{"id":3006,"date":"2016-06-02T10:36:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T14:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/?p=3006"},"modified":"2016-06-02T10:36:42","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T14:36:42","slug":"going-home-to-mindys-muses-a-heartfelt-thanks-to-feminist-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/2016\/06\/02\/going-home-to-mindys-muses-a-heartfelt-thanks-to-feminist-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Home to Mindy\u2019s Muses: A heartfelt thanks to Feminist Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beginning today, I will be “going home” to Mindy’s Muses, a blog that I created over five years ago. Over past two years, I have had the honor of writing for Feminist Reflections (FR). I began as a Guest Author, having been invited to share a few posts from Mindy\u2019s Muses. Then one of the FR Founders, Gayle Sulik, and I decided to collaborate on a series of posts about Black Lives Matter<\/a>, because we felt it was important to write about how white allies could support this movement. After a relatively short run as a \u201cGuest\u201d on FR, I was invited to join as a Contributing Author, one of five writers who churn out provocative essays weekly. Mindy’s Muses went on an unofficial “semi-hiatus”.<\/p>\n

\"feminism\"<\/a>Being a member of FR has strengthened my understanding of the challenges of \u201cdoing public sociology\u201d for academic Sociologists. Because I\u2019m an Applied Sociologist and don\u2019t work in academia, I don\u2019t have pressure to publish in peer reviewed journals, nor do I have constraints on what I write about, other than those I self-impose (!). I have been inspired by my academic colleagues who navigate these demands, and maintain a commitment to reaching an audience beyond academia.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, FR experienced some turnover, as a few of its Founders moved on. Tristan Bridges and I became Co-Chairs of the Editorial Board, and in that role, I learned more about the logistics necessary to maintain the hum of weekly posts by a variety of authors. We also added two new writers:\u00a0 Kristen Barber and Tressie McMillan Cottom. I can truly say that being a part of FR has been exhilarating. I love reading drafts of essays by my \u201cFRiends\u201d (or \u201cFRolleagues\u201d!), and providing feedback and editing advice. I continue to be in awe of their talent and it\u2019s exciting to discover whatever new essay they publish. And I deeply value their feedback on my work.<\/p>\n

Being part of a \u201cwriting group\u201d is a different animal than writing solo, as I had been doing with Mindy\u2019s Muses. When I consider what I want to write for FR, my thoughts are thread through a feminist lens that weaves the personal and the political. I know that my fellow FR writers are available for feedback on potential topics as well as on drafts. Writing for Mindy\u2019s Muses is a little scarier and also maybe a little freer. While my writing style generally brings a feminist sociology lens to issues that I face personally, I also allow myself, at times, to write pieces that are just \u201cstories\u201d. Unlike FR, it\u2019s on me if a post doesn\u2019t fly. And while I can reach out to friends to read a draft, it\u2019s more of a favor than an implicit \u201cobligation\u201d or commitment that comes with being part of a group.<\/p>\n

\"caring<\/a>So with all this said, it is with a feeling of gratitude that I have decided to take a \u201csabbatical\u201d from FR. I am thrilled to say that I have a new book coming out this summer: Caring for Red:\u00a0 A Daughter\u2019s Memoir<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Vanderbilt University Press).<\/strong>\u00a0 I will return to writing for Mindy\u2019s Muses<\/a>, which has just moved to a new website on WordPress called www.mindyfried.com<\/a>. For now, the focus of the blog will have a broad lens \u2013 which is care work scholarship \u2013 as I feature the important research and writing of some of my colleagues, both in the US and Canada. The blog \u2013 still called Mindy\u2019s Muses<\/a> \u2013 will also provide a platform to write about my own experiences vis a vis Caring for Red<\/em>, and will include excerpts of the book, lists of author readings (including Seattle on August 21st<\/sup> at 3PM at the Eliot Bay Book Company!), and more.<\/p>\n

My plan, ultimately, is to provide platform on the blog portion of the website \u2013 once my book is out this summer \u2013 for other people to share their experiences, thoughts, fears and resources about caregiving for elder parents. My story \u2013 as I tell it in Caring for Red<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 is a universal one, and I hope that my book provides a portal for others to share their stories as well.<\/p>\n

THANK YOU to my esteemed FR colleagues:\u00a0 Kristen Barber, Amy Blackstone, Tristan Bridges, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Meika Loe, Trina Smith and Gayle Sulik! It has been a pleasure working with you, and I look forward to continued opportunities in the future. I am still here to run by an idea or read a draft! And finally, a big thanks to Jon Smajda and Letta Wren Page from The Society Pages, who have been fantastic to work with on the technical side of FR business.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beginning today, I will be “going home” to Mindy’s Muses, a blog that I created over five years ago. Over past two years, I have had the honor of writing for Feminist Reflections (FR). I began as a Guest Author, having been invited to share a few posts from Mindy\u2019s Muses. Then one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2016,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[37999,26656,37890,37886,38000],"class_list":["post-3006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-care-work-scholarship","tag-collaboration","tag-feminism","tag-gender","tag-mindys-muses"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2016"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3006"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3055,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006\/revisions\/3055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/feminist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}