I’ve been meaning to post this one for a while and am reminded again now as today I once again came across the quote from Virginia Woolf that goes, “For most of history, Anonymous was a woman. ” So here tis:

Academy Award-winning producer Pamela Tanner Boll has directed and produced a documentary called Who Does She Think She Is? in conjunction with the Wellesley Centers for Women. The doc features five women navigating parenting and creativity, partnering and independence, economics and art. My dear Courtney Martin is one of the experts interviewed in the film. For screening or purchasing, email info@whodoesshethinksheis.net. And to check out the film’s blog, go here.

Image cred: WDSHSI blog

Academia is still in many ways a man’s world, and I’m thrilled to offer this post on a just-released anthology that constitutes a truly important contribution: Mama PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life. A copy just reached me and it’s now available at stores.

I’m WAY impressed with these ladies’ marketing savvy. Check out the book blog, the blog at Inside Higher Ed, the excerpt, and the shop (complete with Mama, PhD t-shirts–“let the world know you’ve got it going on, body and brain”–hats, bags, mugs, beer steins and even license plate holders)–and take notes!

Elrena Evans and Caroline Grant, author of Literary Mama’s popular Mama at the Movies column, are the masterminds behind the project, and for those in the Bay Area, you can catch Caroline reading with a number of other Literary Mama editors and columnists at Book Passage in Corte Madera on Saturday, August 9th at 1pm. There’s a review by Bob Drago over at Activistas, and for a sneak peak, here’s a quick overview of the different sections:

Part I: The Conversation
This section contains essays representing the variety of choices women have to make as they enter academia, and the struggles and losses encountered as a result of each choice. Selected essays include topics such as:
~ choosing to have children and an academic career, in a range of fashions
~ choosing not to have children in favor of an academic career
~ choosing to delay having children in favor of an academic career

Part II: That Mommy Thing
In this section, women write about pursuing both academic careers and motherhood. Essays feature women who have experienced:
~ children before and during graduate school or the dissertation process
~ children during job searches or new appointments
~ children and the tenure track process

Part III: Recovering Academic
This section features essays from women who are redefining themselves and their careers after a period within the ivory tower. Essays talk about women who have:
~ left the academy after landing a tenure-track job
~ left the academy after achieving tenure
~ moved from teaching positions to administrative work or independent scholarship

Part IV: Momifesto
Having delved into the realms of motherhood in, out, and on the periphery of the academy, this section offers hope for the possibility of a different future, as contributors envision:
~ changes toward family-friendly university settings
~ changes in the economic structure of the academy to benefit mothers
~ changes in the tenure structure that would benefit mothers

Big kudos to Rutgers University Press for taking this project on. For another great contribution to the worklife debate as it hits academics, see the National Clearinghouse on Academic Worklife, created by the Center for the Education of Women at my alma mater the University of Michigan. The clearinghouse is a repository of articles, research & policy reports, policies, demographics, links, and more.

People keep asking me if I’m freaking out because our wedding is in 3 weeks. I have to say, I’m feeling pretty calm. Hotel still under construction? So we switched. Food at the restaurant we’d chosen for dinner the night before sucked? So we found a new one. I guess after living through the wrong marriage, planning for the right one feels pretty effortless, no matter the obstacles thrown into the course.

Maybe it’s the mambo. Marco and I had our class again last night and learned a few more tricks: the crossover, the walk around, and my personal favorite, the susy q.

I think we’re getting hooked. One thing’s for sure: we’re getting hitched. In 3 weeks.

Yikes?!

On the heels of the news about a significant rise in the number of black women entrepreneurs here in the US, I learned about a forthcoming book called Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States. One of the authors happens to be married to my best gal (formerly known as maid or matron or whatever of honor), Rebecca, who herself researches youth and poverty at Stanford. (Congrats, Rob!) Here’s from the book’s description:

Thirteen million people in the United States–roughly one in ten workers–own a business. And yet rates of business ownership among African Americans are much lower and have been so during the last 100 years. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, businesses owned by African Americans tend to have lower sales, fewer employees and smaller payrolls, lower profits, and higher closure rates. In contrast, Asian American-owned businesses tend to be more successful. In Race and Entrepreneurial Success, minority entrepreneurship authorities Robert Fairlie and Alicia Robb examine racial disparities in business performance. Drawing on the rarely used, restricted-access Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) data set compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, Fairlie and Robb examine in particular why Asian-owned firms perform well in comparison to white-owned businesses and black-owned firms typically do not. They also explore the broader question of why some entrepreneurs are successful and others are not.

After providing new comprehensive estimates of recent trends in minority business ownership and performance, the authors examine the importance of human capital, financial capital, and family business background in successful business ownership. They find that a high level of startup capital is the most important factor contributing to the success of Asian-owned businesses, and that the lack of startup money for black businesses (attributable to the fact that nearly half of all black families have less than $6,000 in total wealth) contributes to their relative lack of success. In addition, higher education levels among Asian business owners explain much of their success relative to both white- and black-owned businesses. Finally, Fairlie and Robb find that black entrepreneurs have fewer opportunities than white entrepreneurs to acquire valuable prebusiness work experience through working in family businesses.

