Stories Of Hope (Page 2)
What it’s like to survive through two pandemics
Sixty-five years ago, in 1955, I was diagnosed with polio. I was two years old, so I was unaware of what it meant to have been infected with the poliovirus, but I became more aware of it in subtle ways as I got older. And at some point, I understood what my mother meant when she said I was “one of the lucky ones.”
My mother came from Jersey City, New Jersey, and she sounded like it all her life, aided and abetted by a daily regimen of unfiltered Kool cigarettes. She drove a supply truck as a civilian during World War II and delighted in telling a tale about a GI who tried to “get fresh” with her when she gave him a lift back to the base. When she told him she was married and her husband was deployed overseas, he said, “Baby, what’re you saving it for — the worms?”
She stopped the truck and told him, “Ride in back, buster!” I have no doubt that she used an expletive, although she never employed one in the retelling, Jersey accent notwithstanding. But she still thought “saving it for the worms” was the funniest line she had ever heard. She was a woman who could take things in stride, the quintessential “tough cookie.”
But there was one recollection that could unravel my mother like no other — the one that involved her youngest son being diagnosed with polio and the palpable fear that stalked parents across the country during the summers of the early 1950s. She could not stop her voice from cracking when she spoke about that time. That, along with her warnings about staying out of “polio puddles” after it rained, shaped my awareness of how frightening the epidemic had been.
Among my childhood memories, getting the oral polio vaccine is as vivid as the classroom drills that taught us to seek safety under our desks in case of a nuclear attack. While I can now joke about how sturdy school desks must have been back then, there’s no amusement in my recollection of lining up outside the local firehouse for the Sabin sugar cube — that was serious, important business. I knew it then, and I know it now. Click on this link to read more: https://www.rotary.org/en/what-its-like-to-survive-through-two-pandemics
Love Wisconsin is a digital storytelling project that celebrates our state, our lives, and our shared future.
Our mission is to use storytelling and social media to bring about a more connected, compassionate, and engaged Wisconsin.
We believe stories can break down barriers between us, inspire us to get involved, and help us recognize that we’re more alike than we are different.
We want this platform to connect you to Tommie , Tyrone, Mary , Kobby, Ma’iingan , Luke , and many others. We hope Love Wisconsin will connect YOU to someone you might not otherwise get to meet. Because we all share this big state, and we ought to get to know one another. Click here to read more: https://www.lovewi.com/about/
Share your story with Jen at jen@lovewi.com To read more about Jen and her work with Love Wisconsin, click here
“100 years after suffrage: Racine County women who have made a difference”
By Caitlin Sievers, the Racine Journal Times, September 6, 2020
Corrine Reid-Owens is one of many women in Racine County who have made a positive difference over the last 100 years. \
The Time for Hope is Now from Action For Happiness, 17 Aug 2020 | Louise Hall
The past few months have made us realize that change is inevitable and though we are encouraged to embrace change,
sometimes it is not so easy.
Change can be sometimes cruel and make your world spin out of control. It can affect people in a multitude of ways. We might experience anxiety, low moods, night sweats, exhaustion or worse. The emotional pain can manifest into physical pain. The world can seem out of sync and instil a feeling that everything is not alright. We can lose all hope and feel that there is nothing to look forward to.
I know this. I have been there. I am not alone. And neither are you.
To read more go to: https://www.actionforhappiness.org/news/the-time-for-hope-is-now
“Everyone around you has a story the world needs to hear.”
Dave Isay, TED Talk about Story Corps and the positive
impact and hope one on one conversations between people who see each other as different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKHk_UiQboA&feature=youtu.be
“Winnetka Riders Welcome Black Bicyclist at Pier” Group makes clear that views of white woman not shared by Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune, September 6, 2020
Click on the link below and then go to page 7 of the newspaper
Column: Show some love. Be good to each other. A Park Ridge cafe owner inspires us on Labor Day
by Mary Schmich, September 4, 2020 Chicago Tribune
1955 - Civil Rights
Rosa Parks December 1, 1955
Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Its success launched nationwide efforts to end racial segregation of public facilities... read more.
Here is an editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper which appeared on August 12, 2020 shortly after Democratic Presidential Joe Biden selected Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate as the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate in the November 3, 2020 election. I particularly like the editorial cartoon because it reminded me that sometimes it takes a long time (in this case 65 years since Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus) for a positive change to happen in the future which you never thought would happen. Rosa Parks' efforts where very instrumental in spurring on many positive racial justice changes in the 1960's. But what she sparked then continues to help bring about change for many years to come.
Thank you Rosa Parks.
1961- Freedom Riders
On May 4, 1961, a group of seven African Americans and six whites left Washington, D.C., on a Freedom Ride in two buses bound for New Orleans. Convinced that segregationists in the South would violently protest this exercise of their constitutional right, the Freedom Riders hoped to provoke the federal government into enforcing a Supreme Court decision which prohibited separate facilities (water fountains, bathrooms, etc.) for white riders and for black bus riders... read more. (and view accompanying John Lewis eulogy here)
1963 - March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. At the march, Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism... read more.
Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965)
Eight and a half years after Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat on the bus, the Civil Rights Act was enacted on July 2, 1964. It is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, and racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations... read more.
1964 - Equal Employment Opportunity & Affirmative Action
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from discrimination. The law was the first federal law designed to protect most US employees from employment discrimination based upon that employee's (or applicant's) race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Employment discrimination entails areas such as firing, hiring, promotions, transfer or wage practices and it is also illegal to discriminate in advertising, referral of job applicants, or classification. The Title is pertinent in companies affecting commerce that have fifteen or more employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is section 705 of the title... read more.
1965-67 - Open Housing
The Chicago Freedom Movement, the most ambitious civil rights campaign in the North, lasted from mid-1965 to early 1967. It represented the alliance of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO). In 1965, SCLC, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., was looking for a site to prove that non-violent direct action could bring about social change outside of the South. Since 1962, the CCCO, headed by Al Raby, had harnessed anger over racial inequality, especially in the public schools, in the city of Chicago to build the most sustained local civil rights movement in the North... read more.
1964-69 - War on Poverty - Community Action Agencies
The following story is about a program which started from the top at the U.S. government level but for a short period of time, brought about hope and progress from the bottom up in many communities around the country.
The War on Poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on Wednesday, January 8, 1964... read more.
1960's - 1980's - Women’s Liberation Movement
The Women’s Liberation Movement began to grow and bring about change from the bottom up.
The Women’s Movement in the 1960’s built upon a small group which met in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York which was the location for the first Women's Rights Convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote "The Declaration of Sentiments" creating the agenda of women's activism for decades to come... read more.
1972 - 2020 - Equal Rights Amendment - ERA
In order to achieve equality for women across the country, women’s organizations developed and proposed the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. The language of the Constitutional Amendment is as follows... read more.
1960’s and 1970’s: Forcing an End to the War in Vietnam
The United States started getting involved in Vietnam in the late 1950’s when Vietnam split into two nations. North Vietnam became a communist state and South Vietnam remained a constitutional monarchy. A civil war between the two countries started to grow in size and intensity starting in 1955... read more.
1950's to the Present - Environmental Activism
Starting in the 1950’s there began to be an awareness that some aspects of the environment were developing significant problems. Air pollution from automobiles was increasing. Emissions from manufacturing operations were also increasing. Water quality was decreasing... read more.
1980's to the Present - Recycling of Residential Waste
One major environmental issue and related programs that started to bubble up from the bottom was recycling. Up until the mid-1980’s, almost all trash was collected and then dumped in landfills. At the time, I was the town administrator in a community of 25,000 in the Midwest. We invited people in the community to share their ideas about what the town government should be emphasizing in the coming five years. Concerns and suggestions about maintaining and improving roads, water and sewer utilities, and police and fire services were of interest to most of the people... read more.
2015 to Present: Greening Greater Racine
Communities Working Together to Improve the Environment
The 24/7 news cycle almost always presents negative stories about terrible things happening in our communities, our country, and our world. And, yes, there are certainly terrible things happening.
But many good things happen every day. We just don’t hear about them.
Many people and organizations across the country are making genuine progress increasing the well-being of their communities from the bottom up. Read More
1960's to Present : Gay Rights (LGBT): Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Social Movements
Though the movement for gay rights began in the U.S. in the early 1900’s, it was not recognized as a civil and human rights issue by the general public until the late 1960’s. As the civil rights and women’s rights movements began to make progress from the bottom up, gay rights advocates and groups began to push not only for equal treatment under the law, but also to try and change the perception and related laws that labeled their sexual orientation and acts as illegal... read more.
From The New York Times:
Urban Gardening Through the Apocalypse by Jennifer Weiner
When my daughters look back on the plague year and all its horrors, I hope they also remember the flowers... read more.
A Mother's Hope For Her Son
My son, Adam, was 23 when he and a few friends decided to commit a series of robberies in Philadelphia. They were caught and arrested. Due to circumstances, he was sentenced under Federal law, which used "mandatory minimum" criteria. He wound up with a sentence of 213 years to be served in a maximum secure facility. While I had little hope for his ever being a member of the free world, Adam realized he did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison. He worked very hard to rehabilitate himself. After 10 years, he earned a transfer to a medium secure facility, and continued to make changes, including helping other inmates get released. Nearly 4 years ago, he saw HOPE when there was an opportunity to submit a request for a commutation of sentence from the President. He gained support from many BOP officials as a result of the work he was doing with other inmates. His lawyer was Shon Hopwood - a former bank robber turned attorney and law professor. He submitted a motion to the Circuit Court requesting a hearing for Adam's release. In mid-July, the judge vacated Adam's 213 year sentence, and scheduled a court date for him to be re-sentenced. On August 7, the judge ruled "time served"!!! It took a few days for that paperwork to be processed and get to the prison facility, but on Wednesday, August 12, approximately 2:30 PM, Adam was released from prison!!! From a 213-year sentence with little hope for a future, to being free to become a productive member of society. THAT is HOPE!!!
