I received my bill from the hospital for my maternity care this morning. They charged a separate room an board fee for my daughter, presumably so that they could bill the insurance company twice. Aetna, though, who only covers 80% of maternity care, of course, passed the bill onto me. They were charged $45,000 for the care of myself and the baby, so my bill, after paying the insurance company monthly so that I don’t have to pay the FULL amount, is still astronomical: $5,000. To have a baby. In the wealthiest country in the world. And I HAVE insurance. Not good insurance, but it’s still insurance. I’m still not going to be able to pay the hospital for quite some time as I am jobless, and when I do start working, they will receive $50 a month for the next 20 years.

But my bill made me think about all of the people who CAN’T pay $50 a month, or even $5 a month: people who are living paycheck to paycheck with no room for error. People who’s entire lives will be destroyed with 4 words, “Let’s run some tests.” It made me angry, and not at the insurance companies or the hospital, because without regulation, people will make a profit where they can, but at the people. MY people. Americans who know someone like me, or worse off than me. Americans who ARE like me. And they DO nothing. They SAY nothing. They write no letters, attend no protests, and are content to sit idly by and watch their parents and grandparents, their friends and neighbors sink deeper into debt, not because they spent too much or didn’t save wisely, but because they became ill.

I’m ashamed of you, America. I’m ashamed of the way you’re treating people who have worked their entire lives to make a better country for YOU, only to abandon them completely in their time of need. I’m ashamed at the ease with which you dismiss them as not your problem, and the callousness with which you bandy about the term “socialism” as if democratic socialism isn’t WORKING in places like Vermont. I’m ashamed of your lack of compassion for those less fortunate, even as they sit next to you in the hospital waiting room or in church. And the Catholic Church is pretty clear that Jesus would be ashamed of you, too.

But guilt is no good to anyone without action. Fight back, America! Even if you don’t agree with the plan currently proposed, find one that you DO agree with. Ask the Congress to do better, to BE better. Don’t allow all of your hard work to go to insurance companies and hospitals. Don’t accept that Bankruptcy is inevitable with a diagnosis of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or ANY number of illnesses that are expensive to cure and control, but easy to fight. Don’t lose your home because you got sick. Don’t let people die because YOU stayed silent. FIGHT. You asked for the tired, the poor, the hungry. Now what are you going to DO with them?

I’ve had arguments with friends on both sides of this issue, and I hear the same things over and over.  One thing few people are talking about is this: is it our moral responsibility to make sure all citizens have access to health care, regardless of their ability to pay?  I think we can get into any real debate abotu the pros and cons, we need to convince the American people of this one simple thing.

With the Christian Right, we just need to remind them of their own words over and over again.  What WOULD Jesus do?  Did he ask for payment when he raised Lazarus from the dead?  When he laid hands on the blind, did he ask them to go and find him a coin immediately thereafter?  Or did he heal those who needed healing, without question, without demand?  Jesus would be on the side of universal health care, and I think he would be appalled that we don’t have it already.

With others, I’ve heard two major arguments.  1.  People have to wait in Canada and England for months, sometimes for years, for surgeries they need.  2. The Federal Government is inefficient and we don’t want them running anything.  My answers are as follows: 1. People DIE in the United States, the WEALTHIEST country in the world, because they cannot afford health care or their insurance companies turn down life-saving procedures.  and 2. I’m pretty sure that in the Declaration of Independence our Founding Fathers mentioned something about what should be done about  ineffective governments.  If we are to hold to the sacred documents which make out country what it is today, doesn’t it stand to reason that we should be forcing a change within our government if we truly believe that it’s not working for us anymore?

I grew up listening to Michael Jackson.  My father played the Jackson 5, I saw the Thriller video on MTV, I attened the “We ARE the World” event, I danced to his songs with my friends.  There is no doubt that he was the most famous person of our lifetimes.  He was an amazing musician, and incredibly talented singer, and a gifted dancer.  His music will always be a part of my life.

Still, his life was a bit of a tragedy.  The amount of pressure we put on celebrities to constantly be in the limelight, to give up a part of themselves to be in the public eye, to become icons (demi-gods) and give up something inately human and fallible in themselves is one of the worst parts of our culture.  We have no idea who Michael Jackson really was.  We know the stories, we’ve seen the tabloids, and we’ve heard countless accusations, but we ignored the fact that he was just a man.  My hear goes out to the family of Michael Jackson.  Oney they truly knew the man.

Why is there not a movement for the parents of teenage mothers to sue the teenage father’s for child support and force them to take joint custody?  In the cities, most people don’t have the money for a lawyer, so that I understand, but it’s not just minority girls getting pregnant.  There are teen mothers everywhere, and something like 6 out of 10 teen fathers disappearing.  Being a minor shouldn’t preclude you from taking care of your child.  That certainly doesn’t work with the mothers.  If it were more difficult for the fathers, if they actually had to give something up, they might think twice about not using protction or having premarital sex.

