events

Kick off the fall season of KGB Nonfiction on Tuesday, where the Sassy Girls and I will help you get your grrl on while sipping cocktails from the bar (my favorite way to do a reading, I’ve since discovered)…Here are the details:

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

*** Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer (HOW SASSY CHANGED MY LIFE: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine) and Deborah Siegel
(SISTERHOOD, INTERRUPTED: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild) read from their work.***

See you there!!

Please come say hello tonight if you happen to be in Brooklyn! Thanks to the karaoke-wielding Sam, I’ll be reading from and talking about Sisterhood, Interrupted at Barnes and Noble in Park Slope (267 7th Avenue) at 7pm. (Note: there will be no karaoke, just lots and lots of books.)

Marco and I are considering moving to the Slope eventually, so I’m going to pretend this is my neighborhood bookstore and see how it feels.

A quick announcement on behalf of my friend Lori, who is leading a juicy sounding monthly discussion group at the Barnard Center for Research on Women Courses this Fall.

CONSUMING PASSIONS: Pleasure & Politics in Women’s Memoirs, with Lori Rotskoff
Wednesdays, 9/26, 10/24, 11/28, 12/19, 1/23, 2/27, 3/26, 4/30, 6/4, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
BCRW, 101 Barnard Hall
Fee: $315

Here’s the description:

What are the passions, pleasures, and political commitments that fuel women’s lives? In this class, we will discuss memoirs by American women who have embarked on journeys of personal fulfillment, intellectual growth, or political activism from the 1920s to the present day.

And here’s more Lori:

Lori Rotskoff is a cultural historian of American family life. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University, and has written articles and reviews for the Chicago Tribune, Reviews in American History, and The Women’s Review of Books. This is her third year teaching at the Barnard Center for Research on Women.

For more information call 212-854-2067 or visit www.barnard.edu/bcrw

So just a quick update on that traveling panel I’m helping organize this year for Women’s History Month, cause I’m too darn excited not to share. As some of you know, I’m teaming up with three amazing women / girls / ladies this March:

Gloria Feldt, Kristal Brent Zook, Courtney E. Martin

We’re taking it on the road to continue the conversation that I started in Sisterhood, Interrupted, and that these women have been having of late too. Together, we want to spark discussion about women’s lives, power, entitlement, and the future of feminism, from a generational perspective. Sound good? If you’d like to bring us to your organization or school, please feel free to contact any of us (I’m deborahsiege AT gmail DOTCOM). But hurry — our schedules are booking up quickly!

One of the versions we’re offering is described thusly (is thusly really a word?):

We Won’t Always Have Paris:
A New Conversation about Young Women and Pop Culture

Why do teen girls dress and dance so provocatively? Do they really think that drinking and drugging at the club is empowering? How can they worship airheads like Paris and Nicole?

Why don’t older women see that there is more to our culture than Britney Spears? Have they ever heard of the World Wide Web? Was it really that different in their day or have they just romanticized it?

Sound familiar? Too often finger-pointing statements like these get thrown around by women of different generations when it comes to conversations about pop culture. With all the injustices yet to be challenged, it’s time that women of all ages talked and listened to one another instead of rehashing the same cliquish complaints. It’s time to reopen a dialogue about women’s lives, power, pop culture, and entitlement — from a generational perspective.

Issues that we’ll address include:
• Does liberated sexuality equal Paris Hilton? Madonna? Bisexuality? Girls Gone Wild?
• Are young women really charmed by today’s pop icons?
• Where are the strong, smart young celebrities without addictions or eating disorders?
• How can we get more positive images of women in the media?
• What do power and empowerment look like to women of different generations?
• What is the major unfinished business for women in the media and pop cultural arenas today?
• How do we keep our eyes on the prize of more complex, diverse, and healthy representation of women?

Another version we’re doing goes like this:

Womengirlsladies: A Fresh Conversation Across Generations

Many of the young female students in my classes seem to think empowerment means short skirts and high heels! Even young women who say they are feminists often don’t know what’s still at stake—from pay equity to Title 9 to reproductive justice– and they are unwilling to put in the hard work necessary to fight for change!

Older female professors act like it’s a crime against the Goddess to have a little fun! Women’s Studies classes are just too pc. I’m not a feminist but I totally believe in equality. Doesn’t everybody? And by the way, weren’t those battles already won by our mothers, so why do we have to fight them again?
Do these complaints sound familiar?

With all the injustices yet to be challenged, it is time that women of all ages talked and listened to one another. It is time to reopen a dialogue about women’s lives: our power, our entitlement, and our futures — the future of feminism. Among issues to be addressed:

•Power and Parity: What do power and empowerment look like to women of different generations, and to women of different races and cultural backgrounds? What can we envision achieving together for women in the future? What might a powerful woman look and act like twenty years down the road?

•Unfinished Business: What are the major loose (or lost) ends of the feminist movement today? And how can we get what we need now?

•The F-word: Why are so many younger women afraid of being identified as feminists? Do older women secretly resent the entitlement of their younger, female employees and students?

•A Stripping Pole in Every Living Room: Does liberated sexuality equal lap dances? Free love? Bisexuality? Are Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan good role models for sexual empowerment? Were Madonna or Lil’ Kim?

•The “Opting Out” Fiasco: How has the media slashed and distorted real women’s choices about balancing work and family? Could listening to popular myths about your options in the workplace and the home topple your career choices?

•Passing the Torch without Extinguishing the Flame: How can younger women learn from older women while speaking in their own language about the issues that matter most to them?

