I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: LGBTQ+

  • Great Day to be a GAMECOCK!

    Great Day to be a GAMECOCK!


    Sunday, April 07, 2024 – write it down in the women’s basketball history books as the undefeated University of South Carolina Gamecock women defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes with a final score of 87-75 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Gamecock team finished the season with a perfect 38-0 record and will bring team as well as individual player trophies home to Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, when they arrive today.

    (Kirby Lee, USA Today Sports)

    Coach Dawn Staley lifts the trophy for her third championship team…

    (Ken Blaze, USA Today Sports)

    …and cuts the net in basketball championship tradition

    *******************

    Magical, monumental, memory making – all words I could use to describe the 2023-24 South Carolina women’s basketball winning season. I have held my breath and refused to write about our team until we reached the post season and finished what Raven Johnson called her Revenge Tour because of the Iowa loss she took personally at the Final Four in 2023, but now she and the rest of her Gamecock Nation can celebrate overcoming all obstacles in their way toward the perfect season this year.

    Basketball has been a passion for me since I was six years old when my daddy coached the high school boys and girls teams in Richards, Texas, one of the smallest schools in the state. My grandparents took me to every home game, and my daddy let me ride the old yellow school bus to the “away” games with him and his teams. The one year he created a junior high team, he let me play with them when I was in the fifth grade. I still remember the only game we played against a much larger school that quickly disposed of us 52-19, but I scored 13 of the points which made my father very proud.

    We moved to Brazoria, Texas, when I was in the eighth grade where I loved playing for Coach Lloyd Thomas and then adored Coach Lois Knipling in my three years on the varsity team at Columbia High School in West Columbia, Texas. Several teammates from those years remain important friends who share memories we never forget. Basketball has always been in my blood, but I followed teams on TV instead of going to the games until I married a woman whose family, particularly her mother, loved basketball as much as mine did. No family gathering skipped sports conversations, especially basketball.

    Coach Dawn Staley came to the University of South Carolina sixteen years ago and generated a fan following long before the successful seasons she’s enjoyed in recent times. She rekindled the dormant interest of the Gamecock Nation, and I want to thank Pretty for making sure we became a part of the action at Colonial Life Arena. She signed us up for the Gamecock Club nine years ago, and we have never looked back.

    It takes a village as a famous person once said, and I want to thank my personal “squad” for making sure this old woman who will be 78 in two weeks continues to be able to attend the games, cheer for the home team, and share fun times: Garner, JD, Brian, Joan, Susan, Chris, Pat, Brenda, Tony, Drew, Caroline, Ella, Molly, the women who sit at the end of Row 17 in Section 118 who make sure I don’t walk past my row, and the woman who sits behind me who makes sure I sit in the right seat on my row if Pretty is at concessions before the home games. Special thanks to my Road Warriors Brian, Garner, and Robert who take care of me on the away games when Pretty isn’t able to make the trip.

    Out-of-towners who are part of my squad include Jennifer who is our point person for Gamecock basketball insider information, sisters-in-law Darlene and Dawne in the upstate, Texas sister Leora, Texas cousin GP, Seattle cousins Trevor, Morgin, Rory, Quinn, and Vaughn. They may not be present in person, but they love Gamecock women’s basketball. Locals Sheila Go, Meghan and Dick connect with Pretty and me throughout the season, too.

    (Thanks to you all for the memories! I’m sure I’ve left someone out, but if it’s you, mea culpa. Remember I am old, as my granddaughter Ella reminds everyone when I falter.)

    And of course every squad needs a Captain – my Captain is Pretty who handles all ticket purchases, travel arrangements to all games, and usually makes sure we eat Mexican food afterwards. If victories are super sweet and the Hot Donuts sign is lit bright red at the Krispy Kreme in West Columbia, Pretty drives through for a 3-pack special treat for us.

    My life has been, and continues to be, good whether our team brings home trophies or not, but today it’s a Great Day to be a Gamecock.

    Onward.

    the future is bright with one of my favorite freshies

    Milaysia Fulwiley

    (Ken Blaze, USA Today)

  • National Organization for Women: Lost in Translation


    On June 30, 1966, the National Organization for Women was founded by activists who wanted to end sex discrimination. Who could argue with that lofty goal?

    Oh, well. Just about everyone. Many men felt threatened in those early days by a national organization formed to remove barriers of discrimination they liked and needed. Women of color often felt excluded because they weren’t represented in the movement. Queer women felt equally left out. Voter suppression wasn’t a major talking point. Intersectional feminism, what exactly was that? Misunderstood, misconstrued, lost in translation – the challenges of the early days of the National Organization for Women.

    In an effort to better explain its mission, Article II of the bylaws adopted by the NOW membership in 2020 states the following:

    NOW’s purpose is to take action through intersectional grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political, and economic life.

    NOW’s 2024 Action Plan aims to “win a feminist vistory in the 2024 elections, defeat estremist attacks and restore women’s rights” through grassroots campaigns.

