Well, it’s happened.  My talented, hard-working, honest, amazing husband (qua extraordinary graphic designer / logo maker / brand consultant / Design Director) got laid off today.

I just got off the phone with him and am reeling, though I know we’ll get through this.  One door closes, another opens, blessings in disguise and all that.   But it’s pretty painful at the moment.

Here is Marco’s LinkedIn profile.  If ever you’ve wondered who designed the GWP masthead, the Writopia logo, or, yes, the Care logo, it was my Marco.

The darling boy with an BFA from Cooper Union and two and a half decades of work experience will now be looking for a job.  Leads on freelance?   Leads on staff positions as a Design Director or Creative Director at a branding or design firm here in NYC?  Need some branding yourself?   Whoever gets him next will be darn lucky to have him. He’s one of a kind.

Thank you for spreading the word!  (Feel free to email me directly if you like at deborah@girlwpen.com)

Check out the fab lineup of sessions at this year’s Women, Action, and the Media Conference (fondly known as WAM!).  The conference is once again at MIT’s bizarrely wonderful Stata Center in Cambridge, MA (pictured left) and it’s from March 27 – March 29.

This time I’ll be speaking on a panel called Going Group: How Blogging in Numbers Gets It Done, along with fellow GWPenners including Shira Tarrant, Racialicious’ Latoya Peterson, and the brilliant Ebony Utley.  The full (yet still evolving) lineup of panels and events is now posted. I loves me those WAMMers, I really do.  There’s something for everyone, veteran mediaheads and newbies alike.  And the dance party’s always fun.

Register here. If you do it before Feb. 13, you pay $145 (Seniors pay $80 and Students pay $45).  The fee goes up to $165/$95/$55 on Feb. 14, and to $195/$110/$75 on-site, if space allows.  Go ahead, do it, do it, do it….!

Yesterday, Paul Raeburn, who is in my author’s group, posted about some studies that might have naturally included fathers but which examined only mothers in Where are the fathers? over at his Fathers and Families blog. (Thanks, CCF, for the heads up!)

Paul and I were recently talking over cookies and tea about why it is that mothers are the more studied parent, and I offered some thoughts on history, psychology, and biology — from a feminist pov.  I suggested he go back and read some socialist feminism, and also Nancy Chodorow.  But I also felt like my response was incomplete and hence inadequate.

I’m interested in continuing the conversation!  If any GWP readers have thoughts to share on why this is so, I’m sure Paul would be interested as well.  And I assure you, Paul is by no means a men’s rightser kind of guy but a thoughtful journalist (his previous book is Acquainted with the Night, a memoir of raising children with depression and bipolar disorder.)   Please feel free to leave thoughts for me — and for Paul — in comments or at Paul’s blog. Thanks, ya’ll!

Fallout from Prop 8 continues as various organizations, who have pro-gay rights missions or are dedicated to upholding their non-discrimination policies, decide how to approach businesses and other organizations (the Mormon Church of course being a primary target) in California that gave money to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign.

Working in the world of scholarly organizations myself, I found Inside Higher Ed’s article on the American Historical Association (AHA)’s decision to go ahead with their conference at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego as planned especially interesting. The Manchester Hyatt’s owner, Doug Manchester, funneled a great deal of money to the campaign. Instead of backing out of their contract, which would still drop hundreds of thousands of dollars into Doug Manchester’s hands plus allow him to book the space for another function, the AHA has voted on an alternative proposal to pack their program with sessions dealing with gay rights issues. Given how much the AHA has already invested and that Manchester would get much of the money either way, I actually very much like this alternative plan. Other scholarly organizations, which have not yet signed contracts, are planning to boycott the hotel.

I am still amazed by stories of business owners in California who gave a great deal to Proposition 8 and didn’t think that their businesses would be affected by their support for a law that discriminates against many of their clients.

Ohmygosh how I heart this ad on fatherhood involvement, from the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearninghouse.  GO DADS!

In case you missed it, an article in today’s NYTimes (“A Rise in Efforts to Spot Abuse in Youth Dating“) highlights the increased prevalence of violence in teenage dating relationships.  Here’s a quick and depressing glance at the stats:

• According to a survey by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene showed that dating violence had risen by more than 40 percent since 1999, when the department began asking students about the problem.
• Public health research indicates that the rate of such abusive relationships has hovered around 10 percent.
• According to a survey last year of children ages 11 to 14 by Liz Claiborne Inc., a quarter of the 1,000 respondents said they had been called names, harassed or ridiculed by their romantic partner by phone call or text message, often between midnight and 5 a.m., when their parents are sleeping.
• A study published last July in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that more than one-third of the 920 students questioned were victims of emotional and physical abuse by romantic partners before they started college.
• In the C.D.C.’s 2007 survey of 15,000 adolescents, 10 percent reported physical abuse like being hit or slapped by a romantic partner. Nearly 8 percent of teenagers in the survey said they were forced to have sexual intercourse.

