glo-rious

gloria was superb. we fretted about the office tidying and costuming up in time for her 6.45 arrival. i was in the bathroom applying some lipstick when who should emerge from a cubicle but ms. steinem herself.

"you're gloria steinem." i said.
"i believe so." she replied.
we chuckled and i introduced myself as the one who's been communicating with her pr rep for the past ten days.
"aahhh, where are you from again?"
"canada"
"wow, thank you for coming"
"oh no, thank you."
(holy fuck am i ever a loser; sometimes i really do astonish myself)

glo and i had a brief briefing in the can, interrupted only once by an awestruck woman who had followed her to our building from the campus event (stalker?) glo was pleased to hear that we wanted a casual environment in which the young people could engage comfortably with her and that this event was really about acknowledging them and uplifting them.

adam introduced chrissy g in drag as christiane amanpour. chrissy didn't veer too far off the talking points i'd prepped for her when she introduced gloria. the room was quite full (50 or so people showed up). there was anticipation in the air. gloria was lovely. we were struck by how gracious she is. she demonstrated a profound respect for the volunteers, providing some words of inspiration, then encouraging the turning of tables to hear stories and questions from the crowd. she was overwhelmingly positive, referring to herself as a "hopeaholic". she talked about where the movement has been and where we need to go, saying that the work does not stop at november 2nd, that there's so much possibility in diversity and openness to learning from other cultures. she said that intergenerational bridging is possible, and that her generation has as much to learn from young people as to teach. she said all the right things, but did any of us expect her to be that cool? did we expect her to invoke the punk voter movement, anti-flag, le tigre, and 100 black women? the questions and comments from the crowd were excellent, covering ground from organizing to electoral reform to class consciousness to mentoring to communication. gloria spoke about native teachings, the woman in every family that "nobody talks about", the ongoing stereotyping of gay men (it's really hetrosexual men who are more likely to abuse children), the lessons to be drawn from other parts of the world, and the modern reclamation of sex as power. hmmm.

gloria didn't flinch when i got all up in her face, paparazzi style, with jason's digital camera. (posting of choice pic to happen after he rolls into the office)

by the way, she looks fucking amazing. did i mention she was wearing leather pants? what a fantastic ass (shut up, we ALL commented on that, not just me). everything about her is elegant and she carries herself with tremendous grace. and she's funny. she kept talking about how she will live another 30 years to be 100. and she probably will. she's not finished yet, thank christ.

confession: i chickened out on asking her about the whole fish-and-bicycle thing, given her recent nuptuals. but maybe i'll bring it up when i get an exclusive interview with her after the election.

the trick or vote thing was frenetic but slick. our peeps got busy downstairs handing out those goodie bags to the costumed crazy people plugging state street. chrissy and her partner amy (yes chrissy, she is indeed super fly and yes, is perhaps the cooler of you two!) really got into the spirit. we didn't distribute as many as planned (don't even ask) but volunteers moved a few thousand pieces of product. and had a good time doing it, despite the chilly temp.

by the way, adam walks differently when in heels (who doesn't?) - he wore the pink pair, on my advice - his sorta strut/sway is really captivating. before we headed, exhausted, over to the annual pocan/frank halloween party, austin simply hung a placard around his neck on which was written, sans finesse, "IDAHO". a few people got it. do you?

ps: the punk voter site has a batch of links to some neat spots on the web.