Local Women Matter
I live in Berkeley, and many people here are movers and shakers on a national – or even global – scale. Within a 15-block radius of my house live Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, founders of MoveOn.Org; Laura D’Andrea Tyson, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Clinton Administration; Robert Reich, Clinton’s Labor Secretary; Michael Pollan, acclaimed author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma (and much more); Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse, the Edible Schoolyard and champion of School Lunch reform; Alice Walker – The Color Purple (etc. etc.); Michael Lewis – Moneyball (etc. Read More
Don't Let Anyone Stand in Your Way
In 1968 our country was adjusting to losing a great man, leader and the voice that was Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To many his passing had symbolized the end of the civil rights movement. What more could blacks want? We had successfully fought and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which opened once closed and forbidden doors for people of color to have equal access to public accommodations. We were given our right to vote with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and 10 years prior Brown v. Board of Education desegregated our schools. So what else could we possible need? Read More
Unity: What Political Candidacy Means to Me
I have been coming to this place of political candidacy for a very long time. I grew up in a family where public service, political participation and contribution to the political process were paramount and almost mandatory. I grew up in Latin America/Caribbean where participation in the political process could for a segment of our society be the difference between life and death, between eating and starvation. We believed in the process. We believed in participating in order to effect change and make a difference in the lives of ourselves, our families and our communities. Read More
I Carried a Box
It seems like such a strange statement to use to describe a defining moment in your life, and yet for me, that's exactly what it is. My initial reaction to the honor of carrying a box of recall petitions into the Government Accountability Board on January 17th was pure excitement. I couldn't wait to turn in the signatures we had all worked so hard to collect. That feeling of exhilaration continued throughout that evening as we celebrated the victory of over 1 million signatures collected. We laughed as we hugged and congratulated each other on a job well done. Read More
Brimming with Excitement
For so many reasons, 2012 looks to be a year filled with excitement, possibilities, and great potential for myself and for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Having just completed my Emerge Massachusetts new member orientation, I am looking forward to our classes, to getting to know my classmates better, and to using what I learn to hopefully better my community. During our orientation, we each learned so much about each other already and I am honored to have been selected to learn and work alongside such inspiring women. Read More
The Women are Here
As 2011 drew to a close, newspapers, magazines, and blogs scrambled to compile the traditional "year-end" lists, ranking the events and milestones of the previous year. Reading some of these lists and thinking over how I would remember 2011, I looked back on major world events that had transpired as well as my own professional and personal milestones. Read More
Taking It Into Our Own Hands
America saw its first female vice presidential nominee the year I was born. I knew Geraldine Ferraro as the name on a campaign button in my dad's collection of political memorabilia. She was, to me, a relic of the past. Now, I know how truly recent this transformation of our democracy has been. Only in the past four decades have a substantial number of women started to run and be elected to public office in the United States. Read More
Salute: Embracing 100 Years at the Ballot Box
Eagerly sitting in front of my computer anticipating the start of my first blog, I cannot help but marvel at the realization that I AM a participant of Emerge California Class of 2012, and recognizing the 100 Year Anniversary of California women securing the right to vote. Thanks to the suffragettes and California voters of 1911, a passion for equality and justice drive me to join the proud lineage of women in elected offices. Every year a significant number of courageous women join the sisterhood of Emerge and live up to its mission to increase the number of women in elected offices. Read More
My Candidacy Has Begun!
Your candidacy begins today . . . with these words on a sheet of paper from Emerge I started my Emerge fellowship! I must admit that I was nervous to begin my Emerge experience I remember while in law school looking at fellow classmates who every one "knew" would one day go into politics and thinking: "What "dirt bags!" . . . and now I am one of them . . .well at least in theory I am. My journey to the Emerge program has been anything but linear. I have always known that I wanted to be an agent of change but I always assumed that would occur as an attorney and/or a community activist. Read More
A seat at the table is only good if you use it
It was 2 am and as the last guest was leaving, he asked "are you sure that you don't want me to stay with you guys?" They said "No, but thanks and we'll let you know when we hear." It had been a long night of listening to election returns and Roxanne Lara was barely ahead with the absentee and early votes still out. Roxanne and her husband headed to bed not knowing if she was going to be the next Eddy County Commissioner in District 5. Four hours later, Roxanne learned that she won by exactly 250 votes. Read More