and pow erful member of the adnurastrahon.
GIVE 'EM HELL. HILLARY
B y A lison P ride
AB through the election, we watched her.
how ahe moved, talked, unilcd, frowned, and
stood by or upstaged her man.
W e watched
(i.e., a d w e d ) so ahe
m ahe was manipulated
would make a more pleasing, and palatable,
image
for
the
tim id
Am erican
voters
Apparently the softening and mellowing o f
her
image
worked,
because
by
the
tone
Americans steppod mto the voting booths,
she had been deebrwed and we were no
longer afraid o f what ahe nughi do m an
unguarded mom ent
O r at least the image
m aken
make
managed
to
enough to um suicr
us
forget
while,
there
were
her
her aa harmlcaa as a
Nancy Reagan or a Barbara Buah
AD the
those of ua who were
aecreth pleased, r v n i elitcd, that a woman
of
independent
moving
mind
«tcakfnfv
and
and
ambition
steadily
was
toward
hallowed halls o f the W hite House
one o f those.
the
I was
I would have voted Hillary
Rodham Clinton mto the
W hite
House if
she'd been running herself for ffresident.
I hiring the election, she was one of my
favorite topsca
I was appalled as ahe was
lambasted for everything from her hairhand*
to her apparent diamterest m the cuhnary arts
I agonized as ahe waa picked apart for her
taste in clothes and her taste in politics
I
fum ed when the debate raged over whether
ahe could truly be a role nxxicl for mothers
w ho chose to w ork outside the home
I
considered it poebe justice o f the highest
degree when BUI (h n to n won the election
and muncdiatcfy made it clear that the would
have a position o f genuine importance tn the
new
administration
Neanderthal
la k e
dxmwtta and
that,
Rush
you
I inibaugh
groupies
O f course, those o f ua who fch from the
beginning somehow protective o f her (and
she doesn't need our protection, I might sdd)
were tn fo r more months o f angst alter the
election
I f the apothght seemed to glare
unnaturally
H ig h I
before
afterwards it burned
the
ckc bon,
N o sooner had the new
administration celebrated ita victory than the
press had a speculative hohday
be het role?
W hat would
H o w much power would ahe
actually have?
redecorate
W ould ahe settle down and
the
W hite
House
and
throw
dinner parties hkc a proper praudcntiaJ w ife
or would ahe continue to appear domestically
impaired?
W ould
noncontnnrrsxal
she
pet
qutetfy
cause
or
a
pack
would
she
continue to thrust herself headlong mto the
most volatile issues?
W ould R ill (Tm ton
make gixxi on his prumase to give us "two for
the price o f one" or would he acquiesce to
the critics and abut her out'’
What became e x m
dcctxin
apparent
was that Hillary
aftcT the
Rodham
( hnton
was not going to disappear qinctfy mto the
background.
unnamed
There
W hite
were
House
reports
sources
from
that
she
harbored an ambition and a vision at least as
strong aa her
stronger
husband's,
Forget
some
that
their»
said erven
both
was
Clinton*
an
maintained
that
partnership
Forget that both expressed open
equal
adm iration for the other’s leadership style,
and that they seemed to be comfortable with
their complementary
abilities.
H illary the
Ifrag n n la d y became H illary the Potential
Dictator
HiDaiy the rabid feminist, intent on
destroying
everything
traditional
and
safe
about womanhood
It seemed hkc every tune thing? would
settle down,
something would
pop up to
rem axl us that she was unlike any First laxfy
w e’d ever had before.
change thing
There was the name
After the election, ahe let it be
known that she wanted to be adtfrcaacd aa
IhQarv Rodham ( hnton.
from
conservative
every where
Ih e cry went up
and
hberal
circles
W hat was ahe trying to puIT’
Ih d she think she could just sneak that one
over on us?
Before we knew it, she'd be
trying to drop the ( hnton name altogether
Forget
that
thousaruls
o f women
tn this
country either maintain their own name« after
marriage or choose to hyphenate then names-
-hers
had
to
be
subversive motive
an
underhanded
and
Fhen Bill ( ’hnton had the
gall to appoint her to head the I ask Force on
health care reform , and ahe in turn had the
gall to close the sessions to reporters and
members o f the A M A .
What's more, now
she's actually audacious enough to present
this proposal for health care reform to the
country just hkc any other htghh appointed
10 u m ft LIFT DM OCTOULK
4
(K4. When th« October issue was
coeceieed it was planned as a
women's tssne Dne to circumstances
th a t are all too common it d id n 't
tu rn oot th a t way. b u t we asked
several women to contribute
something on the thoughts of women
today and this is the p artial resu lt
We w ill be doing an issue th at
focuses on women's issues in the
fu tu re and in v ite women and men to
share w hat they are thinking these
days )
la there no end Io what this woman expects
us to accept from her?
F o r those o f us who can see her fa r what
ahe
ia -a n
ambitious,
compassionate,
ttW
intelligent,
complicated,
politically
accomplished and astute wom an—the answer
ia a resounding no.
