Life at 9200 rpm's: Sisters under the skin

     The death this week of longtime editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurley Brown, at age 90 called to mind a brief vignette from the 1970's when I was a general assignment reporter for The Chicago Sun-Times newspaper.  

     Thanks to my LVAD, left ventricular assist device, a HeartMate II, No. 8358, I am here to recall the events that follow.  Without old 8358, there would be no As You Were: HeartMate II blog and no number of rpm's would have mattered.  

     In short, my LVAD has been a life saver.  My only hope is that more end stage congestive heart failure patients seek an LVAD.  Life is good.

    Back to the story at hand.  My friend and Sun-Times colleague, Paul Galloway, and I were assigned one day to cover a talk by National Organization of Women and other supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment. 

     The gathering was to be held at Northwestern University in Evanston, the first suburb north of Chicago. It was evening. 

    My assignment was to report any police aspects and counter demonstrator aspects of the story and Galloway was to write a feature story about the content of the speeches. There were no counter demonstrators, no arrests, nothing but speeches. In the end, the story was written jointly.
     
     Ms magazine, under Gloria Steinem, had just launched. Steinem was a very popular figure.  She once wrote an expose of Playboy Club bunnies after working as one.  She recounted an attitude of repression against women and of course sexism. 

    The Equal Rights Amendment cleared Congress in March, 1972. Eventually, 35 state approved the amendment, which is three short of the states required for ratification to make it an amendment to the Constitution. The landmark decision in Roe v. Wade would be decided in 1973.

     Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique, was scheduled to speak at NU, along with Steinem and others. I recall it was summer and hot.

     I arrived early at Fisk Hall auditorium on the south end of the NU campus.  Fisk housed the Medill School of Journalism, of which I was familiar from graduate school days.  Paul arrived in short order and we took seats front and center of the 500 seat auditorium.

    Before the speakers began the program, I glanced around and saw that Paul and I were the only males in attendance.  While neither Galloway nor I outwardly supported the movement.  As detached reporters it would have compromised that detachment.

     I commented on my observation about us being the only men present. He confirmed my observation.  We were good with that.

     Steinem talked for a few minutes and then introduced the first speaker.  As she scanned the audience, she mentioned the two men present in a non-sarcastic tone:  "And we have two men in the front row...no doubt sisters under the skin."