inspiration

About a week and a half ago, Kampire pointed out the plight of the Biting Beaver (link) for us to see an actual story of a woman denied EC. Over at her blog (link), she's posted her story cut and dried, and it's empowering. As a young feminist in this rich internet socio-political community, I strangely (and rather guiltily) feel more proud of her actions than sorry for her troubles. I'm thrilled with the fact that she's living rpoof they're all wrong--all those anti-choicers out there unreasonable enough to believe that denying a women EC fights abortion, that a 24 hour waiting period will change a woman's mind when that's all she's probably thought about since she learned she was pregnant, that abortion directly results in depression and anxiety disorders.

Wow. It really has been a long time. I guess lately I’ve just been so sick of writing for school that I convinced myself there wasn’t anything more to write about. One of those lethargic droughts where you’d rather nap for hours than do anything productive, or interesting even. But something really shook me up, recently.

This post is dedicated to somebody that I only briefly knew, who passed away this past week. It was a shock to me, only because she was one of my favorite people in the world – even though I didn’t know her too well on a personal level. But I think she was a lot of people’s favorite person. Ever since I lost touch with her, I would always wonder what amazing things she was up to, where she was in the world, if she was still happy. Devin Adams was one of the most spontaneous, caring, genuine people that I’d ever known. The type that would run up to people and give them hugs or kisses, just because. The type to wear rollerskates to a show. To make you feel better, just by being in the same room with her. The type to be proactive about everything and anything that she felt wasn’t right. One of those people that everybody aspires to be – completely free, aware of the worlds imperfections and yet still happy. Beaming, even. Always.

I’m reading the ‘Sisterhood Is Forever’ anthology of essays by Robin Morgan…I’m not even a third way into the book, and I’m already super inspired – Pat Schroeder, an accidental congresswoman; Andrea Dworkin, Angry and Outspoken activist extraordinaire; Florence Howe, Feminist Press founder, professor, leader in the emerging Women’s Studies…

There’s something about art by women that makes me feel energized, like I’ve just drunk a huge cup of coffee – like I need to do something productive, or else the energy will fade and be worthless. When I had this feeling as a kid, I would play guitar or bass or piano or violin – practice for the multiple grrrl bands I was destined to be in. But right now, I think writing is working for me.

Welcome, welcome to the All Girl Army. Looking for some inspiration quotes, I once came across a Latin proverb: "A woman for a general, and the soldiers will be women." How a propos, huh.

I admit that I never meant to be a feminist. It's one of those things where you're working on a cause and you stop and look around--only to find that you've worked yourself right into something entirely new.

As you can find in my user profile, I started into women's issues during the Alito confirmation hearings, but the truth is that it starts with the fact that I'm a sucker for nineteenth century literature and finally got a professor willing to push the canon boundaries enought to get us reading Fanny Ferne and Louisa May Alcott's lesser known social satire. It's easy to forget that women have been writing as long and as well as men have. But I digress.