International Women's Day is TODAY!

Mother Nature is howling outside. Up to 40 mph, according to weather.com. Or 65 mph, if I am to believe the radio announcer.

Methinks it's a sign that she's not altogether pleased with the status of women around the world today. ;-0

And today, March 8, is International Women's Day: "the global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential. IWD celebrates the collective power of women past, present and future."

Oh, I know it's wishful thinking on my part to connect Mother Nature's whims and the status of women, but I find it fitting and convenient on this important day. A day where we can celebrate the women in our lives and the many strides women have made the world over, as well as to be acutely aware of the injustices committed against women, often with impunity.

I think about my mom and my sister, who have given me so much love and guidance in my life (even if sometimes didn't appreciate it at the time!). I appreciate that they continue to share with me their wisdom, humor, sorrow and everything in between. And I know that I have derived some of my inner strength from them, having watched them endure some of their own struggles while I was growing up. I only have one mom and one sister, so, I don't want to share with you too much how special they are, lest I make anyone abnormally envious. ;-)

Mom and sis, cheers to YOU!

And while I'm at it, let me say cheers to my mil and sils, too. :-)

IWD is an official holiday in some countries: Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. According to the IWD webpage, "The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers."

I didn't even know this day of recognition for women existed until last year! Worldwide, from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and across America, there have been all sorts of events to celebrate the achievements of women, and also recognize the need for women to have equal access to education, work, pay, legal and basic human rights.

Violence against women is the main thing that makes my blood boil. It's something I've seen and experienced myself (if you include verbal abuse). It pierces my heart and makes me cry every time I hear or read something on the news about women being violated. :-( Doesn't matter if it's the hundreds of thousands of women who have been raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo or a college student who was attacked near the university a mile away...it's a violation against humanity. One act of violence affects not only the victim, but those around her: family, friends, and community.

You may recall in another post that many years ago I had befriended a woman who had been raped at gunpoint while in college. I observed how she and her family interacted with each other, as well as how she interacted with my friends, who tried to be a friend to her. In a nutshell, it seemed always to be an uneasy relationship with all involved; we just never knew when she was going to explode. I don't know that all rape victims respond to life the same as she did, but I realized how an act of violence on just one person can adversely affect everyone around her. :-(

During the 2000 census, the United Nations Population Fund published a sobering report on Violence on Women and Girls and recognized it as a major health and human rights concern. These issues of gender-based violence and all that it wreaks upon the lives of women still exist, unfortunately; otherwise, they would not need to be mentioned anymore.

On a brighter note, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon last month launched a multi-year campaign to end violence against women. :-) Moreover, at the UN commemoration of International Women's Day, he called for greater investment in women and girls (IWD's theme this year) to help further economic growth and advance development. He sounds like forward-thinking leader...I hope so.

Women are half of humanity! I love reading about women in power and/or of influence, which may include writers and artists. :-)

The women in history whose biographies and autobiographies I've read have struck a chord within me; they were independent-minded and often went against the grain--they defied societal expectations and trusted their gut in pursuing their goals. For that, I admire them greatly.

I've read about many influential women over the years, and am sure to read many more in my entire lifetime. :-) The women who have made a deep and lasting impression on me are: Hildegard of Bingen, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, and most recently--Simone de Beauvoir (my favorite!).

I'll bet there's a Simone, Hildegard, Harriet and an Eleanor lurking in the shadows of the oppressed women and girls on this planet Earth who are starving for an education. They deserve to have basic human rights, legal rights, educational and work opportunities, and freedom from fear of violence with impunity, as many women in the western world enjoy today. They deserve to have choices. Their leaders and communities just haven't given them a chance...yet.

May it be in my lifetime. :-)

Cheers to all the women of the world, wherever you are!


* * * * *

The Laughter Of Women by Lisel Mueller

The laughter of women sets fire
to the Halls of Injustice
and the false evidence burns
to a beautiful white lightness

It rattles the Chambers of Congress
and forces the windows wide open
so the fatuous speeches can fly out

The laughter of women wipes the mist
from the spectacles of the old;
it infects them with a happy flu
and they laugh as if they were young again

Prisoners held in underground cells
imagine that they see daylight
when they remember the laughter of women

It runs across water that divides,
and reconciles two unfriendly shores
like flares that signal the news to each other

What a language it is, the laughter of women,
high-flying and subversive.
Long before law and scripture
we heard the laughter, we understood freedom.

How to Deal with Nasty Neighbors?

We've been blessed with obnoxious neighbors.

They live below us and have likely raised booming their repetitive music to an art form: they've caused our apartment and its furnishings to VIBRATE. :-(

You know the volume of someone's music must be high if you can feel vibrations through your computer KEYBOARD, as well as feel vibrations through your SHOES while you're standing in the kitchen and it's being boomed from their bedroom!