Throughout this pregnancy I have been terrified that I would have a girl.  Despite the remarkable advances made in the 20th Century, this is still very much a man’s world.  I’m reminded of that every time I pull into the parking lot of my company and see the men’s cars, more expensive and more kept up than the women’s because they are paid 30% more on average, even though they do a hell of a lot less work than I do.  I’m reminded of that when I look at photos of the United States Congress, The United States Senate, the United States Supreme Court, and the Presidential Cabinet (though huge props to Obama for moving us a little further along).  I’m reminded of that when there is a gathering of the heads of major universities and major corporations.  I’m reminded of it when I look at my health care plan and see that there is 80% maternity coverage, no birth control coverage, and no coverage for pap smears and mammograms.

I see the way women are still treated in today’s society, still objectified, still ignored.  I see “women’s professions” being considered less important, women’s sports being covered less, women’s issues being glossed over in the media, and women’s bodies being legislated.    I hear young women talking about the way they should behave in relationships – how to bite their tongues when their partner is angry, how to dress to please a man, how to cook to please a man, and how to clean to keep their partner’s happy.  I see little girls wearing clothes tat are too old for them because they’ve learned early that the sexier they dress, the sexier they dance,  the more a boy will like them.  I see women putting on themselves the majority of the housework and the majority of the childcare because they can’t rely on their partners to help them.

Having a girl makes me nervous.  I can only hope that her chances of being truly equal improve as she grows.

I teach English.  More importantly, I teach English in the City of Philadelphia to students of varied races in a very low socioeconomic area.  As a result, I do my best to to incorporate literature written by people of all races and religions in every course I teach.  I follow the school district curriculum as much as possible so that my students will pass the standardized tests.

So I was really insulted when a few of our students wore all black and protested in front of our building because we weren’t doing anything for Black History Month.  I should mention that we didn’t do anything for Hispanic History Month (October), and we weren’t planning on doing anything for Women’s History Month (April).  Our school makes a special effort to include all cultures in all of our lessons and relate what we’re doing to our student base. We strive to be better then those schools who, because they ignore the black students most of the time, NEED Black History Month to remind them that we are a multiracial society (though I take issue with the fact that African Americans aren’t the only minority and yet their political groups insist on pushing their histpry over all others).  But since these students decided that we don’t try hard enough the rest of the year (and we REALLY, REALLY do), I have to take days away from the middle of a lesson on the Canterbury Tales (in which I included the Middle Eastern and African influences that entered Europe after the Crusades) to show some movie that has no relevance to what I’m doing in class.

**In an unrelated note, I am currently in the middle of a divorce (which I’m writing about here: http://thisismyamerica.wordpress.com/) and 17 weeks pregnant, which is why I have been slacking off on my writting. I’m trying to get back into the swing of things.  Thanks for your patience.

I humbly make but one simple request of you for as long as you may be in office: Tell us the truth.  We have been lied to for years by politicians on both sides of the aisle.  We have been ruled by a government that has forgotten the “by the people…” portion of the program, and an exclusive one at that.  They have withheld information in order to manipulate the public for generations, and we have had enough. 

Okay, maybe two requests: Don’t let us off the hook.  We have been treated like children for so long that we now behave in childish ways.  We are spoiled and lazy.  We have ignored our civic responsibilities for a good game of Wii bowling.  Don’t allow us to raise another generation devoid of a sense of civic duty.  Help us to put aside our differences, shake hands, and make this a country we can all believe in, where we are ALL included.  Be the man we need you to be.

“A nation is is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.  Let each person do his or her part.  If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer.  For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized by each one of us.”  Barbara Jordan

President Obama seems determined to renew the American spirit and remind us that we are one nation, regardless of politics, religion, race, gender, or sexuality.  We are only as strong as we are unified.  Divided, we are nothing.  Whether you voted for him or now, it is time to remember where you come from.

But did Lennon want to be forgiven?  It’s easy to do what you want with someone’s reputation once they’re dead, but what if John Lennon didn’t want to be forgiven for saying that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus Christ.  It may have started as an off the cuff remark, but when Catholics and Christians condemned his and his music for the statement, burned albums, refusing to let their children by records, etc… it became something deeper.

In many ways, Lennon became more like Christ than most Christians, professing peace, harmony, and love at a time when Christians themselves were fighting against the idea of equality for all races based on… the Bible.  He brought people together in a time when churches were tearing them apart under the “believe this or you don’t belong” doctrine.  Lennon was closer to the second coming than most Christians will ever be, and to decry his music because of a statement is reprehensible at best.  I’m glad the Vatican is moving on.  I only hope Lennon can forgive THEM.

Most years I dread Parent’s Night.  Teachers sit for hours on end visiting the few parents who care enough to schow up, unless, of course, you teach in the suburbs.  This year I knew what to expect because last year I was busy.  At my school, our kids want their parents to show up for parent’s night.  For many of them, this is the first time in a long time their teachers have anything good to say about them.  On parent’s night, no matter how frustrated I may be, no matter how exhausted, I am reminded that our program works.

After being told that their kids were on Honor Roll, parents cried.  When we announced the new appointments to Student Government*, the students cried.  I got a lot of hugs, and a lot of the parents made sure to thank us for what we do for their kids.  Half of our parents showed up.  In a city where half of the kids drop out and schools can go years without seeing their parents, that is amazing.  We have a program that works, teachers who care, and parents who show up.  And I have to quit my job because I don’t get enough health care.

*teachers appoint government members, students don’t vote.