From Vicki Noble, emailed out September 08

Dear Motherpeace Friend:
In response to all the amazing messages (both positive and negative) that
came to me regarding my having sent out the hoax email on Sarah Palin's book
list:

There is a scene in the wildly popular musical movie, Mamma Mia, where Merle
Streep as Donna (a former rock star from the 1970s) suddenly REMEMBERS her
younger, wilder days as a female rock star and leader of an all-girl band
from the 1970s (thanks to the loving ministrations of her two old friends
who remind her, hilariously, that "growing up" may indeed be a false path).
First jumping on the bed, then flying through space (like a Tibetan Buddhist
Dakini), she triumphantly leads a serpentine line of women out of the hotel,
through the town, and down to the ocean in the classic manner of the famous
Maenads ("mad women" or "wild women") of ancient Greece. The
Greek women (just as they did in classical times) leave off their jobs, their burdens,
their husbands and fathers, their kitchens and aprons, as they are joyously,
ineluctably drawn to join the collective of irrepressible dancing women in
their spontaneous and glorious state of wild abandon and ecstasy. (All this
takes place to the fabulous Abba tune of "Dancing Queen," as the local
men, incidentally, cheer them on.)

It is this Dionysian state of wild abandon and spontaneous joy that I
believe we must somehow reawaken in order to beat the McCain-Palin ticket,
which is based on the repressive and traditional values that we already once
overthrew during the genuine revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Sisters, don't you remember? We went wild. Like the ancient Greek Maenads
(or the Indian Yoginis and Tibetan Dakinis, for that matter), we cut loose.
We left our husbands, threw off our repressive jobs, our bogus traditional
values and conditioned knee-jerk responses. We left the churches and
synagogues in droves, we left behind the corporate tracking system and the
academic elitism that supported it. We opted out in favor of freedom,
liberation, and authenticity. It was a magical, thrilling, and
transformative revolution in which, collectively, we took back the night,
owned our own bodies, and awakened to our unique human potential.
Then came the backlash. Reagan. Nixon. Pornography. Violence against women.
And now we have Sarah Palin as a pseudo-feminist poser who is supposed to
frighten us into submission, because she is a woman, and into NOT voting for
the democratic ticket in this urgent bipolar election. This apparent dilemma
is so absurd that I can only imagine laughing a great HA of liberation, in
the tradition of the Tibetan Black Dakini (whose name, Throma, translates as
"angry woman") and hitting the streets--in groups of wildly dancing women.
Laughing, singing, and joyously taking back our revolution. We have got to
unify against these posers (and the media who blindly support them) and beat
them back into their little dark corner. Sarah Palin is nothing more than a
"tool in the hands of the boys," as Robin Morgan would have said in the
1970s, or a "fembot" in the language of philosopher Mary Daly in the 1980s.
To all the women (and a couple of men) who were upset and responded to my
email message by telling me I was careless, reminding me how carefully we
need to "fact check," and how important it is for progressives to stay
on point, I say--what good has it done the progressive movement to be right? To
be correct? To behave itself? To articulate the issues? Our efforts to deal
with issues and be serious, undeceitful, and nonconflictual--where has it
gotten us? I'm just not convinced it is the only correct path at this moment
in time. The Republicans avoid issues and go for symbols and emotional buzz
words--and the public, I'm sorry to say, responds positively.
What would happen if we cut loose and became ourselves? What if we took a
stance that looked more like the Daly show (Comedy Central), what if we were
to laugh out loud at the absurdities and mock the players, rocking
out--instead of trying to stay all buttoned up and proper? I think we've
sold out our "shakti" (natural female power) in our efforts to tow the
line.

The revolutionary movements of the 1960s and 1970s weren't based on being
square--they emerged out of a volcanic explosion of spontaneous life-force
energy and creative self-expression. There are more single mothers and gay
people now than every before (at least out of the closet). The feminist
movement was based on sexual liberation and self-affirmation, NOT as Palin
would have it, abstinence-only birth control, pregnant teen-agers, and
enslavement to the narrow and un-holy values of the Christian Right.
Let's encourage people to vote for Obama because he's got JUICE and because
he's our elected choice and we need to unify, and not for any other "more
important" reasons. Let's bring energy back into the political discourse
and make our votes count. (Women once, recently, suffered and almost died for
the right to vote.) Vote NO against McCain-Palin, because they SUCK, and
they LIE, and they represent everything that denies and suppresses any
possibility of true American democracy. I don't want to live in a world
devoid of joy, which is the world they devoutly support.

I'm so sorry for any offence taken by recipients of my messages, I mean no
harm. I just can't see going on in the normal polite way, which will surely
cost us the election. Change or die, that's the call. Let's come together,
make alliances, practice solidarity. Vote for life. Organize for change.
Break free. Do something radical or unexpected. Fight to win!

In loving solidarity and sisterhood, Vicki Noble