Dear Hollywood

Dear Hollywood,

Movies have been a source of entertainment and escape for many people since the first film on the big screen. For me, it is roughly 2 hours (or more) to imagine living in another place and time. To learn about civilizations and peoples long since gone. You’re human and a citizen with the same responsibility that I do. While I love to learn new things, I do not go to the movies to be lectured. You’re allowed to have your beliefs and opinions. However, sometimes your comments show how out of touch you are with the rest of us. Your hypocrisy, bias and lack of open conservation with those who disagree with you shows that you do not practice what you preach. Even an “insider” saw this and called you out on it!

One of the biggest complaints is the hypocrisy. Many actors preach, lecture and scold about various topics, the most current one being climate change, and then do the exact thing they were just ranting against. It’s the “Do as I say and not as I do” attitude. If you want change, then lead by example. Jane Fonda’s Oscar choice to wear an old gown is a start. She wore a gown that she also wore to Cannes in 2014 to combat climate change (Apatoff, 2020). Unfortunately, her efforts did not leave the public very impressed. Some of the comments I found online were less than impressed and dripping with sarcasm. One commenter wrote, “wearing the same dress 2 times in 6 years. What a sacrifice and role model. Let’s give her an award!” Another commenter wrote, “I swear the same clothes once a week, every week. Nobody in the media is writing about my eco friendly habits.” While some commenters tried to defend her actions and applauding her efforts, others weren’t having it. One response was “WOW! What a pioneer!! Just imagine wearing clothes more than once!! What a rebel!!” But to be fair and play devil’s advocate, maybe Ms. Fonda’s statement was aimed at her fellow actors and Hollywood’s standards that you must wear new, never-before-seen fashion. Maybe? Wishful thinking?

Hollywood has become notorious for extreme bias. Yelling from the rooftops about tolerance, diversity and acceptance and yet someone one has a differing viewpoint, you shut them down. Actor Kevin Sorbo has been essentially blacklisted for being a Christian conservative and liberals proudly boast about banning him from fan-based conferences (Stossel, 2019). Many actors have come out to rail against the gender pay gap and how it is unfair to women. In 2018, actor Benedict Cumberbatch made the commitment to refuse any project where his female co-starts will be paid less them him (Deb, 2020). Did any other male Hollywood actor say anything in agreement? Or made a similar commitment? I hadn’t heard of anyone. Though, again, a few from the public were not impressed and commented that the gesture is all talk and aren’t holding their breath to see if he follows through. I think many view Hollywood as a lot of talk and not enough walk. Let’s see a little more action and maybe we’ll start listening.

Many people in the public applauded Ricky Gervais, despite being a stanch liberal, roasted, blasted and called out many in Hollywood for their hypocrisy and inflated ego. In his monologue at this year’s Golden Globes, he said, “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world.” One commenter, I read online, stated, “he wasted the Hollywood hypocrites and they deserved every word.” He even called out his own hypocrisy while shamelessly promoting his Netflix’s show, Afterlife. “His speech ended up being a phenomenal takedown of an overly political and absurdly left-wing Hollywood that’s become obsessed with self-righteous crusades” (Stepman, 2020). Your audiences don’t like being scolded and lectured to like disobedient children. If you have a cause you want to pursue, that’s fine but forcing people to accept it by shoving it in our faces and down our throats is not the way to do it. I feel many in Hollywood have been a part of the Ivory Tower for far too long that they forget what the real world feels like.

I think Hollywood that your heart is the right place. To educate people. To broaden their horizons about people and places we’ll never meet or see. I applaud your desire to shine lights the issues you hold dear. However, it is the “righteous statements of incoherent idealism” (Deb, 2020) that many people are fed up with. It is the “Do as I say and not as I do” mentality that get people’s goat. It doesn’t work with children and it won’t work with adults. Everyone can fall prey to hypocrisy. I know I do, and I work hard to avoid it. However, Hollywood, if you were to admit your faults and shortcomings and have an honest dialogue with us instead of lecturing them, maybe we would be more open to listening.

Sincerely,

A fan

References

Apatoff, Alex (February 10, 2020). Jane Fonda Wears Gray Pixie Cut, Recycles 6-Year-Old Gown at Oscars After Declaring She Won't Buy New Clothes Again. People magazine. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jane-fonda-wears-gray-pixie-051353437.html. Retrieved February 10, 2020.

