site, and am so proud of our Jean, who KNEW??

Shiela I am sorry to hear you've had the flu, there's one going around which lingers on and on and on, I hope you feel better soon, ISN'T this a cheery place to come and kind of be enlightened or entertained or both? Kind of puts the spark in one's day.

Talk about the small indignities and insults of life. I am reading the BEST book, it's one that you want to shout about but Pedln has already done that here, several times.  When she posted the last time I went on a search for it and finally found it: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.

What can you SAY about this BOOK? I'm not that far in it, about 1/3rd through. It's the best book I've read this year, perfect for a snowy day. Perfect for any day. Perfect, too good to speed read. Not wanting even a chapter to end.

 I absolutely love it. It's gentle, (so far) and while not particularly a comedy of manners, not a comedy but not dark either,  it's similar. Small town England. It's got plot upon plot,  upon plot. it would make a great book to discuss. A gentle tale  of a widower in a Sussex village in the UK whose brother dies, and  who sees his own age thrust upon him by his son, and others, while struggling to regain a family heirloom left jointly to him and his brother.

 It's gentle,  and so far kind, it's also about aging, how we don't see it, how we ignore it, or  make compensations that seem perfectly natural to us for it,  until our age is thrust upon us by our  children or others...the small indignities; she's captured being over 65  perfectly. And loneliness. And how even in adulthood...the regrets of childhood, the emotions of our childhoods  continue to surface, and influence us, bat them back as you will. It's  just breathtaking. It's beautifully, beautifully  written. I think you would have to be over 65 to understand it, (although the author doesn't look that old from the photo) the nuances, the tiny things, I love it love it love it.

The author is British and lives in Washington DC. It's her first book. Too bad we're not planning a trip to DC. I love this book.  Did I mention  I love it?  I mean truly we could discuss one sentence for a week.

I love it. What are you reading? Anything you love? Or hate?   

[ALF43]

Ginny, I agree, I loved Major Pettigrew's Last Stand which I read at Thanksgiving time (as I was making stuffing.)  Gentle is a wonderful description of that book.  
I'm reading Empire of the Summer Moon so that I can join in the discussion,  Dean Koontz'es new What the Night Knows and Don't Blink, by Patterson.
We are all still struggling in Little Bee to make sense of the world's atrocities but the discussion is moving forward easier now.  Thank you all for hanging in there with us.

[mabel1015j]

The U.S. was one of the last industrial countries in which women won the right to vote........aaaggghhh.

Did any of you get your own checking account in the 70's? One that you could overdraw and have money transferred in from the bank, like a small loan, so you could get a credit rating in your own name? Sev'l of us here did that. As i look back now, i am very surprised that i was able to get a car loan in my own name in 1965 to buy my first car. Of course, i was a teacher and that was considered a "secure" job AT THAT TIME  and that may have helped. But there was not even a discussion about needing a co-signer. The dealer just gave me the papers and i signed them.

During women's history month - March - i often speak at high schools about what the contemporary (1960's to today) women's movement was about and what were the issues. The students are very surprised that in my adult life-time teachers had to quit working in their fourth month of pregnancy........teachers don't have sex, you know.......... , and that i had curfews in college even tho the boys didn't and yes, women were often not allowed to control getting tubes tied, or hysterectomies. etc. etc.

There is a new bio out on Alice Paul, A Woman's Crusade: AP and the Battle for the Ballot by Mary Walton.

I'm really enjoying Touching Stars by Emilie Richards. It's about a woman who has been divorced for 12 yrs from a national tv reporter who has just returned from a short capture by the Afghans and needs to recuperate. Since he is not on good terms with his family, he asks if he can come to stay in  the B and B that she owns in Virginia to recuperate. They have three sons who have varying responses to their father. For those of you who like quilting, or know anything about quilting, there is a theme of it running thru the book. She uses quilts as part of her decorating scheme, all in a "star" pattern. ...............jean

[pedln]

Ginny, I'm so glad you're reading Major Pettigrew.  My DIL knows the author, Helen Simonson.  Their kids go/went to the same high school and she came to Emily's book discussion group. It's a delightful book, and she does wonders with the male point of view.  It's really been interesting to read these various books about the British, especially since we've had Rosemary's input, and I thought of her comments about the Pym selections so often while I was reading Pettigrew, especially since it's written about a more contemporary time period.  There were even some excellent women around and about.   

