
{"id":1320,"date":"2007-11-21T12:39:54","date_gmt":"2007-11-21T20:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/11\/21\/raging-grannies-are-fearless-activists\/"},"modified":"2007-11-21T12:39:54","modified_gmt":"2007-11-21T20:39:54","slug":"raging-grannies-are-fearless-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/11\/21\/raging-grannies-are-fearless-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Raging Grannies are fearless activists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Meghan Cooke<\/strong><br \/>\nCorrespondent<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Sitting at a picnic table in front of Weaver Street Market, Lori Hoyt sipped on ice water and chatted about her grandchildren, church and friends.<\/p>\n<p>But this 73-year-old from Carrboro is not the average grandmother. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a Raging Granny.<\/p>\n<p>Hoyt, a retired social worker, is a member of the group of Carrboro and Chapel Hill women who sing politically charged songs at rallies and protests in support of their progressive ideology.\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is a wonderful empowering model for older women,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hoyt said.<\/p>\n<p>The Raging Grannies began in Canada in 1987 as a group of women who wore bright clothing and sang satirical songs to protest various issues. The group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s popularity drifted south, and new chapters, known as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gaggles,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d formed throughout the United States.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The Carrboro gaggle began about 10 years ago when Granny Betsey Granda received a songbook printed by the Canadian grannies. She began recruiting women in the Arcadia co-housing community in Carrboro by passing out fliers that read: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Are you a closet Raging Granny?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Several women answered the call. After a meeting with tea and muffins, the Carrboro gaggle of Raging Grannies was officially created.<\/p>\n<p>The group now has about 12 active members, aged from their mid-50s to early 80s. The women meet only when planning their next events in order to coordinate each performance.<\/p>\n<p>From the environment to social justice and the war in Iraq, the Raging Grannies take an active stand on many political hot topics.<\/p>\n<p>They write their own lyrics to the tune of familiar songs to protest current issues, including the construction of waste dumps in poor neighborhoods and the USA Patriot Act, a federal anti-terrorism law passed in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Being older, we can sing very pointed lyrics with strong messages,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>One of their songs, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yankee Doodle Georgie,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is sung to the tune of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yankee Doodle Dandy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The first verse is:<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Georgie Porgie is the prez, Though he was not elected, Said he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d finish Daddy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s war, And thought he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be respected.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The grannies also dress for the occasion. Floral print dresses and straw hats embellished with plastic flowers are the usual garb. Jane Hare, a 72-year-old Chapel Hill resident, said the gaudy get-up is part of the act.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an exaggerated granny look,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hare said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the statement. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re grannies, and we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to worry about fashion and how we look.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>All jokes and songs aside, Hare said, the Grannies are on a mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It has some irony and comedy, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very serious,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We believe this war is wrong. We believe that injustices need to be righted.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think if people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stand up and say this is wrong and this has got to stop, the folks in charge will continue to do what they do.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The Grannies perform only four or fives times per year, Hoyt said. In October they performed at Camp New Hope in Chapel Hill, where they sought to inform the public of destructive U.S. policies in Latin America.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re essentially making war on peasants,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said of U.S. policy in Colombia. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Social aid would be more effective.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nDespite their strong opinions, Hoyt said the Grannies have not run into much legal trouble so far.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a couple of nasty letters to the editor, disagreeing with our points of view,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, laughing.<\/p>\n<p>Only one of the group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s members, Nancy Woods, has been arrested. She was charged with second-degree trespassing at Carolina Power &amp; Light in Raleigh as she protested the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s storage of used nuclear fuel at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant in New Hill.<\/p>\n<p>But after a recent illness, Woods scaled back on her involvement with the Raging Grannies.<\/p>\n<p>Hoyt said the group is usually appreciated because it merely supports others at rallies or protests.<\/p>\n<p>In 2004, the Grannies donned Lady Liberty costumes and sang songs critical of The Patriot Act in front of the downtown post office in Chapel Hill. They participated in the demonstration outside the Army recruiting station on East Franklin Street in 2006 when three people were charged with second-degree trespassing.<\/p>\n<p>Being an activist isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t easy, Hoyt said. The Grannies must go against the American tide of militarism, consumerism and materialism, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a struggle to be an activist and get out there,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But being older women, our motivation is not just to be a concerned citizen, but most of us have children and grandchildren, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re deeply concerned about the future of this country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for the younger generations to step up to the plate, Hoyt said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all getting old,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, laughing. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need young people to take our place.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Meghan Cooke Correspondent Sitting at a picnic table in front of Weaver Street Market, Lori Hoyt sipped on ice water and chatted about her grandchildren, church and friends. But this 73-year-old from Carrboro is not the average grandmother. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a Raging Granny. Hoyt, a retired social worker, is a member of the group of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}