A Night To Remember

Well, my tremendous high I described earlier just got higher. TODAY was THE PANEL...the one that had been consuming my thoughts and actions all month! Now it is over, and all I can say is WOW.

We got a fabulous turnout and a beautiful room in the union. The room had hanging lights, painted portraits, and mirrors lining it, and there were lots of little tables and chairs. I made use of one of those little tables to put my pro-choice goodies and email listing. We nearly filled the room. It's a little hard to tell exactly how many people were there because some left early and some came late, but I am not complaining.

The panel got off to a rocky start because one of the presenters didn't show up. I was a little nervous when I went up to speak, but I got some good applause and the presenters all thanked me. We had two folks from the Office of Women's Programs, one from RCS, and one from the Sexual Health peers. They were great! They had a great dynamic and really played off of one another's views really well. Pat from OWP told some of her personal stories, and she was really aggressive and driven. Suzanne and Kim were more calm and rational. And Ross was just his male-feministic self. They briefly discussed some of the basics of being pro-choice, and then the questions came fast and furious! There were people from all kinds of political/experience/age/past backgrounds, and it was neat hearing what they had to say. Even the pro-lifers in the audience. I'm not into their viewpoint, but they were nice and polite about it, which is good. The chairman of the Champaign County Democrats, Tony Fabri, even showed up and it seemed like he was really getting into it (of course I know him from my many events with those Dems, and he's even on the Fem Maj listserv). It was more of a discussion than one or both of us standing up and screaming our heads off! My favorite part was when Pat began talking about comprehensive sex education and Plan B accessibility and legal abortions, because she then said, "And I am especially grateful to ALEX here, who has been fighting ceaselessly to get these for all of us!" I'm in the front row, so I'm sure she saw my face-cracking grin! And there were lots of plugs for the fabulous Feminist Majority Foundation, and lots of them thanking me for bringing them out. Afterward, I made the rounds, thanking people for coming, and I got a lot of people thanking me for hosting the panel (including those Illini For Lifers, who said that it was interesting and that they'd like to have me discuss my views with them). After the panel, I gathered up my stuff and met my friends Celine, Lihy, and Amy at Espresso Royale, where we discussed all sorts of liberal topics over coffee until the late hours of the night. Celine and Amy really came through; Amy by offering extra credit to her students for coming and Celine by making enormous banners for it at Allen.

Then, today, my inbox was flooded with emails from people thanking me for putting on the panel. Tony wrote that there was a lot of stuff covered that even he didn't know. The other panelists seemed to enjoy being there. We got several new prospective members for Fem Maj, who wrote to inquire about it. All in all, a night to remember and definitely something to put on for next year!