My photo is in a blur and often so is my mind.
I have in my heart to be kind and compassionate, and damn, I lose it sometimes.
The upcoming election has got me. I truly care. I watch. I read. I engage.
At times, I feel the victim of amnesia. I forget certain details in history.
I do not want to judge or hate or lash out.
But I'm scared. And feral cats when frightened might hiss or wait until the human is gone, to approach the food dish.
I am that childless cat lady.
I am sensitive to being female in my music world, where many of the engineers, players, producers happen to be male.
I love them mostly. I feel right at home. In fact, a lot of the time I forget I am a girl, a woman, a female. I drink like the guys. I swear like the guys. I'm one of them.
Until I'm not. And politically, I am not. I think what I am stuck on here is that I have a female body. I do have girlfriends who also have female bodies.
I also have an American sister who is a nurse and who works in neo-natal, in Minnesota. So I have heard true stories, and they unsettle me.
Let me cut to it. Not allowing women to have control over their own bodies is a deal breaker for me. Do I "LIKE" the idea of abortion? Hell no. Who does? This is not the point.
I know the tragic stories of the sickly or dying baby within the womb. I know the stories about incest and rape. I know also the perils that exist for the woman who carries. And no other person can know what that feels like. People who suffer in this way do not need to be controlled or condemned. They need health care and they need counseling and support.
And to hear that there are women coming form Alabama and Texas to Minnesota so that they can get the health care they need is just heart breaking. I cannot vote for someone who condones this. This is going back.
In Ireland, we have all heard the stories about the backstreet abortions. Or the self-induced ones.
Of course, I embrace life and babies and families. But these circumstances have nothing to do with that.
This is where I get into trouble with some people.
But I am not extreme. I can't be. There are always exceptions. And freedom means we understand this. We care for people. Especially women. Frankly, I do not think any guy can understand what being female is like, inhabiting the female body. Nor can I understand a guy's body. If anything, this election cycle brings up very personal and important issues. How to talk about them without losing it? With patience?
My fear that we might be controlled and policed regarding reproductive rights is just one of my concerns. I don't like the idea of going after people who are gay, bisexual, transsexual. Honestly, let everyone be. That just feels right.
As musicians, we meet people of all perspectives. We don't say "I won't sing this song for you because you don't agree with me." We mix it up. We integrated before anyone else did, maybe.
We come together in love, regardless what we believe. I get that, as a player.
As a woman, there is nothing more important than protecting the rights that so many before me fought for. I'll do that too. As I move more and more toward becoming the free person I strive to be.
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