Festivals and Culture
Jo Freeman: There’s Plenty To Do at the RNC – If You Have the Right Credentials
by Jo Freeman
Every national nominating convention has plenty of auxiliary events, some authorized, some not. Getting space can be a challenge; getting the word out even more so. But they do it nonetheless. Press were given a RNC 2024 Master Event Calendar, which was updated a few days later. Events began on Sunday and ended on Thursday. The actual convention sessions were just one item on the list. The calendar said if an event was Open or Closed to press, and also whom to contact to register. I’m going to describe some of the events, including a couple I went to, and a couple I was turned away from.
Since my focus is on women, I obviously wanted to go to those events – if I could.
The National Federation of Republican Women is the largest grassroots Republican women's organization in the country with hundreds of clubs. Founded in 1938, its members made the phone calls and knocked on the doors that elected Republican candidates for decades. It’s Tuesday luncheon featured Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders. The Master Calendar said it was SOLD OUT and they wouldn’t let me in. I was able to get into their lounge at the Fiserv Forum Wednesday evening, where I was repeatedly asked if I was a member, and if not, would I join. “I’m press,” I said. “I can’t join anything partisan.” I then said: “What brings you here?” On hearing that, finding anyone willing to chat with me was like pulling teeth.
Moms for Liberty met in a concert hall that afternoon. I had pre-registered, and I got in. From high in a balcony seat I listened to several people talk about the evils of transgenderism. It’s webpage says WE BELIEVE Power Belongs to the People. Sound Familiar? With a focus is on parental rights, it wants to “STOP WOKE indoctrination.”
Tuesday I went to “The New Mavericks” reception co-hosted by the Black Republican Mayors Association and the Georgia Republican Party. They honored Sen. Tim Scott, four Congressmen and two Georgia delegates – all male. There was only one mayor on stage, from Aurora, IL. The chair of the Georgia Republican Party was the one white man on the stage. At that event, women served; they didn’t speak. The RNC reported that 55 delegates to the 2024 convention are Black, up from 18 in 2016.
I missed the Independent Women’s Forum toast to “Women Who Make Our Country Great” because I went to Convention Fest: The Official Delegate Experience, which was held in the streets outside the Fiserve Forum and Baird Hall as well as some space inside Baird. To get to that one you not only needed a credential of some sort, but a USSS pass (which I have).
Concerned Women for America parked its pink bus across from the Baird Center the week before the RNC. No one was home. When Convention Fest opened on Tuesday afternoon, they set up a pink tent, from which its leaders preached to whomever passed by. It calls itself “the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization” but its focus is evangelical Christian. The slogan on the side of its pink bus captures this emphasis: “She Prays, She Votes.” A prayer precedes each sermon.
Serena Nanda Reviews: Tunis to Nairobi, Overland by Truck: Adventures in Africa
A perfect read for trying times! Cultural anthropologist and photographer Barry Kass begins his memoir by quoting Richard Burton, the British explorer, who wrote that "one of the gladdest moments in human life … is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands." This is especially true given the travel restrictions in the coronavirus pandemic and thus all the more of a pleasure to read. Kass’s memoir is not your ordinary travelogue. It is filled with descriptions of exotic locations and adventures but also with honest musings, like the deep appreciation of the comforts – hot water showers – that we in the United States take for granted.
more »
Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Blond-Tailed Squirrels and a Box Turtle Surprise Again
Ferida Wolff writes: Nature is always interesting. Whether it’s animals, birds, insects or plants, no two are exactly the same. Alike, yes, but there are always differences if we truly observe. And like people, each has its own way of interacting on our incredible Earth. Diversity is what makes life so intriguing. I hope we can remember that our individuality is vital to the greater whole and use it wisely. more »
Jean-Jacques Lequeu: Drawings From Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Animated Self-portraits, Plans for Revolutionary Monuments, Explorations of the Body
Lequeu defined himself as an architect and began his career working on building sites, he spent the majority of his life as a government draftsman shifting between bureaucratic offices before being forced to retire on a meager pension. His gift to the Royal Library reflected a hidden dimension of Lequeu’s draftsmanship. Throughout his life, he worked on his own, producing animated self-portraits, plans for revolutionary monuments, teaching manuals, explorations of the body, and over one hundred designs for visionary architectural projects. The drawings in his portfolio evince remarkable skill and creativity, an inventiveness inspired by both classical and contemporary writings, and the artist’s own vivid imagination. more »
Nichola Gutgold Writes: “Klob-mentum” and the Pronouns To Help
Nichola Gutgold writes: Elizabeth Warren during the CNN and Des Moines Register Democratic Debate in Iowa, Jan. 14, 2020: “I will do what a president can do all by herself on the very first day.” Amy Klobuchar in her closing statement at the same debate: “...if you want to do something about racial justice and immigration reform and climate change and gun safety, we need a candidate who is actually going to bring people with her.” With “her.” By “herself.” In a year of pronounced pronouns, the pronouns referring to a woman president are especially notable. more »