Every so often, I notice that I haven't written a blog in some time, that my devotion to writing on this forum has 'slipped'. I guess sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading it, since I receive so few 'comments'. Then, to my surprise, I hear a comment, in-person, from someone in my city who has been keeping up with my blog and yet never comments about it.
To wit: I was speaking with a colleague several weeks ago, who I was asking for assistance with anti-racism work at my religious congregation (he had given us assistance several years ago and I was very impressed with his skills). During the conversation, he mentioned that he also did pro-feminist work around educating males concerning abuse of women. I asked if he knew about my work on men's wellness and showed him my business card. He exclaimed "Oh, you're Mariposa!". He said he had been reading my blog for several years and didn't quite know who was writing it (guess he didn't recognize my photo on the blog site), but was quite impressed with my ideas. But he also noted, when I said I wasn't sure anyone actually read it because there were so few 'comments' registered, that he hadn't posted a comment on a blog for quite a number of years, that that simply wasn't his style. So, knowing that he was reading it, I was 'motivated again' to want to write more. Hence, getting around to it today.
I do have several friends and colleagues who respond with comments on a regular basis and that is most appreciated. One of them is a friend I knew from my college days in Albuquerque, who subsequently moved to California. I hadn't seen him in 20 years, just sort of lost track of him. One day, he sent me a request, via Facebook, to reconnect (social media does have the power to resurrect old connections from long-lost friends). When we were initially talking on Facebook, he said he had been reading my blogs for the past year, and had wanted to connect, knowing exactly who the writer was. And he posts comments often now.
The other thing about blogging, though, is that it isn't some sort of 'job' for me. I don't get paid for it, my nonprofit, to which it is attached, has been more a "no profit, no income" organization since its inception, so when I write and how much I write is purely up to me. There are no deadlines, no requirements, its a matter of 'when I feel the motivation'. And often my generally poor health gets in the way. I take good care of myself -- exercise, eat healthy food, meditate -- but the long-term side effects of the childhood PTSD has weakened my body and made me susceptible to hypersensitive reactions to environmental materials and substances that have little effect on most other people. And those hypersensitive reactions 'set me back on my heals' in some fairly traumatic ways. So, while I feel awkward sometimes for going for long periods between posting blogs, I write when I am healthy enough and feel that enough thoughts have percolated in my mind. I sometimes think I have to wait for some 'overarching' issue to arise, before I write, but other times I realize I just need to write down 'accumulated thoughts', which is what I have in mind this time around.
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So, to the 'substance' blog itself.
I was very happy about the settlement that Penn State University made with many of the child abuse victims of Jerry Sandusky. At least the employer of Jerry Sandusky, who perpetrated 45 counts of sexual abuse of 10 boys, admitted enough guilt in the cover-up of that crime to give some restitution. Nothing can 'take care' of that kind of trauma; having been the survivor of sexual abuse myself, I know that it takes a lifetime to overcome those insidious effects. And the larger question is whether Penn State -- or any other large institution -- has learned a lesson from this experience. The answer will come in the form of whether "the team/organization/institution" is more important than victims of their employees. The whole Jerry Sandusky situation, following on the heels of all the Catholic Church priest abuse cases, has surely raised public consciousness about the sexual abuse of boys (that sexual abuse is not solely an trauma experienced by females), and that's a good thing. But too many organizations continue to 'circle the wagons' and worry more about their short-term public image than the protection of innocent children.
The military is a good example of that: with the continuing information about the raising number of sexual assaults in the military services, clearly that problem is not being very well addressed. And what is disturbing to me, as a men's wellness advocate, is that while the number of males being sexually assaulted in the military constitute the majority of victims (52% of males vs. 48% of females, definitely not a tremendous difference), the emphasis of the legislation continues to focus on the assault of women. Maybe that's because the assault of women pulls more heartstrings, or generates more public sympathy, but it tends, again, to ignore, or discount, the sexual abuse of males.
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I attended a lecture given my Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, on the incarceration of African American males at an alarming rate, primarily for drug-related crimes. The statistics are truly distressing: more African American males disenfranchised from voting than were held in bondage at the time of the American Civil War. As a result of the laws in many states addressing the rights of felons, access to jobs, housing, voting, and social services are few, resulting in the recidivism of many of those males, resulting from an inability to survive outside the 'justice' system. We're addressing racial justice and anti-oppression at my Unitarian Universalist congregation this year (we plan it have it be a multi-year educational endeavor) and all this good information about the long-term deleterious effects of slavery on the African American psyche (and on the denial many whites display in reaction to that history) is influencing our approach to the subject.
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I felt satisfied by the news that voters in Albuquerque, my hometown, rejected a limitation on late-term abortions. The anti-abortion advocates had tried to get around the statewide opposition to those limitations by focusing on the municipal elections; but the Democratic Party marshaled its forces and successfully overcame those efforts. I'm proud that my fellow activists continue to uphold the liberalism and decency of our state in support of the rights of women.
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Well, that's all for now. My poor health is once again catching up to me today and I'm quickly running out of steam. But I wanted to put down some of my thoughts. And will return to more as I have the energy to address them.
