On this rainy grey morning in NYC, I’m putting together a short list of writers residency programs/retreats that are available, by application, during the summers. In addition to McDowell and Yaddo, do you know of ones to add to the list? Please post ’em in comments, and I’ll post the complete list in a post down the road!
Here are some I recently learned about, to get us started:
Well Spring House
Ashfield, MA (pictured above)
Ragdale Foundation
Lake Forest, IL
Leave it to the savvy ladies over at the Women’s Media Center to spearhead this stellar opportunity:
The Progressive Women’s Voices program builds on the Women’s Media Center’s mission to make women more visible and powerful in the media. Through this program, we will identify, train, support, and promote progressive women to become sought-after media resources and opinion leaders. Progressive Women’s Voices will infuse the media with women experts who are prepared to deliver their message and information through mainstream and non mainstream media platforms, educating the public and working to gender-balance the journalistic lens.
To that end, WMC is seeking participants who represent diverse backgrounds, areas of expertise, and levels of experience to apply for the program, which entails in-person intensive training, 10 weekly issues briefings, ongoing conversation with other participants, a web platform, ongoing WMC strategy and support, mentoring, and 12 Months of Promotion and Pitching.
Read more about it at HuffPo in this post by WMC President, Carol Jenkins, which begins:
Quick: Name five progressive women who you would consider household names in America today.
Can’t do it? Then tell us five progressive women whose voices should be prominent in the national media dialogue, and the Women’s Media Center will help put them there.
Ready to apply, or tap someone who is? Spread the word!
No matter what you think of her, you couldn’t ask for a better book promoter than Rosie O’Donnell (ok, maybe Oprah, but Rosie’s not far behind). And watching Rosie talk to a group of 11 year olds at a feminist anniversary conference, well, I’ll admit, it gives me the chills.
In the clip posted here, a bespeckled 11-year old African American girl named Nia asks Rosie what inspired her to be at the conference. And Rosie answers, “Bella Abzug.” When Nia says she has no idea who that is, Rosie hands her Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom’s new book, Bella Abzug, and says sternly: “You are going to write me. You understand missy? You are going to learn who Bella Abzug was and then, in about 15 years, I’m going to vote for you when you’re running for office.” Vintage Rosie.
And the new oral history just out from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux is vintage Bella. It makes sense that a history of this wonderfully raging feminist who a Time Out New York reviewer calls the “progressive grand dame” with just a touch of the Mommie Dearest relies on cumulative testimonial. Says lifelong friend Gloria Steinem, lovingly I am sure: “She scared the shit out of me.â€
I never had a chance to meet Bella personally, but after reading this book, I feel like I have. The authors, Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom, edited scads of interviews into a “conversation.” In their words:
[T]he story unfolds through anecdote, embellishment, contradiction, flashback and flash-forward, asides, commentary, speculation–as if the wide-ranging and ill-assorted cast of characters were gathered around a fireplace reminiscing about someone who stomped into their lives and left an indelible mark.
It’s an interesting way to tell the story of a life. And the story revealed sheds light on many compelling personalities who shared moments in Bella’s political legacy–feminist and beyond. As Levine and Thom highlight in their introduction, the book “speaks to a particularly powerful moment in which vital social movements converged in the second half of the twentieth century, every one of which featured Bella as a catalyst and creative force.” It’s that larger story, as much as the story of this remarkably human super-shero, that makes this book required reading for anyone seeking to learn more about an era that indelibly shaped our own.
If you don’t know who Bella was, ya need this book. If you know who she was or knew her personally, you’ll definitely want this book. And for those looking to take Bella Studies a step further, the Jewish Women’s Archive has great material just waiting to be mined.
Ok, folks, here’s an award that many journalists I know would be eligible for, so please please send your nominations in! (Self-nomination is totally acceptable.)
Council on Contemporary Families 2007 Media Awards for Outstanding Coverage of Family Issues — CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
CCF announces the opening of nominations for its Sixth Annual Media Awards competition. We honor outstanding journalism that contributes to the public understanding of contemporary family issues, in particular the story behind the story: how diverse families are coping with social and economic change ; what they need to flourish; and how these needs can best be met.
The Council will issue two awards for journalism in text form (print- or web-based) and one for broadcast journalism. The awards will be presented at the 11th Annual CCF Conference on Friday, April 25th in Chicago , Illinois
CCF believes that America needs a balanced national conversation about the cultural, legal, and psychological issues that shape both private life and public policy. Essential partners in this process are the reporters and producers who present complicated family issues in their broader social context.
Criteria: Submissions must draw on traditional journalistic techniques of interview, observation and documentation. Opinion pieces are not eligible. Work must have been published, broadcast, or posted during calendar year 2007. Video and radio submissions must not exceed 30 minutes. Written submissions must not exceed 2000 words; excerpts are acceptable. Single pieces or a series that covers a particular issue over time are eligible.
Deadline for nominations: Friday, February 8, 2008
For more info or to request a submission form, contact applewhite@earthlink.net.
Check out this piece from The Onion, “Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement.” Highlights:
“All the feminist movement needed to do was bring on someone who had the balls to do something about this glass ceiling business,” said McGowan, who quickly closed the 23.5 percent gender wage gap by “making a few calls to the big boys upstairs.” “In the world of gender identity and empowered female sexuality, it’s all about who you know.”
McGowan, who was selected from a pool of roughly 150 million candidates, made eliminating sexual harassment his first priority before working on securing reproductive rights for women in all 50 states, and promoting healthy body images through an influx of strong, independent female characters in TV, magazines, and film.
“It’s about time,” McGowan said upon returning from a golf game with several “network honchos” in which he brokered a deal to bring a variety of women’s sports to prime-time television. “These ladies should have brought me on years ago.”
