You MUST check out this piece by the Women’s Media Center’s very own Rebekah Spicuglia (pictured here with her son Oscar), called “Mother’s Day, Observed.” Read it, absorb it, and then please, go make your mother proud.

Last night I went to one of those fabulous book parties that remind me why I love New York (and believe me, I needed the reminder; it had been a hectic week and this city often wears me down). The fabulousness was not the food (which was delicious) or the space (which was mind-blowing), but the people. It was fabulousness of a feminist variety.

The party was hosted by Gloria Steinem and in attendance were trailblazing women like Suzanne Braun Levine, Alix Cates Shulman, Joanne Edgar, Mia Herndon, and Amy’s longtime writing partner Jennifer Baumgardner, who beamed in the back as Amy was properly celebrated. I promise to share thoughts about Amy’s book Opting In: Having a Child without Losing Yourself which is why we were all there, of course, in another post very soon. But first let me just share that Gloria introduced Amy as “the smartest person I know.” If that isn’t a compliment, I don’t know what is.

Ok, hey, it’s Reader Appreciation Day over here at GWP 🙂 I decided to post Gryff’s comments too. Gryff is a Canadian (self-described “white male”) who urges me to put away the remorse and writes passionately about the historical moment. “Be part of the stuff that will be in school history textbooks – not just for whoever the nominee is – but the Democratic Party itself, and American Democracy,” he says. And here he is:

You, as a supporter of Hillary Clinton, and the supporters of Obama are doing something special for the Democratic Party. You are helping to break the ‘glass ceiling’ that has kept the preserve of the ‘most powerful politician in the world’ for white men only. You are helping to at least change the Democratic Party!

In a democracy, we all have a vote (age and citizenship restrictions aside). Some people don’t bother to vote – and in my view have no reason to complain if they don’t like the government they get.

Some vote, but kind of think that it ends there.

Others, like you, commit to a candidate. By going out and persuading, cajoling, converting peoples ideas etc., you end up with more than one vote! Each one you persuade is an extra vote — and they in turn might persuade someone too, perhaps a neighbour, a relative or a spouse.

You will see bitterness and nastiness in replies at the Guardian and elsewhere – that’s almost the nature of the internet.

Whenever I was doorknocking for a candidate and had the door slammed in my face, I would always remember those people who I managed to bring around to my candidate. The glass half full — as opposed to half empty 😉 Personal success for me was the number of extra votes I helped bring in.

I see from your blogs and website that you are a writer, speaker and consultant. Use those skills to go out and make sure that the ‘glass ceiling’ for President is smashed completely. Help open doors for women and people of colour …. because once they are open, more will follow them.

gryff 🙂

(A white male by the way.)

While I’m being ripped to shreds over at Comment Is Free (!) for my piece called “A Hillary Supporter’s Remorse,” I’m sharing a comment from Marjorie here on GWP in a post. I urge folks to check out what Gryff has to say in our comments too. I love it when there’s this kind of back-and-forth going on over here, and just wanted to thank both of them for their insights and thoughts. Here’s Marjorie, with an eloquent essay of her own:

I vowed way back in 1992 that, no matter where I lived in the world (at the time I thought I’d be living in Asia or Europe), if HRC decided to run for president, I’d drop everything and return to the US just to help out in her campaign.

As it turned out, I’m in Colorado and have devoted some of my weekly columns for the local paper on her campaign and credentials, not to mention donated some hard-earned cash to her campaign. However, as far as putting my life on hold to volunteer my heart out…er, let’s just say that that hasn’t happened yet.

I suck at fundraising (my own family turned down a request to donate $25 each to an awareness walk for a disease that I have), can’t stand the telephone, and literally break out in hives when I have to do any kind of public speaking. I can barely make it to my next door neighbor’s house without shaking in my shoes. In other words, I’m not the kind of campaign activist you want on your team. And yeah, I feel like I let HRC down, too.

I would love to see HRC win, but while I remain the eternal optimist, the numbers are not looking good. However, I appreciate the McCaskill quote you referenced in your article. Hillary’s a big girl, she can handle her own campaign and will step down from it when she’s good and ready. At this time I still think she’s the best candidate and always will, and apparently millions of others feel the same way. If nothing else, I appreciate that HRC seems to understand the loyalty and passion her supporters feel for her and the responsibility that entails. To retreat now — even if that would seem to be the logical choice — would be an awful blow to those who worked so hard on her behalf.

I think that, for her as well as for myself and countless others, this election is about more than just a call for “change.” What bothered me about the 2004 election (and why I didn’t vote for Kerry but for Nader instead) is because I felt that the Democratic theme seemed to be, “It’s better than the alternative.” There didn’t seem to be a really strong push to field a worthy candidate, just a half-assed attempt to throw any warm body into the ring as an alternative to Bush.

