We are thrilled to announce the first annual party of the Spokane Shrinking Violet Society where we will share with you some of the accomplishments of our saucy social co-op over the last year. This is the official blog post for the event, so check back soon for updates and developments!
This celebration will feature:
A Local Vendor Fair including artisans, nonprofits and businesses of interest.
Are you, or someone you know interested in tabling at the event?
Email mariah[dot]mckay[at]gmail[dot]com for details. Spots are going fast, so reserve your table today!
Eclectic live music and entertainment.
Interested in strutting your stuff be it music, poetry, dance, comedy or some other kind of performance?
Get in touch with Jane Silver through the Facebook Call for Entertainers.
An art exhibit of local work produced in the past year.
If you made something interesting to look at, let Tiffany Patterson know!
Submission guidelines are on the Facebook Call for Artists.
Refreshments and champagne to toast.
Free on-site child care.
Violet Gaia Borgias Brown is graciously coordinating child care for the night. Contact her on Facebook if you’d like to volunteer.
The fine ladies of the greater Spokane area along with all of their friends and family.
This means YOU!
Tickets are only $5 online and in select stores before Feb. 20th, and are $7 thereafter and at the door. Tickets will first be offered by cash and check only at Atticus Coffee on 222 N. Howard. Release date TBA. The public is welcome to RSVP to the event.
Several Violets have been involved in a local grassroots coalition that is looking to acknowledge community rights in Spokane. In our hyper-individualized culture, the concept of “community rights” is a new one and is understandably not intuitive to people.
The importance of discussing rights for communities has come out of the abuse of certain “corporate rights”. Over time, corporations have fought hard to gain access to constitutional rights that were originally established for living breathing people.
Since corporations are immortal, have incredibly powerful interests backing them, and have a lot of legal tools available to them that common people do not have access to, there have been uncountable numbers of situations in which these corporate rights have been used to trump the rights of individuals, communities and nature, often resulting in irreversible damage that will impact people for generations to come.
As a point of discussion we thought it would interesting to share this recent statement by Mari Margil, a friend and activist.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is the only public interest law firm in the U.S. that has worked with municipalities to question whether corporate “rights” can coexist with the democratic rights of communities to local self-government.
Those communities have recognized that corporate rights and privileges are routinely wielded to override democratic decision making and undermine efforts to protect the environment and public health, local economies and local agriculture. Through the adoption of local, binding laws, these communities are pioneering a new structure of law which does not recognize the rights and privileges of corporations.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Decision
Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission – giving corporations the ability to directly give money to candidates for federal office under the Constitution’s First Amendment – was inevitable. It represents a logical expansion of corporate constitutional “rights” – which include the rights of persons which have been judicially conferred upon corporations. “Personhood” rights mean that corporations possess First Amendment rights to free speech, along with a litany of other rights that are secured to persons under the federal Bill of Rights.
Mari (red hair) speaking to the President of the Pachamama Alliance about constitutionally recognizing the Rights of Nature in Ecuador.
In order to reverse decisions like Citizens United, the whole concept of corporate “rights” must be examined, and how corporations possessing “rights” interferes with the exercise of rights by people, communities, and nature. And, it’s not simply that corporations have “personhood” rights. It goes well beyond that.Today’s structure of law gives corporations a spectrum of legal and constitutional rights which they routinely wield against people, communities, and nature. Corporations have more rights, for example, than the communities in which they seek to do business. They have rights which they use to lobby Congress, impact elections, to decide for us what we eat, whether mountaintops are blown off or not, whether there are fish in the oceans, and on and on. Coupling their wealth with constitutional and other legal rights guarantees that they write the laws which determine these things, along with defining the debate that leads to the adoption of the new laws.
Thus the context for understanding today’s decision is that we have a minority set of corporate interests, empowered by government, which wield their rights against a majority. It is the history of this nation. Whether with the Abolitionists, the Suffragists, the Civil Rights Movement – all found it necessary to build movements of people to drive rights into law – rights for slaves, rights for women, rights of African Americans – which necessarily meant eliminating rights for a minority such as the slaveholder. In the end, it is our constitutional structure of law that purposefully placed the rights of property and commerce over the rights of people, communities, and nature.
In some ways, the Citizens United ruling is merely part of a predetermined destiny set by a 1700’s constitutional structure which placed greater priority on the rights of property and commerce than on people and nature. Reversing Citizens United means reversing that constitutional legacy.
