A Letter from Co-presidents Carol Pauley and Kathy Hardy

It’s not Women’s History Month but this is a letter about women and about the unifying power of cultural icons. In an environment where consensus is increasingly rare, figures like Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem occupy a space that transcends partisan lines, and act as "cultural anchors" that remind us of a shared national identity. Their deaths offered a rare, brief pause as we remember their legacy.

When Kathy and I were driving home from a trip across the bridge, we noticed that many flags were at half mast. Why? For Dolly Parton, of course, who died on August 25. You didn’t have to like her music to appreciate Dolly. She spent years creating a public image rooted in kindness. What has she done?

· She provided millions of books world-wide through her Imagination Library.

· She was a vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights.

· She was a tough, self-made businesswoman and song writer in a male-dominated industry.

· She was well known for her philanthropy, including many contributions to disaster relief and financial support for the Moderna Covid vaccine.

A favorite Dolly quote when asked about dumb blondes: “I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I'm not blonde either.”

Gloria Steinem passed away on September 5. She navigated a different world than Dolly but was a true cultural icon for women. She mastered the art of using her public image as a tool to undercut societies’ expectations and took down the "shrill feminist" cliché. In 2015, she told the New Yorker: “I’m an entrepreneur of social change. I raise money. I talk. I write. I tell stories. I want to do justice to the women I meet.” She did many other things:

· Millions of young women don’t realize that Gloria is the reason they can open checking accounts and get credit cards in their own name, separate from their husband’s. She lobbied Capital Hill until Congress passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, which also allowed women to take out loans and to buy a house without a male relative serving as a co-signer.

· She co-founded Ms. magazine in 1972, the first national publication owned and operated entirely by women. The magazine was predicted to fail. But, the first standalone issue sold out all 300,000 copies in eight days and garnered 26,000 subscriptions before the end of the first month. It’s still standing. I remember being so proud of my subscription.

· She organized across racial boundaries and believed that gender equality and civil rights are not separable.

Two very different, strong women. We would all be better off if women ruled the world.

Our song this month is Just Because I’m a Woman (1968, Dolly Parton):

I can see you're disappointed

By the way you look at me

And I'm sorry that I'm not

The woman you thought I'd be

Yes, I've made my mistakes

But listen and understand

My mistakes are no worse than yours

Just because I'm a woman

We are in this together.

Carol and Kathy

PAC Update 

October is Early Voting Month 

Early Voting Begins October 22 

Postcard Writing 

It is time to double our efforts for the final push to Election Day. 

Join us every Wednesday from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at: 

Worcester County Youth and Family Services 

Community Meeting Room 

124 N. Main Street, Suite C 

Berlin, MD 21811 

Across from Sterling Tavern 

We are writing postcards in support of Vicky Wallace for Dist. 5 County Commission, Kathy Cater for Dist. 6 School Board, and Dan Schwartz for Dist. 1 Congressional seat. 

Postcard packets and approved messages are available for anyone who would like to write cards at home. 

Get Out the Vote 

Candidates need volunteers for canvassing and phone banking. Contact their campaigns directly to help. 

Remind your friends and family to vote early: 

Thursday, October 22–Thursday, October 29 

7:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m., including Saturday and Sunday 

Roland E. Powell Convention Center 

4001 Coastal Highway, Ocean City 

Completed mail-in ballots may be returned at any of Worcester County’s three official ballot drop boxes: 

• Pocomoke Community Center 
• 1410 Market Street, Pocomoke City, MD 21851 
• Worcester County Board of Elections 
• 201 Belt Street, Suite C, Snow Hill, MD 21863 
• Roland E. Powell Convention Center 
• 4001 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, MD 21842 

Schwartz–Harris Debate 

Tuesday, October 13, 6:00 p.m. 

Chesapeake Grove Intergenerational Center 

108 Chesapeake Street 

Cambridge, MD 21613 

A carpool will leave the Food Lion on Route 113 at 4:30 p.m. To join the carpool, email beachyogi@me.com. 

Letter-to-the-Editor Campaign 

Our letter-writing campaign continues. We are writing and soliciting letters about Congressman Andy Harris’s record and policies. To receive instructions for joining the letter-writing group, email beachyogi@me.com. 

Congratulations to Tish and Joan, whose letters were published this month: 

• “Remembering 9/11 and What It Taught Us,” by Tish 
• “Harris Should Protect Local Drinking Water” by Joan 

Weekly Honk and Waves 

October’s Honk and Waves will rotate among locations throughout Worcester County on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 

On Saturday, October 17, we will hold our No Kings event at Stephen Decatur Park in Berlin. 

Check the Indivisible Worcester MD Facebook page for each week’s location and the latest information. 

PAC Meeting Schedule 

There will be no regular Political Action Committee meetings in October, November, or December. During this period, we will focus on postcard writing and get-out-the-vote activities. We will meet only if a critical need arises. We will regroup in January, refreshed and ready to plan our goals for a non-election year. 

At the August meeting, our own "poet laureate," Debbie Wood inspired us with her stirring poem, The Tallest Witness:

The Tallest Witness

That tree that stood on your grandfather’s land was built with clay dirt and a little sand. It has weathered many storms and stood the test of time; with a trunk that’s a mountain for a child to climb.

Its roots are the anchors that the surface can't see, binding the earth to the ghost of the tree.

The bark is a map of the years that have flown, of the heat of the drought and the seeds that were sown.

It watched as the seasons turned copper and gray, and felt the soft weight of the snow on the spray. It stood through the thunder, the wind, and the rain, absorbing the joy and the shadow of pain.

