Notes on Chapter 08

This chapter marks the beginning of some changes in my own thinking.  I had previously thought that some extralegal steps would be necessary to get to the goals that The Minute Women wanted to achieve.  But I began to see this was a non-starter and the story from here on out would have to focus on legal alternatives only.  There is mention in the chapter that some organization outside of The Minute Women might take extralegal measures and do so without the knowledge of The Minute Women.  But that line is not pursued in the rest of the story.  I don't want to deny that the possibility remains, but here I think it is a distraction more than anything else. 

The chapter also highlights the enormous pressure that Caroline has been operating under, pressure that she didn't anticipate at the outset.  This strain is noticeable to others.  The Congressman saw it in the previous chapter.  Mark Askren sees it in this one. This parallels my on experience as a campus administrator.  Accomplishment and stress seem to accompany one another.  Of course, the situation that Caroline finds herself in is far more extreme, and she has fewer prior experiences to go back on to help her through the situation.  This would still be true without the death threats.   Those meant that some drastic changes needed to be made.

The chapter also includes what I felt was the obligatory romantic bit.  I'm not comfortable writing about romance this way, so I kept it brief. But I did think it was necessary for the story.  If I ever reach the point where I'm dealing with some potential publisher of the book and they say take it out, I certainly would be willing to do that.