AMERICA'S GOTTEN TO CRAZY SO I'M GOING TO LONDON!!!!

Guys.
I've had it.
Texas and America have gotten to be too much. It has gotten excessively embarrassing and uncomfortable to watch the news, so I am going to pack it up and move in with the corgis and Kate.

^^Don't worry. Wearing a strapless romper. But just in case, don't show this picture to the Texas Legislature as they might throw me out of the state as a result of not covering my woman shoulders. Also I apologize for all the overwhelming, bad photoshop. Had to go somewhere.^^

Still Standing with Texas Women

Latest update- the hearings last night were arbitrarily closed at midnight and then a vote was forced. The hearings closed despite the thousands of people waiting to testify. At this point, I can give you this link via Planned Parenthood that allows you to get in contact with your legislators and let them know where you stand.

https://secure.ppaction.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=16723&s_src=TXHearings_0713_c3_e1&autologin=true

SB 5 Update #3: Hearings to Happen Tomorrow

 "The bigger issue at stake is that a primarily wealthy male legislature is determining what SHOULD be a decision between a doctor, a woman, and whatever deity in which a woman believes (if any). They are not in there discussing the man’s obligation and role in a woman’s pregnancy in the first place, men’s rights to Viagra, standards for safe surgical procedures for vasectomies or prostate cancer, rape prevention measures, or appropriate and realistic sex education to prevent pregnancy in the first place. It is just one more example of a tiresome sexist view that a woman is not only responsible for her behavior and choices, but also a man’s."

If you would like to argue against me about SB5, I am going to refer you to this quote from this very helpful article that essentially sums up my views. If you would still like to argue, however, I've never been one to turn that down. But I will probably also ask you to play this song and replace "gotten over it" with "gone over it"- as that is shorter and easier for me.

I really did not think I would be blogging about SB5 this much. However, I am extremely passionate about this subject, and I really do believe that this is an effective platform for me to reach a lot of people that would like to stay up to date. Whether that be so that they, too, can get involved or just see what I'm doing. Also, this blog is a helpful device for me to remember my own experiences and catalogue this piece of history for myself. That being said- I will try to post things that I find helpful or interesting, or resources that I believe help better educate us on our stance with Texas women. However, I will not be dedicating this blog to the subject; nor can I promise that I will update readily enough for you to rely on this blog as your sole source of information on the bill.
I will be returning to some of my more regular-ish posts soon (including a new series!), but I feel that this certainly takes priority over things like that now.

UNTIL THEN. HERE'S MORE INFORMATION FOR TOMORROW:
Official Notice of the Public Hearing
Facebook Event for the Hearing
Essentially, we're doing it over again. Please come to share a short testimony, or just for your support.
Also here's a video of Natalie Manes singing "I'm Not Ready to Make Nice" from the rally today that also pretty well sums up everyone's views.

Updates on SB5 and Rally Today at High Noon

If you've yet to hear, and are interested, Rick Perry called another special session regarding the issues in SB5. 

There is to be a rally at the Capital at noon. Unfortunately  I cannot be there because, coincidentally, I will giving a presentation over SB5 and Wendy Davis to my class this afternoon. I'm going to head over afterward if it's still going on, however, if you are even somewhat interested in going- I really encourage you to put on your orange and do so! 

Here are a few resource I can give you to keep following the progress & see how you can get involved:

Stand With Texas Women Twitter Account

The Facebook Event for the Rally with a lot of helpful information

A Blog Post with an FAQ about the rally today

Please let me know anything else you might hear or if you go! Again, I really encourage you to go if you can!

