Marching on!

I try to use this blog to find inspiration for my life but lately it's been a celebrity eulogy blog of sorts. Where are the paintings, photographs, poems that would give me strength on those days where the Big D is taking over and relentlessly tries to kick me?

I'm running late to acknowledge the Chinese New Year (one of my favorite holiday ever since my catching the year of the Snake in San Francisco in 1989) as well as new art that I was made aware recently. Anyone read about new Asian contemporary art? Asian art has always been one of my favourite and I encourage you to go take a look at what is being produced lately.

Without further ado, let me introduce what I'm hoping to be one of the few death acknowledgements (for lack of a better term) for 2006 on my blog, and the latest for which I need to pay my respect (in no particular order). I owe a lot to both of these women and their sacrifices, hard work and dedication has paved the way to me and others. How can I ever forget or even think of repaying them?

Ms. Coretta Scott King

Ms. Scott King is, of course, known as the wife of the famous African-American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King. But she was much more than a supportive spouse. She was a civil rights leader in her own light, but sometimes was only acknowledged as someone who got into the movement "by extension." Not many will remember that "they" actually tried to wrestle the Legacy away from her and squander what little funds became available after MLK's violent death. But she knew that there was a mission to be fulfilled and took it upon herself to bring its message to the world. She denounced Apartheid, spoke for gay rights because she realized that rights meant everybody's rights. The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-violent Social Change in Atlanta and the establishment of a federal holiday honoring her late husband are concrete examples of this woman's hard work and dedication to her vision.

Ms. Betty Friedan
I am often saddened by the fact that young ladies in America don't realize that much of what they have right now or can dream about getting one day is partly due to Betty Friedan. From the right to abortion, equal pay, maternity leave and jobs that didn't specify the sex of the person they were looking for such as "Looking for a man with 10 years of experience as an accountant for major firm... bla bla bla..." Her Feminine Mystique was considered radical when it came out in 1963. One of the main concerns in her book (which she called the problem with no name) was about women's choice of staying home to raise kids or going off to work, a problem that has been reduced to a joke in modern time. The saddest thing is probably the fact that feminism has been translated to manhater or more appropriately man hating. Betty Friedan had said that NOW was *for* women not *by* women, meaning that men were welcome to join in the fight, because indeed we needed men to help in that crusade. Let us not forget that it is (present tense) a Human Rights Crusade.

Personally, one of the things that I will attempt to do in 2006 is to get more involved at many levels. I think that is one way I can thank these women for all they have done for me. We cannot afford to simply sit back and enjoy those hard-earned rights without working towards complete egality for everyone. Poverty is still very much an issue, paternal rights should be moved to the forefront, healthcare, and many more which are just very important.

This can be done one step at a time, one citizen at a time.