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Robyn Ringler: Posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013 5:08 PM
WATCH LIVE: Forum on keeping children safe from gun violence in schools at 7 pm |
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Robyn Ringler: Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 8:14 AM
I have to agree with many women who live and work in the Saratoga Springs area and who have expressed outrage at the police department's unwillingness to release information at the time of a September 1st rape on a city street. The police felt they didn't have enough information and that the lack of an exact location of the rape, the lack of a really detailed description of the assailant, etc. meant that actually telling people about the rape would create chaos and confusion. I believe the police had enough information. A woman had been raped on a Saratoga city street in the early morning hours on September 1st. This is all I would need to know to take additional precautions to prevent this from happening to me or someone I love. Ya think? One of the police officials was quoted in the Saratogian yesterday as saying that women should not walk alone at night. Yes, please, blame the victim. We know there is an added risk in walking alone at night. But there are times in all of our female lives when we do walk alone. Circumstances arise. We have no one at the time. We need to get from Point A to Point B. So, we walk. But it does help if I know a rape has just occured in my town. I will become more aware, more cautious and, where I might not have called a cab to drive me home before, under this circumstance, I would make the call and pay the money to get a ride. When will the police learn not to be afraid of information? Not to be afraid of the STEREOTYPICAL woman--not the REAL woman--who they fear will become panicked? It's insulting. Women are no different than men in regard to taking in information, analyzing it, and coming up with their own plan to protect themselves. I say, in the future, the police should make a statement. So what if they don't have all the facts. The simple fact of the occurence of rape in a local town might save someone else from suffering the same fate. . |
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Robyn Ringler: Posted on Wednesday, November 07, 2012 3:31 AM
" Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy. That won’t change after tonight. And it shouldn’t. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty, and we can never forget that as we speak, people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter -- the chance to cast their ballots like we did today."-- President Barack Obama in speech just after re-election.
For the past year, I have expressed my political views on Facebook, a forum that makes it easy to say: I believe everyone should have affordable health care, access to an equal and excellent education, freedom of speech and religion, the right to marry a same-sex spouse.
Facebook and blogging allow me to express my deepest beliefs in a creative solitary environment doing the thing I like most--writing. Sometimes I feel like I am writing out into the void. Other times, people let me know they are listening/reading. It feels great when they agree. But it also feels great when they disagree.
Once a Facebook Friend wrote: You must not think before you speak because what you're saying is a lot of crap. Or something to that effect.
I wasn't fazed.
I wrote back and said, I do think long and hard before I express myself and I'm so glad you wrote back to tell me how you feel. Isn't it just wonderful that we are having this open conversation? Let's talk about the details...
President Obama's speech tonight hit the perfect mark. He has inspired me to know that it's okay to continue to speak out about what I believe in. But it's okay, too, when others disagree. "These arguments," he said, "are a mark of our liberty."
I'm so glad he reminded us to continue to talk out our views, examine the different sides of an issue, express our opinions, and argue if we have to. It's the way to not only examine our differences, but to discover our commonalities, which will be many. What we want as human beings is often just the same thing, though we may come at it in different ways.
I hope in the next four years, all participants involved in the political process will keep talking and arguing, but then, take the next step and find solutions through compromise. Bipartisanship is the only way to stay afloat, to move forward, to keep peace. And we can start by "self-governing" as President Obama said. Bipartisan participation and cooperation should start at home and we should teach it to our kids. Maybe then it will become a mainstream part of the political system and we, as individuals, can finally come together as a nation. |
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Robyn Ringler: Posted on Monday, August 06, 2012 10:39 AM
 Bob's Aunt Annette's 90th birthday party hosted by her children at Louie's Oyster Bar and Grill in Port Washington, Long Island on Saturday was so much fun!! We surprised Aunt Annette by bringing Mom & Dad Ringler down. Mom had written poems inspired by Jenny Joseph's "When I Get Old I Will Wear Purple" so all our presents to Aunt Annette were--PURPLE! Here is the poem: Warning When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
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Robyn Ringler: Posted on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 3:32 PM
    As President Obama approached the Portland, OR Convention Center where he was to
speak today at a fundraiser, I had the honor of standing with members of
Ceasefire Oregon, picketing and protesting the lack of action by our government
in response to the mass shooting in Aurora, Colo. It was an honor to share
Ceasefire's picket signs demanding a ban on assault weapons and other action to
end the terrorism caused by gun violence in America. In fact, it felt like a
relief to be with like-minded people, some who had lost loved ones to gun
violence, others like activist Heidi Yewman, an author and graduate of Columbine
High School, who I was so happy to run into, as she had done a book reading at
my bookshop, East Line Books in Clifton Park, NY a couple of years ago. A truly
satisfying day uniting the activism of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence (of which I am a member) with
that of Ceasefire, Oregon. |
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Robyn Ringler: Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2012 5:28 PM
There are those who say that Joe Paterno's coaching legacy is being tarnished unfairly. But I believe that his lack of action, when he KNEW that children were being abused by Sandusky, was totally reprehensible. It would be like being the president of a company and knowing the VP was raping children but not doing anything because the bad press might affect the company. His inaction shows a complete lack of integrity and a cold-hearted dismissal of the rights of children to not be molested.
