Can women laugh about things they are really, really 
serious about? You've seen the knit red wiggler worms here, the variety of Condom Amulets under Safe Sex. It's one thing to write about them separately, could I combine the two in a three-minute reading at the IWWG conference? The title of this post is how I began. Oh, yes, also used the chance to pitch for listeners to read my blog--and yours too.
In the "I'm next" mode here I am with 2 knit worms wrapped around my head. Around my neck wore this particular Condom Amulet, knit with hemp, nicely set off by a dark blue blouse. The 300-plus women responded--either "Aha!" or giggle or I'm-not-sure-about-this laughter. It is hard to describe the validating environment. In the second wave of the women's movement, this was our dream. I was privieged to be able to attend. My support system includes a man with a highly developed sense of equality; many of the women I met did not have similar luxury. When women on scholarship were introduced, a new 80 year old friend remarked how rarely as elders we have the chance to be in a creative community with so many very young women and women of color.
In the days following a number of women expressed their surprise about my "news" of the growing crisis of HIV in women over 50--heterosexual women. Some wanted to know if I sold the Condom Amulets. No, but I think a selection of them could be fund-raisers for IWWG's scholarship program.
Granny Trek Alert...June 24, the Granny Peace Brigade set sail on their journey from New York City to Washinton, D.C.--arriving for peace demonstration on July 4. Did you see them
on CNN--Vinie Burrows, great grand mother and Marie Runyon, 91, and telling us to "Keep on, keeping on, to end this war!" It's been raining steadily on the east coast. Marie looked less than the crisp self you see in this photo from April's Harlem Grandmothers against the War demonstration--on Tax Day. Speaking of my neighborhood, Charlie Rangel, my congressman, delivered a generous check to their effort.
Diane Dreyfus, youngest of the group, sends me emails about their stops along the way--Friends Meeting in Plainfield, New Jersey...Borough Hall on Staten Island to join Peace Action and read the names of the 117 dead from New York State.If you'd like to read her blog and/or support the Granny Trek, click here.
Feminism, women in community, concerned grandmothers. elderbloggers--whatever title you choose--we have many faces. We are shifting the universe.