Boston Speaker Series - Gloria Steinem

Boston Speaker Series

Allison Kornet, US English Teacher and Faculty Advisor to The Vanguard

Claire Pingitore, Klara Kuemmerle, Sophie Collins Arroyo, and Laila Shadid accompanied me to the Boston Speakers Series at Symphony Hall to hear Gloria Steinem last night (11/19). She was an inspiration! We sat in the balcony afterward discussing what we'd heard until the ushers kicked us out.  

Some great quotes from her:

"Until Congress looks like the country, there's probably something wrong."

"If the laws are unjust, we won't obey them."

On being 84: "At my age, most people are dead!"

"Laughter is the only free emotion... you can't compel it. Never go anywhere they won't let you laugh."

"Kindness must be the single most important quality on earth."

"There's no more reason why everybody with a uterus should be a mother than everyone with vocal chords should be an opera singer."

On the topic of why white married and uneducated women voted for Trump, she quoted Harriet Tubman, who said "I could have freed thousands more if only they knew they were slaves."

"Let's remember Trump is not the president. He lost by 6 million votes. He won by the electoral college, which is a remnant of slavery."

The most progress feminism has had is in our heads and hearts, our consciousness. The least is in the economy. We on't say that equal pay for women would be the greatest possible stimulus we could ever have (which it would be).

Asked to whom she will pass her torch, she said, "I'm not giving up my torch. I'm using it to light the torch of other people. If we're looking at one torch, no wonder we don't know where the hell we're going."