How We Got Rid of Bloody Corsets

I read this article and wanted to share it with all of you. We've come a long way, let's make sure we don't allow ourselves to be forced backwards! How We Got Rid of the Bloody Corsets by Anngel Delaney 1887, Wimbledon's Centre Court: England's Lottie Dod races from baseline to net. Lunging, she returns her opponent's serve and, in the process, marks her place in tennis history as the youngest ever player to win a Wimbledon title. Dod, 15 years old, overwhelmed her more senior, more experienced opponents, and stunned spectators when she used the overhead smash and volley - the first time such techniques were employed in women's tennis. In between matches, Dod and her co-competitors retired to the dressing room to free themselves of their floor-length skirts and petticoats, peel off their stockings and unhitch their bloodied corsets. As they endeavored to twist, turn and lunge on the courts, the women were repeatedly stabbed by the metal and whalebone stays of these cumbersome garments, which encased them from tits to tush. The corsets were so injurious that a special bar was installed above a stove in the locker room on which the contraptions could be hung to dry Pity the poor player who forgot to bring a change of outfit: she was forced to wrap her body in the blood stiffened garment for yet another match. Not surprisingly, in outfits such as these, the pace of women's tennis, even at Wimbledon, was only as fierce as fashion dictates allowed. Regardless of the players' athletic efforts or skills, competitive matches more often resembled sedate garden parties. Sportive for the era, women basketball players took to the hardcourt in 1913 wearing bloomers, midi- blouses and tennis shoes. - From Spring 1998 issue It's hard for today's female athlete, raised on technically engineered sportswear designed to maximize performance and comfort, to imagine that women competed in garments so restrictive and damaging, or that tennis was once quite literally a blood sport for women. As you work out on your gym's StairMaster wearing formfitting Lycra shorts, run a 5-K in shoes pumped full of "gel" or "air," or hike with equipment perfectly proportioned for a woman's frame, consider our grandmothers' or great-grandmothers' generations. Sportive women of those eras were obliged to play basketball in full-length frocks, ride horses sit ting dangerously sidesaddle, and trudge up mountains or through tropical rain forests wearing high-fashion bustles and boots. All these outfits were de rigueur for one's reputation, yet they were more suitable for drawing room teas than exploring the great outdoors. Through the ages, adventurous and athletic women have had to struggle not only with the harsh elements and a variety of adversaries, but also their clothing. Yet they competed for Olympic medals and traversed unknown regions, simultaneously defying death and natural fibers. Despite sartorial limitations and the lack of such modern-day essentials as Gore-Tex, polypropylene, plastic or nylon, our sporting female predecessors still went off to explore "Darkest Africa" and climb hazardous mountain peaks. Mercifully, times and equipment have changed, but then so have perceptions about women and their bodies. The idealized female form was once fleshily full and thus the epitome of fecundity, which was considered a woman's most important characteristic. Today a woman's body is more likely to be toned. We are no longer urged to cover ourselves from head to toe for the sake of propriety and our oh, so precious reputations. On the contrary, females who participate in sports are encouraged to shed as much clothing as safety will allow. These days, we wax lyrical and at length about the titanium in our bicycle components, the water-repellent qualities of our outer shells, and the ability of our undergarments to wick perspiration away from our bodies. Where women's sporting attire was formerly an athletic handicap, now - from our designed-for aquatic-speed swimsuits to our sports bras - a woman's active wear is meant to promote rather than hinder her performance and her prowess. From Lottie Dod's era, it took more than 50 years of play at Wimbledon before women felt they could appear on court sans those lethal corsets or with their legs bared. Mayl Sutton, an American, was I barred from Centre Court at Wimbledon in 1905 because her forearms were exposed and her tennis dress revealed a "flash of ankle." She lowered her hemline, lengthened her sleeves and returned to win the singles title that year. Finally, in 1933, American Alice Marble broke through the "no skin" barrier at Wimbledon by wearing shorts. She shocked the public and the press, but delighted other female players. The decorous and often dangerous garb of these early competitors shows how pervasive a society's values can be in the face of good health and reason, to say nothing of the desire to win. Dress was intended to convey and reinforce severe Victorian standards of propriety - this was a time, after all, when one didn't dare to mention any human body part in polite society, and even the legs of pianos were hidden under "modesty skirts." Women were weighted down by gowns that contained as much as 20-30 yards of