The survey itself is loosely based on Betty Friedan's 1957 project in which she asked her Smith College classmates to fill out a questionnaire about their lives. The responses were so dramatic that Friedan turned it into her ground-breaking 1963 best-seller The Feminine Mystique. Fifty-one years later, we revisited Friedan's original questions to create our own questionnaire in the hopes of shining a light on our generation-—specifically our sex lives and how they do/don't change once kids enter our lives. We hope you will share and help us to understand our generation as parents.
From Erika Dreifus' Practicing Writer:
Catalyst Book Press seeks literary essays telling personal stories for two anthologies, one focusing on birth parents, and the other on the subject of miscarriage. The submission deadline for both books is August 15, 2009, and payment in each case will be $50 plus one copy of the book. For more information, visit http://www.catalystbookpress.com/Guidelines.html
Literary Mama writer Victoria Patterson ("Baby Talk" and "Morphine and Mother's Milk") has a new collection of stories out entitled Drift. Look for the book on Amazon and in bookstores nationwide.
Submission Deadline: July 13, 2009
PERINATAL
A Symposium on Birth Practices and Reproductive Rights
Wednesday 7th October 2009 (tentative) at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia Forty years ago, the feminist movement advocated for reproductive rights. Over the years, childbirth was dropped from the agenda. Why? What has this meant for women? How are women organizing for change?
We welcome submissions from scholars, students, activists, artists, mothers and others who work or research in this area. Comparative and interdisciplinary work is encouraged. Feminist inquiries are explicitly sought, although all submissions will be considered. We encourage a variety of types of submissions including academic papers from all disciplines, workshops, creative submissions, performances, storytelling, visual arts, and other alternative formats.
This symposium is interdisciplinary. Possible topics include:
• Cultural myths and expectations around birth (written, verbal, or visual culture)
• Rethinking maternal-fetal conflict
• The psychological impact of contemporary birth practices
• Developments in midwifery, homebirth, and unassisted birth
• The symbolic significance of birth practices as socialization
• The evolution of contemporary birth practices and taboos
• Maternal resistance to birth practices
• The feminist movement and birth
If you are interested in being a presenter, please send a 250-500 word abstract and a 50 word bio by July 13, 2009 to: Jessica Clements (jmooreq@gmu.edu).
Late abstracts will be considered and accepted if possible.
Please send the abstract as an attachment, not in the body of an email, in either PDF or Word DOC format. Include Title, Abstract (250-500 words), Name, Institutional Affiliation, Address, Phone, Email Address, Brief Bio (50 words).
A panel discussion by womengirlsladies
at the Brooklyn Museum
June 20th, 2 PM
Free Admission
When are more men going to care about work/family balance? And what is the role of men in the feminist movement anyway?
Join Deborah Siegel, Courtney Martin, Gloria Feldt, and Kristal Brent Zook for a fresh conversation among feminists in honor of Father's Day!
You can check out a preview (footage from a previous WomenGirlsLadies event) on YouTube right here.
The Afghan Women’s Writing Project is doing good, good work. It is giving young Afghan women an outlet for telling their stories–important stories that would not otherwise be heard.
Those women need our help. As program founder Masha Hamilton writes on the AWWP website:
“Many of our students and women writers, especially outside of Kabul, cannot get to an Internet cafe due to security considerations. A laptop at home and a jump drive would allow them to write their pieces, and then ask a male relative to send the work at an Internet cafe. A $20 donation will buy a flash drive and $500 in donations will buy a laptop for our women writers. No contribution is too small.”
Find out more about the AWWP at their website
And participate in the raffle
For those of you in San Francisco and near by, don't miss the
screening next week of Who Does She Think She Is?, the documentary by Pamela Tanner Boll which profiles several mother-artists; the film will play at the Red Vic Movie House on Haight Street, Wednesday June 10th (2, 7:15, 9:15 PM) and Thursday June 11th (7:15, 9:15 PM). Pamela Tanner Boll will be present for Q&A following screenings Wednesday at 2:00, 7:15 and Thursday at 7:15. The film's not out on dvd yet, so make the trip out to see it on the big screen!
Red Vic
http://www.redvicmoviehouse.com/jun09index.php
Mama at the Movies column on the film
http://www.literarymama.com/columns/mamaatthemovies/archives/2008/12/who_does_she_th.html
Profile of Pamela Tanner Boll
http://www.literarymama.com/profiles/archives/002497.html
We are currently seeking submissions for a special online issue of The Mom Egg, a literary journal, to be released in Fall 2009. Deadline for poetry, fiction, creative prose and art for this issue is July 31, 2009. We are also accepting submissions of other material, such as reviews and interviews. Submission guidelines may be found on the website, <www.themomegg.com> .
