A Reintroduction to the Pedgehog

Perhaps it is time to (re)introduce myself. In case you haven't noticed, there's actual activity on this blog again, and in my delusional state I predict this will attract readers. So, it's good to know whose words you're reading, I think. And for those who know me already, well, things have changed.

Really I just like talking about myself.

When I started this blog it was as a volunteer patient escort at the Fredericton Morgentaler Clinic. Later I became the office assistant and volunteer co-ordinator, but kept the same tone and purpose here: the blog was meant as a status report, a chronicle of life at an abortion clinic that suffers regular anti-choice protesters. I wanted a Canadian voice in the pro-choice blogosphere, and I wanted to show what it is really like to walk into a clinic besieged by sign-wielding zealots.

After three years at the clinic, and more years than I would care to say in Fredericton, I packed my bags and moved to Toronto, where I live now. I am working at a Morgentaler Clinic here, but one that has decidedly different needs. There is an injunction preventing anti-choice protesters from coming too close, and the clinic itself is in a very discrete building, so there is no need for volunteer escorts. I am working in intake, which is definitely very interesting, but compared to Fredericton I feel like a very small fish in a very big pond. Which can sometimes be refreshing. However, for various reasons I cannot continue to blog solely about my work in abortion provision.

I feel like I have a good thing going here, however, and I really do feel like there are not enough specifically Canadian, reproductive rights-focused voices on the internet (although there are some very good ones - check my blogroll for recommendations). So I've decided to keep it up, in a general sense, without so much of the personal perspective that I have had in the past. But I will definitely still be referencing my work, and there will definitely still be stories from time to time. And to make up for the havoc this change will most certainly cause in your lives, I promise the blogging is going to be a lot more frequent than it ever has been. I also write somewhat regularly over at Abortion Gang.

So, to brief you on who I am: I am a 26-year-old fat white bisexual cis woman. I consider myself an activist, and certainly a feminist. I have many privileges, which I try very hard to examine and check, but sometimes I fail and I'm sorry. I work two part-time jobs: one for the Morgentaler Clinic, and one for a non-profit organization unrelated to reproductive rights (I won't name them here, just to spare them the potentially negative publicity of being associated with me). Professionally I guess I would consider myself an administrative assistant. Personally I would consider myself a lovable grump.

Welcome (back) to my space.