The Education of Shelby Knox

I posted a bit about about the fantastic event I did in Austin with the Campus Alliance for Progress and the Texas Freedom Network last week. We had over 100 people attend and the discussion was really smart and action focused - and the fantastic organizers on campus did almost all of their advertising and organizing for the event on Facebook. Of course I know Facebook is a huge deal, but this really lit a fire under my butt about using it even more as an organizing tool.

I was also really inspired by the groups and the people I was working with in Bevoville - I had a bit of a love/want to run from relationship with the University of Texas while I was there - and it was eye opening to go back as an alumna and see how much productive, progressive dialogue there is on campus. It was there when I was, but I know now that I never really gave the place a chance. Ah, life lessons. No, Non regrets...

I did another really cool event at the University of Chicago last night. The Progressive Gala started three years ago as the dream of one really motivated, talented, and energetic 19 year-old organizer named Holly Gillman. I spoke there that first year and it was a really fun event; hundreds of people came, they went through pounds and pounds of food, and it was the launching point for a lot campus activism. This year, however, was the Progressive Gala all grown up and wearing a formal gown- and it was one of the most interesting events I have ever done.

The theme of the night was Women in Washington, and the entire night was devoted to women's activism, all women do to change the world, and the issues that affect us. Fittingly, Gloria Steinem was the keynote speaker and was of course and as always smart, witty, and certainly more relevant and on target than any voice I have heard in the mainstream media.

There were lots of thought provoking quotes that I didn't write down because I was listening intently but my favorite Gloria teaching moment of the night was during the reception beforehand. Several parents brought their small children and, about three minutes in, both began making their discontent known. Before any of us organizers could usher them out, Gloria thanked the parents for staying and encouraged them to stay put in the room no matter what their kids did. After all, she said, we listen to airplanes and ringing phones and slamming doors - why are we so opposed to children's voices? Of course. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is walking the walk.

I was on a reproductive rights panel, fielding questions about sex ed, EC, and the Daily Show. I was on the panel with Kirsten Moore, the president of the Reproductive Health and Technologies Project, and Nikki Skies, a really intense poet and artist and organizer who teaches sex ed, self respect, and life lessons using art and poetry in California schools. There was a woman hip hop performer and spoken word artist named Amina Norman-Hawkins whose words were so genuine, dripping with truth and pain and female power, that I just stood and stared, quite rudely, even after she was done. It gave me goose bumps and was definitely a re-energizing moment for me as an activist. I love spoken word. It is the most powerful artistic medium, outside of documentary film, that I have ever experienced in terms of inspiring, inciting anger over injustice, and prompting action.

This is the longest post ever - and there is still so much more I could say about the event last night! Anyway, thanks for reading!