After a healthy helping of hearing John McCain boast about "Joe the plumber" in Wednesday's presidential debate, journalist Katha Pollitt helped to ease the tension of the political race while discussing her views at Houston Hall last night.
Tackling issues such as abortion, poverty, human rights and foreign policy in her writing, Pollitt considers herself a feminist columnist.
She has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Ms. Magazine, and Harper's Magazine. She is best known for "Subject to Debate," her column in The Nation. In 1983 she won a National Book Critics Circle Award for her work, Antarctic Traveller.
She started out the evening with a short story she wrote which heavily featured the topics of feminism, socialism, communism and Marxism in a light-hearted way. She explored why women are put into certain generic categories, posing questions such as why men look into Marxist theory and not women. Through sarcastic humor, she delved into her personal opinions on the topic.
After the reading, Pollitt discussed her views about the upcoming presidential election. An avid Barack Obama supporter, Pollitt expressed disappointment throughout the evening with the negative press about Obama by his opponent John McCain.
She is surprised that Obama manages to take everything he is faced with in stride. Despite this amazement, she said she understands that he must function in this manner in order to remain a popular candidate in the election.
Pollitt also feels that "Obama would help the United States deal with its issue of racism" and that his campaign has encouraged many people to register to vote and become involved in the political process.
Continuing her commentary on the election, Pollitt mentioned that McCain's vice presidential pick of Sarah Palin always provides "interesting" stories to write about. Pollitt admits that she thinks Palin did not function as the Republican Party expected her to.
Palin was supposed to draw in all the supporters of Hillary Clinton, but this did not happen for the simple reason that "Palin and Clinton are completely different people, except for their gender," she said.
Even though she is not Palin's biggest fan, Pollitt still feels that Palin has opened doors for future women to pursue such leadership roles.
To end the evening Pollitt answered questions and signed copies of her book about gender in the upcoming election, Learning to Drive.
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