The John Lennon Peace Wall | Prague 2010

The John Lennon Peace Wall | Prague 2010
John Lennon Peace Wall | Prague 2010 | Photo by Deborah S. Greenhut

About Me

United States
Deborah S. Greenhut, PhD, is a playwright, arts documentarian, and educator who began teaching in a one-room school house in rural New England during 1970. These days you can find me collaborating with urban educators and students, seeking new ways to make education artful. I have consulted on management skills and communication arts in 44 of the United States and 5 provinces in Canada. I believe that people learn more effectively through drama-assisted instruction, and I exploit the Internet to deliver it. The views expressed here are entirely mine and not those of any other institution or organization.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Coat Hanger Era Returns: A sad chapter in the War Against Women

This is a difficult subject. Pity the embattled religionists. In attempting to apply their credos to American civil life, they stumble against powerful forces. If they make heaven too attractive, people may want to control their deaths to try to get in sooner. If they try to prevent people from choosing a death, their slumbers may be troubled by the misinformation they must give out. In this month of women’s history, I hope we’ll ask ourselves why women aren’t mentioned in the Constitution and why life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not advanced now for the majority of the U.S. population.

What are our values? What is our education teaching us about tolerance for different values? It’s a difficult subject, but responsible people need to face it.

Why am I preoccupied with coat hangers today? If you haven’t heard of the coat hanger era, check here:


I hope you will join me in presenting  Base Metal Coat Hanger Awards to the Governors of these United States for signing legislation that crudely micromanages women’s health and beliefs:

South Dakota


Nebraska

Feel free to read up and nominate your own candidates for this dubious distinction!

Perhaps they should have to listen to the Blue Meanies’ song, “Coat Hanger.” Or they could listen to survivors of these rude processes.



I nearly lost my mother when I was seven because she couldn’t find three doctors, including a psychiatrist to support her decision to stop a hemorrhage from an Rh-negative fetus which wasn’t going to live. Some of these brave, principled men hid on the golf course. That was the rule in those days of the Coat Hanger Era. I admit my bias. Religious adherence did not help my grandmother or my mother to make a decision about a medical puzzle during their pregnancies.

If Udo Lindenberg tells it rightly, even vampires have a problem with Type O Rhesus-Negative.



So, why are we sending women to school if we don’t want them to think?


I hope to hear soon that there is a fund to equip women in the heartland with video-capable cell phones when they enter these artless "counseling" session for full display on Youtube. If we all have to listen, maybe some hearts and minds will change.

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