One warning from the police--who we haven't called...yet, hasn't scared them from causing further disturbances. Nor have several formal complaints filed by us through the apartment management office dissuaded them.


WHY do people feel the need to blast their noise for the whole world to hear? And to KEEP doing it in retailiation for each complaint lodged against them? It's RUDE, and quite immature, to put it mildly. :-(

We have asked them three times in person to please lower the volume. The first time hubby approached them, they were very hostile, which helped to establish in our minds that these people may be dangerous to deal with.

He was greeted with, "Why do you have to knock on the door like the PO-leece?" (Because you had your music blasting so loud, I had to repeatedly bang on your door, dumbass!) Oh? They know how the police knock on their door, do they?

I think they must regularly fry their noodles with something nasty. Hence, our hesitation to call the cops on them, though we were sorely tempted the other night (we called the office instead); they might have a worse retaliation in mind than annoying us with loud music to vibrate our walls. I've had to deal with druggies before in a customer service setting, next to a subway station no less. They're menacing and unpredictable.

Normal people apologize and try not to disturb their neighbors again. Our neighbors living below us don't give a shit.

I would have liked to have seen their faces when the two "PO-leece" officers knocked on their door a couple of weeks ago! At that moment, their music was blasting through the whole building, probably in response to our third formal complaint. Perfect timing! And it was the maintenance man who called someone to call the police on them. He had even less tolerance for the racket than we did...and he told me he left the front door to the apartment building open so the police could come right in. ;-)

The second time we knocked on their door, a different person answered. Maybe a friend of theirs? He wasn't hostile like the other two, and they DID lower the volume, as it was 1 a.m., way past the 10:30 p.m. deadline for loud noises. The third time--which was after we left a note, the bitch half of the couple answered, and was, of course, hostile. Her gorilla partner is equally unapproachable.

They weren't so bad when they moved in last summer. And they stopped playing loud music late in the evenings last fall. But now, they really just don't give a flying fig, and I'm sure they would dance gleefully if we were to move out in disgust.

However, we've been here nearly five years. Much longer than them.

This evening, when they began to play their game of blasting the same music they've played since last summer, for who knows how long (sometimes its 20-30-40-50 or more minutes), hubby got fed up and left to go the university computer lab to concentrate. I stayed put, feeling indignant, because I believe that WE should not feel compelled to leave our home. WE didn't do anything wrong...they're the ones who are causing unnecessary disturbances.

Besides, I was BOILING inside, intending to write a seething, scathing, vitriolic post on our inconsiderate neighbors!

Wouldn't you know it: they stopped about 10 minutes after hubby left. I emailed him to say they had stopped...for now. He ended up coming home an hour later, before he even read my email. :-)

And now, a new development has occurred this week: construction sounds past 10:30 p.m. Yes! Drilling and hammering! Did they think we needed some variety? :-(

I suppose most everyone has an annoying neighbor, to varying degrees. At present, we're just trying to follow office procedures and build a paper trail, to cover our butts. In our most recent complaint to the apartment management, we stated very clearly that if this matter wasn't resolved within a month, we would begin looking for another community to live in, in our city.

The day after, as expected, the assholes below us had their noise thumping, so we called the office, put the phone receiver to the floor, and let the office staff person share our (almost) daily joy. She was shocked. Then she told us what we could do next, since we called saying we wanted to move.

Write a letter to management stating your intention (moving) and reason (unresolved issue with neighbors), she told us, then management will have you come in for a meeting to negotiate options. Like what? Moving US to another of their apartments? I don't think so! WE are acutely aware of the penalties of leaving before our lease is up; however, they'd better come up with something reasonable or they'll lose a loyal tenant when they're already desperate to fill spaces. And they know it.

We haven't written THE LETTER yet. We're waiting for just the right dramatic moment from the dimwit occupants below us before we pounce on them and management in one lucid letter.

Last fall, hubby blasted some twangy country music he thought they'd likely hate (given the stuff they boom to us), and put the radio speakers toward the floor! I don't think it had much effect on them, since I'm sure they have a much better sound system than we could ever care to have. But it was amusing at the time. :-)

I was thinking I wanted to make up a Top Ten list of ways to annoy your neighbors, in the spirit of David Letterman, but I can't come up with ten things to really irritate the alien invaders who live below us.

Besides, now I'm thinking about a huge billboard I saw on Maryland's eastern shore that quoted the words of Mahatma Ghandi:

An eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind.

Maybe someday somebody can invent a spray that will eliminate obnoxious sounds, the way you can disinfect the air from obnoxious odors!

Wouldn't that be nifty?

Pssft.

Oh, it's quiet and peaceful now, thank God! ;-)