Are you a leader in your school? Or have you taken your leadership skills back to your school or other community schools? Jennifer Martin works at a public alternative school in Michigan and is conducting research on feminism and leadership in public schools and needs your help!

What’s even cooler is that she’s set up the research on her blog: http://womenasleadersineducation2010.blogspot.com/

To submit your feedback and contribute to her project and thus forwarding the field of feminist public education just check out her message below. She’s even throwing in an iPod as a prize to one lucky winning contributor!

Study information:

I am conducting a qualitative study on women leaders in education for the purpose of gaining insight into women’s unique experiences as educators (in K-12 and higher education). I am looking for women who work as leaders in education—either in higher education or in PK-12 education (and adult education). “Leaders in education” can mean formal leadership: administrators, deans, principals, department heads, or informal leaders (those who work within their systems for social change, for example).

I have created a web blog where participants can respond to a variety of questions. Participants will also be able to engage with one another in an online dialogue about a variety of issues women in education face.

I ask that participants create an account in Google blogger using information that will protect their anonymity (for instance, do not use your name as your username). Participants may respond to any or all of the questions listed. I have created separate posts for each individual question (which are listed below). You can respond to questions by clicking on their links either on the blog home page, or on the menu on the right. Participants are not required to answer all questions, and can return to the site, answer additional questions, and repost. Participants can choose whether or not to interact with others in online dialogues.

After making your decision to participate, please email me at jlmarti2@oakland.edu. I will then email you a consent form for you to sign which will indicate your agreement to participate in this study. After signing, please scan the document, or create a PDF, and email it back to me at the same email address. If you do not have access to these technologies, you may mail the consent form to me. Postage will be provided. I will provide you with the information for mailing upon your email contact.

As an incentive to gain participants in this study, I will conduct a drawing for an 8 GB iPod Nano based upon posted responses. Drawing will be done on December 31, 2010.

Check out this call for submissions for a book the wonderful Jessica Yee is putting together! If you’ve ever gone to “university” or “post-secondary education” or didn’t go but had your own brush with it and have something to say check this out! The deadline is September 10th, 2010 so time is short. But, in my experience passionate tales of feministy academy often ramble off our tongues.

Call for submissions for book: Deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism - Feminist education now: youth, activism, and intersectionality (working title – tentatively to be changed) edited by Jessica Yee

To be published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Winter 2011

Why the new title? Because I was getting A LOT of “I just want my name to be published” submissions that weren’t really dealing with the question of where is feminist education today? So I decided to be more in your face and say that this is about “deconstructing the academic industrial complex of feminism” meaning this is about where feminism exists OUTSIDE the university/school walls - or why so much of the so-called “recognizable” feminism is just within academia.

Where is feminist education today? This is a question many people are asking, and I’d like to answer them in a book I’m putting together. Where do young people get to learn about feminism? And what the heck does feminism even mean to young people today? (and I’m talking about young, young people, not you 3rd year women’s studies person who might roll your eyes at my next set of questions. Maybe think of yourself before you got into women’s studies. Or if you ARE/WERE in women’s studies and think it’s kinda messed up, I’d like to hear about that too.) How come as a “theory” we don’t really hear about it unless we get to go to post-secondary type schooling, but in practice lots of us have been feminists of sorts throughout our entire lives. Why does it still look like a white-woman’s thing? Or not entirely sex-positive? What do young men have to say about it? Has there really been any intergenerational information sharing between those who might have “paved the way” and those who are thinking about identifying as feminists now?

With the working title of “Feminist education now: youth, activism, and intersectionality” I’d like to talk about all these issues and everything in between. Don’t like the word feminism? Please be my guest and talk about that – or if it helps to use words like “womanist” or “humanist” instead, or working for women’s rights, women’s empowerment, girls stuff, etc. then go that direction. I’m really interested in talking about the intersectionality of feminist education and breaking down the barriers of what constitutes “education”, where that might be, and according to whom. Education does not have to solely be within a school or school-type setting – if it happened on the street, in your kitchen, if it’s not happening at all, if you want it to happen some particular place – I want to hear about it.

What do I mean by feminism? No I don’t mean that it’s just about women, I mean all identities/definitions/euphemisms/pseudonyms than the English language of the colonizer can do justice to. Expand your mind.

