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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971

1971-04-30 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 6

[insert]
Dum-Dum day care center was the first child care co-op started in Iowa City by members of the Women's Liberation Front in space donated by St. Paul's Lutheran Church. That was June, 1970. On Easter Sunday afternoon at 3:40 seventeen people (8 women, 9 men) were arrested while resettling Dum-Dum in a house owned by the University of Iowa. On the following 3 pages are articles written by the women involved in Dum-Dum day care. The first 3 articles were written by some of the Red Star Quick Rising Yeast Cell and Revolutionary Arts Collective members who spent Easter Sunday in jail. The last article is written by a member of AIAW.
 
    We met at the Foreign Language House. It was Easter and one of the children had a big bag of jelly beans. For a long time this place had been considered a good possibility for a day care center, along with another University of Iowa house that was not used very much (the Honors House - a place for honors students to study); but we were getting a run-around from the University officials and time was critical. 
   Our old facility, a church basement, floods every spring. We tried to impress on the officials we had been dealing with that we were desperate for a place. Well, we'll call you, they said, but didn't. Then they decided they needed long reports written before they could do anything. 
   When we came in, the student caretakers of the place freaked out and made some phone calls. We hadn't thought they would be so upset, but they were. We began clearing the rooms. Some of us went to our old place to start loading cribs and toys. The kids went to another daycare facility to be cared for. 
   There were two large rooms with some chairs, a kitchen, and what seemed to be  a tiny little room filled with cardboard props for a once-a-year play. When the props were out, it was fair-sized, enough for 3 cribs. We thought about efficient use of space. We were careful with the furniture. There was discussion about whether to roll up the rug or not. We decided it would be better to protect the wood floors than the rug, which seemed to be made of cheap material. A line of people toted all small items to the basement. 
   Furniture began arriving from our old place. Soon after University officials began arriving. We went to get the kids back, since from here on it was touch-and-go.
   "Hostile forces coming through," someone called out.
   Two UI men---One would come up from behind asking for a name and address. As the person turned, the other would photograph.
   Some of us went to talk to official, others kept unpacking. A UI man put on a stern father look: "You people shouldn't do these things on your own. You have to go through channels."  "We did" came the reply. All the channels belong to them, anyway. We need some new channels.
   There was some harassement of the officials. It wasn't a first acquaintance for some of us.
   Daycare person: Gee, I hope we didn't disturb your dinner. Too bad, I bet we disturbed your Easter dinner.
   Official: Well, yes you did.
   Daycare person: Well, maybe I can go back and finish it for you?
   DC person: What were you having for dinner? I bet you were having the traditional dinner, were you having pig?
   DC person: Yeah, I bet you had pig for dinner.
   They finally told us we were in violation of Regents Rules or something and told us to leave. We called a Day Care meeting.
   They left for the porch. Press when next. The caretaker of the house didn't want to leave. He couldn't understand that in his semi-official position he would not belong in our caucus. After heated argument, he left, telling one of our people to go to hell. Out on the porch a UI dean told a press person that he didn't believe the DC people were willing to be arrested for what they believed in.
   We voted to stay. Lots of tension as we phoned for supporters and began to realize that a bust was probable. We hadn't planned on this. The University people left for parts unknown, after addressing us to make it "perfectly clear" that they didn't like what we were up to.
   There was a precedent for this thing: actually we were not original. Another day care co-op abbreviated FUCK (Free underground children's kollective) had moved into the faculty house of one of their members and worked out a settlement with the UI without busts. But we didn't have any faculty members in our co-op; all but 3 of our families were on some kind of government assistance. One of the Fuck people told us "I won't get busted for this. I have too much to lose. Hell, I wouldn't get busted for our own day care center."
   We felt tense. We saw the cops from the back window. A small debate began on why be busted. Some people who couldn't/didn't want to, left. We left the back door open for people who wanted to leave at the last minute. The cops came in and ordered us to leave once more. They addressed our group as "Gentlemen." 
   Seventeen day care people and five children stayed. They escorted us out slowly. They took the men first. For a minute or two it seemed they would not arrest the women. We sang "Day care power to the day care people, power to the people." Two were carried, the rest walked. We put Good Day, Sunshine on the record player. The captain of campus security turned it off, but he didn't do it right and it went back on again.
   There was a crowd outside. they were yelling but I couldn't hear what. Day care people were passing on the word to do something about our kids tomorrow, and to keep up the pressure for a facility.
   It was a long wait at the cop shop. People were being processed very slowly. The men told us that they at first thought the women had split and they were real bummed out until our group was reunited. Friends had taken all the children except one. We had been told we could bring our kids and keep them with us, but them someone from social services came to put our one remaining child in a foster home. After discussion, we were able to release the child to our friends. Our kids were real tired and all needed sleep. Some people came by to tell us they would try to raise bail, $100 each for disorderly conduct. We had no idea where money would come from. Someone sang "hangman" for us, outside the door. We stayed in good spirits. The matron came out, "Will all the girls please come with me." Everyone got up.
   The women's cell was small. One window, a john, two bunks. There were seven of us. The matron said last spring they had had 25 women in there at once. We were burned out and hungry but our morale was good. Outside our window was an officials' parking lot. As one of the officials who arrested us got out of the car one of us called down "how's your prick feel now? Yeah, you. Kiss my ass." We waved to our people as they passed by, but cops were down there to make sure we didn't have any conversations. We told jail stories. We did ululating. We drew on the walls. One of us took a pen and started on a big Sisterhood is Powerful. The matron came up and told us we could draw all we wanted but the walls would have to be scrubbed before we left. As she went down the stairs someone said quietly, "We'll just have to scratch it then.
    Not all our stuff was taken from us. We had some paper and a pencil and half a joint. We wrote down some stuff. We resolved that if it got down to 2 women, those two would stick together until they could both get out because it would be shitty to leave one person there alone. 
   It took five days to settle the matter for the time being. The University has probably never done anything so fast. Dum-Dum got a temporary facility, a former faculty house which needs lots of repairing. Rent: $37.50, but we can rent out an upstairs room to cover most of the cost. Some of the fix-up materials are going to cost us, some they're paying for. The next three faculty houses open are 

