I was a sidekick, writing op-eds and letters when they needed text, but they did the heavy lifting that turned Illinois from red to purple to blue. Marcie is 87 now, Terry is 73, and neither of them is slowing down.

Around 1985 she saw that she had a real organization that needed a skilled organizer, so she hired Terry, who worked brilliantly - and tirelessly - for 35 years as a legislative terrier.

In the other photo, I’m with Marcie Love, the brains behind turning around the Illinois legislature, and Terry Cosgrove, brains and brawn. Marcie started Personal PAC at her kitchen table with a few friends back around 1980. Her goal was to start electing pro-choice legislators.

IL governor @jbpritzker.bsky.social and MN Lieutenant Governor @peggyflanagan.bsky.social were the speakers. They did not sugarcoat the dangers we are in but they spoke so powerfully and urgently that we were all inspired. I'm a total JB fan girl and so I shamelessly stalked him for a photo.

We handed out banned books, socks, and flyers with ways to support libraries & librarians. We drank wine and cider, and a good time was had by most--except Chiara, who was miffed at the paucity of treats.

p.s.: My t-shirt reads, “Fight Evil, Read Books”

Also everything we do has a big effect in the world and so they worry about that too.

[EM]

She said that there has been a lot of intense questioning about the US situation because the alt-right is on the rise in Germany and so they're very worried about what we're doing as their right-wing parties are copying us

At each event, she’s doing a joint reading with her publisher, @elselaudan.bsky.social, part in English and part in German, followed by questions from readers.

sadly - fake news

We were dumb enough to elect them