As conservative members of the Supreme Court get ready to more or less overturn Roe v. Wade, I'm thinking about lawmakers and the law. What is the law? Poet Frank Stanford says the law ain’t nothing but bluebottle flies.
I might add: the law ain't nothing but whoever is in the room at the time.
I made these little sewn books in honor of pioneering lawmakers Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm. Their nicknames--"Battling Bella" and "Fighting Shirley"--suggest how hard they worked to get and stay in the rooms where consequential decisions are made.
It's easy to admire women like these, but alongside the admiration I also want to remember that the fighters and the witches and the dissidents grapple with doubt and fear, too.
A few years ago at a celebration of life for the regionally-beloved artist Harriet M. Rosenberg, many people spoke about Harriet's toughness, her bravery and her willingness to make her own path. Then the painter Nancy Brassington stood up to the microphone and said, Yes, Harriet was courageous. But she was also vulnerable. She worried about being different. She’d ask me, Do you think I’m different? She didn’t necessarily want to be that way.
I'm grateful to all the Battling Bellas and Fighting Shirleys and Harriets who risk being different, a real risk, who endure that vulnerability of being apart from the tribe. Who show love for the tribe by confronting its failures.