Its roots are a library buried in deep, guarding the secrets the clay likes to keep. While high in the air, the branches start thin, like fingers of scribes where the stories begin.

They write on the clouds what the ancestors knew: That the strength of the old is the life of the new. Now the branches reach out like a grandfather's arms, protecting the soil from the world and its harms.

Though the sand may have shifted and the clay may have dried, the life of the spirit is pulsing inside. It’s a witness to all that was spoken and done, basking at last in the light of the sun.

© 2025 Debra Linette Wood

Letters to the Editor

Our "Ace Reporter," Tish Michel had two more excellent Letters to the Editor appear in the Bayside Gazette this month. “Remembering 9/11 and What It Taught Us" and "Etiquette for 'Honk and Wave"'demo".

Member Joan Roache's letter to the editor was also published in the Ocean City Today-Dispatch, "Harris Should Protect Local Drinking Water".

Member Ron Pilling's letter about how the decline of menhaden is negatively affecting the people and ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay was published in the Bayside Gazette. "Harris Could Limit Menhaden Picking".

Last month we lost a pillar of the Women's Rights Movement, Gloria Steinem. DWC member Linda Linzey wrote the following tribute for Coast TV:

The women, men and children of America and worldwide owe Gloria Steinem gratitude for her tireless commitment, legendary activism and exemplary life's work on behalf of human equality.

From going undercover as a Playboy Bunny or facilitating the publishing of Ms. Magazine or marching with thousands of others from LA to NYC to DC demanding equal treatment, and rights for women; Gloria Steinem lead the movement and the way. Feminists stand on her shoulders and follow her path. She personified activism - leaving a gaping hole in the fabric of the Women's Movement that may never be repaired.

-Linda Linzey

"When unique voices are united in a common cause, they make history." -Gloria Steinem

***********************

Another DWC member, Linda Powers, felt compelled to post this reflection upon the death of Gloria Steinem:

I grew up in a conservative town in Maine. I was raised in a conservative home with parents who voted Democrat.

That was common back in the 50’s and 60’s.

You could have conservative beliefs mixed in with liberal ones.

I remember my entire little town showing up at our city park to get a glimpse of John F. Kennedy when he was running for president.

I also remember the moment I heard he’d been shot and how devastated I felt. I was a Senior in HS and the world I knew was about to change.

The next 4 years as the country started to wake from its political and racial slumber, I spent 4 years in a small liberal arts college in Maine spending every waking moment studying or working to get through college.

I was 1 of 2 girls from my HS graduating class who attended a secular college. All the others went to Catholic girls colleges or nursing schools or secretarial schools or got married. That’s just the way it was back then.

When I graduated I left Maine for the first time and headed for Fort Meade, Maryland where I started work at the National Security Agency.

DC was burning. Riots I’d only read about in the news were happening next door.

I worked days as part of a diverse group of individuals, many of whom were military.

At night I drove through DC to attend graduate classes for my Masters at Georgetown.

During that time no one ever asked me my political leanings. A diverse pool of men and women worked together as a team with one goal only: to keep our country safe from foreign enemies. As a woman, not once did I feel threatened by male chauvinists - which was a common term used at the time.

I was lucky - perhaps I was isolated because I was so busy working all day and studying during my free time.

I never took part in any of the anti-war riots or peace marches or the equal rights marches. I just didn’t have the time.

Jump ahead 50 years and now I find myself retired after having raised 3 daughters and a son, all successful in their own right. Now I have time and find myself taking part in protests and in marches almost weekly.

The reason? 

Because everything I took for granted in my youth is now being threatened and/or destroyed.

So have I become more radical? You betcha.

And now as a white elderly woman I’m meeting male chauvinists daily online thanks to social media and serving as an administrator for the DWC public FB page. They are hiding behind avatars in social media and also thriving as bots.

I believe they’re braver than they were back in the 60’s.

But this radical b#*#h -as they love to call me —is rattling their cages and I’m not alone. There are a lot of us out there every week. And yes we may go home after a protest to our knitting and some may head for retirement communities but I believe there are more of us than there are of them.

We stand on the shoulders of Gloria and Ruth and Dolly and Wally and many other strong women who paved our way. 

And we SHALL overcome.

Linda Powers, DWC Member

Make a Plan to Vote (and help others do the same!)

Visit the League of Women Voters Lower Shore MD website (click on this link)

Get information on your rights, voting locations, mail in voting ballot drop box locations and 2026 voters' guides. All the information you need to be an informed voter and to inform others. Let's GET OUT THE VOTE! and turn the tide BLUE!

Worcester County Jail Christmas Initiative

As in the past, DWC will coordinate with the Worcester County Jail to provide gift items to selected incarcerated women, who will wrap the gifts and have them ready for their children at Christmas.

Assistant Warden Shytina Drummond has met with us and will provide a list of requested items. Committee members Carol Pauley, Linda Linzey, Dana Barney, and Patti Lockett will meet to work out the details of the program and create a timeline for collecting the gifts and delivering them to the Worcester County Jail by December 14.

Many members have already expressed interest in volunteering to shop for mothers who are unable to do so themselves. Ample time will be provided for everyone who wishes to participate.

Those who have helped in the past know the rewards that come from bringing Christmas joy to others. Watch for more details coming soon!

DWC members and friends enjoyed "Drinking Liberally" at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club this summer. In October we will be moving to our winter location at Lighthouse Sound located at 12721 St. Martins Neck Rd Bishopville, MD.

Come join us for the food, fun and comraderie!