Saturday, May 19, 2018

A long trip down memory lane


The minute RBG was released I was on the internet to find a showing in Akron or Cleveland. Of course it's in the art theaters on both ends of the freeway, but since no one in Cleveland save  Beth expressed interest, she came down for lunch and a matinee.



The film was screened in The Nightlight, a converted old warehouse in the absolute oldest section of Akron, on High Street. I idly took a picture of what I could see of the building across the street, the Sojourner Truth Building.



For anyone reading not old enough to know this piece of history, Sojourner Truth was an emancipated slave who was part of the abolitionist movement. Here on High Street, Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth gave her "Ain't I a Woman" speech in 1851, more or less under the point of the portico roof.

It's a picture I would normally have deleted, as not contributing to the advancement of the story. But I am a native of this city, and the Sojourner Truth story has always resonated with me. I'm leaving it today, because this story simply is the history that women know so well.



High Street is among the last of Akron's canal era warehousing to be converted. Market Street, Mill Street, Exchange Street, all those streets with the names of thriving business activities, are done and done and done. High Street is charming for the rough exterior left. That crossroad down there is Maiden Lane, and the covered construction is the conversion of the old streetcar barns to lofts.






We stopped for a coffee, and Beth texted Francis proof that his grandma might have been a hippie once.



Inside the theater I watched this diorama cross the screen several times before I took in the entire picture. I snapped it because that's our Goodyear blimp crossing there, over the Goodyear Airdock. The silver building is the old Akron Savings, where mom worked. I believe that's even High Street in front, and a Nightlight logo on the brick building.

If you're still here, this post actually has a point. If you enlarge the diorama, there is a woman looking straight back at me. I am looking at myself in 1980. There is a photo of me that I could overlay on that, and they will match.

RBG is a phenomenal movie/documentary. Some of it brought me to tears. I marched in those marches. I voted for those candidates. I worked for those hopes and causes. To have this record of Justice Ginsburg's achievements, and part in the progress, is priceless. A film not to be missed.

If you're still here, I'm not to the end. My last post was a dismal recitation of lost physical abilities, and mental. Lost meaning, in short. And one day later, another school shooting. I've quit Facebook; friends and not friends alike mocking us for causing it and waiting for it to happen again. That's how to add despair to despair.

I do have friends who said "I'll stand with you," and did. The three of us became forty, on the corner in below freezing weather, standing in solidarity with school students. 

After I post this I'll start a list of what I did and who I contacted for the March demonstration. The November elections are not just about reclaiming decency, it's also about turning the process over to the next generation, eighteen year old after eighteen year old.

Oh, yes. Laura stood over my shoulder until I'd ordered a Notorious R.B.G. tee for her.






29 comments:

  1. I've seen Justice Ginsburg interviewed several times. She is indeed a remarkable woman....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll bet that tea was mighty good!

    Thank you for this post, Joanne.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am a great admirer of Justice Ginsburg and I hope to see this documentary if it ever gets shown in Edmonton or broadcast on Canadian TV. I love how she's been given the nickname "Notorious RBG!" She is a shining example for all women and progressive people to look up to.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hari OM
    So glad you got to see this movie, Joanne - and the history of Sojourner Truth to add to it. I have now educated myself somewhat, not having heard that name before. Thank you.

    News of the Texas school hit our screens and the heart dropped to the stomach. Again. ... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. I had to look up Ms Truth and read about her. Thank you for bringing her to my attention.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Off to educate myself...
    Yes, FB can be a vicious and shallow place.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We were going to see RPG tonight but the weather was not good to drive so we stayed home and watched more clips of the wedding. I am trying hard not to think of yesterday’s horror and how nothing will be done about this situation. This is not the same country that I grew up in and loved.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you. You educate us and you care. About the important things.
    My heart aches for the latest shooting not least at the young woman who wasn't surprised that it had reached her school. And I am ballistic with rage at the quick responses which dismiss her concerns as those of an actor.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So much of interest in this post. Thank you for being one who cares!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you Joanne.There is a lot about her on YouTube, i shall watch latter,so interesting and inspiring.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sojourner Truth - a good name. It is like she just spent some time here before moving on.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I didn't know what RBG stood for until now, aside from Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sojourner Truth sounds like the name of a newspaper, I hadn't known about the woman of that name.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Facebook can be a scary place if you are brave enough to express your opinion! I started just to keep up with my grandchildren, then started to get in touch with past friends and eventually added the business page. I conclude that the friends in my past should stay there, as they all seem to be close minded and unwilling to think. The business end of the deal seems to attract idiots who seem to think that a message on Facebook is an actual reservation to be honored without anything to secure the reservation. They all voted for Trump .....

    ReplyDelete
  15. You know you're my hero. Mismatched those matches, voted for those candidates, lost hope, tried the others, lost more hope. Go in you .As long as we have good people like you we'll be ok . If or daughter didn't live in Japan I wouldn't touch social media.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anticipating the Ginsberg movie. Good news, my kids and grand-kids know I was once a hippie, though they prefer to call me an old boho! (Bohemian) Sounds like a nice day.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I will try to find a way to see this.........I have pre-ordered it from amazon and see it will be available November 6th. Very interesting that it's the date of the November elections. I have never seen things as divided as they are now, not in my lifetime. I hope that will change. I haven't quite been able to leave FB, but I should. I probably should.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lovely story. It was nice of you to take a back a few years.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Interesting that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is so well-known and so celebrated for her life and achievements. There are 12 judges in the English Supreme Court but none of them have had any such popular acclaim.

    ReplyDelete
  20. That "Ain't I A Woman" speech is remarkable. I read it when I was a young woman and it made a strong impression. I bought a postcard with Soujourner Truth's picture on it and put it on my "hero" bulletin board when I was in my mid-20's. It remains there to this day. I had not realized she spoke those words in Akron.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe it was a speech she gave at every Chautauqua gathering in the east. I also recall she was emancipated, but never got papers from her master in New York. However, she was firm in not being a run away slave, though there were hand bills posted to that effect. She was a "walk away". She left in broad daylight.

      Delete
  21. Dear Joanne, on PBS Newshour last week, Jeffrey Brown (I think it was) interviewed the two women responsible for the documentary. The know RBG and the words they spoke about her made me want to see the film. But like you, it's finding where it's been shown in this extremely conservative part of Missouri and also finding someone who will drive me to the movies to see it. If I don't get to see it in a theater, I know that by next year, the library will have a copy of the film and I'll be able to see it. To have a woman like RBG in our midst is to be blessed. Peace.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Just because we're not 18 any more doesn't mean that we should all just stop trying to change things for the better.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I was not familiar with the Soujourner Truth story. Thank you for this educational post. I hope to see RBG. We are lucky she stayed on the bench. I hope she can make it past 2020.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pretty much enslaved to her principles, isn't she. Had she retired for Obama to appoint a liberal replacement, that nominee would have languished, just like Garland. We've stuck ourselves in the dead center of a giant temper tantrum!

      Delete
  24. Sojourner Truth is an incredible name, and very memorable. I hadn't heard of her, but I will look her up.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I just read about her on Wikipedia and am horrified anew at the hideousness that was slavery. What a strong and extraordinary woman she must have been. I will be finding out more.

    ReplyDelete