July 31 - Debbie breaks up with Pat

July 31, 2013

You could call this my breakup letter...

Dear Governor McCrory,

Do you really think a plate of cookies will mollify protesters? Really? Was that just a joke or do you really not understand?

Well, I have to say, your actions have inspired me. They have inspired me to help get people registered to vote, make sure they have the proper identification and, if necessary, take the day off from work so I can haul them to the polls to vote for someone who will talk to the public, not offer cookies.

Very sincerely,
Debbie Leonard

July 31 - Nancy's final offer

July 31, 2013

Dear Pat,

I know I was going to quit writing you every day back when the legislative session ended, but as the old saying goes, "the hits just keep on coming"! I have been asking your help with several things over the last month, from whether to wash my hair (I did) to what fruit to buy (cherries) to how to plan for my overload of classes this fall (still working on it). But I just saw this video that CNN posted titled "House Dances with Joy Over Their Accomplishments". At last I think I have finally hit on something I can do to help you out when the house returns to work in Raleigh next spring.

I saw in the video that you had a woman playing the fiddle and there were a couple of house members dancing. I didn't recognize them, so I don't know where they are from, but I really don't think they looked like they were from North Carolina! The fiddler, too, was wearing a pretty fancy dress, so I wonder if she actually considers herself a "violin" player. I say that not only because of the dress, but because she didn't really play in a true bluegrass or old-time style.

Anyway, back to my point. I think that having a dance is a great idea and it's something that people have historically gotten together and done after a long hard day - or week - of work. Did you know that in addition to teaching at one of our state universities, I also can teach people how to square dance and clog dance? I am positive I could help the entire legislature be able to enjoy some good North Carolina music and dance! If we got a big enough space, without all the chairs and tables in the way, we could all dance together. But even where they were, everyone could get up and dance by their seats. I think the first lesson would be to help people clap on the beat, rather than just randomly clapping.

As glad as I was to see those two people dancing, I was a little concerned about whether or not they had really done enough work so that they could really enjoy their dancing. Maybe that's why no one else was up? Did they realize that they really had more work to do? The article posted with the video made some reference to Nero. You know, I took a history class in college where we read a text about Nero. The class was "The Life and Times of Jesus". From what I remember, Nero was a very important governor (just like you!) who set things up so that it was a very comfortable life for him and for his friends. I can't remember all the details, but I don't think it turned out so well for him, even though him and his friends were dancing and playing their fiddles at the time. Jesus, who was living at the same time, though, was gathering lots of followers around him who really wanted to hear what he had to say about helping the poor (since they were the poor) and making sure that everyone had enough. One of Jesus's big ideas was that everyone should love everyone else, no matter what! And, you show your love by helping out people who need help! Nero didn't get it, though. Still, it seems that we have almost as many followers of Nero as we do of Jesus these days.

Anyway, if you are interested in having your legislature work together, just get in touch with me and we can set up a square dance for the start of the next session. I have to warn you, though. The first thing we'll do is all hold hands in a circle and circle to the left. I don't know if this legislature can go left. That could be a problem.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Nancy

July 30

July 30, 2013

Dear Pat,

I know that I hinted the other day that I was finished writing you, but I saw a couple of news stories that I wanted to ask you about. First off, someone posted a "top ten" things the republicans have done... I was hoping it would enlighten me to the top ten accomplishments you all have gotten done in this last legislative session. Turns out that one of them was very positive, at least for me. That was the start of Moral Mondays. I'm sure you saw a bunch of us coming to your office yesterday. My pastor was even one of them who knocked on your door after the rest of us had dispersed. By then they said you weren't there, or they didn't have an appointment, or something like that, but I hope you got their message. They enlarged the voter restriction bill for you so that you could read it more easily. The woman who brought it to you was 92 years old, so I'm sure she knows how helpful large print can be! You seem to be around my age, and I know I always know where my reading glasses are! Anyway, hopefully you read the bill before you signed it.

The other things on the top ten weren't that positive, though. You can read them yourself - too embarrassing to post here. The website they were on was called "addicting info". If you can't find it yourself maybe one of your aides or your secretary can help you.

