I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Tag: michelle obama

  • USA TODAY 2023 Women of the Year South Carolina Honoree: Dawn Staley

    USA TODAY 2023 Women of the Year South Carolina Honoree: Dawn Staley


    Quannah Chasinghorse. Roberta “Bobbi” Cordano. Goldie Hawn. Maura Healey. Nicole Mann. Monica Munoz Martinez. Michelle Obama. Sandra Day O’Connor. Sheryl Lee Ralph. Grace Young. USA Women’s Soccer Team. Women of the 118th. Congress. Who are these women, and what do they share?

    These women have been named as national honorees in USA TODAY’s Women of the Year project that honors local and national heroines “who make a positive impact in their communities every day…across America USA TODAY readers submitted their nominations for national and state Women of the Year honorees.” (USA TODAY March 16, 2023 – updated March 20, 2023)

    In addition to the national honorees for the Women of the Year project, each state has an honoree who “lifts up people in their communities…showing up and speaking out for those who may not have a voice…” (USA TODAY March 17, 2023 – updated March 20, 2023)

    Not surprisingly Dawn Staley has been named the South Carolina honoree by USA TODAY.

    The South Carolina women’s basketball coach is a titan in sports. A three-time Olympic gold medalist as a player and one-time gold medalist as head coach of Team USA, Staley’s led the Gamecocks to two NCAA women’s basketball championships in the last six years. They’re the heavy favorite to win their third title, seeded No. 1 overall in the NCAA Tournament and boasting an undefeated regular season.

    Her reach extends far beyond the court though. She is not just the face of women’s basketball but the conscience [sic]of it, a passionate advocate for racial justice and equal pay, and a public figure who used her platform to draw daily attention to Brittney Griner’s wrongful detainment until the WNBA superstar was home. And she encourages women everywhere, athletes and otherwise, to use their voice – and speak loudly. 

    All of this is possible, Staley says, because of her mom and the lessons she instilled. Estelle Staley was a South Carolina native who moved home when her daughter, the youngest of five children, took over the Gamecocks program in 2008. 

    Staley’s rise from the projects of Philadelphia, where she honed her game, comes with great responsibility though. The 52-year-old calls herself “a dream merchant,” determined to show everyone, especially children who look like her, that starting from the bottom doesn’t mean you’ll finish there.

    For her achievements, Staley is the USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree from South Carolina. 

    —–Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY (March 17, 2023 – updated March 20, 2023)

    —-Greenville News

    Yesterday afternoon in our little microcosm of Gamecock women’s basketball fans in the stands – shout out to Section 118 – a buzz went up and around about Coach Staley’s attire for this second game of the post season, the final game at home for the Gamecock women at Colonial Life Arena in the 2022-23 season. The biggest question away from the action, the excitement we feel every time we watch our girls play, whether or not we will make the Sweet 16 in Greenville next weekend – yes, those are important questions. But the first one we asked was what is Coach Staley wearing today?

    And the answer was a white and blue Cheyney University jersey – Cheyney is the nation’s first and only HBCU to make it to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in women’s basketball. Coached by basketball Hall of Fame Coach Vivian Stringer in 1982, the team lost to Louisiana Tech in the championship game.

    Coach Staley responded to questions regarding her choice of attire for the win that sent her team to the Sweet Sixteen next weekend in Greenville: “For them to be led by Coach Stringer, who opened doors that now I walk through, it was truly an honor to wear this jersey and to represent them.”

    “Yolanda Laney, who wore this (jersey) … She actually started leagues for us,” Staley said. “When I was younger, we played in something called the DBL, and she was very much a part of creating that league to give younger players an opportunity to just come together and play in the summertime, so I have fond memories of that.” —-Emily Adams, Greenville News (March 19, 2023)

    Dawn said it. I believe it. That’s all, folks.

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

    Congratulations to Coach Staley on this honor – we are proud of you, and what you stand for.

  • Road to Equality – Revisiting the Obama Presidency


    President Barack Obama was the first American President I ever heard who openly supported marriage equality for LGBT citizens. My emotions were a mixture of joy and amazement the first time I heard him say the words. I felt an overwhelming sense of validation because a President of the United States declared my love for Teresa was as deserving of respect as his love for Michelle. He set me free with his words, my personal emancipation proclamation.

    He is also responsible for the appointments of two Supreme Court Justices without whom the votes on the bench could have gone differently. The road to marriage equality would have been a much longer one without the support of this American President throughout his presidency. His is a legacy of love.

    First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage?

    Ask the Supremes

    (originally published April 04, 2013)

    The dust has settled after the media frenzy surrounding the Supreme Court hearings on two cases affecting the future of same-sex marriage in the United States. Whew! The gays and gay-friendlies partied. Jon Stewart skewered DOMA and its supporters on Comedy Central. The Republicans tried desperately to find someone – ANYONE – in their party to explain their position on marriage on CNN in a way that the general citizenry wouldn’t characterize as narrow-minded at best or bigoted at worst. That search is ongoing and a generous reward is offered to the finder.

