Talking with Sam.I.Am.The.Son. (Rochester Insomniac)
Rochester IMC has never had a lot of entertainment/lifestyle articles. That's why I was very happy to see folks from TheRochesterInsomniac.com come to the media collaboration meetings that have been happening Thursdays before the IMC meetings. We hope this is the first in of many syndicated articles that look at the local entertainment scene in Rochester. Enjoy!
We got the privilege of sitting down and talking to Sam.I.am, a local producer with a prolific career in the local scene. We talked to him about keeping on top of the game, his new album, and his thoughts on the local music scene.
How long have you been producing?
This year will be seven years. I graduated high school in ’05 and I started scratching. Nugs, from the Goonies, is my daughter’s uncle. I would be over there and he would be cutting, eventually I got my own gear and we started making beats together.
Making beats started seven years ago. Actual songs and taking it seriously started about four years ago; however long Actlive has been around.
I originally heard about you through Actlive.
The Goonies produced Reese Q’s debut album, “The Quote to Self”. That was me, Husky, Nugs, and Woody. James Niche and Reese worked together and when James heard the album he wanted to work together. They eventually created Actlive. It’s been history since then, it was good to have him around.
What got me listening to your stuff was “American Dream” it really stuck out from what I was hearing other producers put out.
That’s what we tried to do with that. SunDula has a bluesy voice that really works, when I heard it I knew I wanted to work with him. He hadn’t worked in a while; he was originally with the Black and Blues. I heard a SunDula song on a Grunge Cake Records mix. When I found out he lived here and hit him up.
When we sat down and started working on “American Dream” the focus was to do something different sounding; still a common feel, but something that no one had tried before. I really wanted to work with a singer; I was getting bored with hip hop music and people rapping about the same thing.
What came out of working together was a soul, blues, and hip hop fusion. With SunDula, what he is saying and talking about is so far advanced than where hip hop is at. He has a soul to it.
My goal is still do something that I want to do, something I enjoy doing, but to not repeat what I already have done.
So what were you going for with the new album “This is Where I Am”?
It has a more relaxed feel like my last album but it’s a different sound than what I have been doing. I only used 4 records, one for sample, the rest for drums. I love the airy, spacey sound of synthesizers, so I really want to get more into using them.
With some of my other work you might hear some synth trickled in, but with this new album I really used them as the main focus. Its listening music, its not just beats and four bar loops.
Everyone with a beat program thinks they are a producer. You think it’s hard for talented producers to separate themselves from the pack?
In my head I feel like I am still there. I never want to feel over confident about my music but it is too easy now for people to make and share beats. I made beats in high school, using fruit loops, I still have them saved so I can go back and laugh at the. I never considered myself a producer when I was staring out. There is a technique to it, there is a life to it, and the biggest part about music is that you could have the talent, but if you don’t put that time in don’t expect to get anything out of it.
What horrible about half of these bedroom producers sample just off of hip hop tracks. You are using a sample of a sample. You need to know music to do music. I guess to a certain aspect I am a part of that era. I don’t make beats on NPC, I make everything on NPD. I do use Acid which doesn’t give you a bunch of beats and drums, all I got is a grid and a BPM meter. But you have to pay homage to those who are doing it all the right way.
What do you think about the local music scene?
The amount of talent that has come out of this city is huge, even something as big as Eastman the RPO is huge and people in this city take advantage of the talent we have here.
We have a wealth of music and art on all levels in this city, its not one genre or one band. I just wish the city was more loving to what we do have. There needs to be more support. The scene is up and down. Its not totally truthful, it is a lot of gimmicks and drama.
Do you think it is hard to get out of Rochester as a musician?
That is where the hustle and sacrifice comes in. its tough to get out of here but not as tough if you find the right way to do it, and build up the right team. You definitely need to raise yourself to a certain standards while you are here. The music just can’t take you there you need to sacrifice at the right time and build a good group around you to make a jump out of Rochester.
Worker Justice Group seeks Democracy in the Workplace
On the first Monday of every month the Flying Squirrel Community Space in Corn Hill hosts a discussion series called "Monday Mayhem." Topics have ranged from the housing crisis to the threats caused by fracking. For March, the discussion was of worker justice. The United States Constitution guarantees us certain inalienable rights like freedom of speech, association, innocence until proven guilty and freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures. But these basic principles don't apply at most workplaces. And that's only the beginning. Many workers also face unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, discrimination, sub minimum pay and denial of overtime. Often the employer finds it's cheaper to pay the fine than fix the problem. Workers who speak out face retaliation. What can we do about it?