Once upon a time I was married, but haven't been for a long time.  But back in 1958 my fiance was in the Navy and we would be moving around.  My family wanted to know how would I go about voting, as a resident of Wisconsin, my home state, or what?  I don't know who my mother called, probably Republican headquarters. But she was told, I should take the residence of my husband.  Well, his residence was in the US Virgin Islands (his parents home) and they did not vote in US elections.  Looking back on it all now, we probably could have pushed it, and I don't know if we were given correct information or not. (His parents were  divorced while he was in college and his mother lived in Virginia, though he had never lived there.)

[CubFan]

Greetings,

After my divorce in 1981 and the bank was giving me the run around (and I'd been employed as a library/media specialist for 6 years) I pulled my accounts and those of my girls and we transferred to the credit union where I've been ever since. When I bought my house 6 years later I went through the Savings & Loan vice president who was a very good friend with one of my principals. I couldn't have had better service. I'm not sure it would have gone so smoothly if I hadn't had those connections because at that time there were an awful lot of "jerks" to deal with. I've found that in most cases now whether it be household maintenance or car issues that the men are much more professional to deal with. Now how they are at home I don't know - but they have learned that if they are chauvinistic in their attitude that many of us will walk out & go elsewhere. My daughters are the same way.

I have a friend who is in the process of writing a biography of Jesse Jack Hooper who was very involved in suffrage movement here in Wisconsin. The research is done and Helen is in the writing process so I don't expect to see a finished product for a couple of years yet. The correspondence that Jesse had with ours and the activities she was involved with have been fascinating. While she was doing the research Helen developed a presentation where she dresses the part and assumes the role of Jesse. One of our local high schools has the auditorium named for her.

Of our 15 elementary schools only one is named for a woman (Emmeline Cook). I know Green Bay has a Laura Wilder school and Janesville used to have a Frances Willard School. In Wisconsin, September 28 is a required Frances Willard observance day in all the public schools. How well/much it is observed depends on the individual building. My schools got a heavy dose each year because I grew up in her home town (Janesville) and put up a display each year in the media center, brought treats for the teachers (gentle reminder of the day), and read information to different classes. Her anti liquor stand overshadowed her suffrage & education contributions in most of the available literature and in the minds of many of those distributing information.

I need to lay my hands on her biography as I have a granddaughter coming up that needs to have access to that.  Glad this topic came up - I would have forgotten about that.

Mary

[BarbStAubrey]

...buying a house in Texas, at least some 40 years ago. Since the house was to be the woman's domain, the sale of a house could not be final if the wife did not agree to it...

Babi you ran into the Homestead law - there are several reasons and benefits for those living in a state with Homestead Laws -  one of the important benefits for Texas - so important that it made it into again into the State Constitution written after the Civil War when Southern States had to re-write their Constitutions - that no creditor other than the mortgage company or the taxing authority or holder of the note for improvements could seize property to satisfy a debt.

This was based on how prolific betting the ranch in a game of card or being pulled into a not-so-honest game of chance or a rancher deciding they needed a few dollars more to continue a night out on the town or his death making homeless wives and children. Originally it was the home, 10 acres and a mule - later the mule was changed to a pickup that was protected from creditors.                  

Until 1972, at a closing, wives were often ushered into a separate room when quizzed, often with a hand raising vow that they agreed with either a purchase or sale of the property in question. 1972 made changes that affected the number of acres that were approved for the lower tax benefit and the change from family owned property to allow singles to receive the benefits of the Homestead act. That change stopped the practice of getting agreement from wives for the purchase or sale of their Homestead. Investment property was never protected and so a man could buy rent property without his wife's approval or for that matter her knowledge.

