events

I love it when tradition meets practicality. Last weekend, at my friend Rebecca Segall’s wedding on a dude ranch in upstate New York, some friends pitched a sukkah in celebration of the Jewish holiday, Sukkot. Now, “pitch” isn’t usually the word you use to describe putting up a sukkah–that would be “build.” But this one, no mistake, was pitched. The friends got it from a website, www.popupsukkah.com, and it was basically a tent with a bamboo roof.

Overheard, from the (Jewish) groom: “Is this so Jews can camp?”

The ladies of Bitch magazine are currently touring the East Coast…I’m off to a welcome party. Meanwhile, on the topic of feminist responses to pop culture (which is what Bitch does so well), I was thrilled to read Faludi’s deconstruction of the opt-out media frenzy, from Sylvia Ann Hewlett (2001) to Lisa Belkin (2003) to Louise Story (2005). Basically, what most sociologists and economists have been saying all along. For those of you looking for a cheat sheet, it’s on pages 141-45 of The Terror Dream.

WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES
2007 Gruber Women’s Rights Symposium
On October 16 at New York University School of Law, Emmy-award winning filmmaker Anisa Mehdi will lead an exciting panel discussion about how women are breaking new ground in advancing their rights and roles in Muslim societies. Panelists include 2007 Gruber Women’s Rights Prize recipient Pinar Ilkkaracan of Turkey; Daisy Khan, Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement; Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International; and Sakena Yacoobi, founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning and 2004 Gruber Women’s Rights Prize Laureate.

The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation will present its 2007 Women’s Right Prize to Pinar Ilkkaracan of Istanbul, Turkey, and two organizations she helped establish. Ms. Ilkkaracan, Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways (WWHR) and the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR) will share the unrestricted $500,000 (US) award. The symposium will immediately follow the Prize ceremony. Video of the symposium will be available worldwide beginning Thursday, October 18, 2007 on the Gruber website

GIRLS WRITE NOW 10TH ANNIVERSARY FALL “FRIENDRAISER”
Come celebrate 10 years of bold, articulate chicks–and one of my favorite organizations, Girls Write Now–on Thursday, October 18th at Bluestockings Bookstore: 172 Allen Street @ Stanton & Rivington.

The fun starts with a Mentor-Mentee Pair Reading and Chapbook Showcase at Bluestockings, from 5:30-6:30pm, then continues across the street from 7-9:30pm with a party at The Slipper Room with author and “girlbomb” Janice Erlbaum, award-winning novelist Tayari Jones and hotshot indy rockers Royal Pink. (No cover!)

So tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Rosaura “Rosie” Jiménez, the first known victim of the Hyde Amendment in the United States. And the amazing Gloria Feldt is going to be joining María Luisa Sánchez Fuentes (executive director of Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida) for a cross-border dialogue about the recent gains and losses in the reproductive rights movements in the United States and Mexico over at the Women’s Media Center. Check out what Gloria has to say about it all today on HuffPo.

Journalists welcome:
9:30-10:30 am EST
The Women’s Media Center
350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 901
New York, New York 10118
RSVP by email (kathy@womensmediacenter.com) or by calling the Women’s Media Center at (212) 563-0680. A call-in option is also available.

Let’s make this news.

Ok, I know I’m all about the panels today, but here’s another one — save the date! I’m moderating 🙂

The Tenement Museum presents…
Feminist New York
Thursday, October 11
6-8 PM

Lower East Side Tenement Museum Shop
108 Orchard Street at Delancey

Join us for a panel discussion with Pamela Thompson & Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, authors of the recently published Every Past Thing and Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. Our panel will discuss the private and public acts of New York women during the late 19th and early 20th century. As the moderator, I’ll put the issues in a contemporary feminist context, too. Free and open to the public – but RSVPs requested (Bookclub@tenement.org).

I’m back in NYC – whew – and wanted to send a shout out and a warm welcome to Marco (see post below)! And thank you so much to everyone who channeled good thoughts and sent the sweetest emails asking about my dad. His surgery went swimmingly, and he’s back at work already. I repeat: whew.

