Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

I really should read my own blog.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Deb Haaland Is An Inspiration

Deb Haaland Is An Inspiration

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Deb Haaland Is An Inspiration

Deb Haaland ran in the Boston Marathon this year.  The 125th Boston Marathon, to be exact.  The race was run on Indigenous People’s Day.  Deb Haaland didn’t race in the hopes of winning; she raced to remember Indigenous People’s Day, and to honor those who came before her.

Running the Boston Marathon to remember Indigenous Peoples’ Day  (by Deb Haaland in the Boston Globe)

My feet will pound the ancestral homelands of the Massachusett, the Mashpee Wampanoag, and the Pawtucket people and will follow in the footsteps of Indigenous runners who have participated in this race over its 125-year history.
…
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is also a day when we remember the sacrifices of our ancestors and their survival during the dark eras of colonization and assimilation — eras in which Native Americans suffered atrocities that manifest themselves in health disparities, lack of basic infrastructure, the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples’ crisis, and so much more.
…
On this special day, I will run for missing and murdered Indigenous peoples and their families, the victims of Indian boarding schools, and the promise that our voices are being heard and will have a part in an equitable and just future in this new era.
…
I will run for Tom Longboat, Tarzan Brown, and Patti Dillon because they paved a path for me. It’s a path that has led me to serve in the Biden-Harris administration as the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history. This administration made a commitment to honor our country’s promises to Indigenous communities.
…
At the Interior Department, we contribute to the Biden administration’s work to build back better through our work centering Indigenous traditional knowledge in our climate policies; through our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples unit and implementation of the Not Invisible Act; through our Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to help communities heal from longstanding intergenerational trauma; and by restoring tribal homelands.

Deb Haaland is an inspiration.

We can’t all be Deb Haaland, or Stacey Abrams, but we all have a part to play, if we are willing to do it.

Can we use this thread to celebrate all the women who are making such a big difference in this fight to save our nation from white supremacism and authoritarianism?

Reader Interactions

46Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Can we use this thread to celebrate all the women who are making such a big difference in this fight to save our nation from white supremacism and authoritarianism?

    I nominate WaterGirl.

  5. 5.

    Benw

    Speaking of the Boston marathon, Shalane Flanagan is an all time great American distance runner and genuinely rad person. She’s retired but trying to run the 6 major marathons this season. Her times so far:

    Berlin 9/26 2:38:32

    London 10/3 2:35:04

    Chicago 10/10 2:46:39

    Boston 10/11 (1 day rest!!!!) 2:40:34

    Next up: Tokyo 10/17. Holy shit.

  6. 6.

    Immanentize

    I know this is not totally on topic, but Connie Schultz’s husband (she is awesome) just endorsed Tim Ryan for Senate in Ohio. Kay (who is also awesome) will be happy.

    And I agree Watergirl is awesome.

  8. 8.

    Miss Bianca

    My late sister. 1948-2021: Artist , educator, feminist, and activist.

    From her obituary:

    Toni was an educator, mentor, and social activist (Civil Rights). She had over 30 years of teaching experience in Pennsylvania and New Mexico (Commercial Arts, Culinary Arts, and Business Programs). She wrote curriculum for multiple institutions/programs including the New Mexico Department of Health. She inspired and was inspired by all her students coming from diverse backgrounds.
    She was the lead artist for both community and youth mural projects. Her love and pursuit of art began at a young age. She had her first exhibit when she was 14 years old and by 15, was drawing professional portraits. In the years since, she has exhibited in more than 20 one-woman shows and 30 group shows; executed more than 40 murals in schools, universities, and museums; and published illustrations in more than a dozen publications including the cover of a WeMoon datebook.

    In 2012, the state of New Mexico asked her to create a series of posters and illustrations for its Healthy Kids New Mexico campaign aimed at instilling healthy behaviors among the state’s children. She illustrated a series of four-color children’s books and also wordless books.
    Her art created sublime celebrations of women and the natural environment representing the diversity of world cultures. She developed imagery that shows the natural beauty and intelligence in all aspects of the life of sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts, grandmothers in a multicultural world by honoring our commonality through time. In more than 500 large works and thousands of art prints, drawings in both wet and dry media, she used beauty to evoke the female side of both history and mythology.

    From her studio in Biddeford, Maine, she continued working as a freelance illustrator and muralist, to represent the common culture of women that she called “the invisible kernel” within all mainstream and indigenous cultures.

    She enjoyed traveling to Europe, listening to various musical genres, spending time in nature and was an avid hiker.

    Huge, formative inspiration for me coming up. Now she’s gone. Damn. But she sure was excited about Deb Haaland, tell you that. I think she actually knew her, or knew of her – she was pretty involved in NM pueblo affairs, working at the Indian School and all.

  9. 9.

    Betty

    Sorry to trouble you, Watergirl, but do you have information about why some browsers started requiring us to reload the site after a few minutes?  This started yesterday on my Kindle.

  14. 14.

    Immanentize

    @Miss Bianca: So sorry about your sister — but so nice that you have strong, impressive people in you. Multitudes even.

  17. 17.