Now, though, not only do we have two strong candidates, but they’re both non-traditional ones. Now that we have an election worth bothering about, it’s actually become personal, far more than any election I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime (I’m 36). Suddenly, I’m seeing my hero, a woman I’ve admired for 16 years, whose life and accomplishments I’ve followed for just as long, on the verge of literally becoming the leader of the freakin’ world.

For that reason alone, I think that even if you’ve worked in politics in the past, I can only imagine that losing now would be even more difficult simply because we had a chance to make history…and failed. This isn’t about a Democrat winning anymore, but a woman actually winning the White House, something a lot of us didn’t think we’d see for decades.

By the way, I would be very surprised if Obama extended the olive branch and offered Clinton the VP-ship, and even more so if Clinton accepted it. Maybe I’m just projecting my own profound disappointment, but I can’t imagine that happening after the exhausting bitterness of the last few months. And quite frankly, that would hurt like hell.

Cheers,
Marjorie

I’m sad. The Woodhull writers’ retreat where I was to teach this weekend has been canceled, due to power outage up at the house (don’t worry — this doesn’t happen often). So here I am in this crazy city, trying to quiet my mind and regroup. All of which reminds me that I’ve long been wanting to do a post on Kimberley Wilson, the Hip Tranquil Yoga Chick herself.

I met Kimberley up at the Woodhull house last year and was quite taken by her calm–and her style. A few years back she came out with a book, called guess what, Hip Tranquil Chick: A Guide to Life On and Off the Yoga Mat. She’s also created an impressive hip and tranquil empire — the Tranquil Space Yoga studio in Washington DC, the Tranquil Space Foundation (which assists young girls with finding their inner voice), podcasts, a blog, a column, charity soirees, and a clothing line. Her website, as Marci reminds me in comments this week, is an excellent example of “platform” and pulls everything together well.

You know, I’m always interested in what authors write in books when they’re asked to sign them. I’ve seen “With lots of feminist love,” ” “In sisterhood, uninterrupted” (guess who), and “Blessings.” Kimberley signed the copy she sent me, “Keep shining.” But my favorite thing of all about the Shine Girl is this: She describes herself as “a self-diagnosed bibliophile whose heart begins to race when she enters a bookstore,” and “a teacher, designer, speaker, activist, and entrepreneur, with a master’s degree in women’s studies.“

If you’re jonesing for a taste of some of this hip tranquilty, or some tips for a mindfully extravagant life, you can catch Kimberley teaching a week long yoga course at the Omega Institute on June 1-5.

So what’s the moral of the story here. Let’s see. When one retreat closes, another one opens? Hmm. There’s another Woodhull nonfiction writers retreat I’ll be teaching at 0n July 11-13, too.

A piece I wrote for Comment Is Free over at The Guardian is now live: “A Hillary Supporter’s Remorse.” Is anyone out there feeling the same? Please feel free to weigh in, there or here. (And thank you to Gryff for your awesome comments below! You motivate me.)

As promised, my thoughts on Tuesday’s Leaders Who Lunch event, sponsored by Woodhull, on the theme of intergenerational issues among women at work:

Sitting at a table of leaders from various organizations, I was struck once again by the ubiquity of a problem within the organizational structure at many small nonprofits. There are entry-level jobs and director-level jobs, and not much in between. Hence, for many young people who enter small nonprofits, there is nowhere, really, to grow.

I worked at a small, national nonprofit fresh out of college. I was a research assistant. I loved my job and was mentored well. Following the path of many who work the nonprofit circuit, I went back to graduate school for a PhD, thinking I’d like to teach. Once I realized I didn’t (want to teach college, that is), I returned to the same nonprofit, by then under new leadership, as a Project Director. And again, I loved my job. But in the end, and to my surprise, I found myself facing the same dilemma as my younger colleagues: nowhere, really, to grow.

As Courtney, Gloria, Kristal, and I also do regularly at our WomenGirlsLadies events, Woodhull’s gifted facilitator Karla asked us to think of one thing we’d like to share with our elder–or younger–colleagues about the kinds of generationally-tinged struggles we sometimes face. So here’s what I offered, in the context of that safe space:

To my elders in women’s organizations:
1. Have a succession plan in the works for the executive director, and start grooming.
2. Make room for us. Some organizations seem to have distinct limits in terms of voices of leadership. If there is room for more, those of us who end up leaving may instead decide to stay, and help the organization grow.
3. Try to operate from a psychology of abundance, rather than one of scarcity. Your staff are not your competition, but allies.

Whew — pretty feisty for so early in the morning, huh? I just got back from trying a spinning class for the first time in years, which must be giving me the chutzpah to speak my mind.

Gratitude to Woodhull, and again to In Good Company, for a very rich event. Woodhull is running an Intergenerational Leader Retreat up in Ancramdale on May 16-18. Note: I won’t be there, but I urge folks to check it out.