fabric and that were worn over an additional five to ten petticoats. Ninteenth-century female fashion dictated ridiculously tiny 18-inch waists. Women laboring to breathe in their too-tight corsets suffered swooning attacks so frequently that special "fainting couches" were strategically placed for the purpose. Such fainting attacks helped reinforce the stereotype of a frail and helpless creature unsuited to the rigors of sport. The medical opinion of the day - that physical activity of the sporting kind would damage a woman's reproductive organs - also held sway Yet despite all the social, moral and physical restrictions of the last century, a number of wealthy and adventurous women left their cloistered homes to literally explore the world. French countess Henriette d'Angeville was the first woman to climb 15,771 ft. Mont Blanc in 1838, and she did so wearing an ankle length skirt. Frightfully British and utterly proper Mary Kingsley, who explored west Africa in the 1890s, believed that one had no right to be seen there in clothes one would be ashamed to wear in public in England. As she traveled through parts of the continent few Europeans had ever ventured into she was daily bedecked in white blouses with high, ruffled, necklines and long sleeves, and heavy floor-length skirts of black serge-wool. For Kingsley, maintaining correct standards rather than promoting comfort, was key. She also slept in her tall lace- up boots because when they were soaked, as they frequently were, they would shrink overnight and become unbearably tight. We can snicker at the "there'll-always-be-an England" image she must have made, but Kingsley claimed her Victorian wardrobe once saved her life. Traipsing through the jungle on one occasion, she fell into a 15 ft. big-game trap, and her massive skirt and multiple petticoats saved her from being impaled on the 12-inch ebony spikes at the bottom of the pit. Lost to history, of course, is whether she fell into the trap in the first place because of her highly impractical outfit. Historians have suggested that explorers and colonialists - and in those days they were often one and the same - clung to their European styles of dress, no matter how unsuitable they were for the climate or terrain, because the clothes were comforting in their familiarity as well as symbolic of foreign power in the newly subjugated states. Whatever the reasons, they must have been compelling to keep women like Kingsley swaddled by their fashions as they waded through leech filled swamps or rivers, often up to their necks in water, or hiked through the tropical sun. But perhaps it was simply misguided vanity. Over the years, women athletes began to modify their dress when they encountered adverse physical conditions. American mountaineer Annie Peck, a fashion pioneer, bravely ditched her skirts, petticoats and corsets when she headed for Switzerland's Matterhom mountain in 1895. She climbed the 14,690 ft. peak wearing an outfit that was very liberated for the era: canvas knickerbockers, puttees - strips of cloth wrapped around the legs, a forerunner of women's leggings - heavy wool sweaters, a felt hat and a woolen ski mask. As women explorers were circumnavigating the globe in the late nineteenth century, back home the bicycle was becoming popular. Said Susan B. Anthony: "Bicycles did more to emancipate women than anything else in the world." Unfortunately for women cyclists, the emancipation from cumbersome clothing was less than immediate. To make bike-riding less treacherous, elastic loops - the precursors of toe clips - were attached to the bottom of skirts so women could hoop them over their feet. Tiny lead weights were also sewn into hems to prevent the fabric from becoming entangled in gears and wheels. By the end of the century, vast bloomers became acceptable as a wiser choice. As sports for women gradually became less restrictive, so too did women's lives. Female athletes not only modified dress codes for women, they also changed attitudes about what "the weaker sex" was capable of achieving. And gender politics was not far behind. Annie Peck combined mountaineering with feminist goals when she unfurled a "Votes For Women" banner on the summit of Mt. Coropuna in Peru. And while not every sportswoman has considered herself a feminist, the accomplishments of female athletes have made them empowering role models - women who have gone beyond the limits imposed by society. Annie Peck conquered the Matterhorn in 1895 in this mountain climbing outfit of her own design, a more liberating style than previously used. - From Spring 1998 issue The abandonment of corsets and petticoats, the rise of hemlines, and the acceptance of pants for women all had their beginnings in costumes that began in women's sportswear. By 1926, British Vogue was proclaiming: "Sport has more to do than anything else with the evolution of the modern mode." Just as tennis outfits influenced styles on and off the court, so too did the sweater filter into mainstream fashion via golf The adoption of these new sporty styles called for a sporty figure to match. Zaftig women began to slim down, as legs and arms were bared and torsos newly outlined. The one-piece, revealing swimsuit replaced the sack-like, woolen