Throughout history unions have been an effective mechanism for righting these injustices. In the US today, union membership is at an all time low. Jake Allen of SEIU local 200 and the IWW spoke at length on unions, their role and public perception of them.
There are two models of a union's role according to Allen. One is the familiar "service" model where members pay a fee to the union in return for benefits. The benefits might include higher wages, health care, a pension through the union, and advocacy in disputes with management. Unions following this model may become bureaucratic and out of touch with the issues facing workers. This is how business and corporate media tend to portray unions as "just another business." The other model is one of solidarity. The union is a fighting organization of, rather than for, workers. SEIU's motto "We are stronger together" reflects this belief. The two models are not exclusive of one another.
Forming a union can be difficult. Management may bring in professional union busters, armed thugs or police to intimidate organizers. Fear and anti-union propaganda are employed to try and isolate workers. In many smaller companies workers are friends with management and don't want to "rock the boat." This fear needs to be countered with confidence for a union drive to be successful. Leaders need to be vocal, sometimes radical. Workers who support the union need to be on record as doing so in order to counter the apprehension of others.
Cooperatives are another route to a just workplace. In a cooperative, everyone is given an equal voice. Management is reduced or done away with altogether. Often this happens when a factory closes and the workers take it over and resume production. It is more common in South America but the Republic Window and Door company of Chicago, taken over by workers after it closed is perhaps the most public US example.
Whether union or cooperative another essential piece toward building just workplaces is community. Having the support of others in your neighborhood, city, state or nation is essential in countering fears and lies employed by management. A local example would be recent action by service workers at the University of Rochester. Students and faculty signed petitions supporting workers. They confronted management together and held a dance party on the lawn outside the president's office. The workers won a new contract and averted cuts and layoffs. Unions help their communities in other ways too. Union workers have more money to spend at local businesses. Union wages stay in a community, unlike the profits of multinational corporations which are siphoned off, often out of the country. Union wages help increase compensation of workers in non union companies as well.
Public perception of the union is important too. A commonly heard complaint is "the only time I see unions is in the Labor Day parade." Our educational system downplays unions and their historical importance. Films like "Hoffa" about a bureaucratic "service" union that became corrupted are the media norm not the exception. The US populace is not united. They do not see that properly run unions are one of the true democratic organizations that still exist and are an important counter-balance to capitalism which is inherently un-democratic.
For community members interested in getting involved, the Worker Justice Group meets the first Tuesday of every month from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Flying Squirrel at 285 Clarissa St. The group's mission is to have a forum to air empathy and feedback, make suggestions, get things more widely known, and educate the public on labor issues. Possible future events include a film series, more discussions, and possibly a march for a living wage on May Day. Those with questions or in need of transportation can reach the organizers at 585-270-0991.
ROCLA's Rice and Beans is around the corner! Here's last year's!
On March 2, 2012, the Rochester Committee on Latin America held its annual Rice and Beans and White Dove Award dinner at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY.
The International White Dove Award went to the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and its Haitian affiliate, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI). Brian Concannon, Jr., Esq., Director of IJDH, gave the keynote address and accepted the award on behalf of IJDH and BAI.
The Local White Dove Award went to Bob Kaiser, ROCLA’s Convener, and Marilyn Kaiser, Membership Chair. The Kaisers were honored with the White Dove for their long-term leadership, for tireless completion of day-to-day administrative chores, keeping ROCLA morale high, and keeping the organization on course.
The 2013 Annual Rice and Beans Dinner and White Dove Award ceremony is going to be held on Friday, March 1, 2013 at the Gates Presbyterian Church (1049 Wegman Road, Rochester, NY). The international recipient is the Global Justice Ecology Project. Locally, Tom Ward will get the award.
