This just got sent to me, and it seems so fitting for Thanksgiving this year–a poem, by Langston Hughes:

I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed –
I, too, am America.

– Langston Hughes, 1925

See also Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again”.  And thank you, Jessie, for sending these! Here’s wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving, filled with stuffing and gratitude and love.  Me?  I’ll be stuffing myself with my Jewish family, on the holiday few in my family this year feel ambivalent about.  Well, I always feel ambivalent about the turkeys, but that’s just the guilty carnivore in me.  Today, my parents get to meet their grandkitten!  Off to bake the pies…

After months of slugging through false starts on a sample chapter for my next book proposal, months of promising my agent I’d have it ready by the end of the month, and feelings of writerly delinquency in spite of hours of hard work, I have had a writing breakthrough. Friends have asked what I credit it to, so that I can learn from it for next time, cause I have no doubt there will be a next time. Writing life just works that way. I’ve been thinking about this, and wanted to share what I’ve learned with you. Here’s what I attribute the breakthrough to:

1. A supportive writing group that has been unflailing in its honesty (even when it hurts) and abundant with praise when something is good

2. Tenacity. I am stubborn, and determined to get it right.

3. A partner who reassures me that I am still a writer even when I’m between books.

4. Early morning writing hours. This has been key, as when “business hours” begin, as a consultant I feel the need to be accessible. But at 5:30am, no one is expecting an email from me.

5.  An agent who hasn’t given up on me.  “Books have a life of their own,” says he.  “Better to get it right.”

What helps you break through a block? Feel free to join me in sharing strategies, in comments!

Don’t miss this piece responding to Hillary’s presumptive nomination as SOS from my fellow Progressive Women’s Voices-er, Michelle Wucker, titled “Great Expectations,” over at WMC today.  As a colleague of mine said last night, “Hillary is a tough lady for a tough job.”  Hells yeah.

Two tidbits for your Monday morning, courtesy my colleagues at CCF:

“Study Suggests ‘Hanging Out’ on Facebook, MySpace Isn’t a Waste for Teens,” Joe Crawford, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A study by the MacArthur Foundation concludes that interaction with new media such as Facebook is increasingly becoming an essential part of becoming a competent citizen in the digital age. And further, all that Web surfing isn’t necessarily eroding the intelligence or initiative of the young generation. “It may look like kids are wasting a lot of time online, but they’re actually learning a lot of social, technical and also media literacy skills,” said Mizuko Ito, a researcher at the University of California, Irvine who lead the study.

Teen Birth Rate Falls to 28-Year Low, John Fauber, Milwaukee, Journal-Sentinel
Contraception, abstinence, media campaigns all helping to influence city’s youth, experts say.

Ah, insomnia!  One thing it’s good for is catching up on my online reading.  I’m late to the table on some of these, I know, on this one, but in case you missed any of them too:

Rebecca Traister, The Momification of Michelle Obama, and some interesting counterpoints at Slate’s XX Factor, “Michelle Still Has Feminist Cred” (Emily Bazelton) and “Sarah, Michelle, Hillary” (Melinda Henneberger).   Pundit Mom calls it in Will Michelle Obama Spark the Next ‘Mommy Wars’ Skirmish? Me, I’m with XX Factor on this one.

C. Nicole Mason at Women’s eNews, Michelle Brings the New Everywoman to White House

Erin Aubry Kaplan at Salon, First Lady Got Back

And, as always, the Michelle Obama Watch blog.

This here’s one of my favorite conferences of all, and not just because Stephanie Coontz, Steve Mintz, Virginia Rutter, Lara Riscoll, and Barbara Risman are fun to dance with.  Though that part’s fun too.  I love the Council on Contemporary Families Annual Conference because of the caliber and savvy of its participants.  It’s the cream of the crop, bringing together researchers, practionners, and media types who are interested in the way public discourse sees and understands “family” in our day.  I joined the CCF Board this year, so I’m feeling very fancy and all grown up.

The gathering take place this year on April 17 and 18, 2009 at University of Illinois at Chicago (OBAMALAND!), and the theme is RELATIONSHIPS, SEXUALITY, AND EQUALITY.  What more could a girl want?

Deets:

Changes in American families have radically altered how we define ourselves as men and women. These changes have affected romantic relationships, power dynamics in same and opposite sex couples, and the way we parent. The 2009 CCF conference will examine the latest research and clinical findings about where the lives of boys, girls, men, and women have become more similar in recent years, where they continue to be different, and how these differences affect the prospects for each.  Nationally recognized speakers will address the dramatic ways these changes are affecting work patterns and political life, and in turn, how changing work patterns and social mores are affecting men, women, and diverse families.

Keynote speaker: Andrew Cherlin, author of the new book The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today.

The conference will also include a conversation between historian Stephanie Coontz, Ms. Magazine Editor Kathy Spillar, and Chicago Tribune columnist Dawn Trice, titled “Gender, Race, and Equality: What Has the Election Taught Us?”