[half photo]
This is
Day 
No Crash
People wit
for c

[photo]

going to day care. We will have one, another goes to a different co-op that must also move, and the third is left for a new co-op. Rent at these houses will be $75. The rent will be covered by letting out the upstairs an an apartment -- these houses are huge. The settlement is not ideal, but for most of us it seemed worth the effort. One more very small step in a very long stairway.

6.dum dum daycare dum dum daycare dum dum daycare dum dum daycare dum dum daycare dum

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[insert] Dum-Dum day care center was the first child care co-op started in Iowa City by members of the Women's Liberation Front in space donated by St. Paul's Lutheran Church. That was June, 1970. On Easter Sunday afternoon at 3:40 seventeen people (8 women, 9 men) were arrested while resettling Dum-Dum in a house owned by the University of Iowa. On the following 3 pages are articles written by the women involved in Dum-Dum day care. The first 3 articles were written by some of the Red Star Quick Rising Yeast Cell and Revolutionary Arts Collective members who spent Easter Sunday in jail. The last article is written by a member of AIAW. We met at the Foreign Language House. It was Easter and one of the children had a big bag of jelly beans. For a long time this place had been considered a good possibility for a day care center, along with another University of Iowa house that was not used very much (the Honors House - a place for honors students to study); but we were getting a run-around from the University officials and time was critical. Our old facility, a church basement, floods every spring. We tried to impress on the officials we had been dealing with that we were desperate for a place. Well, we'll call you, they said, but didn't. Then they decided they needed long reports written before they could do anything. When we came in, the student caretakers of the place freaked out and made some phone calls. We hadn't thought they would be so upset, but they were. We began clearing the rooms. Some of us went to our old place to start loading cribs and toys. The kids went to another daycare facility to be cared for. There were two large rooms with some chairs, a kitchen, and what seemed to be a tiny little room filled with cardboard props for a once-a-year play. When the props were out, it was fair-sized, enough for 3 cribs. We thought about efficient use of space. We were careful with the furniture. There was discussion about whether to roll up the rug or not. We decided it would be better to protect the wood floors than the rug, which seemed to be made of cheap material. A line of people toted all small items to the basement. Furniture began arriving from our old place. Soon after University officials began arriving. We went to get the kids back, since from here on it was touch-and-go. "Hostile forces coming through," someone called out. Two UI men---One would come up from behind asking for a name and address. As the person turned, the other would photograph. Some of us went to talk to official, others kept unpacking. A UI man put on a stern father look: "You people shouldn't do these things on your own. You have to go through channels." "We did" came the reply. All the channels belong to them, anyway. We need some new channels. There was some harassement of the officials. It wasn't a first acquaintance for some of us. Daycare person: Gee, I hope we didn't disturb your dinner. Too bad, I bet we disturbed your Easter dinner. Official: Well, yes you did. Daycare person: Well, maybe I can go back and finish it for you? DC person: What were you having for dinner? I bet you were having the traditional dinner, were you having pig? DC person: Yeah, I bet you had pig for dinner. They finally told us we were in violation of Regents Rules or something and told us to leave. We called a Day Care meeting. They left for the porch. Press when next. The caretaker of the house didn't want to leave. He couldn't understand that in his semi-official position he would not belong in our caucus. After heated argument, he left, telling one of our people to go to hell. Out on the porch a UI dean told a press person that he didn't believe the DC people were willing to be arrested for what they believed in. We voted to stay. Lots of tension as we phoned for supporters and began to realize that a bust was probable. We hadn't