You’ve landed at the new website for Girl with Pen, a group blog that works to bridge feminist research, popular reality, and the public. Welcome!
At present, Girl w/Pen (the blog) remains over at Blogspot. But soon, it will be in (hallelujah) WordPress. Until it’s set, please visit us at www.girlwithpen.blogspot.com. See you there!
I was SO sad to hear that the organization Dads and Daughters had to fold its tent this month due to lack of funds. I add my voice to the chorus of women sending shout outs to the folks behind DADs for their wonderful work these past 10 years.
One door closes, another creaks open. I’m excited to share a new blog by a member of my writers group, Paul Raeburn (left), over at Psychology Today. It’s called “About Fathers”. Paul also blogs at Fathers and Families, and he culls from the latest research and writes Very Smart Things about the importance of fathers and how fathers affect children’s development. Paul’s a journalist and the author of “Acquainted with the Night,” a memoir of raising children with bipolar disorder and depression, and a new father himself. I encourage GWP readers to visit and comment and check him out.
A quick pic from the Writopia Lab blogging workshop I led last week. Stay tuned for more posts from the girls coming next week! In the meantime, we’re loving everyone’s comments on Jessica’s post (below)…
Have a good weekend, all!
So I’ve been spending part of this week teaching a blogging workshop for girls over at Writopia Lab. The posts these girls are writing are SO GOOD that I’m posting them here on GWP. Stay tuned for some thoughts from the next generation of thinkers and writers. They will knock your socks off. They are definitely knocking mine.
(cool logo design by Marco Siegel-Acevedo!)
It’s my first day back and I’m still feeling as high as I felt when I was carried into the air on this chair!
Before anything, I wish to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who kept GWP going while I was gone, and particularly Kristen, blog steward extraordinaire. The wedding was bliss, the honeymoon was delicious, and coming back to a blog in full swing was a gift like none other.
Going away gives one a sense of perspective and, upon return, I feel we’ve really created something here, this lil GWP community. I love the plethora of voices these past few weeks and would so hate to give that up. I LOVED the content our guest bloggers posted (and will be contacting you one by one to follow up and express more personal gratitude)!
Speaking of which, I feel us naturally evolving into more of a group forum — possibly even a group blog. Do you agree? Please let me know what you think of the idea of turning GWP into a group blog in comments here — and also if you would be interested in being considered as a regular contributing blogger (you can also email me at girlwpen@gmail.com)! And soon, I’ll post a survey to get more of a sense of your feelings.
Meanwhile, a hearty welcome to new readers (traffic and subscription were both UP UP UP while I was away!!), and to you loyal standbys, thank you for being here!
I’m off to catch up on a thousand emails and will be back posting GWPish content tomorrow, but wanted to leave you with my gratitude — which, as I learned while putting together a wedding toast to our guests, has been called by someone or other “happiness mixed with wonder.” That’s absolutely what I’m feeling right now, post-wedding/honeymoon high, and returning to a virtual community that has become so very meaningful to me and so very, very real.
Claire Mysko here, reporting from the BlogHer ’08 conference! My first session today is on political commentary with Jennifer Pozner of Women in Media and News and Catherine Orenstein of the Op-Ed Project.
Jennifer opened the session with this question: How many of you have engaged with media outside of your blogs? Most people in the room raised their hands, but those who didn’t said they haven’t engaged because they are nervous about putting themselves “out there” and exposing themselves in their communities especially when it comes to politics. Jennifer made the point that as women, we must be willing to engage in a competitive landscape. The media landscape does not look the way we want it to. Women are marginalized and “hard news” is still seen as the realm of men (white, privileged men for the most part).
Jennifer gets tons of hate mail after her TV commentary. Perhaps not so surprising (but still pretty depressing), most of those comments are usually about her physical appearance and almost never about what she actually said.
The more popular your blog is, the more likely it is that mainstream media outlets will come to you. When you get that call, you have to be prepared. Jennifer mentioned the brother-in-law test. If you can get your brother-in-law to understand your point and frame your argument in a way that he gets it, you’ll know that you are better prepared to address a broad audience beyond your niche.
Catherine Orenstein posed five questions:
1. what is credibility?
2. how do you create an argument that is a contribution?
3. What is the difference between being right and being effective?
4. how can you see what you care about as part of a bigger picture?
5. how can you see your knowledge and experience in terms of its value to others?
Some stats: 85% percent of op-eds are dominated by men, 84% of political pundits are men, 84% of Hollywood producers are male, 84% of Congress are male. Get the picture?
Plenty of women are blogging, but not in the places where it has the most influence. One out of 20 political bloggers are women. Sadly, these numbers convey the idea that women’s voices don’t matter and that women aren’t leaders.
Three things happened when Catherine published her first op-ed: She got a book deal, she was went on national television, and she was invited to speak with a Clinton adviser. In other words, there are incredible opportunities presented to those who do put themselves out there. If you’re not writing your own story, someone else will. And probably not in the way you would tell it.
Public conversations are happening in an echo chamber. Catherine compares this to what happens in the movie Being John Malkovich when John Malkovich goes through the John Malkovich tunnel. That’s what public debate looks like these days.
Women don’t submit op-eds. Shouldn’t we all be projecting our opinions into the prominent forums? So here are Catherine’s thoughts on some of those questions.
What is credibility: Accountability to knowledge. What are you an expert in and why?
Creating contribution: What would be valuable? What’s the evidence (statistics, quotes, news information, research).
