money

Tech Rec: Tech Pouch by GForce

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I’ve been using this pouch for a few months now, and it has handled itself beautifully. The link takes you to its sales page on Amazon, but I found it for much less at Marshall’s. It was definitely under $10, and I think it was even $7.99, but I don’t recall exactly.

(c)2024

It folds in thirds for easy packing whether you’re traveling or just carrying it in your laptop bag. Unfolded it has three pockets. Two are zippered, the other folds over itself. As you can see, I use it for my external hard drive, phone and ear buds chargers, SD cards, SD card reader, USB-C adapters, and it can be used for much more.

I highly recommend this. 10/10 would buy again.

Fees, Fees, and More Fees

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I have a pet peeve that’s been gnawing at me lately. This has come up before, but then (many years ago) there was a law that prohibited this kind of thing, and apparently that’s not a law anymore, because it’s back.

What is this horrendous affliction that causes a disruption to my peeves?

Fees on a credit card charge.

What the hell?

I’m not talking about late fees, although those are out of hand, and I’m not talking about an automatic 18-20% gratuity added on for large parties, although six is NOT a large party.

I come into your store (or restaurant), and I pay your overpriced prices. And yeah, it doesn’t cost $20 for a cheeseburger and fries. Then tax is added on. If it’s a restaurant, a tip is added on. And then if I use a credit card, I’m charged a percentage of the total. I understand the reason – the business is charged by VISA or whomever for each transaction, but that’s not my problem.

That’s the cost of doing business.

As I said, a cheeseburger and fries are not $20, but I do understand that I’m not just paying for the raw materials of the edible food, I’m also paying for the table and the linens, the waitstaff, and the utilities, and whatever other overhead the restaurant has. Same for a stationery set for $12.99 in a boutique.

The fee charged by the credit card company to the business for the convenience of using a credit card is another expense, just like the electricity, the rent, the cleaning service, delivery and shipping costs, and anything else that costs you money to keep your business in business. I’m already paying for those things. If the lightbulb blows out over my table, will you charge me to replace it? I really hope not, but chances are that no, you wouldn’t because that’s part of the business supplies that you need to buy to run your business, just like the credit card fees (which are tax deductible by the way).

Or…don’t take credit cards. If I’m in a store, and I’m already paying $79, I don’t want to pay more than that. And let’s be honest, I don’t even want to pay that much.

Now, you could say that by offering purchases through a credit card, it is a convenience for me, or that the convenience goes both ways, and that may be true in the semantics, but if you don’t take credit cards, and I have no cash, then I can go somewhere else. It’s much more of a convenience for you to accept them rather than to lose a customer. And with these fees, I’m going to think twice about frequenting your establishment.

If you want more money to cover the cost of fees for you, raise your prices. People annoyingly did it politically by “claiming” to raise prices because they were now required to pay health insurance or when the minimum wage went up even if the business was already paying more than that or when eggs and tomatoes go up in price, they go up on the menu.

If you want to give a cash discount (like they do at the gas station), then offer a 10% cash discount for people paying cash instead of punishing the folks who use their credit/debit card.

/End Rant

Organizing for Parents

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There are so many items out there for parents to choose from for organizing their nurseries, their cars, their travel, their diaper bags that I don’t know how we get through it with our bank accounts still intact. Some things that I found were new at the time of my first born in 1997 that are now more or less standard on the lists for new parents. For example, we decided to skip the infant car seat/carrier for a convertible car seat that would last throughout our baby’s toddlerhood. What we hadn’t anticipated was that our son would be born small: 3lbs. 11oz. He swam in the convertible car seat. He swam in the infant car seat that we eventually got. “Eventually” being on the way home from the hospital and stopping at a Toys R Us to get him a more appropriately sized (and safer) car seat.

I bought many parenting books. I can’t really recommend any of the new ones as I haven’t used any of them, but the two I found the most invaluable were What to Expect When You’re Expecting and What to Expect The First Year. The toddler one was great for looking up symptoms of things and checking on developmental progression, but any of these should be used in conjunction with your pediatrician who you trust.