The Mom Egg publishes work by mothers about everything, and by everyone about mothers and motherhood.
August 1, 2009 - September 12, 2009
Write your truth. Tell your stories. Make a commitment to yourself. Wherever you’ve roamed, whatever you’ve survived, however you live—it’s all fodder for your work. Your unique experiences are vital to creating and critiquing. This multi-genre workshop will serve as a tool for self-discovery and story excavation under the guidance of two professional writers in a focused, supportive environment.
Generate dynamic new material through exercises and peer review; revive dormant work using elements of craft, community and critique. By the end of the course, writers should be comfortable sharing their writing and offering constructive criticism. Participants are guaranteed one polished piece ready-for-publication, with rough drafts for many more. This polished piece is guaranteed publication in one of our upcoming anthologies. In our workshops you will not only learn everything you need to know to write a story ready for publication, you will learn how to submit a story, what editors look for, and you will actually be published. Publication is the first step to becoming a professional author. We want to give you this chance!
This is a multi-genre workshop for anyone serious about turning life stories into publishable works. Our stories span generations, theme, structure and region. Thanks to the Internet, Roaming Writers offers access to professionals and dialogue with a worldwide writing community.
Cara Bruce brings fiction, publishing and editing expertise to the class, while Shawna Kenney offers nonfiction and memoir advice. Both have nurtured many writers on their way to publication and have published previous anthologies.
Limited enrollment for maximum attention to your work. Waiting list maintained for next workshop. Space may be reserved by sending a writing sample or letter-of-intent to the email address below. All inquiries should be directed to:
roamingwriters@gmail.com
Total Fee: $250, payable by check, money order, or Paypal
A partial deposit is required. Once enrolled, you will receive a password and link to the online Google Groups classroom, with instructions for uploading documents and initial introductions.
We look forward to reading your work!
August 1, 2009 - September 12, 2009
Write your truth. Tell your stories. Make a commitment to yourself. Wherever you’ve roamed, whatever you’ve survived, however you live—it’s all fodder for your work. Your unique experiences are vital to creating and critiquing. This multi-genre workshop will serve as a tool for self-discovery and story excavation under the guidance of two professional writers in a focused, supportive environment.
Generate dynamic new material through exercises and peer review; revive dormant work using elements of craft, community and critique. By the end of the course, writers should be comfortable sharing their writing and offering constructive criticism. Participants are guaranteed one polished piece ready-for-publication, with rough drafts for many more. This polished piece is guaranteed publication in one of our upcoming anthologies. In our workshops you will not only learn everything you need to know to write a story ready for publication, you will learn how to submit a story, what editors look for, and you will actually be published. Publication is the first step to becoming a professional author. We want to give you this chance!
This is a multi-genre workshop for anyone serious about turning life stories into publishable works. Our stories span generations, theme, structure and region. Thanks to the Internet, Roaming Writers offers access to professionals and dialogue with a worldwide writing community.
Cara Bruce brings fiction, publishing and editing expertise to the class, while Shawna Kenney offers nonfiction and memoir advice. Both have nurtured many writers on their way to publication and have published previous anthologies.
Limited enrollment for maximum attention to your work. Waiting list maintained for next workshop. Space may be reserved by sending a writing sample or letter-of-intent to the email address below. All inquiries should be directed to:
roamingwriters@gmail.com
Total Fee: $250, payable by check, money order, or Paypal
A partial deposit is required. Once enrolled, you will receive a password and link to the online Google Groups classroom, with instructions for uploading documents and initial introductions.
We look forward to reading your work!
August 1, 2009 - September 12, 2009
Write your truth. Tell your stories. Make a commitment to yourself. Wherever you’ve roamed, whatever you’ve survived, however you live—it’s all fodder for your work. Your unique experiences are vital to creating and critiquing. This multi-genre workshop will serve as a tool for self-discovery and story excavation under the guidance of two professional writers in a focused, supportive environment.