From time to time, I offer a snapshot of a new blogger on the block. Here I offer a quick Q&A with PursePundit, who started blogging in January of this year. Offline, PursePundit goes by the name of Jacki Zehner, and was the youngest woman and first female trader invited into the partnership of Goldman Sachs. She left in 2002. Now an impassioned philanthropic visionary and social change activist committed to the economic empowerment of women, Jacki is becoming a frequent media commentator on women’s success in the workplace, investing, current market events, women and wealth, and high-impact philanthropy. Here we go!

DS: What made you decide to start a blog?

JZ: I’ve been writing forever, but my work has generally been buried in my journals. Recently I read The Artist’s Way which suggested that the way to unleash your creativity is to commit to writing every day and I am trying to do that. Most of the time what I write about is people I’ve met with, or opportunities I’ve heard about, or what is going on in the markets, so I thought, why not share it? I’m also very interested in writing a book, and want to get myself out there as a writer. The blog is a place to start.

DS: I see you started by blogging about the markets—why start there?

JZ: What’s going on in the credit markets is unprecedented. As an ex-mortgage trader and an investor, I’ve been following the markets with great interest and I feel compelled to write about what’s happening. Given my experience, I feel I have a credible voice and want to share what I think, like I used to do with my clients.

DS: Tell us something about the blog’s name, “Purse Pundit.”

JZ: I love the whole idea of a purse as a symbol for the economic power of women and I believe that positive change will happen when women really start to use that power. Money is a tool that we have to shape the world that we live in—by how we invest it, by how we spend it, by how we give it away.

DS: Your tagline is “Musings on Money, Markets, and Changing the World.” Do these things really go together?

JZ: My goal with this blog is to expand the dialogue that women are engaging in about money, and inspiring them to use their money in smart and meaningful ways. Women account for more than 50% of all stock ownership in the U.S and we do most of the consumer spending. By 2010, women will account for half of the private wealth in the country, or about $14 trillion. There’s a lot of power in our collective purses.

After doing this Q&A with Jacki, I went and bought a new purse. For more musings from PP, visit www.pursepundit.blogspot.com. You can also now find Jacki blogging over at 85 Broads and Huffington Post.

…which I sadly could not make sounded awesome. Basically, GWN mentors came together with teaching artists from Teachers & Writers Collaborative for Ladies Night, an evening of readings. Readers included GWN mentors Grace Bastidas, Mary Roma, and Erica Silberman, plus teaching artists Nicole Callihan and Sheila Maldonado. For upcoming events from these folks, check out the GWN calendar, here.

Our next monthly guest blogger needs no introduction, but just in case you don’t know her yet, Courtney E. Martin is a writer, teacher, and speaker whose book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body, was published to critical acclaim in April 2007 and will be released in paperback by Penguin in September. Courtney writes a column on politics and gender for The American Prospect Online and is the Book Editor of Feministing. She writes regularly for Crucial Minutiae, Alternet, Women’s eNews, the Christian Science Monitor, and metro. And now, she also writes monthly for GWP! Courtney is the resident youngin on our traveling panel, WomenGirlsLadies: A Fresh Conversation Across Generations and teaches me things daily about writing and life. Here’s Miss C, with some intergenerational wisdom to share for all those seeking to write for popular audiences–which include, of course, the young folk.

Reaching the Next Generation

When Deborah talks about “making it pop”—i.e. translating academic or movement-specific messages for the popular culture—I sometimes imagine that sound my high school best friend used to make with her gum when she was intent on interrupting our painfully boring biology teacher….POP!

Which is as an apt anecdote for what I’ll be writing about in this monthly column: reaching the next generation. One of the most coveted and challenging populations to reach is us youngins. In an age of Facebook, 24/7 news, and competitive college admissions overload, young people don’t have much spare attention to go around. So what can you—teacher, writer, evil marketer (just kidding, sort of)—do to make it pop specially for Generation Y (defined, for our purposes, as those born in the 80s and beyond).

Lesson #1: Don’t fall for trendy schemes.

Whether we’re talking politics or sex education, young people’s least favorite thing is to be confronted with forced intimacy and/or adults who think they only know how to communicate in acronyms (LOL, BFF etc.). Recent studies from Young Voters Strategies, a project of The Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, reveal that young people are still most likely to get involved in the political process via peer-to-peer, face-to-face interactions, not text messages or YouTube videos of candidates (though they do check these out).

This isn’t to deny that we’re IM-ing, texting, and writing on one another’s walls (if you’re an adult over 40 and you’re confused by any of this, it is a good sign that you’re not trying too hard–congrats), but to say that just because we’re communicating that way doesn’t mean that a) we want you to and b) we don’t still value good old fashioned in person interactions. In fact, expressly because our communication has gotten so remote, chatting over a meal or while sitting on the grass in the park is more special than ever to young people.

In sum, acknowledge our technological communication habits but don’t reduce us to them. In return, we promise not to make fun of you when you talk about how cell phones used to be the size of Bibles.

Ok, so I never had a Bible-size cell, but I do remember VCRs and (gasp) Betas. Edsel, anyone? Tune in next month for Lesson #2…. -GWP