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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