Barbie

 

By Marilyn Moore

I didn’t have a Barbie.  That’s not a statement of woe, just a statement of fact. I suspect it was all a matter of timing.  Barbie was first introduced to the world in 1959.  I was nine, almost ten, and probably past the doll stage by then.  I don’t remember my friends, or younger cousins, having Barbies…but I could have just been oblivious.  Or maybe it took a while for the hype, and the dolls, to reach rural Nebraska.  For any of those reasons, or perhaps others, Barbie was not a part of my childhood.  

So when the movie was released this summer, it was of no particular interest to me – another movie based on a toy, or an action figure, or a comic book character, and there have been lots of them.  Not on my list of movies to see, far more interested in “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over” and “The Miracle Club.”  Until I saw that far-right male politicians were bashing the movie, and some churches were warning parents not to let their daughters see it.  And most importantly, the writer, Greta Gerwig, credited Mary Pipher’s groundbreaking book Reviving Ophelia about the developmental lives of American adolescent girls with grounding her thoughts about how to portray Barbie.  At that point, it became a must see.

And so I did, with a good friend, also my age, who also did not play with Barbies.  And a half-full theater of mostly women and girls, though there were a few guys, too.  And I’m really glad I saw it….and I came away thinking all over again about growing up female and living as a woman in the real world.  Because in this movie, the action takes place in both Barbie World and the real world, with Barbie (and Ken, as a stowaway) living in both.

I won’t try to summarize the movie.  If you’ve seen it, you know it.  And if you haven’t, my thoughts about it may make sense without the whole plot as context…or not, in which case you can just create a context.  One critic faulted the movie for not having a rational story line at times…come on, it’s a movie about a doll, a whole cast of dolls, living in a fantasy world…who would expect rational?

It's a story about a dreamworld that comes crashing up to the real world…and the real world isn’t all Barbie had thought it would be.  Even though Weird Barbie had tried to warn her that would happen….  And doesn’t that happen all the time?  Our minds and hearts take us to a dream world…and then we go out the front door into real world, and reality smacks us in the face.  And we try to make it better, over and over and over, and sometimes we do, and sometimes we can’t.  And in trying, we find strength and skills and determination we didn’t know we had, and that’s a good thing.

It's a story about boxes.  After finding, with relief, the Mattel headquarters in real world, Barbie crashes the executive board meeting, to let them know that the real world needs attention…dream world is not making real world better.  Rather than listening to her, the execs (all white males in black suits and white shirts) tell Barbie she needs to get back in the Barbie box and return to the dream world…if she just gets in the box, (and in your mind’s eye you can see them patting her shoulder and telling her not to worry her pretty little head about this), everything will be just fine.  She gets in the box…and then uses that wonderful ruse, need just a quick stop at the restroom, to run away, to be rescued by Ruth, and by Gloria, and by Sasha.  Never, never, ever get in a box not of your own choosing because someone tells you it will be better for you…and always look for women to help you.  

Barbie returns to dream world, with Gloria and Sasha, to discover that Ken has discovered patriarchy during his time on real world and has taken advantage of her absence to turn Barbie World into Ken World, populated with Kens and horses and beer…and subservient women.  In sheer frustration, Gloria, the real world mom of Sasha, the real world teenager, explodes with the soliloquy of the summer, “It is literally impossible to be a woman…..You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear,  never get out of line....I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us…” (Find the whole soliloquy; it’s just spot on truth.  Like a dagger.  Or a laser.  Or a hot, hot flame. The most-quoted part of the movie, from women of all ages and stages of life.)    

This soliloquy, which the previously mentioned critic (male) labeled “boilerplate,” pulls Barbie back from despair over Ken World, and Barbie, Gloria, and Sasha de-program the Barbies away from servitude and back to knowing and claiming their own power.  Through a brilliant plot, the Kens are first distracted, then turn upon one another, and while they are fighting each other, preening their masculinity as it were, the women hold an election, affirm the Constitution, restore the previous President Barbie back to power, and confirm the Supreme Court filled with nine Justice Barbies.  While the Kens are fighting among themselves, the Barbies are going about the business of governing.  If that sounds like a metaphor for today’s political parties…. well, you wouldn’t be the first to think of it.

Near the end of the movie, Ruth, the wisdom figure, invites Barbie to walk with her, to think about who she is, and who she will be, and for what she is made.  Barbie has a choice, to stay in Barbie World, or return to the real world.  If you’ve seen the movie, you know the decision.  If you haven’t, I’ll not tell the ending.