Deb, Sandipan (February 16, 2020). Opinion | Thank you, Hollywood, but spare us your moral lectures. LiveMint. https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/opinion-thank-you-hollywood-but-spare-us-your-moral-lectures-11581874258220.html. Retrieved February 17, 2020.

Stepman, Jarrett (January 6, 2020). At the Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais Exposes Hollywood’s ‘Woke’ Culture. The Daily Signal. https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/01/06/at-the-golden-globes-ricky-gervais-exposed-hollywoods-woke-culture/. Retrieved February 21, 2020.

Stossel, John (December 3, 2019). One Fix for Hollywood Bias. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/JohnStossel/videos/835046203619217/?sfnsn=mo&d=n&vh=e. Retrieved February 17, 2020.

If She Saw: a quick read but decent thriller

If She Saw by Blake Pierce is the second book in the Kate Wise series. Semi-retired and legendary FBI agent Kate Wise is enjoying life. She is spending time with her granddaughter and the blossoming relationship with her boyfriend when she is asked to take on another case when two couples are found brutally murdered in their homes with no motive. The only clue is a piece of a child’s blanket that is found at each crime scene. As Kate and her partner, Special Agent DeMarco, follow the clues, they realize they are on a race against time as the killer may strike again at any time. Are the victims chosen at random? Are they connected somehow? What is the meaning of the piece of cloth left behind?

If She Saw is a fast-paced thriller which will leave readers on the edge of their seats. Although I found the “false” suspects to be a bit too obvious, I enjoyed reading as Kate and DeMarco take every road that opens with each new clue and suspect. Kate does make one decision that I didn’t like and thought why she didn’t just say “I’ll start in the morning?” It is a decision she later regrets and wishes she did say just that. But I feel this makes Kate human. How many times have we made decisions in a split second only to realize it could have waited?  I look forward to reading the next titles in this series. There are currently seven books in this series. If you haven’t read the first book, If She Knew, I highly recommend picking it up. If you enjoy mystery thrillers, I recommend If She Saw.

If She Saw

is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

Jim Crow Laws: the origins, the laws and the fight back

As it is Black History Month, I decided to research more into the Jim Crow Laws. As a student, I had heard the term and the very basics of what they were, but I realize that I didn’t know anything beyond that. Named for a black minstrel character, Jim Crow Laws were a collection of state and local statutes which legalized racial segregation. These laws existed for about 100 years from the post-Civil War until 1968. What was the origins of the Jim Crow Laws? How were they expanded across the South and the nation? What helped bring the end of Jim Crow? And what type of Jim Crow laws were enforced in my home state of California?

Jim Crow Laws started as Black Codes as early as 1865 (Editors, 2018), which were strict laws detailing where and how the newly freed slaves could work and for how much. It was a legal way to put blacks back into an indentured servitude as their voting rights were essentially taken away, they were told where to live and how to travel. And since former Confederate soldiers were now serving as police officers and judges, there was no real legal recourse for the blacks to fight back (Editors, 2018). Jim Crow Laws started with restricting blacks from voting. They included literacy tests, poll taxes and a grandfather clause (Urofsky, 2019). The grandfather clause stated that men who were entitled to vote before 1867 and their lineal descendants were exempted from the literacy and other qualifications. Segregation didn’t begin immediately. Until 1877, New Orleans had fully integrated schools and North Carolina had blacks and whites serving on juries together (Urofsky, 2019). It didn’t truly begin until the Plessy v Ferguson (1896) which created the “separate but equal” standard.  From very early on, people were fighting back against Jim Crow Laws. Notably, Ida B Wells, who refused to leave a first-class train car designated for whites only (Editors, 2018). As well as Isaiah Montgomery who founded a black only town, Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in 1887. The town still is predominately black residents (Editors, 2018).

