writing life

Maythee Rojas is a teacher, critic, and writer.  Author of the new book Women of Color and Feminism (Seal Press), she is currently an associate professor in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at California State University, Long Beach.   The book is a fascinating overview of feminist history and the construction of identity politics within feminist movements, with a diverse representation of notable icons, which includes not only Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash and Saartjie Baartman, but Tracy Chapman and Laura Aguilar as well.  It’s a smart, page-turning read that offers numerous examples to illustrate powerful points.  The book easily belongs in the hands of the many online feminists today who are in search of a book to start the critical journey of self-education on the connections between race, class, sexuality and gender.

Over phone and email, I recently spoke with Maythee Rojas about intersectionality, resisting multiple oppressions within feminist movements, and the hopes for her new book in addressing important issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality in feminism(s) today:

Allison McCarthy:  What led you to working on a book focused on women of color and feminism?

Maythee Rojas: I have been teaching a course on the subject for the last nine years and the literature and theory by women of color is something I have studied closely as a scholar. However, when I set out to write this book, I wanted to avoid writing something that could be construed as the authoritative book on women of color.  There’s no such thing, nor should there be. I respect Seal for taking something academic and making a commitment to developing it as part of a mainstream series. It helps create bridges with the academic world and find new audiences beyond the Ivory Tower.  My hope is that this book will lead other presses – mainstream and academic — to publish more works on women of color.

AM:  In what ways did your academic research on Chicana/o and Latina/o literature contribute to your literary vision for Women of Color and Feminism?
MR: In the book, I consciously attempt to focus on multiple groups and communities. Learning about Chicana/o and Latina/o culture has never been in isolation for me.  In fact, if you look at the history, experiences, and creative expressions of Chicana/os and Latina/os, you’ll find that other communities of color have often influenced them.  There’s a lot of overlap in terms of the messages relayed and socio-political issues addressed.  As a scholar, I have the same approach: having a specialization in Chicana/o and Latina/o literature requires me to think about other groups in an intersectional manner.

AM:  Why do you see the theory of intersectionality as critical for all feminists when addressing issues raised by women of color?
MR: Intersectionality applies to everyone, period.  We all have multiple facets of identity.  However, intersectionality is often applied only to those who do not fit mainstream categories of identity. Much of it has to do with people’s lack of deep introspection; or, whether they are willing to think about their positions of privilege on a daily basis and the effect of their actions upon others.  It’s a journey of integrity and honesty that’s a part of self-actualization in our lives.  If feminism is truly going to produce the result of equality for women and opportunities in a less biased society, we have to think about how women from different communities can reach that success.  We’re not all on the same level in any place.  What factors and what privileges stand in the way?  It’s really about working collectively.  It requires reflecting on people around you: their lives, opportunities, limitations.  If you’re working in a social justice movement or a place of transformation, you have to take those factors into account or it’s going to be a flawed attempt.  It does require those things.

AM:  How have women of color, outside of global feminist movements, contributed to a greater public understanding of gender, race, class, and sexuality?
MR: I think it’s through daily actions.  The interactions of everyday life are bound to challenge us.  So often, we have perceptions of others based on media, politics, and education.  However, when we encounter people who embody particular markers of race and class and sexuality and we interact with them, those markers fall away to flesh and bone individuals.  I also think our interactions with non-academics – our families and friends– teach us as much about culture as they do about them.  It’s more about what we are willing to open ourselves up to.  Does what we what learn about others connect with what we assumed about their background, sexuality, culture?  To more specifically answer your question, I believe women of color contribute to life through their daily interactions in public spaces, through the ways they raise their families, through the challenges they make to a system, a classroom, a workplace, etc.  For creatively minded individuals, it’s also through their cultural production (art, film, music, etc) and how they shape these expressions to share with other people.  I think a lot of people aren’t actually part of organized social movements, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t part of social change.

