Women of Long Beach

"In Retrospect, I wouldn't do anything differently."  - Al Austin  Councilmember mocks the 50 women who bravely spoke up about his "profound disrespect" for women, by not even addressing how his actions have impacted women, making claims that the women couldn't speak up without someone putting them up to it, and claiming ignorance when it came to hiring a fired executive director of the OC Federation of Labor.   He even goes so far as to recognize that "this is the worse because who it's coming from. This is Democratic Party, activists, people in labor, people I have spent my entire adult life with."   His response just proves the women's point that the Councilmember does not have the ability to understand that in 2020, Women will speak their truth, with the hope that men, especially men in power will not be defensive, rather have an honest conversation about what respect looks like.  Step one to respect someone is to lis...

2020 is an important election year.  For those of us in Long Beach, it’s just getting started as vote-by-mail ballots are arriving in mailboxes this week, and vote centers are about to open their doors for eleven consecutive days leading up to the March 3rd primary election date.   Locally, we are voting on City Council candidates, Board members for our school and college boards, and important local initiatives. In addition to what candidates say, it’s important to pay attention to what they do--how they have governed, the campaign choices they make, who supports them, and what kind of advice they seek. When we think back to the 2016 election, we recall then-candidate Trump mocking people with disabilities, scapegoating immigrants, stalking around Hillary Clinton on the debate stage, and dismissing his violent actions toward women.   We are seeing our own version of this at home.  Councilmember Al Austin, who is running for re-ele...

Welcome to the new blog written by women, for everyone. We love the city of Long Beach. Some of us grew up here. Some of us just moved here. Some  of us own businesses. Some of us serve you coffee. Some of us are raising our children here, Some of us are here to attend school. Whatever our Long Beach story, we are women and we all call Long Beach home. This is a communal space for women to submit their writings to share with Long Beach. Our hope is to have a growing group of contributors on politics, art, and culture. We are creating a space to make sure that our voice is no longer left out of the "mainstream" Long Beach media. Several women run the email and the blog. To have your piece submitted, reach out to WomenOfLongBeach [at] gmail [dot] com and someone will reach out to you soon. This is a grassroots effort, hoping to grow. Be patient with us! Let's build a city that values the voice of women, together.