671 Miles

October 24, 2018

I landed in Chicago, drove to Peoria. From Peoria I drove back to Chicago. From Chicago I drove to Pewaukee, Wisconsin. From Pewaukee I drove back to Chicago to fly to New York. All in all I drove a total of 671 miles through the mid west. It was an awesome week. 

Bradley University in Peoria – you rock! What a tight knit community of feminists I found. The Women’s and Gender Studies Department at Bradley could not have been more impressive – they assembled about 200 students for my talk “PUSH/PUSHBACK, 9 Steps to Make a Difference with Activism and Art.” There was an article in the Peoria Journal Star before my appearance. Some very smart man wrote a nasty comment about the article and thus, had to great fortune to have my own personal security detail in the form of campus Police and Officer Rossi.  

Thanks so much for this reassuring presence. Yes, these days there needs to be a police presence at feminist events. 

Lynne Swanson, Kim Scott, Mary Brolley, Sarah Glover and all of the rad feminists of Bradley, thanks for making me feel like a member of the Bradley Feminist In-Crowd. 

Thirty students even managed to make a bunch of incredible posters in an hour and a half workshop (this normally takes 2 and a half hours).

The posters were focused on privilege, sexism, climate change and race.  

Thanks to student Hannah Snidman for the great article in the Bradley Scout and Mary Brolley for the fabulous photos. 

Okay, I admit it. Illinois was where I fell in love with Panera. I mean with all that travel, Panera provided great coffee, macaroons, soba bowls and breakfast sandwiches.  

From Bradley it was off to University Chicago and The Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. Gina Olson and the Center’s crew organized a feminist party at Midway Studios and the Grey Center – an old artists studio right on campus. My podium was an old easel – apropos. I really enjoyed talking selfies with the audience before the program and schmoozing with the late afternoon crowd.  There was food, drink, music and Center for Gender Studies blue everywhere. Thanks U of Chicago for the packed house. 

 My trip to Pewaukee was to visit an old friend living in a senior center there. He organized a pow wow of the residents. I tried to help them strategize a way for them to demand better food. They promise to keep me posted on their elder actions. 

It was a week on the road in the Midwest. Will not forget the driving – through wind farms, corn fields, Chicago and the Sears Tower, the malls of Pewaukee and through the sprawling O’Hare airport. 

See you again soon, Midwest.

Love , Aphra