Day 117- Back in the kitchen

We have trailblazers like Sheikha Hanadi of Qatar, along with Waed al Taweel, who I met earlier -- a 20-year-old student from the West Bank who wants to build recreation centers for Palestinian youth. So together, they represent the incredible talents of women entrepreneurs and remind us that countries that educate and empower women are countries that are far more likely to prosper. I believe that.

-President Barack Obama, Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship 4/26/2010

Dear Mr. President,

In your remarks on Entrepreneurship, you said "countries that educate and empower women are countries that are far more likely to prosper." I appreciate these sentiments, sir. It brought to mind the women I met in Palestine, from the Women in Hebron co-operative, who sold crafts and embroidery and invested in their community, or from the Women in Culture co-operative in Jenin, or even the bright students in our group, who studied science or medicine or business at schools in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. These women were inspiring, many of them pulling themselves out of tragedy, the loss of sons or husbands, to earn their own way in the world. Their society values and respects women, and they are living testaments to this. We met with young women in Bir Zeit, student organizers and community leaders. It seemed hopeful, in a society whose young men are often targeted and imprisoned by the occupation forces, that women were taking on roles as leaders in their community. Unfortunately, politically active young women are, increasingly, becoming targets themselves.

One of the things I am asked, most often, is how I was able to travel alone in the Middle East as a woman. I often try to correct the misconceptions about the role of women in Palestinian society, but it is difficult to combat cultural stereotypes. Even the Israeli soldiers who detained our group were asking the American women in our group why we were there, if we knew "what Arabs do to women", and if we were afraid, even as we traveled in a group that was largely composed of young women from a number of countries and religious backgrounds.

I think America often overestimates the progress we've made in the way women are treated in our society. Congresswoman Betty Sutton's republican opponent suggested that she get "out of the House and back in the kitchen," demonstrating that sexism is alive and well in America in 2010. Utah passed legislation this year that makes me think women in that state are valued for little more than their reproductive abilities. I'm glad that your administration has demonstrated through actions, and not just words, your commitment to advancement for women, but, as a nation, we still have a long way to go.

Respectfully yours,

Kelsey

Day 114- Vacations, mercy, and death

Dear Mr. President,

I'm seriously considering proposing a state initiative to compel police officers to check immigration paperwork on any one who appears Canadian, (we're a border state, too, you know,) and I'd like to send Senator Lindsay Graham a patronizing book on the exciting journey of puberty, should he ever decide to grow up. You're on vacation this weekend, or, sort of a vacation, anyway. I'm on vacation myself this weekend, with three days off and plans to go climb a mountain tomorrow. You deserve a break, sir, even if the responsibilities of your office don't make anything like real relaxation possible.

A quiet story out of Utah caught my attention tonight. A man facing the death penalty has elected to do so by firing squad. A few experts have weighed in, indicating the possibility that such a death is actually more humane than lethal injection. This was interesting to me, first of all because I realized we still use firing squads in this country, and second because I'd just had a conversation with friends about how we'd like to die, if we had the choice. (I chose drowning. I like the ocean.) While I find being shot no worse and no more upsetting than lethal injection or hanging, I realize that most people have a visceral reaction to the barbarity of men lined up to gun down an unarmed man, while lethal injection is often tucked away in our minds as similar to drifting off to sleep; painless, bloodless, and clean.

I've long opposed the death penalty. I don't think that vengeance and justice go hand in hand, and I believe that any time men with guns or needles or a noose kill an unarmed, restrained prisoner (no matter how heinous the crimes committed) it is an unconscionable abuse of power. The abuse of power over another individual, especially those between a prisoner and the individuals and institutions that contain them, strikes me as truly horrifying. That this dynamic is laid bare when it is played out with a firing squad only serves to underscore how contrary the death penalty is to our values and sensibilities; if one cannot stomach the idea of a firing squad, a needle loaded with drugs ought not to be any different. Of course, this reasoning comes from the same place as my belief that any one OK with eating cows and chickens should be fine eating kittens, as well. It may make sense to me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to convince a majority of my fellow citizens.

You have a solemn duty to perform tomorrow, one which I do not envy you. When you approach this task, which, necessarily, requires you to consider, as Graham Greene called it, "the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God," I hope that you find a moment to appreciate how brief our lives are, the tragedy and catastrophe that lurks behind every moment, waiting to strike when we least expect it. Suffering and death will find all of us, in our own time, and I think the government should be out of the business of speeding that processes along, be it by war, execution or exploitation. There is enough in this life to try our ability to overcome the horrors of being alive; we need not, even in the name of justice, add any more.

I don't believe in God's mercy, Mr. President, but I do believe in yours.

Respectfully yours,

Kelsey