And also just a quickie reminder. Come one, come all, to the Woodhull Writers Well tomorrow!

Ok, I’m hitting the hay now. It’s been a LONG couple a days.

The amazing Samhita over at feministing will be live blogging from the Web of Change conference, an annual gathering connecting folks working at the convergence of online strategy, technology, and social change. It’s held at a place called Hollyhock Center (left), on Cortes Island. Rumors of a hot tub on the beach. Um, how do I score an invitation to that next year?!

Join Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer (HOW SASSY CHANGED MY LIFE: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine) and me (SISTERHOOD, INTERRUPTED: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild) tomorrow night for the fall kickoff of KGB Tuesday Night NonFiction!

DETAILS:
KGB Tuesday Night NonFiction
7-9pm, Free!
KGB Bar, 85 East 4th St
kgbbarlit.com

I just learned about this interesting org – The Girls Gotta Run Foundation, Inc. – that raises money to buy athletic shoes for Ethiopian girls to support their participation in sports and help them continue their formal education. The Phoenix Gallery here in Chelsea is hosting a related art exhibit (Girls Gotta Run). Pics posted here. The exhibit runs through September 29.

Heather Hewett is an Assistant Professor in English and Coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program at SUNY-New Paltz, and a freelance journalist to boot. If it weren’t for Heather, who sat across from munching salads at Cosi while she finished her dissertation, I never would have finished mine. These days, in addition to organizing conferences, writing WashPo op-eds, and hosting MotherTalk Salons, Heather is mom to a 9-month old and a 4-year old. Here’s Heather:

So here’s a question: how much of the desire among many younger academic feminists to reach out to a larger audience is generational, and how much has a much deeper history informed by the goals and visions of the feminist movement?

I write this question as a writer, professor, and scholar (and now, for the first time, blogger!) who has never been able to stop herself from writing for mainstream audiences. As a result, I’ve found myself crossing back and forth, locating myself both in and outside the academy. I’ve learned a lot as I’ve traveled this road, journeying along byways (plus more than a few dead ends) and cultivating skills that aren’t taught in most graduate programs. In order to keep going, I’ve constantly had to hew a vision of myself that includes multiple kinds of writing and interests. An endeavor, I sometimes worry, that isn’t always rewarded in the academic world. As a result, it’s been liberating for me to find other young feminists on this journey and to realize that I’m not traveling solo.

But as much as I might congratulate myself on my own ambition (or castigate myself for my lack of discipline), I have to ask: isn’t this one of feminism’s visions? Doesn’t feminism invite us to think about the relationship of our research to social change, to connect with larger audiences over concerns we all share? Haven’t lots and lots of feminist intellectuals – Betty Friedan, Barbara Ehrenreich, Susan Faludi, Laura Kipnis, to name only a few – done this? (If you haven’t guessed already, this is why I love Girl w/Pen!)

So here is another story (and, I will confess, a bit of a shameless plug). One of the things I love about my current job at SUNY New Paltz is that I help to organize a regular Women’s Studies conference. One of the goals of this conference is to connect feminist scholars and researchers, activists, social workers, teachers, students, and other community members – and the Women’s Studies Program has been putting this together for 28 years. The year of its launch, I was in third grade! I’m a bit awed by this history, and it reminds me that plenty of academic feminists before me have sought to create dialogue and community that transcend the confines of the so-called Ivory Tower.

This year’s conference is entitled “Girlhood: The Challenge and Promise of Growing Up Female.” Our keynote speakers include journalist and Feministing contributor Courtney Martin, Senior UNICEF Adviser Mary Roodkowsky, and SUNY New Paltz students Julliany Lahoz, Cristal Pimentel, and Queen Bond. Workshops and panels will explore girls’ identity, culture, activism, health, education, struggles, and successes in the U.S. and globally. Please check us out – we’re on the Hudson River, only an hour and a half north of New York City. Girls of all ages and those interested in girlhood are invited to attend!

You can contact Heather directly at hewetth AT newpaltz DOT edu