The reason I became engaged in politics and motivated to learn about how be an effective advocate was because I believed so strongly that we need to continue to work for women's equality.
I learned leadership skills co-founding the women's group on campus. I did my Washington DC internship at an advocacy organization promoting women's economic parity and we got a bill passed that prohibited banks from requiring a male cosigner for a woman to get credit or a loan (among other things that were hurting divorced or widowed women and contributing to high poverty rates after divorce.). When I moved to DC after college it was with the intention of landing a job where I could help write or pass bills that would help women. The Clarence Thomas Hearings with Anita Hills testimony on sexual harassment shook me to my core and re-grounded me in why advocacy for women matters and why I was pursuing this career. I've always worked to elect women to office and help young women who want to break into this business.
So today when we went through Seneca Falls, the birthplace of the women's rights movement, it was a very moving and meaningful personal visit for me.
The National Park Service has preserved the Methodist church where the first Womens Rights Convention in 1848 as the Women's Rights National Historic Park. It's a shell of the church with a wall sculpture that includes the written declaration that women and men signed at the end of the meeting. The declaration is very powerful to read now to see how far we've come ... And that there is still more work to do. Here is more info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Sentiments
It was raining but not cold today which made for tolerable if damp riding. That allowed lots of lingering and exploring, even after staying in Seneca Falls for at least 2 hours. Most interesting was the town of Camillus where part of an expansion of the Erie Canal ran through. The town has established a park and a gravel path by a 2 mile stretch of the canal. I was poking around and a lady runs out and asked "Are you part of the group that rode from San Francisco?". She then informed me I must ride down the gravel path and gave me direction on ho9w to get back on route. So of course I go ... What's 2 miles of gravel at this point. The town has invested in rebuilding an aqueduct that routed the canal over a creek. They are trying to rebuild it as much as possible as it would have existed in the mid 1800s, and they have succeeded in building the bet of the canal and are not letting it fill with water. I was trying to figure out what part did what and a man walked up with a camera. So I just asked him "can you tell me about this aqueduct?". Turns out he has been down there most days watching as it has been built. He told me about where the leak was, that there were steel bolts under the pegs that were made to look like pegged joints. And how the lock works to release water into the river below, where to stand to get the best picture and how much the project was costing the city (2.9 million) and why they were building it (so they could make the dinner boat trip go 2 miles on the strip of canal rather than 1 mile). Love meeting people like him.
The trail itself was beautiful. Saw tons of wildlife in a mile stretch - turtle, rabbit, chipmunks, heron and other water birds and a healthy cadre of hungry mosquitoes.
As I got into Liverpool (just west of Syracuse) I realized our hotel was out on the edge of town, so I tooled around Main street and the town square and then headed towards Lake Onondaga. The town has built a great park with trails and the lake is lovely. But most interesting in a museum built in the 1930s as part of the public works money. This museum retold the history of the Salt works by the lake which produced huge quantities of salt from natural salt springs. A tax on the salt provided enough funds to pay for half the cost of the Erie Canal.
Better was the volunteer running the museum. When I asked here how all the canals connected, she pulled out a piece of paper and started drawing. One of her favorite things to do is take boat trips on the canals, which sounds like that could be fun. She was telling me about how the railroads would build really low bridges over the canals to make sure barges couldn't carry to large a loads ... Nasty railroads.
The younger volunteer there was very cute and asked me, "Are you a professional rider or something to do this?". No, just a normal person with a stubborn streak and a calloused butt. Actually they kept me so long the Bike staff sent out a rescue party .... Oops.
So a great if damp day. Tomorrow we ride 79 miles to Little Falls and I'm looking forward to what's next.
Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!!
10 years ago
