I first saw Rachel Reddick on Facebook when she was announcing her candidacy to run for the 8th Congressional District seat in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I was concerned about the direction of the country, and the dangerous and daily madness of the Trump Administration. The wave of women deciding to run for public office to stand up against both political and sexual harassment was rising, and thousands of women were jumping in. According to Emily’s List, which trains pro-choice women to run for office, the number of Democratic women running for the US House of Representatives is up 350% from 41 women in 2016. More than 26,000 have contacted Emily’s List about running this year. So, who was this Rachel Reddick? (more…)

It’s like escaping a fridge prison. The winter in the northeast is cold and dark. Even days that are lit by bright sunshine are a tease. It looks so inviting when you look outside, until you open the door. So, when you get a chance to break out, you make a run for it.  We had a chance this week to spend time on vacation in Arizona. It was in the corner of the country that wasn’t gripped by freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and thousands of sliding vehicle accidents that reached into the Deep South. There is no better feeling than sitting at a pool in the sunshine and 75 degrees, and checking your phone to see it’s 28 in Philadelphia.

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This is the time of year when Hollywood releases the serious movies the studios believe will be in the running for the Academy Awards. Two of them, “The Darkest Hour” and “The Post” resonate vividly today when we could all use a reminder of what political and journalistic courage really looks and feels like. The movies examine critical weeks when the free world was on the brink of a catastrophic defeat, and one of the pillars of American democracy was threatened by the very people we elected to defend our most basic freedoms. They tell the stories of individuals who found themselves at a place and time when they had to make decisions under tremedous pressure that would change the course of history.

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As a year ends, it’s the time to look back on what’s happened during that last 12 months. Much will be written about 2017 as one of the most traumatic years in recent history. But as we look forward to 2018, we will be remembering the anniversary of the year that shook and changed the country and the world forever, 1968. Fifty year anniversaries are always a big deal, for marriages, birthdays, class reunions, and historically significant events. 1968 was full of such events, and a very significant personal one.

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Now we have the “word police”. It would be laughable, if it weren’t so frightening.  The Washington Post reports that the Centers for Disease Control has banned seven words for use in any future budget proposals. “Vulnerable”, “entitlement”, “diversity”, “transgender”, “fetus”, “science-based”, and “evidence-based.” The Department of Health and Human Services spokesman says, “The assertion that HHS has “banned words” is a complete mischaracterization of the discussions regarding the budget formulations process.” The Post also reports similar guidance has been issued at the State Department. Employees there have been told to call sex education “sexual risk avoidance”. That phrasing usually refers to abstinence-only education. Comedian George Carlin listed the seven dirty words you couldn’t say on television or radio back in 1972. Just think of how much fun he would have with this list.

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Who could have imagined this year? Many predicted deeper division, fear and anger. Compromise and accommodation would be seen as weaknesses. We didn’t know what to expect each morning when we turned on our phones or laptops. There would be bizarre, childish, and even threatening tweets from the president. We would be jolted awake by the latest mass shooting or attack in places on the opposite ends of the cultural spectrum. The madness raining down from a window in Las Vegas on a country music concert. A man walking down the aisle of small country church in Texas murdering whole families. A man driving a truck down a New York City bike path leaving behind death and twisted metal on a sunny fall afternoon. The cascade of sexual harassment and assault victims coming out of the darkness, standing up to the rich and powerful when the dirty, secret world was finally exposed by journalists doing the profession proud.

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It was a story about a stamp that got my attention. It was written by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Elizabeth Becker in The New York Times opinion column “Vietnam 67”. It was about a commemorative stamp Australia issued for Veterans Day honoring Austrailan war correspondent Kate Webb. Webb quit her newspaper job, and flew to Vietnam during the height of the war to cover one of the biggest stories of her generation. She was hired by UPI. She was captured by the Viet Cong, and wrote a book about her 23 days in captivity. She was also the first wire service reporter to reach the US embassy in Saigon as it was being attacked during the Tet offensive in 1968. Becker also covered the war in Vietnam and Cambodia. She was the first to report that Pol Pot was head of Khmer Rouge in Cambodia which killed over a million people in a sweeping policy of genocide. Becker went on to write about other women correspondents who fought their way to the front lines, to prove they could cover the big story just like their male counterparts, and wouldn’t be relegated to covering soft feature stories. They were in the vanguard of the womens’ movement for equality in the workplace.

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The stories keep coming everyday. It’s like the dam that was holding back the ugly secrets finally burst. Weinstein, Spacey, Roger Alies, Bill O’Reilly, Dustin Hoffman, Jeremy Piven, Louis CK, Steven Seagal, Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. The list of the powerful and famous, including the heads of big companies in Silicon Valley and National Public Radio, goes on and on. There were rumors and suspicions about sexual harassment and sexual assault. There was victims’ fear and intimidation that made them suffer in silence. But there was also the silence of people who knew, and who feared for their careers. They couldn’t or wouldn’t stand up to the sexual bullies. It’s easy looking from the outside and saying, why didn’t someone say something? But, they thought, who is going to believe me? My life and career will be ruined. Who can I turned to get the truth out, and make it stop?

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We had just taken out our science notes in my 8th grade class when there was a knock on the door. A student from a lower grade walked in with a note for the nun. This happened all the time. But when the nun opened the note, her face turned white. I remember her saying, “Boys and girls this is terrible. The president has been shot. Put your notes away.” The principal came over the intercom, and asked all of us to stand and pray. As we stood, Jimmy Ferguson, who sat next to me said, “I bet the Cubans did it.” We didn’t know how this happened, but I had heard on the radio that morning that the president was going to Dallas. The whole school was marched over to the church next door to continue praying. We passed two women on the sidewalk with baby carriages. I didn’t know if they knew what had happened. Once in the church, a parish priest walked onto to the altar and announced the president had died. We said a prayer and were sent home.

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The first thing you notice is the peacefulness. The Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site sits on the banks of the Pedernales River in the hill country of Gillespie County, Texas. It’s the home of the LBJ Ranch, once known as the Texas White House during Johnson’s years as president from November, 1963 until January, 1969. The site is over 730 acres. It also includes a working cattle ranch, Johnson’s boyhood home, the one room school house he attended, and a family gravesite.  The most tranquil spot was the family cemetery which included two large head stones over the graves of the former president and Lady Bird Johnson surrounded by smaller head stones marking the graves of family members, including Johnson’s parents. The graves are shaded by giant Live Oak trees. Their branches form a canopy over the graves that sit right along the banks of the river that Johnson drew strength from every time he visited the ranch. It defines the saying “Rest in Peace” for a man who was described “as a force of nature” and who held office during one of the most trubulent times in American history. Johnson was instrumental in some of greatest decisions in the 2oth century, and some of the worst.

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