I'm not sure what I was looking for from her talk. I keep telling everyone the story of Allen Ginsberg, how he came to town when I was a grad student and I didn't go, and then he died. I never wanted to make that mistake again, to pass up the chance to be in the presence of one of my icons. So, perhaps that's all I wanted to be able to say--I saw her. I got more. It was not as transcendent as many poetry readings I go to or as intellectually fulfilling as a good lecture by Coontz, but it did make me stand tall as a feminist. It reminded me how powerful and necessary feminism is.

I showed up at Benaroya Hall, and I was with my people. Literally, I saw people I knew from synagogue, the writing world, jazzercise, my doctor, and my down the street neighbors--besides meeting a dear friend. But these strangers also were the people who debated feminist hermeneutics with me, worked the hotline at the battered women's shelter, the ones who sat in consensus circles, marched for women's lives and to take back the night. They were the generation before me walking door to door for the ERA and the generation after shouting their abortions. It's such a buzz to be with your people. And it was a total love fest. During the Q&A people were shaking, about to faint, overwhelmed with the chance to thank her and share their stories.

The highlights of the talk:

-- the 1977 National Women's Conference, the most important event you don't know about. I'm sure I read about it since I took a lot of Women's Studies in college, but it obviously didn't stick. I'm going to learn about it now.

--On the wall at Ms. magazine "It's 10:00 p.m., do you know where your clitoris is?"

--In the fifties the most important and last decision a woman made was whom to marry.

--She dedicated the book to the doctor in London who made it possible for her to have an abortion. He said, "If I do this, you must promise to live the life you want."

--Mrs. Greene, Wilma Mankiller, Alice Walker. . .she made a strong case that there is multi-culturalism in the feminist movement.

--Ask the turtle. It was a great story on herself whose moral was in social justice work, let the people effected be the experts on what needs to be done for them.

I was stunned by the amount of energy Gloria (as she asked us to call her) had at 81. She went solid for two hours. I was inspired, reinvigorated, and proud to be a feminist.