I was going to let that all slide, I mean as the old saying goes "it's water under the bridge", but a couple of things happened last night and then this morning that made me want to write again. Let's start with last night:

I watch TV most evenings, and when my husband lets me choose, I choose to watch the Rachel Maddow show. She had a guest host last night, Melissa Harris-Perry, who I think has come to a Moral Monday at least once, by the way. Anyway, North Carolina was the lead story! She wasn't very complimentary of what has been going on here. She had someone from Duke come to try to explain it. I know that the folks at Duke are largely outsiders, but this woman seemed to have a good idea of what was going on here. I hope if you saw this you thought about what you could do to help them change their story.

Later, though, I tuned in to the Colbert Report. I like to get both sides of the story, after all. Well, North Carolina was featured there as well! This time, Mr. Colbert gave you a "tip of the hat" for the very liberal gun bills that were just passed. He even had some animation showing how this could help kids on playgrounds. So, a hearty congratulations to you on that accomplishment! You and the legislature can't say you didn't do anything liberal!

Finally, I noticed this morning that there were several folks standing outside of your house. They were wearing pink, and wanted to talk to you about your campaign promise. It seems like you want to break that promise, but you must have learned some manners, because you brought out a plate of cookies to the men and women who were out there. They didn't take to that very kindly, of course. I think they would rather have you invite them in to the house so they could ask you about your promise that you made in that gubernatorial debate where you said you wouldn't add any restrictions to abortion laws. I think you could have just explained to them that you made that promise before you actually got the job. I know how that is - you don't really know what a job requires before you really start it! Turns out that you have people who have control over what you do! I think they're the same ones who helped you get into office, but now you can see why they wanted you to get into office. You see, they needed someone like you who looked earnest and nice, but would do whatever they said. I think you can find out more about them by looking up "Pope", "ALEC", or "Koch" on the Internet.

That's all I had to talk about with you today. I hope you can get caught up on all your letter-writing, and I am still sincere in my invitations to you to come visit my church and/or come speak in any of my classes.

Thanks,

Nancy

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July 29

July 29, 2013

Dear Pat,

I hope you are having a good morning. I have a lot to do this morning before I head down to Raleigh to walk over to see you. But I can certainly take a few minutes to write to you. My husband just left for work a few minutes ago and he needs me to clean the kitchen, fold the clothes, and clean out the spare bedroom for his friend to stay in tonight. If I'm going to come down to see you, I had better get started!

You may not have opened a newspaper or looked at the TV this morning, but you are prominently featured in several articles I have seen. I must say, your photograph looks very nice. You look so earnest and approachable. But you know me and my old sayings by now. The one I'm thinking of again is "you can't judge a book by its cover". I mean, it's great to be good-looking, but it's what people do that counts. Don't you think?

When I first started writing you these letters, I was hoping for guidance from you for the many choices I have to make from day to day, since you didn't seem to think that women could make their own choices. Now, though, I see that it goes much deeper than that - you don't think anyone should have very many choices. Take me, for example. If I want to continue to live in my house (I do) and eat (I do), then really, I don't have many choices about how to spend my money. I have to pay my mortgage and other household bills, pay my health care costs, and buy groceries. There is very little left for a yacht, which is too bad since I could get a tax break there. I also don't get to choose how to spend my time. I have students to teach - and more classes since all the budgets have been slashed in the university system. So, most of my time is taken up working. Good thing I like my job. I've been used to 45 - 50 hours a week, but now it will be about 50 -60 hours a week. Not all of that is teaching, planning and grading, of course. There is also research and service to do!  That can take up a lot of time as well. But you have certainly helped one of my professional organizations set our agenda for the year! Thanks!

But even men don't get choices. They have to work as hard as I do to pay all their bills. If they don't have a drivers' license or some other photo id, then they won't be able to vote anymore. If they have children, they will need to choose whether to stay in NC or go somewhere schools are funded, but I guess once that choice is made, they'll be done with that. I bet you didn't know that the new laws would affect everyone! Some men may just feel affected because they have women in their lives they care about!

So, I guess that instead of answering each of the women who have been writing you individually, you have instead just made all our choices for us by signing all these bills into law. Shows some efficiency on your part. And you probably won't have to worry about businesses trying to relocate here or anything like that since all this bad press is likely to scare them off.

Good job, Pat!