Then the huge change in 1998 when there was enough appetite by voters to change the Constitution so that equity loans could be placed on homesteads for reasons other than paying back taxes. Since 1998, a total of 80% of the appraised value can be financed replacing the original loan and using the remaining equity to increase the mortgage. Before 1998 no mortgage could be approved for greater than the remaining loan on the property. In other words no equity loans.

More than you want to know --- however, your experience probably happened before the 1972 law was adhered to by all Title Companies. Change secured to help single men and women seldom happened immediately with cultural habits hanging on until someone challenges them - in the seventies a single man or woman buying property was most often because of divorce which was still a public shame therefore, married women experienced the drill until change was adopted.

Steph I am reading Cee Cee Honeycut - she is only in Savannah a bit of time when the pink skirted neighbor came in while Oletta  beats biscuit dough. Whew I do not remember last when a book had me in tears but her young life in Ohio was a nightmare wasn't it. The scenes with her neighbor in Ohio, Mrs. Odell were precious.

[marcie]

I'm currently reading a very interesting book that I found on the "New NonFiction" stand at our public library. It's titled, The Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present, by Christine Stansel. It seems very well and thoroughly researched (lots of footnotes) but is very readable and engaging. It sets women's struggle for equality in America in the greater historical context. It spans the time from Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to the current day. She provides a lot of details about individual and collective struggles and the different emphases that various women and groups had in approaching the rights and roles of women.

[roshanarose]

You are all gutsy women.  A tribute to the women here and Helen Reddy.

I AM WOMAN

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again
CHORUS
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul
CHORUS

also a tribute to our first female Prime Minister and our quite amazing Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh who has helped us through a disaster. And for our ever so elegant and smart Governor-General and the Governor of Queensland, both women. 

[kiwilady]

As far as I am concerned our country did much better under the all woman Administration. Things are bad here right now.

[Gumtree]

Roshanarose: That's a clutch of outstanding women you've just mentioned. Anna Bligh takes the cake though - she sure has my admiration for the way she has conducted herself and buoyed up her community during the floods. She seemed to just be herself and let her natural demeanour show though -sincerity, strength, compassion, courage and the undaunted will to get Queensland through this disaster.

[Steph]

I guess I am alone in some things. I had a husband who started early to make sure I had my own bank account in my name alone.. When credit cards started. He made sure that I had cards in my name, not Mrs. So and so.. I also had a joint accounts with him and cards with him, but his mother had been widowed early and he remembered her struggles and made sure it would not happen to me..
Florida is a homestead state, but they dont ask the wives permission.
But we do have dower rights.
CeeCee gets better and better. It is a small story but written well. I gota look for the Major.

[Babi]

no creditor other than the mortgage company or the taxing authority
or holder of the note for improvements could seize property to
satisfy a debt.

   Now, I didn't realize that, BARB. I had thought the 'homestead'
could not be seized at all, as a protection for wife and children. Just
as well I didn't know at the time. 

 Honeycutt and Fannie Flagg must be older authors, right? I can't
find books by either one in my library.

[mabel1015j]

Frances Willard was an amazingly great organizer, like Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony. That must be a key component to getting causes to be effective. I believe that i've read abt a new bio of her in the last couple years. I'll see if i can find it.

I haven't heard of Jesse Hooker, but will look forward to learning abt her. I'll check the internet, does your friend have a website?  Isn't it a shame that half of our history was never taught to us in public school? There are so many fascinating women and events that i've learned about in the last 4 decades, not while i was in school, and i have a bachelors and masters degree in HISTORY! Everything i learned abt women's history, i've learned on my own.

The Homestead Act was a big help in getting women to the west and allowing women to be landowners. Unfortunately many become landowners as widows. Some of the  western states, Wyoming and Utah, were the first to give women the vote in the U.S., not necessarily bcs they  thought women deserved to vote but bcs they thought it would give them more votes for issues they wanted to pass, i.e. Allowing polygamy in Mormon states. 

