One of the many states that no doubt will enthusiastically embrace the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion
Okay. I’ll confess that I really don’t have a great excuse for remaining mute on this platform for the past several months. I figured that once Trump slithered back to his (hopefully) final resting place in Florida we could all take a deep breath and relax, while his supporters concentrated on taking their brown shirts to the dry cleaners.
Wrong.
Recent events are making the depths of the pandemic look like the good old days.
Inflation…record high gasoline prices…an airline industry that can no longer get passengers from point A to point B (or anywhere in between)…mass murders in our schools, churches and grocery stores. To quote the great American philosopher Elaine from the TV show Seinfeld: Yada, Yada, Yada.
But what really has my shorts in a knot and my fingers reaching for the keyboard is the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn a woman’s federally guaranteed right to control their own health and body. And the decision to strike down Roe v. Wade is just the beginning. All of our rights involving privacy, same sex marriage, contraception and so forth are now on the chopping block.
I’m not thrilled about living in a country where conservative religious fanatics (and their elected representatives) care more about an unborn fetus than they do about children who are being slaughtered by high-power automatic weapons in the classroom. I digress.
Go figure.
Unfortunately members of the Supreme Court—who should be neutral arbitrators of the law and our constitution—are now just political operatives advancing their own agenda. And you really can’t believe a word they say during the confirmation process.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Oh, well. If there is a path out of this mess it has to begin at the ballot box. If we want the USA to remain the world’s shining example of democracy then we better start electing officials who share this vision.
As Prez Obama once told John McCain during the debate over health care: Elections have consequences.
That notion will be tested once again in November.
I’m Rob Jewell and I live and write in Woodland Park, Colorado, the City Above the Clouds.
I've been fortunate. I worked for 29 years at BFGoodrich in Akron, Ohio. I started editing employee publications and ended as vice president of corporate communications. Then I started a public relations consulting company before becoming a full-time faculty member in the School of Journalism at Kent State University. I taught courses in writing, public relations and mass communication ethics. And I supervised a student-run public relations firm, called Flash Communications. During my tenure at Kent State I was honored to receive the university’s Outstanding Teaching Award.
During most of this time I've been a dedicated runner. OK, jogger, if you take speed into consideration. But while my times are not much to write about, I was and am committed. For almost 30 years I ran at least 1,000 miles each year. (Except for one year when I tore my calf muscle playing tennis. So much for tennis.)
Being on the road most mornings at 5 a.m. gave me some time to think. It also led to some amazing friendships that now span more than three decades.
And my longtime love affair with running helped me shape my first novel, Then We Ran, which is available wherever electronic books are sold.
And just so you don't think that all I did was work and run, I have other interests as well, many centering on family.
My wife, Mary, was a successful and highly regarded career teacher in the Akron public schools. She now devotes her time and energy to a host of social and athletic activities in Woodland Park.
My son, Brian, teaches at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs where he is also the head soccer coach.
And my daughter, Jessica, has completed her doctorate at Kent State University where she is also an administrator with the Wick Poetry Center. I've done a lot of writing during my career -- but Jessica is the real writer in the family. I'll try not to make too many errors in this blog. I'm sure she'll be watching.
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Writing Above The Clouds 