I don't know if I will feel compelled to write you again. The goal was to write you for a month, but you have honestly worn me out. So I'll leave you with one more old saying, "When the horse you are riding dies, it's time to get off."

Hope to see you this afternoon!

Nancy

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July 28

July 28, 2013

Dear Pat,

I had a nice morning at church. You know that they say that when churches are meeting it’s the most segregated hour in our country. Well, it’s not like that at my church. We’re a small congregation, and predominately made up of African Americans, but more White people like me are finding a welcome community there. I wanted to tell you, though, about a couple of things that we talked about this morning. I don’t know if you attend church anywhere or not, or even if you believe in God. Really, that is not any of my business in terms of how well you do your job.

This morning our pastor talked about the Lord’s Prayer. You might or might not be familiar with it, but in any case, he pointed out something that I think can be useful to all of us no matter our belief. He noticed that the prayer uses the pronouns “we” and “us” a whole lot. That makes the prayer really a prayer that everyone gets what they need – daily bread, forgiveness, and so on. That’s really why I’m not one of those people that want to see bad things happen to you, but I am willing to share things I notice and things that I know to try to help you out in your job.

I know you have had the opportunity to meet a couple of people from my church already when they were arrested, but they didn’t see you. One was my pastor, and one was a friend of mine who sings in the choir with me. I know that they would join me in my invitation to you to visit my church some Sunday as well. We are very friendly people, and I know most would be interested in talking to you. I hope you take me up on this or speaking to my classes since you didn’t make my family reunion. Maybe next year when you’re not so busy.

As I’ve mentioned before, I teach future teachers. It is an awesome job and a great responsibility that I’m not giving up no matter how difficult you make it for me. I’ve noticed a couple of bills you have signed or are fixing to sign that you may want to take a second look at. First, what is the purpose of requiring that cursive writing be taught in the schools? It isn’t tested, and while it might be nice to learn, I have found that if you don’t have a test for something then it doesn’t really get a lot of attention from teachers. Will a test be developed? I really hope not since it’s not really a skill that people need when they get out of school. They need to sign their name, but that doesn’t even have to be cursive. I know that you understand the importance of computer use since you are requiring schools to do away with all print textbooks in the next few years, so I’m having trouble understanding the need for cursive even more. Please help me with that!

I was concerned that you are going to sign into law, if you haven’t already, a bill that will require seventh grade teachers to lie to their students! I don’t know if you know many seventh graders, but I have to say that this is ingenious on your part! I teach a class called “teaching adolescents” where we talk about adolescent development and seventh graders are just at that age where they don’t believe hardly anything an adult tells them! That’s what makes teaching teenagers so tricky. But if we tell them a lie – like that abortions cause miscarriage – then they for sure will not believe that! Great idea!

Finally, I don’t know if you read your local newspaper, but I do. The News and Observer is saying a lot of things about you these days, so I hope you take a look! They have a lot of facts on their side, so I hope you pay attention. One thing they said was that you haven’t read the entire voter ID bill, but that you are still going to sign it. Would you like me to come read it to you? I can definitely do that, and then we can set up tutoring sessions so that I can help you be able to read things on your own in the future. As I said the other day, it’s really not a good idea to sign things without reading them! You can get into trouble in the future when you do things like that!

Well, I need to leave soon for my second job. I play music in a bar on Sunday afternoons. I don’t make much money, but every little bit helps!

Take care,

Nancy

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July 27

July 27, 2013

Good afternoon, Pat,

I know you are probably taking some time off this weekend, and waving goodbye to the legislature as they leave town till next May. It does leave you in the unfortunate position of staying in Raleigh and seeing what the consequences of all that bill-passing and signing will be. I just want to warn you that I don't think it will be very pleasant for you in the coming months.

I don't get the day off, of course. I am working non-stop to prepare for all my fall classes. I believe I mentioned to you that I have to take on a lot bigger teaching load this fall due to the under-funding of the universities. It doesn't look like you did anything to improve on that, either. I guess the good news is that since you are undervaluing public education in general that not that many people will be going into teaching, so we won't need as many classes - or faculty members - at the university level. I'm sure lots of my colleagues are looking for jobs in other states, especially the ones who were recruited here from other states and don't have tenure yet, and don't yet feel as "at home" in North Carolina as I do. I plan on staying in the UNC system, because even if you don't care about the children of the state, I do! Even though we are not paying teachers enough money so that they can get off food stamps, or not take that second job, we still have some awesome and dedicated teachers - and they deserve the best information they can get about how to teach. Of course, some of the best and brightest will leave NC or leave teaching, but they will still probably be making a difference in people's lives. At the very least, I hope that I have given them some tools to live a better, more caring life no matter what they choose to do.

