your intrepid Mudcat Reporter went to hear Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers last night in Toronto. She answered questions after a showing of the "Wasn't That A Time" film, and proceeded to blow everyone away. What a woman! About 5 times bigger than life. At one point a teenager in the audience said that he had never heard of her and the Weavers, but that just listening to her was totally inspiring. An activist asked her how she kept going -- we are here to inspire each other, she said. She talked about her plays (one on the story of Mother Jones), her time under the blacklist (a black teenager wanted to know about Paul Robeson, and she talked about him). Your intrepid reporter asked her about how she had been turned on to women's issues, and she talked about the influence of Adrienne Rich's poetry, and her experiences on the West Coast. All in the space of a half hour. What a woman (or did I say that already?).

yours, Peter T.