Ms. Cruise

Judy and I are just back from the Ms.Post-Election Cruise to the Caribbean. There were 150 men and women who gathered together for serious discussions and analysis of the election, and the future as well as the current situation of the magazine itself.

Karen Williams and I provided an evening of music and comedy which helped all of us to breathe a little easier and laugh and weep about the many issues which concern us all. I had the chance to meet women I've admired for a while, like Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, and Kathy Nijimy, actor and activist and mother...and get closer to some I've been privileged to meet before. Many, many years ago in Montana, I was on Good Morning, Billings! with Ellie Smeal, now President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. Getting to know her better was so great, and the work she and her amazing staff do in this world is powerful and heartening, to say the least. Elaine Lafferty, Editor-in-Chief of Ms. Magazine was there as well as the wonderful writer, and Fiction Editor of Ms., Amy Bloom. It made me all-over-proud to be in such company! It feels so profoundly good to be back with these women who keep the feminist ethics and are moving forward into the future, no matter what it holds. It felt right to be there, and I was honored to do so. I'm sorry we missed Carol Moseley Braun for I had longed to be near that bright light which emanates from her...but another time, another place. (Due to my schedule – we met up with the Cruise half-way through – getting on just as Carol was disembarking.) I must say, it was also lovely to be able to relax for a bit on a beautiful beach in the Bahamas – and to laugh over dinner with new friends. I reckon Ms. will do this again next year, and I so want to invite you to come on this continuing adventure as we find ways to stay alive as feminists and take our message to the world out there.