Reading Rambo

Due to my extreme interest and involvement in Frances Willard, I was invited by someone who works with the Frances Willard Historical Association to attend the Illinois League of Women Voters' luncheon in honor of its 95th year of existence AND its founder Carrie Chapman Catt AND women in politics.

This was held at the Place of Fancytimes, i.e. the Union League Club. Would you like to see its fanciness, yes of course you would:


The speaker was Dianne Bystrom, the director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. The main reason I was excited was because there was going to be a talk on Carrie Chapman Catt. WOULDN'T YOU BE SHE IS VERY IMPORTANT. 


She was the president of NAWSA (National American Woman's Suffrage Association), which is the group Alice Paul SPLINTERED from because she wanted them to be more radical. But Catt worked with Susan B. Anthony and Jane Addams and Elizabeth Stone Blackwell and Anna Howard Shaw and basically everyone important to the suf…

I needed to photocopy something, so I ran to the library after work. As I headed upstairs, I glanced at the Visiting Authors board as I always do, and was about to keep going when suddenly -- "Emma Donoghue. March 20. 3:30 PM."

WHAT. What was today? Surely the 19th. NO IT WAS THE 20TH. AND IT WAS 5 PM. WHY GOD. WHY DID YOU DO THIS.

Utterly dejected and pondering the meaninglessness of existence, I trudged the rest of the way upstairs. 'But perhaps she's still here!' I suddenly thought, and made my way to the security desk.

"Do you know if the Emma Donoghue event is over?"

Two extremely kind guards said maybe it was, as it was almost 5:30, but there was no harm in taking the elevator to the basement floor and checking.

So I did. And you know what? The 3:30 event was over. BUT THERE WAS ANOTHER AT 6.

And suddenly there I was. In a ridiculously not-full auditorium, watching Emma Donoghue speak.

She was charming. She was tall. She was Irish-Canadian.

She read from …