Protesters Greet Governor With Message About Fracking
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo visited Rochester on February 21 2013. Despite a stiff wind and temperatures in the teens he was greeted by 40-50 demonstrators calling for a ban on the drilling process known as "fracking" for natural gas. Another group of 10 or so were demonstrating against the State's new gun law, one of the most restrictive in the nation. While the issues may seem unrelated, members of both groups were critical of the lack of access ordinary citizens have to elected officials. One said "it's like he's a Duke or something...he doesn't care about us." Members of both groups called attention to what they felt were flagrant wastes of energy. A gas fireplace burned in an unused courtyard of an upscale restaurant. Several electric lights were also on, in the middle of the day. "They want to destroy our planet and take away our rights to do that." Police had the street behind the Eastman theater blocked off as well as a walkway to the parking garage. Cuomo was brought in through a back entrance out of sight of crowds and cameras.
One anti-fracking protester had a green dragon-like creature on top of a staff. When asked what it meant he replied it was a "fracking demon." Halliburton, one of the companies that pioneered the fracking process refuses to disclose what chemicals make up the fluid it is mixing with the water it injects into the ground. The chemicals have caused the deaths of farm animals and illness in humans in Pennsylvania, where fracking has been occurring for the past 5 years. The New York State Health Department has not explicitly said that fracking is harmful but has not certified it as safe either. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is initiating a new study. New York is currently under a moratorium on fracking, which was begun in 2010 under former governor David Patterson.
Local members of the Green party were in attendance, former Legislative candidate Drew Langdon and current Mayor candidate Alex White. The Green party supports a "Green New Deal" with the development of clean, renewable fuels and strong democratic local economies. A strong link was made between fracking and climate change. While the industry promotes natural gas as a "clean" fuel, it is still a fossil fuel and burning it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The fracking process poses a threat to the climate as well, as it releases large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Methane exacerbates global warming much more than carbon dioxide. New York has proposed some of the strictest controls on methane in the country, but it still may not be enough.
Cuomo is expected to decide within days or weeks whether to lift New York's ban on fracking.
Bird-dogging Cuomo: Ban Fracking Now!
Mary Smith Pledges to Stay in Her Rochester Home Resisting Foreclosure by American Tax Funding
Mary Smith has lived at 53 Cutler Street for 30 years, raising six children. She paid off her mortgage to ES&L 12 years ago. She is the Vice President of the Cutler Street Plus Block Club and has been a commanding force in the community for decades. She is affectionately known as the "Mayor of Cutler Street," who has severed hundreds of hotdogs to neighbor kids at kickball games. In her dining room she displays a large promotional poster featuring her as a poster person for volunteerism.
Although Mary has a long history of paying her bills, serious health problems have fell on Mary and she fell behind on her taxes. Although she always tried to catch up it seemed she was only paying off the interest. To make matters worse, the City of Rochester and the County of Monroe sold her tax liens to a for-profit company in Florida called American Tax Funding (ATF). A predatory privatization scheme, American Tax Funding charges usurious interest on the liens of Rochester residents going through financial hardship even though it buys the liens from the City and the County from .43 to 49 cents on the dollar.
After having serious health problems that often left her unable to work, Mary has now qualified for disability, has steady income, and is willing and able to pay off her liens to American Tax Funding. However, despite repeated attempts to set up payment plans and, to work out a settlement. ATF will not answer her lawyer's calls and is planning to auction off her house for as much profit as possible on February 26, 2013. Mary is courageously and defiantly standing up against American Tax Funding and we stand will her. An auction protest is scheduled for 10am at February 26 at the County Building and a community eviction defense is planned if ATF (or an investor ATF sells the house to) tries evict the Mary from her home.
On Monday, February 11th, Mary and a dozen supporters from Take Back the Land Rochester hand delivered a letter pleading her case to the local law firm, Phillips Lyttle, representing American Tax Funding. There is an early but preliminary indication of movement by ATF as a result of the letter. You can stay updated at http://TakeBackthelandRochester.org/MarySmith
Upcoming Events:
--February 21:Community Meeting to Support Mary and Stop Foreclosures on February 21, 2013 at the Northeast Neighborhood Service Center, 500 Norton St. Rochester, NY at 6:30pm
--February 26: ATF Auction Protest to Defend Mary's Home on February 26, 2013 at front steps of the Monroe County Office Building, 39 West Main St., Rochester, NY. At 10am
Roe at 40: Before, After and the Future
It been 40 years since the US Supreme Court decision on Roe v Wade, but since that decision laws continue to be enacted that restrict women's rights to contraception and abortion. Katharine Bodde from NYCLU spoke at an event in honor of Roe at the Unitarian Church on January 23, 2013. Ms. Bodde spoke on the the history and background of abortion in the US, what Roe means for women, how laws have eroded the ability for women to access abortions and what is ahead for women's reproductive rights.
