events

Many democracies–the United Kingdom, Argentina, India, Israel, the Philippines, Pakistan, Liberia, France, and Jamaica, to name a few–have or have had women heads of state, and other countries–oh, like Peru and Bolivia–have elected presidents who are members of racial minority groups. Not so much here in the US of A, which is why, of course, it is rightly Such a Friggin Huge Deal. And the scholars are rightly getting busy.

On September 26-27, 2008, the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development at St. John’s University School of Law will hold a symposium entitled Making History: Race, Gender and the Media in the 2008 Elections at their Queens campus to explore it all. They’re inviting proposals from scholars from all relevant disciplines (law, media, political science, gender studies, race studies, ethnic studies, sociology, economics, history) and activists engaged in “developing concepts, analyses, methods, or data relevant to race, gender, media and elections.” Any takers? The deadline for submissions is March 14, 2008. More info available here.

Quick–pass it on!

Susan Bee and Mira Schor, along with Emma Bee Bernstein (Susan’s daughter!), Carolee Schneemann, and Brynna Tucker will be on a March 30th Panel, 3:00 – 5:00 PM: “Beyond the Waves; Feminist Artists Talk Across Generations” at The Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. It’s free & open to the public (with museum entry fee).

Emma (pictured left) is the twentysomething photographer who has teamed up with Nona Willis-Aronowitz (pictured right) for GIRLDrive, a project which is SO worth checking out if you don’t know about it already.

From my dear friends over at the National Council for Research on Women comes this (cool graphic, ladies over there!):

Join Kimberle Crenshaw, Kim Gandy, Chandra Mohanty, Ellie Smeal and other leading scholars, researchers, advocates, and policy makers from across various disciplines and fields June 5-7, 2008 at the Kimmel Center at NYU for our Annual Conference. Share information and resources; learn about cutting edge and emerging research on women, gender, and girls; and strategize about ways to work across communities and fields of study.

This year’s conference themes will center around where women can have the most impact in the 2008 Presidential election and beyond, including research and policy issues that will need to be addressed with a new administration; challenges women in the academy confront—backlash, shrinking budgets, corporatization, conservative social pressures—and what can be done to counter them; and the implications of the intersections of race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, generation and other markers of difference for feminist scholarship, leadership, and activism, nationally and globally.

Early registration starts now. For more info, contact ncrw@ncrw.org

If anywhere near Central Michigan University, here’s where to catch us on March 17 and 18! For more information, e-mail Jill Taft Kaufman at taftk1j@cmich.edu.

Personally, I think we should have Girls Write Now Month! But I’ll settle for a day.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, GWN is hosting several fantastic readings and, in collaboration with SIC (Smart Is Cool) Movement, a fashion show, all at the New School next Saturday, March 8 (5-7pm). It’s a day to encourage girls of all ages everywhere in the world to put pen to paper and explore the beauty and power of their unique, creative voices. And it’s a day to celebrate girls, girl writers, and overall girl awesomeness.

For more information, please contact nikki@girlswritenow.org.

I recently learned about this new(ish) NYC feminist network called Paradigm Shift. They do meet-ups, open mics, and more. And they’re throwing a party to celebrate women here in NYC on March 1 from 6:30pm to 3:00am (with a drumming circle at 5:30pm) at Cattyshack Brooklyn. For more info about the event and the org, check out the website.

It’s almost March, and to kick off Women’s History Month, this Saturday at 2pm I’ll be doing a fireside chat at the Alice Paul Institute in Mount Laurel, NJ. If in the South Jersey area, please stop by!

The Institute is housed at Paulsdale, Alice Paul’s birthplace and family home – a remarkable place. There will be hot chocolate 🙂

More info, and to register, click here.

‘Vagina Monologues’ playwright Eve Ensler is planning a star-studded V-Day 10th anniversary performance in New Orleans (“the Big V-easy”) in April. I recently had the chance to meet Eve’s amazing young assistant (loved her!) and just wanted to publicly thank her for the amazing work she’s doing getting the word out about V to the Tenth. It’s the V-Day event of the decade!

More deets:

Join Salma Hayek, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Hudson, Glenn Close, Julia Stiles, Ali Larter, Sally Field, Marisa Tomei, Calpernia Addams, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, and musicians Common, Eve, and Charmaine Neville on Friday and Saturday, April 11 – 12, 2008 for V-Day’s mega two-day anniversary celebration in New Orleans at the New Orleans Arena and Louisiana Superdome – V TO THE TENTH. And to learn about the Katrina Warriors Network, click here.

After all that Valentine’s Day posting yesterday, thought I’d share some red of a different sort today.

On Feb. 28, six of the amazing teen women from the collection Red: The Next Generation of American Writers—Teenage Girls—on What Fires Up Their Lives Today will be at the Tenement Museum Shop here in NYC. Many of these girls, daughters of immigrants and daughters of New York, will read from their published work and be introduced by their editor, Amy Goldwasser. I heard the girls read at the book’s launch party a few months ago, and agree that they are strikingly honest documentarians of their own lives. And, as the event description notes, “they believe they can effect change, stop cutting themselves, stop global warming, stand up to bullies and racists, be president. They are the best shades of red (not pink), a little bit angry, a lot passionate, fired up, primary-color invested in their causes.”

Thursday, February 28, 6:30 PM
Tenement Museum Shop
108 Orchard Street at Delancey
212-982-8420; events@tenement.org

Free!

Folks have been asking where I’ll be speaking next, so I thought I’d post some places and dates for coming months. Thanks so much for spreading word to any friends in these places. And if you live there, I hope you’ll come out and say hi!

Feb 12 – Catalyst, NYC (Sisterhood, Interrupted)
March 1 – Alice Paul Institute, New Jersey (Sisterhood, Interrupted)
March 11 – University of Missouri, Kansas City (Sisterhood, Interrupted)
March 17-18 – Central Michigan University (Intergenerational Feminist Panel)
March 26 – Lafayette College, PA (Sisterhood, Interrupted)
March 28-29 – WAM! Conference 2008, MIT (Writing a Book Proposal That Sells)
April 18 – Harvard University (Intergenerational Feminist Panel)
April 25-26 – Council on Contemporary Families Conference, University of IL, Chicago (What You Should Know about Blogging and Why)

To book me, please contact Taryn Kutujian at taryn.kutujian@gmail.com or Speaking Matters at info@speakingmatters.org.