bathing costumes of yesteryear. Acceptance and even idealization of the athletic female body in the early part of this century led to what has been called the Golden Age of Sport. Women's swimming debuted at the Olympics in 1912. hi 1926 Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel and did it faster than any man. Five years later Aviator Phoebe Omlie won the first National Air Race between men and women. And in 1934 Babe Didrickson pitched a full inning against the Brooklyn Dodgers. (Over the years a handful of women have played in men's pro leagues, but never for very long.) Post-WWII, as women became more competitive and serious about sporting pursuits, concerns arose that they were becoming "unladylike and masculine." A backlash occurred, with hysterical charges of lesbianism in sports. After all, went the claims, female athletes who exhibit tenacity, toughness and competitiveness are displaying specifically masculine characteristics. These fears of a new, threateningly "butch" woman athlete seemed to require sporting attire that was blatantly feminine. Women's sportswear was manufactured only in pastel colors, and tennis underpants were adorned with tiers of ruffles more suitable for the rear ends of real infants. As part of this retrograde trend, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League added charm school to spring training, teaching players how to walk, sit and talk in a 'ladylike" manner. Team players were responsible for maintaining "feminine" propriety during competition, and fines were imposed on those who transgressed the strict rules regarding hair styles, dress and behavior off the field. At the same time, athletic clothing and equipment improved drastically. Nylon, first developed in 1938 and used by the military in WWII, suddenly became the fabric of the moment in active wear. Lightweight nylon backpacks with aluminum frames replaced the poorly designed, heavy canvas and wooden models. As a result more women took up hiking. In the 1950s and '60s, the female athlete temporarily took a backseat to the highly domestic image of June Cleaver and the shapely, yet not in shape, "ideal" body of Marilyn Monroe. Fashion reversed itself again a decade later. The sporting image became prized once again when the passage of Title IX in 1972 led to increasing numbers of women and girls participating in athletics. Within a few years, the "Me Generation" appeared and women joined men in taking up jogging, aerobics and Ming weights in search of the "body beautiful." Though more women became physically active, they lacked high-end sporting gear designed especially for their body sizes. Those who were serious about sports had no choice but to buy or borrow equipment and clothes that were designed for men. Looking like kids in their big brothers' cast-offs, they rolled up the overly long sleeves, swamped their torsos in male parkas and wore men's hiking shoes - which caused painful blistering because they were too wide in the heel, says Andrea Gabbard, a senior editor at Outdoor Retailer Magazine, who also tests and evaluates women's sporting gear for fitness magazines. (In fact, not until the late 1980s did hiking boots sized to women's feet become readily available.) A decade ago, manufacturers finally took note of the ever increasing numbers of women participating in sports and began to develop specialized women's sportswear and equipment. Initially, this represented little more than paying lip service to form and ignoring function. The only real difference was a wider choice of colors, since the "new" garments were simply smaller versions of men's designs. The first sports bra was based on the idea of two jock straps sewn together, a fitting reflection perhaps, of how men viewed women's needs. And it wasn't until 1987, when 42 percent of all runners were female, that the first women's running shoe came on the market. In the 1990's sports manufacturers began to invest time and money in developing designs based on a woman's physique. "In the last three years, women's lines have taken off," says Robyn Hall, design director for Columbia Sportswear. "We've sold twice as much as we anticipated." This is not surprising since, according to the U.S. Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, women now spend more money on sportswear than do men. Women's sports apparel accounts for 40 percent of purchases, compared to 36 percent for men and 24 percent for children. And women pay more per item than men do, reports Maria Stefan, executive director of the SGMA. This, of course, is not good news, but simple industry sexism, stemming from the same unwritten law that decrees a woman's dry-cleaning and haircuts must cost more than a man's. Lottie Dod and Mary Kingsley might be scandalized by our modern sportswear, but they would also be a great deal safer and a lot more comfortable. Today's women know they can go the distance, and they are no longer held back by what they wear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anngel Delaney writes about sports when not participating in them. She is a recreational long-distance runner and cyclist. Thank you to Anngel Delaney for such an educational and interesting as well as inspiring article~

