Wake-Up Call

Today was literally a wake-up call to everyone. The entire class was struggling to stay awake during the first hour of class, which was probably a result of a long weekend and the fact that Starbucks is now closed for renovation. It was also a wakeup call because the majority of the class was focused on discussing and researching for our action plans and also for our Amazing Women Monologues. The time spent researching was definitely appreciated, and the one-on-one meetings with Kisa were extremely useful as well. It was both exciting and intimidating to see my action plan begin to form into something more solid.
After class, my cohort and I met Mrs. Williams at the Brown Bookstore, where she bought us all a Brown sweatshirt. Afterwards I went to “the Rock”, one of Brown’s libraries. I went to get a book on Alice Waters, who is my Amazing Woman, but discovered so much more. The resources seemed unlimited, and I wanted to check out almost every book that was there. I ended up studying in the library for the rest of the afternoon, which I discovered was a great alternative to the distracting dorm.
At seven we watched the movie “Iron Jawed Angels” with our class. The movie was about Alice Paul and the National Women’s Association. I have to admit that this was a topic I knew almost nothing about. I was shocked to learn about their picketing in front of the White House, and the resistance shown by President Woodrow Wilson and his administration. In school, all the history books had said was that the political system abroad (WWI) prevented Wilson from fixing many of the domestic issues, such as Women’s suffrage. What shocked me even more was that they were imprisoned for 60 days for “obstruction of traffic”, and how incredibly mistreated and abused they were at the prison. I was also shocked and horrified to learn about Alice Paul’s hunger strike, and then being force-fed raw eggs through a tube so that she wouldn’t be considered a martyr. The NWA’s continual fight even in the face of death was both inspiring and terrifying, but the final victory in form of the 19th Amendment proved that if you care and believe in a cause, anything is possible.