Love Helen Reddy and that song.

Sounds like you picked a good mate Steph, a smart and secure one.

Marcie, i will look for that book, it sounds like a good one........jean

[rosemarykaye]

Steph, your husband was clearly very enlightened.  My husband (who would consider himself very left wing, open-minded, etc), nearly had a coronary when I said I was going to open my own bank account and have my salary paid into it!  We had always had a joint a/c, but when I went back to work I just wanted to be able to see money that was mine - I am not a spender (as you may have noticed  and I was perfectly prepared to contribute, I just wanted to have the money in my name. 

Well I went ahead and did it - he then realised that he could also have his "own" a/c, and once he had realised that he was fine - we now have an a/c each plus the joint a/c, and it all works well.  He spends all his a/c on hockey trips, etc, and I save all mine and call it my running away fund....

I also have my own credit cards.

My father died young and left my mother with virtually no money (not his fault - they just didn't have any) but the bank a/c was in joint names and that did save her a lot of bother.

Even today, as a lawyer, I see men remortgaging their homes and just telling their wives to sign on the dotted line.  Banks are now required to ensure that women have separate legal advice in these situations, but the problem often is that women don't listen to it - they believe what their husbands tell them in preference to what a lawyer tells them, - the bank is then satisfied that they have been advised, but it is only when the whole things goes belly-up that the woman realises what she has let herself in for.  Unfortunately that is true of so much in life, isn't it?  People think that things will be Ok because they can't believe that their partners will let them down, but sadly as one gets older the light of reality often dawns.

It's not only men either - I've also had female clients who have somehow managed to arrange loans without telling their partners (more often than not to bail out their feckless adult children), then they are unable to pay and they are terrified that their partners will find out.  I am often amazed at how far parents will go to bail out their children - of course we all want to protect and help our offspring, but when those offspring get into their 40s and are still spending money they don't have like water, it is terrible to see elderly parents feeling they have to cover the children's debts; most older people have never been in debt and have an absolute abhorrence of it, but unfortunately today's (or should that be yesterday's?) credit obsessed society has led many younger people to think that they should never have to wait for anything  or go without.  The adviser who dealt with our mortgage told me that many young people would come in to see him wanting to borrow huge amounts - he would ask them how they thought they were going to repay it and they would reply "I'll get money when my parents die" - what a terrible way to carry on (and a stupid one too, as many older people's capital is going to be eaten up by care home fees).

I'm sure that's enough for me on that subject!

Rosemary

[CubFan]

Jean - I don't think Helen has a web site but if you google     Jesse Jack Hooper     you will find information about both Jesse and Helen.   If you don't use her complete name you'll get a bunch of unrelated Jesse Hoopers.   I don't see Helen as often now that she's "holed up" to write instead of at the archives doing research. Many of Jesse's papers are at the Wisconsin Historical Society. She ran as an Independent Democratic candidate for United States Senate in Wisconsin in 1922.  I don't know a whole lot about her, just bits and pieces. I'm looking forward to reading the book.

Mary

[EvelynMC]

I have a question for those of you who have a Kindle.

I am thinking of getting one, but have heard that there is not enough contrast to see the print unless you are in a very well lighted place.---Low light, little or no contrast.  Do you find this to be so?

I have macular degeneration and have a lot of trouble reading unless I am under a strong light, or outside in sunlight. 

I have been using audio books for the past year, but really miss reading.  So I thought a Kindle would be the answer and now they have dropped the price to $139.00, which makes one more attractive.

Your comments, please.

Thanks,

Evelyn

[maryz]

Evelyn, I don't feel that I have to have very strong light to read the Kindle, but I do wish there was more contrast between the print and the background.  The only way to really find out is to see if you can find someone who has one and look at it.  There are also other e-readers that you might be able to check out.  I know the Nook is available at Barnes & Nobles, and they'll be very happy to show it to you.  I love my Kindle.