ABSTRACT
I believe that I was asked to speak at the UCSB Port Huron Conference as an “affirmative-action appointment”—which is fine with me. Affirmative action is a useful tool to ensure women’s participation, and as former chair of Santa Barbara County’s Affirmative Action Commission, I am happy to accept this invitation to speak (and write) because I was indeed there (at Port Huron)! I was not a student, but was working as a research technician at the University of Michigan, and had to feign illness in order to take time off from work; as a result, I came a few days late and missed the opening events, which included addresses by various old Socialists and labor leaders—not a big loss.
