Last night, I attended the 20th Annual Wisconsin Women in Government banquet at the Alliant Energy Center. You might be wondering why I attended, since I’m certainly not a woman in government. Last night, I found myself wondering the same thing. Really, the only reason I attended was so that my best friend could hear the keynote address from Elizabeth Edwards, an attorney and best-selling author whose husband, Senator John Edwards, is making his second run for presidency. My best friend is a huge fan of Elizabeth’s and very much enjoyed her personal memoir Saving Graces, which describes her strength and courage while struggling with her son’s death and fighting cancer. Knowing that it would make my friend’s little eyes light up, I purchased tickets to the banquet as a birthday present for her.
I did not enjoy the banquet itself–the people were too creepy networky for me, in typical political fashion, but the dinner and keynote address were nice. Elizabeth was much more engaging when she was speaking extemporaneously at the beginning of her speech, than when she was later reading from her speech. She began by telling us that she will always have a special place in her heart for Wisconsin, because when she attended school as a young child in Japan, where her father was stationed in the military, her teacher was from Green Bay, and often referenced the Green Bay Packers, and other Wisconsin favorites. When Elizabeth then started in on her speech, her pace became so fast that I could barely follow. Even though the stage was about the length of a football stadium away from me, I could see her clearly on the jumbo screens, and thought she kind of looked like Katie Couric. Anyways, she talked a lot about how women are still disadvantaged in many aspects of social well-being, particularly in terms of wages and access to quality health care, and then touted her husband’s plan for universal health care and an end to poverty. She only briefly touched upon her and her husband’s decision to stay in the presidential race, despite the recent discovery that her breast cancer has spread to her bones, saying that their devotion to public service made it impossible to abandon all of the people and issues they care about. It was a nice evening, and I liked seeing and hearing from Elizabeth Edwards in person for the first time. And I think I did make my friend’s little eyes light up, which was the most important thing of all!
I did not enjoy the banquet itself–the people were too creepy networky for me, in typical political fashion, but the dinner and keynote address were nice. Elizabeth was much more engaging when she was speaking extemporaneously at the beginning of her speech, than when she was later reading from her speech. She began by telling us that she will always have a special place in her heart for Wisconsin, because when she attended school as a young child in Japan, where her father was stationed in the military, her teacher was from Green Bay, and often referenced the Green Bay Packers, and other Wisconsin favorites. When Elizabeth then started in on her speech, her pace became so fast that I could barely follow. Even though the stage was about the length of a football stadium away from me, I could see her clearly on the jumbo screens, and thought she kind of looked like Katie Couric. Anyways, she talked a lot about how women are still disadvantaged in many aspects of social well-being, particularly in terms of wages and access to quality health care, and then touted her husband’s plan for universal health care and an end to poverty. She only briefly touched upon her and her husband’s decision to stay in the presidential race, despite the recent discovery that her breast cancer has spread to her bones, saying that their devotion to public service made it impossible to abandon all of the people and issues they care about. It was a nice evening, and I liked seeing and hearing from Elizabeth Edwards in person for the first time. And I think I did make my friend’s little eyes light up, which was the most important thing of all!
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