WELCOME TO RAMONA'S VOICES.
Currently you're standing in the doorway to my blogs. Someday, either
when I've figured out how to build the website I really want, or when someone takes pity and offers to do it for me, there
may be more to this than what you see here. But until then, the doors are always open. And I do love company.
Comments are always welcome on both sites. Or email me at Ramona@ramonasvoices.com.
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Ramona's Voices Blog, a political blog leaning liberal, began to take shape soon after Barack Obama
was elected President of the United States. I hit the "publish" button on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009,
only after I was sure that George Bush and Dick Cheney, this country's worst nightmares, were really gone and out of our
hair.
The "Voices" in the title are real. Sometimes the thoughts are
my own, but more often I've found something by somebody somewhere who says it oh, so much better.
Ramona's Repository, examples of some of my early work, came about because I finally cleaned out my file cabinets. I found
my old notebooks, literally moldy from being in the dark for so long, filled with clippings, notes, and letters from
readers. (To let you know how early most of these pieces really are, there was no email then. Letters came,
either by snail mail or in the form of Letters to the Editor.)
Aside
from wincing now and then (and even being pleasantly surprised now and then) I was amazed to discover that, even after so long, many of the pieces have
held up over time. These are mainly local writings, published in a weekly, a bi-weekly, and a daily newspaper.
I hope I've chosen the best of the bunch. I'm pretty sure I've left out the worst.
NEW
in the Repository: A series of columns I wrote during the Recession/Depression of the 1980s in Detroit. The times
were terrible then--just as they are now--but I had almost forgotten the urgency and the wonder when communities
rallied together to do what they could to help the people suffering in our cities, in our state.
By 1983 the jobs were just gone. Michigan never
came back as strong as it had been during the auto industry glory days, but over time things did stabilize. Twenty five years
later, in a new century, we're watching it happen all over again, for many of the same reasons. In 25 years
we haven't moved one inch ahead on equitable health care or on livable wages. In fact, we're as backward as,
yes, any of those third-world countries.
History repeats itself, but we have to stop looking at it as an inevitable re-run
and start examining it as an avoidable, unnecessary sequel.
