Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Well Done, Sister Suffragette

We meet again, my faithful blog readers! I'm riding some serious exhaustion in the wake of the Film Festival (and as I gear up for Line Breaks at my other job), but I needed to get this post out before one of my favorite holidays passes us all by. Like any great radio piece, today's post features equal parts history and shameless pleading.

But first, a disclaimer: Alice Paul is my idol (and I am not alone in this). My unadulterated love and adoration for this feisty suffragist surpasses even my devotion to (gasp) public radio. I have tried, for the sake of brevity, to limit my gushing within this audio piece - but that doesn't mean I'm an objective source for information on the subject. As with my Film Festival reporting, I am brimming with bias - and proud of it. I lose sleep over the crushing realization that I will never have the opportunity to meet the person I most admire (what with her having been born in 1885, I suppose I could hardly expect her to have stuck around waiting for my arrival). I am a card-carrying member of the Alice Paul Institute, and if you knew Alice like I know Alice, you would be too.

Rest assured, while this may be my first Alice Paul piece, it won't be my last. If, like me, learning a tiny bit about Alice has awakened in you an insatiable urge to spend as much time with her as possible, I highly recommend the film Iron Jawed Angels. It's one of my all-time favorite movies, and I'd be delighted to lend it to you, watch it with you, or, if my copy is already on loan, simply recite the entire thing from start to finish for you.

Also, there is (FINALLY) an entire published biography of Alice, with chapters and everything. I can't lend that, since it's on my Kindle, but if you stop by my place I will make you a cup of tea and hover over your shoulder while you read it.

Intro: Less than one hundred years ago, women voted for the first time in a national election. Two months ago, Lauren Peterson headed to the polls for a statewide primary - and found her chief election official with plenty of time to chat.

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