Sunday

It's Sunday. A rainy, thunder and lightning,grey sky day. Its beautiful! A great day to be curled up on the loveseat, reading a book,a cup of coffee nearby, a cat to absent mindedly stroke,and a dog lying on the rug beside me. My daughter playing a video game, saving that world from darkspawns and dragons. My husband relaxing in his reclined, reading as well. Every so often one of us makes a comment, glances out the window to watch the storm as it rages around us, and shares a line from our books or game. An image of contentment and domestic tranquility. Yes, this is our Sunday so far- until the football games begin- then the fun really begins. The New England Patriots are our family favorites. They play the Titans today; a good game hopefully! The pizza and wings will arrive and we will enjoy them. The cheers and groans that we will explode with will be heard as our team moves forward and backwards from the plays they run. A beer or two drank or Smirnoff Ice. The dance of victory at the end of the game or the sadness if defeat (its the Pats so we know victory is ours). A family tradition enjoyed and savored- until next Sunday arrives. That's what is coming. Right now, a good book, the cat, the dog, curled up on the loveseat, and the storm raging around us. We are content and tranquil on this Sunday of rain, thunder, and lightning. Photo by Rona-Kellor deviantart. .

From Here and Back Again: A Quest for the Right Politics

I've been quiet again about a certain topic. Yes, the politics and speeches of the RNC and DNC have been met by silence. If you're wondering why; there is a very good answer. I have been angry. VERY ANGRY! As David Banner tells people before he turns into the Hulk; "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry". No, you wouldn't like it and neither do I. When angry people rant and rave spewing forth their anger which has transformed into hate to all who are unlucky to be around. So I have remained silent until I could speak without falling into the frothing rapids of venom. So, now I am ready to speak, but not in the way you might think. Instead, this a quest; from here and back again, to quote Bilbo Baggins. Yes, it is a search to explain my thoughts of today's political atmosphere. To begin with; how did I reach my views? Well, it all began in 1966. Yep, 1966. I was 6 years old. You're thinking isn't that a little young to be formulating political ideals? Au contraire! Its the best time! The young mind is pliable,full of questions, and not yet silenced by traditions or social indoctrinaon. Yes, the young are there for the taking! Sounds rather discouraging. Yet, it is the truth from a "certain point of view" (thanks Obi-wan, Star Wars: A New Hope). So what occurred in 1966 to begin developing my views? Star Trek aired. A new type of show. Kind of a outerspace Western with a bit of difference . YES! A great deal of differences. The senior staff was mostly male, but a woman was a part of it. Yeah, a woman who could take command, was an officer, and could kick asa when needed. She didn't just sit there and be pretty and sexy- no, she corrected the men when they were wrong about something, she offered thoughts on situations, she controlled communications, and put her life on the line. But what there's more! She was African American! Wow! Now that was awesome! She broke through the barriers of race and gender! Women could be more than what I had seen before. Yep, Star Trek showed me a world of respect, service, compassion, and friendship! It also taught me the foolishness of prejudice, hate, and ignorance. This fascinating science fiction program demonstrated the needs and concerns of environmental issues, civil rights, education, and most importantly understanding and again respect. That's right! Respect and understanding. This is what brought me to my political beliefs. I admit, I didn't really pay much attention when I became of age to vote. I was a Republican. Then I sat down, listened to my stepfather's explanation of the two parties; then did my own research. I switched parties quickly! I've been a Democrat for 32 years now. The Republican platform had never been a part of my thoughts. No! I find the Republicans, especially those who are a part of the extreme right, to be purveyors of white male supremacy. They disrespect any who do not hold to their religious beliefs and use whatever means are available to create a national religion as well as promoting hares toward those the deem inferior. The Republicans praise God while worshipping power and money/wealth. It is not the Constitution they wish to preserve. No, its their stature in society they defend and in doing so actually reject the Constitution and the words of Jesus Christ which they claim to believe. This is why I am a Democrat. No Democrats are not perfect. We make mistakes, but at least I and many like me can admit it. Democrats are for the people - all people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, and religious belief. I am for civil rights to all Americans and to the preservation of keeping our borders open while others wish to close them and deny immigrants the same rights and chances that our own ancestors had. I stand with Democrats that all have the right to affordable health care, that women have control over their own bodies- not the Republican extremists, and that all Americans have the right to marry whomever they love. Yes, this is who and what I am. An individual who nurtured a belief in respect and understanding. Something I learned from Star Trek and built upon as I learner, expanded my horizons and realized that the world and universe was filled with a diversity that went beyond my Anglo-Saxon ancestry. This is why I have been silent. I found the RNC to be filled with a hate toward Democrats which is unbelievable. I simmered in anger as a CNN camera woman was humiliated and degraded by individuals who were a part of the RNC. I howled with disbelief when Ann Romney articulated that women whispered their whatevers in the night and if we listened dealt hard we could hear them. Obviously I do not fall into that category for the whole neighborhood probably hears me. I read and listened with disbelief to the lies, trumped up allegations and increasing aggression of the speakers and vicepresidential hopeful ; and wondered how anyone could listen to this without being filled with revulsion. Where were the issues? What about the economy's, foreign policy, and domestic policy? We have became a nation of us versus them and as any Star Wars fan knows only the Sith (the darkside) speaks in such absolutes! (Again thanks Obi-wan, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith) . As the RNC faded out and the DNC burst in; some of this same rhetoric continued. The name calling, the hatred, and aggression. Yesterday though, something changed. Starting with Michele Obama's speech Tuesday night- hope, respect, and compassion filled the air. It overcame the poison that had spread through the country and suddenly a sense of American strength and togetherness is filling a country that has been ravaged by the well shall we call them whet they are? The promoters of discord and hate: what some individuals call the American Taliban and others distinguish them as the most well known anathema of Facists or Nazis. Yes, hope springs anew. No, the Democrats are not perfect by any means. But there is a better chance for respect, compassion, and understanding with the Democrats than the Republicans. And to all the Republican Christians out there; yes, Democrats are believers as well. So much of believing that we stand by the US Constitution and its First Amendment which guarantees freedom of religion and freedom from government intervention into our beliefs! Not just for Christian Americans but for ALL Americans! So, now I've opened up and broken my silence. I have gone from here and back again. I'm not filled with anger and I didn't turn into the Hulk! Nope instead I am one person who can make a difference and I will, by voting.

