Rigid Morality

10 PM: I was just about to turn off my computer and go to sleep when I received an email from a friend alerting me to the sad fact that the 100-year-old political activist Granny D had passed away earlier in the day.  I realized I wasn’t going to be getting much sleep, if any.

Late last year, I exchanged a few emails with Doris wherein I asked if it might be possible to ask her “10 or so questions” for my stupid little blog (which, until this very post, was hosted at Wordpress), and she readily agreed.  You see, I had just watched Marlo Poras’ wonderful 2007 documentary, “Run Granny Run”, which chronicles the then-94-year-old Granny D’s 2004 Senate campaign against Republican incumbent Judd Gregg in New Hampshire.  I wanted to find out more information about Granny D, and I was honestly surprised to find out she was still alive, and furthermore, still active.  Shouldn’t have been surprised, but was.

Anyway, so she agreed to answer my 10 questions:

Well, I ended up asking her more than 20 questions.  No matter, within a couple of days she responded, and I was floored with her very generous responses (that she typed herself).  Fast-forward to a month later, I finally get around to posting part 1 of 3 (for the sake of brevity and laziness), and a few weeks later, part 2…but never the complete interview.

In addition to having been the oldest major party nominee for U.S. Senate, Granny D was also one of the world’s most senior emailers, and as such there were a number of grannyisms (typos), which she explained thusly:

…so I have taken the liberty to correct those errors (misspellings, random stray letters and punctuation marks), which I feel distract from the clarity of her responses.  Beyond these minor corrections, her responses are presented as-received.

AND NOW, without further ado, I present to you one of Doris “Granny D” Haddock’s very last interviews (and very proudly, the inaugural post of Rigid Morality 2.0):

What is the weather like there in Dublin (New Hampshire)?

We had our first snow yesterday, and I am waiting until noon when I will venture out for my daily walk, but if it is too cold I will not walk far.  I generally walk two miles before breakfast, but now I will wait until it is as warm as it will get.

How many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. do you have?  Do you see to it that those of voting age are registered?  Any politicians or social activists?  Is your son Jim still involved in your political activities?

I had two children, Elizabeth Louise, who died a few years ago after ten years of Alzheimer’s, and James Carleton, with whom I am currently living. Eight grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.  Jim votes as do all grandchildren.  The oldest great-grandchild is not old enough to vote yet. No one is actively engaged as a politician, all too busy bringing up children of their own, I guess.  My son, Jim and his wife Libby, are now both retired and both involved in part-time social work.  My son gives me advice but is not active otherwise since 2004 when he helped me run for Senate against Senator Gregg.

How did you meet (director) Marlo Poras?  What is it like to have a camera following you around everywhere?  What do you think of the finished product?  Do you stay in touch with Marlo?

Marlo Poras found me, and was deeply regretful that I had finished the great walk.  She lived as a member of the family for two years, following me wherever I went.  She acted as a fly on the wall, never giving an opinion, or advice.  She helped with any physical house-work necessary and did a lot of cooking of meals for the two of us, and acted as a guide on all my trips to other states.  You did not even think of her and her camera because she was never intrusive.  I think the finished product shows loving care and expertise.  We went to many documentary showings, and were always the #1 audience choice.  It was great fun.  Marlo is presently working on a film, and has ever since we finished showing “Run Granny Run.”  She loaned it to HBO and it is still traveling around the world and I am still getting an occasional letter of praise from someone who has just seen it.  Marlo is working on her third film, which is a study in China of the generation of young men, when China allowed only one child to a family.  Many of the girls were aborted, or given for adoption to get that one boy child.  I am hoping Marlo will be able to come for my 100th birthday in January!

What is (political/literary collaborator) Dennis Burke involved with these days?

Dennis Burke now works for Random House, taking books submitted to them of value but needing the kind of magic Dennis can give to a manuscript.  He is also working part time on a group of stories I put together for him and will call it “The Century of a Bohemian.”

What is an average day like for you?

Average day:  Up by seven, (bathed, dressed, bed made).  Nebulize: 10 minutes to 1/2 hour.  Breakfast: Bran Flakes with banana and other fruit.  Open up computer and spend most of the day answering many, many e-mails that have collected.  Lunch, generally salad or soup, two chocolate kisses, nap for one hour, then back to the computer.  Today, I will go for a walk of an hour after lunch, write letters due, make phone calls, end of day.  Bed by 9:30 and watch CNN TV.  If it is imperative, I will work until 1:00 A.M., but lately am less busy.  Have seven different women that come one at a time on a Friday afternoon to play Scrabble with me.  I have seven more in reserve if the regulars can’t come.  They used to do my shopping but Libby decided I wasn’t seeing enough old friends and took away the shopping and replaced it with Scrabble.

