Of course I have a cold and I am purposely not looking to see when I published my last podcast on the history of girl samplers, it has been a very long time but to my defense much has happened, included my first grandchild being born, who I dedicate this podcast to, you will see why, marrying the other daughter off, a trip to London where I had such great plans for content but instead took a spill, on the stairs at Paddington Station in a torrential rain storm while not letting go of the railing and well ripping my shoulder apart just the way my grandmother taught me how to crack back the wings on a whole roasting chicken. After needing major reconstructive surgery and more physical therapy then anyone could imagine, the fact I am typing this sitting in my new home office on this Autumn day is a wonderful victory. Needless to say I am behind on everything, but if pondering an election like the one we just had is not enough to get me back to it, what is?
So, today, one week after the dawn of a new America and a lot of crying Republicans and celebratory Democrats, plus many, many advice throwing and analyzing big media commentors and basement podcast political experts, let us get into it!pp And as always, check out my blog post up on the kellylewispodcast.com website for all the vintage but still rather profound political poster, from around 1919 when we did finally get the right to vote!
Published between 1915 and 1929 as the Bureau of Education ceased to be called that in 1929 and the National Americanization Committee established in 1915. From HERE
Like you,
I have listened to declarations of our Republic falling to its doom and the opposite- rising again like a phoenix all over social media. All I know is I wouldn’t want to be a low level aide to any officials in the White House right now or still remaining Republican senators or representatives-Jesus protect them.
Oh I have my opinions, which am about to share but they are more about well what this podcast is about, women and mothers, cuz dang! I hope Kamala Harris’s pain in her heart for how she how she was treated is a little less. And I say that as someone who does not agree with probably most of her more liberal leanings.
First let us highlight the big wows! Listed in NPR’s article HERE
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, who won her race to be Georgia's first women governor, will be the country's first Black woman elected governor of any state.
Democrat Gina Hinojosa will be the first Latina governor of Texas
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn is the first woman to win a gubernatorial race in Tennessee.
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar will become the first woman to be governor of Minnesota
Democrat Amy Acton is poised to become the first woman elected governor of Ohio
And New Mexico's Deb Haaland, who is right next door to me and of Pueblo Indian descent, will be the first Native American woman governor in the country.
Haaland, was the Secretary of the Interior under Biden becoming the first Native American to hold a cabinet position.
There were other large victories for women and minorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives, plus a few that their constituents sent packing, more on that later. But to illustrate a “gobsmacking” thing that happened Tuesday for the first time in this countries history and even longer than that, let me return to New Mexico. First quick summary on how this wonderful country of ours actual was settled.
Though the thirteen colonies -Pilgrim and Indians making friends story…
is the one told in most school, and around the roasting chestnut fires come Thanksgiving it isn’t even half the reality of the truth. Yes, there were 13 colonies, mostly settled by the English, butted up against the East Coast, starting in the late 1600, yes the local tribes probably to their regret did save the Pilgrims and have some sort of feast with them- Thanksgiving- and the United States of America in 1776 became a Constitutional Union.
But In the bottom half of our great country from shore to shore and into Central and South America, the Spanish had long established “provinces” as early as the late 1500 and one was Santa Fe founded in 1610 as the capital of Nuevo México. Contrary to Trump and other dipsy dorod presidents and politcians, who might think New Mexico came to be called New Mexico in 1912, when it became a state. The Spanish declared it New Mexico to distinsih it from what they had settled first, or “old Mexico” about three hundred years before that.
I promise this does get back to our election and will be a tidbit you can shock people at the Thanksgiving dinner table with, but I have to tell you my husband was the one who pointed this out to our family.
So Spain established New Mexico in 1610- ish-
but of course there were people living there, and some of those people were Haaland’s ancestors, she is a member of the Laguna Pueblo, which is in west central New Mexico near Albuquerque.
Now, the interesting part- in 1680, there was a Pueblo Revolt, where the different pueblos, scattered along the Rio Grande River, organized under a leader named Pope’, carried out a synchronized attack on the Spanish and Santa Fe sending them back down to Old Mexico for about eighty years.
The “Reconquest” which started in 1692, is an education I encourage you to take on, but this is where we get back to Deb Haaland, the soon to be first women and first Native American or Native Puebloan, to be governor of New Mexico and actually the same wow could be given to Gina Hinojosa, the first Latina governor of Texas….they are both descendants of the original people with thousand plus year connections to where they are governing….. and they are women!!