A Woman's Childhood Journey in Finding a Role in America

I watched the movie, Snow White and the Huntsman, yesterday and found myself wondering where were all the kick asa princesses when I was young? Obviously they were not around in the nineteen sixties! No the princesses I grew up with depended on men to save them from the wicked queen. Yes a handsome prince would ride in on his white stallion, deliver the evil queen her death blow, and ride off into the sunset with the princess in his arms to live together in holy matrimony. They had a wonderful life together with no more problems or heartaches! Yep! That is what I grew up with. It wasn't just in Disney Fairy Tales either. The reality is this is what was portrayed to the young girls of the middle decades of the twentieth century in every bit of media that was available to us. From television shows to movies to books to magazines and even in music, girls were subjected to the inculcation of the female role in America. This was in contrast to what was perceived during World War II when women were needed to take over positions that men had held traditionally in order to promote the war effort. Yes, during the war years women built the machines of war, packed ammunition, and flew fighters and bombers to their destinations in England. Women were taxi drivers, baseball players, managers, bankers, police officers, firefighters, steel workers, farmers, and factory workrrs; as well as, the normal female jobs of nurses, secretaries, teachers, wives, and mothers. The American Woman showed how versatile she was by doing all of these traditional male roles. Then it changed and the baby boomer generation of pliable young minds was indoctrinated with the image of the ideal female as being passive, unable to do anything do to lack of intelligence, and needing a male to save them from evil doers and themselves. Yes, we were spoon fed this ideology from birth. It filled our minds every moment of the day from the television shows we watched to the books we read and even in the music we listened to. Television shows like "Bonanza", "Gunsmoke", "Father Knows Best", and "The Brady Bunch" taught us well on where women should be in society. In Bonanza they weren't even a part of the main characters! "Gunsmoke was filled with all males except for Miss Kitty who owned the saloon, was a prostitute/madams, rich, and had to be rescued by Marshall Dillon all the time! "Father Knows Best" told us immediately where women stood and it wasn't with knowledge! Nope, only good old dad had the brains. Then came "The Brady Bunch", yep, mom stayed at home and had a live in maid who did the cooking and the cleaning while the "lady of the house " went to parties and charity organization. Dad was the provided all the money and got cool working vacations to Hawaii! How come my dad didn't do that for me is whet was heard from us! Or how about why couldn't we have a live in maid who was as cool as Alice was on the show? Lets face it we were normal families who dealt with reality! But then again to Ann Romney this is what we are suppose to be! Somewhere or other I got thecshaft cause I have never known anyone like the women in those shows. So this leads us to our books we read! Remember our readers? Sally wore a dress and helped mom cook while Jack (or whatever his name was) ran, jumped, and had a lot of fun! How about our history and social studies books? The only women mentioned in them were Pocahontas, Sacajawea, and Betsy Ross. Two of them were Native Americans who helped white males and the former was a white female who sewed the American with great care! If any other women were mentioned I must have forgotten them since we didn't talk about them much! Story books? "Stone Soup" a favorite had three male soldiers teaching a town compassion and sharing. "Tom Sawyer", another favorite, male characters who had a lot of fun. We girls did have Becky who gave us a bit of hope! "Brave New World? Whatca laugh. Male oriented, women given some authority over their bodies and reproduction, but on the whole another tale of a woman who is considered a whore for not taking care of herself with birth control and winds up pregnant and ostracized from society! The males are ridiculed as well for being different. The same old story, just a different time period. How about music? The same. From "My boyfriend's back" and "These boots are made for walking" women are seen as either needing rescue to being a whore and bitch! Yep these were the images I grew up with! What's scathe is this is what some in America want us to be! God help us from these Medieval people! Women still have a long way to go but ag least now we Canberra who we were meant to be and our daughters can find themselves looking at images of real women who have exceeded the limitations the media and society tried to force on us: the baby boomers!

