Rural Women and Gendered Fields

The “swiftboating” of Barack Obama: Not welcome out here

Arnica Montana — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:49:12 +0000

I received that heavily forwarded email message warning me about Barack Obama. It was racist. It was full of lies and innuendo. It told me to forward it to everyone I knew. You know the one.

You know how those forwarded messages usually contain lists of all of the other people it has been forwarded from and to? And normally we don’t know them.

This time, I knew most of them. Actually, my first impression was that it must be the roster from the local Lutheran Church. These are people I know and some of them I work with. One of them is a Christian therapist.

Normally I just hit “discard” with forwarded messages and do not read them. I never forward them. This time I not only hit “reply all,” but I copied and pasted some of the email addresses from earlier forwarded messages into the TO: header so everybody that I could tell had received and or forwarded this bit of nastiness was going to get my response. I wrote:

This is not only incorrect. It is racist. It is the “swiftboating” of Barack Obama.

And I signed my name — both first and last names. And I sent it to all those people most of whom will know who I am. Because this is rural America and we all know each other.

After I sent the message, I googled “swiftboating barack obama” and found some links on it, among them:

The swiftboating of Barack Obama on Daily Kos

Anybody who will deny there is a pattern to the racially charged comments that have been interjected into the presidential race is either naive or a liar. It cannot be denied and it’s become quite obvious it is a calculated effort to turn what is Barack Obama’s greatest strength against him.

Barack Obama’s greatest strength is the fact that he transcends race, and this generates majority appeal.

This article blames the Clintons. I don’t want to believe that. I’m not going to believe that.

Whatever the source, the point I make is this: from now on don’t take for granted because this is a rural area that this will play here without comment. “Good” Lutherans, and other “good” Christian people in rural America - you participate in racist nastiness when you read and believe and forward this message.

We get called ingnorant rednecks for a reason some times. It is time to stop that behavior. No matter who you’re voting for - - to remain true to your faith, it is time to reject this kind of prejudice and racism.

Hanging out in feminist bookstores: A rural woman’s Saturday morning virtual life

Arnica Montana — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:14:16 +0000

From Rural Womyn Zone Central to friends in Towanda: Searching for new book titles this morning, I got lost in an online bookstore reading lists of favorite books from 2007. I like reading staff picks for best of the year. I had so much fun that I decided to send you a list of [...]

Sounds like a good book

Arnica Montana — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:48:27 +0000

Week of Nov. 18, 2007 book list sent to the Ruralwomyn List by Arnica Montana. I was asked to put it online for the Towandans whose sticky notes are falling off their clothing! If you purchase any of these books, use this link http://astore.amazon.com/ruralwomynzone01 to benefit the Zone. Thank you for your support! [...]

Program uses workbook to help rural women with breast cancer

Arnica Montana — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:11:26 +0000

A Community-Based Workbook for Helping Rural Cancer Patients Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Cancer Center Final Report (1999) When women are newly diagnosed with breast cancer, they are faced with extremely difficult decisions about their treatment while trying to cope with the fact that they have a life-threatening illness. They deserve to have as much [...]

Breast Cancer Update and Cowboy and Indian Dress-up Day

Arnica Montana — Wed, 16 May 2007 09:41:15 +0000

Well, I have gone to the city and they have real doctors there. I am happy to report that I was wrong, and that my breast cancer team does care about more about me than just my left breast. They all listened, answered questions, reassured me, and brought on new team members to make [...]

Yes William, She’s Our Hero Too!

Celeste Cronen — Wed, 09 May 2007 10:40:08 +0000

William is the grandson of one of Rural Womyn Zone's long time members and it appears he is a "chip of the old block" in his choice to help make the world a better place. We have often marveled at the many selfless hours his grandmother has given to help domestic violence victims in her [...]

Breast Cancer

Arnica Montana — Sun, 06 May 2007 14:19:13 +0000

“Dancing Healer” was the name of a book about a medical doctor that went to practice on an Indian reservation where he was introduced to the concept of healing, which included an individual’s ability to listen to and understand body processes and be in control of them, and participate with the “doctor” in healing. [...]

Domestic terrorists still flying under the radar

Arnica Montana — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:34:41 +0000

"Domestic terrorist are at it again, flying under the radar as they renew their campaign of intimidation at women's clinics that offer abortions. While violence against such clinics has declined since the madness of the 1980s, this marks the first use of an explosive device, an IED no less, since the recent Supreme Court decision." [...]

Domestic Abortion Terrorists

Arnica Montana — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:23:15 +0000

"An explosive device was found Wednesday in the parking lot of an Austin, Texas, women's clinic that provides abortions. After inspecting the device, the Austin Police Department said in a statement: 'It was determined that the package ... would have caused serious bodily injury and/or death had it functioned.' Luckily, the bomb didn't function and [...]

No Clara Bartons Needed - Just Bumper Stickers and Children

Arnica Montana — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:18:12 +0000

Clara Barton said, "I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them. " This is quite a challenging statement to reflect on today when some people think that "support the troops" means slapping a yellow ribbon magnet [...]