Don't Despair, Women Will Save Us

But only if you start voting in state and local elections

I love how America is finally like, wait what? Project 2025, um no thank you. Kudos to folks like SC native

Andra Watkins

, who has been reporting on it for awhile now, and to this gay furry hacker group for exposing more of the Heritage Foundation’s grossness. I know it’s a tenuous time right now, and I know it should be Kamala Harris running, but we don’t have much control over who’s at the top of the ticket. But there is still so much we can do, and you know I’ve said it before, but now is the time to really get invested in state and local races.

If you’re in the Upstate, I hope by now you’ve signed up to volunteer with Kathryn Harvey’s campaign to unseat philanderer Timmons as our congressperson (if you’re out of state, consider donating). But so many women are stepping up to run throughout the district (I’ve been thinking of

lyz

’s reminder a few weeks ago that no one is coming to save us, so we must save ourselves, and these women are doing it). Dr. Octavia Amaechi and Angela Geter are both running for the SC Senate, and after the Republican party primaried all of their women senators and ran them out, we need them now more than ever.

Literal supermom. Thank you, Dr. Amaechi.

Five women are running for the SC House in our area, including Chandra Dillard, who has been serving District 23 since 2008, and Rosalyn Henderson-Myers, who has represented District 31 since 2017. Dillard and Henderson-Myers are two of only six Black women in the SC House. Ysante McDowell is running for District 30, and if they all win, that could up the number to seven Black women in the House.

From Ysante McDowell’s campaign Facebook page. Government looks good on you, Candidate McDowell!

JR Taylor is running for House District 38 (love that reproductive freedom is front and center on her site), and Shauna Johnson (a nurse practitioner, more medical professionals in government, please!) is running for District 24. We need these women’s voices, experience and wisdom in our state legislature to fight against the bro-tastic fascist Freedom Caucus and all the other (mostly men) legislators that are like, whoa dude, where did we even put that 1.8 billion in tax payer money? (Seriously, here’s that story about our incompetent leaders.) Even if you’re not in their district, consider donating time and/or money to help their campaigns. At the Greenville County level, Karine Debaty is running for a council seat in District 22.

If Johnson can be a nurse AND run for elected office, you can phone bank for her.

It can feel overwhelming to face so much far-right fascism and hardcore attacks on LGBTQ and women’s rights. And hey, it’s ok if you’re not a gay furry computer hacker, there’s always something you can do to fight and take back power. (Speaking of, don’t forget to order your copy of Do The Work: A Guide to Understanding Power and Creating Change for our bookclub discussion next month.) So turn that hand wringing into action, even if that action is just taking a break to recharge (me the last two weeks).

My favorite way to disconnect is to read novels I’m not teaching or writing about, and my favorites this summer have been Miranda July’s All Fours, Mona Awad’s Rouge (she is so weird, I love it), Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, Alice Hoffman’s The Invisible Hour (rewriting of The Scarlet Letter) and my friend Kathleen Williams Renk’s imagining of the lives of Christina Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal in The Rossetti Diaries (starring an academic protagonist, always fun). If you get a chance, come join

Matriarchy Report

and their bookclub discussion of All Fours.

Summer book club! Who wants to read Miranda July's "All Fours" with me?

All Fours is being hailed as the great perimenopausal novel and can I just say, as I’m about to turn 45, that I’m very grateful for the sudden boom in (peri)menopausal research and literature? So many women must have felt so crazy without understanding this life change. Thanks to all the women doing the work to help the entire half of humanity that goes through this phase. Also thank you to my therapist. And read this by

Tracy Collins

(I was especially struck by the suicide rate info):

Perimenopause Is Murdering Our Careers

And finally, consider coming out to support the local arts scene. The South Carolina New Play Festival is in Greenville August 8-11, and you can get free tickets to the shows here. It’s a really fabulous lineup. And next month Centre Stage is producing a new play, …And Getting Caught in the Rain, featuring a non-binary main character. Look to the arts to imagine the future we all want. Happy weekend!