Go Run - Safely Home & Afterthoughts

In the end, the sight of the snow storm from the hotel windows scared my posse & me enough to hit the road early - way early. We left at 3 pm.

I'll go over the individual sessions in separate posts, but overall it was worth it to travel to Wisconsin for a day to learn why women are needed in politics. At the beginning of November Tucker Carlon told Eleanor Smeal that women are too smart to be in politics. Well I met some brilliant women this weekend who are in politics this weekend. What Mr. Bow-tie is reallly worried about is the idea that if we do get enough women in politics the game changes.

Panel after panel, women elected to offices that ranged from local to state-wide showed that in very little time, they were changing the way that the game was being played. Being a Chicagoan I know that politics is much more than just passing laws to make this world a better, safer place. There are friends to help out, our cousin's best friend's company to gift a sweetheart contract with, and of course, limiting the freedoms of others.

While the overall tone of the training was that as women we're better suited to lead this country and world because we're more caring & nurturing, I know better than that. BUT...BUT...I do believe that most of the women who run for office are out to CHANGE things instead of out for an ego trip.

The major obstacle for women to run for office? Money? Nope. Experience? Nope. It is the lack of confidence that we can do it and the fact that we are rarely asked to run. If we're asked to run, we'll do it...If we have a supportive network.

I do have to admit that I have a pretty damn supportive husband. The elected official women talked a lot about how women are the ones who take sick days for the kids, take the kids for their shots, and clean the house. Those of you who know me know that I rarely clean my home. Which is one of the first steps for running for office - let someone else do it! Of course, it is my husband who does a lot of the cleaning or reminding to clean. When our daughter is sick we alternative who stays home with her based on whose schedule can handle it or who last did it. Sometimes if we can do it, we'll both stay home with her and work from home. 90% of the time we both take her to doctor's and dentist appointments together. Since I have the car during the day, I do them more than him, but that is only if he absolutely cannot make it.

The biggest flaw in the training was that it was so Wisconsin-centric. I guess it was nice for this Chicago gal to finally be thrown for a loop like that, but I wish I would had known that before hand. There was A LOT in the trainings that was applicable to any campaign or life in general, but there were times when my posse & I felt like we were missing out on an inside joke.

We really wanted to stay for the entire training. Claudia because of the Shirley Chisholm DVD viewing, Ruth just because, and me...the class photo & the online networking. I'm a geek like that. But I'm happy we did leave when we did. I can't imagine us getting into our cars at 11 pm and hitting the slick, icy, and snowy roads while exhausted.

Thank you to Marie Wilson for The White House Project!

Now to go put some clothes in the wash and hit the shower. I have another training this morning before the Bears game. Ah, my life is so exciting.

Technorati tags: White House Project, politics, Marie Wilson

Go Run - Building to Change

wow...I can't get over how many fabu women are in this room. We just finished up a session on building your community for change. I admit that I am horrible at being strategic about life and this session was all about planning.

More on this later.

Technorati tags: White House Project, politics, Marie Wilson

Go Run - Welcome Reception

Good morning!

Weather report - It looks cold out there, but so far no snow or rain, but everyone is warning that it will be bad later today. Hopefully it'll all happen while we're in the hotel.

So last night...it was great! The woman, er, young woman who runs the trainings is only 26. Ok, so that didn't do too much for my ego, but hey, she's doing an awesome job. She told us a little bit about who is here and we range in age from 17 to 66 years old. Seventeen!? OK, now I really feel like a slacker. But gotta say, if this had existed when I was 17, I'd be here too. We have teachers, students (my roomie is a freshman at Alverno), engineers, homemakers, crossing guards, lawyers, and activists. 25% of us don't affiliate with any major party. We have one sister-sister team and one mother-daughter team (I met them in the elevator and was wistful. My mom was PTA president...sigh).

The White Project is in Wisconsin thanks to some grants they received to work in Wisconsin. Thus a lot of the information we'll receive this weekend is based on Wisconsin data. I have no problem with that mostly because with the urban sprawl we have in Chicago, Milwaukee is just about a suburb of Chicago. That means, at least for me, what happens in Milwaukee is just as important as what happens in Naperville, Joliet, or NW Indiana.

We did learn that President Barbie will be running again in 2008. Later in the evening Marie Wilson did say that Mattel says her feet can't be fixed, but did note that by 2004 the box said "Doll needs support" instead of "Doll can not stand alone."

There was a great inspirational address by WI Representative Tamara Grisby and a really honest panel with four amazing women. Breakfast is in 10 minutes and I need to pack up, so I'll blog about that later.

Until then, enjoy some photos:

Planned Parenthood of Milwaukee was present. They had some great books on talking to kids about sex. There was even a book that was dubbed the "Our Bodies Ourselves for preteen girls." I gotta find that one!



The Latina in the photo is running for office. She's running against a long time incumbent. I wished her lots of luck.







I was told that the woman in the photo is the first African-American ever elected to state-wide office in Wisconsin and holds many "first African-American" titles in WI politics. She was like a rock star...everyone wanted a few minutes with her.

Technorati tags: White House Project, politics, Marie Wilson