For our first we also had a bassinet AND a crib. We set up an entire nursery for him that he never slept in. Partly that was due to his size and need to eat throughout the night. Ultimately, we used our Graco Pack N Play as a crib most of the time. Our other two slept in our room for nearly a year, using a crib or the Pack N Play. As they get older, toddler beds are nice, but unnecessary. We used mattresses on the floor when we had two toddlers simultaneously.

Space is also a consideration. We had three kids in a two-bedroom apartment. I didn’t think much of it. When I was young, my family was comprised of three kids in a two-bedroom apartment. It was tight, and we had a storage facility for seasonal items and things we just couldn’t fit in a garden apartment with no real storage space. The polite description was that it was cozy.

We had a toddler and an infant, so a double stroller (with a car seat) was a must-have.

Some other must-haves:

  1. Sectioned diaper bags as well as a fold-up changing pad that would also function as a holder for a couple of diapers and pack of wipes to “grab & go.” You don’t always need to drag the diaper bag into every place. I also like a diaper bag that has a section just for mom: wallet, keys, sunglasses, cell phone (at a minimum) and then you don’t need to carry a purse. You’re doing enough juggling. My favorite diaper bag was one that attached easily onto the stroller. Easy to get into and it converted into a shoulder or crossbody bag for carrying.
  2. Stroller for expeditions like the mall or playground. If for nothing else, the bottom basket is great for coats, hats, diaper bag or changing pouch. I always bought attachable cup holders for my and my baby’s drinks. Most strollers have these as part of the set-up now.
  3. Snacks. If your toddler is old enough to hold it, a small plastic container works. If you’ll be doling out the snacks onto a tray, a Ziploc bag works just as well. Both can be reused.
  4. Baby Wipes. Buy the biggest pack. It will never be too many.
  5. Bibs. But not the tiny, cutesy ones that match the outfit. They’re almost useless unless you have a very drooly baby. For eating, plastic (to wipe down easily) with a pocket to catch the food. Velcro, not tie or snap.
  6. Highchair is a judgment call. We didn’t have the space for a highchair, but we did buy a portable and adjustable highchair seat. This worked just as well as a full-size highchair and could be put away when not in use. It could also travel with us when we went to Grandma’s house, which was fairly often and to restaurants, which was less so.
  7. Baskets & Open bins for easy clean-up. Store them on the bottom of a bookshelf (although make sure that the bookshelf is secured to the wall or built in) or line up in front of a wall. Even toddlers can help put things away when it’s this simple.
  8. Unless you find that your baby is fussy, you do not need a baby wipe warmer. You do, however, need a diaper pail that will deodorize the contents.
  9. A small dish drain for baby’s bottles, pacifiers, teethers, so you’re not digging through all of last night’s dishes for what you need.
  10. Towel with a hood to wrap baby up after a bath. Dries them and keeps them warm before the jammies go on.

Comments are open for questions and suggestions.

Organizing the Organization

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Wherever you look, wherever you are in the material world, in retail shops, online, and just looking around at the dining room table clutter (but that might just be me), the world is telling you to declutter and organize your stuff, from kitchenware to linen closets to offices to the stuff on top of the sofa (again, that might just be me). And amidst the clutter shaming, they tell you that they have just the right tools for you to organize not only your stuff, but the stuff your stuff goes into – organizing the organization.

Deals to Look For

I don’t know if this is still true, but the best deal on bins is at Target after Halloween. They have orange and black bins (that no one wants) for ridiculously cheap prices – less than $5 for a big bin.

Another great deal to know about is Back to School Shopping has the best deals the week after Fourth of July. Watch the ads, especially Staples. One other note, since the recession (2008), there has been almost no restocking. When they run out, it’s gone. That holds true for most things, not just back to school.

If you’re looking for a television, wait until the weeks before the Super Bowl.

Most importantly, only get what you’ll use in the next three months. You don’t need enough laundry detergent (despite what the ad says) to last through the apocalypse or Zombie invasion. The exception to this is toilet paper. After the pandemic, we always have a large package of toilet paper in reserve, so we never run out.