At the Texas Capital Fighting Against SB 5

Sorry I've been a bit MIA this past week- however, I cannot think of a better way to break my silence then to post about what I experienced last night. Last night, I was made all the more proud of Texas and being a Texas woman. Our legislature was attempting to pass a bill that was a basic attempt to nationalize women's bodies. It would essentially prohibit safe and legal abortions in Texas. Wendy Davis, a senator in the Texas Legislature, filibustered from 10 am until she was shut down around 11:30pm (for reasons that are a little too knit-picky to really be justified). Many of my friends were inside the Senate chamber, and I got to the capital around 9pm to do what I could. Inside the capital, the rotundas were filled. I was meeting one of my friends there, and we waited in line in the bottom rotunda. However, each of the three levels above us were visibly filled to the brim with people wearing orange and waiting to get in. (We wore orange to symbolize our stance against the bill- so they could know who we were!) We waited in line for about 30 minutes, and then the rush began. It was nothing violent, everything just became much more urgent. We could tell something was about to happen. A woman ran by us shouting "get to the second floor!" Looking for where to go, we found ourselves in the middle of the bottom level, inches away from Cecile Richards- daughter of Ann Richards and President of Planned Parenthood. Cecile acted as our ring leader and signaled to us to all start making as much noise as we could. Now I know that it was because Wendy Davis's filibuster was shut down. We cheered and chanted her name. We were signaled to stop our noise and then told that they were going to be clearing out the gallery. In a very protestor like fashion, we reacted by sitting down. We were very uninformed- relying on text updates, tweets, and the signals from our officials there with us to tell us what to do next. People began bringing in food and water that was donated simply by people tweeting out the need. The power of social media! Not too soon after, a woman came out of the chamber and warned us that they were locking the capital.

We were waiting quietly- I now know it was because Kurt Watson was trying to stall the voting... as long as we got to midnight without a vote we would have succeeded in stopping the bill. It was important that we didn't disrupt him, as this was largely helpful in our fight. Around 11:40 he, too, was shut down. This is where we sprung into action. There were masses of us in orange there at the capital and it was our time to be heard, literally. Simply put, if they could not hear each other inside the chamber, they could not vote. So, we all stood together began yelling and chanting and stomping and screaming and doing everything in our power to be heard. People from the second level of the rotunda would go press their ears up against the chamber doors and would then communicate down to Cecile what we needed to do. They were clearly signaling to keep up the noise and be LOUD. It was louder than any concert or football game I had ever been in. People who were watching from the live stream were texting me and tweeting me saying that the people inside the chamber were shocked and scared. They were at a stand still because of the ruckus we caused and literally could not take any action because of all the noise. We kept at it- yelling and yelling and yelling. The "signalers" on the second level ran back and forth from the doors of the chamber to us, holding out fingers of the moments left until midnight. The noise did not waiver for a moment, and at midnight we burst into a chorus of "The Eyes of Texas". Yet even still, we were confused as to what our effect had been. There was some word that the bill had passed- but others deemed that the vote hadn't been taken in time. Members of the Texas House were coming out and speaking, and a few chants would pick up in between speakers, but everyone was very confused. It was after midnight, but were we not successful? We now know that there was an attempt to aleter the time stamp on the vote to pass the bill- which quite simply is embarrassing and ridiculous- and it came out that the vote was not taken in time, and it died.

I am so proud that I was able to be there last night, standing and screaming with my fellow Texans. It was such a moving night, and I now have this sore throat to remember it by. I am in absolute awe of Wendy Davis. The stamina and courage she presented is something that is to be truly admired in Texas history. Although I could go on longer, I'll let the pictures do the talking. Here are a few videos and pictures I took last night:

^^Really. The capital was filled to the brim.^^

^^Wendy Davis maintained the filibuster for a majority of time by relaying touching stories from those who would have been or will be effected by the bill, and she needed the stories to keep on coming in!^^

^^Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, in action.^^

^^Cecile Richards welcoming representatives.^^

^^Video taken in the heart of the yelling. This does not do the sound justice at all.^^

I'll try to update this post with any more updates as they come along. I'm sure this fight is not yet through. 

UPDATE: If you've been following along, you know that Rick Perry has called a second special session to re-address the issues in SB 5. To show where you stand, you can start by adding your name here: https://my.barackobama.com/page/s/stand-up-for-women-2013?source=em13_20130718_ofa_auto&utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_campaign=em13_20130718_ofa_auto

I'll post again if any more info comes along!