But! I'm on this wonderful Wendy Davis mailing list now and this last weekend they were opening a new campaign office for her in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, and I thought to myself, "Self, that's on a Saturday (i.e., no work to get out of) and you have a GPS, so pack up some food and gas up the car and go." AND I DID.
And while literally every cell in my body is now screaming at me after the fact (which, in a small weird way is a comfort, because it means I was right about being no good to drive to Austen in the middle of the work-week, and it wasn't just me being lazy or chicken or whatever*) I'm still so glad I went because it means I got to see Wendy and hear her speak and it was amazing. And then she went around the room and shook everyone's hand, and I didn't shake her hand because I was too shy (I knew I would be) but still I GOT TO SEE HER SHAKE HANDS and it was wonderful and I'm really excited about being able to vote for her in November.
* Which I would never think of someone else who didn't show up, and just goes to show I am so much harder on myself than I ever would be to anyone else and I really need to stop that, but.
And I got to drop off a copy of the filibuster transcript with her staff with the explanation that deaf people would like to read the filibuster, too, and they were really nice and happy and a little surprised. (Overall, I got the impression they weren't 100% geared up for disabled people, but they seem to be genuinely trying. After standing for two hours, and just dying on my feet, I mentioned to one of the campaign people that next time they should have chairs for disabled people--they were immediately profusely sorry and told me that they had chairs but had been waiting for people to ask, so that the chairs wouldn't be taken by able-bodied people. I laughed and said they needed to put out a "chairs on request for elderly and disabled supporters" sign because otherwise most of us will just assume there are no chairs and won't want to make a fuss. Good people, though.)
Something that struck me, when I was driving home in the late afternoon, was how every article I saw about Wendy Davis after the filibuster focused on how "petite" she supposedly is. It was all very male gazey, "the petite blonde senator from Texas" etc. Wendy Davis doesn't look petite to me. There's nothing about her that looks small or frail or fragile or tiny. She looks strong and amazing and powerful. She looks like a woman who raised a child by herself, a woman who got an education against the odds, a woman who carved out a safe place for herself when no one else would give it to her. She looks like a woman who has faced a lot of the same challenges that I face, that other women in my life face. She looks strong. And I love how strong she looks.
Now I'm back at home after a long day, resting with a hot water bottle on my back and just hoping so so hard that something magical will happen this year and for once, just once, we might elect someone who doesn't view my body as a wallet, who doesn't think my hypothetical pregnancy should be compared to bald eagles, who doesn't define me and speak to me only through my function as it relates to men.
Wendy Davis for governor, ya'll. That's all I got.
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| Posted with permission from Melissa Tucker |
#myfeminismlookslike a packed rotunda at the Texas capitol for the vote on #hb2. They can't take that moment from us. pic.twitter.com/gvbqUfw73q
— Melissa Tucker (@tuckerma) December 14, 2013
--Voting Registration here. Remember that your voting name needs to match your driver's license.
--Wendy Davis campaign site here.
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