    C Stars

    I dunno if this counts, but my friend Andrea who has two kids and a lot of other things on her plate, has been organizing almost nonstop since Trump was elected. She’s a founding member of two activist organizations here in the Bay Area that seek to support downticket politicians in swing districts, whose presence will make a real difference when issues like redistricting come up. Seems like a super smart approach to me and also I can’t believe she holds weekly phone banks at her house WHILE her small children are running around. All but one of the candidates her organizations have supported have been elected to office. I’ve done some textbanking and fundraising with her but for the most part my family takes up all my time. I try to support her by doubling my recipe and delivering dinners for her family on the days I know she’s busy with her political work.

  18. 18.

    Geminid

    Deb Haaland is another member of the talented House Class of 2018. Among many others, Andy Kim, Joe Neguse, Chrissy Houlihan, Jahana Hayes, and Haaland’s Native sister Sharice Davids entered Congress that year. I think many of these capable people will follow Haaland into higher office.

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    Deb Haaland gave birth to her daughter Somah four days after graduating from the University of New Mexico at age 24. Life as a single mom was economically precarious. She eventually was able to go to the University  of New Mexico School of Law and graduated at age 46. She was chairman of the New Mexico Democratic party before winning the seat vacated by Michelle Luhan Grisham for her successful run for Governor in 2018.

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    @Kathleen: Yes. I left her out, but Underwood is very talented and hard working and has already accomplished a lot. Flipping her Chicagoland seat was a heavy lift; she won reelection by only a few thousand votes.

  32. 32.

    gwangung

    There’s one of my many crushes in the arts world: Brooke Ishibashi, who’s part of a family of Japanese American artists and activists (you may have caught her sister, Brittany, on Hulu’s Marvel adaption Runaways) .

    Her big thing is organizing and lobbying Congress to support arts workers during the pandemic.

    She’s fortunate she and I don’t live in the same town.

  33. 33.

    Dan B

    A classmate of mine was the strongest kid in Junior High.  He’d had polio and regained the strength of his legs in physical therapy.  He got into weightlifting in PT as he learned how to power through the pain.  He lost both legs in Vietnam.  He won the Boston Marathon in his wheelchair.  I believe he beat everyone.

    Unfortunately he became bitter.  He was a casualty of the time before vaccines and one of our most awful testosterone fueled post colonial adventures.  Deb Haaland is working to break that thread.

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Miss Bianca:

    I did not know your sister had died this year. I’m so sorry — it’s a lonely place to be, as JoyceH and I and probably others who have lost sisters in the past year could tell you.

    ETA: Toni sounds amazing. The kind of person I would have relished knowing IRL.  Again, my condolences on your profound loss.

  35. 35.

    Miss Bianca

    Thank you for your condolences, friends. I told sis about this place, and now I tell you about her.

  37. 37.

    H.E.Wolf

    Adding my thanks for all the women mentioned in this thread. Special place in my heart for Rep. Underwood, and Miss Bianca’s sister.

    Another woman who will go far: Xochitl Torres Small (NM) flipped a House seat to Dem. in 2018 and was defeated for re-election in 2020.

    She has a background in water rights law, and has recently been nominated by Pres. Biden for the post of Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development, at the US Dept. of Agriculture.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @StringOnAStick: I just posted this on the previous thread:

    Can you guys get me a screen capture of what it looks like when this happens?  Does it automatically reload without warning, or are you told you have to reload, and then you have to reload manually

    Edit:  If you can’t get a screen capture easily on a Kindle, can you take a picture of your Kindle screen with your phone and send me the photo?

  40. 40.

    Geminid

    @H.E.Wolf:  I was very sorry when Xochitl Torres-Small lost her rematch with Ms. Harrel. Both elections were close. New Mexico Democrats in the Roundhouse (as insiders and wannabees like me call the State Capitol building) will make Harrel’s reelection an uphill climb. Another good Democrat will win that seat, hopefully. But Xochitl Torres-Small will do important work for us all at the Department of Agriculture, and has a long career ahead in public service, if she wants it.

  41. 41.

    CapnMubbers

    @WaterGirl: On my iPad with Firefox private browsing, the site occasionally reloads without warning, usually several times in a row,  sometimes to the point that I shut down the iPad and leave it for, say, ten minutes. Whether or not that has any effect I don’t know but usually there’s no problem when I restart.

    And even when not using private browsing  the site doesn’t remember my nym and email.  I comment very infrequently.

    I very much appreciate your contribution, among others, to this site.

  44. 44.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Geminid: ​
     Glad to hear the additional details about Xochitl Torres Small and the Roundhouse. :)

    It’s good to have dedicated, ethical public servants in appointed positions, as well as in elected office.

  46. 46.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    An incredible woman who hopefully gets to even higher levels – Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance – Chrystia Freeland.

    KGB archives show how Chrystia Freeland drew the ire (and respect) of Soviet intelligence services

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-kgb-archives-show-how-chrystia-freeland-drew-the-ire-and-respect-of/

    The Soviet Union’s secret police, the infamous KGB, praised her savvy and erudition, even as she frustrated their attempts to spy on her in Cold War Ukraine. They tagged her with the code name Frida. But today we know Chrystia Freeland as Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
    Ms. Freeland’s ties to Ukraine are no secret, but materials uncovered from the KGB archives in Kyiv illuminate her role in the Ukrainian independence movement while on exchange there from Harvard University…

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