Extra! Extra! Read All About It!!!

So here we are folks, welcome to the very first post on Have Soapbox, Will Travel!

For those of you who may not know me, in the interest of full disclosure, let me share some home truths about your's truly:

• I am a woman - a feminist in fact, who for the next 15 months will continue to enjoy the Down-Slope to 30.
• I am a liberal - a Democrat to be exact.
• I am a Catholic - however, in no way should I be taken to be representative of the entire community.
• I am proud to be an American - I think that quite frequently the best parts of our ideology as Americans get lost, or blatently ignored. To me liberty and justice for all means just that, liberty and justice FOR ALL.
• I am the Iron Goddess of Justice - just kidding, sort of. Come hell or high water I am willing to do what it takes to make this world a better place, a place where everyone is ensured of their rights to life, liberty, adn the pursuit of happiness (as the saying goes ...) I should note that by "right to life" I mean the right to self-determination. ;) 
• My cat, Callie the Wondercat, is the greatest cat.
• I love red shoes.
• Also celery and dinosaurs.

So today's inaugural post will feature two issues that I am extrememly passionate about - rascism and women's rights. The linked article from feministing.com is about a 67 year old case in Alabama where an African American woman, Recy Taylor, was raped by 7 white men in 1944 and NEVER SAW JUSTICE.

This case has been brought to the attention of the Alabama State Legislature and a House resolution has been proposed calling for an official state apology to Mrs. Taylor. At the end of the article there is another link that will take you to a petition on Change.org demanding a public apology.

Now, I don't know about you, but part of me feels like this is kind of a case of "too little, too late" but then again, "better late than never."  I do think it important to recognize how far we've come in the years since Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Women's Movement of the 20th Century. But we are not done yet. We still have a long way to go ...

"To the wrongs that need resisting, to the right that needs assistance, to the future in the distance - give yourselves."
-Carrie Chapman Catt

Peace, Peeps.

Speak Up and Speak Out.



**Special shout-out and a multitude of Gold Star Stickers to Meg Jones, Ace Reporter for introducing me to feministing.com**