In the back of everyone’s mind we know that there are basic things we take for granted.  Unless you are face to face with want of the basics, they’re generally not in your daily thoughts.

This is what happens to me, until I’m reminded by someone close to me who is either suffering themselves or tells me about someone else’s suffering, and all of a sudden I’m hit over the head with the reality of life.

My positive bubble is then popped and I try hard to find the upside of things.

Today was one of those days, when my childhood girlfriend e-mailed me a note about the joyous topic of feminine hygiene.  (As both of us have studied health as well as feminist theory, it is not surprising that she would send me this.)

The note refers to a campaign that the Seventh Generation cleaning and paper product company has posted, called TAMPONTIFICATION. 

Through this campaign, Seventh Generation has committed to donating a box of sanitary products to a women’s shelter in your chosen state just for clicking on a link.

It is a reminder to me that once again, my current life situation has enabled me to go on with my daily routine of work and play while others may not be so lucky because a basic need is overlooked.

The upside is that a company has also taken an interest in this, and even though our capitalist society bell is being rung by having us click on their retail site, I like to think that they are also creating an awareness of the needs of others and therefore giving us as individuals a chance to participate in being part of the community we live in.

Also – it’s a really cute interactive moment on the Internet. 

You have to check it out.

Lisa’s blog today got me wondering, what are people in the Washington metropolitan area and around the world doing to celebrate International Women’s Day?

In New Zealand, a DVD (created by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and the Department of Labour!) about the pay gap between men and women is being launched (Okay, they’re across the International Date Line, so it’s already been launched!). 

Women in the Czech Republic are gathering for a conference.

The Women of Color Resource Center in San Francisco is holding Speaking Fierce, an evening of art, poetry, music and dance.

Status of Women Canada (an entire government agency!) has developed some materials (en anglais et français!) to commemorate the day.

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is launching Imagining Ourselves, a platform for young women to create positive change in their lives, communities and the world.  

Closer to home, Executive Women in Government is holding a conference entitled, “Generations of Women Moving History Forward” in D.C.  Code Pink is holding a rally in D.C. 

And, of course, the crew at Washington Area Women’s Foundation will be celebrating this evening at Piola, which is generously donating 50 percent of the proceeds from their dessert sales to The Women’s Foundation

I also came across this Web site, which has listings of events around the world.

I hope you will find a way to celebrate, wherever you are in the world!

I haven’t always been a fan of International Women’s Day.

Largely because I haven’t always known it existed.  Here in the U.S., it seems to pass without a lot of fanfare, for the most part.  Seems its dwindled a bit around here.

There are no parades, no celebrations, no awareness campaigns taking over the streets like those I experienced in Africa, where I learned that International Women’s Day was a thing.

A fun thing, an important thing, a thing where important people gathered and gave important speeches, where women got together to celebrate their common struggles, and their solidarity.

A day that seemed to be at once an ironic reminder of how far women had come, and how very, very far they had yet to go in terms of status, rights, safety and equity.

I absolutely loved being in Africa, as an American woman, on March 8, because it was such a palpable reminder of how similar the struggles of women around the world, no matter how great the differences usually seemed.

For, while I, and my fellow female Peace Corps volunteers, were liberated, post-feminist American women with rights and freedoms and a sense of independence pretty much off the charts from what most of our African colleagues, mamans, sisters, students, teachers, market vendors and friends could imagine, we didn’t discuss our advancements compared to their lack thereof.  We did not compare struggles, trying to determine who was better off, who had traded what for what.

On International Women’s Day we gathered, and sent cards, and planned parades and trainings and gave hugs and laughed in the joy of our solidarity and that common, inexplicable, indescribable bond that comes from the shared struggle of living as women.

And that until systems right themselves and power is shared, our strength is our solidarity, along with our common understanding that what happens to victimize or make vulnerable one woman, happens to each of us.