One thing I sincerely want to thank you for is putting me in a position to get to know more about the Reverend Dr. William Barber. I don't know if you have gotten to spend any time with him, but I hope you do at some point. He is a very kind, caring, and intelligent man, and his ability to speak succinctly and eloquently about issues is hard to match. You could take a lesson from him, I think! If you get to ever sit down with him, I think the first thing he could help you with is the idea of "truth", and what it means to "tell the truth". It seems to be something that is confusing to you and I think he'd be a great help to you.

Alas, this coming Monday may be the last chance we have to meet for a while. My semester will be starting up soon and Dr. Barber is taking his "Moral Monday" meetings to other parts of the state. (Maybe you can get the schedule and go to one or two of them.) Anyway, I will be at the march this Monday. It would be terrific to see you and we can talk about some of the issues I have raised in previous letters and we can also set a date for you to come speak to my classes. I have five of them, but I bet I could get them all to meet together for you.

Well, have a good weekend. I will try to write tomorrow, but I, too, have another job and have to get to it Sunday afternoon when I get home from church.

Take care,

Nancy

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July 26

July 26, 2013

Dear Pat,

I have really enjoyed writing you every day, even though I have yet to hear back from you. I also have been following the news very closely and haven't heard you really address any of my concerns publicly, either. I want to tell you a bit about my personal struggles and choices I have to make today, but then I want to talk to you as a friend and a fellow state employee.

First of all, I had to make a visit this morning to my doctor to address some "female issues". I drove my car, since I don't have a motorcycle, but since I didn't need an abortion, I hope this was all right. I wish you had been there with me, though. My doctor told me I was fine, really, and to try to cut back on my coffee intake. Do you think she's right? As I mentioned in an earlier letter, she is a woman and is African-American, so I understand if you think I can't trust her. I can come to your office for a second opinion. I did make an appointment for my annual exam in late August, but if you can fit me in earlier at your office, that would be fine.

I also went out to my garden this morning to check on our tomatoes. There are a couple that seem like they are close to ripe. Should I leave them on the vine to see if they ripen more by tomorrow, or bring them in and put them on the window sill? Sometimes if they are perfectly ripe the squirrels get them first. What do you think I should do?

Now on to your big day today. I hope you have time to read this email before you sign anything. As I have always been told, you should read agreements very carefully before you sign your name to them. You don't know when it may come back to haunt you! I know the legislature was up late last night working on lots of things for you to sign. I know about some of them, but there is one that I want you to pay close attention to since it could save both your job and mine! I'm talking about the legislature's wish to remove the extra pay for teachers who have master's degrees. I know that if there isn't that promise of extra pay that many teachers will just stick with the bachelor's degree. That will lead to my job becoming unnecessary, and probably it will make people think you shouldn't keep your job either! I know you say you are interested in saving people's jobs - and I know that old saying "charity begins at home" - so maybe you can do some things to save your job as well as mine!

Another law that I hope you read very carefully before you sign it has a very misleading title. You know there is another old saying "you can't judge a book by its cover"? Well, this is called the "motorcycle safety bill". I know I have written you about this before, and maybe you think that with all the folks protesting the legislature would have made the bill just about motorcycle safety. But there are still parts of that bill that have to do with women's health! Read it carefully - I know that you made a campaign promise about abortion regulations, and I'm afraid if you sign this bill you might be thought to be going back on your promises!

One thing you have done for us since you took office is make people all over the country take notice of North Carolina! I wish it were for other reasons, but another old saying is "any publicity is good publicity". I guess you think that is a true saying.

If you sign all these bills without reading them, I don't know what to say! Don't say I didn't warn you! If you have trouble reading and comprehending what you have read, please don't hesitate to call on me. Helping people with problems like that is kind of a specialty of mine.

Thank you for your time,

Nancy

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