Abortion was legal in the US until 1821 if it was performed before quickening. Quickening is when the woman can first feel the fetus move inside her. In 1821 Connecticut became to first state to make abortion illegal and by the end of the 1800's abortion was illegal in all the U.S. states. The reasons varied from state to state on outlawing of abortion. Some feared the population would be dominated by newly arriving immigrants' children, whose birthrates were higher than those Anglo-Saxon women that were already established in the US. Another reason for making abortion illegal was the primitive medical profession. Surgical procedures were very risky due to the lack of hospitals, antiseptic and antibiotics.
In the 1950's several groups emerged supporting the liberalization of abortion. Since the improvement of medical care, public health advocates and doctors started speaking out, environmentalists spoke about concerns that an ever growing population might not be able to be sustained by the earth's resources and advocates spoke out for more sexual freedom. In the later half of the 1960's feminist organizations started speaking out and promoting the legalization of abortion as part of a broader platform for women's equality and role in society.
Politics was not polarized in the 1960's as it is currently. In 1965, Eisenhower, a Republican, and Truman, a Democrat, co-chaired a Planned Parenthood committee advocating for family planning. This bipartisan support changed in 1972 when Richard M. Nixon was reelected. His campaign had developed the southern strategy which focused on creating a new base of Catholic and other social conservatives and included politicizing abortion. That strategy continues to be used by Republicans and has become a very divisive issue in US elections.
In 1973 the U.S. Supreme court decided on a case challenging a Texas law that banned abortions. What the the decision says is that the right to privacy "is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. The detriment that the state would impose on a pregnant woman by denying her this choice altogether is apparent." This decision gave women the ability to decide when and if to have a child and is the foundation of women's equality, autonomy and dignity. The ability to make this choice impacts a woman's health, educational opportunities, financial security and her career/professional life.
The need for safe and legal reproductive health care is so important. Statistics show that:
-1 out of 3 women in the U.S. will have an abortion before the age of 45.
-Without contraception, the average woman would experience 12 to 15 pregnancies during her lifetime.
-Nearly half of pregnancies are unintended.
-Women who obtain abortions represent every religious affiliation. 43% identify themselves as Protestant, 27% as Catholic and 13% describe themselves as born-again or Evangelical Christians.
-60% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children.
Since Roe, the access to abortion has declined. The number of providers have declined over the years. This is partly a result of abortion procedures not being taught in medical schools or only as an elective and the risks to providers from anti-abortion terrorists, who have murdered providers and bombed clinics for decades. Legislation that has been enacted has restricted the woman and her decision making through waiting periods, mandatory counseling provisions and ultrasounds, and mandatory spousal or parental involvement through notification or consent. Restrictions on the manner in which abortions are performed has also created access difficulties. Through legislation there have been bans on certain abortion procedures and TRAP laws. TRAP laws have been enacted requiring various structural requirements , such as specifications for janitorial closets and hallway heights and widths which are only required in clinics and doctors offices that provide abortion services. The TRAP laws have also established new licensing requirements for clinics, heavy fees among other requirements. These TRAP laws have been enacted for the sole purpose of closing abortion clinics and providers' offices. One of the largest obstacles to a woman accessing an abortion is funding. The Hyde Amendment, which was one of the first obstacles legislated to hinder women's access to abortions.
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) attached a provision, now known as the “Hyde Amendment,” to the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health, Education, and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services) that would end Medicaid funding for abortion. Exposing his true motives, Rep. Hyde said during the floor debate, “I would certainly like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle class woman, or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the HEW Medicaid bill.” The measure passed because it appealed not only to the Right’s pro-traditional family elements, but also to members of its anti-big government and anti-welfare coalition. These groups continue to push an anti woman, anti abortion agenda.
