Relationships and Going Places
Jo Freeman: There’s Plenty To Do at the RNC – If You Have the Right Credentials
by Jo Freeman
Every national nominating convention has plenty of auxiliary events, some authorized, some not. Getting space can be a challenge; getting the word out even more so. But they do it nonetheless. Press were given a RNC 2024 Master Event Calendar, which was updated a few days later. Events began on Sunday and ended on Thursday. The actual convention sessions were just one item on the list. The calendar said if an event was Open or Closed to press, and also whom to contact to register. I’m going to describe some of the events, including a couple I went to, and a couple I was turned away from.
Since my focus is on women, I obviously wanted to go to those events – if I could.
The National Federation of Republican Women is the largest grassroots Republican women's organization in the country with hundreds of clubs. Founded in 1938, its members made the phone calls and knocked on the doors that elected Republican candidates for decades. It’s Tuesday luncheon featured Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders. The Master Calendar said it was SOLD OUT and they wouldn’t let me in. I was able to get into their lounge at the Fiserv Forum Wednesday evening, where I was repeatedly asked if I was a member, and if not, would I join. “I’m press,” I said. “I can’t join anything partisan.” I then said: “What brings you here?” On hearing that, finding anyone willing to chat with me was like pulling teeth.
Moms for Liberty met in a concert hall that afternoon. I had pre-registered, and I got in. From high in a balcony seat I listened to several people talk about the evils of transgenderism. It’s webpage says WE BELIEVE Power Belongs to the People. Sound Familiar? With a focus is on parental rights, it wants to “STOP WOKE indoctrination.”
Tuesday I went to “The New Mavericks” reception co-hosted by the Black Republican Mayors Association and the Georgia Republican Party. They honored Sen. Tim Scott, four Congressmen and two Georgia delegates – all male. There was only one mayor on stage, from Aurora, IL. The chair of the Georgia Republican Party was the one white man on the stage. At that event, women served; they didn’t speak. The RNC reported that 55 delegates to the 2024 convention are Black, up from 18 in 2016.
I missed the Independent Women’s Forum toast to “Women Who Make Our Country Great” because I went to Convention Fest: The Official Delegate Experience, which was held in the streets outside the Fiserve Forum and Baird Hall as well as some space inside Baird. To get to that one you not only needed a credential of some sort, but a USSS pass (which I have).
Concerned Women for America parked its pink bus across from the Baird Center the week before the RNC. No one was home. When Convention Fest opened on Tuesday afternoon, they set up a pink tent, from which its leaders preached to whomever passed by. It calls itself “the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization” but its focus is evangelical Christian. The slogan on the side of its pink bus captures this emphasis: “She Prays, She Votes.” A prayer precedes each sermon.
Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Mushrooms, Mushrooms, Mushrooms and An Observational Trek
Ferida Woolf Writes: "I’ve been noticing that there are more mushrooms popping up on lawns recently. Brown ones, white ones, flat, round, and, well, traditionally mushroom-shaped. I looked up mushrooms and I think the ones I saw were like Giant Puffballs (Calvatia gigantea)... But whatever kind is local, they are so interesting to see. It makes my daily walk new each time." more »
Julia Sneden Redux: Age Rage; Sometimes You Just Have to Strike Back
Julia Sneden Wrote: "Age rage can be costly. I went straight to the mall and bought myself a ridiculous number of skin creams. I had to clean out a cupboard to find storage space, but by the time the jars and tubes were stowed away, my equanimity had returned. They lie there untouched, and my wrinkles deepen. I'm working on turning them into smile lines."
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Some Facts About Drowning Prevention | CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; https://www.cdc.gov, Drowning is Preventable
"From the Editor: We've tried to replicate parts of the CDC Center for Disease Control and Prevention's presentation of their Drowning Prevention information but urge you to go to their pages in effort to gain a organized way to compile as much information as you can. Tam Martinides Gray, Editor '...Drowning is a serious public health problem. Drowning can happen in seconds and is often silent. It can lead to long-term disability. Drowning is preventable... The Lifesaving Society designates the third week in July (July 16-22, 2023) as National Drowning Prevention Week (NDPW) to focus community and media attention on the drowning problem and drowning prevention.'" more »
Women's Labor Force Exits During COVID-19: Differences by Motherhood, Race, and Ethnicity
Abstract: While the descriptive impacts of the pandemic on women have been well documented in the aggregate, we know much less about the impacts of the pandemic on different groups of women. After controlling for detailed job and demographic characteristics, including occupation and industry, we find that the pandemic led to significant excess labor force exits among women living with children under age six relative to women without children. We also find evidence of larger increases in exits among lower-earning women. The presence of children predicted larger increases in exits during the pandemic among Latina and Black women relative to White women. Overall, we find evidence that pandemic induced disruptions to childcare, including informal care from family and friends. Our results suggest that the unique effect of childcare disruptions during the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing racial and income inequalities among women. more »
