brush past with —
Monday, September 7th, 2026I feel like I was standing closer to Gloria Steinem than I had any right to — both in terms of bigwig status and my interest level of standing in the proximity of this person in particular. It wasn’t much– it was the year 2000, she was filing about the city for events in her role of surrogate talking Al Gore up by knocking down Ralph Nader. And this had to be the least important piece of the itinerary — it is a small crowd at Pioneer Courthouse Square — and I, interested just enough but not much more, stand alone, right behind her, closer to her than it seems I should be allowed to stand.
She has a top ten list, a nod to Ralph Nader’s appearance on David Letterman. Nader’s lust, whether it was or was not, was humor — crowd applauses at turns of phrases and satiric jibes. Steinem wasn’t attempting to be funny — it was strident against Nader — there is apparently a phrase Nader once used that downplayed abortion politics which… in a very real way was what kept Steinem supporting Clinton. I half mused — what is the use of having a top ten list if it is not funny?
The nature of Steinem’s political job — this singular public appearance is pretty pointless, except in a broader sweep of appearances that are pointful… to the task. Al Gore wants her here, but he wants her at the other campaigning and political points more — you wouldn’t even blame her for phoning this particular item in. The sign of its lacking is that I was standing closer to Steinem than it seems like it’s make any sense.