The good news: “Last month, a group of Indianapolis organizations won a $1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help schools tackle the issue, part of $18 million in grants to 10 communities to help break patterns where children exposed to violence at home repeat it in their adult relationships.”

The bad news: There are no definitive national studies on the prevalence of abuse in adolescent relationships.

Clearly there is a need.  (AHEM – calling researchers!)

As everyone’s sluggishly getting back into their groove, we at GWP wanted to thank our loyal readers for being part of the growing community over here and welcome our newer ones. We look forward to a new year with a new president in DC, insightful feminist critique in the blogosphere, and the continued contributions from our readers to the GWP experiment!

An e-blast just went out to subscribers sending all sorts of news.  If you aren’t on our email list and would like to be, you can sign up over there –>. We send out blasts every few months, and we promise never to spam.

(Note: this image is the “arty” version of us, hehe)

The other day I stumbled across Rafael Casal on YouTube and was blown away. The first thing I did was to send out an email to a bunch of my friends that said: If you knew about this guy and didn’t tell me about him, y’all are in some deep shit.

A slam champion poet, recording artist, and educator, Rafael Casal is turning up the political heat. His message is steaming hot. And now that I’ve found Casal, I want to tell as many people as possible about this amazing hip-hop influenced poet who cuts straight to the heart of so many issues.

Take the Bill of Rights. You know, those 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution that were ratified as a package deal in 1791? Remember those 10 gems that are supposed to protect us from an overzealous federal government? Freedom of speech, the right to peacefully gather, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment or unreasonable search and seizure. Yeah, that Bill of Rights.

Well, “I’m billing them for my rights,” Casal says.

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Pssst…please pass it on!

Thinking in Public
A Workshop for Engaged Scholars

Instructor: Deborah Siegel, PhD, author Sisterhood, Interrupted and Only Child; creator of the Girl w/ Pen blog

Description:  What does it mean these days to be “an engaged scholar”?  For many it means writing for and engaging with a public wider than one’s peers.  This workshop is for the academically-inclined writer who wishes to extend her reach, the researcher who longs to write something other than grant proposals, the professor or administrator curious about blogging, the scholar who dreams of publishing a commercial book, a magazine article, an op-ed.

In today’s competitive marketplace of ideas, thought leaders increasingly desire a voice in the popular sphere.  Often, academic culture puts restraints on how, what, and where scholars think they can write.  For a variety of reasons, academically-trained writers often find themselves unprepared to address a broad public.  Many are taught to subordinate themselves to their topics, yet taking a public stance means putting yourself in your piece—and more.  To write for popular media in today’s publishing climate, you must be able to craft engaging, accessible, non-technical prose that appeals to an audience far outside your area of expertise.  These skills can be learned.

Thinking in Public is a hands-on, on-site workshop covering the how, what, and where of reaching a wide public through the written word.  These full and half-day trainings are designed to help researchers, scholars, and policy “wonks” bridge the translation gap and is tailored to meet participants’ needs.

Among topics covered: techniques for de-jargonizing and enlivening prose; the importance of narrative; common pitfalls; why “making it pop” is not equivalent to “dumbing it down” or “selling out”; overcoming internal hesitations, institutional scorn, and other obstacles to broader engagement.  Participants are encouraged to come with findings, perspectives, or ideas for stories they aspire to turn into popular books, non-academic articles, or use as platforms for a blog.  The workshop will help jumpstart individual projects, demystify next steps, empower, persuade, and inform.

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Well, actually, what a day for reflecting! The life unexamined is hardly worth living, right? So having caught the spirit from myriad friends and loved ones (especially this one), I decided to record:

2008 was the year I got married. It was also the year my two grandmothers passed away.

2008 was the year this blog went “group,” turning into a vibrant public forum for feminist critique. It was the year I gave public lectures about feminism at 12 colleges, taught 13 writing workshops and series, consulted with myriad women’s research organizations, became a writing coach, joined my first Board.

It was the year that I learned having a child would not come so easily, the year Marco and I together adopted a cat.

It was the year we elected Obama.  And so, so much more.

With hope and deep gratitude, optimism and wonder, I’m ready for 2009. May it be a happy, healthy, prosperous, gentle, kind, wonderful, love-filled year for all those in the GWP community…and all those far beyond.

(More in this vein–because I just couldn’t seem to stop–over at 85 Broads!)