Barbie is right, of course…the real world is not the dream world.  And for women, it’s especially not.  By many measures, especially economic ones, women are not on parity with men at all.  Women with similar education, similar jobs, similar experiences, earn less than men.  Women do way more of the caregiving, of both children and elderly parents.  Women’s lives and appearance and clothes are scrutinized far more than men’s, especially when they run for public office or seek highly visible jobs.  And the scrutiny of women’s health care…we don’t even need to go there.  Suffice it to say I’ve seen no proposed legislation regarding erectile dysfunction or vasectomies….  

But in one way, at least one way, women’s lives are better than men’s; we live longer.  And that is in part because of women’s friendships.  Recent research cites strong social connection as a leading factor, even more so than exercise, diet, and not smoking, in quality of life and length of life as we age.  And women know that.  We all have a village of Barbies, a Gloria and a Sasha, and a Ruth…. women who care about us, who hold us when we’re ill and who celebrate when good things happen, women, women who know and care about our stories, women who laugh and cry with us, women who walk with us when we’re facing life’s big questions.  And women who join together to get things done, to make things better.  For me, that’s the most powerful message of Barbie.

So why, I wonder, are the right-wing political characters and commentators so upset about Barbie?  Perhaps, just perhaps, because the Barbies are courageous and kind and smart, and because they persisted, and persevered, and prevailed. 

(A final word about pink…there’s lots of it.  Bubble gum pink, which I understand has been patented; it’s an exclusive Barbie shade.  I don’t know how it came to be that pink is associated with little girls, and all things female, but it is. It’s seen as frivolous, or silly, or weak.  I have memories of not wearing pink as a professional woman in the 1990’s.  And I always smiled when Rick Collura wore pink shirts as he coached the Lincoln Northeast Rockets to three state basketball championships – that pink was powerful.  If Barbies can reclaim the Constitution, and the presidency, and the Supreme Court, perhaps we can reclaim pink as a power color.)

Listening to the call of summer, whispering a cautionary tale for Woods Park

By Mary Kay Roth

Perched on a picnic table at Woods Park on this sultry Saturday evening, I take some time to watch summer pass by. 

Squirrels scramble everywhere around me, scurrying over the freshly cut carpet of grass, acres of open space speckled with smatterings of yellow and white wildflowers. Boughs of scotch pine hang low and rustle in the breeze, the backdrop for elegant stands of sycamore, locust, elm trees. The song of a cardinal mingles with the roar of cars jetting along O street – the click-clack of a skateboarder and the jabber of children on the park's playground – the blare of loudspeakers from the nearby swimming pool and the clamor of pick-up frisbee. 

A few fireflies tease with their tiny lanterns, as the blush of twilight begins to glow over this urban park – a glorious wide-open expanse of green serving as a crossroads betwixt city and Mother Nature, an enchanting swath of wildlife at the heart of our town.

Recently, the Friends of Woods Tennis Center submitted their request to Lincoln Parks and Recreation to amend the master plan for Woods Park, proposing to add six more tennis courts, another tennis building and a significantly extended parking lot.  Of course, the request comes with the obligatory step of stripping away precious green space and chopping down significant numbers of cherished trees.  

Our neighborhood – and growing numbers of citizen advocates – believe this is a turning point, a time we pause to consider the future of these treasured 47 acres of open space … a milestone moment to decide whether we savor this park, or continue to nibble it away, piece by piece, tree by tree. 

On this particular July evening, I lie back and feel the tickle of grass underneath bare feet while, overhead, blankets of clouds drift over a pale blue sky now gilded by the setting sun. 

This year I’m savoring summer, warm months that hold the unique capacity to soothe soul and senses – a season I rush through, way too often.  I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but its memories hit me harder than any other season. 

Yes, Woods is our community’s park, but it is also my neighborhood park. 

My children grew up here.  They soared with abandon from the playground swings, double dog dared one another to leap off towers at Woods pool.  We flew kites and dined on PBJ picnics in the spring, held sweaty softball and baseball practices in the summer, celebrated golden maples in the fall, tromped through the park’s sweeping, wind-blown snowdrifts in the winter.  

In fact, families from across Lincoln have played in this oasis, a park planted and nurtured smack dab in the middle of our city.

Joni Mitchell wrote the familiar cautionary lyrics, “Pave paradise, put up a parking lot,” more than half a century ago.  She was visiting Hawaii for the very first time, threw open her hotel room curtains and gazed at the paradise of beautiful green mountains in the distance while, below, contemplated a yawning, ugly parking lot stretched as far as the eye could see.

As the same old struggles circle round, I’m wondering if I’m not alone in feeling frustrated lately, facing down global problems without any sense of meaningful tactics to fight back.  I can recycle soda cans and use sustainable grocery bags, but I’m still not solving climate change.

