Viva la Feminista

Ah, Blogher fumes still rumbling thru my veins... So Florinda mentions TWICE my most embarrassing moment of Blogher. She asked me for an autograph on the Ms. magazine that I just handed her. I laughed and saw she was dead serious. It was extra funny because my husband had just been teasing me the day before about "When is your signing at Women & Children First?" But Florinda was serious and since I love her so, I took her pen, my pen?, and signed my name under my photo. I meant to write a peace symbol and then my name. But it came out as [Peace sign], [heart] and feminism. Then came my favorite sluts ...I gave them a copy of the magazine before the panel started. After I composed myself from signing Florinda's copy, one of them asked me to autograph their copy with a fushia Sharpie. More nervous chuckling. By now my dear readers, you should know that while I'm excited about all the stuff I do, I am also a horrible promoter. I'm currently fundraising to hire Ci...

August 4, 2009, a parental notice for minors to obtain an abortion is scheduled to go into effect. I am posting a summary of the law on this blog for any minor who might be reading. If you have questions about this law, please contact the ACLU Illinois : A. Notice Requirement · The statute requires that an abortion provider in Illinois seeking to perform an abortion for a “minor” must give “at least 48 hours actual notice to an adult family member of the pregnant minor.” · A “minor” is defined as a person (1) under the age of 18, (2) who has never been married, and (3) has not been legally emancipated under the Emancipation of Minors Act. · The statute applies in the context of both medical and surgical abortions. · “Adult family member” is defined as “a person over 21 years of age who is the parent, grandparent, step-parent living in the household, or legal guardian” of the pregnant teen. · “Actual notice” is defined as “giving of notice direc...

I attended the NCLR session, "Serving, Leading and Inspiring: Latinas in Elected and Appointed Office" which was great. So many amazing stories! I'll write them up later on. But afterwards I was able to grab my former State Sentor Iris Martinez (disclosure: I have donated to her campaign), State Representative Susana Mendoza and Elmy Bermejo, Chair of the board of HOPE , for a few minutes on social media. It was a case study in how different we see social media and who is using it. For Senator Martinez, she does not have a dedicated press person to help manage any social media outreach. Senators share press people, so one press person could be handling 4-5 or even 10 state senators. This doesn't seem to lead to having the time or energy to handle any substantive social media presence. I've talked with friends over the last few years and most of us are frustrated that elected officials aren't using the Internet to it's fullest extent. Martinez is committe...

and I'm pooped! But as is par for the course, life's roller coaster keeps chugging up that hill. I was lucky enough to get a small number of Ms. magazine copies to pass out at Blogher and I've already gotten word that some stores are selling it despite an August 4th news stand date. This means that I need to brace myself for a small uptick in traffic. I have to laugh at this because I spoke this morning at the National Council for La Raza (ya know, Sotomayor's racist organization !) on social media and one of the last questions was about rankings. I told the man (damn, what was his blog again? This is what happens when I'm on stage without a pen!) that I gave up on my stats and rankings a long time ago. I gave up because I know I'm listed on some pretty big blogs exclusive blogrolls. I know that I go to places like La Raza & Blogher and get "I love your blog!" comments from people who I have no idea who they are. Thus, stats can suck it. Feedburne...

You might have clicked on that link in your latest Blogher Attendee newsletter and found yourself here. First let me say thanks for clicking! Or oops, you clicked, but stay a moment. Next, come say hi to me at the " Leadership: What is "Pro-Woman" in a Post-Palin World? " panel on Friday! It's at 2:45 pm. So take your break before me. I'm sure it's gonna be a fab conversation. Lastly, don't forget why my link was even in the Blogher newsletter - BlogHer SOS! BlogHer 's Rock! That is all we have to say. Okay maybe we have a little more to say... Thanks to the fabulous idea from Veronica and Kim we will be hosting " BlogHer SOS - Save our Soap". This means we will be gathering unused amenities at the registration desk to be donated to Deborah's Place in Chicago. The pickup is on Saturday so if you want to donate, do it before Saturday. Also, the Hotel does donate used amenities to a local shelter, so nothing will go to wast...

Forty years ago today two men fulfilled a fallen leader's challenge and landed on the moon. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with NASA and astronauts. One year I spent the entire summer studying for the Air Force Academy's entrance exam because I thought the best way to be an astronaut was to be a pilot. The only thing that I didn't learn was that years before Sally Ride was shot into space, thirteen women were willing, ready and able to do the same. In Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream , Tanya Lee Stone , takes us back to a time before Title IX, before women in science programs, before the second wave of feminism, when it was all too easy for the US Government, NASA and a Vice-President to simply say no to women dreaming of floating among the stars. The discrimination against these 13 women was atrocious. Every single test that was set up, these women passed with flying colors, yet NASA still said no to them. Many of the men of Mercury and Apollo missions test...

Sonia Sotomayor said she was an affirmative action baby. I was too, as was my husband. But what does that mean for my daughter? Affirmative action was crafted to give those of us without privilege a bit of a leg up for opportunities. It should be a way for employers and admission committees to be made to look at my application carefully instead of dismissing it outright if my scores are a bit lower than others. It's not because I would had been a poorer student, but it's fairly well documented that standardized tests are biased against women and people of color. Of course things are better today because the tests have responded to the constructive criticism. But as I listened to the hearings this past week and the praise that Sotomayor received for her struggle left me wondering where the babies of affirmative action babies stand. My husband and I have three degrees, we have jobs that pay us more than the median household gets and we have a good network. When I was a kid and...

Take a look at that cover! Yes indeed, some of us mamas are blogging, tweeting & rising to the occasion. Inside the upcoming issue of Ms. (hitting news stands August 4th) is a featured article by Kara Jesella on mom blogs! The article features quotes from PunditMom , Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner of Moms Rising and me. I'm excited and scared to hear the feedback from everyone, especially after the last time I stuck my head out on feminism & motherhood. As I am sure that people will end up here at this blog after the issue is read, I am going to be more diligent in posting here when I post elsewhere. Yes, this blog has evolved more and more into a portal of sorts, pointing you to other places where I write and dole out my two cents on life. In that vein, I present you this week's edition of where I've been: Over at the Bitch magazine blog: Featured Mom Blog: Hijas Americanas Book Review: The Daddy Shift Debbie Rowe: The portrait of motherly love or greed? Feminism and...

First and foremost, I was not asked by Palm to write this review. I'm doing it as a good-will gesture to everyone considering the switch to a Palm Pre. Now on to the review: I have owned a Palm product since 2001. The Pre is my 3rd device. I scoffed at the Blackberry and iPhone pressure knowing that my Palm product was doing its job just fine thank you. Thus I moved from a Palm Treo to the Palm Pre. AND THIS IS WHERE MY HEAD EXPLODED! Date storage: All your data is stored virtually. There is no desktop software, as with the Treo and previous Palm devices. And this is where I got tripped up. The nice guy who sold me my Pre told me to open up a Palm Profile. This would allow me to have a back up of my data and if my Pre was ever stolen, I could go in and hit delete and all the data on the device would go BLAMMO. Gone. Cool. BUT... He nor any of the Palm material I read said that once you did this, it would NOT sync with Google Calendar. I did discover that the handbook does say onc...