On September 30, 1976, the Hyde Amendment passed the House 207-167, with no exceptions even for extreme circumstances. A challenge was brought to court, but ultimately it was upheld. In 1977 lawmakers reached a compromise to include exceptions for instances of rape or incest that had been reported to law enforcement or public health agencies, for pregnancies that threatened the life of the mother, or where two physicians determined that “severe and long-lasting physical health damage” to the mother would result. The Hyde amendment continues to be renewed every year in the Appropriations bill, hindering poor women's access to safe, legal abortions.
Despite all the legislation being enacted to limit a woman's access to reproductive health care, in NYS there are signs of greater protections for women's reproductive health and equality. Governor Cuomo at the State of the Sate address brought up the Women's Equality Agenda that would:
1. Protect a Woman's Freedom of Choice by Enacting the Reproductive Health Act.
2. Achieve Pay Equity
3. Stop Sexual Harassment in All Workplaces
4. Allow for the Recovery of Attorney's Fees in Employment, Credit and Lending Cases
5. Strengthen Human Trafficking Laws
6. End Family Status Discrimination
7. Stop Source-of-Income Discrimination
8. Stop Housing Discrimination for Victims of Domestic Violence
9. Stop Pregnancy Discrimination Once and For All
10. Protect Victims of Domestic Violence by Strengthen Order-of-Protection Laws
The Reproductive Heath Act would:
-Guarantee that every woman in NYS can make her own personal health car decisions
-Every woman in NYS should be able to end a pregnancy that endangers her life
-No doctor should fear being thrown in Jail for helping a woman whose health is threatened by pregnancy.
-NYS has a responsibility to lead the nation in the right direction.
In 2011 and 2012, an unpresidented number of bills were introduced in federal and many state legislatures. These bills included redefining rape, vaginal ultrasounds and personhood amendments to name a few. Unfortunately many laws were passed that limited more and more women access to safe, legal abortions. All these restrictions and continued attempts at more restrictions have had a galvanizing effect and has rejuvenated women to say "We won't go back."
Both The Women's Equality Agenda and the Reproductive Health Act will be introduced in both the NYS Assembly and Senate. NYS can set the example of enacted legislation that will expand women's rights in so many areas. Polls show that a majority of people in the U.S. are in support of Roe, yet the legislation that has been introduced and passed in many cases, has demonstatrated the influence the anti-abortion religious organizations and activists have had on limiting access to women seeking a safe, legal abortion. Will NYS start a new trend in the direction of ensuring that women have reproductive rights and expand protections and equality in many more areas? We will see this year.
For additional information or to get involved:
www.familyplanningadvocates.org
www.plannedparenthood.org/rochester-syracuse
Zimmerman's Trial Approaching; Trayvon Martin Rally from 2012
My Personal Story and Why I Will Always Fight to Keep Abortion Safe and Legal
Today, January 22, 2013, is the 40th anniversary of the US Supreme Court's decision Roe v Wade, which made it possible for women to obtain a safe, legal abortion. My mother has been an activist to preserve a woman's right to safe, legal abortion for as long as I can remember however, I did not understand the true implications of a woman's right to to an abortion until I had my son. I want to share my experience, so that others might gain a better understanding of how important it is to preserve this right.
I was a healthy, 26-year-old woman when my ex-husband and I decided to have a baby. My pregnancy was uneventful except for being 10 days overdue. My labor was very long, lasting over 24 hours. Although, I do not remember the actual birth, I remember my ex-husband telling me later that when my son's head appeared the nurse in astonishment stated, “Look at the size of that head!” My son weighed 10 lbs and 7 oz. at birth. Despite having an episiotomy, I tore up my rectum and vagina due to my son's size. I continued to have vaginal pain and eventuallylearned that my pudendal nerve had been damaged during the birthing process. The pudendal nerve is located in the pelvic region and innervates the genitalia , as well as sphincters for the bladder and the rectum. I have lived with pain and problems from this injury for over 23 years.
I want to say that, despite having this injury, I love my son more than I can put into words and can not imagine my life without him. I also want to say that since my experience with child birth my motivation and passion to preserve a woman's choice regarding childbearing or arbortion has grown exponentially. Politicians and people who argue against abortion saying that “a woman can just have a baby and give it up for adoption” without looking at the risks or ramifications of childbirth on a woman's body or her mental status show their ignorance and/or lack of caring about women. Sometimes I wonder if they are under the impression that childbirth is like having a bowel movement.
