So Bad, Even Introverts Are Here: The Rally at McSally’s

Planned Parenthood supporters at Rep. Martha McSally’s office in Tucson, March 7, 2017.

The Women’s March on Washington, D.C., was an occasion for people to be creative and even humorous with their signs. Quite a few made me laugh — “Ugh, Where Do I Even Start?,” “We’ve Made a Yuge Mistake,” and “I Shouldn’t Have to Write Pussy on a Poster” were among my favorites at Tucson’s sister march. But there was one that not only made me laugh, it also resonated with me: “So Bad, Even Introverts Are Here.” Someone tweeted it from the march in New York City, and last I checked it had 94,000 “likes,” meaning I’m not the only one who could relate.

There has been some criticism leveled at people for whom the Women’s March was their first public protest. Things were already bad enough for us to be rallying in the streets, they say, so what took you so long? While I understand that line of thought, I get a little prickly at the suggestion that attendance at a march or rally is the only way to “do” activism. Yes, the Women’s March in Tucson was my first protest, but it was not my first activism.


I’m glad I expanded the boundaries of my comfort zone and allowed myself to be publicly counted.


As a teenager, I was happiest with volunteer activities that kept me far from the limelight, like stuffing envelopes for Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. Crowds, chants, spectacles — not my thing. I didn’t want to be interviewed by the local news, and I didn’t want my photo in a newspaper. I tried my hand at going door to door, but it filled me with so much anxiety that I never did it again. My activism, such as it was, waned as I buckled down on my studies in university, and it wasn’t until after I moved to Arizona that I started seeking out more opportunities — and explicitly looking for behind-the-scenes work where my introversion and dislike of crowds and cameras wouldn’t hold me back.

While there was plenty of work for people who didn’t mind making cold calls or canvassing neighborhoods, I found adequate demand for my skills — writing, data entry, and even the occasional stuffing of envelopes. I’m glad there are folks who can throw themselves on the front lines, changing hearts and minds on a one-on-one, face-to-face level. I’m glad there are folks who go to marches and wave signs, adding their bodies to the throngs of other people standing against injustice. We need those people. But I always felt perfectly content behind the scenes, contributing in my own quiet way.

Yet on January 21, I found myself in Armory Park in Tucson, joining thousands of Women’s March protesters. And on March 7, I made the split-second decision to show up after work at a spur-of-the-moment protest at Rep. Martha McSally’s office, waving signs to passing cars on Broadway Boulevard.

So what changed? Continue reading

I Am Woman, Hear me Roar

In July 1978, I boarded a bus in Cleveland for the overnight trek to Washington, D.C., to join the herd of feminists marching to get the Equal Rights Amendment off the dime. In November 1989, I showed up there again to protest state and federal legislative attempts to undercut a woman’s right to an abortion. Did we send powerful messages? I think so.

Many of you will not remember the early 1970s or Helen Reddy’s feminist anthem “I Am Woman” (“hear me roar … in numbers too big to ignore”), but it strikes me that her lyrics still ring true today.

Just as throngs of protesting American women made waves in the ’70s and ’80s, now masses of women marching elsewhere on the planet are setting an example for us.

Witness what is happening around the world …

Poland "Black Monday" protest. Photo: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images

Poland “Black Monday” protest. Photo: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images

Thirty-six hours, that’s how long it took the Polish Parliament to reject a proposed near total ban on abortion last week.

Parliament had, apparently, been “taught humility” by women across the country, who brought the eyes of the world onto the streets of Poland when tens of thousands thronged the streets in a mass strike clad all in black, for their self-styled “Black Monday” protest.

The Government’s swift and grovelling change of heart, was a resounding victory for people power that will go down in the history books.

The New Statesman, October 10, 2016

Continue reading

This Saturday: Stand With Planned Parenthood Arizona!

Saturday, August 22, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Uncle SamAs part of a coordinated attack on women, opponents of reproductive health are staging a protest this Saturday in front of Planned Parenthood Arizona’s new headquarters. These extremists oppose access to reproductive health care and basic health education, and are rallying nationwide from the local level all the way to Capitol Hill.

We have word that Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ, 6th District) will be attending, and intends to shut down 15th Street in front of our new office to make way for the demonstration.

In the wake of manipulatively edited “sting” videos, the Republican Party has intensified their attacks on the services that Planned Parenthood provides — and, by extension, they have intensified their attacks on the patients and families that Planned Parenthood serves. While the attempt to defund Planned Parenthood failed on the federal level, several states have already voted to defund Planned Parenthood health centers, and, if history is any guide, the assaults won’t stop there.

Opponents of reproductive health care have targeted Planned Parenthood health centers for decades — and, in that tradition, they will attempt to twist our new Arizona headquarters into a battleground in the fight for reproductive justice. You can help show the rest of Arizona what Planned Parenthood really is: a site for reproductive health care and education.

To counter this Saturday’s vicious attack on women’s autonomy and everyone’s access to health care, please join us to celebrate reproductive justice and sexual health! Starting at 8 a.m., we will have coffee and doughnuts outside of our NEW headquarters at 4751 N. 15th Street in Phoenix, at the corner of 15th Street and Pierson Street. PPAZ will be opening our covered parking lot to our supporters, so we can rally comfortably in the shade! Please bring a photo ID, your pink attire, and positive spirits!

Please Stand With PPAZ by showing up in pink at our RALLY WITH PPAZ! 

Helpful hints:

  • Wear pink if you have it! Feel free to get creative!
  • Bring signs in support of Planned Parenthood Arizona
  • Tweet support using #StandWithPPAZ and #StandWithPP
  • Park along 14th Street, as 15th Street and others will likely be closed
  • Bring water, umbrellas, and other items to keep cool — it’s gonna get hot!

Please circulate this announcement to your lists and alert your folks! Let’s turn out and Stand With PPAZ this Saturday!

At the Capitol, Women Are Watching

Activists gathered at the Arizona Capitol to send the message to state legislators: Women Are Watching.

The sky was blue and the T-shirts were pink on January 9, the opening day of the 2012 Arizona State Legislature in Phoenix. More than 350 pro-choice women and men gathered in the rose garden between the House and Senate buildings to make sure Arizona legislators got the message that “Women Are Watching” and we will all be keeping track of the legislation they are putting forward, which will affect women’s access to abortion, health care, and birth control.


The legislators couldn’t get to their offices without walking through our exuberant group and being made aware that pro-choice supporters were putting them on notice.


I joined the contingency of supporters who “got on the bus” in Tucson and rode up I-10 to lend our voices and presence to those gathering at the Arizona Capitol. When we arrived and made our way through the crowd to the check-in table, I was happy to see how many people had showed up. What made me feel so hopeful was the wide representation of people: women and men, boomers and seniors, college students, and people from across the spectrum of races and cultures. Pro-choice voters from Planned Parenthood Arizona, Arizona List (thank you for the bus ride!), NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona, National Organization for Women, Arizona Women’s Political Caucus, the National Council of Jewish Women, and Business and Professional Women of Arizona all joined their considerable forces.

On the check-in table there were buttons, stickers, brochures, and important information sheets that listed the names, legislative districts, and office phone numbers of legislators who need to be contacted by phone or email and told that we will hold them accountable for legislation that wages war on women. Continue reading