HRC

Big fun this Father's Day weekend at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop with Courtney and Zach, my sister's kids, pictured below with PJ, my dad. Thanks to Jo Carolyn and Bill for putting this weekend together. The second picture is Dad, Jo Carolyn and me.

Quick restaurant review: Be careful how you order at Baxter's on Main in Bastrop. Avoid the chicken fried steak, and go for something with shrimp in it. Half of our party was pleased with the food while the other half wondered why we bothered to make the trip into town.

Now the Father's Day brunch at the Hyatt was good for anyone not counting calories. Crab claws, omlettes, and plenty of desserts to sample. Yum.

Running is going well right now. I'm trying to do a "regular" 48 mile week, because some travel plans will potentially disrupt next week's running. I did ten miles today, with a bit of a sore hamstring (yard work "injury"). Should be better tomorrow.

I was thinking about Hillary Clinton on Saturday, and then had the chance to run with one her supporters that morning. Don and I had a fairly lengthy discussion about sexism in the campaign, which the media finally put in the news cycle as it did the autopsy on Hillary's campaign. As an Obama supporter, I was glad to hear Don's thoughts, and he is rarely shy about sharing his opinions. The gender vs. race issue came up as we ran, and that is the first thing I want to touch on here.

Sexism is so much more okay in society today than is racism, and that is reflected in the media. I remember John McCain's response to a woman, a woman, who asked him, "How do we beat the bi**h?" McCain's response: "Good question." Not "Hold on, let's keep this respectful." No. He said,"Good question." Let's say an African American Republican (They're out there somewhere.) asks McCain, "How do we beat the ni***r?" You think he's gonna say, "Good question."? Sexism was infused in this campaign, and it seemed so natural for it to be there. We are not shocked by it because the line of what is acceptable has not moved as far with sexist language as it has with racist language.

I am reminded of Shannon Faulkner, the first female student to enroll at the Citadel in South Carolina in the mid-90's. State school, taxpayer funded, all male. Until Shannon Faulkner challenged the system. She did not last long, but she broke the door down so that other young women could exercise their equal right to attend that ridiculous school. A few years later the Citadel had their first female graduate, and many more have followed. They, and the young men of the Citadel have Faulkner to thank for being the first through the door, whether they recognize it or not. When the U.S. does have its first female president, Democrat or Republican, she, and we, will recognize again just how much Hillary Clinton did to show what was possible for women in America.

One of the columnists I read last week wrote that women should not get mad about Hillary's loss, but get even. Not by voting for McCain, but by getting more women elected to statehouses and Congress. Good idea. I hope that the next time there is an open primary on the Democrat's side that there are three or four qualified women to choose from, competing for the presidency with an equally qualified group of men. Because I hope Obama wins, We need to be a few election cycles from that happening. This time around, I hope that women will turn out for Obama. It's important. The war. The courts. It took the courts to make the Citadel allow women to attend school there. It took the courts to end segregation. John Paul Stevens is really old. It's important.