events

Tonight at 7PM, Kathleen Sweeney–who I enjoyed meeting at WAM! last weekend–will be reading from her new book, Maiden USA: Girl Icons Come of Age here in NYC at Bluestockings. Sweeney, a girls studies scholar, charts the pantheon of new girl icons that have surfaced in the past 15 years. From the book’s description:

“Maiden USA explores images of powerful, contradictory pop culture icons of the past decade, which run the gamut from Mean Girls and their Endangered Victims to Superheroines and Ingenue Goddesses. Are girls of the Title IX generation in need of Internet protection, or are they Supergirls evolving beyond gender stereotypes to rescue us all?”

The book provides an overview of girl trends since the ’90s including the emergence of girls’ digital media-making and self-representation venues on MySpace, Facebook and YouTube as the newest wave of Girl Power. With brainiacs and athletic champions offered as antidotes to mean girls and lolitas, and with the emergence of self-representation venues on the internet, what is the significance of such contradictory imagery for the culture at large? Sweeney will address this question and also show animations created by teenage girls from across the country. FUN!!

On March 26: 7:30 p.m., I’ll be giving a talk at Lafayette College on….Sisterhood Interrupted! (How much fun is this Women’s History Month? I wish EVERY month could be Women’s History Month! Who do we petition?)

LOCATION: Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, Room 104. Co-sponsored by Office of Intercultural Development and Women’s and Gender Studies program. Come one, come all!

(I’ll be in New Paltz today.)

If this isn’t the coolest sounding conference: “Fear of Flying: Can a Feminist Classic Be a Classic?” On March 28, Columbia University will host a half-day conference at which speakers will revisit Erica Jong’s novel, assess the status of women’s writing and feminism in today’s literary scene, and suss out the possibilities of subversion open to contemporary young women writers. I’ll be at WAM!, or else I’d be here.

For those in need of a refresher, 35 years ago Erica Jong’s first novel, Fear of Flying, broke from conventional expectations and freed other women writers to write intelligently and openly about sex. It became an international bestseller. (“Zipless fuck” anyone?)

So Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library acquired a large collection of Erica Jong’s archival material in 2007. And so the Rare Book & Manuscript Library will join the Columbia University Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Center for Research on Women at Barnard College as sponsors. I love it.

Speakers include novelists Min Jin Lee, author of the national bestseller Free Food for Millionaires; Aoibheann Sweeney, author of Among Other Things I’ve Taken Up Smoking; literary and cultural critics Nancy K. Miller, Distinguished Professor, Comparative Literature and English, at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and author of But Enough About Me: Let Me Tell You About My Memoir; Susan Rubin Suleiman, C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and a professor of comparative literature at Harvard, and author of Subversive Intent: Gender, Politics and the Avant-Garde; Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Director of American Studies, Stanford University, and author of From Fact to Fiction: Journalism and Imaginative Writing in America; and journalist Rebecca Traister, staff writer for Salon.com and a founding contributor to Broadsheet. The afternoon will culminate in a conversation between Erica Jong and Columbia professor and novelist Jenny Davidson, author of Breeding. “Fear of Flying: Can a Feminist Classic be a Classic?” is open to the public and will be held at the Social Hall, Columbia University Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway at 121st Street, in New York City, from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. A reception will follow.

On April 14 BUST Magazine will be throwing “The Hysterical Festival Fundraiser”, at Comix Comedy Club, 353 W 14 St (9th Ave) @ 8PM. The cost is $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Buy tix here.

The event will include performances by:

Heather Lawless (Be Kind Rewind, Variety SHAC, HBO’s Flight of the Conchords)
Mel and El (New York Musical Theatre Festival Concert Series at Ars Nova)
Rachel Feinstein (Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend”, Montreal Just for Laughs Festival)
Bridget Everett (At Least It’s Pink at Ars Nova)
Adira Amram (Upright Citizens Brigade, Jane Magazine)
Ophira Eisenberg (Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend”, US Weekly Fashion Police, VH1)

For media inquiries, contact Hillary Buckholtz at: 301-806-5519 or email mshbuck@gmail.com.

Join me, if nearby, for: “The Personal and the Political: Three Generations of Feminism,” an intergenerational panel co-sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program, the History Department, and FMLA.

Monday, March 24, 2008, 5:00-7:00pm, Honors Center, College Hall

Here’s the description:

How have feminists across generations understood the relationship between personal transformation and political activism? What tensions and insights surface from the intersections of personal life and social change? What visions and projects do women share across generations? How is our understanding of the second and third waves of feminism evolving, and what is feminism’s future? Come join three generations of feminists in a discussion about the relationship between personal life and political activism during the last fifty years of the women’s movement!

The panel will feature writer Deborah Siegel, Ph.D., author of Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild (Palgrave Macmillan 2007). Siegel is at the forefront of reexamining the feminist movement and the ways in which younger women are reinventing feminism. [WOW! THAT’S SO NICE OF THEM TO SAY! -A HUMBLED GWP] Contrary to those who have proclaimed the women’s movement dead, or too divided between older and younger generations, Siegel has brought attention to the continuities that cross generational lines. In Sisterhood, Interrupted, Siegel examines how the relationship between individual change and collective action has emerged as a recurring theme for both the second and third waves of feminism. Siegel will be joined by Amy Kesselman, Professor of Women’s Studies at SUNY New Paltz, a historian of second-wave feminism, and one of the founders of the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960’s. Our third panelist, Elizabeth Gross, president of the SUNY New Paltz chapter of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, will join them in what we hope will be a lively discussion that brings together intellectual inquiry, personal reflection and intergenerational understanding.