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Robyn Ringler: Posted on Monday, March 26, 2012 12:38 PM
 As I drove out of The Crossings parking lot in Clifton Park on Saturday and stopped at a traffic light, a black teenage boy wearing a hoodie and carrying a half eaten chocolate bar, the wrapping peeled back giving him access to the next bite, crossed the street in front of my car. I sat, watching him, wondering about his life and whether he would ever be faced with an unjust death because of the color of his skin. I don't know if I can ever look at another young black man without wondering this. Trayvon Martin is with me, in my mind, in my heart. I grieve for him because I am a mother and I cannot imagine losing my child to a murder inspired by hate, a hate so pervasive and institutionalized that nobody did anything about the murder for the longest time. In fact, the murderer, who killed Trayvon in Sanford, Florida, still hasn't been arrested. I follow the news everyday, searching for stories about Trayvon and what is being done to exact justice. I hear the eloquent words of President Obama who says that every parent must understand why we have to find out exactly what happened, who says that if he had a son, the son would look like Trayvon. Then I hear the words of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum who say that Obama should not have acknowledged that this happened to a black kid who would have looked like a son he might have had. Obama, they say, should have said it would have been a tragedy whether the kid was white or black. As I listen to the words of Gingrich and Santorum, I strain to hear them again because I don't understand. This would not have happened to a white kid--it happened BECAUSE TRAYVON MARTIN'S SKIN WAS BLACK. Are Gingrich and Santorum so out of touch that they don't understand a hate crime when they see one? Are they so insensitive as to deny that this was a hate crime? We can all draw our own conclusions. All I know is that everytime I think of Obama's eloquence and measured, thoughtful words and compare them to the flippant insensitive remarks of Gingrich and Santorum, I don't feel like Gingrich and Santorum belong in a place of power in this country. They not only don't "get it", their words make things worse. Could two men be more insensitive? |
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Robyn Ringler: Posted on Sunday, August 28, 2011 12:09 PM
(Channel 6 Photo) ...  Starting to lose the battle with the basement as water suddenly pours in after the basement being dry all morning. Once it decides to flood, it doesn't fool around. Husband and daughter dug trench to try to divert water--looks like it will be the highest flooding we've ever had, but trench isn't working. No sand bags. Nothing really to do except keep sump pump pumping--as long as we still have power. We live on East Line Road in Ballston Lake. Wind is still gusting, had to turn off power to air conditioning due to flooding. Did take Steve Caporizzo's advice and put 4 gallons of water in the freezer to act as ice in case we need to transfer food to a cooler. Can't reach elderly parents in Bound Brook, NJ--a place where in 1972, as a teenager, I watched as Tropical Storm Doria wiped out my father's business (The Brass Rail tavern) and the entire downtown. The Army Corps of Engineers has built levees around the town--we will see how they work now, but according to the Internet, the same downtown area looks to me like it may be near-wiped out again. Once again, Bound Brook High School, where my sister and I brought clothing, food, served evacuees more than 30 years ago, is once again an evacuation center. My poor hometown. I didn't live there during Hurricane Floyd, a major destroyer, but my parents have seen it all and I wonder what they are doing right now, presumably with no power and no telephone. Luckily, they live in the higher part of town and won't likely be flooded out of the house (no basement--lucky them!) but Mom has chronic lung disease and if it is hot, will struggle. Again, luckily, I think it is not that hot. And I know they have the best neighbors looking out for them so I am feeling like they are probably okay. Hope you are all okay--please let me know how you are all doing and if you need help. |
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