So many years, so little time!
In the 1960s-70s and the few choices in “women’s work,” I jumped at the chance to be trained as a Cabinetmaker Apprentice at GE, Schenectady, and found myself fighting for my rights in the shop and then as a pregnant worker in 1976. I joined a class action suit, and was one of many who pushed the legislation and saw the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 come into being.
A couple of kids later and the cost of childcare prohibitive, I left the workforce for a while… till I was pushed by a drawing teacher to go, learn more in college, but go! I started at night then went to days… from the 80s into the 90s, I did paper routes with my kids and projects at 4 AM until I graduated from Saint Rose Graphic Design program in 1994.
After a few false starts, I hit my stride doing the design work for New York State Theatre Institute in arts and education for a 10 year span, until the state, in its divine wisdom, decided to shut the Institute down.
Meanwhile, during these same years, advocacy for my son with learning problems and anxiety came to precious little in Troy, I found nothing would protect him from the bullying and the streets. His identity shifted as he sought out other outsider and gang kids to even the score. He careened into trouble and was arrested in a street crime. I would learn, first hand, about the criminal justice system. I looked around at the families on a visit to Bare Hill Correctional Facility in Malone and was suddenly smacked with privilege–– of being white, of having two incomes, two cars, good credit, and phone accessibility––that most of these very young women with babies did not.
I developed the NEST program (Neighbors Establishing Support in Troy), via Presbyterian funding programs, to transport family members to 4 different prison hubs on Saturdays each month for $15 or $20 per ticket. We did this for seven years…
Our church, on the leading edge of North Central, was closing. The food pantry fed neighbors but didn’t grow the church. The AA group and band that met there asked to remain, and the Presbytery said okay… I shepherded that which would become Oakwood Community Center, Inc into existence. I would learn about community advocacy writ large with little to no money.
I am retired and help with/enjoy my family and friends, yet the community work calls me back again …to the aching need for justice. And so. I remain on the Social Justice and Mission Team at my church, and serve on the Antiracism Task Force of Albany Presbytery (where we are preparing to march with the Poor People’s Campaign) and on this Justice board. Hope is the faith journey and the inspiration.