Viva la Feminista

Sorry, it's hard to write a coherent post when I'm not exactly sure where it's going. I did mean to address a few more points: * As I said in the last post, I admire Jackson's ability to put herself thru college. This compares to Hoffman whose grandfather once chaired Geico insurance. * I admit that the fact that if Cheryle fails to win this primary that means there won't be one African-American in the U.S. Senate...again...and that depresses me. * Word from the Jackson camp (after they read my post) is that Jackson and Blago weren't on speaking terms as she left his administration and that changed only when she got to the Urban League position. But one thing that I have been brewing and stewing on the last few weeks is that at the beginning of the race, the press set out three front runners: Jackson, Hoffman & Giannoulias. The two men swiftly went after Jackson for her Blago connections. Yes, it was an obvious angle to take. But honestly, I'm qu...

One reason why I like to bring my political decisions to this blog is that frankly a lot of people ask me my opinion in real life, so I figure some of you might be curious as well. I also like to solicit thoughts from my readers as well. Today is Friday, only four more days until election day. According to Tom Skilling , Tuesday looks to be sunny and not too cold. This is GREAT for turn out. But even if I can skip my way to my polling station, I still don't know who to vote for in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. According to a Chicago Tribune poll , it looks like I'm not the only undecided! So let's dive in: CANDIDATES: Robert Marshall : Opposes gun control and is frankly not a known entity. While I do root for the lil guy, I think Marshall is too little in this big race. Jacob Meister : I think he was the first candidate to follow me on Twitter, so he gets points for that. Really, if a candidate is smart enough to use social media in the campaign, hopeful...

I can't believe, ok maybe I can, that I forgot to post this recipe that I made a few months ago. My thoughts on it are YUM! What I learned from making my first risotto from scratch: When the recipe says to cut into small pieces, DO IT. I don't think the taste would had been as strong if I had cut the pumpkin pieces into smaller bits. I do this a lot when cooking, take shortcuts like the cutting. I learned my lesson! I also learned that my family does not like risotto. This recipe also produces A LOT of risotto. For my family of three, I should make a half recipe at most. Of course now I need to figure out what a single serving looks like. If you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out for you!

WOW...two days in a row of blogging original stuff for y'all? Imagine that! A few months ago I was telling Cinnamon that I wasn't the idea gal. I was the administrative gal. You get the idea, I'll make it work. Of course that totally jinxed me and in the middle of one of the most stressful times of my life. As you may know I work for a state institution and well, Illinois is second to only California for being in a fiscal crisis. As of now, I am personally not in any danger of losing my job, but I am responsible for bringing in money that will impact my colleague's jobs. If it was just me, I wouldn't be as stressed honestly. So I'm gearing up for a February that will be full of writing and data analysis. Hopefully I can get all the data I need! And of course this is when my mind would start to be creative, right? OK, honestly one idea has been percolating for almost a year now, but it kinda crystallized tonight. And another idea, well, I mentioned it to ...

As many of you know, I named my daughter after Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This wasn't in pure ignorance of Stanton's racist and classist argument for women getting the vote before Black men. It was rather in recognition of her igniting a movement that still lives today and brought us, women & men, so much. This spring she had to pick a topic for a research project. She picked three topics and her teacher chose Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This weekend we were filling out the information sheets that make up her project and reading through the two books she has on Stanton & suffrage when she asked the $64,000 question. "She wanted everyone to be equal right?" I've never had any thought of telling her about Stanton thru rose colored glasses. Far from it. I guess I didn't think she'd bring up the equality question. But I should have known better. Luckily one of the books she has is If You Lived When Women Won Their Rights by Anne Kamma. In it one of the...

This was originally posted at the AWEARNESS blog. Click on over, the only comment I've gotten is from someone calling me sexist. Thanks to all the Twitter love I got! Edited on Feb 1, 2010 to add: I'll be adding articles at the bottom on women-centered giving or relief efforts in Haiti.  When the earthquake hit Haiti last week I decided to direct my giving toward CARE , an organization that focuses its work on women. Some will question why I don't give right to the Red Cross , a very worthy organization. The honest answer is that I want to give my money to an organization who will put women and mothers as a priority. It's not a sexist statement, as much as a truth that reflects our gendered world. Women are the caregivers of not just their families, but also of their communities around the world. Women know who lived where , who needs help, and so much more vital information that relief organizations require. Add in the fact that with globalization of our economy...

This was originally posted at the AWEARNESS blog Do you remember the pregnancy pact story? A group of teen girls in one high school decided to get pregnant at the same time? I do. I also remember it turned out to be a myth, a hoax, a lie. That didn't deter Lifetime though. Just in time for Blog for Choice celebrations , Lifetime will premiere a movie "based on" the fictional events about the pregnancy pact. Lifetime responded to criticism by saying that the movie is about raising awareness about teen pregnancy. But how, really? Making a fictional movie about something that was a hoax to raise awareness about a real problem? What's next? A movie about Balloon Boy to raise awareness about Amber Alerts? That's not to diminish the cost and impact of teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy is a serious issue that requires serious solutions, including supporting teen parents with child care and access to further education. But by basing a movie ...

Despite all the candidates (R, D, G) confirming their attendance, only four showed up for a forum to discuss how their administration would address violence against women, girls and the LGBTQ community. The forum was cosponsored by Chicago Foundation for Women, Center on Halsted, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network, Loyola University Chicago and Rape Victim Advocates . Toni Preckwinkle, Dorothy Brown (arrived late), Tom Tresser, and Todd Stroger answered questions by the fabulous moderator Kimbriell Kelly (Editor, The Chicago Reporter ). I have to start out my post with major props to Kimbriell. As a journalist, she exhibited what one should expect from the fourth estate - she knew her topic and pressed the candidates for real answers. And believe me, that was tough to do. Due to life, I ended up taking the kid with me to the forum. About half way thru she left with her dad to grab some food and focus on her homework. When...

