I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

For any who want more, complete list of all posts by month since 2011

  • Happy Birthday To The Lady


    Aung San Suu Kyi was 67 years old Tuesday, June 19th. and was sworn in earlier this year to serve in the Parliament of Burma, where she has devoted her life to human rights and democracy.   For 15 years – almost a fourth of her life – she was under house arrest for her political opposition to the military regime that imprisoned her and other members of her party in their country.  She was ultimately released in November, 2010.   She is the recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and numerous other awards in recognition of her bravery but  because of her arrest was unable to deliver an acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize until this past Saturday, June 16th.   Msmagazine.com reprinted the full transcript of Suu Kyi’s speech, and her moving words of hope for world peace and inclusion and plea for kindness resonate across time and geographic boundaries.   Her understanding that the cause of human rights transcends national borders and specific dictatorships and her commitment to alleviating forms of suffering wherever they exist make her a worthy Nobel winner.

    “…our aim should be to create a world free from the displaced, the homeless and the hopeless, a world of which each and every corner is a true sanctuary where the inhabitants will have the freedom and the capacity to live in peace.  Every thought, every word, and every action that adds to the positive and the wholesome is a contribution to peace.  Each and every one of us is capable of making such a contribution.  Let us join hands to try to create a peaceful world where we can sleep in security and wake in happiness…”    ——Aung San Suu Kyi

    Happy Birthday to The Lady from Burma!

  • Happy Birthday Ms. Magazine, Title IX And The Lady


    Ms. Magazine is 40 years old this year according to a headline I saw yesterday and  I was startled to read the news because I remember very well when it began and sheepishly admit I wasn’t sure it was still in publication.   I don’t read as much as I once did, and I attribute that pathetic revelation to a love affair I have with the sight of my own words on a computer screen which is as powerful a narcotic as my nightly sleeping pill.   Happy Birthday, Ms.!   You gave narratives and images  to a feminist movement that sputtered its way under protest from lone voices crying in the wilderness to the American mainstream political landscape and I thank you for the hopes and dreams you gave me and my generation.   Gloria Steinem, bless you for the vision of the potential impact of Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.   I.O.U.

    Title IX is 40 years old Saturday, June 23rd.   I found this interesting fact when I actually looked up Ms. Magazine online tonight.   Did I remember Richard Nixon was the President who signed this bill into law?   I did not but am relieved to have one positive piece of history attributed to the man who got my vote in the 1968 election.   Title IX is to public education and related school activities for girls and women what hot fudge and nuts are to vanilla ice cream on a sundae.   Necessary and rewarding.   Sweet.   If education provides the foundation for equal opportunites in a democracy, Title IX makes sure the base doesn’t tilt due to the randomness of being born female.

    I also learned about another birthday from Ms. online tonight.   She’s called The Lady from Burma and is the recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.  She’s 67 years old today, June 19th. and delivered her acceptance speech three days ago, 21 years after she won.   I’ll save her story for our next time.   Happy Birthday, Aung San Suu Kyi!

  • Coming Home From Home


    It’s surprisingly easy to drive a thousand miles from Montgomery, Texas to Columbia, South Carolina.  Two days on the road with a nine-hour break in a comfy motel bed.   The roads are good but we share them with many travelers who join us in driving from here to there to wherever.   Truck drivers pulling heavy loads remind me of the burdens I’ve carried for many years so I like to see the eighteen-wheelers as they struggle to make a hill but cruise on down the road once they reach the crest.   I feel I’ve reached the top of an incredibly high hill in my life at this moment and can finally begin to coast on the other side.   The responsibilities and pressures I’ve owned for so long are pieces falling from my truck bed into ditches along the way.   They fly out and float and vanish as they hit the ground.