Educating Rita: The Road to Political Advocacy

Back in April I had a surprise Facebook friend request from someone I knew twenty years ago. I had just divorced and took a job at Northrop Corporation, B-2 Division. I held entry level positions, housekeeping, copy center and finally data monitor. Looking back, hindsight being what it is, I can say that my time working with the trainers and engineers in the Integrated Logistics Department was, and continues to be, life altering.

I owe a debt of gratitude to one man, E.L. Wells, who saw something in the girl who copied his documents and offered to teach her how to use a computer. That one skill has opened doors of opportunity that otherwise would have remained closed to a single mother of three with a high school diploma. This was the late 80’s, before Al Gore invented the internet and the world’s knowledge became my pearl. Ernie used to nag me to rent the movie Educating Rita (I have yet to see it) but I understand the parallels.

Long before I learned about keystones I knew about cornerstones and foundations. That is what Ernie gave me and again I am grateful beyond measure. I’ll leave discussions of recent life altering events for another occasion.

The time I spent working around war worn veterans deepened my admiration for our nation’s armed forces and I began grooming my young family for a life of service. Two of my three children enlisted in the United States Navy post 9/11. My emotions have run the gamut between pride and dread ever since. Every day my children were in a theater of war or training their fellow citizens I knew the gnawing fear of not being able to protect them from what the world was willing to throw their way. Not an easy thing for a parent accustomed to slaying the dragons of childhood.

I brought these life experiences with me the day I learned the City of Martinez was seeking a depredation permit for a colony of beavers. Suddenly, like the loosening of the floodgates people were envisioning, I felt the rush of purpose and found something I could protect. I went to bed as someone politically aware and awoke as someone politically active.