(Thanks to my man Marco for the heads up. Photo cred.)
So it’s that time of year, and I spent last night at the Girls Write Now office writing letter to my nearest and dearest, telling them why I love GWN and that I’ve recently joined their Advisory Board and asking them to consider making a donation to help keep this amazing organization strong. To those of you who receive my letter, I do hope you might consider! And to those I didn’t have the guts to send letters to, you can always of course simply donate by clicking here, or by doing your regular holiday shopping through here. To learn more about the org, click here. And to read some of the girls’ writing, go here. To hear ’em read, click play above!
Thanks to Patti for the sticky hearts, and to Lauren for the beauty bag raffle. I love my polish I “won.”
And while I’m at it, just to spread the luv, thought I’d post a link here to feministing’s development campaign–they’re asking for donations to help them with technological upgrades. Remember, this is the blog that just won the Blogger’s Choice Award for Best Political Blog and is run largely out of pocket by some amazing young women who are changing the way we think and talk and connect around feminist issues online–and in the world.
Ho ho ho, and Happy 3rd night of Channukah to all!!!
My friend and personal hero Rebecca Wallace-Segall landed an op-ed in the Nov. 28 Wall Street Journal about the value of thought-based competitions–like the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards–in schools. In contrast to, say, um, sports, writing competitions aren’t valued. And they should be. Writes Rebecca, explaining the opposition and throwing in an interesting generational spin on it all:
“We don’t want kids to compete individually, put themselves in vulnerable positions as individuals,” explains a leading administrator. “They can compete within teams,” explains another. “So the focus is on community building rather than on personal value.”
But what about Sam’s sense of personal value? Aren’t human beings fabulously varied in their gifts and sensibilities? Excellent teamwork can be important, but is it the only admirable achievement? Should any school in the United States prevent broader acknowledgment of a young, creative mathematician?
Mel Levine, a professor at the University of North Carolina and one of the foremost authorities in the country on how children learn, believes the impact of the collaborative education movement has been devastating to an entire generation. When students are rewarded for participation rather than achievement, Dr. Levine suggests, they don’t have a strong sense of what they are good at and what they’re not. Thus older members of Generation Y might be in for quite a shock when they show up for work at their first jobs. “They expect to be immediate heroes and heroines. They expect a lot of feedback on a daily basis. They expect grade inflation, they expect to be told what a wonderful job they’re doing,” says Dr. Levine.
Rebecca founded and runs WritopiaLab, a community of young writers, ages 10-19, that revolves around a year-round afterschool writing center and intensive creative writing workshops. Every six months, participants chose to read their polished pieces at Barnes & Noble. I’ve been to these readings. These kids inspire.
And speaking of the Scholastic Awards, a shout out to all those girls over at Girls Write Now who won awards this summer! I’m heading to a GWN meeting tonight and can’t wait to hang with everyone. I made cookies and am carrying a plate of them around today, but I can’t guarantee that they’re gonna last….I’m baad that way.
Feminist historian Alice Kessler-Harris has an article provocatively titled “Do We Still Need Women’s History?” running in the Chronicle of Higher Education (which I can’t, ahem, read because I don’t have a dang subscription). But here’s a tease:
In the spring of 2007, the Organization of American Historians (the nation’s premier body of professional historians, teachers, and public advocates of U.S. history) asked me to take a look at what had changed in the profession with regard to the history of women and gender over the 100-year life span of the group. My findings would…
I’m guessing Kessler-Harris’ answer to the question is a resounding YES. But if any of you with subscriptions out there want to put me out of my misery, do share! Or, of course, I could just finally the bullet and subscribe 🙂
And speaking of Women’s History of course, which I for one adamantly believe we still need, in addition to traveling with an intergenerational feminist panel alongside some of my favorite feminist colleagues, [Shameless Plug Alert] I am currently booking speaking engagements solo for March 2008 (Women’s History Month) based on my book, Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild. If you are interested in bringing me to your campus or organization, please do get in touch soon, as my schedule is booking up! [Shameless Plug Ends]
Happy and Merry to each and all! Hannukah starts tonight, and I think we’re about to invest in our first joint menorah. It will NOT, however, look anything like this moose menorah here.
And speaking of holidays, while walking home from a synagogue function last night, Marco and I came upon this truck full of trees. Ok, so from an eco pov, maybe it’s not so cool that a forest was virtually imported on a flatbed. But it was amazing to see this truck, and I swear, it smelled soooo good, all the way home.
For those of you celebrating Hannukah tonight, may all your latkes be just the right amount of greasey, and may your candles burn long and bright!
The 2008 program for the Council on Contemporary Families Annual Conference! You heard it here first 🙂
April 25 – 26, 2008
Family Issues in Contention
University of Illinois at Chicago
Sessions include:
Young People Hooking Up- Should We Be Worried?
Presider: Waldo Johnson, University of Chicago
Debra Tolman, San Francisco State University
Laura Sessions, Author, Unhooked
Paula England, Stanford University
Is Transracial and Transnational Adoption the Right Policy for Parents? Children? Society?
Presider, Andrae’ Brown, City University of New York
Ruth McRoy, University of Texas at Austin;
Adam Pertman, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Jeanne Howard, Illinois State University;
Pamela Quiroz, University of Illinois in Chicago
Media Workshops:
How to get press coverage of your work
Virginia Rutter, Framingham State College
Joshua Coleman, Psychologist
Adam Pertman, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Translating academic research into popular books and magazine articles
Kerry Ann Rockquemore, University of Illinois at Chicago
Pepper Schwartz, University of Washington
Writing Op Eds
Stephanie Coontz, Evergreen State College
What you should know about Blogging and Why
Deborah Siegel, Woodhull Institute (aka ME!)
And lots more. For more info and to register, click here.
