October 2020|Nancy Logan
“Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.“ – Ruth Bader Ginsburg –
This year, as we celebrate 100 years of women’s right to vote, we mourn one of the greatest advocates for women’s rights in our lifetime.
In 2016 Justice Ginsberg, wrote her advice for living which was published in the New York Times. It overflowed with gratitude for the many people in her life who helped her become the person she was. She wrote about her mother who, by her example, “made reading a delight” and counseled her to be “independent.”
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, fondly called RBG, was an independent thinker who fought for women’s rights. In so doing, she fought for human rights. In fact, many of her cases she actually fought to get men the same rights as women. In Oritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue she argued that men should be able to claim the caregiver tax deduction, just as women were allowed.
In one of her cases she argued that men should be allowed to drink beer at the same age as women. In Oklahoma, by law, women were allowed to drink at age 18 while men had to wait until they were 21. Justice Ginsburg fought for an equal interpretation of the law for both men and women. Though I’m sure the frat boy she was representing was not happy with the outcome – drinking age was raised to 21 for women – it was a huge step towards treating men and women equally.
Check out the DVD documentary RBG and the drama On the Basis of Sex. Both movies are good, easy to watch, and are a great look at women’s place in society in the not too distant past. To me, a good movie or a good book, always leaves me wanting to learn more. Both movies did that. Many of the DVD non-fiction documentaries we have are equally fascinating. Remember The March of the Penguins? Who would have thought watching a bunch of penguins march across fields of white ice could be so interesting? Check out our DVDs of cooking shows. And who can resist a movie with the title A Sloth Named Velcro?
Just like a good book, documentaries can help us think in new ways and can spark our imagination to see unlimited possibilities.
Let us know if there’s a topic you’d like to learn more about. We’ll be happy to help you find a non-fiction title, either DVD or book, that will help satisfy your curiosity and deepen your understanding. And if we don’t have it on our shelves? Most likely we can find it for you through CLEVNET.
Thanks to each of you for being patrons of our wonderful Andover Public Library. Let’s share our joy of reading and learning with others. Who knows who you may inspire? RBG’s mom knew about the joy of learning. She shared it with her daughter. And, as we say, the rest is history.