You know that have been trying to be a better marketing person, meaning that I'm not going to allow my blog, twitter or other space to be used to shill for any old product. When I realized I was coming up on my 15,000th tweet (yeah, I tweet a lot) I was hurting to come up with a good giveaway to celebrate. For you my dear readers and followers, simply leave a comment here and I'll randomly choose one person to receive a Steaz gift pack . EXTENDED>> Deadline is 11:59 PM, Saturday, January 16th.  What's Steaz? I didn't know either until Wednesday night when I attended a blogger PR dinner event hosted by Kim. There's a long description of what the company does and why, but bottomline they make soft drinks, ice teas and energy drinks. BUT they are certified organic. AND vegan. Vegan? How can a drink be vegan? At least compared to big name soda companies? It's the sugar. Regular old sugar is processed with charcoal and it's most likely bone char . Y...

This was originally posted at Girl w/Pen Do you ever think, “Duh!?” when you read a news story about how fattening movie popcorn or fast food is for us? I get that same feeling when I read that yet another research study has been published proving that girls and boys are equally good at math. How much more proof do we need? Professor Marcia Linn’s paper focuses in on why there are differences in girls confidence around the world. The answer? Social expectations. [PDF link] A society’s gendered division of labor fosters the development of gender differences in behavior by affording different restrictions and opportunities to males and females on the basis of their social roles….if the cultural roles that women fulfill do not include math, girls may face both structural obstacles (e.g., formal access to education is limited to boys) and social obstacles (e.g., stereotypes that math is a male domain) that impede their mathematical development. Many people like to believe that we...

Instead of any real posting, I'm pushing you over to two other sites today:  Over at AWEARNESS you can find my contribution to today's Not Under the Bus Day of Action. This month's contribution to Chicagonista is a post about the upcoming primary. Yes, I'm a political junkie. Don't act like you're surprised! OK, on with our busy lives. Peace.

The Shortys are back! This year a few of us feministas are looking to storm the stage at the awards ceremony. And here's our strategy: 1) Vote up feminist tweeters in official categories such as: * http://shortyawards.com/addiestan * http://shortyawards.com/rhrealitycheck * http://shortyawards.com/RDispatches If they are listed in more than one category, I think you can figure out which is "best" for them or which category they would most likely win. So go! go! go! The official rules state: You can vote in any of the Official Categories or make up a category of your own. If a new category becomes popular, it might be turned into an Official Category with an award presented at the ceremony in March. And that's what we're doing....we're starting a feminism category. 2) Nominate your favorite feminist tweeter! Yes, I'm nominated and as of the this writing in the lead. But this isn't about me. It's about getting all our fabu femini...

(Looking for Nov 2010 election info?) Thanks to Lynn Sweet for alerting us of eVote and a nifty place for all of Illinois to get a sample ballot . Simply put your address, city & zip in to grab a list of all the names that you will get to choose from on election day. And the really kewl this is that once you get to your sample ballot you can ask it to note which candidates are endorsed by Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, Personal PAC, Illinois Federal of Teachers, Illinois Right to Life, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Federation of Labor. AND...double check your polling place address. After 5 years of voting in the same place, I gotta figure out where my poll moved. Nice move politicos...nice move. You can also go to Chicagoelections.com to get all the info you need, but not endorsements.

Following up on my post about election season kicking off in Chicago , I want to talk about the County Board President election. Long time readers know that I'm not a fan of current President Stroger . Not only do I think he doesn't have the chops for the job, but the lying that the party/machine and his family did to get Todd into that office will never be forgotten. That's a sentiment I hear from others in Cook County. So this election to select a replacement has almost been counted down like New Year's Eve or the release of the latest tech gadget. Cook County is eager to replace him. But will we? The primary is a crowded field, but it seems that Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle is the front runner to rid us of Todd. It seems that Da Mayor is backdoor endorsing her too. I try not to listen to polls, but rather who is getting press, endorsements and buzz. I'm not calling her President yet, Todd still has a machine, even a weak one behind him. Last month polls ...

Andrea O'Reilly, general editor of the first ever encyclopedia on motherhood is in need of a replacement entry for the topic "music and mothers." The entry is needed by February 1, 2010 and is to be 2500 words including a work cited of approx 5 titles. The entry is to provide an overview of the topic historically but most of the entry should focus on the following: motherhood as a topic/theme in various musical genres of the 20th/21st centuries; rock, blues, jazz, hip hop, country etc; contemporary popular mother musicians such as Courtney Love, Britney Spears, Dixie Chicks etc. (their music, how treated/perceived in the industry); the contemporary motherhood rock movement with special attention to Mamapalooza. The encyclopedia is being published by Sage Press and will out in April 2010. Please email aoreilly@yorku.ca directly asap.

Just as we are taking down our holiday decorations, recycling our trees and preparing to send our kids back to school, a new season is breaking - Election season! Thanks to state politico leaders taking advantage of Obama-mania, the primary falls on February 2nd. It's apparently a date chosen not so much to put Obama over the top two years ago, but to reduce voter turn out by asking people to come out on one of the coldest and winteriest day of the year. ""It is the bitterest, coldest, iciest day of the year to discourage people from voting," [Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool] said, calling Illinois' voting system "rigged." The election that matters most, he said, happens in the primary season, not November." Normally not a lot is at stake during the primaries since there has been little competition for seats in the Chicago area. But there are a few races that are worth noting: * Jesus "Chuy" Garcia trying to " evic...