I'm so moved when I see everyday Americans standing together, against all odds, to make their lives and communities better - whether it's organizing against big factories polluting their air or against big banks corrupting our economy and political system.

The fire in the bellies of the good people who work for a more fair and just world for all of us - that spark never fails to inspire me and warm my heart.

What haven't I been called? Every antigay, misogynist, anti-Semitic, anti-liberal smear you can think of. I don't think I can transform those smears; I can't even repeat them! But I proudly embrace the identities beneath them.

Women are more than half of our globe, more than half of our promise and potential. And we have been not only underusing that resource but suppressing it.

I'm a woman and a lesbian and a feminist and a Jew and so many other things, and those identities are a source of pride and strength for me.

I have never, not once, gone on television and not received some email or tweet or comment about my hair. Without fail. Isn't that absurd? All it does is make me want to shape my bangs into a sort of middle finger-like sculpture.

Our challenge is to find the compassion for others that we want them to have for us.