Big mouth strikes again

Tonight I went to a great event put on by my local MP who’s a member of the NDP, a nice woman and someone I became a fan of when her office helped me get my passport renewed in the final days before my last trip abroad. (long story but the gov’t had it for 4 months and I got it the week before I left)

The event was in honour of International Women’s Day (March 8^th) and the theme was women in politics. I had no idea what it would be about but was invited to it when I met Denise Savoie (the MP) again at January’s Green Drinks gathering in Victoria. I had lobbied Denise last February when we had a med student day of action on parliament hill where I learned about leadership and lobbying from the Canadian medical student federation (or whatever they’re called). It was a good & interesting experience and generally I came away with the impression that the actual role of a politician doesn’t really appeal to me, but the change they can make does. Anyway, tonight I thought the event would be about women being involved in parliament which I’m still curious about: what’s different for women there, why would someone want to be a politician, what sacrifices do they make and most importantly, do they actually get to move forward the issues that they’re most passionate about. But it wasn’t about that. Tonight’s event was about women making change in a wide variety of ways – through art (like poetry, music, etc), becoming a personal advocate for an issue (e.g. childcare access, transportation issues) and the social groups that women tend to belong to/form. Of course, my friend and fellow SASSY member encouraged me to stand up and share about our little SASSY group – the idea behind it & how it works. Me, being the big mouth that I am, did just that. I was kinda surprised at the reaction that it got. At the end of the evening one women wove it into her speech as a way that women bring about political change, another women asked me a few questions about it and provided encouragement for it (espousing that SASSY involvement could cure post-partum depression for some moms – which may fly in the face of the psychiatric treatments for depression I’m reading about this week) and then a very enthusiastic & friendly young woman from Denise Savoie’s office (who was actually the critical person involved in getting my passport for me) sought out an invitation to join our group so that she could stop driving her friends crazy talking about “issues” all the time. Hmm. Good thing my friend suggested I mention it afterall. Heck, maybe a few of them will go off and start a chapter of their own. That’d be cool. I think the description of it as a "book club like" monthly meeting of friends discussing social justice/environmental issues made it fairly accessible for people. (all but perhaps the women's studies students who were scowling in the corner at anything anyone had to say. it's amazing how some people can take something positive and make it so negative. weird) Anywa, it was a good introduction to international women’s day overall and to expanding my definition of politics. Who knew that SASSY was such a political tool? I guess it’s obvious but I've never really thought of it like that.