Monday Morning Mojo

Today is Women's Equality Day

Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. The federal government proclaimed the amendment incorporated into the Constitution on August 26, 1920.

Amendment XIX to the US Constitution:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

In 1971 at the behest of Bella Abzug, US Congresswoman, August 26 was declared Women's Equality Day. That's today!

So, what will you do about it? Give voice to your support. Make it known to your colleagues and family that this day is important to you. Celebrate the progress made and renew your commitment to secure equal rights for women.

On the one hand we live in an age of unprecedented opportunity for women, and enjoy their leadership in almost every major sector. On the other, on average women are paid 77 cents for every dollar paid to men, have less access to the higher paid occupations upon graduation, and suffer less opportunity for promotion. The vast majority of workplaces do not provide adequate infrastructure to allow women to mother and work simultaneously. In this day and age it is unconscionable.

Every day history is made in small moments. Make today count. Resolve to start a conversation, show your support for women, name the world you want for yourself, your children, and their children - say it out loud: women deserve equal pay, equal freedom, and equal opportunity!

One of the best things we can do is raise our young men to understand the value of girls and women. As many of you know, I journey with my son every August on a father-son trip where we have the chance to discuss the things that are closest to our hearts. For those who follow my annual trips, here is some of what took place this year:

We just returned from an excursion in northern Vermont and New York with our eight month old German Shepherd, Sita. We truly got away from it all. Gabe asked me to shave at the beginning of the trip, as he has never seen me beardless. I agreed on the condition that he do the opposite: not shave at all! Gabe and me

We drove up to Burlington, using AirBnB to find places to sleep. It is a great service, and provided us with three different locations on the fly - one of which was a finished barn about 20 minutes outside of town.

Over the last twelve years, every August, he and I hit the road and most of the time we don't plan where we will spend the night. It's usually a motel or a campsite, but this time we also arranged to sleep in three separate locations hosted by individuals: an apartment in New Paltz, NY, a house in downtown Burlington, and a farm on the outskirts of the city. All of our hosts were hospitable, friendly, and provided us with a great place to sleep for a night or two.

Gabe and Sita

Then there was Mt Belvedere. We drove out into the country, found a gravel road on the side of the mountain, parked our car and hiked into the wilderness.

It was the first time Sita slept outside her crate. She loved it. She was off leash for the entire excursion. Being a shepherd, she never strayed far. She kept close to us every moment, and of course shouldered her own pack without complaint.

Gabe and I negotiate electronics at the beginning of every trip. Email and texting was kept to bare minimum when we had access, but there was none while we were in the woods so we were truly unplugged for a bit and boy did it feel good. Each night we lay around the fire, talked, and looked up at the stars through the tree leaves.

On the way home we stopped in Woodstock and then drove through the Catskills to Yasgur's farm, site of the Woodstock concert in 1969. Little did we know it was the actual 44th anniversary August 17. The field was open to the public and it was easy to recognize it from the film and pictures we'd seen. There was a reunion going on and a couple of the original participants sitting around with photo albums telling their stories to all who listened, which was all of us.

So, a bit of serendipity tossed in at the end of our time together made for a magical ending to a splendid trip. I returned feeling renewed in my depths, ready to dive into the fall season. It is as if my previous life has reached some kind of completion and new beginnings are afoot. I feel an air of excitement, a phoenix is stirring inside. I have high hopes for the year ahead.

Our passion are the true phoenixes; when the old one is burnt out, a new one rises from its ashes.
- Johann von Goethe

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