Where Do You Put that Stuff?

I have bins, baskets, folders, bags for this, bags for that, and what worked yesterday doesn’t always work today. It doesn’t help that I have organization envy to go along with my stationery/office supply envy. Awareness is the first step, and since my kids no longer have back to school supply shopping (everything is done on computers and laptops and Chromebooks), I’ve have been slowly going through withdrawal and mourning those days when I would spend hours (yes, hours) walking up and down each aisle in the school supply sections of Target and Walmart, and yes, even Walgreens and CVS, not to mention Staples, searching for the perfect notepad, the calendar that would get me through the year despite my proclivity to find a “better” one, a “prettier” one, one that was perfect for now, so I changed and added, and rewrote all of the information.

I finally broke myself of this financial-draining and self-defeating habit a few years ago with my calendar/planner. I used to have two (or more): One for my personal/family plans, one for my writing plans, and sometimes one for my lesson plans as a teacher, and none of the twain shall meet. At that time, however, I realized that I never used the weekly section for family plans. I might have repeated what was already on the month, but I never looked at it. That was when I decided to combine my two main calendars: family plans on the monthly section, blog plans on the weekly section, the current week tabbed with a magnetic bookmark. I’ve done this for awhile now, and it works very well. When I see a new planner that I’m drawn to, whether it’s the style, color, or organizational advantages, I walk away. I have a planner through December 31, and I am not spending money on another one. Maybe I can get that one next year. And yes, I save them all in a box in case I want to look back on blog posts even though I know I never will.

I am trying to whittle down the things I have and use to be more consistent and less wasteful. I know that as a writer, I will never run out of notebooks, journals, pens, and the like, and don’t get me started on printing, photocopies, and handouts. Although, I am in the process of reducing all of that.

This year, apart from my computer files and external hard drive, I have three main organizational items that I use regularly. They’re great for at home, they’re great for travel. Two were gifts from my husband, one for my birthday and one for Christmas: a document holder and a folio (both pictured below). I mean, I know that psychologically they make me feel more professional and think that I’ve got my act together, but still.

So…what are the main things you need for organizing your stuff.

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Election Connection – Just Say NO to a 30% Sales Tax

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I’ve been seeing and hearing quite a bit about a new proposal from House GOP members about abolishing the IRS and implementing a 30% sales tax*. On its face it is an absurd prospect filled with scare tactics talking points and falsehoods, or as we like to call them: LIES.

I’m including three links as well as a great video that explains exactly what’s in the bill at the end. First, I’m glad to give you my opinion on this as someone who pays the bills for my household and is soon-to-be preparing our taxes and who spent the weekend shopping with my family for our household needs.

A 30% tax increase is CRAZY. It’s as simple as that. We’re an average family of five, one of whom lives on his own (but who often comes to dinner). We are still materially supporting two other children (regardless of their ages), feeding, clothing, entertaining. We live paycheck to paycheck, and some months we don’t have anything at all until the next paycheck. It varies.

This weekend we went to several places and took our daughter to breakfast on Sunday. I’m going to round up what we spent:

Breakfast out: $63

Department Store: $68 (this included groceries, medicine, and clothing)

Walmart: $6 (groceries)

McDonald’s: $3 ($1 drinks)

Sally’s Beauty Supply: $24 (school supplies)

Target: $164 (personal care/hygiene, toilet paper, school supplies, groceries, toy on clearance)

All of these purchases include state and county sales tax, which in (our part of) New York is 8%.

New totals based on an additional 30% federal sales tax (on goods and services):

  • Breakfast: $81.90
  • Dept. Store: $88.40
  • Walmart: $7.80
  • McDonald’s: $3.90
  • Sally’s: $31.20
  • Target: $213.20

For a grand total increase of: $98.40 for one day’s shopping. ONE DAY.

