Known colloquially as the "lynching museum and memorial," The Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice are located in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, with the museum built on the site of a former warehouse that imprisoned slaves. Montgomery is where I am now. And visiting these two sites today was extremely emotional. One of … Continue reading Physically seeing is different from intellectually knowing: Today’s visit to the lynching museum and memorial
#Hillgramage Part 2: Of course I wanted to use the Clintons’ ex-bathroom. I also donated a button to the Clinton House Museum.
If we know each other well enough that you sort of have an idea of how I think, you will not be surprised to learn that before I could happily leave Hillary and Bill Clinton’s former house in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Monday, I needed to use the bathroom. The need was partially a biological one. … Continue reading #Hillgramage Part 2: Of course I wanted to use the Clintons’ ex-bathroom. I also donated a button to the Clinton House Museum.
Dateline Nebraska: On Bird Poop, Footloose, Using an Ironing Board as a Burglar Alarm, and Other Randomness From the Road
At 2 a.m. Saturday, I decided to get out of bed and lean the ironing board up against my hotel room door. If someone tried to open it, I reasoned, there’d be a crash! and I’d wake up. It was the first time in 12 days on the road that I didn’t feel safe. That … Continue reading Dateline Nebraska: On Bird Poop, Footloose, Using an Ironing Board as a Burglar Alarm, and Other Randomness From the Road
Lessons from a Magpie and Some of the Oglala Women I met at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
One of the things I took away from spending most of yesterday at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota is this Lakota story: A long time ago, the animals of the Plains decided to have a race to determine which one of them was the fastest and strongest. The bison said it was … Continue reading Lessons from a Magpie and Some of the Oglala Women I met at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
In Walnut Grove, On the Banks of Plum Creek and at the Ingalls Homestead with Ma, Pa and Laura Ingalls Wilder
Growing up, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Little House on the Prairie books. I read the first few and connected with Laura. Like me, she was curious and defiant. She also loved her Pa and learned pretty much every lesson the hard way. As a young reader, I was more drawn to Nancy … Continue reading In Walnut Grove, On the Banks of Plum Creek and at the Ingalls Homestead with Ma, Pa and Laura Ingalls Wilder
Good morning from the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, SD
Is lighting a propane stove to make a cup of instant Starbucks coffee really pioneer-like? It is for me! A quick good morning video from De Smet, South Dakota, as part of my #WhereSheIs feminist road trip through 21 states in the U.S.
Her Name is Wynema, and #WhereSheIs is as Unknown as Her Creator, Native American Novelist Sophia Alice Callahan
“No, no, my friend. You are kind, and you mean well, but you can never understand these things as I do. You've never been oppressed.” - Wildfire, a fictitious 19th century Native American leader, in S. Alice Callahan’s Wynema I always try to read books set in, or about, places I plan to visit. Sometimes it's … Continue reading Her Name is Wynema, and #WhereSheIs is as Unknown as Her Creator, Native American Novelist Sophia Alice Callahan
If You’re a Hillary Hater, Don’t Bother Reading This Post
When my dad died in July 2016 and I wanted to curl up in the fetal position and die too, Hillary Clinton saved me. By then, I had been knocking on doors and making phone calls for Hillary for 15 months, as well as running one of the campaign’s Connecticut field offices. I had started … Continue reading If You’re a Hillary Hater, Don’t Bother Reading This Post
#WhereSheIs: Akron, Ohio, Where Sojourner Truth Gave Her ‘Ain’t I A Woman’ Speech
Sojourner Truth’s body is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek, MI. But #WhereSheIs in spirit is at 37 North High St. in Akron, Ohio, where in 168 years ago she gave her famous “Ain’t I A Woman” speech. I stopped there yesterday after spending the night somewhere near Penn State University, when I … Continue reading #WhereSheIs: Akron, Ohio, Where Sojourner Truth Gave Her ‘Ain’t I A Woman’ Speech
Green Light Means GO! As I Hit the Road, Some Thoughts About My Mom, Paying Attention and ‘All That Women’s Lib Stuff’
I leave on my road trip later today, on what would have been my mother’s 89th birthday. And #WhereSheIs, is in my heart. My mom died in March and, until the very end, was a woman who demanded and got what she wanted. She lived her way and died her way, within what she believed … Continue reading Green Light Means GO! As I Hit the Road, Some Thoughts About My Mom, Paying Attention and ‘All That Women’s Lib Stuff’