    I was able to kill Roe v. Wade

    love ya, ladies

    Donnie

  • we are all Wonder Women


    Four years ago I published this piece and today felt a need to remind ourselves and others of our power. To whom it may concern: Do Not Try to Control our Bodies. Bad idea. We will remember in November.

    Huge thanks to my good Sister Marla Wood for posting this powerful image on her FB page. I thought when I saw it, wow, this is a great theme for Women’s History Month. Let’s get down to it.

    In March, 2021 women are in powerful positions across the globe. Vice President Kamala Harris cast a deciding vote in the US Senate March 04th. to break a tie (50 Democrats for – 50 Republicans against) beginning debate on President Biden’s massive $1.9 trillion Covid Relief Bill approved by the House of Representatives. Bi-partisan support for the bill? No, not really.

    But the first woman veep in American history who also serves constitutionally as President of the Senate said hey boys, either jump on this train to help people who are sick, jobless, grieving the loss of loved ones, struggling to keep food on the table and/or a roof over their heads for their children because of a pandemic the previous administration chose to ignore as science fiction – or don’t. This train is leaving the station.

    Celebrate Women’s History Month by discovering the Wonder Woman you are!

    *****************************

    Stay safe, stay sane and please stay tuned.

  • The Great Depression Friendship Quilt


    Since I neither quilt nor sew, why would the friendship quilt above have special significance to me? Because the signature in this particular block was made by my maternal grandmother Louise Boring (1898-1972) as part of a friendship quilt given to my paternal grandmother Betha Morris (1903-1983) by a group of her friends during the Great Depression before Louise and Betha became in-laws in 1945 when Louise’s daughter Selma eloped with Betha’s son Glenn. My grandmother Betha Morris a/k/a Ma to me kept the quilt forever, and I miraculously ended up with it.

    Quilts were popular during the Great Depression of the 1930s because they were usually made from leftovers of scraps from other sewing. The “friendship quilt” was unique in its composition because it was composed of signed blocks of the same pattern, often followed by an inscription.

    Note that Lucile Whitfield’s date shown was 1930 while the only other date (1932) belonged to Francis Walker. I’m assuming those are the only dates to indicate when the quilt was begun and when it was finished.

    I remember asking my grandmother Ma about the names on the quilt when she took it down from the top (and only) shelf in the tiny closet in her spare bedroom where I often slept as a child. That room felt like a refrigerator in the winter time, and I begged Ma for more covers. She would get her friendship quilt and one more I still have.

    Somehow in my travels, moves, relocations, embarrassing exits that took me from my little hometown of Richards, Texas, with its familiar names on the friendship quilt to far away places I didn’t know existed seven decades ago, I managed to hang on to these two quilts that have come to rest in a closet at our home on Cardinal Drive in South Carolina.

    Due to circumstances beyond our control regarding Pretty’s health, I was banished to sleep in our “guest room” on my paternal grandparents’ bed, another treasure, which required reinstating these two quilts which seventy years ago kept me warm. Although the quilts now show wear and tear, they still kept me warm on a cold night this week. As I fell asleep under the weight of the quilts, I thought about my grandmothers and their connection to The Great Depression of the 1930s they survived to become major influences in my history – two women whose love and devotion became my North Star that led me home.

  • CELEBRATE International Women’s Day!


    “Invest in Women — Accelerate Progress“

    (theme for 2024)

    In South Carolina where Pretty and I live, 54% of the population are women, but not one woman sits on the South Carolina Supreme Court; we are the only state in the nation without a female justice. Only six state senators out of 46 are women, 20 out of 124 House members are women. These statistics indicate we rank 48th. of 50 states in women’s legislative representation according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

    Do the math: only 15% of the lawmakers making our laws in this state on reproductive rights, on health care for women and children, on domestic violence, on gun control, on climate change, on school safety, on police brutality against people of color, on issues affecting marginalized populations in the state, on banning books that promote inclusiveness and social justice – on these and all other laws in our state affecting every citizen – only 15% of those lawmakers are women.

    The voting odds are stacked against women, and history is not on our side, either. Women’s groups have been talking about underrepresentation in our state for nearly forty years. One of the true pioneers for women’s rights in South Carolina, Barbara Moxon, began a group called Advocates for Women on Boards and Commissions in 1988. I was the treasurer for that organization which developed extensive publicity on the need for more women political appointees while also providing aid and encouragement for female members to apply for appointments. We had limited successes in our efforts.

    The consequences of the 2024 election in November will have a generational effect not only on the nation but also on our state. Bravery, courage, dogged persistence, and financial support will be mandatory for any woman who puts herself forward in the political climate of these challenging times, but I am thrilled that a woman who has been my close friend for a very long time has answered the call for a change in leadership by campaigning for a Senate seat in South Carolina District 10.

    This woman has spunk, and I have always admired spunk combined with proven leadership qualities. I will have more to say about her in the days to come during her campaign, but for today as part of your celebration of International Women’s Day, please go to her website; get to know her better, and invest in a woman who will accelerate progress for all. http://www.franciekleckley.com.

    You tell it, Sister Girl.

    Onward.