It is important that I bring up the issue of health care when discussing the issue of abortion and childbearing. I have had to see a variety of specialists and go to physical therapy over the years due to my injury. This has not always been easy as a result of this country's for-profit health care system. There were times when insurance would not cover a procedure, limited the number of visits or that I lacked insurance coverage as a result of cost and employment. Most of the anti-abortion politicians and activists do not see health care as a human right, but as a privilege to those that can afford it. So not only do they want to force women to give birth in all cases of pregnancy, but they do not even want to ensure proper health care during pregnancy, child birth or after. The US maternal mortality rate has doubled in the past 25 years. The U.S. ranks 50th in the world for maternal mortality, meaning 49 countries were better at keeping new mothers alive.* If abortion were made illegal, looking at the numbers of women going without insurance increasing, the maternal mortality rate would increase dramatically. Not to mention the women, like myself, who sustain injuries during the birthing process that will not be able to obtain the health care they need.
I want to say that, despite having this injury, I love my son more than I can put into words and can not imagine my life without him. I also want to say that since my experience with child birth my motivation and passion to preserve a woman's choice regarding childbearing or arbortion has grown exponentially. Politicians and people who argue against abortion saying that “a woman can just have a baby and give it up for adoption” without looking at the risks or ramifications of childbirth on a woman's body or her mental status show their ignorance and/or lack of caring about women. Sometimes I wonder if they are under the impression that childbirth is like having a bowel movement."
It is important that I bring up the issue of health care when discussing the issue of abortion and childbearing. I have had to see a variety of specialists and go to physical therapy over the years due to my injury. This has not always been easy as a result of this country's for-profit health care system. There were times when insurance would not cover a procedure, limited the number of visits or that I lacked insurance coverage as a result of cost and employment. Most of the anti-abortion politicians and activists do not see health care as a human right, but as a privilege to those that can afford it. So not only do they want to force women to give birth in all cases of pregnancy, but they do not even want to ensure proper health care during pregnancy, child birth or after. The US maternal mortality rate has doubled in the past 25 years. The U.S. ranks 50th in the world for maternal mortality, meaning 49 countries were better at keeping new mothers alive.* If abortion were made illegal, looking at the numbers of women going without insurance increasing, the maternal mortality rate would increase dramatically. Not to mention the women, like myself, who sustain injuries during the birthing process that will not be able to obtain the health care they need.
The anti-abortion advocates continuously claim how dangerous abortions are. The truth is that the risks of child birth are much greater to a woman than an abortion. In a Reuters article that pertained to a study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, women were 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth than to die from complications of an abortion. The study found that between 1998 and 2005, one woman died during childbirth for every 11,000 or so babies born. In comparison, just one woman of every 167,000 died from receiving a legal abortion. Many more women sustain injuries, as I described from personal experience, as well as mental health issues through the birthing process.
I would like to quote the second section of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. The fact that the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified and that I am not a strict constructionist, some might conclude I am taking liberties in including women in this phrase. The fact is that denying women the right to an abortion or birth control would definitely take away these unalienable Rights. First, the government making laws that force pregnant women into child bearing, would take away their unalienable right to “life”, by increasing their chances of mortality. It would take away their liberty eliminating their ability to make their own life choices regarding what is best for them and possibly their family when it comes to childbirth vs abortion and would impede their potential happiness by its effect on their education, economics and health status.
Before I had my son, I was an avid cyclist, worked out regularly and led an active life. After, the injury I sustained in the birthing process, I could no longer cycle, in fact, I had an increase in pain if I sat or walked for any length of time and still do. No woman should be put in the position of possible death or injury because laws are created based on lawmakers' religious beliefs or lawmakers continuing this country's long history of the oppression of women. With this in mind, I will continue to fight and hopefully you will be next to me to ensure that all women have access to contraception and safe legal abortions now and forever.
Virginia Henry and Take Back The Land--an interview from 2011
This interview from 2011 is with Virginia Henry--the homeowner for 11 Appleton St.--being helped by Take Back The Land. In this interview, she explains the issues with her home and a then-recent trespassing arrest for being in her home. Don Frazier from Take Back The Land offers his views on the situation. Ms. Henry's case is still unresolved as of 2013. She is currently pursuing legal recourse while her home remains boarded up and vacant.