AAUW Dialog

‘Twas the week of the holidays, when all through the land
Everyone was shouting, pleading, and raising their hands.
Pieces of legislation lined up in Congress with care,
With hopes that the Senate would pass health care (reform that is).

The advocates were aligned, all cheering for their cause,
While worries of amendments were giving them pause.
And AAUW with our platform, and I with my pen
Had just settled down, determined again.

When throughout Facebook and Twitterland,
I caught sign of viral news urgently at hand.
Away to the TV I flew like a flash
Turned up the sound and saw with a gasp…

Reports of a blizzard, in DC no less
Giving knowledge to locals of the soon-to-be mess.
Trapped inside, thanks to the new-fallen snow,
I thought and thought, and then finally, “hello!”
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
A list of AAUW activities throughout the past year.

With actions so full, so thoughtful and daring
I knew in a moment, our members were truly caring.
More rapid than most, their actions, how they came
E-mails, phone calls, protests — too many to name!

Now Sonia (Justice Sotomayor), now Lily (Ledbetter Fair Pay Act),
Now Carol  (Grider, AAUW Nobel Prize winner) and Matthew (Hate Crimes Prevention Act)!
On NCCWSL, on convention, on research,  and health care!
On, LAF, on Two -Minute Activist on fellowships and grants, so many we dare!

As inequities that before education does reign,
When they meet with such actions, falls with each aim.
So up on the list these actions took hold,With a record of success, every story was told.

And then, in a twinkling, I read via tweets
@AAUW was spreading the word, street by street.
As I lifted my head, and was looking around
Down the road came our branches, heading straight downtown.

They were dressed all in fleece, from their head to their feet
And their clothes were all covered with snow and cold sleet.
A packet of position papers they clutched in their hands
And they looked like the activists they were in our land.

Their eyes, how they twinkled; their smiles, so merry
Their determination so strong, their ideals were so varied.
They had a network of friends to make all kinds of motions,
To join AAUW and take all kinds of actions.

They spoke in loud voices and went straight to work
And reached all their legislators, then turned with a jerk
And waving their hands as they left a stunned Hill,
And giving a nod, they said, “Pass that bill.”

They went back to Facebook and created AAUW fan pages
Covering women’s issues, throughout all the stages.
But I heard them exclaim, ‘ere they shut down their system,

“Happy Holidays to All, Now Get Out There and Reach Them!”

With thanks to “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” author, Clement Clarke Moore (1882).