Oh, this is what I do at 11:30 p.m. on a Friday night, filling out another candidate questionnaire, this one from the Oak Leaves newspaper. Mostly the same questions as other questionnaires, although with a few differences: > Why are you running for election to the board? I’m finishing up a four-year term on the …
In local politics, three women have so far filed to run for Village President of Oak Park: Simone Boutet (current village trustee), Cate Readling (with the Park district), and Vicki Scaman (current village clerk). I look forward to hearing them speak at candidate forums in the fall, and learning more about their positions. (The library …
There was a moment in grad school. Kevin and I had split up and I was desperately broken-hearted. I’d been getting up at 4 a.m. every morning to an alarm because it was the best time for me to concentrate, when the world was dark and still, writing by the light of a candle. I’d …
This is how I feel this morning — blurry, but overall hopeful. It’s Diwali, and a friend dropped off some sparklers yesterday (thanks, Swati!), so I lit one up this morning. Diwali celebrates the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil. There are a host of results from last night …
Two years ago, I dressed in suffragette white and took my daughter with me to proudly vote for America’s first woman president. I have a photo of us, standing in front of her school’s flag. This morning felt very different, and I almost wanted to dress in black — I am so full of grief …
We passed our library board budget last night, the second budget since I’ve been a trustee. I have to say, there’s a steep learning curve on this job. I’ve managed organizational budgets before, for DesiLit and the SLF, but this is an 8 to 9 million budget, managing three different libraries, and it’s another thing …
Have you been to a campaign meet-and-greet? I never had before 2016, but they turn out to be: a) fun b) a great way to meet and get a sense of candidates c) a good way to get to know your politically-minded neighbors d) a great place to grouse about current politics e) a chance …
I’m about to post a couple of asks for campaign money (for other people, not me). Before I do that, I want to repost something I wrote during my own campaign two years ago; people seemed to find it helpful. We have a very short window now until the mid-terms, and if you have …
In the Wednesday Journal.
There is something fundamentally flawed with a nation composed primarily of politicians whose own lives will not be endangered by changes in policy. Men, making decisions on reproductive rights, whose own bodies will never experience the rigors of pregnancy. The wealthy one-percenters, making decisions about minimum wage, with no understanding of what it means to …
