About a year ago, my daughter asked me, “Mommy, what’s going to happen to us?” It reminded me of myself as a child, worried about world war, terrorism, nuclear weapons. I remember asking my own elders about WW2: “When did you know? What did you do?” They fought. Some, like my great uncle, who stormed the beach at Normandy, never made it home.

One can’t know what they’ll do until the moment comes.

I’m running for office because our moment has come.

This is not a normal moment. And, I need to have an answer for my children the way my elders had an answer for me.

I am not a career politician, but I do know what kind of a person I am. I was tested for the first time in 2001, when as a young student in downtown Manhattan, I watched the buildings fall. I ran to the towers. While we waited (days) for FEMA to respond, citizen volunteers organized into a small community--unified New Yorkers bringing food and supplies to first responders as we staffed a sea of cots intended for triage amidst the rubble. In those early days, not one survivor appeared. That was the beginning of my true education. Dr. King called it a “revolution of values;” you may know it better as the common good.  

I’m a mother, a filmmaker, an advocate, a friend. And now, a politician running for State Representative. I’ve learned my lessons in war zones and mountaintops, as well as in city streets, and at the kitchen table. I have been blessed with experience.

I spent my childhood in Sutton, went out into the world to live and learn, and I came home.

Career politicians are afraid to tell you the truth about what’s happening, or what they really think. I won’t lie to you about either. I won’t give you generic answers, or toe a party line. The only problems we can solve are the ones we’re honest about. I will work for you, the people. I will tell you the truth, even if the bad guy isn’t the problem you—or I—are comfortable with. Sometimes, there are only hard choices. Sometimes, a fresh perspective changes everything. Sometimes, when you try something different, you win.

When my daughter asked me what will happen to us, I knew that I needed an answer as good as the ones my own elders gave me.

For me, that begins here, in the place I was born. The place my elders are buried. The place where I first learned what a revolution could be.

The 18th District is the birthplace of two revolutions: the one that made us a nation, and the one that built our industrial economy. I want to help our community return to those roots, with the boldness to tackle our problems head-on, so that this becomes a place people look at and say: look how they did that. If we work together and face our problems honestly, we can get there. A revolution of values, the common good. That’s the American greatness I want to get back to. This revolution starts at home.