AM:  Have the feminist movements of past and present failed to address the needs and lives of women of color?
MR: I don’t think they’ve outright failed.  If I believed that, I would have to rethink why I am in Women’s Studies.  Have they had their shortcomings?  Yeah.  But that’s part of understanding that we haven’t accomplished all the goals of feminism and there’s a lot left to do.  I think it’s important that we’re critical of these shortcomings and that we register our disappointments.  We can use that as a preventive measure.  The book is rather critical at times of past movements, but I don’t think it argues that they haven’t worked at all. The people who have been responsible for writing about feminism and promoting feminism have been remiss in their inclusion of women of color and that’s important to take into account.  How willing are feminists to really self-interrogate, to really consider what they’ve gained at the expense of others, what hasn’t been achieved in the ongoing project of feminism?  For us to stay abreast of what hasn’t worked, what hasn’t been done, and whose voices are missing keeps us alive and moving forward toward an ideal.  Even if it’s not achieved in our lifetime, it shouldn’t be something we stop striving for.

AM:  Who did you envision as the audience for this book?  Have any of the responses to the book thus far surprised you?
MR: I kind of thought about it in two ways.  One of the audiences it’s geared towards is obviously college students, both graduate and undergraduate, and I think you can hear that in the classroom descriptions I use.  I was also encouraged to learn that it would be available in independent and mainstream bookstores, so that anyone could find her/his way to the book.  You might think that a book on women of color is only for women of color.  I can’t stop anyone from thinking that, but I hope that for anyone who reads past the first few lines, the reader will see that it’s for anyone who is interested in knowing themselves better and knowing more about the world around them.

AM: What projects are you currently working on?
MR: I have three projects that I’d like to see happen.  First, I want to finish my book, Following the Flesh: Embodied Transgressions in Chicana Literature, which looks at literary characters who are cast as “bad” women (mistresses, murderers, lesbians) and are maligned by society, and help us rethink what “bad” means. Examining these issues within both US and Latin American contexts, the book addresses crossing not only social borders, but also physical ones.  The next project I would like to pursue is a cultural history of Latinos and dogs. Drawn by my own passion for animals, I’m really interested in looking at how dogs show up in Latino culture.  Living in L.A. with a large Latino population and a dog-friendly attitude, there have been several race and class bias in the city’s laws that have been passed and I wanted to address those biases. I’m also interested in immigration issues in terms of how they relate to cultural shifts about pets as immigrants become more assimilated to the US.  A third project, which is much farther down the line, is a cultural history on feminism in Costa Rica.  My grandmother is nearing her 104th birthday and I would like to parallel her personal experiences as a woman (she has lived a very nontraditional life) with the development of women’s lives and issues in Costa Rica over the past century.  I imagine describing the historical and social changes of my family’s country vis-à-vis my grandmother’s own life.

As I slowly reenter the world–Anya and Teo are 6 weeks old!–I can’t think of a better place to start than She Writes’ webinar tomorrow, “Time Management for Mother Writers” with Change Agent extraordinaire (and mother of two) Rebecca Rodskog. It’s not too late to register.  It’s at 1-2 pm Eastern Standard Time, via conference call and web.  Join us! And if you can’t, you can always order the download after the event. And also do check out the Mother Writers group at She Writes too–for “moms who write with spunk and sass.”

Not sure I’ve got spunk/sass yet since I’m a little, how do you say, sleep deprived, but I do have a post up over at the She Writes blog called : “Finding Mother Writer” which excerpts a GWP post of course.

Here’s to all you mother writers out there who have been doing it for some time.  You inspire the heck out of me over here!

Below is a message from She Writes founder Kamy Wicoff.  Please pass it on!

Dear friends and colleagues,

Last week, Publisher’s Weekly came out with its first-ever Best Books of 2009 list, and its Top Ten Books of the year included zero books written by women. Yes, ZERO. PW‘s explanation for the omission was outrageous, insulting, and smug: “We ignored gender and genre and who had the buzz. We gave fair chance to the ‘big’ books of the year, but made them stand on their own two feet. It disturbed us when we were done that our list was all male.”  As if PW‘s Top Ten Books List were an immutable truth handed down by God. (Sorry, girls!) As if women writers and writers of color, who, with one exception, also failed to make the cut, can’t “stand on their own two feet.”

Some of you have already heard from me on this subject. If you are a member of the network I recently founded, shewrites.com–an online community of 5,000+ women writers, established and aspiring alike, from all fifty states and more than thirty countries–you have received an email describing the She Writes Day of Action planned in response to PW‘s list. And if you are receiving this email, you are part of my personal network, and I am writing to ask that you take part in Friday’s action.

The PW list, while just plain silly, is also indicative of a larger, more insidious attitude toward women who write and the stories they tell (“small,” “unambitious,” “personal”). And to my mind, the extreme stupidity of this list presents an excellent opportunity to question the assumption that men’s work is important, and women’s work is, well, women’s work.

