Tonight at 6:30PM, the National Organization for Women-New York City Service Fund is hosting an evening of authors, activism, and feminism. Join a great group of women writers as they “discuss their unique contributions of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction work and the ways in which it inspires, mobilizes, and sparks debate on today’s pressing issues.” Featuring:

Felice Belle РPoet, Playwright, Former Curator and Host of the Friday Night Slam series at the Nuyorican Poets Caf̩, and author of poetry for the play History of the Word

Courtney Martin – Reporter, Professor on Gender Issues, and Author of
Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

Sofia Quintero – Screenwriter, Activist, and Author of Divas Don’t Yield

Hosted by Revolution Books
9 West 19th Street (btw. 5th & 6th)
Take the 4, 5,6, N, R,Q, W, to 14th Street Union Square
Or Take F to 14th Street and 6th Ave

Please RSVP 212.627.9895

Thanks to Lindsay Knake of the Central Michigan Life newspaper who did a great piece on our recent panel at her school. The lede:

Writer Deborah Siegel and the other panelists of “WomenGirlsLadies” are looking to change the way people view feminism.

Notice this great pic, which captures the moment Gloria nailed me with the hardest question of the night about women’s voting power. Gees, that lady knows her stuff.

I have to say that Knake’s article was a great improvement over the pre-event coverage which lead with the cringe-worthy: “Students can take part in a university-sponsored ‘girl talk’ tonight.” Pass the nail polish and don’t you dare freeze my underwear girlies!

But seriously, thanks to everyone at CMU, especially Jill who made it all happen. It was an absolute pleasure!

Girl Sailor has recently posted an AMAZING series of narrative pieces by a female midshipman, Cpl Laura B. Ramsey, who was deployed in Iraq before coming to the Naval Academy. She wrote the pieces for a dramatic monologue show being put on earlier this month in the Naval Academy’s English Department, called “Forward Deployed.” Check out her poignant and amazingly crafted accounts: “Wadi Road,” “Nail Polish and Boots,” “Sweet Face and Bitter Future,” and “My Relief.”

(The author wishes to share the following disclaimer: “[These] pieces are true accounts of Cpl Laura B. Ramsey, USMC, while deployed to the Al Anbar Province of Iraq from January to June of 2006. They are not meant to harm, offend, or acts thereof any audience that may hear or read them. These experiences are simply informative first-hand accounts of a female Marine.-Laura B. Ramsey.”)

Well, it’s five years and counting and what is there to say.

A LOT.

Sara Gould of the Ms. Foundation, for one, has a great oped up at the org’s blog which begins with a good ole Albert Einstein quote: “The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them.” Yesss.

Over at Women’s eNews, there’s an interesting piece offering a women’s perspective on military service and its aftermath. One returning female vet offers advice to the next commander in chief: “I would request that they limit deployments and the time you have between deployments….That is really hurting morale.”

And MOMocrats are stirring it up today too. (Thanks, Joanne, for the heads up!)

Just in case anyone’s craving a refresher, here’s a lovely timeline of what’s gone down since we invaded. On Jan. 9, the World Health Organization estimated that the actual number of Iraqi civilian deaths due to the war lo these past 5 years is at 151,000. What’cha going to do about it, George, tough guy, huh? Man.

Well, Courtney pretty much summed up our travel adventures yesterday and I got nothin’ to add. Except that I think I may soon be offering seminars in the Siegel Slip, as I am more than happy to share my line-busting, rule-breaking tips for the good of well-behavin women waiting unnecessarily in lines at airports across the land. Oh–one more thing. Miss Courtney, tomorrow, *I* call the cute black sweater dress and boots.

Thank goodness our travel misadventures nevertheless got us to Mt. Pleasant this morning, because I loved loved loved our visit to Central Michigan University. The students we spoke to today are amazing, and inspire me. During the day, Gloria and I talked to a group of Honors students about the pressures facing “academically gifted” women, while Kristal and Courtney spoke to a journalism class. After the big evening panel, we asked the audience to fill out forms telling us what they, as younger women, would like to say to older women, and vice versa. And we asked the men in the audience to tell us what they think about feminism, or what they’d like women to hear from them. We’ll be posting some of the responses here, and my copanelists will be coposting at their various blogs as well. The responses are just too darn good not to coshare.

For more on today, here’s the take from our resident young’un over at feministing. And do check out another intergenerational conversation Miss Courtney is participating in–about the election–over on Jewcy, along with Wendy Shanker and Bitch PhD.

(Heads up Kristal and Gloria: I think Courtney may be intergenerationally cheating on us over there!)