What’s the difference between being right and being effective: She shared a letter she received after she wrote an ope-ed that was critical of Sex & the City. “It’s Sex & the City, not Jobs & the City,” the writer pointed out. “Your version: Boring.” Catherine realized that she had alienated a large portion of the audience she wanted to reach. What she learned is that before she concludes an argument, she needs to put herself in the shoes of someone who disagrees with her. Remember two words: empathy and respect. Assume that the other party is both intelligent and moral.
This content is cross posted at 5 Resolutions.
Instead of going dark while off doing wedding and honeymoon during the last two weeks of July, I’m pleased to announce some rather FABULOUS guest posting coming our way! Claire Mysko and Gloria Feldt will be among the lineup, with some live blogging from BlogHer and some posts about the election. The fearless Kristen Loveland of The Choice will be blogsitting (and crossposting!) for me while I’m away.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to open the doors wide open to the GWP community. Your comments are always so smart and insightful, your emails always teach me. I’d love to bring more GWP readers into fuller view. So here’s the chance. If you have an idea for a guest post and would like to run it by me before I take off, please email me at girlwpen@gmail.com. The last day I’ll be checking email will be July 17.
This just in from The Huffington Post, where I occasionally post commentary when I feel like not getting paid. Publishing at HuffPo is a great opportunity for exposure, but for working journalists, well, let’s just say I’ve slowed down my contributions over time. Nevertheless, it is a WONDERFUL opp for visibility and I can’t recommend it enough for those seeking to break into print. So here’s the announcement about their new initiative, because I definitely want to help them spread the word (and because I hugely admire the new initiative’s clever logo, and because I recently met — and loved — Eat the Post editor Rachel Sklar!):
It’s the electoral race of the century. Political maps are being redrawn, and rules are getting rewritten across the board. Fundraising records have been broken. The candidates are even comparing the sizes of their email lists.
The mainstream media is tripping over itself to report on every last press release and campaign announcement. But do any of us REALLY know what’s going on?
With you helping from the frontlines, the Huffington Post can change campaign coverage. OffTheBus is HuffPost’s citizen-powered and -produced election site, and we’re depending on readers like you to tip us to what’s going on or, better yet, to write up the stories you think should be covered.
WOULD YOU HELP US?
Chances are you’re a political junkie. That’s why you got involved in HuffPost’s community as a commenter. But why stop there?
By becoming a member of HuffPost’s OffTheBus, you can publish op-eds and news stories to the Huffington Post. You get first-hand access to editors. The best citizen reporting is cross-posted to the politics page and homepage. Or, you can jump into our collaborative reporting assignments, like our Superdelegate Investigation or OffTheBus Party Map.
GET PUBLISHED AT HUFFINGTON POST.
Last October OffTheBus members dropped in on Sen. Barack Obama’s Nationwide Canvassing Day from more than two dozen locations. Hours later every observer independently relayed to us that the economy, not the war, was the voting issue. Twenty-four hours later we reported on the significance of the economy, beating the mainstream media to the punch by a few weeks.
As our numbers grow, the same collaborative reporting model that got HuffPost’s OffTheBus the scoop on the economy may tell us a lot more about what’s happening nationwide.
YOU GAME? JOIN HUFFPOST’S OFFTHEBUS.
Click here to sign up.
July 11-13, Amcrandale, NY:
Woodhull Institute Nonfiction Writing Intensive. It’s not too late! Join me–and Catherine Orenstein and Kristen Kemp–up in Ancramdale this weekend for some oped, magazine article, and book proposal writing good times! To register, email ecurtis@woodhull.org pronto and she’ll set you up.
August 11-13, NYC:
AFTER the honeymoon, I’ll be teaching a special three-day workshop this summer for the girls of Writopia Lab and am excited about the possibility of publishing some of the pieces that emerge from that workshop here on GWP. In the spring, I posted one by 14-year-old Writopia Writer, Sam French, on why she was supporting Hillary. In case you missed it, here tis.
Online seminar, 5 Tuesdays this fall:
Back with Version 2.0 of my Making It Pop: Translating Your Ideas for Trade bloginar! Have you successfully tackled the book proposal but are struggling to find the right structure for your book, themes for your chapters, or hooks and anecdotes to draw the reader in? With In Progress: Getting Your Book DONE, I’ll take you beyond the book proposal and into the process of writing your first book.
Are you writing a book but lacking an author’s community? A writers’ group and the advice of someone who has done it before can aid you to overcome writer’s block or plain old frustration with structure and content. This one’s a hands-on seminar and author-led writer’s group for those in the middle of writing their first books for the public.
The course will offer:
-Exchanges with professionals in the field and your chance to ask those questions that have been plaguing you.
-Strategies for getting unblocked in the middle of Chapter Four
-Tips for crafting introductions and conclusions for the popular reader
-Workshops on playing with structure, chapter titles, and format
-And more.
For more info or to register, please email kristen.loveland@gmail.com.
And lastly, a fall blogging bloginar (how’s that for meta) may very well be in the works. If interested, please let Kristen know and we will send a heads up when details are underway.
Ok GWP readers out there, make my day. I’m so SAD about missing the BlogHer conference this year (timing, timing) and would still very much like to somehow be involved. So here’s what I’ve come up with: Would anybody who is planning to attend the conference in SF like to do some live-blogging here at GWP while I’m off getting hitched that weekend (July 18-20)? If so, please email me at girlwpen@gmail.com and we can discuss!
Pity party over. And happily back to wedding planning. This weekend Marco and I are staying at the home of the friends whose backyard will be the scene of our wedding–it’s so beautiful here. And I’m getting all verklempt.
So I’ll be signing off now for the weekend. I wish everyone a VERY HAPPY 4th! ENJOY!