I thought of creating an alternative She Writes Top Ten Books of 2009 List, but decided I‘d rather honor the efforts of our community than create another inevitably flawed list. So I am asking all of our members to do three things on She Writes by Friday, November 13th:

1) Buy a book published by a woman in 2009, and tell She Writes about it.  If you published a book in 2009, send me a line and we will highlight it on She Writes’ book cover banner.  (Please join the network first.)

2) Post a blog on She Writes in response to PW‘s article–share your favorite books of 2009, or use this opportunity to sound off more generally.

3) Invite five fellow women writers to add to our numbers, and our power, at She Writes.

Many of you have the stature, the eloquence, and the platforms to call attention to this action in a way that will make all the difference to its success. A post on She Writes can be as short as a shout-out for a favorite book of 2009, or as simple as reposting something you have already written on this subject (Katha Pollitt, Elaine Showalter, Francine Prose, and Laura Miller all come immediately to mind). My hope is to spur book sales and lively discussion. If you have any questions or want any assistance in joining the site or posting a blog, please don’t hesitate to write to me at kamy@shewrites.com.

Kamy

We have a chance for Girl-with-Pen’s Courtney Martin to be the Washington Post’s “Next Great American Pundit.” In her own words,

I may not have a Nobel Prize, but I did manage to work the phrase “inaugural orgy” into my column.

So, check out Courtney’s website, and then cast your vote online at the Washington Post now through Mon. at 3 p.m.

Just a quick shout out to a number of authors with FANTABULOUS feminist books out this fall.  Congrats, admiration, and heartfelt kudos to:

1. GWP’s very own Elline Lipkin, who penned Girls’ Studies, hot off the presses from Seal; it’s the latest in the Seal Studies series (which includes Shira Tarrant’s most excellent Men and Feminism of course too!) and gets the thumbs up from Peggy Orenstein who says “If I were to recommend one book to students of the field, Girls Studies would be it.”

2. Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow Linda Tarr-Whelan, whose book Women Lead the Way: Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World offers practical steps for women to bring their passions, brains, and background to the power tables and make life better for themselves, their companies/organizations, and the world.  We’ve still got a ways to go.

3. Clarie Mysko, formerly of Girls Inc, whose book Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat?: The Essential Guide to Loving Your Body Before and After Baby and whose body activism could not have come at a better time for this soon-to-be mama over here.

4. Jacquette Timmons, a compadre of mine from Woodhull, whose inaugural book Financial Intimacy: How to Create a Healthy Relationship with Your Money and Your Mate smartly addresses the financial issues that couples face, examining how family background, personal choices, and socioeconomic and cultural influences affect the way women merge love and money.

…and lastly, a book long-awaited, the publication of which is now poignantly bittersweet…

5. Nona Willis-Aronowitz and the late (and much missed) Emma Bee Bernstein, whose Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism. It’s a road trip, a blog, a book, and, quite frankly, an inspiration. You can join the community by visiting: http://www.girl-drive.com/community/.  Watch the trailer here.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting these amazing writers by buying, reading, and spreading word about their new and important work!

Writers these days–especially those of us writing for progressive outlets for little pay–need multiple revenue streams. Here’s a little plug for a 1-hour webinar being offered through SheWrites by the very woman who taught me everything I know about being a writing coach/consultant myself, the one and only Shari Cohen:

Become a Writing Coach/Consultant

The first in a series on recession-proofing your career as a writer, this webinar will help you navigate the future as a writer in these economically uncertain times. Perhaps you are already trying to make the transition from staff writer or freelancer to something that offers you more financial security, and wondering how you can expand your impact and your financial security at the same time. How can you continue to do the work you love in a new environment, one in which so many of the rules have changed? In this workshop you’ll begin to learn tools and tricks for developing yourself as a writing coach and consultant. This webinar will include some self-assessment to discover your niche, and reframing and expanding your own thinking and professional identity as you serve more and different clients. Subsequent webinars in this series will focus on the business side, market testing to discover the needs of your prospective clients, and practical tools for working as a writing coach.

To register, click here

What exactly is writing coaching you ask?  For a Q&A with Shari, click here.