Jim Crow Laws would expand across the nation. Public parks would be forbidden for blacks to visit. Theaters, restaurants, waiting rooms, water fountains, restrooms, building entrances, even cemeteries would all become segregated (Editors, 2018). Some states would even require different textbooks for white and blacks students and different Bibles would be used to swear on in court (Editors, 2018). After WWI, lynchings and violence was on the rise. For several months in 1919, there were widespread race riots in the country. As black WWI vets were returning home and fighting back. “Between April and November of 1919, there would be approximately 25 riots and instances of mob violence, 97 recorded lynchings, and a three day long massacre in Elaine, Arkansas during which over 200 black men, women, and children were killed after black sharecroppers tried to organize for better working conditions” (Higgins, 2019). The Great Migration of the 1920s, as blacks were leaving the South, found Jim Crow Laws spreading to the North and Western states. In the North, suburban developments would not allow blacks to obtain mortgages for certain “red-lined” neighborhoods (Editors, 2018). As the country would fall into the Great Depression, racial tensions would only deepen.

The end of the Jim Crow Laws began with post-WWII and the Civil Rights Movement (late 1940s- late 1960s). In 1948, President Harry Truman would integrate the military. In 1954, the Supreme Court would rule in Brown v the Board of Education that the “separate but equal” standard was unconstitutional and would begin the national integration of schools. In 1964, President Johnson would sign the Civil Rights Act which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act would be passed, banning the use of literacy tests. In 1967, Loving v Virginia would end bans on interracial marriages. In 1968, the Fair Housing Acts ended discrimination in renting and housing sales (Editors, 2018). In 1971, the Supreme Court would uphold busing to insure integration of schools in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

California had many laws which restricted people based on race. California produced more legislation against Chinese and other Asian descents due to the massive Asian immigration. In 1850, California passed a statute which stated that “no black, mulatto person, or Indian, shall be allowed to give evidence in favor or, or against, a white man.” In 1854, the California Supreme Court would rule that this statute also included individuals of Chinese descent. Between 1866-1947, California would pass 17 Jim Crow laws including anti-miscegenation (interracial marriages), education and employment. In 1891, all Chinese people would be required to carry a “certificate of residency.” If they were caught without it, they could be arrested and jailed. It would be illegal for whites to marry blacks, mulattos or Asian descents. It is interesting to note Hispanics were not included in the anti-miscegenation laws because they were considered white due to their Spanish heritage. Anti-miscegenation laws would be overturned in California with Perez v Sharp (1948) in which Andrea Perez (a Mexican American woman) and Sylvester Davis (a black man) were denied a marriage license in Los Angeles County. This case was the first in the 20^th century to overturn anti-miscegenation laws. Chief Justice Warren would use this case as the basis for the Loving v Virginia decision.

In conclusion, Jim Crow Laws were a massive systemic discrimination against blacks and, by extension, other minorities. They were implicated slowly and gained prominence by the turn of the 20^th century as the denials of basic rights like voting, housing and education were ways to keep prominent powerful white majority in positions of authority. The fight against them had been early on but didn’t gain momentum until after WWII as black vets returned home and said enough is enough. The history of Jim Crow Laws and other laws should not be ignored or forgotten. As we celebrate Black History Month, let us remember these horrible laws as we try to find a balance and harmony among ourselves.

References

Editors (February 28, 2018). Jim Crow Laws. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws. Retrieved February 11, 2020.

Higgins, Abigail. (July 26, 2019). Red Summer of 1919: How Black WWI Vets Fought Back Against Racist Mobs. History.com. https://www.history.com/news/red-summer-1919-riots-chicago-dc-great-migration. Retrieved February 19, 2020.

Urofsky, Melvin I. (August 21, 2019). Jim Crow law UNITED STATES [1877-1954]. Britanncia.com. https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law. Retrieved February 19, 2020.

The Girl Puzzle: an interesting look into a woman ahead of her time

The Girl Puzzle by Kate Braithwaite is the story of Nellie Bly, the journalist who broke through the male dominated field with her expose of Blackwell’s Island in 1887. Told between two timelines, 1919-1922 told though the eyes of her secretary, Beatrice Alexander, as Nellie is nearing the end of her life, and through Nellie’s eyes with the events up to her stay at the asylum, her experience while there and the events which occurred after. Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864, Miss Bly was a puzzle to those who knew her. She was a woman of many secrets and rarely allowed anyone to truly know the inner workings of her mind, motivations and desires. She died on January 27, 1922 at the age of 57. As her published story is well known but, did she tell the whole truth about her times at the asylum? What happened to the women she encountered there?