Now, I have no idea the directness of pure native verses “conqusitodor” blood in either of their families, but I do know, reading such books as…
El Norte, by Carrie Gibson in New Mexico the Spanish in payment for the soldiers and their services many pueblos after being destroyed were given over to to them and to this day, many in New Mexico, Old Mexico, plus Texas are almost 50/50 in indigenous and Spanish descent at a DNA level or in Haalands case more indigenous than Spanish.
Plus since according to Mitochondrial DNA , which is from the female line and is used to trace back ancestry, and no real surprise, the Spanish is usually found on the male side- the Conquistadors and the female is found on the Native, concurred side- Haaland and Hinojosa’s great great great a couple 10 times grandmothers with whatever horridness they had to endure, should be dancing for their granddaughters.
But that is what I said the last time I tried to talk about how women might appear all soft and passive until you piss us off. Check out my podcasts from two years ago on women and the voting and pie and the say it is so society culture that did not step up in 2024, and it is mostly because we forgot our manners that should have been taught to us by our mothers, as in learning to get a long with those that are different than us.
But here we are now…2026
What are the consistent issues we women came to the polls to vote on or better yet run in our national, state wide, county wide and town wide elections. Social issues be they conservative or liberal? I would say no, though those are the hotbed ideas some use to get people rilled up.
I’d say we seems to be more concerned about what I talked about in my previous podcast and are still the things that concern us women since getting the right to vote just a hundred years ago or less
- our families. Gas prices, cost of living prices, taking our kids to school and not being afraid of arrests in the pick up lines, our kids being able to stay near us and afford housing, no unneeded wars, not pissing off our neighbors with tariffs. Not pissing off our neighbors period.
In an interview with Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, she declared to…
to fire Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath on “day one” in office.
and revamp the state’s education system giving power back to the teachers and then she said the rest can come later.
Are all these women, newly elected first ever governors, senators, representives or even state held or county or town held postions, ladies in shining armor, pure as the driven snow, absolutely not. Will there be negative judgements against some of them in their terms in federal, state and local government, definitely. But as a whole, and that is what this podcast is about, pondering women’s, plural, place in art, literature and culture, this was….. soooo many women taking office, four days later I still can’t keep up with the growing numbers, this is an unpressedent wake up call to the nation and might be some foundational work we needed before we could actually elect our first female president.
President Obama did say in campaigning this go around- clip up on my blogpost…
that he often wondered if we would be better off if every world government was ran complete by women for at least two years. Diary accounts of the great overland migration of emigrants to the Oreagon terrriotry a hundred plus years ago have had some historians point out that when the men were not in the camps the women handled the native intruders better usually offering them some good food to eat and then sent them on their way. Maybe something about not being so hot headed with big egos. Not so much of a good old boy network?
Of course men have their place in all this. Remember the division of labor I spouted about so often in my History of Women stitching series. Leaning on the cave wall, a few thousand years ago, who was going to do what? Defend the cave, hunt the wooly mammoth, have and nurse the baby, travel great distance for trade or war? For most of history, practically dictated those decisions. Constant pregnancies and child feeding, by breast- the subject of my next podcast and child rearing were done near the hut and the world was too big to run home for dinner every night and share the load.
But the Proverbs 31 woman is bad ass and managed her household because more times then not, she was the only parent there. World wars, including the 2 in the 1900s saw men off fighting and women having to hold everthing down. Obama is no dumby. We just have this weird expectation of having to shut off our capabilities when men are in the room, when there is not enough jobs, the pie- to go around, or in strongly patriarchal societies- more about that later.
But the guy, my husband- the one who pointed out that a female descendent of the pueblo people of New Mexico was now governing it all- a position held for the last oh 500 years, there has been some sort of a governor or ruler over the land of New Mexico, first appointed by the Spanish King himself! - well that guy has co led this family with me, raising two wonderful daughters, starting a family business and restoring a homestead in Southwest Colorado and I will say right now, I needed him and he needs me ever step of the way and we are that couple leaning against the cave wall and working out our division of labor. That is the way God intended, contray to conservatist Christian Nationalists.
But dear Jesus, let these people understand that this, 2026, election was not run on social issues, or religious issues, which really are the same thing, just happened to be in two different boxes. Liberal and Conservative ideologies does not belong in politics.
