Gloria

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to see Gloria Steinem speak at the 92nd Street Y as part of the Makers project.  She was every bit as brilliant and witty as I had built her up to be.  She also happened to be strikingly youthful and exuded a relaxed, palpable joy.  At one point an audience member asked her (in more words) how she has avoided being worn down by a lifetime of going head to head with misogyny.  She replied (again, in more words) that the women's movement is a bottom-up, communal movement and a joy that assures you that you're not crazy, the system is.

This weekend, I began to read Gloria Steinem's latest book, her first in two decades, My Life on the Road.  At age 81, she has spent most of her life traveling: as the daughter of a roving salesman, as a bright-eyed twenty-something in India, as a journalist and of course most famously as a self-described itinerant feminist organizer.  So, she has gathered her notes and journals and composed a beautiful meditation on the traveling life and global communities.

I'm only halfway through, but one of the most noteworthy takeaways (all the more so in our era of digitized communities) is the importance of shared physical spaces.  Although Gloria began her career as a writer and had a fear of public speaking, she began to tour the lecture circuit after her interest in the women's movement was stifled by editors.  She sings the praises of campuses and particularly bookshops - where anyone can join in the exchange of ideas.  

The New York Times review noted that Gloria largely ignored the social debates happening online.  Instead, she offers a gentle reminder of the alchemy that can happen when ideas, even wildly different world views, meet face to face.