feminot

Wouldn't it be nice if feminist organizations like N.O.W. started actually DOING things like arranging day care, work and professional training, teen activity centers, and other community works? I was thinking of this the other evening, possibly as a tangent from thinking about a recent murder of a woman I used to be neighbors with (by her husband*, in front of their kids. She was pregnant with his third kid).

In the news, it said the cops had been called for a fight between the husband and wife earlier in the day. I can attest to the constant yelling coming from the man's mouth when A____ and I lived in that apartment building. Another news story reported that a neighbor had said she was planning to leave her husband. She and I weren't close but we were neighborly. We hung out in a neighbor way, you know? Not like the neighbors you never talk to, like the neighbors you say hi to and stop and chat when you have time. The neighbors you stand outside looking at a rainbow with and smoking a cigarette between the small raindrops.

It wasn't a direct line of thought from this woman to the end point of thinking of feminism as hands on community activism and agency. It was more that the issue of access to pro-woman resources are very limited. E.g., that area of CT (where I used to live) has NO women's shelter, no women's community center, and the NOW chapter at the college less than 5 miles up the road busies itself with feel good activities like being pen pals with girls in juvy.

Fuck, you know?

So that arena of thought made me think, what if there were feminist based women's services in this area? Would my former neighbor have utilized them? Would she have sought them out? Possibly, but my experience in a working class, low(er) income population is that the concept of a "women's center" evokes notions of hairy legged ladies holding patchouli drenched menstrual lodges and the like. Ok, possibly not so extreme but you get the idea. But what if there were actual useful services to be had? What if we took a page from the neo-fundie-cons and started actually providing practical resources to the community? Would this woman have gone someplace that offered free day care and laundry facilities? Yeah, probably. Even if it was staffed by hair legged patchouli stinkin' feminists.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts from this week. There's been lots of "fear and loathing" here in CT lately - the shooting last week rocked me a bit. My closer to home life is good though. I'm leaving grad school, the departure is imminent and I am truly, honestly, and openly relieved. Yes, looking for a job freaks me out a bit but I've had some interviews and I am holding my own. It feels good.

* = technically I'm not sure they were married but they had been together for years and had two kids.