Gloria Steinem: My Life on the Road

Gloria Steinem started her talk to a well deserved standing ovation.  We started by celebrating the SCOTUS ruling announced Friday morning and moved on to the journey and travels that Gloria Steinem went on, the daughter of a gypsy who prided himself on never wearing a hat or having a job.  She told us that she hates the hierarchy implied in the set-up of the room and asked us to imagine we were sitting in a circle as equals.  They turned up the lights for a bit so that she could see all of our faces and who she was talking to.  She was interactive and caring and really listened during the Q&A.

She talked about some of the monumental things she did such as Ms. Magazine, giving a shout out to the librarians at Mount Diablo School who fought censorship in their library to keep the magazine on their shelf for those who wanted access.  She highlighted again and again the strengths of libraries and librarianship.  The strength in the people she surrounds herself with.  And the equality for all that she continues to fight for and believe in.

Instead of paraphrasing, one of the most important quotes I took from the talk, published in Publisher's Weekly:  

"Pressing send," she said, "is not organizing,” adding that while she reveres the written word, “something happens in a room" that can’t happen on a page. “I hope that as we democratize knowledge we also understand the importance of libraries as places where we can physically come together."

Some recommended reading from Gloria Steinem:

• Sex and World Peace by Valerie M. Hudson, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Mary Caprioli, and Chad F. Emmett

• Mermaid and the Minotaur by Dorothy Dinnerstein

Really, of course, she was there to promote her own book, "My Life on the Road", due out October 27.  I'm excited to read it -- the excerpt she shared was funny, insightful, and defying stereotypes and expectations at every turn.