THANKS TO SO MANY EVE

A quick thought before we get busy cooking, eating, laughing, and loving for Thanksgiving.

(And just for fun, click on this link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRVrUZXxi6g&list=PL8F050930AC77094E - and listen to “Imperfection” by Saving Jane while you read.)

I am SO THANKFUL! My list would fill pages, so let me just say I’m thankful for:

1. wonderful, strong EVE in my life and my family who I can laugh, cry, and hope with,
2. accomplished EVE like my mother who created a home and raised the kids,
3. independent EVE like my Grandma Whidden who divorced a man way before it was “acceptable” because it was the right thing to do,
4. talented EVE who are making their mark in entertainment so we can hear their voices, see their portrayals, and read their words of inspiration,
5. amazing EVE in the U.S. Congress who are challenging the mess the men are making,
6. indomitable EVE who campaigned tirelessly so I can use the power of my vote to change the world,
7. unapologetic EVE who proved EVE’s “place” includes college and graduate school,
8. courageous EVE like Ilana Hammerman, an Israeli widow, who started smuggling Palestinian EVE to the beach for a day to “befriend our brave Palestinian neighbors, and together with them, to be free women, if only for one day.” (1)
9. determined EVE around the world who recognize their dignity and their value even if their societies are still fighting the inevitable,
10. ALL THE MEN who have, do and will love and support strong, smart, funny EVE!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

(1) http://12160.info/m/blogpost?id=2649739%3ABlogPost%3A1339080

EVE TO EVE - CREATING THE CONVERSATIONS!

This wonderful group (plus more not shown in this photo) was given the opportunity recently to laugh, learn, and share our successes and challenges as EVE.

The gathering took place in Baltimore, Maryland, through the insight and energy of my cousin, Susan. She had read Conversations with EVE and wanted to share the wealth by hosting her own Conversation.

Through her hospitality, EVE of different ages and backgrounds sat down together to talk, to learn from each other, and to encourage and motivate each other. Our attitudes on some things were quite different but our belief that EVE deserve equality and respect was unanimous.

At the table that day we shared our frustrations, more of them from the older EVE than the younger. But we also shared how fortunate we were to have grown up in a society that was so changed and improved by the women’s movement. From the 72 years of hard work it took to secure the vote for EVE in America to the sit-ins for equal pay and the speak-outs against abuse of the 1960s, we are all beneficiaries of EVE who refused to accept that they deserved less respect or opportunities than men.

They were EVE who believed in their rights and their freedoms and never stopped speaking out about them. They were EVE who challenged the limitations put on them and lived by their own conscience, in spite of the fact that it often made them unpopular with their family, their church, their community, or their nation. And we all decided that we are also those EVE, that we want to continue to protect and expand dignity, opportunities, and happiness for EVE the worldwide with every choice we make.

One more Conversation. Many more EVE feeling empowered to make an even bigger difference in our society and our world. How awesome! If you have a group that would like to get together with me for a Conversation, let me know at info@everyvaginaonearth.com. I can’t wait.

WERE EVE THE FIRST ARTISTS?

Well, it looks like science is going to have to revise another theory of the role of EVE in prehistory, because those remarkable paleolithic cave paintings were most likely made by EVE artists.

That’s the startling outcome of a new analysis of the handprints in several famous cave paintings by Dean Snow, Pennsylvania State University, as reported by Virginia Hughes, National Geographic. (1) Snow’s careful analysis of hand stencils found in eight cave sites in France and Spain show that three-quarters of the handprints were made by EVE, not men, but he wasn’t really surprised by this finding.

As with so many “man the hunter” interpretations of archaeological remains, these amazing works of art were automatically assumed to have been made by men because they showcase game animals. However, Snow explained, “there has been a male bias in the literature for a long time. In most hunter-gatherer societies, it’s men that do the killing. But it’s often the women who haul the meat back to camp, and women are as concerned with the productivity of the hunt as men are.” A second theory that had credited the paintings to shamans rather than hunters still includes EVE as the artists, because what could be one of the oldest burials of a religious shaman yet discovered is the 12,000-year-old grave of a high ranking female in Israel.

I'm not saying that EVE did everything in prehistoric society. I'm just saying that EVE did a great deal more than they've been given credit for (yet) by the male dominated sciences. Good to know that both male and female scientists are openly challenging these outdated theories to give us a truer sense of our cultural history.

(1) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131008-women-handprints-oldest-neolithic-cave-art/