Last Fall's election season was an all-hands-on-deck non-stop marathon with 6 forums and 2 voter guides, and way too many last-minute moments.  And through it all Betsy, Blanche and Janice organized ALL the details, and the many MANY people who volunteered to help made it all work.  

 

We will meet on Sunday, February 15th (to show that love lasts for more than one day)

  from 1-3:00 pm (because then there is Suffs that evening at 6:30 - Playhouse Square)

  at Amy Vegh's lovely home (you loved it in June for our Annual Meeting) at 3133 Fairfax Road

  (with parking on the side streets and also in the Fairfax School parking lot at the end of the block)

Light refreshments will be provided

You might recall that last year there was a Resistance Fair at Heights High School on a wintry Saturday afternoon. There was a wide variety of agencies and organizations, each with their own suggestions of how to stand up to protect our democracy. and ourselves  We expected a few hundred people, but drew at least 1200!  We had 4 people at our League table - I had initially thought 2 would be enough, and we gave out  just100 palm cards with the 10 steps to support democracy.  It was not enough.

- We would like to have a sign and/or a handout detailing changes in voting.  Can you help compile that list and/or do the graphics?

- We would like to have a poster listing the unconstitutional acts by our federal government. Can you help Paula Goodwin compile the list?

- We want a palm card handout with details such as what will be on the ballots this year, how to find your elected officials, where to find helpful information on issues (on the League websites), and how to join the League.  Would you be interested in pulling this together?

- We would like to have 6 volunteers at the table (which could be more people working a 1.5 hour shift instead of 3 hours). Volunteers at the table would hand out the palm card and be prepared to talk to people about increasing voter turnout and other ways people can support democracy.  Could you be one of the table volunteers?

We have over 100 members so this seems like an opportunity for people who have been waiting for an opportunity to be involved  ;-)

 

     I talk often about our needing to step out and be with community.  What I mean by this is all the other random people who live around us, or who we cross paths with in a big store, or random strangers anywhere (as opposed to our closed community with whom we share beliefs or values or blood.)  Back in the day when we had to go into stores we would interact with fellow shoppers, or the checkout clerk. 

     Now people order their groceries and have them dropped into their trunk, or dropped by their front door - zero interaction required.  People work from home and meetings are held on Zoom.  And so we lose our chances to rub shoulders with people who are different from us - who look or sound a bit different, or are of another faith, or - heaven forfend - are of different political beliefs from us.  

     Fairmount Presbyterian Church is concerned about the lack of community gathering places and has begun sponsoring the "No Strangers Club." which is basically an open house with art activities and games and a ban on all screens.  I like this idea.  A friend of mine began playing pickleball at a community court in a round robin style, where the team that loses steps out and the next team steps in. She has played with and against a wide variety of people with a wide variety of skills and styles and interests, and she has broadened her awareness and appreciation of people who live in the area. 

     And in another story, there is a restaurant in Mississippi which serves family style meals on a large rotating lazy susan where guests sit together and share food in community.  Article here

 

     Democracy survives when we see each other as fellow citizens with our own individual peculiarities and "delights".  Are there ways you might help to generate community?  It can be as simple as sharing small exchanges in the pasta aisle, marveling at the endless array of types of pasta and aren't they all really just pasta or do they taste different?  Or wait for someone else to pass by in the crowded aisle and greet them as they go past. Or offer to shovel your neighbor's sidewalk, no matter what yard signs they have posted.  Or play pickleball in a round robin!

 

How do we start to see people as just being other people?  Feel free to share your experiences by replying to this email. I'd love to share more ideas.

 

 

In 1995 Rob Reiner directed the movie The American President, written by Aaron Sorkin.  Heather Cox Richardson wrote about this a few days ago and included the following quote from the President.  I think my soul needs to watch this movie. 

"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've got to want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say: You want free speech?  Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as a land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now, show me that.  Defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free."

It is available on YouTube, and also on Spectrum's On Demand for $3.99.  

 

 

Today, Governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 293, the unnecessary and destructive legislation rushed through Ohio’s General Assembly in November. The League of Women Voters of Ohio is deeply disappointed by Governor DeWine’s decision to sign legislation that makes it harder for eligible Ohio voters to vote and have their votes counted in Ohio.

 

“Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans across the political spectrum rely on voting by mail. This new law is going to be especially hard on seniors, Ohioans with disabilities, rural Ohioans, and students,” said Jen Miller, League of Women Voters of Ohio Executive Director. “Voters should not be punished because of slow mail delivery days.”

“Election workers across Ohio give their time, skill, and professionalism to run accurate and accessible elections,” Miller continued. “This law makes their work harder and does nothing to make our already secure elections stronger. The provisions added at the end will lead to voters being mistakenly removed from the voter rolls and a dramatic increase in voters having to vote using provisional ballots, which makes election workers’ jobs harder and longer lines for everyone on Election Day. Voters deserve policies that support smooth, efficient election administration, not unfunded mandates that serve no one.”

Lawmakers should be focused on strengthening Ohio’s election infrastructure and encouraging more Ohioans to participate in our elections, not creating new obstacles. Instead of adding unfunded mandates, the General Assembly should prioritize legislation and budget support that help Boards of Elections do their work efficiently, securely, and transparently. Ohio’s election officials continue to run highly trusted elections, but they cannot do more with less

Instructions for Living in a Broken World

 

(this was read to my yoga class. I have found it online but with various attributions. My gratitude to whomever wrote it.)

Some of you are aware of the "Card Campaign" which was started last year to provide informational handouts to voters. They have just issued two new cards - on our Constitutional Amendment Rights and our Voting Rights.  These cards are designed to be printed out or shared in social media.

 

 

WE HAVE A NEW DIRECTORY!!! With thanks to Judith Beeler who offered to learn how to use Excel and take over this project, and with gratitude to Janice who just couldn't believe we didn't have a directory in the first place and figured out how to do the first one.

 

Going forward the directory will be updated quarterly and posted to our chapter's website at www.lwvgreatercleveland.org (and emailed to new members.)  The link will be included in the email and can be downloaded by members (which means you need to log in to the website.)

 

This remains a somewhat manual process since the switch to paying memberships through LWVUS, so please make sure you are included in this roster if you are a Heights member (the newsletter does go out to a few people who are not in our chapter), and please make sure the details are correct.  At this point we only have cellphone numbers so if you entered your phone number in the home phone box we can't see it currently.  If your phone number is not listed, and you would like it to be, please, click HERE and let me know what needs to be updated/added/deleted.

- Emergency Meeting on School Funding  11/11/25   Note that the link is to the slide deck from the presentation but it is very readable.  PUPS School Funding Deck

 

 

CHUH Chapter Leadership