Republican House Members claim that this will abolish the IRS and eliminate 87,000 “weaponized” IRS agents who were increased in a recent bill that President Biden signed last year. This is a falsity that they’ve continued to lie about. Those 87,000 IRS agents will not be armed (as they’ve claimed) and they will not be coming to your house, but increasing the assistance the IRS gives to its clients every day. I’ve been on the phone with them previously and have always felt helped. They’re also supposed to help reduce the backlog to avoid situations like we experienced in 2021 when we filed in May and didn’t receive our refund until the end of December.

This National sales tax will be on goods AND services, where the current state formula is on primarily good with only a few services paying sales tax. This tax on services would include babysitters, which is explained in the video. This will also be on top of the state and local taxes paid on goods currently.

One of the things they claim is that 40% of households pay no form of income tax, and for those family’s eligible, there will be a monthly rebate based on a formula in relation to the poverty line and family size, but you would still have to pay it upfront at the time of purchase. If you’re eligible for the rebate, that is.

This creates an enormous burden on the poor and middle-class working families. The rich will always find ways to get around this tax, simply by leaving the country to do their shopping. Plus the fact that they can afford the increased pay out.

If it wasn’t obvious yet, I am definitely against this bill, and will be contacting my Congressman’s office to let him know he has my support to vote NO when this comes to the floor.

*Republicans claim that it isn’t a 30% increase, that it’s a 23% increase. That is because of how they are doing the math: $30 out of $100 is 23%. The video does an excellent job of explaining this.

Don’t Buy the Sales Tax (from the Brookings Institute)

TaxVox: Federal Budget and Economy

SNOPES: Is GOP Freedom Caucus Pushing for a 30% Sales Tax in US? [SPOILER ALERT: YES]

Video from Brian Kim of Clear Value Tax:

Adding Politics Girl’s Take here:

Election Connection: 29 Weeks: Save the Post Office

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All weekend my Twitter feed was the same thing. #SaveUSPS. I knew that the post office got screwed back in the Bush Administration, but I also knew that they would manage; they always did. What I didn’t know was that this White House refused any stimulus money to go towards keeping the Postal Service afloat. This made me angry in a weekend of anger caused by this incompetent and insensitive Administration run by an ignorant nincompoop.

Why should we care about whether or not the post office continues its mission?

For one thing, the post office has been operational since 1775, BEFORE the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin was its first Postmaster General. When our family visited Philadelphia several years ago, one of the stops I insisted on making was to the Ben Franklin Post Office. We waited in line to get envelopes hand-stamped as souvenirs. We still have them. For another thing, the mail doesn’t discriminate. If you have an address you get mail. No matter how far from the center of town or across the water. In Alaska, mail is delivered in some places by seaplane. Without the post office, those services would cease to function. FedEx and UPS hand off their nonprofitable items to the United States Postal Service for the last leg of the trip to get the items where they need to go. And that leads into the third thing about why we should care about the post office:

The post office isn’t supposed to make a profit. It is a public service, delivering mail to everyone regardless of status or wealth. It’s in the Constitution. Right there in Article 1, Section 8, it states that “The Congress shall have power to establish Post Offices and post Roads;” The implication being that Congress is the one that has the power to disestablish; not the White House. Congress also controls the purse strings through taxes and distribution of monies. And one other thing: the post office pays its own way. Until that Act (under Bush) requiring them to pay into pension plans for fifty years in the future (which no other department or business does), it was making a PROFIT.

Is the Post Office really all that important?

You tell me – how do you feel when you receive a Christmas card from someone you don’t hear from? A wedding invitation that you then hang on the bulletin board? I visit my local post office weekly to mail something, to pick up something, to check out the new stamps. I’ll be back their in two or so days to mail my taxes. To send them certified mail, it will cost me $6.40. If I sent the same via FedEx, it would cost a minimum of $13.75, and it’s not certified mail. It does not count for the legal system according to a 2018 ruling.

