Epilogue: My 40th Birthday/First Tat: Vote Ladies! The Iron-Jawed Angel"

So, um, I'm turning 40...sigh.;) Hehehe, actually, I'm really happy about it, I'm just now hitting my stride in life... and I don't look so bad for my age...Cougar and all that I am...grrrrrrawwrrrrrr.

Kiiidddddinnnng. Though I have no shortage of younger men interested, I'm... not exactly cougar material.:)

So I've been asking everyone what to do for my 40th birthday in December. A small suare or a big bash on a Cincy riverboat cruise? Some said I should skydive/jump out of a plane; others said I should bungee-jump off of a bridge, adrenaline rush?

Um...I'm pretty sure the point is that I made it to 40 without anything catastrophic happening to me (wellll...um, that's debatable, lol, but I survived)...so...why would I want to tempt fate, lol?

I decided to have a small get-together with closer friends, some of whom (the brave ones) are going to a tat parlor to get my first and only tat and their own piercings/tats, then get liquored up and bar-hop around Cincy in a limo with a sunroof...and then we shall randomly sex up whomever we choose and as many people as we choose, indiscriminately.

Okay, I made the last part up? Hehehe.

So what is the tattoo, you say?

After seeing the HBO movie "Iron-Jawed Angels," my friends and I decided that a conceptualized tattoo of this was a perfect representation of me. I've been looking at local artists to try to find someone who can conceptualize it before my birthday; so far, no luck. I may get the tat AFTER my birthday because I will wait to find someone who "gets it." If you haven't seen the movie, watch it and you'll get it.

"Iron-Jawed Angels" tells the story of Alice Paul, who, after Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, gave the final push for the 19th amendment to the constitution; the right for women to vote and have a voice. These little itty-bitty women, barely 5 feet tall, standing outside the White House, holding banners with determined jaws, were likened by journalists to "Iron-Jawed Angels."

Before the amendment, meeting resistance from men AND women (who seemed to care more about their own political power than their cause), Alice Paul stood outside the White House and read President Wilson's own words regarding freedom and raising our voices, stirring up support for World War I.

Alice reads Wilson's words and loudly exclaims, "Freedom and raising our voices? I guess not if you're a woman..." and tears up his written words, throwing them into the fire.

Men began yelling and grabbing at the women and their banners, pummeling them to the ground, telling them to go home to their children, they were unpatriotic...and the women fought back.

The result was the little posse of iron-jawed angels, peaceably assembling in front of the White House, were carted off to prison on charges of "obstructing traffic" and inciting a riot, lol.

The men received no charges at all.

What a surprise.

When Alice breaks a window for fresh air for the prisoners and begins a hunger strike for their cause, she is sent to the insane asylum in solitary confinement. Word leaks out to the press that Alice has led the women in a hunger strike there and that the staff began brutally force-feeding her, so a male psychiatrist evaluates her. The result is she is cleared, the force-feeding stops, and he releases this statement regarding her:

"In women, courage is often mistaken for insanity."

The result is a public outcry, the women are released, Wilson does a 180, and the amendment is finally passed.:)

Why is it when Gandhi led a hunger strike to have a voice in government in his own country, he's a hero...but when Alice Paul does the same thing three years later, she's crazy? Nobody force-fed Gandhi. I'll tellyou why...because unfortunately in our society, in men, passion + frustration + bravery make a hero...but in women, passion + frustration + bravery are equated with insanity.

Things haven't changed much, except that women have learned to play this card to discredit and silence other women; however, the "gaslighting" card is misogynistic historically...men have always played the insanity card to discredit and silence women.;)

Where will the tat be? Between my hoo ha and my right hipbone, lol.

Why this tattoo? For memory's sake...because I don't fight causes or even stand up for anything anymore, I've had my share and failed miserably.

I finally realized that especially on the net, it really doesn't matter if you're telling 100% truth, how much factual evidence/proof you present, or how many loopholes you can find in the other's story/argument or logic, and it doesn't matter how calm you are..people will believe what they want to believe, especially on the net...the one with the penis always wins, internet OR real life (or the phoniest person/best pathological liar, male or female).

Otherwise, I don't even try to write at all anymore...but at one time, I did...lol...I sure as hell DID finally stand up for MYSELF instead of just defending other people...a few times in life now...and the iron-jawed angel will be there to mark it on my 40th birthday....nobody knowing she's there but me...and those whom I choose to show it too.;)

"Chrys" or Chrystal Smith/Southernspeak4...Iron-Jawed Angel of Blogger.;)

P.S. Election 2008: See "Iron-Jawed Angels" and VOTE, ladies...what those women endured for the right for YOU to have a voice!

I personally will vote this Tuesday against any political party that has consistently played on our worst national fear of terrorism by using fear tactics and smear campaigns to start wars and/or win elections.

"Obama: The change we need." I'm counting on it. Make us proud to be an American again...and for a change.


Chrys or Chrystal Smith/Southernspeak4