Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Overturning Against All” and selections from her editorial “Exactly What I am Celebrating” (written after the overturning of Roe v. Wade) on 7/28/22 during the APS (Austin Poetry Society) Open Mic zoom meeting (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuypersfeminism #janetkuyperswomensrights
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Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Overturning Against All” and selections from her editorial “Exactly What I am Celebrating” (written after the overturning of Roe v. Wade) on 7/28/22 during the APS (Austin Poetry Society) Open Mic zoom meeting (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuypersfeminism #janetkuyperswomensrights
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Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Overturning Against All” and selections from her editorial “Exactly What I am Celebrating” (written after the overturning of Roe v. Wade) on 7/28/22 during the APS (Austin Poetry Society) Open Mic zoom meeting (this video was filmed from a Samsung S9 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuypersfeminism #janetkuyperswomensrights
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Enjoy this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Overturning Against All” and selections from her editorial “Exactly What I am Celebrating” (written after the overturning of Roe v. Wade) on 7/28/22 during the APS (Austin Poetry Society) Open Mic zoom meeting (this video was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersfeminism #janetkuyperswomensrights
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Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in round 3 of her post-Roe v. Wade writings for the CyberWit 2023 Janet Kuypers poetry book “Testament”, reading her poem “X-ing out lives” and portions of her editorial “Exactly What I am Celebrating” on 11/2/22 in honor of ‘Community Poetry’ (Panasonic
Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). This was also filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr. #janetkuyperswomensrights #janetkuypersfeminism #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuypersequalityforwomen
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Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her v329 1/23 cc&d issue/book “Moving Forward” editorial “Exactly What I am Celebrating” (that is also slated to appear in her CyberWit 2023 poetry book “Testament”) and her poem “Technetium’s Inner Glow” (+ showing the image for the Periodic Table poem Technetium, which is also from her book “Twitter Verse Periodic Table Poetry”) on 1/4/23, the 1st Wednesday of the month (1:00-3:00 PM CST) in honor of ‘Community Poetry’ (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
Enjoy this YouTube video with a Hue Cycling filter, on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr. #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypers #janetkuypersequalityforwomen #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperswomensrights #janetkuyperstwitterverseperiodictablepoem
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Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her cc&d January-April 2023 “a Mural of a Forest” book poems “Outside of the Door (dreams 5/27/22)” and “Only Recourse”, her #metoo Boss Lady’s Editorial “Exactly What I am Celebrating” (which are also in the CyberWit 2023 book “Testament”), her poem “Technetium’s Inner Glow” (which is also in her book “Twitter Verse Periodic Table Poetry”), & “Technetium” + sharing its image (which is also in her book “Periodic Table Poetry”) for the 5/3/23 ‘Community Poetry’ honorary book reading (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
Also enjoy this as a Facebook live video stream that was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera, & posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperswomensrights #janetkuyperstwitterverseperiodictablepoem #janetkuypersperiodictablepoem
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Exactly What I am Celebrating
Janet Kuypers
7/4/22
People take this day off, in America — the Fourth of July, Independence Day. I think I remember when I was little my parents having a 4th of July party, dad would grill Croatian Sausages we’d get from a local butcher friend that was extra-heavy on the garlic, mom would bake mini sausages wrapped inside of ready-bake croissants. And the brothers and sisters would try to set off small-time fireworks in a state where fireworks were illegal to sell, and when the fireworks wouldn’t ignite my big brother would move the lighter closer to the wick and we’d make jokes about him losing fingers which, of course, he never did.
Think of this as nostalgia 101, we were living the high life. This is what we call the American dream.
I remember going every year to the fireworks on the 3rd of July in downtown Chicago, it was such a great show, the pageantry was unsurpassed to me, and people usually had the 4th off, so what a deal that the fireworks were on the 3rd and you could take the L train home.
Running a poetry open mic on the 3rd of July this year, I told everyone to have a happy 4th of July, and one poet said she wasn’t celebrating, she was protesting, and as a good host I said nice words to her as well as to everyone else, and tried to not think about why this American girl would not enjoy the Fourth of July.
But today, on Independence Day in the United States, I am forced to think about this more.
