Geraldine Ferraro and Rosalie Wahl



Rosalie Wahl
1st Female Supreme Court Judge
Minnesota 

In his book, "The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics," Walter Mondale recounts his decision to choose a woman as his vice presidential running mate in 1984 and why Geraldine Ferraro was his choice.  And all of that is very important because Mondale and Ferraro changed the political landscape in the United States forever.
Another woman who strode into arenas where women were held at bay is Rosalie Wahl, who was appointed as Minnesota Supreme Court Justice in 1977 by Governor Rudy Perpich - becoming the first female Supreme Court Justice in Minnesota.  I remember the potency of the day I read of her appointment.  A woman on the Minnesota Supreme Court, her expertise, her perspectives diversifying what until that day was a male domain. 

I remain grateful to her for her passion for the law, including a woman's place in that profession and for Governor Perpich for recognizing her as an extraordinary lawyer who would make an extraordinary Supreme Court Justice. 

I never imagined I would get to meet Justice Wahl much less speak to her. All that changed when then retired Justice Wahl presented at a conference at The College of St. Catherine several years ago.  In her remarks she included the "story of the locust" in which she told how locust are able to traverse rivers and streams because the first to cross willingly entering the water to knowing they will die and that their bodies will create a bridge over which the rest can then pass. 

Justice Wahl then told stories of the "locusts" in her life who strongly and powerfully did the hard work of entering perilous territory previously closed to them, how they perservered paving the way for her to be able to become a lawyer and rise to become a Minnesota Supreme Court Justice. I hung on her every word.  She was powerful and approachable, so approachable that I stood in line to speak to her.  Imagine my utter surprise when I told her how much I appreciated her work and her telling of the locust story that she asked for my address and offered to send me a copy - she did and I still have it!

The Minnesota Historical Society is creating a documentary, "She Who Would Giants Fight" of Justice Wahl's life including telling the story of how she "survived the 1978 election challenge by three male lawyers and the tough tactics of the campaign. She goes on to serve on the Court for 17 years, bringing intelligence, compassion and fairness to every decision she makes."

Her biography reads in part, "While on the Supreme Court, Wahl served as its liaison to the Court's Study Commission on the Mentally Disabled and also chaired its task forces on gender fairness and racial bias. Wahl remained on the court for seventeen years until she retired in 1994 at the mandatory age of 70."

Today the Minnesota Women Lawyers hold the annual Rosalie Wahl Leadership Lecture and award the Rosalie Wahl Leadership Award.   Both Rosalie Wahl and Geraldine Ferraro are examples for me of women who like the locust strode into uncharted territories standing strong in their incredible convictions and abilities to lead our state and nation in ways that forever changed the landscape of our lives. 

I will spend the rest of the day and week celebrating the countless women throughout my personal, our state and national history, who have led us potently to today where three of the last four to hold the office Secretary of State for the United States are women:  Madeleine Korbel Albright (1997-2001); Condoleezza Rice (2005-2009) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (2009-current).

Both Geraldine and Rosalie crossed over bridges built by the women locusts before them and they were locusts for generations who benefit from their locust lives.

Thank you Rosalie for changing us. 
Thank you Geraldine for changing us - may you rest in peace.

The Vulnerable Among Us

The current reports indicate that the budget challenges we face in Minnesota will be addressed at the expense of our most vulnerable, elders and those without insurance to provide them with even the most basic health care.

In 1979 my dear "Gramma Elsie" left her home on the farm "down home"  and moved to an apartment about five miles away in West Concord.  A short time later, she fell breaking her hip.  Surgery was successful but she needed care during her rehabilitation, so she moved again, this time to Pine Haven Nursing Home in Pine Island, 11 miles from "down home."

These were very difficult days for her.  I spent one day every two weeks with her and listened to her as she described her anger at being "put away."   She told the stories that I knew very well having watched her: provide 24/7 loving care for her aging mother-in-law, my Great-Gramma Isabel the last years of her life, five of those years she was bedridden.  She died in her bed at home with her family at her side June 1961.  Her body was taken to the mortuary and then returned to "her living room down home" where she was layed out in front of the south facing windows.  The house filled with people including a man who during the Great Depression was given work by Great Gramma on her farm that provided him with room and board.  He wept remembering her kindness and generosity. 

Gramma Elsie had two years of reprieve before her husband, my Grampa Wille, began his decline rooted in deteriorating hips and other joint issues.  Again she provided 24/7 loving care for him until he began to have a series of strokes that made it necessary for him to go to Pine Haven there he died two weeks later.

At the end of her remembering what she so freely and lovingly gave, she wondered sadly and at times angrily how her family could put her away, why none of us would take her into our home and take care of her now that she needed us.  Well, I tried.  I brought her home for two weeks but learned quickly that all the love I had for her did not make up for the reality that our home was not safe for her (split entry, three levels) and I as a working wife/mother did not have the energy to give her what she deserved.