I can, however, work to try and protect Woods Park. 

A tree’s service to this planet ranges from carbon storage and soil conservation to water cycle regulation, according to a study from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Trees support natural and human food systems and provide homes for countless species. Yet we often treat them as disposable, an inconvenience in the way of human development.

“Even if we could live in a world without trees, who would want to?” said Thomas Crowther, a global systems ecologist and lead author of the study. “This planet is unique from everything else we currently know in the universe because of this unexplainable thing called life, and without trees, almost all of it would just be screwed.”  

True confessions, I am part of a grassroots advocacy effort – called Woods Park: Keep It Green – focused on saving the existing green spaces here. Through wise leadership, we recently helped identify Woods Park as one of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum’s affiliated Landscape Steward Sites, honoring the park’s 750-plus trees – and reimagining a vision for Woods with community gardens, prairie plantings, rain gardens, walking paths and additional trees.

But please let us be clear. We have no problem with tennis.  We simply believe you can move, create, build tennis courts anywhere across the city of Lincoln.  You cannot re-create or move a park.  This would be the third expansion of the tennis complex footprint since 2013, with the justification, once again: “We’re only talking about a few trees.”

And then of course a few more, and a few more.

Tonight, as deep dusk starts to settle over Woods Park, I realize July is fast fading into August and the inevitable turn of the calendar brings a sense of impending urgency. 

There’s a magic to urban parks, if we would only listen to their whispered prayer … to the cry of the cicadas, to the coo of the mourning doves, to the call of the trees … warning us about the sacredness of this precious earth.

When the green is gone, it is gone forever.  

****Please support Woods Park and Keep it Green: 

• Talk to your friends about this issue.
• Post messages on your social media channels.
• Follow us on Facebook, Woods Park: Keep It Green.
• Contact/call/email members of the Lincoln City Council: https://www.lincoln.ne.gov/City/City-Council/Council-Members

 

 

Summer Reading For The Legislators

 

By Mary Reiman

Sometimes I think I should be more assertive with our state legislators. Call or write them more often with advice/suggestions. Be more generous and donate to their campaigns or buy them lunch. 

This year, I also should have purchased copies of several books, tied them together with a red, white and blue bow and a note, asking them to read, read, read this summer. Actually, I should have recommended these titles last summer, but I wasn't thinking about what was ahead.

I would have included Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan.

Actually, everyone should read this novel addressing a topic that many don’t want to talk about, but on May 19th, our legislators voted to control. A story of powerful relationships and family dynamics. Once you start reading, you won’t stop until you are finished and you will continue to think about it long after you've turned the last page.

Another recommendation for them would have been Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall. Yes, another work of fiction, inspired by true stories. Three women from three decades and how their stories/lives were woven together. Another important book our legislators should have discussed before they voted in May.  

I am hopeful all of our state legislators went to our Nebraska History Museum this spring. A short walk from the Capitol. Located at 131 Centennial Mall North. Two fabulous and important exhibits, Preserving a Legacy: Japanese in Nebraska and Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II. Both exhibits are on display until October 1st. If you have not had the opportunity to visit these exhibits yet, please do so to learn more about our state history as well as our nation's history. (https://history.nebraska.gov/museum/exhibits/) 

You will then want to read Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown. Subtitle: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II.

If I was still working with high school social studies teachers, I would recommend it be added to their American History curriculum. An important piece of our history never thoroughly discussed, or acknowledged.

Yes, as always, there are so many excellent books. So much reading to be done. And so many who still seem to feel we should limit reading opportunities.

Last month I was reminded that on June 25, 1953, the Freedom to Read Statement was published. Yes, 1953.

Last month's message from the American Library Association: “Seventy years ago, leaders from across the literary world joined together in writing to condemn attacks on free expression. The statement at the heart of that endeavor, the Freedom to Read Statement, was authored by the American Library Association and Association of American Publishers over a period of several days. It begins with this timeless observation:

The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack.

A resurgence of attacks on the freedom to read again threatens our democracy. Calls for book bans, the adoption of unconstitutional legislation, and campaigns to criminalize the work of librarians, teachers, booksellers and other individuals for distributing materials protected by the First Amendment threaten our fundamental liberties.” 

The statement was written in 1953, reaffirmed in 1972, 1991, 2000 and 2004, and again last month. Read the first paragraph out loud for the full impact:

The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack. Private groups and public authorities in various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries. These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to counter threats to safety or national security, as well as to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals. We, as individuals devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read. 