For me, from a personal standpoint, I grew up in the back of the post office. Both of my parents worked for many individual branches as clerks until they both retired. My mother also did bookkeeping. They sometimes worked in different offices, and sometimes in the same office. (Would not recommend.) I remember sitting in the back waiting for my Dad to finish up after visiting the eye doctor down the street. He had to count his drawer and return the stamps to the safe in the postmaster’s office, and I spun in the spinny chair, stamped dozens or more of scrap paper with Air Mail, Postage Due, Fragile, Perishable, and whatever else was there on Gloria’s desk. She had a whole box of stamps. The back smelled of stamp ink and cigarette smoke. Everybody smoked back then. Sometimes I would sort the mail (but don’t tell anyone!) I also skipped many a line going in the employee door. It was supposed to be locked, but it almost never was; not then. If it was, someone would buzz me in. Everyone knew me. At one job I had, my “status” was raised when the assistant manager recognized my father from his local post office in Queens, NY. My Dad always helped him, and he remembered the personal service.

When I was younger, actually older than I’d like to admit, I used to think that one of the perks of working for the post office was free postage. I was wrong. I would leave letters in the hinge of the bathroom mirror for my parents to take to work. I didn’t realize that they were paying for the stamps. My parents also collected stamps as I also do, but not as extensively. When my son was small, we decorated his room in framed stamps ranging from comic strips to dinosaurs to baseball players to DC Super Heroes. I’ve made special trips to the post office to get Mr. Rogers, Harry Potter, Star Trek (which I keep framed, and even gave a set as a gift), Star Wars, and most recently, Gwen Ifill’s Forever stamp for the Black Heritage series.

When I took defensive driving, I was the only student who knew that postal trucks have the right of way even over police and fire vehicles, although I don’t imagine they use that law to get by a stop sign or red light. I know that you can’t put anything in anyone’s mailbox unless it has a stamp on it, and I know that opening someone else’s mail is a federal offense.

The mail is probably one of the most important things we have in this country. The United States Postal Service delivers to all areas, regardless of profit margin. In fact, as I said above they weren’t supposed to make a profit. They are self-sustaining (until the Bush Admin and Republican threats to privatize.) As a public service, they should be supported by the government. In its entirety. From birthday cards to pen pals across the globe, magazines, letters to and from Grandma as well as medicine deliveries like I get. I’m always excited to see what the mailbox has in store for me on a daily basis. I can hear when the mail carrier delivers the mail, and I often run out (or send my kids out) immediately. Yesterday, in fact, I got a check from the state for unclaimed funds.

Twenty-five dollars!

They are also the largest single employer of veterans and people of color. Their offices and routes are filled with diversity, women, and veterans.

Why do Republicans want the post office to fail?

Simple. Mail-in voting. They lose when we vote. They rolled the dice in Wisconsin. They made the rules. They forced people out into long lines to vote during the COVID-19 pandemic instead of postponing and extending vote by mail or absentee ballot deadlines. The Democrat won. Now they are crying foul. They made the rules. They forced the vote, but somehow when the Democrat wins it’s unfair.

When I saw the headline about the White House’s refusal to bail out the post office in The Washington Post, I was disturbed, especially after last week’s debacle in Wisconsin!

Some threads to read:

The Debate over a Post Office Bailout, Explained (Vox)

Thread on USPS

Congress is Sabotaging Your Post Office (from May/June, 2019) (Washington Monthly)

Ben White of Politico: A reminder that the USPS funding “crisis” has nothing to do with what it charges Amazon or others and everything to do with a massively burdensome congressional mandate.

How Congress Manufactured a Postal Service Crisis and How to Fix It

Facts about USPS (from USPS)

Twitter thread (long but well worth it) from a Mail Carrier

NOW, call Congress and the White House, and tell them you want the postal service to survive. Tell them you want the bailout.

You want to vote by mail. When we vote, we win. And this election is like no other in our lifetimes.

Call Congress. Call the White House. Make your voices heard.

Anything less is unpatriotic and undemocratic because undermining democracy is what they’ve been doing for the last three years (more if you include Republican Senators) and we will not stand for it.