A bizillion thanks to the hard-working and brilliant Heather Hewett for making this happen. I’m really excited–I write about Amy Kesselman in my book. It’s truly humbling to be on panels with these women, and I’m totally looking forward to meeting Elizabeth, and to the conversation.

Tonight at 6:30PM, the National Organization for Women-New York City Service Fund is hosting an evening of authors, activism, and feminism. Join a great group of women writers as they “discuss their unique contributions of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction work and the ways in which it inspires, mobilizes, and sparks debate on today’s pressing issues.” Featuring:

Felice Belle РPoet, Playwright, Former Curator and Host of the Friday Night Slam series at the Nuyorican Poets Caf̩, and author of poetry for the play History of the Word

Courtney Martin – Reporter, Professor on Gender Issues, and Author of
Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

Sofia Quintero – Screenwriter, Activist, and Author of Divas Don’t Yield

Hosted by Revolution Books
9 West 19th Street (btw. 5th & 6th)
Take the 4, 5,6, N, R,Q, W, to 14th Street Union Square
Or Take F to 14th Street and 6th Ave

Please RSVP 212.627.9895

Yep, I’m here. If you are too, please come by tonight: “Womengirlsladies: A Fresh Conversation Across Generations” will be on at 7:30 pm, Mount Pleasant, MI 989-774-4000. More info: Central Michigan University.

You know, I think my college roommate lived on a farm nearby, close to Lansing. I remember coming home with her one weekend and riding her family’s tractor. It was a true highlight of freshman year for this suburban/city girl. I know you don’t really ride a tractor, you drive it. But it sure felt like a ride to me.

While I’m on it, thought I’d post an updated list of where I’ll be giving workshops, too. Thanks, as always, for spreading word! And hope to see some of you there, soon!

As always, there a full listing available at:
http://www.deborahsiegel.net/events.htm

March 28-29 – Writing a Book Proposal That Sells
Women and Media (WAM!) Conference
Cambridge, MA
More info: http://www.centerfornewwords.org/wam/

April 7 – Breaking into Anthology Writing
MediaBistro
NYC
More info: http://www.mediabistro.com/courses/cache/crs3683.asp

April 13, 17 – Finding Your Subject, Finding Your Voice: A Seminar in Personal Nonfiction
Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership
NYC
More info: http://www.woodhull.org/classes/

April 25-26 – What You Should Know about Blogging and Why
Council on Contemporary Families Conference
University of IL, Chicago
More info: http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/

I’ve been really moved reading the comments and emails posted in response to Courtney and my oped (“Come Together? Yes We Can”) in The Washington Post yesterday–everything from “This primary fight is breaking my heart” to ” I am so glad to read what I have been thinking,” and even the occasional “WTF” and “dream on,” as it puts me in touch with the various perspectives out there and gives me a sense of what we (as in we Dems) are up against.

The same week our oped appeared, an essay by Jessica Valenti titled “The Sisterhood Split” appeared in The Nation, and Gloria Feldt responded over at Heartfeldt, “What’s That about a Sisterhood Split?” For more, see also an article by Jennifer Wells in The Globe and Mail, “Battle Lines Harden on the Gender Front”.

Clearly, there’s a hunger for discussion! Gloria, Courtney, Kristal Brent Zook, and I are taking the conversation on the road this month with what I’ve been tongue-in-cheek calling the intergenerational feminist roadshow (otherwise known as “WomenGirlsLadies: A FRESH Conversation Across Generations”*). There’s one event in there (March 14 @ Eastern Michigan University) where Courtney and I can’t make it, and we’re delighted and honored to have Hannah Seligson and Paula Kamen speaking in our stead.

I’m posting our March events below, along with talks I’m giving on Sisterhood Interrupted this month too. A thousand thanks for spreading word, and def come say hi if you’re there!

March 11 @ University of Missouri, Kansas City (Sisterhood, Interrupted)

March 14 @ Eastern Michigan University (WomenGirlsLadies)

March 17 @ Central Michigan University (WomenGirlsLadies)

March 18 @ Eastern Michigan University, Central Michigan University (WomenGirlsLadies)

March 26 @ Lafayette College, PA (Sisterhood, Interrupted)

March 27 @ New School (Feminist Generations/Feminist Locations with Ann Snitow, Meredith Tax, me, Cleopatra Lamothe, and Ercia Reade)

April 18 @ Harvard University (WomenGirlsLadies)

*WomenGirlsLadies will be booking throughout 2008. To book an engagement, please contact Taryn Kutujian at taryn.kutujian@gmail.com.

When Ann Snitow calls, I jump. And so, I of course said YES to participating on a panel at The New School in celebration of Women’s History Month. Ann is coeditor of The Feminist Memoir Project and a founder of New York Radical Feminists (circa 1969), the group that brought us the Miss America Protest that put women’s liberation on the map, and so much more. The panel, “Feminist Generations/Feminist Locations: The Continuing Vitality of Feminist Thought and Action,” will take on the state of feminism across generations. Joining me will be:

AI-JEN POO of Domestic Workers United
MEREDITH TAX of Women’s World
(a founder of Boston’s Bread & Roses – 1969)
ANN SNITOW of Eugene Lang College and New School
(a founder of New York Radical Feminists – 1969)
CLEOPATRA LAMOTHE of Women of Color Collective, Lang
ERICA READE of Moxie, Lang College Feminist Club

When and where, you ask?

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008
66 WEST 12TH ST., ROOM 407
6:30-8 PM

For more info, please contact Soraya Field Fiorio, fiors393@newschool.edu.