You may read the entire document and see the list of authors and publishers who have signed this statement this year. A long list: https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/freedomtoread/#statement

The right to read. I guess it’s right up there with the right to bear arms. It’s interesting that many legislators/politicians who feel there’s a need to preserve the right to bear arms are less supportive of the right to read. I wonder why...

I don’t know how old I was when I learned to read. Maybe it began with those Little Golden Books available in my hometown grocery store. And yes, the public library drew me in and started me down the pathway/career of literacy and learning, thanks to my mom and grandma who took me to the library. I remember it vividly. 

I know you all have your favorite books and read many more titles each month than I do. I see the book covers on Facebook and have a sigh of relief when I’ve read at least one or two that you share. Thank you for giving me more recommendations!

A special thanks also to those legislators and all of you who continue to fight for our right to read. 70 years later..

So on this beautiful Sunday morning, I feel compelled to go for an early morning walk, listening to David Baldacci's Simply Lies. Then home this afternoon to sit on the porch and continue reading Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber. 

Today I need to enjoy this freedom to read.

Freedom: Honk if you’re worried

By JoAnne Young

 

I’m worried, but I'm trying to reframe. Because I have tired of it, this worrying. I’ve been involved in this exercise for too many years, and my relationship with freedom has only gotten more dysfunctional, partly through my close observation of what’s going on in my state and a farther view of the rest of the country and the world. 

 

As I see it, freedom is trending down in Nebraska. But we are not alone. I could hold up some examples, but if you’re paying attention you already know: The freedom of women. The freedom of parents. Of voters. The freedom to educate and to learn. That freedom that allows us to feel safe in public and commercial spaces: schools, malls, theaters, festivals, concerts, the list goes on. 

 

There’s a number I can’t get out of my head recently: Eight hundred twenty. More than 800 bills – changes to law -- were introduced by Nebraska state senators in the 2023 legislative session. The Legislature passed provisions of 291 of those bills, some of which seriously restricted freedoms for some Nebraskans, including women, parents, youths. There are bills still sitting in committee that could advance next session, such as LB374, that is modeled after legislation in Florida, Kansas and Missouri and could limit, if passed, class discussions on racial history, that could make it easier to remove books in school libraries objected to by some parents, and restrict surveys of students such as the Youth Behavioral Risk Survey. 

 

Senators proposed rule changes this session that would remove the media from legislative committees during executive sessions, where critical discussions on bills take place. That would restrict our freedom of the press. 

 

Here’s a proposed rule change I could get behind: Limit senators to introduction of only 12 bills per session. Many senators propose much higher numbers of changes to Nebraska law each session that could impinge on our freedoms. This year, seven senators introduced more than 30 bills each, with Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha introducing 60. Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha came in second with 44. 

 

As one former Nebraska Chamber of Commerce president has said: If Nebraska is the good life, why does our Legislature seek to make so many changes every year? 

 

Any number of those changes could lead to mayhem. 

 

So yes, there’s lots to worry about this summer, even with the Legislature out of session and political campaigns not yet in full bloom. 

 

I watched a report on 60 Minutes that put freedom in perspective. It included interviews with three women in Ukraine’s military, waist deep in their country’s fight for freedom in the city of Mariupol, a town of 400,000 before the war but now devastated by Russian troops. As the fighting intensified, soldiers were cornered in a steel mill and watched as children died ugly deaths. At least 25,000 civilians in that city were killed during the Russian takeover. 

 

One of the women could only text her family with a plus sign each day to show them she was still alive. One of the three who was pregnant would ask fellow soldiers to kill her if she should get captured. They all ended up in POW prisons where they were tortured and had to listen to and watch the torture of others. All the while, the pregnant solider would whisper to her baby to hold on, that she must be delivered into freedom, onto the soil of a free Ukraine. The women eventually got home alive in a prisoner exchange, and the pregnant soldier’s baby was delivered into freedom ... for now. 

 

It was a lesson in freedom. I will still worry about our own democracy, and the threats to it from, not a foreign enemy but those who have a different view of our country from within. It is incentive to pay close attention this summer to what we still have in our country, our state, our own piece of tiny ground. 

 

I will focus through the next days, as we celebrate freedom here, on time well spent. I will heed the small delights. The sound of far-off thunder and faint momentary lighting of the sky as rain tries to make its way to my trees and grass and flowers, and the rivulets that cut paths down my windshield when it does arrive. I will think about the dog I saw today at the lake on a paddle board, settling down to enjoy the gliding across the water with its beloved person. 

 

This summer I will carry these moments of freedom, strange little details that matter, and try – not promising, just try -- not to worry.