Call your Senators at: 202-224-3121

Call the White House at: 202-456-141

Travel – Know Before You Go

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​It may be the aspect of traveling with children, but I have always found that planning for a vacation is practically a full time job, and if you already have a full time job, whether that’s out of the house or in the house, it’s even worse. I have also found that it doesn’t matter if the vacation is a weekend, a long weekend, or a week long holiday. It still takes the same amount of work for the preparation of a short time away or a long rest.

Some items may seem obvious, but we’ve all gotten halfway to our destination and wondered about leaving the stove on, and that thought continues over the entire course of the vacation regardless of how many times we absolutely, positively know that we turned off the oven. One way my family avoids this is that we get our coffee and morning drinks out of the house. NO COOKING! No oven, no stove top, no toaster, no coffee maker. No argument.

Our last three vacations have been to foreign countries (twice to Canada and once to the United Kingdom) and those take on slightly more planning prior to leaving. I’m including those details to eliminate missing items. As you read this (and other writings that I have on traveling), you’ll weed out what you don’t need or will not use, and hopefully you’ll comment on things that you did need that I haven’t included. I love the community we have here online so we can collaborate and advise each other. We are in a wonderful time, and we should embrace to positive aspects of it. This networking and sharing is one of those positive things.

We have three children and the youngest are teenagers. While they are certainly [th] more independent [th] and actually better able to help with packing than they were during their elementary years and younger, it is almost more work to get them ready for a vacation. They never think they need as much as we parents think they’ll need…like underwear and socks. Some people do laundry on vacation; I do not. I prefer my vacations to be vacations.

Where to start?

1. The first thing is to use timers for lights so they go on. Many of them can be set to go on and off randomly. Another option is to set one to turn one off in one room and then turn the light on in another room, so you’re showing movement as well as the lights aren’t in a set pattern.

2. Hold your mail. Do not let your mail pile up on your front porch or in the mailbox. You could have your neighbor collect it for you or you can go to your local post office or set it up online to stop your mail until you return. They will deliver it on the day you request. Go to usps.com, click on Quick Tools, and then click Hold Mail.

3. Same for your newspaper delivery.

4. Unplug your toaster oven and your other electronics that aren’t quite off when they’re “off”. Some of those items are computers, wifi routers, remote control televisions (who doesn’t have these?), chargers that are not being used. Mentally walk through your house and figure out which plugs need to be unplugged.

5. Set your thermostat higher. We usually set it for 79/80F in the summer and lower it to 65F in the winter.

6. Do you have pets? Will they be coming with you? Will you be kennelling them?

7. I go to Starbucks on a regular basis, and have their card. Will I be able to use it in Canada? I couldn’t use it in the UK, so I left it home. A small thing, but I still need to find out.

8. Will you be driving? Even in the UK, we rented a car and drove. Will we be using the rental company’s insurance or your own? We couldn’t use our own in the UK, but we can use it driving in Canada, including using a rental car. However, we did need a special insurance identification card for use in Canada (Canada Non-Resident Inter-Province Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Card). This can be obtained from your insurance company.
9. Cell phone service. The last time we went to Canada (2015), we were in Niagara Falls and for the most part, our phone calls and texts bounced off the Buffalo cell towers so we didn’t pay roaming charges. Now, for the most part, roaming charges don’t exist in North America; at least with Verizon Wireless, Canada and Mexico are included in our regular wireless plan, so no roaming, no long distance, no fees. Check with your carrier.

10. Call your bank about using your credit and debit cards. You will be able to use them, but you’ll have to notify most banks so they don’t flag your cards as stolen. This is important even if you don’t leave the country. If you live in New York, and you’re visiting San Francisco, your card will be flagged and if it’s the weekend it will take time to sort out. There may also be usage fees. Again, check with your bank.

11. Currency Exchanges can be done at airports, most large banks, and AAA offices. Often, however, they need to be ordered and will take a few days to receive. There are more than likely fees.

Harriet Tubman – Reflection and Opinion (Cash Value: $20)

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Harriet Tubman postage stamp, 1978. Public Domain. (c)2019

I had intended to share a post about my attendance at the new Tubman-Seward statue dedication in upstate New York, and I will do that later in the week. But then with the announcement that the Tubman twenty dollar bill was postponed, I wanted ot share some of my thoughts o that, and that will follow, however these last two weeks have been noting short of coincidences if there really are such things.