Fight your causes but they do not belong in government or in schools, either direction. We need to have children that can come to a safe place and learn to read, to write, to do math, to have a understand of a balanced history, to be exposed to the sciences, to the humanities, to critical thought and practice getting along with and working with those not like them, foundational education. Decisions about what they are going to stand up for or be…. do not need to happen when they are six, ten or even sixteen, other than the golden rule- love they neighbor.
This is First Amendment stuff- government and our public schools are part of that and needs to be as free from religious ideologies as possible. Teaching the full story of those that settled this country and their religious background, without excluding anyone, teaching how religion has developed this world do need to be taught, in a way that is educational and balanced. But we are not, nor have we ever been only a Protestant Christian country.
Read a book on brain development. Read separate ones on girls and boys because they do develop different and a lot of it is hormones. But for the love of everything they need to be able to read first, write down their thoughts, add and subtract, understand science and be moved by the humanities- that would be literature, music, theater and art and there is plenty to expose them to that is not on the far left or right extremes. Keep it middle ground before others need to influence them, have a stance on anything or get a tattoo- my opinion.
Colorado, my state, two proposition to ban transgender students playing on girls sport teams and banning surgeries on minors for the purpose of changing their sex are two close but look like they will pass as of this writing, in a state that most consider Blue, that does not jive- but it does when mothers and fathers are fed up. This was not about extreme social issues, this election was about being able to take care of our families. When our children are well educated and informed and know how to process big issues- then they can make decisions for themselves and maybe get a tattoo, though me as their mother, would disapprove, but that did not stop my daughters, either one of them. Me and their father did give them a excellent educational foundation before they went off and did such tom foolery and now can give such great dissertation defenses to me on their actions.
Of course families, in their homes, their churches, their social circles, are the ones that should decide what their own children are exposed to, I am just saying that social issues can’t be the focus of our schools, per the first amendment and the harsh realities there is not enough teachers or time in the day. Right now, everyone is feeling the pressure. The last year I taught in a public school- there seemed to be more broken families, no dads in the house or every sibling having a different dad then not.
Tariffs, favoring big money, pissing off our near and far neighbors for no reason- all do not allow families to raise their children. Having a country more polluted and more under parel then it was when I was a kid is a problem. My daughters having less rights then I did or their grandmothers did is a problem. Those are the things these newly elected governors, senators and representatives need to focus on and the ones still in office, this is your wake up call.
When the new terms start up in 2027, women will be holding on average as of this writing- 25% of the two houses of Congress and over 30% in Governor seats according to the Center for American Women and Politics, article HERE . That is still not 50% representation of 50% of the population. Over all it is a little increase to previous terms.
Like I mentioned, some constituents sent women packing, or certain women packing like in my own state - a women I detest with a passion who was our representative in the Southwest of the state and in Trumps back pocket but now is tittering on getting kicked out by a new opponent in the eastern part of the state. Google it-
Again I think the message this run- is the American people are done with campaigns run on ideologies, whatever direction. Let those be debated and upheld in our churches, or street corners, on soap boxes, newstands, social media and sure our colleges, universities. Our right to free speech is a wonderful thing. Our right to religion and liberals- you have made a new religion even if you call it social issues, should be protected. But my right to not have your idealogy stuck in my face or in my younger kids schools or need to pick the lesser of two evils because such extreme ideologies are attached to political decisions needs to stop.
I know, right now, first Black, first Latino, first Native American are bigger headlines then women- running for office because we have had enough, but there seems to be a whole lot of women who have had enough!
And there are even more firsts for women! Both in the Navajo Nation, next to me and larger then 10 US states, with a population of 427,414, the Navajo just elected their first women president ever, article HERE…
From HERE
And the Seneca Nation in western New York, herald in their first women president, article HERE.
Okay, here is something that I will touch on, but needs its own podcast if not more. Why, does it appear that white women are still voting very conservatively and like their husbands? According to CNN polls…
White women- 52% voted Democrat
Black women - 93% voted Democrat
Latino women- 63% voted Democrat
Other ( that would include Native Americans and Asians)- 63%
That looks bad for us white women, but back to the CNN poll. I am no analysis, but let me point this out-
more white women voted blue then black women becuase there are more white women then black women in this country- according to that CNN poll- HERE
38% of the total voters were white women who voted 52% blue. Black women made up only 5% of those that voted but they did vote 93% of the time blue.