Had you been elected in 2004, you’d be nearing the end of your term in the Senate right now.  Instead, incumbent Judd Gregg is nearing the end of his third term in office.  What has he done right, and what has he done wrong for the people of New Hampshire?

I do not bother checking up on Gregg.  He is going to retire this year, he says.  I do not find him very interesting.

Have you had any contact with Howard Dean since the release of the “Run Granny Run”?  Did he apologize for snubbing you?  Was the snub intentional or accidental do you think?

Same with Howard Dean.  He never contacted me nor did I him.  He is doing good work, and I am sure he didn’t mean to forget our date.  I think the snub was accidental.

Did any of your powerful celebrity friends donate money to your Senate campaign?  How about Arianna Huffington and Michael Moore?  Do you read The Huffington Post?  What do you make of Mr. Moore and his films?

Many of the powerful celebrities helped me in many ways.  Arianna bought tickets for a full table of friends once and gave me a reception of about 75 in her palatial home in California.  I was on the same stage with Michael Moore several times, and he made a point of having me with him when the press came to interview.  I think Mr. Moore and his films are of great help and I am happy that he is on the side of the Democrats.  I asked him a question from the audience last I saw him and he said: “My God is that grannyd?  Are you still alive?”

Do you see the internet as positive tool for political change, or will it, like all other forms of media, be successfully co-opted by those with power and money to influence and control the masses?

I see the internet as a positive tool and I hope they will not charge for it.  Think of it, what a change, they are challenging the newspapers.  And if you own a Blackberry you hold the whole world in your hand.  Here I am getting letters all over the world telling me I am an inspiration and they are going to start walking!!  Don’t lose heart.  We have 29 states working at various stages of public funding of elections, as well as a bill in the House and one in the Senate, federally.  We are going to own our elections, our democracy once again.  It will happen, but it will be slow.

On a stop made along your walk for campaign finance reform, John McCain gifted you with a pair of Asics Gel shoes, which are like a generic version of New Balance.  Do you think this implies Senator McCain is a cheapskate?  Have you had the pleasure of meeting his 97-year-old mother, Roberta?  Have you had any recent contact with either McCain or Feingold?

Don’t make fun of Asics Gel shoes.  It was the last pair I was given and I am still wearing them 9 years later!!  I tell the school children, “See my sneakers.  They are pretty worn down.  When your shoes look like this, you go to your Mom and tell her you need a new pair!”  Maybe Senator McCain knew something we don’t?  I have met his mother but only once and I did not get to talk long enough with her.  I have not had any contact with McCain or Feingold, but Ruth Meyer, who does my scheduling talks with both of their offices whenever we need is always graciously received.

And given your 3,200-mile cross-country walk and your 20 years in the footwear biz, what is your favorite pair of shoes?  Do you still walk on a regular basis?

My favorite shoes are sneakers and Asics Gel are good enough for me!  Yes, I still walk but not as far.  I walked across Missouri and Illinois.  Recently Gov. Quinn, with whom I walked in Illinois invited me to stay at the State Mansion and I slept in what they told me was Lincoln’s bed for two nights.

A decade has come and gone since you began to walk across the country in the name of campaign finance reform.  Why did you choose to focus on this issue specifically?

The reason I chose campaign finance reform was because it is a focus issue, and the one that will give us a true democracy, of the people by the people and for the people.  I want those sixteen great-grandchildren to have a decent legacy and what could be better than a true democracy?  I have ten years of great adventures working at it!!

You mentioned in “Run Granny Run” that the first time you smoked marijuana was with Woody Harrelson when you were 90.  Have you smoked marijuana with Woody Harrelson since?  Perhaps Willie Nelson?

I have not smoked marijuana with Woody or anybody else before or since the one time with Woody.  Never had the privilege of meeting Willie Nelson.

And what do you make of “The War on Drugs”?

I know nothing about “The War on Drugs”,  I think marijuana should be made legal and have been asked to say so, but this is the first time I have said so in public.

The first thing I look for in a politician is honesty.  As a result of our most recent Presidential election, I have become aware of several who seem to be more honest than most:  Mike Gravel, Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich.  What are your thoughts on these individuals?  Are you in regular contact with any of them?

I met Mike Gravel just once, and though I liked him very much, I believed in what I was working for and his issue was not compatible.  Never met Ron Paul but have heard good things about him.  I have met Dennis Kucinich and believe he is the answer to our problems.  I agree with him entirely.  We are in touch whenever we can be useful to each other.  Met his beautiful wife once, and she is wonderful, too!

If President Obama were wise enough to consult you as an advisor, what would you tell him?