This here post comes straight from dear friend of GWP and mine, and fellow writer, Daphne Uviller — who I’ve been writing about of late, here and here! –Deborah

I visited Debbie the other day to try to help her nest a bit, and she gave me two books, one of which was Ayelet Waldman’s Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace, which she said was a little too much for her (meaning Debbie) at this point.  I agree — it’s not a book that should be read while pregnant, but later, while struggling with what it means to be a good mother or even, as I often do, how to get back to even wanting to be a good mother.

I read the whole book in one sitting and while I disliked a few parts, I admire Waldman for her honesty — I consider myself a very honest writer, but she goes where I hadn’t dared — and her talent and her insight.

Here’s what I took away from it:

1) Men MUST be equal partners, not just pay lip service. Okay, that’s old news, but never bad to be reminded.
2) Men do not worry about being good or bad fathers, they just are what they are. We should follow their example. This is wrapped up in the whole idea of observing, of living in the moment rather than judging and worrying. More old news, but still, good to hear.
3) I’m glad I don’t live in Berkeley.
4) I kind of wished I lived in Berkeley.
5) Part-time work that you love is the answer to the work/life balance conundrum. (She doesn’t state this explicitly, but confirms what I already figured out.  We writers, money permitting, have it made.)
6) I think I’d like to try going on Celexa.

And the chapter on her abortion between her second and third child (she has four) made me weep. It is powerful, powerful stuff.

-Daphne Uviller

Linda Lowen, About.com’s Women’s Issues blogger, wrote a fabulous write-up of SHE WRITES on Friday and I just wanted to share.

SHE WRITES: The Site for Women Writers

(Thank you Linda! You are the best!)

I’ve been so busy during this pregnancy either a) puking or b) helping start a social networking site and company that I haven’t found time to write much–or even journal about–the bizarro incredible experience that is pregnancy itself.

Part of me has feared that “pregnant women are smug”, and pregnant women writing about pregnancy are the smuggest of them all.  In other words, to say anything in public is to risk falling in with the sanctimonious mommy crowd. Perhaps this fear has something to do with the fact that one of the only times I pregnancy blogged these past few months, over at Recessionwire, I got flamed. (Thin skin anyone?  I blame the hormones. Thankfully, the editors took the really nasty ones down.)  Of course, it probably didn’t help that I gave that post a sanctimonious title, “The Fortune Within”, though in my defense, I used that title because I had wanted to contrast the way I felt about this much-tried-for pregnancy with the major theme I’d been writing about over there–love in the time of layoff, my lack of fortune without.  But apparently some commentors felt that any woman who writes about pregnancy is, well, smug.

So here I am trying again, after recent promptings from friends, therapists, and even my business partner.  Why not write about pregnancy, these people ask me, when it’s so foremost on your mind?

Whenever I try to kick myself into writing gear, I start reading again.  I realized the only two pregnancy/motherhood-related books I’d read during this pregnancy so far had clinical titles like The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy, and Twins!: Pregnancy, Birth, and the First Year of Life.  The first had been given to me by my husband, the second by my husband’s mother.  When I gave myself permission to go one step deeper, I had reached for Amy Tiemann’s Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family and Amy Richards’ Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself. These books helped me feel it was possible to have a kid (two, in my case) and still have a professional life.  (THANK YOU, brilliant Amys!)  But they didn’t inspire me to write about what I was going through myself.

So the other week, I turned to memoir.  Thanks to the “Motherhood Books” group that Jennifer Niesslein formed over at SHE WRITES, I remembered I’d always wanted to read Anne Lamott’s Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year, when the time came.  That time, apparently, is now.  Anne Lamott is so quirky, so brutally and painfully honest about the horrible things as well as the beauty, that I got inspired.  She’s the opposite of smug.  And she makes it seem ok to want to tell the truth–which for me, has not been all shiny and baby blue and powder pink.  For me, the truth of twin pregnancy at age 40 has so far been about trying to balance physical ailments of striking (yet normal, apparently) proportions with an intense struggle to slow my life down enough to make room for an impending reality for which I feel massively ill-prepared.

And so here I sit, at 5:00am with pregnancy insomnia, tiny miracles kicking around inside me, writing about writing about pregnancy.  I don’t think I’m quite writing about it yet, but hey, it’s a start.

(Does this picture make me look smug?!)

The answers (or at least, the beginnings), right here.

SHE WRITES is offering our first webinar — on this very subject — on August 13, 1-2pm ET, which will also be available as a download after the live event. Details on how to register posted over there soon!