A pre-conference workshop features media training for everybody. In sessions with Stephanie Coontz, Virginia Rutter, and Deborah Siegel (that’s me!), hone your skills in op-ed writing, get started turning your good work into a media message that makes an impact, or learn how—and why—to use the blogsophere. This conference workshop is free to conference attendees, but folks who are not attending the conference are invited to attend these practical workshops for a modest fee.

Click here for the full conference schedule.  Hope to see a bunch of you there, as I often do!

What Will Hillary Do? The latest:

Ted Kennedy Asks Hillary Clinton To Head Senate Healthcare Team
11/19/08
LA Times: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y), considered a prominent contender to become secretary of State in the Obama administration, was offered an alternative Tuesday — to be a senior member of the Senate team aiming to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system.

Why Obama Wants Hillary for His ‘Team of Rivals’
11/20/08
Time: As he wrapped up his second week as President-elect, it was clear that Obama was taking the long view in both diplomacy and politics. How else to explain the fact that he had all but offered the most prestigious job in his Cabinet to a woman whose foreign policy experience he once dismissed as consisting of having tea with ambassadors?

And while we’re on the subject of Cabinet appointments:

Will Tom Daschle Be The Secretary Of HHS The Reproductive Rights Community Wants?
11/19/08
RH Reality Check: Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s record on reproductive and sexual health and rights is a mixed one.

GWP’s Gwendolyn Beetham (coauthor with Tonni Brodber of our Global Exchange column) attended the Association for Women in Development Forum this month, in Cape Town.  Here’s her report.  And do note the contrast between Gwen’s sentiment and the findings of the Daily Beast report this week.  Feminism, alive and well. Not dead. Copy that, America?  -Deborah

November 20, 2008

I just got back from Cape Town, South Africa, where I was lucky enough to attend the 2008 AWID Forum, aptly titled The Power of Movements. While networking, learning and listening to fabulous feminists from around the world, I was inspired, moved, and most of all energized by the power of feminists! Do check out the website, they are in the process of posting summaries of the panel discussions, as well as videos and photos from the conference. I’ve listed some personal highlights below.

One of my favorite videos was done by the Young Women’s Caucus, younger feminists who also went around the conference passing around pink scarves to conference-goers to symbolize intergenerational collaboration among feminists and asking people how they define feminism. Although the video isn’t available online yet, I can tell you that many participants said that feminism is a way of life – love it!  For more on young feminist action at the conference, you can check out the Young Feminists at the AWID Forum blog, as well as AWID’s Feminist Tech Exchange (I must admit however, that some of the comments from the younger feminists really saddened me – it seems as if much of the “intergenerational” discussion hasn’t changed much from the point where it was five years ago when I was heavily involved in the young feminist movement here in the States.)

One of the best panels that I attended was hosted by the Third Wave Foundation, Ms. Foundation, and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, along with some of their partner organizations. During the discussion, Rickke Mananzala, of the NYC-based organization Fierce, raised a really important point on the success of Prop 8 in California and similar bills in Arkansas and Florida.  He suggested that not only do these victories (for the right) point to the amount of funding that went into the promotion of these bills, but to the lack of an intersectional perspective in our own social justice movements. Makes me wonder what would have happened if youth organizations, children’s organizations and LGBT organizations would have come together to oppose the ban on unmarried couples adopting in Arkansas, or if organizations working for people of color and other marginalized groups would have come together to oppose Prop 8 in California. Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of great organizations (including Fierce!) who do a great job of working collaboratively. But I do think that may organizations – especially those in the women’s movement, with which I’m most familiar – have really had problems incorporating both perspectives and actions which truly recognize the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, religion and age.

I would be happy to chat with folks in comments about the rest of the conference. And kudos to AWID for organizing such an amazing event!

And stay tuned for next week, when Tonni & I resume our Global Exchange. This time we’ll be talking about the impact of the global financial crisis on women internationally.  Stay tuned!

–Gwendolyn Beetham

This email has been circulating around, and I wanted to pass it on.  I have dear friends out in Wyoming who are Mormons.  Not all Mormons are evil.  But the actions described below, I agree, were.  Please circulate as you see fit:

On November 4, the people of California voted to ban gay marriage.  The big donors behind this campaign included the Mormon and Catholic churches.  They helped fund sinister ads which included blatant lies.  The ads were extremely effective in promoting fear and scaring people from knowing the truth.

In this country, you can be a church. You can be a political action committee. You cannot be both. The Mormon Church stands in direct defiance of the spirit of our laws by actively campaigning to change  California law.  Please click here and sign the petition (click on the address below) to repeal the Mormon Tax Exempt status.

(Thank you, Jacqueline, for the heads up.)

I am just brimming with Chicago Obama pride.  Today’s New York Times features a piece on a new wind blowing through the city I still often think of as home. Well, ok ok, so I lived in the Chicago ‘burbs for my first 18 years.  But it was still my city.  Just sayin. (GO CUBS!)