We’ll be offering these panels throughout 2008, but please do get in touch soon, as our schedules are filling up fast: taryn.kutujian@gmail.com

Would love to bring it your way!

I love this story. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune has a nice little feature by reporter Rohan Preston on Dorothy Marcic, a former a professor of management at Vanderbilt University, who quit her secure job to indulge her teenage passion: theater. The professor – turned – playwright then did something equally bold. She created a jukebox musical, “Respect: A Musical Journey of Women,” based on research she did for her book, Respect: Women and Popular Music. The show — which had its more humble beginnings as a lecture with music — has now played in more than a dozen venues in the United States and Australia and is currently playing in Minneapolis. The show’s music, which includes swing and jazz, show tunes, rock and country, “Respect,” and “I Will Survive,” tracks the evolution of the social consciousness of American women in each decade of the 20th century. Says the 58-year-old Marcic, “You have to go with your passion, no matter how long it takes.” Check out Dorothy’s blog here.

And here’s something to sing about:

This week marks the 87th Anniversary of women’s suffrage in the US. Yep, that’s right. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment of the US Constitution was ratified granting women the right to vote. (Hey – if you’re anywhere near New Jersey, go celebrate with a trip to Paulsdale!) Now, if we can just use that vote to get our country a real President next time.

A quick shout out of gratitude to the folks who are posting their favorite blogs by women scholars in the comments section of the post below! Keep em coming! Meanwhile, I’m rushing off to go hear some of my favorite city girls (including Lusty Lady Rachel Kramer Bussel) read at McNally Robinson in celebration of a new anthology from Seal (hi, Laura M!). Come join me, if you’re here in NYC… Here’s the deal:

Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out on Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness (Seal Press)

Monday, August 27, 7 pm, Free
McNally Robinson Bookstore, 52 Prince Street (SoHo, between Lafayette and Mulberry), NYC

The popular media give us shoe shopaholics, ditzy desperados, and wannabe brides forever making cow eyes at The Bachelor. But what do single women have to say about their own lives? In the myth-busting tradition of anthologies like The Bitch in the House, the impressive roster of writers of Single State of the Union set the record straight about the experiences of single women in America. Rachel Kramer Bussel is a popular writer and teacher of erotica and the editor most recently of erotica anthologies Caught Looking and Cross-Dressing. Lynn Harris is the author of the smart New York mystery Death by Chick Lit. Judy McGuire is an advice columnist and author of How Not To Date. Susan Shapiro is the author of the memoirs Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Lighting Up and most recently Only As Good As Your Word. Join us for a discussion with these and other smart single (and formerly single) women that will give you a new perspective on the single state.

I’m back from WY, back in the city of polluted air and garbage on the streets that, for better or worse, I love. But this cheered me up:
Nominations are now open for one of my favorite young feminist projects going down these days, The REAL hot 100. Riffing on Maxim’s Hot 100 list, the annual Real Hot 100 list shows that young women are “hot” for reasons beyond looking good in a magazine. By featuring this list of young women from around the country doing incredible things in their every day lives, they’re battling the popular notion that all young women have to offer is outward appearances.

The annual list, declare the smart hotties/hot smarties beyond REAL Hot, is just a first step. Through the Real Hot 100 network, nominees and winners can combine their resources, share strategies and join forces to further their social causes and to affect real change.

So…Do you know a smart, savvy young woman who represents the intelligence, drive and diversity of young women today? Is she breaking barriers, speaking her mind and making the world a better place? Look around – she may be your best friend, your wife, your partner, your colleague, your sister, your student. Nominate her today!

Why do journalists consider Hillary Clinton’s “fat thighs” newsworthy in
coverage of her presidential bid, while Dick Cheney’s beer belly is never
noticed by political reporters? Are women all really vapid, pathetic, gold-digging whores, as so-called “reality” TV producers would like us to believe? Feminist media activism and independent media production can interrupt this misogynistic media landscape – but how can either survive in a fractured funding climate? These are just some of the meaty issues that will be tackled by Women in Media and News (WIMN) in Chicago while I’m at Kimmi’s reading tonight.

WHEN: Thurs., Aug. 2, 7pm
Click here to view Evite, and RSVP

WHAT: Wine, cheese and strategic conversation
Meet Women in Media and News’ Executive Director, Board members, bloggers and special guests, including Veronica Arreola (Chicago Parent blogger), Paula Kamen (WIMN’s Voices blogger, author and playwright), Gwynn Cassidy (co-founder, The Real Hot 100), and others at: “Don’t Pin Your Hopes on Katie Couric: How Women Can Confront, Challenge and Change Contemporary Media – a discussion with Jennifer L. Pozner and Anne Elizabeth Moore.”

If you go, tell me all about it! (And if any of the Chicago gals would like to guest blog about it here, please let me know.)

The other week, my writers’ group got together with Courtney Martin’s writers’ group (Crucial Minutiae) for some professional and intergenerational exchange, and for fun. I met this fabulously vivacious woman there, Kimmi Auerbach. Kimmi’s reading from her new book, The Devil, The Lovers & Me: My Life in Tarot, tonight at Borders at Columbus Circle, at 7PM. Come one, come all!

I’m so excited — I just learned they’re expecting a more-than-full house for the Demos forum on my book this Thursday. Come one, come all! But come early, or you might not get a seat….

Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild
July 26, 2007
12:15-1:45
NYRAG, 79 Fifth Ave, 4th Floor (between 15th and 16th St)
New York City

For more info and to register (the event is free), click here.

Refreshments will be served.