I Have a Dream

 

 

It blows my mind that this was only 50 years ago.   Mostly because we have come so far, but in my humble opinion, we have such a long ways still to go.   Discrimination in any form is abhorrent and I fully believe that when any of the least of us is diminished, we are all diminished...as a human being sharing this earth with other beautiful human beings, I cannot be comfortable to just sit back and watch it happen.  As Dr. King says..."No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

 

If you haven't already listened to this speech today or read the text, I hope you will take the time to do so.   The words have power.

 

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Gratitude Month - Voting

 

 

 

Here is a brief history of the right to vote in case you were wondering.

 

The 14th Amendment (1868) basically states that all persons born in the United States are citizens and as such are guaranteed certain rights and privileges, one of which is the right to vote. However, this of course did not stop discrimination by race or gender. 
 

The 15th Amendment (1870) states that No citizen could be denied the right to vote 'based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.'  
 

Still no vote for women or for many of the freed slaves either...due to Jim Crow laws. Some of which were that you had to pass a literacy test in order to vote (most of the free slaves were illiterate). Grandfather Clauses stating that if your Grandfather had the right to vote, then you had the right to vote…this of course discriminated against the freed slaves who's grandfathers obviously didn't have the right to vote. And Poll Taxes, which discriminated against the poor.  
 

The 19th Amendment (1920) states that 'No citizen shall be abridged of their right to vote based on sex.'   

Yay for women voters finally!  
 

The 24th Amendment (1964) states that 'No poll tax is allowed or failure to pay any other tax shall prevent a person from voting.'   
 

Can you believe we had to wait 94 years for that one? 
 

The 26th Amendment (1971) states that 'All persons 18 or older shall not be abridged of their right to vote.' 
 

This was of course due to the fact that we were sending our soldiers out to fight and die in war by the time they were 18, but yet they didn't even have the right to vote until they were 21. 
 

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 - 'Applied a nationwide prohibition against the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on the literacy tests on a nationwide basis.'
 

Again 95 years?

 

For the many who came before us who did not have the right to vote, and the many who came before who fought for the right to vote, we should honor their memory by exercising our right today! 

 

“The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men. ”
― Lyndon B. Johnson 

Autumnal Equinox

Happy Autumnal Equinox Everyone!

 

"The Autumnal Equinox - The word equinox comes from the Latin words for "equal night." The fall and spring equinoxes are the only days of the year in which the Sun crosses the celestial equator." (from The Old Farmer's Almanac)

I love all the seasons, but I really love fall.   I bought my first Honey Crisp apple yesterday, a sure sign of fall.   The trees are changing colors everywhere, including my patio, and I can start to feel a little crisp edge to the weather.   I love the idea of celebrating and giving thanks for a summer full of activities and bountiful harvests.   I love the anticipation of winter.   The excitement of guessing when the first snow will fall.   The comfort of knowing that one has a warm house to snuggle in to, to hibernate with your hot chocolate and cozy blankets while outside the world is muffled in white.

Plus I like my winter clothes better than my summer clothes.  

Remember my 'Summer Bucket List' and how I would report back on the Autumnal Equinox with a review of what had been successfully achieved and what had not?

Well today's the day of reckoning...

 

 

 

Go somewhere I have never been - done

 

Denmark and Sweden

17th-century Frederiksborg Castle - Denmark

Do something brave - done (kinda)

 

Can I count going to a new country by myself?  I wouldn't let myself count it, since doing that doesn't really scare me, so no bravery required.   But I don't have anything else.

 

Do something outside every day - done

I did go outside every day.   I know this may sound ridiculous, but when you work from home it is surprisingly easy to stay inside all day long.

Plant flowers - done

 

I planted red geraniums and one massive Bleeding Heart plant (thanks Mom).

 

Here are some flowers I saw on my trip, aren't they pretty?

 

Saturday Market in Apeldoorn

Take a road trip - done

 

 

 

Eat Popsicles - done

Keep heels smooth and lovely - done

Drink a lot of water - done

Hike a new trail - done

 

 

Donner nature trail.

