Creating the Purr-Sist button

A story by Ellen Crocker from 2017

Skiing at Sunday River. I had made some pink helmet covers with ears, ski Pussy Hats to match the Purr-Sist buttons. Ellen Crocker is third from left.

My motivation to create the Purr-Sist buttons came from Mitch McConnell, who tried to get Senator Elizabeth Warren to stop talking in the Senate. But she wouldn't; she just kept on. Afterward, McConnell said in bewilderment about this woman, "She just kept going, she just persisted!" The idea formed itself.

I was so upset when Trump got the nomination. I went to the Women's March in Augusta. But at 78 (then) I was at a loss as to what an old lady could do. Not being a student of history, I wondered why the common people hadn't stood up against the Nazis when their Jewish neighbors were being taken by the Gestapo.
"Why didn't they DO SOMETHING?"
What I finally understood during the Trump presidency is that it's not simple to "do something." Indeed, you do have to "do something." But it may have to be small, it may have to be subtle, it may not measure up to the challenge at hand. But you do have to "do something." This is what I did.

I went on Etsy and found someone who would make me a batch of my button design. I gave them away, got a few donations for cost. But what I hadn't anticipated was that they would be so popular. I re-ordered and re-ordered, and (I"m guessing now) maybe ended up getting 150-200.

Purr-Sist button, Bethel, 2017

Purr-Sist button, Bethel, 2017

Item Contributed by
Maine Historical Society

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