    The hearings are over and the rulings expected in June. Eight Associate Justices and the Chief Justice hold the key to opening doors of equality that have been slammed shut since the founding fathers held these truths to be Self-evident in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. “…That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

    I am amazed to realize I have seen all of these Supremes don the robes of the Court at the end of the required appointment process…

    … Justice Sonia Sotomayor … is a Yale graduate who was appointed by President Barack Obama. She is the sole Hispanic Supreme. Justice Elena Kagan is another Obama appointee …at the time of her appointment she was Dean of the Harvard Law School…

    In summation, Your Honors, I find that the fate of same-sex marriage in the United States in 2013 rests with folks who graduated either from Yale or Harvard law schools and were born in the New York/ New Jersey area on the East Coast or California on the West Coast with one stray Southerner thrown in for good measure. Well, maybe not good measure, but certainly thrown in.

    The question before us today is whether this hodgepodge of political appointees will take its place in history as the Court that restores the unalienable rights of a minority of its LGBT citizens who have been made to feel “lesser than” and treated with discrimination that often threatens their Lives and their Liberty and always endangers their pursuit of Happiness.

    I respectfully ask the Court to stand and deliver on the promises that have been the hopes and dreams of all Americans for more than two hundred years.

    I rest my case.

     Let’s Hear It for the Supremes!

    (originally published June 26, 2013)

    Well, I never.  No, really, I never.  Today’s decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to give equal federal treatment to same-sex marriage in the twelve states and District of Columbia that recognize these marriages is a stunning pivotal day in our nation’s history of constitutional revelation.  I honestly thought this day was my dream to be realized in a future generation.

    And while I understand the significance of this ruling for our country and for the message it sends around the world to other nations about American civil liberties, today the political became personal.

    I share this day especially with the woman I love, a woman who has been with me through the battles in our state for justice and equality for the past twenty years and a woman who raised a son during difficult times of  hurtful discrimination against them both.  We live in the states of South Carolina and Texas which are states that are unaffected by this ruling.  Yet we celebrate with our brothers and sisters who will benefit from the victory today and we will continue to work until all of us are treated fairly and have the opportunity to pursue happiness.  Teresa, I share this day with you.

    I have many personal heroes during the past twenty years of my activism in South Carolina – both sung and unsung.  I am grateful to all of them for the labor we’ve made together in the days before Will and Grace and afterwards.

    But today is Edith Windsor day for me.  I will forever remember the petite 84-year-old lesbian from New York who changed the course of history with an outrageous act and a not-so-everyday rebellion.  Thank you, Edie.

    001

     

  • Winners Announced for Third Annual Memorable Quotes Contest!


    007Attention Quote-a-holics – this year’s entries in the Memorable Quotes contest were the BEST, and the judge’s mind has been reeling from sifting through the quotes to pick the winners. So many quotes, so few prizes – who made these rules anyway?

    Oh, that’s right. I did.

    And just like I made them, I can break them. That’s the beauty of self-rules.

    Therefore, I hereby declare a five-way tie for 1st place and will allow each winner to pick one of these three prizes that I planned to award to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners: the audio version of Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing read by the author who would be moi, my most recent book The Short Side of Time or my personal favorite I’ll Call It Like I See It: A Lesbian Speaks Out. 

    Here are the stellar Top Five Quotes and the Quote-a-holics that submitted them in the order they were received:

    “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.”  Margaret Mead submitted by Lisa Martin

    “Hope is the thing with feathers

    That perches in the soul

    And sings the tune without the words

    And never stops at all.” Emily Dickinson submitted by Melissa Bech

    “We don’t pay enough attention to the words ‘over’ and ‘next.’ When something is over, it’s over, and we are on to next. If there were a hammock in the middle, between over and next, that would be what’s meant by living in the moment.” Norman Lear submitted by Maggie Seibel

    “Love never dies, it merely sleeps…then wakes, drinks a few beers, watches a good film and has a laugh with its buddy Respect.

    Respect wore a mask, Hope lied and Circumstances gave way to Opportunity. Reality appeared, and KO – ed Love, destroying All Worth.” Original submitted by Dani J Caile

    “It took me years to understand that words are often as important as experience, because words make experience last.” Willie Morris submitted by Suzanne Christensen

    And these are the next five awesome Runners-Up quotes in the order they were received:

    “By the time I’m thin, fat will be in.” sign on a cafe wall submitted by Warren Wood

    “When you start studying yourself  too deeply, you start seeing things that maybe you don’t want to see. And if there’s a rhyme and reason, people can figure you out, and once they can figure you out, you’re in big trouble.” Donald Trump via Bill Canaday submitted by Jim Blanton

    “There’s a disco in discomfort.” submitted by Big Sugar Night

    “The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” Bertrand Russell submitted by Bob Williamson

    “When they go low, we go high.” Michelle Obama submitted by Debbie Long and LeighAnne Thacker Cogdill*

    And there you have them – Memorable Quotes for every occasion and the occasional Memorable Quote. They are the crown jewels, the pearls of wisdom and the gold nuggets of truth that are the keys to happiness…okay, now I’ve gone too far. At any rate, they are all entertaining with a hint of enlightenment. What else could you ask for in a quote…

    Enjoy and be collecting now for next year’s contest!

    Thank you so much to all who participated and to all who follow us faithfully in cyberspace. Bless your hearts.

    Stay tuned.

    *My apologies to LeighAnne Thacker Cogdill for not listing her for the Michelle Obama quote, also. I ain’t right, and I’m the first to admit it. Thanks for understanding!