What do I mean by intersectionality? Think of a street intersection and put yourself in the middle. There are lots of things that intersect the way people identify – for example I identify as a woman, as Indigenous, as bisexual, as multiracial and all of those things and way more come into play when I think about the way I want to learn things, i.e. feminist education. For me, I don’t exist as just one thing or another. In this book - I’d like to know about how feminism intersects (or doesn’t intersect) who you are.

Why is the word activism in the title? Because I think a lot of us are activists and even feminists and do education about the things we believe in without necessarily being sign-waving, chanting, picket-lining groups en-masse. I’ve often said some of the best activists I know are the ones who do it at home, wherever “home” might be – since that can sometimes be the hardest place to be passionate and true to the things you are fighting for.

What are we looking for in this book? Written, artistic, and otherwise creative submissions between 700 to 3000 words length if it’s an article. You are also very welcome to submit a photograph, an art piece, a poem, spoken word, etc. as well.

Can only “youth” submit something? Yes and no – preference will be given to young people under the age of 30 to be published in this book, however if you are over the age of 30 and would really like to say something – please submit and we’ll try and find a place for it, especially if you talk about young people in your piece.

Why would I want to write/create something for this book? Some folks like to have their name and stuff published, others just want their voices and ideas out there. You decide!

When do we want submissions by? Submission deadline is Friday September 10 2010.

What if I don’t really understand what you are asking for or want help putting something together? Please feel free to get in touch with me and let’s chat! E-mail me directly at jessica.j.yee@gmail.com

All written, artistic, and creative submissions should be e-mailed with a Word doc. attachment and a 3 line author bio to Jessica Yee at jessica.j.yee@gmail.com no later than Friday September 10th 2010. If you would like to mail yours to a physical address instead, please let me know.

In just under 2 weeks I’m going to be having a baby. I’ve resisted blogging about it here because while having children, child rearing, parenting, birthing, and all the facets tied up with it (consumption, children-in-the-world, industrial capitalism, gender dynamics, etc) are Feminist issues, I’m still on the fence as to where I stand regarding my feminist experience and the whole “having a baby”-thing: I just haven’t felt I have anything really coherent or “new” to add to the literature.

But, my opinions and responses to my experience slowly trickle in and form, often in response to people’s reactions/comments or responses to parenthood/motherhood/birthing in the media and government policy.

There’s a big “to-do” going on out here in BC about ultrasounds and the recent addition of policy that will require a $50 fee from expectant parents to find out the sex of their fetus. Basically, in BC it was hit or miss if you could find out from an ultra-sound technician what your fetus’s sex is. We wanted to find out the sex of our fetus primarily to have an answer when we were/are consistently inundated with the question, “what are you having?” (sarcastic answer, “a baby?”). And then feeling pressured to say which way you’d prefer (“I don’t really care as long as their not a facist”). And then having to endure people’s gendered biases like, “Girls are so much harder than boys”. But, at both of our ultrasounds the technician (same technician both times) wouldn’t tell us (“we’re not allowed to tell”) and made us avert our eyes of the screen. Neither of these things disappointed me or frustrated me, as the medical system + pregnancy is all new to me, so hey, whatever, it’s got 4 limbs, a beating heart, and kidneys! Success!
(more inside…)

Candy Bags! (So You Think You’re Crafty?)

Recently my partner and I relocated to Vancouver Island from the wintery north to take a new-ish life: long growing seasons for gardening, future island hopping, and new jobs! Little did I know that by relocating from an amazing job where I felt I was actually making a difference in my community to a smaller island community meant that jobs are actually few and far between. In desperation to ensure I could pay my bills I’ve taken a job working in a call centre for an American cell phone company.

While I do refer to this time in my life as “just another chapter in a forthcoming memoir” or “all great Canadian authors have worked a rather strange job once upon a time!” I still can’t get over the fact I’m not allowed to have food at my desk: except for hard candy. Then along came this tutorial! I have purchased pouches for dry snacks at craft fairs and have a pile of pouches I made before the holidays and use them often to house York Bites, Yoghurt Raisins, and Nibs (or even almonds if I didn’t work in a nut-free environment). This Candy Bag Tutorial by “So You Think You’re Crafty” is great and easy to follow (so many pictures, step by step instructions). It includes how-tos for both fabric lined pouches (for pre-wrapped candies) and vinyl-lined pouches for every other candy or dry snack you’d want to put in there. The fabric lined ones can usually be thrown in the washer and the vinyl just wiped out with a damp cloth.

So if you do find yourself “working for the man” and really want to get your hands on some wildberry twizzlers at your desk, or even while studying Death of a Salesman in High School English, these pouches can hide your goodies and reduce plastic consumption!