W’c expect great things
fro m Hiflary Rodham < hnton, and so far we
are not disappointed
Every time ahe sends
those ripples o f anxiety through the m urky
waters
of
unenlightened
and
stagnant attitudes, we cheer
dangerously
(hve cm hell,
I ’ M »1
H iflary
W c may not neceasanfy agree with
her, but we're glad she'» tn there shaking
thing* up
Every tone a new poO comes out
that says Americans generally approve o f her,
we secretly m ule
We know H's only a matter
o f tone before she does something else to
chstrcsa the people whose acceptance o f her
ia uneasy and marginal
W e know that ahe is
sure to cause controversy
throughout
her
tenure m the W hite House simply by the way
she wears her hair or wears her make-up
She w the test case for how Americans might
take to a woman president
Ih e results have
not been always encouraging; tn fact, they
were at times bleak
believed
in
her
But those of us who
before
the
election
and
continue to do ao now realize that change n
often agonizing for the m dnidual who dares
to pioneer it
M y guess m that Hillary Rodham (Tm ton
w ill go down m history as one o f the great
First la d ie s o f this country
wiD
teach
us
speculation
is
open
W hat her term
to,
alas,
more
H o w we have reacted to her
independence
and
outspokenness
wiD
perhaps teach us something about ourselves
It should.
I hat wc were warv and at times
downright afraid o f her should serve as a
warning.
The
battle
for
true
equality
between the aexes has a long way to go
W hen the debate over a pow erful woman
centers on her image rather than her content,
we axe in ilangcr o f regressing to the days
when
a
woman
was
judged
more
appearance than true accomplishment
on
ago, that gender neutral insurance doesn t
have to be a threatening term, that you
can define sexual harassment
We made some progress this session,
but the dialogue has to continue These
aren t just womens issues and they can t
be won by only allowing through the door
those who 'pass the te s t' We must invite
everyone in who cares, put the labels
away and agree that we w ill sometimes
disagree on issues It's a dialogue that I
hope w ill begin soon But It must be a
broad based, inclusive dialogue That w ill
make some people nervous, but these
issues have been doing that for years It s
tim e to move ahead together, to
understand each other, to educate and to
realize the potential we have ignored for
far too long
(Ed We asked Senator Dukes to talk to
the issues that face women p o litic a lly ,
and she expresses a view that we cannot
argue against As long as there are
loyalty oaths on any issues we w ill never
find the value that resides in our
opponents, nor they in us We thank her for
her thoughts)
We
are saying that what a wom an does is less
important than how she look» or how wefl
she adherer to the role society assigns or
permits her.
W c are saving that not all
chokes are okay for women to make, even
when they arc choices arrived at by caref ul
thought and hard reflection
com fort
with
Rixlham
(h n to n
and
n
O u r level o f
acceptance
an
of
1 Hilary
tndkabon
o f our
willingness to accept change.
For some o f
ua, she is more than just the First I ady, she is
a reason to hope tor such a change
S tate Senator Joan Dukes
I've never been known as a 'fem in ist",
whatever that means, and I don't belong to
any 'women s' organizations unless the
League of Women Voters qualifies (and I
don't think it does) I've never been
comfortable putting a label on who I am
My opposition to abortion has marked me
by some and led to comments like 'you
know she's not one of u s ‘ Yet. I believe
those very issues have prevented all of us
who believe in equality at all levels from
working together and moving forward on
an agenda that simply can't wait
On the Inside It looks different This
past legislative session brought men and
women who cared together without
labels, without prejudice for their
position on other Issues, but w ith a
willingness to fight for basic rights
Much of the Women s Health and Wellness
Act was stonewalled In the House of
Representatives, the Senate was deeply
divided over creation of a Standing
Committee on Sexual Harassment to deal
w ith employment related problems that
may arise In the Senate The House hadn't
even considered such a thing at that point
But the men and women who cared pulled
together to educate and lobby It takes
time to explain why gynecological care
covers more than was thought 20 years
S a v to n ®
M l!®
p a m a u u f Stolts
flefoi®»
2 j 4
by n«r«l Cartts
Saturday afternoon, painting alone, aided
only by a local radio station, my thoughts
wander about the tra ils of old songs or
some smoldering opinion fanned into
flames by half hourly newsbreaks A song
about 'forgiveness' causes the teenage
face of Candy to appear in the center of
my mental screen She was 16 when I met
her, so she is not a teenager now What
could have become of her, I wonder w ith a
sense of sadness and pity
She crossed my path as a long term
'guest' at a Youth Detention F acility
where I worked 3 years ago
Candy and several others s t ill haunt my
thoughts regularly, for I had spent many
hours playing cards or basketball w ith
them, teaching some w riting, listening,
sharing stories and lives, feeding them
and wornng about their coughs
At least 2 of them are no longer alive,
both suicides which did not occur in our
fa c ility A 14 year old g irl and a 17 year
old boy, w ith beautiful, sensitive
faces haunting
On the same radio as the song about
■forgiveness' plays a news story of a
young Kansas woman who attempted to
murder an Abortion Clinic Doctor
I've wanted to te ll people about Candy so
often because she Is such a tragic
archetype of the negelected and/or abused
young human, thrown haphazardly into a
life in which given a choice. I'm sure she
would have chosen diffe ren tly
Candy's mother died when she was four
years old and her father abused her when
she was very young, the extent of which
could not be exactly determined She
ended up in a series of foster homes and
eventually, group home situations for
young g irls She repeatedly ran away
from these 'homes’ , never bonding to any
of the caregivers
At some point in her adolescence, she
began to look for love on the streets, In
the form of older men who used her for
sex She became an alcohol and drug
abuser (no small wonder) and when she
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