lesbians and the devil: a brief history

g pickle, president and sole member

of the mostly reverend's fan club,

raised an interesting point of trivia in a recent comment.

[and if you think i'm going to reveal when and where, well then you don't understand the long and convoluted relationship mr pickle and i have with trivia and tangents. there are a number of rewards for being a loyal and thorough reader of "today's sermonette" and you've just been introduced to yet another of them.]

he makes reference to the "little fuckers."

i began an explanation in a reply comment to his comment,

but thought it important enough that it warranted

a post of its own.

it might not, but i make up many of the rules here, so read on...

back in the late 1960s and early 1970s,

this nation, this state, and even iowa city,

were all very different places than they are today.

dissent was widespread,

and voices were united in a common goal.

they were heard.

and respected.

sometimes.

more or less.

but tolerances were much greater then,

and reactions were more reasoned.

the presenting problem was this:

single mothers needed childcare

while they attended class or worked for the university.

the university of iowa did not respond to the pleas.

so a group of lesbians took over, occupied, if you will,

a university-owned house on north jefferson street

in downtown iowa city.

they did the noble, civilly disobedient thing:

they opened a daycare center.

restraint and calm heads prevailed,

and eventually the university capitulated,

and offered a house at the end of melrose avenue, across the river.

on a dead end, among a bunch of big, old two- and three-story houses that were being used to house faculty members.

they were neglected houses on a dead end.

"perfect for those lesbians and hippies," the officials thought.

if they only knew...

this is where i enter the story.

i lived in hillcrest dorm the first semester of my freshman year, 1971, and during october, i wandered across the street and began checking out these cool old houses.

i found a couple daycare centers.

i went into one.

the sign read "university parents childcare collective."

very cool. bunch of hippies and little kids running around.

yippee!!

i started volunteering there, and a couple years later,

when i had a little hippie child of my own, we took her there.

i learned the history of this place, upcc.

it was the first daycare, originally sanctioned and blessed by the u of i.

its original name?

Free Underground Childcare Kollective.

the kids all had t-shirts which read

"i'm a little fucker."

lesbians with a sense of humor.

that notion startled lots of people back then.

not me. i was enthralled.

[just an example of the stories that get told when someone says,

"kim, tell me a story" while on a long ride.]

? ? ? ? ?

by the way, i just noticed that the counter at the bottom of this place

just rolled over to 20,000+ visitors.

thanks a lot for visiting, reading, and commenting. and returning.

like gravity, i don't fully understand how it works.

but, like coffee in a cup, i'm glad we have it.