Viva la Feminista

Today we welcome the Autumn Equinox and that of course means the end of Summer of Feminista . I want to thank all the fabulous Latinas who took the time to contribute to the project! I know we are all busy mujeres and the fact that you took time means so much to me. People often ask me to summarize what Summer of Feminista means. This summer I asked Latinas to give their opinion about Latinas being public intellectuals. Some mentioned well-known Latinas like Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor as proof that there are Latinas who are sharing their opinions with the world at large. But if I had to summarize the whole conversation we had here, it would be with this quote from Mala : While we all wait for one leader to be baptized, one thought queen to be crowned, there are many unsung members across communities reclaiming and redefining Latin@ experiences across the diaspora. Many of the Latinas who contributed firmly stated that they are not going to wait for ONE Latina to be THE pu...

this Wednesday night because I'll be on Feminist Magazine! Feminist Magazine is the weekly Southern California radio show with feminist perspectives. Listen in on Wednesday 7-8pm PST (9 pm Chicago time) If you are in the area, you can turn to 90.7 FM Los Angeles 98.7 FM, Santa Barbara, 99.5 FM Ridgecrest/China Lake & 93.7 FM San Diego. Otherwise, listen live at KPFK.org

or a school in your part of the U.S. of A. This is the second week of classes for Chicago Public Schools and about the 4th or 5th week for other schools. In other words, class is certainly back in session. While there are a lot of debates happening in my lil part of the world about length of school day, school year, teacher pay and on and on, one thing is perfectly clear: Some schools simply lack basic supplies to educate our children. We can have the kids in school all day, all year around, but if they don't have basic supplies, all the reforms in the world won't do jack. That is why I am encouraging you to take a peek through the Donors Choose database to see if there is a school near you or a teacher requesting supplies for your favorite subject that you can support. The beauty of Donors Choose is that even a small donation can do a long way. You also get thank you notes! If you are lucky, you get a photo too. That is my favorite part. Last year my family supporte...

CALL FOR PAPERS One Day Conference    Motherhood; Creativity In Theory & Practice Museum Of Motherhood Oct. 3, 2011 301 East 84th St. NYC (lower level), New York - USA   Conference will focus on the concept of creativity through theory and practice within the experience and study of motherhood.  Conference presenters and participants will develop an und erstanding of the creative process and how this has impact upon their professional and mothering identities. We welcome submissions from scholars, students, activists, artists, community agencies, service providers, journalists, mothers and others who work or research in this area. Cross-cultural, historical, and comparative work is encouraged. We encourage a variety of types of submissions including academic papers from all disciplines, workshops, creative submissions, performances, storytelling, visual arts, film, music, audio and other alternative formats. Topics includ...

Demeter Press is seeking an editor(s) for a new collection on the topic of           ASIAN AMERICAN/CANADIAN MOTHERING If you are interested in this opportunity, please email Andrea O'Reilly directly ( aoreilly@yorku.ca ). AND please include your CV and bio/background/interest in this area. *Please note: Demeter Press is publishing an edited collection entitled " South Asian Mothering " in 2012 so we are interested specifically in East Asian perspectives for the above named project.

This post could also be entitled: Why I hate meth & its users! Six months ago, I was a happy (as much as one can be) seasonal allergy sufferer. I had my prescription for a certain name brand for so many years, it is like a security blanket for me. Seriously, when I forget to get a refill or renew the prescription, I panic because I know how messed up my head is going to get with all the snot, sneezing, itchy eyes and more snot. DRUG-D was my BFF. So when the company decided to put my second favorite pill (Sorry, Drug-D, but my birth control is #1 DBFF) on OTC, it turned me into a drug hunting mad woman. First...Because the D means it has a decongestant and that decongestant is pseudoephedrine. Yup, the stuff that meth is made from. So there's a strict Illinois law about how much of that stuff you can buy AND you have to show ID if you don't have a prescription for it. That means I get to see my pharmacist team more often because the pills come in packs of 5 or 10. S...

NEW: Call for Submissions Demeter Press is seeking submissions for an edited collection entitled: Reading/Speaking/Writing the Mother Text: Essays on Caribbean Women's Writing Co-editors: Cristina Herrera and Paula Sanmartín Publication Date: 2014 Deadline for abstracts: January 15, 2012! Scholarly work on Caribbean women's literature has grown since the 1990's, and much of this research examines maternal themes, as the topic of motherhood is highly visible in written works by women of the Caribbean regions. While there are several book-length studies on Caribbean women's literature, and a limited number of them do focus on the subject of Caribbean mothers, many of these studies lack analyses of the Spanish Caribbean, and the subject of motherhood, when explored, is also presented in rather specific contexts. Therefore, this collection seeks to expand this previous scholarship by offering a more expansive view of motherhood that encompasses a wide...