I would tell him that he should come out for citizens’ funding of elections as soon as it was possible.  I think he is a very brave young man and I hate what the Republicans are doing to him.  They should be helpful and they are acting like spoiled naughty children.  I would like to tell them to behave themselves and grow up.  I would tell him that “sticks and stones might break his bones, but rude names will never hurt him.”  If there is anything beyond money that I could do for him, he just has to holler!

And what is your advice for the young people?  For the old people?

I tell young people to get involved.  To understand how their country works!  I understand there are 196 colleges using “GrannyD walking across the Country at the Age of 90.”  I am happy because I believe you cannot read it without getting the message, that you have the power of One, you just need to Use it.  I tell old people to get involved with something they have always wanted to do and couldn’t.  This silly culture we have that says you are too old to do anything but sit and watch TV is wrong.  You’ve got another good ten years waiting for you.  Use it!

What actions are you suggesting the public take in response to Obama’s commitment of at least 30,000 additional troops to Operation Desert Quagmire?  And how do you awaken the greater social/political conscience of the nonvoter, the occasional voter, and the people with families and jobs who are too busy and too apathetic to be politically involved?

I think Obama took a long time deciding it would be best if he sent 30,000 more soldiers and I am sorry he has decided to do so, but it is too late now, because he did not ask me and is going ahead with it.  I will pray hard that it turns out to be a good decision and I hope you and many others will, too.  I spent a nine month period the first of 2004 working to get the vote out.  Dennis, Blue and I went into ghettos and traveled some 26,000 car miles, and I don’t think we made a bit of difference.  The last three months I spent trying to beat Judd Gregg and that didn’t work either.  You asked me when I was happiest and I FORGOT HOW SCARED I WAS AND HOW HAPPY I WAS WHEN THAT Debate before a national audience was over.  I had just two months to run for Senate and got 34% of the vote.  Some people told me they thought I beat him in the debate.

How different is the world today, from the world you grew up in?  Do you feel safer, or less secure?  Do you feel happier or sadder?  What are the differences?  When are you at your happiest, and when are you at your saddest?

We had kerosene lamps, our “Chick Sales” in the backyard and there were just two autos in the town of Laconia, where I was born, owned by doctors.  I walked 3,200 miles across the country, and was never afraid or had any reason to be.  I feel happy much of the time, but it is hard not to have any old people to talk to and reminisce.  We lived a simple life and if there was enough sugar in the house to make fudge, and our mother gave her consent it was a very special day.  Sometimes the fudge was creamy, but often it came out sugary, but we ate it saying, “it should have boiled longer!”  We had our Daddy to take care of us from any terror, and our mother to comfort us and what else do you need?  The saddest time was when someone you loved was ill and not able to get better, some young friends died from a very bad flu epidemic.  My mother’s only brother went to war with the Canadian army and was killed and we were very sad.  His name was Charles Rex Tucker, and all of his seven sisters mourned for him.  This was the First World War, and it lasted 4 years: 1914 to 1918; I was 4 years old when it started and I learned to knit and made warm caps for the soldiers.

My grandfather is in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s.  This has led to disagreements and severing of ties among family members.  What advice do you offer to the many families dealing with this horrific disease?

You must be very patient with your grandfather.  He is not the same man as before his illness and says and does crazy things.  It is very hard for him, and you must be kind and dear to him and remember it is not his fault.  My husband’s illness lasted ten years and I nursed him, took him for rides in the car every afternoon, and gave him the food he liked the best and didn’t worry whether it was bad for him or not.  You are caring for a big baby!

How important is your faith?  Do you ever question the existence of a God?

Everyone with a brain wonders about God.  I wonder if he exists, but I pray to him and thank him when something good happens, and call for his help whenever I am in trouble.  I stopped going to church when I began falling asleep, but I hope to get a nice Christian burial and have a written service in the bottom drawer in a brown envelope that two friends helped me to plan.

Do you use YouTube?  If so, do you have any favorite videos to share?

I have heard the term YouTube, but have not found it yet.  Have a few people saying we are friends on FACEBACk but have not been able to find how to respond, because I can’t remember what I used the first time for a password.  As I said, memory is a good friend when it works, but it doesn’t always work.

Grandma Moses once said that if she didn’t take up painting, she would have raised chickens.  What sort of “chickens” might you be raising were it not for political activism?

I have heard what Grandma Moses said about chickens, but I worked on trying to save our democracy. 

Anything additionally not covered that you feel should be?  What’s next?

I think you picked my brains enough!  You can see I am just a simple woman who found the power of one and with my son Jim’s help, and many friends I took a long walk, and it worked.  Grannyd.