Melissa Roth -- Freespeak Blog

As some of you may know, here in Texas the Governor called a special session of the legislature to discuss redistricting and then he added abortion to the mix. The last two weeks have been a frenzy of following the hearings and bills and participating in the protest. Yesterday, I went to the Capitol to speak against HB60 in committee hearing. I left after 8 hours because they were going in alphabetical order and were only on the C's. I didn't get a chance to share my thoughts and feelings with the committee, but I thought I would share them here.   Thank you, chair and committee for allowing me to testify. My name is Melissa Roth and I'm a constituent of Representative Mark Strama of District 50. I'm here to testify against these bills because I believe in the equality of women and reproductive justice. In 1978, I had an abortion. I had that surgical abortion in a doctor's office and felt completely cared for and safe. It was a very difficult decision f...

I was not happy with my hair, it needed a trim. My hairstylist was out of state and out of reach at the moment so I decided to go ahead and get it trimmed. I called a stylist a friend recommended. She was very nice and fit me in right away. The thing is, as so often has happened with me and hairstylists, I was saying one thing, the stylist was confirming what they thought I was saying and we meant different things. So I end up with…not what I wanted. I am grieving the loss of my hair. I spent 18 months growing it and now it is all chopped off. There is no blame, she was trying to do what she believed I wanted and I was trying to be clear about what I wanted. The problem is with my reaction to what is really a minor incident. Hair grows. It is not the end of the world. My reaction is out of proportion because I am putting too much emphasis on how I look. Somehow I think my external is going to make the internal better and feel more safe and give me clear guidance on who...