NPFC At the Rally to Fight Back! 2013

New Paltz Feminist Collective was represented at the Rally to Fight Back! A march for women's rights in New Paltz, yesterday. Speaking at this event was the most empowering, beautiful thing I could have done. I saw a lot of my peers there, and the passion with which I spoke really even surprised me. I was so proud to be there. Great women and great men were in attendance, and the energy that came off the crowd during this speech was absolutely phenomenal. The march felt even more powerful, shouting things like "When you get pregnant, let us know! Sexist men have got to go!" and other really cool chants given to us by Donna Goodman, the Hudson Valley WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend) organizer, and the organizer of the rally itself. The march went from Peace Park on Plattekill Avenue, down Main St., through Water Street Market, and back. Of the phenomenal speakers, I got the chance to meet Elizabeth Gross, the original founder of the New Paltz Feminist Collective, Ariana Basco, a local elected official, and Jack Smith, the editor of the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter. It was a really amazing and exciting day, and the best way to kick off the semester for the collective--and best of all, the best way to FIGHT BACK! Cait O'Connor

‘Cause the thing is, you and the guys you hang out with may not really mean anything by it when you talk about crazy bitches and dumb sluts and heh-heh-I’d-hit-that and you just can’t reason with them and you can’t live with ‘em can’t shoot ‘em and she’s obviously only dressed like that because she wants to get laid and if they can’t stand the heat they should get out of the kitchen and if they can’t play by the rules they don’t belong here and if they can’t take a little teasing they should quit and heh heh they’re only good for fucking and cleaning and they’re not fit to be leaders and they’re too emotional to run a business and they just want to get their hands on our money and if they’d just stop overreacting and telling themselves they’re victims they’d realize they actually have all the power in this society and white men aren’t even allowed to do anything anymore and and and…

I get that you don’t really mean that shit. I get that you’re just talking out your ass.
But please listen, and please trust me on this one: you have probably, at some point in your life, engaged in that kind of talk with a man who really, truly hates women–to the extent of having beaten and/or raped at least one. And you probably didn’t know which one he was.

And that guy? Thought you were on his side.

http://sanitywatchers.tumblr.com/post/3090698963/cause-the-thing-is-you-and-the-guys-you-hang-out

Eve Ensler's recent speech on TED.com

A speech by the creator of The Vagina Monologues.

To Be of Use, by Marge Piercy

The time has come, the walrus said.

This semester was truly inspiring. I can not say enough about what the collective has done for the New Paltz community and the individuals who make up that community as a whole. These past couple of months presented a lot of challenges for the women involved in the collective I know, including overwhelming feelings, family problems and health issues- personal issues that sometimes seem like the feelings of hardship will never cease. But I can speak from personal experience to say that it is in those moments of activism- in facilitating positive change and seeing the benefits reaped in not just your own personal development but in those around you- helps beyond words can express.
With that said, I would like to post a poem by Marge Piercy that was given to the students in my Practicum for Women's Studies class by Professor Nancy Schniedewind (a lovely and inspirational powerful woman.) Marge Piercy wrote Women on the Edge of Time... which is a novel about a woman who is presented an option for a world view based on independence and collective empowerment, a more anarchist based state of being, read it if you can. It really sums up my thoughts on activism and how everyone's personal experiences, if shown to the greater community, can be immensely positive for the group as a whole.

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bounding like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck and move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

Have a great end of the semester, and thank you for being beautiful.
Ellie

The Hanger Project

Amplify has created what they have called The Hanger Project, made to spread awareness about the restrictions anti-choice legislators are trying to put on abortion through the health care reform bill.

Join The Hanger Project, and learn about how you can help fight against politicians in Washington attempting to take away our legal right to have an abortion. Download and print the Hanger Project's awesome flyers and hang them on wire hangers around your town or on your campus. I think we could get many more people to join our fight, but first we need to educate them on what is happening. Awareness is key.

Pro-Choice Slam Poetry

Here is Sonya Renee at the Individual World Poetry Slam Finals 2006.