Our Music -Filled Journey

The last day of the Republican National Convention is here and we wait with "bated breath" the acceptance speech of nominee, Mire Romney. Now that that is said, it's time to turn the other cheek and move forward to a more intelligent discourse. Okay,okay I couldn't resist just one slam.while I am writing this, the music from the soundtrack, "Eat, Pray, Love " is playing and I am becoming lost in the mystical melodies of Kaliyugavaradana. It is hypnotic and filled with images of India within my mind's eye. Music is amazing in this respect. It brings reflections to life of memories past, or conjures dreams of desires to the listener's consciousness. An awareness which the individual allows to flow when lost in the rhythmic movement and melodious harmonies of the songs listened too. Music can "calm the savage beast" and can whip people into a frenzy! We hear the songs our mothers listened to while in the womb and music is our companion into death. Our life journey is enveloped with the stirrings that music brings to us. Can you imagine a world in which the sound and harmonies are not available to us? Even Nature demands that we take notice and listen to melodies it encompasses us with. From the buzzing of a honey bee to the aria of songbirds, Nature creates tunes which we aspire to discover and understand ourselves. Music is our constant companion in our journeys. It fills us with childish glee and wonder when young. The tunes and words change as we grow into adulthood - they are filled with yearning, desire, anger, love, and the beat pushes us into the reenactments of our ancient genetic memory. We age and our taste in genres changes eitheor recreding back to youthful fantasy or expanding and exploring new sounds of harmonies we discover. We become lost in the beat and dance to our fullest extent or we lose ourselves to the words, poetic intonations, or interweaving tones of instruments which take us into dreams, memories, or emotions we reveal in these musical moments. Yes, the RNC is almost beyond us; but its music lingers on in our minds. Music is the one constant to all of humanity. Whether whistling the "Andy Griffith Show " ditty or singing in a chorus or just listening to the tunes of Nature; music guides us and encompasses us within its arms and embraces us by bringing whatever we desire to our consciousness and making us aware of The magic and mysticism of music.

The Conventions: A Journey Into What?

Some would think that writing about the Republican National Convention would be very easy to do. After all it is in Tampa which is quite close by. The problem is -it's too easy. The Repubs have opened the door to being criticized with the antics and speeches they have performed. No, it is just too easy. Instead, I wanted to understand the purpose of the conventions. The main purpose is the nomination of the party candidates for president /vice president. This used to be a major component of the gathering. Now it is still important, but the truth is that primaries and caucuses have created a more democratic process for this action. The aspect of highest caliber is that the nominee must accept the nomination; otherwise the candidates will not be on the States ballots for the election and they are unable to touch general election funds. So this is the key reason for the conventions. The rest: the speeches, the panels, the protesters, etc are the windows through which we the people view the entire process of politicking. Here is the manuvering of the diverse groups within a political party to bring a semblance of unity its members and the people of the United States. Enjoy the conventions and remember they are here not for us to ridicule or criticize. They are not suppose to be about slamming the people or the city in whinch they take place. They are not here for delegates to go to strip clubs, parties, or other extratrivia activities. No; they are here to promote the democratic process and ensure the acceptance of the nominee. Have fun, shake your head at the nonsense and stupidity of certain delegates and speech makers and realize what the true purpose is: a journey into the political aspirations of individuals who dream of being president and hopefully understanding the power which comes with it.

Popular Culture : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History Site

Popular Culture : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History Site