Category: To Occupy my Time

Sexism in Parade magazine part II

This comes from an article about two friends who met at the Naval Academy, died for their country and now rest side by side in Arlington Cemetery. All well and good (except for the senseless death, but that’s for another post).  But read the part that begins, “Travis even joined Brendan on some of his dates–
First of all, Mean Girls isn’t a girl movie.  It’s a movie about girl relationships that both females AND males can learn from.  Secondly, if you reverse this statement, “[Two girls] weren’t too cool to watch a boys’ movie” it doesn’t make sense.  Because girls are supposed to like what boys like and be grateful when boys “sink to their level” and deign to watch a movie that is centered on something other than *gasp* men.
Granted, the sexism this time comes from a quote, that is, not the writers of Parade Magazine themselves, but it’s stuff like this that should be called out.  So I’m doing it.

Great Aunt Betty’s memorial gathering.

Here’s Aunt Betty as a younger girl.

Here are the 15 Whitmore children and their parents.  My grandmother, Helen, is third from the left.
(Update!  According to my mother, this was a celebration for my grandmother’s 40th birthday. See her comment below.)  

I love the fact that she still had her War Ration Book (I’ve never seen one before,) but I love even more that she was 4 feet 11 inches and 98 pounds.  I looked up the house address too.  It’s still there.

When you have 15 children, it’s not hard for gatherings to get this big.  My copy is blurry, but I think that’s my grandfather George second from the right, standing next to my Great-Grandmother.  My grandma is in the first standing row, six (!) from the left.  She’s wearing a dark colored dress.

More of the 15.  Not so well composed, as some of them are hidden.

This is a really fabulous photo of Aunt Betty.

As is this.  That’s Aunt Joanne standing next to Aunt Betty. 
(Update!  The problem with having 14 great aunts and uncles is you might have trouble with their names.  Mom says this is Aunt Margaret, not Aunt Joanne.) 

This is a picture of my grandmother and grandfather I’ve never seen before. I particularly love my grandmother’s coat, which I’m willing to bet she made.

A Jantzen Swimsuit!

This is the shirt Aunt Betty is wearing in a really fun photo of (nearly) all the Whitmore girls.  I’ve looked at that picture for years as it’s in my Aunt’s kitchen, so it was funny to see the shirt neatly folded among the memorabilia.

Then I hit gold!  Aunt Betty’s autograph book.  This is from a friend of Aunt Betty’s and I laughed at the saying.

From Uncle Harold.

My grandfather!  I was surprised to see him in this book because it was from 1936 and I didn’t realize he was around then. My grandparents didn’t marry until 1941.

Auntie Bea

Aunt Mary.  (Who is amusingly wicked in her entry)

Aunt Lucretia.

Because Aunt Betty loved ice cream, there was an ice cream shop.

This is Uncle Jack, who was married to Aunt Lucretia (the one from the autograph book).

Aunt Virginia (married to Uncle Harold), Aunt Janet (who was stubbornly looking away from the camera) Aunt Joanne, Aunt Mary.
I waited around until Aunt Janet didn’t notice me taking the picture.

A nice poem about the Whitmore Family.

Kid signs.

One of the K/1 classes made informative signs which they helpfully hung around the school.
Say sorry when you bump someone because someone might be hurt.

People are talking while going past the office.
Stop.  Don’t talk while Patricia is working. Shhhh.  Be quiet.
[the post-it note says]
Or else she will be distracted.

This is my favorite, both for the message and the illustration:
Do not sing “Let it Go” in the classroom or else people might get annoyed!

A break from work: Lan Su Chinese Garden

I was done with work at 1:30 on Friday like usual, but I had to come back at 3:30 for a meeting.  What to do for two hours?  A coworker suggested I visit the Chinese Garden.  I’d never been, I’m ashamed to admit, so I thought that was a brilliant suggestion and took myself.
Beautiful stones in the courtyard.  

The garden is designed so you are constantly looking at different frames.

Beautiful carved wood.

Overlooking the water and the Moon Locking Pavilion.

More beautiful carving.

More beautiful paths.

Peeking out onto the city street.  The garden takes up one full block, but it seems much bigger, from the inside.

Nothing makes me want to enter like a “do not enter” sign.
A small courtyard with more great stonework.

The plastic horses in this arrangement amused me.

The fabulous roof tiles are shaped like bats.

Six panels carved from ginkgo wood.  The fourth one says “Most cherished in this mundane world is a place without traffic; truly in the midst of a city there can be mountain and forest.”  Wen Zhengming.

This floor pattern is called “plum blossoms on cracked ice.”  So pretty!

The scholar’s study.

The tea house.

Steps across the water.

A beautiful waterfall.

Though all of the materials came from China, the plants came from the US.  This tree came from a house in Southeast Portland. The men working on the garden found it and asked the owner if it could be transplanted to the garden because the trees take so long to grow.  The owner said if his neighbors (who also loved the tree) agreed it could move.  It did.

This is a Lake Tai rock which is formed underwater over many decades in Lake Tai.  These are meditative rocks and viewing it from bottom to top is akin to venturing up a mountain peak.  It is now not allowed to export Lake Tai rock, so the garden is very happy to have been created at at time when export was still possible.

Keyhole framing.

Our great tour guide.

Nice “oasis in the city” photo.  That’s Big Pink, the tallest building in downtown Portland, peering over the garden wall.

More oasis stuff.

Yet more “oasis in the city”.

Here I got to tell my fortune.  I shook the can of sticks until one presented itself to me.  Then I looked at the number and opened the corresponding drawer to find my fortune.

Mine was “a long sought position in life will soon be yours.”  Sounds good to me.

Beautiful entrance to the Scholar’s private garden.

Nice detail here.

Here is the upper floor of the tea house.  If I had more time I would have gotten some tea.

Overall, this was a great way to spend a few hours before returning to work.  It is peaceful and calm and really is an oasis in the middle of the city.

What is it that stars get to do?

Recently, three (male) basketball players at the University of Oregon were removed from the team (though they waited until after the playoffs) because they sexually assaulted another UO student.  They maintain it was consensual, the woman says it was not, and the Eugene Police Department declined to prosecute, citing lack of evidence.  Susan Nielsen wrote an opinion piece about the incident. One sentence took my breath away.
Did you catch that? 
 “…treats its athletes like stars and then expresses shock when they behave accordingly.” 
So that’s what stars do?  Rape?
I’d love if we could move rape into something that is assumed will not happen rather than something that is stupidly, insanely, infuriatingly common.

Great Aunt Betty’s Obit.

This is one of my grandmother’s younger sisters.
Elizabeth Jane Whitmore MacDougall
October 15, 1920 – April 8, 2014
Betty was born in Portland to Helen (Hawes) and Raymond Whitmore, the sixth of 15 children.  Betty is survived by her children Dolores (Woods) Veenendaal and Dwayne Woods. 
To Betty, family was life’s most important gift and she loved them all.  She enjoyed family occasions both big and small.
“Grannie” aka “The Great One” was thrilled to welcome her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
Betty was a retired meat wrapper.  She was a skilled seamstress and ceramic painter.  She loved to crochet, a skill she learned from her mother.  She enjoyed gardening and having flowers in her backyard.  She also grew berries to make jam for her great-grandchildren.
Betty’s memorial will be a party serving her favorite foods, chocolate, ice cream, Sprite and coffee.  All family and friends are welcome.