Well, Courtney rather beautifully summed up our travel misadventures yesterday and I got nothin’ to add. Except that I think I may soon be offering seminars in the Siegel Slip, as I am more than happy to share my line-busting, rule-breaking tips for the good of well-behavin women waiting unnecessarily in lines at airports across the land. Oh–one more thing. Miss Courtney, tomorrow, *I* call the cute black sweater dress and boots.

Thank goodness our travel misadventures nevertheless got us to Mt. Pleasant this morning, because I loved loved loved our visit to Central Michigan University. The students we spoke to today are amazing, and inspire me. During the day, Gloria and I talked to a group of Honors students about the pressures facing “academically gifted” women, while Kristal and Courtney spoke to a journalism class. After the big evening panel, we asked the audience to fill out forms telling us what they, as younger women, would like to say to older women, and vice versa. And we asked the men in the audience to tell us what they think about feminism, or what they’d like women to hear from them. We’ll be posting some of the responses here, and my copanelists will be coposting at their various blogs as well. The responses are just too darn good not to coshare.

For more on today, here’s the take from our resident young’un over at feministing. And do check out another intergenerational conversation Miss Courtney is participating in–about the election–over on Jewcy, along with Wendy Shanker and Bitch PhD.

(Heads up Kristal and Gloria: I think Courtney may be intergenerationally cheating on us over there!)

Debbie and my insane travel adventure starts at 11am in Boston, ends at 6:30am in Lansing the next morning. In between:

Taxi

Train

Gut-busting laughter with two other writer ladies; convince train conductor Mr. Dickerson to find us a New York Times when we tell him how cute he is

Train to Newark

Airtrain to Terminal

Wildly understaffed pub-burgers, salad, and fries hit the spot

Flight delayed for totally unknown reasons-sky is a beautiful, clear blue

Sit at counter and argue/coddle/flatter Delta staff until they get us on a flight to Chicago on American; I learn the ways of the Siegel slip (rules do not apply to this woman); team up with Mary Ellen, our friend from Jersey who is also doomed in trying to get to Lansing

Go back to baggage claim to get bags

Convince grumpy American staff to give us tickets

Go through security again, this time we are marked as possible terrorists and asked to go through a special screening; we set off the special alarm and it says EXPLOSIVES in huge red letters; machine is broken; we are not terrorists

American flight is delayed

Receive call from Orbitz TLC that flight from Cincinnati to Lansing was also delayed so we could have just taken that

Fly with the violent taste of warm chocolate chip cookies wafting back from first class

Get to Chicago, see every other hotel shuttle but ours

Get to hotel, go to bed

Get up at 4:45 am, Debbie and I put on the exact same outfit (black dress, tights, black boots)

Barely make the shuttle, airport is mobbed; commence Siegel slip again

United staff spends twenty minutes trying to find us a staple for our tickets

Go through rigorous security again; this time the woman asks us if we would like a private room to be patted down; we consider it, but decide she’s not our type

Get on tiny plane; passengers are rearranged to balance out the aircraft (that tiny)

Get to Lansing and meet Kevin who drives us the hour to Mt. Pleasant

8 moving vehicles, 2 rigorous pat downs, 5 grumpy airline workers, and almost 24 hours later, we arrive

Check out this intergenerational conversation about the election that I’m having–blog style–over at Jewcy with the always gut-busting Wendy Shanker and the always brilliant Bitch Ph.D.

We’re at Central Michigan University today, talking to journalism and honors students, lunching with brilliant comparative literature, sociology, and women’s studies professors, and looking forward to a great panel tonight. Stay tuned!

Yep, I’m here. If you are too, please come by tonight: “Womengirlsladies: A Fresh Conversation Across Generations” will be on at 7:30 pm, Mount Pleasant, MI 989-774-4000. More info: Central Michigan University.

You know, I think my college roommate lived on a farm nearby, close to Lansing. I remember coming home with her one weekend and riding her family’s tractor. It was a true highlight of freshman year for this suburban/city girl. I know you don’t really ride a tractor, you drive it. But it sure felt like a ride to me.

I found it interesting that in this weekend’s NYTimes article “Postfeminism and Other Fairy Tales”, Deborah Tannen compares the Spitzergate moment with Anita Hill, and twentysomething Slate blogger Noreen Malone says that for her, an Obama supporter, the Spitzer moment trumped the tearful moment in bringing her to a slightly different point of view. “Oddly enough it’s taken Spitzergate — not Hillary’s tears, not her scolding — to make me less dismissive of the feminist ‘obligation’ to vote for a woman,” says Malone.

So much going on in these comparisons, and if I weren’t bleary eyed (or, as Courtney puts it, “feeling like a crackhead”) from the past 24 hours of planes, trains, and automobiles, I’m sure I’d have something more to say about it all. Perhaps GWP readers can help me out. What do you think of the comparison between Anita Hill and Spitzergate as rallying moments for feminism?