Emergent Strategies for a Brave Little state?
Vermont has a tradition called “Farmer’s Night”. Historically, this served as a way to entertain the farmers (that’s who our legislators were); they had come to the state capitol from far-flung areas of the state for our legislative “season”. Through April, there will be two more free, accessible concerts/ presentations in the state house rotunda, open to all. They’ve been available since January; I just found out about them.
I went to the last two of theses events. It was quite a hoot, to witness a white man, on bass, a black man on djembe, and an Abenaki man singing songs in his native language, under the portrait of George Washington.
Yes, a very “trippy experience. Our state has an “open to the public” demeanor. It brags on itself as being welcoming. And, the images all over the building are of Old White Men. Exclusively. Challenging to name that phenomenon for what it is…documentation of Vermont, through the monocultural gaze of white men. They were the folks who made the laws.
And what is even more inspiring to me about the current state of our Vermont union is the number of women that I see at the Capitol.
Women**. All over the place.
WOMEN everywhere. Security guards. Cafeteria workers. Staffers. AND Representatives. Lobbyists, too (which will be another post, because too many of them aren’t your friend, citizen reader)!
And the legislation coming out of committee reflects that gender sift. Senate Bill 56 flew out of committee and is an exciting shift in attitudes towards issues important to working parents, to financially strapped families, and to a collapsing child services system. A part of this bill includes a working group that will look at pay scales for childcare workers. Efforts to introduce universal “pre-kindergarten” were scrapped, while a working study group to how to best improve and expand existing pre-school education was added.
Issues related to women and children are getting more attention.
So we update our policies and re-write our laws in ways that stress our commitment to the next generations. More women at the capitol contribute to these transformative changes. I hope you female legislators continue to have resources and events that support your own nourishment and personal growth, knowing not many of you are farmers, these days!
And, one day maybe I’ll even see some female images of real women inside the building, not just Demeter on the golden dome.
P.S. She is quite delighted to have her daughter Persephone back. Happy Spring, everyone!
**People assigned female at birth and generally happy with our allotted organs “au natural”. I’ll use my own language, as the language of “cis” /“trans” etc. has felt like pummeling policing of my tongue and my speaking, as an over sixty year old HUE-man.