Photo from post on I Am Friends With Sluts (iamfriendswithsluts.tumblr.com)

iamfriendswithsluts.tumblr.com thinks you are! This new-ish Tumblr roll is a compilation site of photos of girls that are posted on social networking sites like Facebook or Myspace. Readers submit photos they find on their friends or strangers sites to I Am Friends With Sluts and they are posted with ridiculously disappointing commentary:

“It only takes two wine coolers to make me a lesbian”

“I’m training to fight my eating disorder next month on Pay-Per-View.”

“Bound together by tramp stamps, father issues and low self esteem.”

Aside from the obvious problems of ye ol’ patriarchy rearing its ugly head on the internets, the site reads like bad bad news, even despite the “satirical blog” disclaimer which ensures any response to the site creators won’t be taken seriously because they’re “just joking”.

A more serious issue, and one that drives me crazy, is that the patriarch has made it crystal clear that they’re winning, and despite my constant proclamation of “we’re sexy by choice!!”, these pictures and their content confirm that these are oppressed choices. Slowly people are starting to talk about the personal sexualization of self on the ‘net but these discussions are often left to sites like Suicide Girls and other more porno’d sites and shows. These pictures read more like Girls Gone Wild, and the blocking out of eyes and randomizing of the photographs removes the reality of these girls’ lives and personalities (unlike Girls Gone Wild). But because these photos are pilfered from social networking sites, they are REAL girls and these are their REAL experiences; and they’re no longer theirs because they’re out there on the internet for anyone to see. And this is site is a perfect example of what someone might do to the party fun time content.

So, is the answer then that women stop putting pictures like this up on social networking sites? I’m not sure. Is it easier then dismantling the patriarch? Discuss!

Criticism of a recent article by Katie Roiphe on new motherhood is making the rounds in feminist blog-land. Basic premise is that Roiphe looks at her first six weeks of motherhood with a post-feminist lens that conflates motherhood with addiction: new mothers are addicted to both their babies and motherhood. So much so that they’re (she’s) reduced to tears about being separated from her new child.

While nurses, mothers, ECE providers, and academics could go on-and-on about attachment theory and practice, what strikes me most about Roiphe’s article is how flippant she is about feminism and the possible realities for other new moms. Also, she pitches herself against feminists, rather than discuss complexities within feminism and her privilege and access to the feminism she enjoys.

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Girls from the PG Roller Derby Brat Camp 2009 show off their shirts. (ohsweetie)

This past weekend I got to participate in a teen girl roller derby camp that my place of employment, the YMCA, threw with a handful of other local agencies and businesses. One of the girls’ main projects was DIY-ing their camp t-shirts into derby dresses/shirts of wonder. They used lace, glitter, markers, and general deconstruction techniques to turn their men’s cut tees into the sassy piece they desired.

The fun part was that even though a lot of the girls were crafty, a number of them had never hand sewn before. Even basic techniques like how much thread you need, threading a needle, and tying a knot. It was exciting to be able to teach these girls basic sewing skills and it even erupted into a bit of feministy conversation:

Me: “Can you believe that once upon a time people argued that women were naturally inclined to do this [sew]?”

Pink Ink: *groan*

Zero: “Nuh, uh! They were forced to!”

Basic sewing tutorials:

Three techniques for basic hand sewing
Securing a knot and tying off thread
How to hem jeans in three easy steps.

When we started the Roller Derby League here in Prince George we were pretty excited about the onslaught of Roller Derby culture about to hit our communities: the Hell On Wheels documentary, Knockdown Knits, and the forthcoming Whip It. With Whip It about to come out it’s like we, the roller derby’ers, have fully arrived in hegemonic pop culture. The trailer brings on debate about the showiness of the sport, the brutal beatings so often left out on television (and not usually on the track), and the weird continuity issues of a teenager being able to play in an adult league. Regardless, the soundtrack is phenomenal and the stacked cast including Zoe Bell, Juliette Lewis, Eve, and Ellen Page will make this movie a gem. And, it must turn out right because Page’s character’s dad gives her a shiny new pair of Riedells: such a well earned and classic new gift for any roller girl who tries to make a name for herself on the track.

A page from Amy’s Diary (The Amy Diary)

Amy Barbara of Vancouver recently posted her junior high diaries on her new blog the amy diary. A testament to the power of a grade-school diaries, the amy diary is a sweet little snapshot into the language and life of a young woman.