I had heard of Nellie Bly before. Her name was mentioned in a Smallville (2001-2011) episode (“Gone” season 4, episode 2), as the hero of Chloe Sullivan as she was a pioneering female journalist. Unfortunately, I knew very little of her and her accomplishments. When The Girl Puzzle was suggested to me, I took the chance to find out more about her. She was certainly an enigma as many would describe her “useful in a crisis but remote and always moving on.” Miss Bly was a woman shaped, better or worse, by her childhood and home situation growing up. She was an advocate for foster children and made it her mission to find good and stable homes for them. She had gumption to not be put into a stereotypical place of what women could write about and report on. From this story, I am interested in reading more about Nellie Bly. I recommend The Girl Puzzle.

The Girl Puzzle

is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

The Blue Cloak: an interesting retelling of a notorious crime in American history

The Blue Cloak by Shannon McNear is the new title in the True Color historical story of American crime series. It is the year 1797 in Know County, Tennessee when the US was young, and the west was still wild. Rachel Taylor attends the wedding of her friend, Sally, to Wiley Harpe. Something about the groom and his brother, Micajah, gives her the creeps but her friend seems so happy and she tries to shake it off. One year later, Rachel notices a group, two men and three women, come into town. One woman is her friend, Sally, who hadn’t been seen in a year since whispers of the brothers’ “business” practices started and they disappeared. December 1798, along the Wilderness Road in Kentucky, a young man is found murdered. It is the fourth along the road and it has been linked to the Harpes. A young lawyer, Benjamin Langford, from Virginia comes looking for his cousin, Thomas, and quickly joins the search for the group. Will they find the brothers before they kill again? How is Sally involved? Will Rachel see her friend again?

The Blue Cloak is the third book I’ve read in the True Colors series and this one was creepy. Creepy but I was unable to put it down. Featuring the real-life case of Wiley “Little” Harpe and Micajah “Big” Harpe, the two would begin a horrifying crime spree through Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois from 1797 until 1799 when Micajah was captured and killed. Wiley would continue his killing spree as a part of the Samuel Mason gang until 1803 when he was captured and later hanged in 1804. I was fascinated by this story from history that I have never heard before. It was hard to read at times especially when these men seemed to enjoy their crimes; but I was fascinated how they were eventually caught and what became of the women who were with them. I highly recommend The Blue Cloak, especially if you have enjoyed the other titles in this series.

The Blue Cloak

is available in paperback and eBook

Love in Rewind: a bad romance with good 80s music references

Love in Rewind by Tali Alexander is the first book in the Audio Fools series. Emily Bruel has the life of dreams. At 29, she has two beautiful kids with her gorgeous and successful husband, Louis Bruel in a luxurious Upper East Side townhouse. There, she has a live-in nanny, a housekeeper, a cook and other perks that make her life a breeze. Louis has built a real estate development firm to a billion-dollar success in less than 15 years. Together, their ten-year marriage seems to be the stuff of fairy tales. But something is off. Emily feels Louis becoming distant and secretive. She is forced to search for the truth among the silence and lies. Will the truth shatter any hopes of rekindling their love and marriage? Can their remember their love for each other through the help of their favorite songs?

I am a sucker for a good romance novel but from the very beginning, Love in Rewind was not the book I thought it was. It is a marriage in peril as the opening chapter finds Emily waking up from a horrible dream and begs her husband to comfort her, who turns her away. The second chapter finds her reminiscing about the day she met Louis. She was 18, he was almost 30 and had the eye of every woman in the room. I didn’t mind the age difference between the two characters as I know a few very loving and committed couples with such an age difference. However, Louis constantly refers to Emily as “little girl” while they have their romantic and sexual encounters is creepy. I loved the idea of song references to their love story as my husband and I love quoting songs to each other, but it wasn’t enough for me to like this story. I do not recommend Love in Rewind.