The theme of International Women’s Day this year is, "Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls" and Lucille Marshall has made a great case in AlterNet for the degree to which violence against women is a necessary focus for the world’s attention and women’s solidarity. 

And, while, of course the official International Women’s Day theme is about Violence with a capital V, her article got me to thinking about how so many acts of injustice against women–though not necessary acts of Violence–are equally as detrimental, just as scary, just as disempowering.  That violence, defined as, "an abusive or unjust exercise of power," is often far less obvious than a fist in the face.

For when war is waged, it is women who increasingly are forced to give up their lives, sexual and reproductive health and economic security–even if they’re not in uniform. 

And when women have no status in marriage and are economically dependent upon men who are enabled and encouraged by society to have multiple sexual partners, it is women who are assaulted in the form of AIDS. 

And when girls spend their days hauling water and doing laundry, rather than sitting in school rooms, they are being robbed of the information and knowledge that would protect their health and economic status. 

And when a lack of health insurance, an overload of bureacracy and economic insecurity for a mother mean the unnecessary death of a child,  these crimes extend beyond the women herself to the society as a whole–and its future.

And the list goes on, as I sit, this March 8, in Washington, D.C., thinking about how injustice against women at any level, to any degree, is not just an act of injustice, but, in fact, often an act of violence. 

That maybe inequity is just a euphemism for danger. 

And wondering why, then, here in the U.S., International Women’s Day will be noted, but not celebrated with the fanfare I experienced in Africa. 

One would think that here in the U.S., where our rights have evolved further than they have in Africa and many other parts of the world–and where we are so aware and empowered to make more demands and speak about how far we have yet to go–that we would have more to celebrate. 

More of a fuss to make. 

Or perhaps a little more complacency to go with our status. 

For in places like the United States, where women face inequities and injustices that are a bit more subtle, a bit less obvious than an inability to go to school or the daily threat of a conflict-sanctioned rape, we can sometimes forget to celebrate how far we’ve come, and to consider just how far we have yet to go.

I hate going to the dentist as much as the next girl, but I have to tell you, these days, I’m feeling pretty grateful for the privilege.

Hearing Deamonte’s story yesterday, and then reading Robyn Fleming’s thoughts on this tragedy of a 12-year old boy dying because of a lack of basic dental care, spurned Siobhán to learn more about how widespread this problem is among children.

We were both stunned by what she found.

The American Journal of Public Health reported in July 2005 about American children that, "More than half of all low-income children without health insurance fail to go to a dentist for cleanings."  Their report contrasts these children with those who do have private or public dental coverage, among whom only 20-24 percent failed to visit a dentist for preventive care in the previous year.

The Child Trends Databank explains that, such as was the case for Deamonte, lack of dental health in children can have serious consequences.  "Untreated dental problems or poor oral health in children can result in problems in eating, speaking, and sleeping, poor performance in school, poor social relationships, difficulty concentrating, poor self-image, and problems completing schoolwork," the Databank says.  "Children with early childhood dental problems also often weigh less."

The breadth and depth of this issue only brings home Robyn’s point even further, that Deamonte’s tragic death is far from an isolated case, and that, as she so eloquently states, "The larger problem here isn’t just about access to dental care. This is a problem that so often is overlooked or ignored by this country as a whole.  This is an issue of those that have and those who have nothing. This is about poverty!"

Thinking about this story, and those words, I can’t help but think back on my pre-teen days, when one of my biggest problems, and sources of pain and anguish, was the $2,000 set of braces that were slapped on my face for purely cosmetic purposes. 

Seems embarrassingly ridiculous compared to the pain and anguish that Deamonte’s mother must now be suffering–all because her son wasn’t able to get a toothache treated.

In today’s world, we hear of tragedies on a regular basis. From Hurricane Katrina to the "War on Terror," pictures of devastation and chaos constantly bombard us to the point of numbness.  I personally always struggle with wanting to be informed about the world around me and taking action on how I can contribute, and also sometimes wanting to be the ostrich with her head in the sand.