I know the Supreme Court made a decision to hurt all woman-kind with their overturning of Roe v. Wade, but July 4th in America is a holiday about separating ourselves us, the (at the time) newly-termed “Americans” from people an ocean away trying to tax us out of our well-being... which probably had something to do with that First Amendment, outlining our freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. We broke free from what we thought was the tyrannical rule so that we can say what we want, so that we can broadcast the injustices we see in our government, and that there will not be a state-imposed religion.
Well, good thing we gave ourselves that when it comes to religion, so we can create as many sects of Christianity that we can imagine (and us Americans can get pretty creative when we get the chance), and as a result, we can choose to be more religious than the English — someone from which we were trying to break free...
You know, maybe that poet was on the right track — since our rights are being taken away from us explicitly because of religion, which shouldn’t be a part of the government.
So I am at these crossroads, thinking about the gallantry that every city poses why exploding fireworks in assorted colors just past dusk, as all of us act down-home and drink cans of beers to connect with the rest of the masses and feel like we’re a part of something bigger and better.
But just as I think this, I think of the way fascist dictators used the kind of pageantry to get the masses to step in the same way and sing the same songs, so they could feel like they are a part of something bigger and better than what they are. And as I see the connection, it frightens me —
But wait a minute, I know an overabundance of patriotism could seem like nationalism that can lead to the literal destruction of a nation, but at the same time, I honestly, truly wonder if I would have a better life in any country that is Socialist or Communist, where the edict is to work more to receive less, forcing everyone to strive to be only the base of what they could truly be. I understand there are problems with this country, but the philosophy of the United States has allowed me to think for myself and earn more for my work, and feel I deserve what I’ve earned. And I wouldn’t have had (or have been able to do) a faction of what I have had done if I lived any place else.
And in my marriage to a Marine (once a Marine, always a Marine), I am also subconsciously spoon-fed the notion that freedom isn’t free, which I am more than fully aware of, but I see patriotism on one side of my life, and fighting against the government on the other.
Yes, I am infuriated by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I do understand that it was legal when this country was founded, and that any rights not outlined by the national government should be left to the States (which forces me to understand the overturning of Roe v. Wade). But a woman’s right to choose was something this country couldn’t take away. I am just afraid that with what is the confoundedly over-religious nature of literally over half of these United States, that more and more women will lose more of their basic rights.
This is why a part of me laughed when my Marine husband facetiously said to me at dinner tonight, “Happy Independence Day... Maybe one day you women can get your rights back.”
Because even some Marines may have once believed that abortion was wrong and women should not have the ability to have abortion — until they heard from someone like me, talking about either personal experiences, or experiences with their friends, and how an abortion may not be an easy choice, but sometimes it is the only choice for women — including abused children.
Learning these things may be the thing that all people need, so that our political choices don’t push us all further backward in time.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the the French Prime Minister supported abortion rights into their constitution. Israel loosens law restrictions for abortion issues for abortion issues in what is an albeit difficult, but ultimately their right. By the beginning of July, I see news articles (from outside the U.S. we well as within) literally about 10-year-old girls who have been raped and want to get an abortion , and child abuse doctors now have to find clinics outside of their own state* to help these brutalized little girls. Pre-law students plan to boycott law schools in states where abortion has been banned, and there are news reports that some students fear going to college in red states after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Press polls weeks after this overturning, on Independence Day, state that parents with children going to colleges in states like Texas are telling their children that they will no longer pay tuition for their children to go to a school in a state that so supports restricting women’s rights.
I think it would be nice if families could make so many minor decisions that might force the backward ways and mentalities of parts of this country... I wonder this as my car temperature says that it’s 101° outside right now, not unlike the room that possesses all your worst fears. Does fiction become reality when people from the past want to take the rights away from women after we have worked so diligently to prove the weaker sex wrong. I hear news reports of 10-year-old girls who have been raped and are forced to keep what is growing inside of them until it becomes a child, not unlike them, and this child has to raise something that only came to be because of horror — and eventually also ignorance. This is what this country is slowly becoming —
And it makes me wonder again exactly what I am celebrating.
* This specific story was relayed in President Biden’s speech July 8 2022 before he signed his executive order on abortion access to support abortion rights.
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