be careful how you bend me…

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I regret that I didn’t know the 2002 Patti Griffin beautiful song, BE CAREFUL before I recently heard the cover with a new verse written by Joy Oladokun, Madi Diaz, and S.G. Goodman. I’ve played both versions over and over since last night. (New lyrics are highlighted below.)

BE CAREFUL is about women’s circumstances everywhere—in the beauty shops, catching raindrops, working overtime, standin’ all alone, in restaurants, on TV shows, with broken arms and deadly charms.

No one ever really knows what’s happening inside someone else’s personal, professional, or family life, nervous system, head, or heart. How can one answer possibly be the right solution for everyone in every single situation?

All the girls workin’ overtime
Tellin’ you everything is fine

I painted this last week while thinking about the erosion of women’s rights, especially the Iowa law outlawing abortion after 6 only weeks. The issue of reproductive freedom is so raw, emotional, personal, tribal, and complex. Our DNA is 99.9% the same, only .01% is what makes us unique, yet America is the most divided I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. Is it even possible to have a rational debate and listen to each other in this political climate?

Sadly, FEAR is far more easily activated and exploited than EMPATHY or CURIOSITY.

All the girls standin’ on their heads
All the girls with the broken arms

All the girls that you’ll never see
Forever a mystery

BE CAREFUL by Patti Griffin

All the girls in the Paris night
All the girls in the pale moonlight
All the girls with a shoppin’ bags
All the girls with the washin’ rags
All the girls on the telephone
All the girls standin’ all alone
All the girls sittin’ on the wire
Who one by one fly into the fire

Be careful how you bend me
Be careful where you send me
Careful how you end me
Be careful with me

All the girls standin’ by your beds
All the girls standin’ on their heads
All the girls with the broken arms
All the girls with the deadly charms
All the girls in the restaurants
Pretending to be nonchalant
Funny girls on the T.V. shows
Close your eyes and they’ve turned to snow

Be careful how you bend me
Be careful where you send me
Careful how you end me
Be careful with me

All the girls workin’ overtime
Tellin’ you everything is fine
All the girls in the beauty shops
Girls tongues catchin’ the raindrops
All the girls that you’ll never see
Forever a mystery
All the girls with their secret ways
All the girls who have gone astray

Be careful how you bend me
Be careful where you send me
Careful how you end me
Be careful with me

For all the parents who are losing sleep
For all the babies that’ll come to be
For all the reasons that are ours to know
It’s my choice and I’m not alone
For every man who’s standing next to me
For queer and trans and non-binary
For everybody with their own body
I will meet you all out in the street, so

Be careful how you end me
Be careful with me

HUMAN GENOME PROJECT about our .01 genetic difference: https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Genetics-vs-Genomics

The HIPAA Privacy Rule requires appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information and sets limits and conditions on the uses and disclosures that may be made of such information without an individual's authorization.

Thank you Patty, S. G., Joy, and Madi for both versions of BE CAREFUL.