Voices, April 2017

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Voices, April 2017 Voices A Consumer Council Newsletter April 2017 “ShelterCare enriches lives through exceptional services that nurture hope, opportunity and dignity." WORDS OF WISDOM “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” ~ The Beatles Comic Book Heroes: The Truth about Dr. William Marston (1893 - 1947) The creator of the most popular female comic book hero of all time, Wonder Woman, had quite a secret: Psychologist, Dr. William Moulton Marston had a wife -- and a mistress. He fathered children with them both, and they all lived together in Rye, N.Y. And the best part? Marston was also the creator of the lie detector. More accurately, he developed the precursor to the modern polygraph; the systolic blood pressure test, after noting that exciting one's emotions raises a person's blood pressure (modern polygraph's register four different physiologic changes: blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivi- ty). Marston was a man of contradictions as obvious as Wonder Woman's, who, when she wasn't beating up adversaries, was all about love, peace and freedom. She was a controversial figure in the 1940's: overtly sexual, with Amazons, chains and her gold lasso. The symbolism goes even deeper than the fantasies of a male psyche. More at the symbolic breaking of chains: women chained themselves to the gate outside the White House in protest and would often wear chains during marches, harkening back to their earlier involvement in abolitionist campaigns of the previous century. Marston was a self-styled feminist and suf- fragist. As a student in the field of psychology at Har- vard University, he formed a thesis that women are (Continued on page 3) (Continued from page 2) mentally stronger than men, but argued that they are also happiest being submissive. He personal- ly and professionally encouraged women to stand up to the patriarchy. His ties to the early pro- gressive-era suffrage, feminist and birth control movements are well documented. As a freshman he was witness to a national scandal when, in the fall of 1911, the Harvard Men's League for Women's Suffrage, of which he was a member, invited the incredible Emmeline Pankhurst to Harvard to speak in Sanders Theatre, which is the largest lecture hall on campus. Harvard was terrified. Women were not allowed to speak on campus, and so Pankhust was banned from speak- ing. This probably made a big impression on Marston. From his studies, he was convinced that women were more honest than men in certain situations, and could work faster and more accu- rately. For the rest of his life, he would champion the causes of the women of his time. “Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power."“ ~William M. Marston "“ Women will win!" - ibid. Besides the Suffrage Movement, he was also inspired by early erot- ic pin-up art, by his own admis- sion. Wonder Woman's hair style, uniform and bondage schtick can be found in the work of the iconic 1940’s "Queen of Pin-Ups," Bet- tie Page (this writer's opinion). For the uninformed - Wonder Woman is an Amazon from an island of women who left ancient Greece to escape the enslavement of men. They lived on Paradise Island and had eternal life. A plane crashes on their island car- (Continued on page 4) (Continued from page 3) rying a man — and Wonder Woman's mother decides he needs to be brought back to where he came from because they can have no men on Paradise Is- land. So she stitches for Wonder Woman this star-spangled costume, and Wonder Woman flies in her invisible jet with her man-captive Steve Trevor, who is a U.S. military intelligence officer, back to the United States. This is in 1941. The Queen Amazon can only be subdued and rendered powerless, by being chained by men. Her magic lasso, that has the pow- er to make bad people tell the truth, may well have been inspired by his lie detec- tor. Marston's lover, Olive Byrne wore heavy silver bracelets that were an influ- ence on Wonder Woman's bronze, bullet proof version. About mistress Olive Byrne: a quote from the book "The Secret History of Wonder Woman" tells us "in one of the family’s many ironic contradictions, Byrne worked as a writer for Family Circle magazine, offering housewives tips on how to build a wholesome home, while living a life most of her readers would consider highly immoral, not to mention illegal." The stories that she writes for Family Circle are sort of a "how to raise your children" in the most conventional possible way. In an interview Byrne did with Marston in the October 1940 Family Circle issue, using the pseudonym Olive Richard (titled "Don't Laugh At The Comics"), Marston is quoted as saying that he saw "great educational potential" in comic books. Olive had been a former student of Marston's. Sadie Elizabeth Holloway was Marston’s public wife, but he was also secretly married to Olive. The threesome, apparently, lived happily together under one roof, and Marston fathered (Continued on page 5) (Continued from page 4) children with both women (although Byrne’s offspring were told their father had passed away). He also falsely claimed Olive was a blood relative. Much of his creation of Wonder Woman's world was composed of allegories of his theories and the happenings in his own life. William Moulton Marston died of cancer on May 2, 1947, in Rye, New York, seven days shy of his 54th birthday. After his death, Elizabeth and Olive continued to live together until Olive's death in the late 1980s; Elizabeth died in 1993, aged 100. In 1985, Marston was posthumously named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publication “Fifty Who Made DC Great.” He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006. Wil- liam Marston received the Will Eisner Award (the comics industry's equivalent of the Oscars). Before he died in 1947, Marston explained Wonder Woman’s value to Superman publisher M.C. Gaines. “Look, if you had a female superhero, her powers could all be about love and truth and beauty, and you could also sell your comic books better to girls,” he said. “And that would be really important and great because she could show girls that they could do anything.” ~ S.A. Patel Sources: The Greatest Stories Science Never Told by Rick Beyer Wikipedia NPR.com The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore I Am What I Am A Human Being I am what I am a human being with feelings What I feel is my understanding Every road is a journey, and a journey of adventure And explore the many outcomes of devotion. I live in my own world surrounded with challenges, My challenge is how I believe in We must look forward to the challenges of prosper My heart is a book It writes a thousand words on how I see how things are gonna be. I can love, I can cry my tears like rain freshen the air. I don’t have to see what the world is. It can be a peaceful place It can be my destination. For there is no other after me I am the last survivor. I have seen pain and yet I feel it too Pain is my struggles, pain is what I see in the world This world is not my home, only a paradise in heaven above where peace is forever. ~ Oliver L. Ocheltree Review Venus Hair Studio I've reviewed movies, books and people for VOICES. I'd like to introduce readers to yet another modality of mental health care aside from my family, friends and ShelterCare: a damned good haircut. Geisol (pronounced like Hazel) has had my vote as best hair stylist in Springfield, since we met about five years ago. Besides her considerable skill as a cosmetologist (she owns Venus), Geisol is very ShelterCare Consumer friendly, as her family has been impacted by mental illness. She "gets me” as well as most pro- fessional therapists and can dispense sane advice with the best of them. Not a part of the job per se, but before there were therapists, there were other professions that took up the slack, notably ministers and hair stylists. (Continued on page 8) (Continued from page 7) Venus also gets five stars for easy-to-get-to: between the S.P.D. station and the Simpson's mural on Fifth. As far as price, when you consider the value of a world class hair cut (every time) over an average or worse one, the money spent is more than worth it. Geisol has generously offered a 20 percent discount on a cut to anyone involved with Shel- terCare, bringing the price down to 12 dollars. This offer is for both consumers and staff. (Continued on page 9) (Continued from page 8) Subjects covered with Geisol lately: VOICES, the plight of migrant workers (cancer from chemical expo- sure, and you try picking strawberries all day for bad pay), the Iguala, Mexico abduction/disappearance of forty-three college students (Google that one), opinions about the Vatican's choices for sainthood, and the usual girl talk. Consumer Council Treasurer Cindy Williams and I recently visited Geisol and I got a chance to ask her some personal questions. She started Venus Hair Salon two-and-a-half years ago, after disappointing stints working for others, and now has one coworker renting a space.
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