I treasure the five years she lived at Pine Haven when she and I walked the joyful and angry and sad path of her last years.  We wrestled with each other as she wanted more from the family and felt safe enough to tell me her pain describing that everybody was working and nobody had time to take care of her like she had done for so many others. 

One day as I came to visit, she again said that I did not come often enough, that we all failed her, wondered about why I could not come more often.  Gosh, I came for a full day twice a month!  So on that day I told her how much it hurt when I happily drove the thirty miles each way to spend a full day with her only to have her begin the visit by chastising me for not doing more.  We both ended up crying and hugging and that was the last time we had to go down that painful road. 

In the following weeks, my mom and an uncle asked me "what did you do to your grandmother?"  I sure didn't get their question so I asked what was wrong.  They said she was happier, no longer complaining so much and that the change started after my last visit.  I recounted the visit and they both said, "oh." 

Today I think about what was truly a time of luxury for her compared to what frail elders face today in light of major state budget cuts projected to cut services that provide care for our frail elders in long term care facilities.  How scared would Gramma Elsie be?  She read the papers, listened to the news - she might have been a resident of Pine Haven, but she knew what was going on!

How do our vulnerable elders feel today as they wonder what life will be like for them if the projected budget cuts are passed?  The very people who prepared the way for us; the people who loved us and cared for us into the lives we have today and now some legislators are ready to "throw them under the bus."  Our mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, veterans, nurses, teachers ... ... ... are too expensive for us.  And I haven't even begun to think about those regardless of age who are mentally and critically ill and therefore unable to provide for themselves.  If this proposed budget cut passes, what does that really say about us?

I know we no longer live in the 1961 or the 1979 world - and I know that I remember when we really did remember that who we are and what we have is because of what those before us lovingly sacrificed during their productive years.

What has happened to us?  I am sure that if Gramma Elsie were living with her full faculties in a nursing home today, I would REALLY get an earful. And I SHOULD! 

As an elder woman I know recently said, "I may be losing my mind, but I still have feelings."
Just thinkin'...... 2011 the world of ME ... the world of WE forgotten, history.

THE ICE AGE

my front steps

This winter I have cursed the snow - the major snow drifts and piles that made it impossible to see clearly to leave one street and enter the next; drifts that came up over my hips on two different snowfalls required hiring professionals to remove snow from my sidewalks. I had to have my roof cleaned professionally for the first time.  Oh, how I have begged for this winter to end over and over and over since the first BIG snowfall December 11th.  All to no avail.

Now the mountains of snow are beginning to melt...melt by day... freeze by night only to hide under a beautiful thin layer of snow many mornings. 

Instead of heading out the door or stepping confidently out of my car, my brain screams - this is THE ice age!  Take your time.  Step lightly.  Be especially careful curbside where the water runs by day and freezes by night.  My friends have fallen - separated ribs - twisted back...it is THE ice age!  Once again I am reminded of how what is so beautiful can also so dangerous.  I am grateful that my friends did not break hip or arm or leg or pelvis.  Chiropractor and pain meds and ice packs, time off from work lead to their recovery.

Spring officially begins in eight days.  Where I used to look foward primarly to longer days wrapped in the warmth of the sun with the promise of budding trees, spring flowers and rhubarb tentatively poking out of the cold earth, I now just want to stop thinking about watching for ICE.

Spring sweet spring come swiftly so people can move about again safely ... ...

TV News and Commercials

1950'a NBC Morning News Dave Garroway

 

 

As a kid way back in the long long ago commercials during news programs (at least the ones I remember) included Ovaltine, and Anacin and cigarettes and liquor.  At the time none of these things were offensive to me.  The news consisted of world, national and local events with the usual assortment of criminal activity. 

I do NOT remember, alright memory may be fading,  news items about professors demonstrating sex toys to students who "chose to stay and were warned the demonstration may be offensive", nor do I remember saga after saga of actors/actresses breaking the law by using illegal drugs or shoplifting or ... ... ... as my "grands" might say, "like ya know Charlie Sheen, is he like sick or like have his brain cells been destroyed by like drugs and alcohol or being a 'john' on a regular basis?"  And all of this is available on the morning news, March 4, 2011.

I used to enjoy the evening news before dinner.  Well, that was before the commercials became focused on the most unbelievable array of commercials showing animated "germs" that can kill off fungus under the toe nails and chase mucus from our systems ... and oh, ya, I really savor those that urge men to take "this pill" so you are ready for that important opportunity.  Gee I almost forgot, Preparation H is another favorite on the evening news.

More and more I seem to be turning off the TV news and reading the newspaper more fully, checking in on the news online from the Washington Post, NY Times, The Guardian and ALJazeera...all commercial free and I can choose what to read!  When I sit down for breakfast or dinner, the food really does taste much better!