It's my history that made me an activist, I think. I'm not in as difficult a situation as I was with being a mother a year ago. My child's issues are getting manageable and things are just working out more.

But I rise from that (in the extremely limited way I can rise, having about 3-5 hours a week I can work on art related stuff. And this includes working on art stuff rather than relaxing and watching TV). But it's something, and I don't care much for TV after a bit anyway.

So that said, coming out of it, I want to go back and help fix what made things so wrong before. The thing I remember is that my feeling 3 years ago was that I was a single mom, and I was going to kill myself for 9 months working on a gallery project. My thought was, just give me one shot, give me one chance to do a show, and get my stuff out there and either I'll make it or I won't.

And I didn't make it and my son's issues appeared shortly after and that was that for over a year. More like a year and a half I didn't let myself work on anything. As much as it hurt, I don't regret it. Lee Bontacau did an interview and the woman interviewed her about the work/mother balance. Lee said, "Of course your child should be a priority. You can always make are later. In the meantime, you can always draw." I held onto that and it kept me sane.

But now, with a little time, I think back to the One-Line Collective, and the truth is that the show was just fine. Maybe it was good. I thought it was good. But the attitude about getting a chance in the marketplace... well, that's where I didn't get a chance. I wanted to run, to complete in the marketplace. And there was no market. And there was no place to market my work. The media was two limited with only two critics in town.

I've always wanted to be an activist, and I just realized that it will never be saving trees or trying to get other people to vote democrat. I will try just to make this one little place, this one little corner, better. Better for the next girl with a baby who just wants to take a shot at the big time.