Charleston and beyond!

The Wanderlusters have just left Charleston, SC and we have lots of updates from the last few days.

In Charleston, the Wanderlusters had a meeting at a University. A woman and gender studies professor named Allison organized the event and invited people from the local community to participate. At the meeting, everyone broke into small groups and Becky's group included a woman and her family( originally from CA). Both of the young parents spoke about how concerned they are to be raising their son in the environment in Charleston, because they want him to grow up to respect women and their choices. The woman also said that she never felt the need to get involved in reproductive health issues before, because she didn't feel that her rights were threatened in CA. Since moving to Charleston, however, she noted that she has been surprised by the religious stranglehold on various aspects of women's health and really wants to become involved as an activist. Others in the small groups had equally successful conversations, and were able to speak to people from various walks in life about their interest in making connections with others and becoming more involved.

In Charleston, the Wanderlusters stayed in a hostel called NotSo Hostel and were joined by 3 new riders! The NotSo Hostel is a pretty famous Charleston hostel and they have a great website that talks about their room and space sharing philosophy (it opens dialogue!). After sleeping on the ground for the past few nights, I'm sure none of the Wanderlusters minded having to share a bathroom!

One of the new riders, Shelby Knox, has also been writing about the trip at her blog. For those of you unfamiliar with Shelby, she made her mark while still in her teens when she fought with her small Texas high school over their abstinence only curriculum. They chronicled the fight in a documentary called The Education of Shelby Knox, which we highly recommend!

Here is the most recent audio file from Becky! She passed the phone around to a few other riders, and you can hear messages from some of the more seasoned rider, Elizabeth, Vanessa and Elisa, as well as Shelby!

Gabcast! 2000 Miles for Justice! #10 - Meet some of Becky's friends