Love in Rewind

is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

Susan B. Anthony: her life, her work and her legacy on her 200th birthday

February 15^th marks the 200^th birthday of Susan B. Anthony. She was an American social reformer in the fight for temperance, abolition and labor equality. She is better known a women’s rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. She would spend over forty years, crisscrossing the country fighting for racial reforms as well as women’s reforms. While already well known, she would be brought to great fame and notoriety after she was arrested for voting in the 1872 Presidential Election. Her trial. The United States versus Susan B Anthony (1873) would be another platform for her to make her case for women’s rights. She left behind a legacy of leadership and a passion to stand up against adversity.

Susan Bronwell Anthony was born February 15, 1820 to Daniel and Lucy (nee Read) Anthony in Adams, Massachusetts as the second of seven children. As a Quaker family, they were passionate for social reform. Although Mr. Anthony would often be at odds with the traditionalist Quaker congregation as he married a non-Quaker. He encouraged Susan as well as all his children to be self-supporting, teaching them business principles and giving them responsibility at a young age. At 17, Susan was sent to a Quaker boarding school but left after one term as the family hit hard times with the Panic of 1837. She would begin teaching at a Quaker school in order to assist her family. After the family moved to Rochester, New York in 1845, her father helped form the Congregational Friends with other Quaker social reformers in 1848. There she would meet Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) who would become her lifelong friend. In 1851, she would meet Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and the two would be the dynamic duo for the women’s rights movement. Susan had the organization skills and Elizabeth excelled at the writing. Together, they would start a weekly newspaper, The Revolution, in 1868, with it’s motto “Men, their rights and nothing more: women, their rights and nothing less.” She would work until her death on March 13, 1906 at the age of 86. Although we would not live to see the women’s suffrage on the national level (the 19^th Amendment would be ratified in 1920), she expressed pride at the progress made.

Ms. Anthony was arrested on November 18, 1872 and charged with illegal voting. Her arrest would generate a national controversy. Her trial would begin on June 17, 1873 during which she made the speech entitled, “Is it a Crime for a US Citizen to Vote?” In it, she makes the argument that as citizens of the United States, women have the right to vote and uses the US Constitution to illustrate her point. “It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people- women as well as men.” She also uses the same logic for women’s suffrage as given for the freed slaves in the 13^th Amendment. “Every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of the several states is today null and void, precisely as is every one against Negroes.” She would be ordered to pay a $100 fine, which she said, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.” She never did. It remains unpaid in the courthouse ledger (Rosenthal, 2017).

She left behind an amazing legacy. Anthony, Stanton and others formed the National Woman Suffrage Association in May 1869. That organization still thrives today as it transformed to be the League of Women Voters (League of Women Voters). She demonstrated leadership in many ways. Through devotion to her cause, seizing the opportunity when it presented itself and refused to be intimidated by those in power when fighting for her rights (DeMarco, 2016). She developed a reputation for fearlessness in the face of adversity and controversy. She would wear the Bloomer dress (a controversial style in which pantaloons were worn under a knee length dress) for a time in 1851. She would stop when the focus became her dress and not her ideas. To celebrate her contribution to the suffrage movement, the women of Rochester, New York make a pilgrimage to her grave every election day and place their “I Voted” stickers on her gravestone (Rosenthal, 2017). Her life and work is a great testimony to righting wrong and opening the doors of opportunity through education and defending one’s rights.

In conclusion, Susan B. Anthony was a woman of great passion for her causes. While she is remembered for her fight for women’s suffrage, she also fought for full citizenship for freed slaves, labor equality and overall women’s rights as full citizens of the United States. She is the first woman to be minted on US currency when the Susan B Anthony dollar was first minted in 1979. While this year marks her 200^th birthday, it is also extra special as this year also marks the 100^th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment. Due to her and others commitment to the fight for suffrage, myself and generations of women can cast their votes and have their voices heard.

References

DeMarco, Peter (November 18, 2016). Leader Time: 6 key lessons from the legacy of Susan B. Anthony. https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/growth-strategies/2016/11/6-key-lessons-from-the-legacy-of-susan-b-anthony.html. Retrieved February 10, 2020.

League of Women Voters. https://www.lwv.org/about-us/history. Retrieved February 11, 2020.

The National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House. www.susanb.org. Retrieved February 10, 2020.

Rosenthal, Peggy (August 22, 2017). Susan B. Anthony: Failure is Impossible. https://imagejournal.org/2017/08/22/susan-b-anthony-failure-impossible/. Retrieved February 10, 2020.