The Lilith Blog

January 16, 2017 by Arlene Jaroslaw

If He Was a She

Nov. 12, 2016

Donald J. Trump had just been elected President of the United States of America and my brain was in overdrive; a bottomless pit of despair. For the first time that I could remember, sleep eluded me. Harry suggested I try a sleeping pill, and though I resisted at first, in the end, I relented and found myself giving in to a tranquility that wrapped itself around me like a benevolent lover only to be betrayed a few hours later by a fitful and disturbing dream; a dream that moves the calendar back and the clock from evening to early morning.

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THE DREAM

Harry, always an early riser, has brought the newspapers in from our front door and they now lay scattered on our dining room table with the news section opened to the editorial page. I sit, sipping my morning coffee resolved to ignore any news and just get on with breakfast. But the headline in front of me is too toxic to ignore. 

EDITORIAL:   May 7, 2016                                                                       A28

A Jezebel Nominee for Highest Office in the Land

We all thought that the race in this year’s Presidential primary campaign could not get any dirtier. Well, it could and it has. Samantha Drew, who first served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and then Attorney General under President Garner before throwing her name into the ring is under pressure to step down from her position as the favored nominee of her party following the release of a video in which Ms. Drew is heard bragging about her predatory sexual exploitations of young men in her employ, including under age adolescents. Her depravity is almost too graphic for print journalism. However, the Editorial Board of this newspaper has determined that, in this case, with so much at stake in our national election, fair and factual reporting eclipses decorum.

In the video we hear Ms. Drew speaking to an associate who is obviously enjoying and encouraging her titillating revelations. Ms. Drew boasts of her power as Attorney General.  “Those young boys on my staff?  There were times I just had to kiss them. I couldn’t help myself. One of them had a 15-year-old brother who was performing in an all male dance recital at his high school. The family invited me to the recital and before the curtain went up, while the kids were dressing for their roles, I just waltzed into their dressing area. Some of those boys were really hot!”  Her associate marvels at this, “And they didn’t say anything?”  “No, of course not. When you’re important you can do anything; even grab their cocks!” Then there is more laughter. 

This from the woman who purports to be the leader and the moral compass of the free world. Given the power of the President, what further lecheries would she be capable of? Ms. Drew’s campaign manager would have us believe this was merely “girl talk.”  We say “no!”

No to such sugar coated palliatives and no to her ambitions. For make no mistake about it; Samantha Drew threatens the very sanctity of womanhood which holds that fair gender to the highest human standards. Ms. Drew in no way befits the scriptural injunction of a woman of valor.   

The world awaits the words of President Garner who will be holding a press conference at noon today. Ms. Drew’s husband, Mr. Hadley Garrison Drew, who served as Ambassador to France under President Moore and who is now Chief Advisor to the Open World Foundation, which financially supports civil society groups around the world, is also expected to make a public statement this evening regarding this turn of events. Their two children, Sarah and Alexander are studying abroad. Ms. Drew, aided by her record of public service devoted mainly to underserved children and families, the family’s long established connections to the country’s political and financial power brokers and the know-how of her well oiled campaign strategists, has managed to survive other questionable aspects of her past; namely; Mr. Drew’s past marital infidelities, the infamous Blackwater scandal and her too cozy relationship with corporate America. But these new disclosures add a dimension of indecency that cannot be overlooked.

The good people of this country will not abide a sexual predator as President. The nation, indeed, the world is convulsed in outcries of censure. Protesters are spilling out into the streets of every city and hamlet; from east to west and north to south. Never before, in modern campaign history has there been such an outpouring of public condemnation. The high moral ground has even eclipsed party loyalty.  

We join politicians from both sides of the aisle, spokespersons from the “alt-right,” libertarians, socialists; people of faith and non-believers alike including; ironically (but as yet unconfirmed) His Eminence, Charles Cardinal Murphy of the Archdiocese of Ms. Drew’s home state in demanding that Ms. Drew step down and allow the three other well qualified nominees of her party to get on with the business of campaigning without the taint of immorality hanging in the background.

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Nov. 13, 2016

The next morning I awaken from my dream into the real world and a real nightmare. A sexual predator actually is President Elect of the United States.

Ms. Jaroslaw, a retired clinical social worker, mother of four and grandmother of 10, battled over her 81+ years for civil rights, a woman’s right to choose and gender equality. Her memories and lessons learned from the “old” Bronx strengthen her resolve to keep fighting in the days ahead.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lilith Magazine.

The Lilith Blog

January 9, 2017 by Arlene Jaroslaw

A Daughter’s Farewell

1971 

It was the first seder night and for me, the 36th year I’d celebrated it at my parents’ table. And this year, it was truly a celebratory time. My father, Joe had just been discharged from the hospital following a week of unexplained neurological “events”; blinding headaches, episodic confusion and finally a fall following a momentary loss of consciousness. Now, we gathered—content that all that was behind us.

There were only eight of us around the table; Mom, Dad, Manny (my brother), Harry and me, and our three young children. So unlike years past when a crowded dining room table hosted aunts, uncles and cousins in addition to our immediate family. Tonight we sat at the kitchen table. The dining room table which, when not in use, folded into a lovely console remained unopened in my parents’ foyer; an omen of what lay ahead.