My theory on this, and take it for what it is worth, let us look back through our nations history and compare Native, Black and White cultures- all discussed in an excellent book-
American Nations, A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Nations of America by Colin Woodard- and I am going off track from his focus to look at which of these cultures are patriarchal and which are matriarchal and that still does say a lot about the time we are in and needs to be considered…
Both the Navajo and the Seneca nations are matrilineal. Meaning…
have a kinship system; inheritance and property descend through the maternal, mothers, line ( article HERE)
I am not very familiar with tribal systems on the other side of the country, but did learn a lot teaching Navajo, Ute and rural ranch kiddos Art in a one room school house for about a decade. Many Pueblos, right over the border from me in New Mexico are also Matrilinial, like Deb Hallands Pueblo of Laguna where …
family lineage, clan membership, and heritage pass down exclusively through the maternal line ( from indepth article HERE)
What does that look like? It looks like as far as family and home, the women call the shots. In many tribes there are often more than one chief, where the war chief might be men, make sense, but the everyday chiefs are women. When a man marries he levels his Clan and moves to hers. If he dies, or she dies, the children are part of their mother’s Clan. I remember being involved in teaching, when the Navajo teachers would share such things that when one is introducing themselves, they say what clan they are from and then they share their father’s heritage and I was kind of insulted that their mother’s history was not shared, until it was pointed out there is no need because the mother’s history is shared first in when you announce what clan you are from. One reason that Native American women are making such a great showing in our governments is because they have had the heritage to be the governing people of their tribes.
Sadly a reason black women are also making such a showing in the governing of their states and counties, town governments is because from cruelty and force, their families have a heritage of fathers not being in the homes in the slave trade and after- black women had no choice but to stand up and manage their homes and communities.
Latinos? It is a very Catholic and so therefore Patriarchal society, but being poorer, displaced and still precieved as foreigners often after multi generations of citizinship, the fathers usually have to spend great amounts of time outside the home and ca not afford to govern their communities. They are still a people on the frontier and need all hands on deck, though loyalty and obedience to the head of the household is a strong force in their heritage. White culture is also strongly Patriarchal, with prostenant churches pushing the ideas of loyalty to the head of the household. I mentioned in my Women, the Vote and the Pie two years ago that Susan B Anthony refused to campaign in Colorado after a early effort to get the voted failed because of the conservative nature of the southern part of the state. The part of the state where I live and the part of the state full of Catholic Latinos and Conservative church goers.
I am not condoning not standing up for what is right, I’m trying to point out that there is a lot of reason people vote the way they do and most of them do not make them evil. I am almost 60, yes that is true and in my corner of the state, few women hold a college degree, let a lone a liberal one like an Art Degree. We have teachers and nurses, yes, my age- but there is more of a stigma to be in line with your husband and church down here, then other places in the country and mostly a stigma to not give your opinion very freely- one that I obviously often ignore and frankly often get shunned for.
Solutions? I don’t know, but I am a Nanna now, after being a mother the best job ever and am watching my daughters views change or get more focused. Last big election it seemed to be more about the social issues with them and their friends, now two years later, as mothers and very involved auntie their views are so much more rooted in the betterment of their communities, protecting what we need to protect for families, for all children and it is because of the cutiest ever little boy focal point you ever did see, I can say that without favoritism because I only had girls.
As men and women we make across the board decisions, as mothers and fathers, and grandparents and even aunties and uncles- we look at our offspring- wether that is outside playing infront of the cave or a hut or a large mid century modern house. Our perspective changes when we have children, illustrated in the Pawnee attack in the classic movie Dances With Wolves, when the children are in the tent just a few feet away and the men are the first line of defense and the women, old or young are the last line of defense, ohh why can we not make movies like that anymore! Clip up on my website…
This country has seemed to have forgotten about children, often more concerned with our nations pets and socoal issue, be they liberal or conservative- tell me I’m wrong. We seem to think that children are just raised with pixie dust or by the elves of Hogwarts and not by exhausted mothers and fathers or even disconnected mothers and fathers to no detriment or harm, somehow magically turning out a functioning balanced adults. That is Not the case but that is a whole ‘nother series I will be doing. This one is about how many women and women who identified themselves as mothers and declared being mothers is the reason they ran- lightens my heart and give me hope. Because as Kevin Costner says in the voice over of Dances With Wolves- we have to protect our children just a few feet away and this November it feels like there is a hope for all our children and that cute baby grandson of mine- futures. Because mothers and fathers and Nanna’s and grandpas and aunties and uncles can and should become brave and fierce to protects our precious babies. They have been and always should be the focal point of better times.
.JPG){kind=link}