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| Senator Rick Santorum and we 5 women, Fargo/Haney’s Photography |
One of the most interesting things to happen to me in the past couple weeks has been meeting Rick Santorum with a small group of other mothers from our area during his brief stopover in Fargo Wednesday.
How did I happen to be among the chosen few? Knowing well some good friends of Senator Santorum’s probably didn’t hurt my being among the group to meet with him to discuss matters important to women. It wasn’t until after the meeting was set in stone that I asked my employer, The Forum, if they’d be interested in me attending as a reporter; at that point things took on a new dimension. They agreed but asked that I relinquish my Roxane-the-mom hat to toss on my Roxane-the-newspaper-reporter hat in order to be objective, which seemed fair enough. After all, I was sincerely interested in hearing from the senator, whether as mother or reporter, as I would have been any of the candidates.
My resulting article appeared in Sunday’s paper. I thought it might be fun to share it here on Peace Garden Mama today. The photo is a special deal, not having appeared in the original article. Yep, that’s me on the far right — proof that I was really and honestly present.
I think I speak on behalf of most busy moms when I say it can be difficult keeping up with politics, even though it’s a sphere that vitally impacts us all. So I am grateful for the opportunity to have heard, firsthand and up close, from one of the men currently vying for a chance to considered to be the next president of the United States. I’ll now add my notes from that evening to the collection of others I’m gathering as this pre-election process continues on.
Interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing. I will say, though, the format seems a far ways from a representative group of “real people,” if by that he meant a representative sample of Fargo (not that you all aren’t real, of course, just a very particular slice of the Fargo pie).
Besides the softball questions, I will say it makes me really uncomfortable when women are seen as only for raising children. That these 5 women were chosen primarily for that fact, just feels weird. On the other hand, it seems consistent with what SheSays does these days. Not my cup of tea, but perhaps I’m not the target market 🙂
Thanks for the post. Hope you’re well and that we run into each other again some time. Peace!
Delighted to hear from you, Adam.
First, indeed, the group selected wasn’t a representative group of all North Dakotans; rather, a small segment of a larger group (women) typically so busy trying to keep the world going, through motherhood and other obligations, that it might be difficult to become immersed in politics. So, I don’t think the idea was to represent all of us but give a few moms, who work both inside and outside of the home, a chance to ask some questions. We all prepared more than we had time to ask; the senator had been through a whirlwind of a day. Perhaps if there’d been more time, there would have been more chances to ask some of the questions you might perceive as more hardball. That said, I think issues like gas prices that affect grocery prices are not softball at all, but vitally important to each and every American. We moms, in helping keep up with our families’ needs, feel the sting of that more poignantly. I think the questin of the moral climate is less than softball as well, though not all of the response was included in the article (some was edited out). In fact, I don’t see any of the questions that were posed as soft. So we’ll have to agree to disagree there. Nor were they attacking, and I think that’s as it was intended. It wasn’t a debate.
You said: “I will say it makes me really uncomfortable when women are seen as only for raising children. That these 5 women were chosen primarily for that fact, just feels weird.” I’m not sure what you mean, since all of these women do more than raise children and I’m not sure the second sentence in that applies at all. Among the group was a middle school current-events teacher, a single mom of one child who has worked outside the home most of her motherhood, I would presume, a mom who lives on a farm site and works part time to help provide for her family, and yes, one mother of six who has sacrificed a “real” career to raise up the next generation. I guess I’m not seeing what you’re seeing here but I do really value that you took time to read this and also comment.
As for SheSays, I’m sorry you haven’t felt it applicable to you. Despite it being focused on women readers we do feel our topics affect men too, since the lives of men and women are so intricately connected. And we’ve tried covering (and will continue to do so) a wide variety of perspectives and issues. I’d ask that you keep reading, because we’ve only just gotten started.
One more thing: of all the jobs I’ve done, I do consider my mothering among the most valuable roles. Without our mothers, without mothers in general, where would this world be? It would be a dead world. We do play a primary role in society, and though it’s not all we do, and not all that women are capable or doing or all they can and should bring to the world, I do feel that motherhood should be properly honored. But I also enjoy hearing the other things women are up to. 🙂
Ahhh, a civilized and thoughtful debate in the comments. Well done to both of you! I haven’t read the piece yet as I’ve been gone all weekend but will enjoy doing so shortly 🙂 I also need to go back to the article on Deb Dawson… I worked for Deb and her family in the crop insurance company her father owned, for 5 years. I also babysat her kids quite often! And as a funny aside- I also used to babysit the Haney twins 🙂
Thanks for all the great work Roxane! You are bringing such thoughtful and reflective work and affecting people on many levels I think!
Thanks, Roxane for the helpful comments. Re the identity question, I got that because the article only refers to “mothers” and “moms” as the description of the group for the first 7 paragraphs or so. I just blanch when motherhood is seen as the primary identifier (or fatherhood for that matter). Nothing against moms at all, of course, but more of a natural feminist critique that comes first to mind.
Re the larger SheSays issues, I know that’s well beyond you, and I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. It may well be serving the demographic it seeks to connect with. Here’s an old blog post of mine on the broader issue.
http://www.adamjcopeland.com/2011/10/18/he-says-on-shesays-forums-new-women-section-must-go/
Thanks for the post, the blog, and your good work in Fargo. Peace.
Vicky, indeed! I always love a healthy discussion. The world would be a boring place without it. So long as respect remains the primary goal, I’m always all for that.
By the way, wow, our connections to one another keep growing. We could seriously write a list of all the people we know or with whom we have common associations. So fun! Thanks for sharing yet a few more!
Adam, wow, you really have strong feelings about SheSays. I definitely don’t share your view. Mine is much more hopeful and open to what could come of this section. And honestly, if it’s more discussion about things important to both women and men, then I think it’s already served a purpose. If it ends up helping us to discuss and define how we feel about gender commonalities and differences, bring it on. I don’t see it as a flashback to the past. We’re not going back, only forward, and I really am proud of the work I’ve done for this section so far. As I wrote in my column last month, I won’t embrace every article in She Says, but I was receptive to the idea from the start. My take on it is that women and men are not as similar as we’d like to believe. Our brains function differently, by and large, and we process the world differently. It’s the spaghetti vs. waffle brains at work. But we are equal in dignity. That’s where some people get confused. We want to blur the lines where they shouldn’t be blurred, and sharpen them where they shouldn’t be. We definitely have much to discuss, and I see She Says as one way, but not the only way, of getting the conversation going. Once again, though, I do appreciate your thoughtful responses. Glad you’ve voiced your opinion on the matter and also glad you brought it to my attention here. Because as a writer for the section, I do care what people are saying about it, even if I might disagree with some of those sentiments.
Peace and I hope to see you around, Adam. I’m sure we’ll bump into one another one of these days again. Thanks for stopping by today.
P.S. Excuse the overuse of the word “Wow.” 🙂 It’s Monday, and wow, you know, like, wow! 🙂
I read the article in the Forum…I hope he met with more groups while he was in the area:)