Look for the book on shelves in September 2008.

…to see what all the fuss is about over there. And this here is the picture I uploaded there. Note: I am NOT catblogging; just sharing a little picture is all. Yes, that is my cat, Amelia Bedelia.

Ok, wait, I think I just officially catblogged.

See you on Twitter?!

This week my authors’ group, the Invisible Institute, was treated to a private talk with James B. Stewart, a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of 8 books. We were eager to hear about the trajectory of Jim’s career, what sustains him, how he started, and how he’s made it all work. Stewart teaches journalism at Columbia University and I’m currently reading his how-to book, Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction. I wanted to share this passage from it with you, because it applies to the work that so many of us do, whether that be writing or research:

“The essence of thinking like a writer is the recognition that what’s most interesting is what’s unknown, not what is known. Thinking like a writer prizes the question more than the answer. It celebrates paradox, mystery, and uncertainty, recognizing that all of them contain the seeds of a potential story.”

It’s so tricky when you’re writing a book proposal and you must state your argument often before you really know all the questions! But Stewart’s reminder is an important one, and also makes me think of my favorite quote from Rilke, in Letters to a Young Poet:

“Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.”

Ahhh.

In keeping with my philosophy of always trying new things here in cyberland, I just created my first blog poll. It was supereasy of course, as all things Google Blogger generally are.

The reason for my poll: I’m really eager to hear what you, GWP readers, would like to see more of here, so that I can stay in tune with what you crave. So please please take the poll and let me know, k? It’s over there –>

Thanks!

At long last, some links from my last blogging workshop (Strategic Blogging for Organizations, Women’s Research Centers, and Feminist Experts, June 7). Here’s a sampling of sites and resources to check out from around the blogosphere. Apologies for the crazylong delay…!

Directories
Blogher.org lists blogs by topical categories written by and for women on a wide variety of topics.
BlogCarnival.com lists blog carnivals that provide round-ups of the best blog writing on the web on specific topics.

Women’s organization blogs
Women’s Media Center – Majority Post
NARAL – Blog for Choice
White House Project – Change Everything
Ms. Foundation – Igniting Change
(did I miss yours? please post urls in comments!)

Blog communities & aggregators
BlogHer
MotherTalk
AlterNet

Political blogs
Huffington Post
Talking Points Memo

Feminist blogosphere
Feministing
Pandagon
Racialicious
Feministe
Broadsheet
XX-Factor (Slate)
Vivalafeminista
Culture Kitchen
WIMNsVoicesBlog
Shakesville
The Curvature
F-Word Blog

Momosphere
The Motherhood
WorkIt Mom
Chicago Moms Blog, Silicon Valley Moms Blog, DC Moms Blog

Blogs by academics
A Blog without a Bicycle
BitchPhD
Feminist Law Professors
Feminist Science Prof
Culture Cat
Afrogeek Mom
Hugo Schwyzer
Baxter Sez
Quod She

Blog hosting
Blogger
WordPress
Livejournal
Typepad

Photo Libraries
Flickr
LOC Photostream

Widgets
Springwidgets

Nonprofit resources re new media communications
Idealware
Spin Project
Tech Soup
Pro-Media Communications
Problogger

For a very thorough post on last week’s forum on gender, race, class, age, and the media’s coverage of the 2008 elections, sponsored by the White House Project, the Women’s Media Center, and the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, check out Marcia Yemen’s latest in HuffPo. A report based on the findings and recommendations from that forum–drafted by yours truly–is coming soon! I’ll post more details when it’s ready, later in the summer.

Meanwhile, Carol Jenkins offered a great turn of phrase at that forum when she noted that members of the media have embedded themselves in the war room of this election, turning themselves into “embedded pundits.” Case in point: I’m sitting here watching MSNBC and on flashes the headline “Does Obama Need Clinton as Much as the Media Thinks?” I’m screaming back at my tv: “Who the BLEEP cares what the media thinks?” Talk about simulacrum, I tell ya.

I’m still lamenting having had to miss NWSA’s annual conference this year, if only because I miss seeing colleagues (hi Alison! hi Astrid!). Thanks to those of you who have been sharing reports and highlights with me. If anyone who attended would like to do a guest post on the conference here at GWP, door’s open! Just shoot me an email at girlwpen@gmail.com and let me know.

Meanwhile, I’m loving that the theme for the 2009 Council on Contemporary Families conference is THE FUTURE OF RELATIONSHIPS: Men, Women, Sexuality, and the Prospects for Gender Equity. Planning is underway. The conference will take place on April 17 and 18 at the University of Illinois, Chicago. CCF’s conference is one of my faves and I’m definitely hoping to go.
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