 "Photo: Courtesy of Bob Doran")
Beware. There is a raging granny at HSU.
HSU student Jean Doran turns 90 on April 14 and has more vigor than most of her classmates.
Doran is involved in the local chapter of the international group, the Raging Grannies. The elderly women march and sing protest songs.
You may have seen Doran and the Raging Grannies singing at the Arcata Farmer’s Market. They meet once a month to choose their songs, then show up at events to protest.
“We don’t sing very well, but we sing with spirit,” she laughed.
“There are groups all over. They even get arrested,” said Doran. She admits that she had never been arrested herself, but there were times when police showed up to keep an eye on the grannies. “We don’t exactly go by invitation.”
Kit Crosby-Williams, another member of the Raging Grannies, said, “We are called a gaggle of ragging grannies.”
They always try to be topical about what they sing and always sing a few songs about peace, said Crosby-Williams.
The Raging Grannies started more than 15 years ago in Canada, said Crosby-Williams, when it was discovered that nuclear materials were being shipped. A few grannies wrote some songs and went down to the shipyard to sing protests.
The Grannies always dress in large, floppy hats with flowers or buttons when they sing. “We always look a little off,” said Crosby-Williams. However, she said that fits them because all the songs they sing are a little funny.
The Raging Grannies is not the only way Doran makes herself heard. She also makes sure HSU faculty and administration hear her opinions about the campus budget cuts.
“You’ve got to do more protesting here on campus,” said Doran. “They’re talking about cutting theatre arts. That was my son’s major for God’s sake.”
Bob Doran, her son and a writer for the North Coast Journal, said, “She’s met with [Rollin Richmond] on several issues.” When she got word that the Natural History Museum would close, she signed up to help save it and made an information packet, which she presented to Richmond.
She also put together a book of pictures she took of the museum and is trying to convince the board that the museum is worth keeping.
“When the Natural History Museum came along, there was nothing else she was interested in,” said her son.
While she is active in campus politics, Doran also wants to have fun with her classes. “Every year I take what interests me the most,” she said. “I took printmaking and papered all my walls with what I made.”
She participates in the Over 60 program for seniors who want to take classes at HSU. “Although it doesn’t keep me from getting old,” Doran chuckled, “I have no intention of stopping learning.”
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