Jessica Van Oort for State Representative
Jessica Van Oort for State Representative
I’m stepping up to run for office because of who I am, how I was raised, and what I believe. Here’s the story of what shaped me.
I grew up in rural Wisconsin next to a dairy farm. My family raised chickens, I was in 4H, and my mom homeschooled us kids and taught me how to grow an organic garden. We hiked, camped, and cross country skied. I took ballet lessons. Money was tight sometimes, but my parents tried not to let me know about it. We all went to the grocery store on free sample day and made that into dinner. I worked at the local library, and got summer jobs at the supermarket, doing corn de-tasseling, and at a spray paint factory.
I went to school for dance, and then worked a day job in a vitamin packaging factory to support myself while I rehearsed and performed with a dance company at night and on the weekends. Eventually I went back to school to get an advanced degree so I could teach dance at college. I did that for a while, until the college I was teaching at went bankrupt.
I met my wife Ruth when we were kids. We grew up in the same small town and were in a play together. We were best friends. When I went to college she moved to the college town, and we’ve been together ever since. In 2016, after the Supreme Court made same sex marriage legal nationally, we got married. I like to say it’s the classic boy meets girl in elementary school and they’re together ever after, only this time it’s girl meets girl.
We run a small business together. It’s called The Five Wits. We started out selling little sculptures and hand-sewn cloaks and robes at renaissance faires. Now we sell cosplay wigs, jewelry, hand-blended tea, and other unique stuff at anime conventions and online. During Covid, when we couldn’t go to conventions, we opened a little local shop in our barn, mostly for Ruth’s pottery.
Also during Covid, I got involved with local government here in Pawlet. Everything in the world seemed so dark that summer, and I wanted to do something tangible to help. I heard about an opening on the planning commission. I didn’t know anything about zoning, but I wanted to volunteer for something, so I jumped right in and learned everything I could. Soon I was chair of the planning commission and then I ran for Selectboard and have been working for the town ever since.