And today – those who recognize that we do not have democracy when corporations located thousands of miles away are making decisions about our community instead of us, who recognize that we cannot have sustainability so long as corporations are able to decide how clean our air is and our water is, who recognize that we’ll never have true health care reform so long as corporations have greater access to our elected representatives than the people who voted for them – to those people – today’s decision should be understood as just another brick in the wall, another step in a direction that will only continue unless and until a real movement for the rights of people, communities, and nature is built.
That is the work we are doing. We hope you will join us.
Attention all Violets on bikes and all Violets who want to be on bikes:
You may remember our friend Beth Mort, the Vice President for Pedals2People, a community bike shop organization that is taking up residence in the space next door to One World Cafe.
She wanted us to be aware that P2P will be offering a ladies only bike mechanic series. Plans for a Violets Bike Night may also be in the works, so let us know if you are interested.
See below for details, and please let your lady friends know about this exciting bike empowerment opportunity!
Jan 13–Intro to Your Bike
Feb 10–Bearing Systems
March 10–Brake Systems
April 14–Shifting Systems and Bars
All classes will take place at the new P2P shop at 1802 E Sprague, starting at 7pm. $20/class or $70 for the whole series. Each workshop is open to only 6 students – so sign up today!
When I suggested reading Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” for our book club, I worried that it might be too bleak for already-gray January, and too “manly” for our mostly female group. After finishing the book (mostly in one completely absorbed sitting) my worries were discarded. Though the book *is* predominantly bleak and quite grisly and violent, it sparked and held my interest with its profound, tiny moments of beauty among the wreckage at the end of the world. Though I am not yet a parent, I would argue that ”The Road” should be required reading for anyone who plans to become or already is one; the Man’s balance of preserving the boy’s innocence while remaining truthful about the evil and horror present in the world can provide an example for those parenting in much less dire circumstances.
After reading and re-reading the book, I received the bad news that I will not be able to attend book club this week. I have still prepared some discussion questions for everyone to use during the meeting. These are some of the things I would have loved to explore with you ladies (and perhaps gents), and hope that you enjoy doing so.
Cormac McCarthy is known for his sparse use of language and he continues this stylistic trend in The Road. Do you think the simplicity of dialogue and specific description of setting in this book enhanced the overall story or distracted from it?
The Boy, despite being a young child, is expected to fulfill the role of a fellow survivor and a man, with little exception. Discuss the shift in the relationship of the Man and the Boy throughout the book and the Boy’s refusal to be treated as a child by the end of the book.
Compassion is widely absent in The Road, except for in the innocent character of the Boy. Discuss the role of childhood innocence in the book and how it benefits and endangers the characters.
One of the most involved conversations that we witness in the book is between the Man and the Old Man that is invited to join the survivors for a meal. He speaks about being “the last man on the Earth” and whether one would recognize such a situation if it were true. Are the Man and the Boy the last “good” or “real” people on Earth? What would it mean for them if they were?
The Man’s motivation for continuing to persevere is never directly revealed, but he tells the boy that they are the “good guys” and that they are “carrying the light”. Explain the role of good and evil and any religious themes in motivating the characters to continue in a likely hopeless situation.
Women are conspicuously absent throughout the book, except for those presumably being bred like livestock as members of cannibal clans and communes. The only woman we see in depth is the late wife of the Man, who cannot handle the stresses of survival and considers death the only solution. Why do you think women are treated this way by the author?
The Road presents an interesting take on the end of the world, showing humanity in complete regression, reverting to its primitive instincts to survive. McCarthy presents us with a bleak outlook for the survivors; kill or be killed or starve to death eventually. Compare this to other end of the world tales and discuss why you think the author presented such a thoroughly hopeless vision for the end of mankind.
The Man and the Boy, as portrayed in the movie adaptation
I would also love to check out the movie version of this book. As a book devotee, I generally abstain from adaptations, but this one has struck my curiosity. Perhaps a Shrinking Violet movie night?
It’s hard to believe its been a year since the first Shrinking Violets – Ladies Who Lunch. Since then, many amazing events and activities have been born – Book Club , Wine and Music Night, clothing swaps, arts/craft nights, just to name a few!!
This last lunch was a testament to the organic momentum that this group has gained. Looking around I only recognized half of the attendees and it was a biggest attendance to date – nearly 40 gals (and guys)!
Keep up the good work ladies!
Watch for next month’s flier to be done by the talented Jessica LaPrade. She is a local artist with some amazing work. Check it out!
