Kitty Kroger

Los Angeles, California

“BECAUSE I SUSPECT that my co-worker Juan at the next furnace is an informant, I wait until he turns his back, then extract a stack of leaflets from between the pages of the Daily News, which I always bring in with me to work.”

So opens my novel about middle-class Jenny Apple who has cast off her “class privilege” to work in a copper refinery and organize workers for a revolution that is to occur within ten years. One night at work she meets Miguel, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, who participated in the revolution in 1965 against the dictator Trujillo. Jenny is captivated by Miguel while torn by political doubts, not about socialism as a goal but about its viability. In addition, she resents the dogmatism of her Maoist collective. Her increasingly destructive relationship with Miguel, her long-standing fears of sexual intimacy, and her political misgivings all collide to threaten a breakdown. Dancing with Mao and Miguel presents a glimpse into a little-known slice of American history through the eyes of a self-conscious, at times amusing, and always irresistibly honest protagonist.

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I first became an activist after college while living in Berlin in the Sixties. I started with anti-Vietnam War organizing and moved on to feminism, factory organizing, solidarity support work, anti-Iraq War work. Today I live in Los Angeles and am interested in Nonviolent Communication and the Alternatives to Violence Program, which works to promote conflict resolution in prisons. I'm also involved in prison justice, worker-owned and run cooperatives, and single-payer healthcare.

My webpage is kittykroger.com, and my other blog is kittykroger.wordpress.com, where I discuss some of these things.

  • Work
    • Retired ESL teacher