The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

I got a Kindle this spring and have had a chance to do a lot of summer reading for pleasure.  One of the great things about owning an electronic book is that if one is in a quandary about what to read next, one can instantaneously search what other e-books have been popular with the millions of readers who own one too.  That is where I found Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated by Alison Arngrim.

I was a Little House on the Prairie fan growing up and I still find myself searching through the syndicated episodes to find my favorite ones or to stay clear of the ones that gave me nightmares as a child.  I cannot watch Mary’s baby lose its life in a fire, and cannot watch Caroline (Ma) attempt to cut off her infected leg to save herself, but I found Albert’s addiction to Morphine absolutely riveting (and the shot of him puking with the DT’s still makes me cringe).  By far my favorite character to watch grow up and deal with life’s issues was not Laura Ingalls, but Nellie Oleson; the spoiled-rotten, self-absorbed brat whose parents owned the Mercantile in Walnut Grove.

Alison Arngrim’s character, Nellie, fascinated me as a child.  Fortunately for me, I never encountered someone like her in my own life (well, at least not until I decided to support women running for president in 2008).  I was fascinated by the way her character could bring about absolute turmoil in the lives of the other Walnut Grove children.  She would plan her moves with devious precision only to be thrown in the mud or humiliated in some other fashion by Laura and her peers.  I believed she was certifiably insane because she kept repeating the bullying pattern only to get her comeuppance in the last 5 minutes of every single episode.

Now that I have read Alison’s book I realize how wonderful Michael Landon was to repeat Nellie’s routine over and over because viewers enjoyed seeing Laura become the ultimate victor.  As much as many viewers hated Nellie, I knew that if her character was in the episode that I would love every single minute of it.  Nellie was the magnetic force that kept me tuning in.  I still cry when she finds love with Percival after he pours raw eggs all over her head.  It is a defining moment for me to see that everyone, even bullies like Nellie Oleson, wants to be loved and that love can move mountains (or at least soften Nellie’s heart enough to keep her out of the mud wrestling angrily with Laura).

In her book, Alison reveals detailed accounts of her difficult childhood and makes it obvious why having a television family like the cast of Little House was so important.  Another tidbit I didn’t know was how funny Alison is, her wit is piercing like Nellie’s rage.  But the biggest thing I learned about Alison Arngrim was that she would become a hero to women and girls who had been victims of incest.  Alison leverages her notoriety as Nellie to change laws to keep girls safe from rape, regardless if the perp of the rape was someone the girl knew.

Currently, our country understands how stubborn and out-of-touch our politicians are, but I had no idea how obnoxious and callous many are when it comes to protecting women and girls in our country.  Alison, with the help of an organization called PROTECT.org, and California Republican Senator James Battin and his staff were able to get the “incest exception law” removed from the state of California’s books on October 4, 2005.  This was no small undertaking since many in the Democratic majority had created that exception law and were not about to remove it.  If it was not for Alison getting a spot on Larry King, and telling the world about the repeated rape she endured at the hands of her brother the public may not have been as outraged about the exception law and all that it represented against the victims of incest.

Alison continues to drive legislation protecting children (especially girls) against child abuse and child pornography on the internet.  Here at TNA we applaud her tenacity and want her to know that we would love to help her get the word out through our channels if there is something we need to do to remind our politicians to do what is right, not just what is easy.

I encourage everyone to get a copy of Alison’s book for Labor Day Weekend reading.  There is a reason why Kindle readers gave it five stars.  Sometimes the world just needs a Prairie Bitch to shake up the system for the betterment of everyone, including her.