 

 

 

And Donut Falls in Utah, but I haven't downloaded my pictures yet. You will just have to take my word for it. :)

 

Volunteer some time - fail

 

I did a few things for church, but nothing like I intended.  Frowny face for me.

Spend more time at Red Butte Garden - fail

 

I went once, and that was just to a concert.

 

Go to a concert - done

 

The Shins as Red Butte Garden

 

Keane at the Gallivan Center

Big Band Concert at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen

 

See a play or musical - done

 

9 to 5:  The Musical

 

Wicked

Go to a sporting event - done

 

Real Salt Lake Soccer

Spend more time with friends - done

 

Go on a picnic - done

 

Swim - fail

No excuse either, since there is a pool just a building away from me.

Make a craft - fail

 

I bought the materials to make a wreath and never made it.

Save money for trips - done

 

California - June

 

Denmark and Sweden - August

 

Disneyland - October

Start Christmas shopping - done

 

About 1/2 done

Register to be an organ donor - done

 

Organ donor AND Bone Marrow donor lists

Do something educational - done

 

Traveling to different countries and touring historical buildings and museums seems to fulfill this task in my opinion.  But I also read quite a few classic pieces of literature (loving Thomas Hardy these days), watched several documentaries, attended a few guest lectures.

 

Kronborg Castle, the setting of Hamlet and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

 

Try a new restaurant - done

 

Several in Europe

 

and a few in SLC- most recently Vivace, where the food is divine.

Go to the Scottish Festival…eat some Haggis - done and fail

 

Went to the festival, they were out of Haggis.

 

 

 

Organize closets - done

 

My biggest job was organizing my pantry.   It still looks great.   The other closets probably need to be organized again.

Try a few new recipes - done

 

If you look at my Pinterest 'Food' board you will see most of the new recipes I have tried.   I think I have tried about 85 % of the recipes I have pinned.

Go to the Farmers Market more often - fail done

 

I went a total of zero times.  Wait...I am changing my answer.  I went to the outdoor market in Apeldoorn (Netherlands) twice, to the market in Copenhagen (Denmark) once, and to the market in Malmo (Sweden) once.

4 times...not bad.  

Watch a lot of the Olympics (but don't stay up all night obsessively checking every channel for coverage like I did last time) - done

 

I watched as much as I could.   I was in Europe during the entire time of the games, so I could only watch at night and then for only an hour tops.

Be a little more spontaneous...but not too much - done ?

My Hometown - the California Edition

Please excuse the length of this post, but after all it is my 100th!!

I have to be honest and admit that I have never appreciated the city of my birth as much as I should have. Even though I was born there and my family lives there and I have spent many happy days, weeks, and months there – I have always thought of it as either hot in the summer or foggy in the Winter and not much else. The last few years I have tried to spend more time exploring the history of the area and in particular how my family fits into that history. You’d be surprised at the beauty you can find if you just take the time to look. So here is my tribute to the Yuba City/Marysville area, I hope you like it.

Yuba City Water Tower.

This is the house my Great Grandparents lived in back in the day. It is near the old High School in Yuba City. I like it; it looks like it can tell a story. I wish that it was still in our family.

This is a view of one of the old Yuba City movie theaters. It is a shame that it is no longer in use. Or is it? I seem to remember a very frigid outing to this theater one Christmas to see who knows what, what I do remember is the heater was broken. That is love people – willingness to sit through freezing temps in order to see a film. On a side note, I think the perspective in this picture is kind of cool.

Ahh, now isn’t this lovely? No really, it is so lovely that I think you should print it out and frame it. This, my friends, is a picture of the Sutter Buttes taken from the back porch of my Great Aunt’s house. The Sutter Buttes are a circular mountain formation mostly consisting of lava deposits. I think the highest peak is just over 2000 feet high, so not super imposing, BUT…wait for it…the Sutter Buttes are the world’s smallest mountain range. How do you like them now?

