Sylvia's Journal

In preparation for Axel’s surgery I re-read my blog pages starting on August 4, 2009; a day after my rotator cuff surgery, to find out how long it was before I was able to dress myself, drive to work and even to fly (as it turned out, not very long). I had forgotten, of course, about the unpleasantness; the difficult, long and painful nights, and why having a recliner (the one we gave away) is important for passing those first few nights. And so we are looking for a used recliner so we can give it away again after Axel is put back together.

And then we watched Obama give his Barnard speech – his forward speech – presenting his platform to eager graduates and to the world: a platform that was saturated with messages about girl power. I wondered if Michelle and Hilary (or Sacha and Malia) had a hand in writing it.

There was the usual advice, the usual inspirations about perseverance, not giving up when you are trying to do something important; about long hard work without any visible results for a long time – good advice but not very original.

My favorite part was when he urged the young female graduates to not just get a seat at the table but get the seat at the head of the table.