Maxine Water's Town Hall

August 22, 2009--We attended a town hall meeting at Southwestern College in Los Angeles, CA to hear what folks had to say about the hot button topic of Health Care Reform. Congresswoman Maxine Waters was the featured speaker along with a panel of distinguished guests including health care professionals who administer to the greater Los Angeles area. The energy was static and you could feel the urgency of the standing room only crowd in the theater as people lined up for a turn to voice their opinion on the mic. Their intent: to ask congresswoman Waters pointed questions or simply tell their stories of human betrayal by insurance companies and the current archaic system which fails to deliver adequate health care to themselves and their family--often resulting in death, dismemberment or permanent disability due to pre-existing conditions, lack of adequate coverage or sheer neglect. Here's a list of questions we asked the crowd of over 300 people

1. Can you afford health care?
2. How would government universal health care reform help you, your family, your community?
3. Why do you think people oppose health care reform?
4. What did you think about the town hall meeting?
5. Did it help you better understand or clear up issues concerning the reform bill?
6. How will you act from this day forward?
7. What do you think other industrialized countries think about the current U.S. debate?

The Health Care Bill is a document of over 1100 pages. One of Congresswoman's Walters Aides simplified the Bill to large posters displayed on the stage, which made it easily comprehesible to the audience. The town hall meeting was highly informative and brought a regional swath of the country together who are concerned with the lack of adequate and accessible care. Most thought that Health Care should be a right like the 1st Amendment Freedom of Speech. One of the doctors on the panel gave the WHO (World Health Organization) definition of Health which includes mental, physical, social, spiritual and economic well being. A concensus of all who attended when asked about those who oppose Health Care was fear and ignorance. One woman was appalled that no major media outlet covered the town hall meeting, especially because Congresswoman Waters hosted the event. We spoke with a young mother who informed us that Kennedy, her baby daughter, was in danger of not having health care benefits due to state budget cuts. When asked what other countries thought about the current U.S. debate, Raul said that they probably think we are ignorant bullies. He has friends and family members in Mexico and Spain and and other places that have free health care. He commented on the irony of America going around the world engaging in war and telling everyone else how to run their affairs, but sadly...we can't even provide health care for our own.

Aluta Continua

From 1959 to 2009, women have been struggling for recognition. Recognition that household labor is work that merits compensation, or in the words of the 1860 Hasting's labor strikers, Britain's laundresses demanded, “less work or more pay.” The Wash House Collective's third eye is fully dilated and Lavandería is about to be birthed. The tedium of layout & design (big ups to Will and Otim), revision and line editing is complete, and (save for the faux pas of the U.S. pony express) ready for the final phase of publication. So...we are back and want to extend our apologies for the lack of material appearing on our blog, but our energies were completely focused on selecting and organizing the work published in the anthology. We are grateful to all of you who responded to our call. We received over 500 submissions, but were limited by space and were forced into a grueling selection process which took months to complete. Michelle and Lucia flew in to L.A. from Chicago and Philly, respectively, and we read non-stop (save for Vodka Martinis and Afro-Mexi-Caribe gourmet) for 10 straight days. Still the task wasn't finished, because we had a cacophony of voices and were limited by space of what we were able to publish. Although our hands were bound by these constraints and some voices were shelved (hopefully for part two of Lavandería remixed / remeasured), in hindsight we connected with the many voices who are out there in the universal spin cycle representing--thinking, writing, challenging, revising; all the while doing domestic work that must be done in order to "keep it together," while inventing creative ways to raise families (neck-bones simmered to pot liquor perfection, garden greens glistening in their ju-juice, rib-sticking arroz con frijoles y tortilla or pepper soup to wash down whatever ails you) where ends stretch like fitted sheets but rarely meet the so-called lives of the working class-poor reclaiming their right to dry. We acknowledge all of you in national and international spaces who gestated, and took time to ponder the 4th power of words to lift mind and heart above and beyond the fray of dirty deeds. In the process of compiling your voices, we leaned over the bent back of epistemology, and deciphered how we know what we know (what's the best way to remove blood stains?) and how this knowledge informs our actions in a warring world of power moguls, diamond dealers and coltan collectors, precious stones and metals valued more than the lives of those who harvest the minerals that fuel our devices from the deep bowels of the earth. Those of you who consider words at their smallest energy level—a grunt, aiiieee, a field holla, deep breath, silent moan with the potential to resonate, to make melodies that change square behaviors into round ones washed clean with the sweat and tears of washer women reaching forward and nudging us through history to continue their labor of love. Aluta Continua, the struggle continues....