Harriet Tubman was one of those historical figures remembered from childhood, the elementary grade lesson watered down and never addressed again.

When I saw the opportunity to attend the statue dedication, I took it, and I was moved beyond what I could have expected. So much so that the next day, I drove my family there. While we were there we met a woman and I got to share some information with her about Harriet and William Seward. She in turn told us about a food truck gathering with proceeds going to ARC. We went over, had a good lunch, and helped a great coase.

Then, yesterday I attended the last of a four week series at a retreat center. This one was called A Dreamer’s Mind, and the presenter began with the story of Harriet Tubman! I leaned even more than I’d learned at the dedication, and after all of these meetings with Harriet throughout the last few weeks, I know quite a bit more and I feel as though I’m carrying a small piece of her with me. Not a bad companion.

This was what I wrote at the first reflective time:

“Well, well, well, we meet again! LOL!

She’s everywhere for me recently. I have two blog posts that I’m preparing for and having just been to her statue at the library, she’s on my mind quite a lot in the last two weeks.”

And I think this is why when the decision to put Harriet on the $20 was reversed, or postponed or whatever the Secretary of the Treasury called it, it hit me a little harder than it normally would have. In fact, Harriet’s appearance on the $20 bill came up in the group conversation, and no one else had heard about the postponement except for me. It isn’t the same as others’, but sometimes I feel as though being so aware of what’s going on in the world is my cross to bear. It’s one anyway. A topic comes up, and I know something. Do I speak out? Or stay quiet as if this public information is a secret because I’m the only one in the room who’s heard it?

In this case, I spoke up. I usually speak up. I will admit to being snarky and just a little petty where the President’s involvement was concerned, and I apologized to the two women I was speaking to (although they didn’t disagree with my sentiment) and was able to say what I wanted to in a more diplomatic, all audience inclusive way.

I think the President’s a racist; at a minimum a bigot who believes every negative stereotype about minorities. I also think that since the President admires Andrew Jackson, he doesn’t want to replace him with a black woman. It’s really that simple. He could have taken the high road and said, ‘you know what, I didn’t make this decision, it was already set in motion, let it continue,’ but this President’s pettiness knows no bounds.

It’s not just that President Jackson was also a racist or even that he wasn’t a great president or stand out human being, but the fact that he perpetuated the genocide of millions of Native Americans by force marching them west, and not providing for them as promised in the treaties of the Grant Administration should be enough to keep him off the bill in the first place. White Europeans took this land. }That is our legacy. It doesn’t determine our future, but we need to acknowledge it, and at the same time acknowledge the Native Americans, not as a collective, but as individual tribes with different cultural and religious practices. They were here first, and it is our obligation as Americans to never forget their sacrifice. Despite being involuntary, it was still a sacrifice that every American should know.

What does this have to do with Harriet Tubman?

We acknowledge her existence in the way we water down what we deem too controversial. I’ve learned things in the past two weeks that I’ve never heard of about her, and she is taught in every school in America. She lived and died and is buried in my home state of New York. How did I not know these details of her life?

One thing that Harriet Tubman’s face on our money is a step towards recognizing who built this country. Our monies, for the most part represent our founding; our history. We need and should know our history, and having it represented on our money is wholly appropriate. But slaves also built this country. They sacrificed their families and their lives. Once freed, they build their lives from nothing. The pioneered the west. The raised crops. They’ve done everything free Europeans did except they did it under much worse conditions that are still seen in many ways today.

I look forward to Harriet Tubman (and other women and people of color) being included in our country’s public representation, on money, naming streets and buildings, and other ways we express our gratitude for our historical counterparts.

I want to share this conversation on Nicolle Wallace’s show, Deadline: White House about the change in the status of the $20 bill.

For anyone who wishes to have their own (legal tender) Tubman Twenty, here is a link for the stamp. I have not ordered one, so I do not know anything about this seller.