This is a picture of the High School in Marysville. It is beautiful. I love how the bricks have mellowed with age and how they lend a distinguished look to the school. As a side note, Marysville is named after Mary Murphy Covillaud, one of the surviving members of the Donner Party. There are many gravestones in the cemeteries of both Yuba City and Marysville of surviving members of the Donner Party. I don’t have any pictures of those this time around, but here are two of the old Marysville cemetery built in 1850. I love old cemeteries.

Ellis Lake is a centerpiece to the city of Marysville. It is man made and has been around since the 1930’s. I think it is pretty. But be ware of the crazy geese that troll around the lake looking for food, they can be quite aggressive. And I am sure for those of us who are not so fond of birds in general; it might be a good idea to stay away from the lake. Oh, and it is amazing what you can learn on Wikipedia. Apparently this lake was designed by the same person who designed the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Catholic Church in Marysville - I think it is quaint and looks just like what you imagine a post card perfect church should look like.

This is the Mary Aron museum and I am told there are family artifacts on display in this museum. I sheepishly admit that I have never been inside.

Just a cool doorway, it really has no purpose in this post, but I like it and this is my Blog. So there.

Another old Theater which is also no longer in use, and in which I have also seen a movie – isn’t it a shame that these gracious old theaters have lived past their prime? I am the first one to admit that I would rather see a movie in a theater with stadium seating (preferably reserved stadium seating); because after all I am short, but I think I could muster up the patience to see a movie in some of these old beauties if they could keep them around.

The Silver Dollar Saloon which I am told serves nice steaks, but which I am also told used to be a...shhhh…come closer…brothel.

The next few pictures are of the Bok Kai temple, the only one of its kind in America. The original temple was built in the 1850’s as a place of worship for the small Chinese community who had come to help build the rail roads. The god that they worshiped was Bok Eye, or the God of water who had power to control the rains. That temple burnt down and what stands in its place today was built in 1880. I have wondered about this temple my whole life. In 38 years I had never been in it because for many years it was in disrepair. Imagine my delight and surprise when we found actual people outside the temple this December – actual people who in fact let us in to look around. It is a tiny, tiny little temple, but oh so cute. I wish you could all see it. They have done an amazing job of restoring the temple to its former glory, and they open it by appointment to worshipers who come from around the state.

In this picture you can see the restoration work that they are attempting - one side is restored and the other not. This mural is the oldest existing mural depicting this story in America.

Yuba City and Marysville are surrounded by rivers. This contributes to the fog but also to the flooding. In the 1950’s, my grandparents had to flee the oncoming floods which eventually filled their house and destroyed many of their family heirlooms. They left so quickly in fact, that I believe the story is told, that my Uncle only had one shoe on. Since then there have been other floods, but it has always been other parts of the levees that broke. Still I worry about my family every year that there is a heavy rain and swollen rivers.

Another old theater – I promise this is the last one.

One of my favorite places to eat in Yuba City since it reminds me of being young. I don’t know how long my family has been eating here, but I can remember it from way back.

These little houses are where my Grandma and Grandpa lived when the first married. Aren’t they cute?

These wagon wheels have lined the circular driveway leading up to my Grandparents home for as long as I remember. When I was in college, my roommate was dating someone from Yuba City, he asked me where I lived, and I said well you probably know my Grandparents house from the Wagon Wheels. As soon as I said Wagon Wheels he knew exactly what I was talking about.

Something I obviously love about this area (I say obviously, because if you know me, you know I love anything to do with India) is that there is a large community of Indians. This Hindu temple is down the street from my Grandma's house. There is also a Sikh temple but I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it.

Orchards – if you are from my area of California you know of what I speak.

Sunsweet is headquartered in Yuba City, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from my house. They manufacture dried fruit and juices, but what they are probably most famous for is prunes. And may I say…umm…ick. And according to Wikipedia, Sunsweet controls more than two thirds of the prune market worldwide. Congrats I guess.

Anyway, there you have it – my hometown. What do you think? Would you like to visit? If so, I would be happy to take you on a tour.