There's Something About the Women

In my life..... in this time of chaos and uncertainty, women are in the trenches

Activism has taken me on a lifelong, worldwide, incredibly fulfilling journey. It’s been exciting and stimulating but I sometimes felt something was missing - strong bonds with women in my hometown.

Wonderful female friends have been a part of my life, but when we were in our 30s and 40s we had little extra time to spend together. Many of us had jobs - farmers, teachers, clerks, and fulltime work that kept households together (always an underrated occupation). We had active children who participated in academics, music and sports. Every week or so we would see each other on the cross country running trail or in the auditorium and wave - but we did not have the luxury of time to do things together. We knew we would always be there when needed and that was enough then. As we grew older other interests and people captured our time which led to spending less time in each other’s company.

That has changed. Since COVID I don’t travel as much, I am older and have been closer to home than during my working years. Our children are grown and have their own families. Now we attend our grandchildren’s activities. My time is sort of flexible, certainly more than when I was working and raising children.

More time on the farm has brought me a gift; the gift of having close friendships built around social justice issues. I have found kindred souls; women who love and support each other as advocates and activists in the place where we call home but feel alienated and sometimes unwelcomed. We are women who speak our minds and thus are labeled for being disagreeable, assertive or aggressive. That doesn’t stop us, it annoys us, but it does not stop us.

“Something About the Women in My Life”, a song that I dearly love evokes feelings of the strength and fortitude of my female counterparts, be they sisters, daughters, granddaughters, nieces or friends. Folksinger Holly Near wrote the song that comes from her album “Simply Love”. Her melodic voice is unforgettable. She was born six months before me in 1949 and her life has been dedicated to social justice issues as has mine so I feel a special kinship with her.

The chorus is simply:

“There is something about the women, something about the women, something about the women in my life.”

Thursday mornings I am at my desk with my cup of fair trade, organic Earl Grey tea when the 9:00 zoom brings our activist group together. We live within a forty mile radius and the wonderful world of technology brings us together. We enter the zoom from our kitchens, study’s, offices and dining rooms.

The “work” we do is in honor of those who have come before us. We abide by the words of John Lewis, civil rights activist and public servant - make good trouble. These unruly elders, share and plan activities that further the cause of democracy. Most are retired and volunteer delivering food, working at food banks and keeping the county Democratic Party alive. I first wrote about them in October 2023 Making Room for Activism. We all have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and extended family. Southwest Iowa activists organized after the 2016 election and have been advocates in their communities organizing resistance to the ongoing slaughter of our government.

It’s not an easy task to organize in a rural area that once had hues of purple. Many folks have written us off as deep red rural. We beg to differ. In our lifetime we have had blue representation that perhaps we took for granted. It’s hard for us to comprehend that some of our families, neighbors and church members have gone to the dark side. With resistance and persistence some of us have hope that democracy will survive.

Spending a lovely hot July afternoon in the Red Oak town square. Reproductive rights is on the agenda.

Our shared leadership includes an anti-Carbon Pipeline warrior and an education advocate who brings in her background of education, mediation and organizing. An activist who helps us understand google documents, social media and zoom idiosyncrasies has strong ties with her Methodist community. Our retired teacher adds her years of experience as an educator and family farm supporter. The postcard writer, always urging us to get together to write postcards, spent some of her years as a teacher and a school principal. I bring my years of advocating for women in agriculture and agriculture in general.

Not only do I have the women in Southwest Iowa as activist partners, I am now a part of another group of champions right in my own county. These women have backgrounds in finance, data analysis, teaching and business development. What a team! We are working hard to revive a weak county Democratic party. I am grateful for my political allies who actively work to improve our local, state and national government.

We conduct voter registration activities, hold events, decorate floats, raise money for candidates and hold parties to celebrate our work - needless to say there has been very little to celebrate since November. It is wonderful to have a sisterhood who care deeply about the communities we live in. We often feel like strangers in a strange land even though several of us have lived here all our lives.

Working hard to let Cass County folks that Democrats do exist. Letting those hidden Dems know they have a home.

Women continue to be a gathering force to stand against the tyranny that is taking over our country We gather together specifically to defend democracy.

I have other friends who are quilters, travel together, play cards, go to plays and do community volunteer work. We all pick activities that we fit into and feel most comfortable with. Mine is social justice. I am grateful that there are women in my life who are willing to step up and speak out.

“There’s something about the women, something about the women, something about the women in my life.”