planned on this. The University people left for parts unknown, after addressing us to make it "perfectly clear" that they didn't like what we were up to. There was a precedent for this thing: actually we were not original. Another day care co-op abbreviated FUCK (Free underground children's kollective) had moved into the faculty house of one of their members and worked out a settlement with the UI without busts. But we didn't have any faculty members in our co-op; all but 3 of our families were on some kind of government assistance. One of the Fuck people told us "I won't get busted for this. I have too much to lose. Hell, I wouldn't get busted for our own day care center." We felt tense. We saw the cops from the back window. A small debate began on why be busted. Some people who couldn't/didn't want to, left. We left the back door open for people who wanted to leave at the last minute. The cops came in and ordered us to leave once more. They addressed our group as "Gentlemen." Seventeen day care people and five children stayed. They escorted us out slowly. They took the men first. For a minute or two it seemed they would not arrest the women. We sang "Day care power to the day care people, power to the people." Two were carried, the rest walked. We put Good Day, Sunshine on the record player. The captain of campus security turned it off, but he didn't do it right and it went back on again. There was a crowd outside. they were yelling but I couldn't hear what. Day care people were passing on the word to do something about our kids tomorrow, and to keep up the pressure for a facility. It was a long wait at the cop shop. People were being processed very slowly. The men told us that they at first thought the women had split and they were real bummed out until our group was reunited. Friends had taken all the children except one. We had been told we could bring our kids and keep them with us, but them someone from social services came to put our one remaining child in a foster home. After discussion, we were able to release the child to our friends. Our kids were real tired and all needed sleep. Some people came by to tell us they would try to raise bail, $100 each for disorderly conduct. We had no idea where money would come from. Someone sang "hangman" for us, outside the door. We stayed in good spirits. The matron came out, "Will all the girls please come with me." Everyone got up. The women's cell was small. One window, a john, two bunks. There were seven of us. The matron said last spring they had had 25 women in there at once. We were burned out and hungry but our morale was good. Outside our window was an officials' parking lot. As one of the officials who arrested us got out of the car one of us called down "how's your prick feel now? Yeah, you. Kiss my ass." We waved to our people as they passed by, but cops were down there to make sure we didn't have any conversations. We told jail stories. We did ululating. We drew on the walls. One of us took a pen and started on a big Sisterhood is Powerful. The matron came up and told us we could draw all we wanted but the walls would have to be scrubbed before we left. As she went down the stairs someone said quietly, "We'll just have to scratch it then. Not all our stuff was taken from us. We had some paper and a pencil and half a joint. We wrote down some stuff. We resolved that if it got down to 2 women, those two would stick together until they could both get out because it would be shitty to leave one person there alone. It took five days to settle the matter for the time being. The University has probably never done anything so fast. Dum-Dum got a temporary facility, a former faculty house which needs lots of repairing. Rent: $37.50, but we can rent out an upstairs room to cover most of the cost. Some of the fix-up materials are going to cost us, some they're paying for. The next three faculty houses open are [half photo] This is Day No Crash People wit for c [photo] going to day care. We will have one, another goes to a different co-op that must also move, and the third is left for a new co-op. Rent at these houses will be $75. The rent will be covered by letting out the upstairs an an apartment -- these houses are huge. The settlement is not ideal, but for most of us it seemed worth the effort. One more very small step in a very long stairway. 6.dum dum daycare dum dum daycare dum dum daycare dum dum daycare dum dum daycare dum