Generate dynamic new material through exercises and peer review; revive dormant work using elements of craft, community and critique. By the end of the course, writers should be comfortable sharing their writing and offering constructive criticism. Participants are guaranteed one polished piece ready-for-publication, with rough drafts for many more. This polished piece is guaranteed publication in one of our upcoming anthologies. In our workshops you will not only learn everything you need to know to write a story ready for publication, you will learn how to submit a story, what editors look for, and you will actually be published. Publication is the first step to becoming a professional author. We want to give you this chance!
This is a multi-genre workshop for anyone serious about turning life stories into publishable works. Our stories span generations, theme, structure and region. Thanks to the Internet, Roaming Writers offers access to professionals and dialogue with a worldwide writing community.
Cara Bruce brings fiction, publishing and editing expertise to the class, while Shawna Kenney offers nonfiction and memoir advice. Both have nurtured many writers on their way to publication and have published previous anthologies.
Limited enrollment for maximum attention to your work. Waiting list maintained for next workshop. Space may be reserved by sending a writing sample or letter-of-intent to the email address below. All inquiries should be directed to:
roamingwriters@gmail.com
Total Fee: $250, payable by check, money order, or Paypal
A partial deposit is required. Once enrolled, you will receive a password and link to the online Google Groups classroom, with instructions for uploading documents and initial introductions.
We look forward to reading your work!
Literary Reflections is pleased to present our featured writing prompt response from May. We asked, "Have you ever felt creatively stifled by responsibilities? Have you ever been amazed by a gem you hewed, just when you assumed you hadn't created anything original at all?
Cara Holman writes:
It is conceivable that I would have eventually joined a writing group if I hadn't been diagnosed with cancer. But, the point is, I didn't. A guilty voice continued to thwart my aspirations by whispering in my ear, "You have enough to do. You don't need yet another activity. And what are you going to write about anyway? Organizing carpools? Laundry? PTC meetings?" Years of parenting, it seemed, had dulled my creative side.
Then one day, I happened to notice a flyer for a cancer survivor's creative writing group in the waiting area of my oncologist's office. And there it was: an invitation to write. Writing was always one of my secret passions in life. I was prepared to beg, plead, or bribe my way into the group if need be, since enrollment was limited. Fortunately, none of the above was necessary.
I don't know quite what I expected of the group, because if truth be told, I approached it with a great deal of trepidation that first day. It wasn't the writing part I worried about. It was the idea of sharing my personal thoughts, at a time in my life when I already felt vulnerable. I firmly resolved to participate in the most passive way possible -- by doing the writing exercises and listening to others read aloud only.
I immediately abandoned that resolution once I penned my first piece. As snowflakes swirled around outside the window, I surprisingly found myself writing an innocuous enough narrative about finding the perfect seashell at the beach when I was a little girl. When SuEllen, our group's facilitator, called for volunteers to read aloud, a quick glance around me revealed that everyone in the room was equally afraid. Nothing fosters confidence more quickly than knowing you're not alone. While I wasn't quite brave enough to read first (that would have been Lisa), I did after all manage to muster up the courage to read, and have been reading aloud ever since.
Writing group is now one of the highlights of my week. I still enjoy writing at home, but it is an entirely different process to write for and with others. I am now completely hooked on receiving instant feedback from a supportive group of fellow writers. Not everything we produce is stellar, but it is intrinsically honest, and in my book, that's worth far more.
True, I do sometimes write about carpools, PTC meetings and anything kid related. I also write about gardening, roads not taken, missing jigsaw puzzle pieces, dim sum, birds, magic wands, and oh, even occasionally cancer. Nothing is off limits. I tended to discount our earliest writing efforts as being of more therapeutic than literary value. Now, however, I appreciate them for what they really are: courageous attempts to interpret the world through the lens of our own experience carefully crafted and polished until our voices shine through. What could be more creative than that!
Cara Holman can be reached at cara(dot)holman(at)gmail(dot)com.
Mother of three and former Degrees of Freedom Literary Mama columnist writes about learning to scull (and a little competition).
A Thousand Meters | A peaceful day on the lake awakens unexpected emotions. | By Jennifer Eyre White
It’s not pretty. It turns out that I can’t pull hard and go straight at the same time. My boat smacks into a buoy on one side of the lane, and I frantically jam the opposite oar into the water to turn it. Lurching around, the boat heads straight toward a buoy on the other side of the lane. My wake looks like a big sine wave. I’m whacking my knuckles against each other with every other stroke, and my left oar keeps getting stuck in the water, causing the boat to dip precariously—but do I slow down and rebalance? No, I do not. I will flip this damn boat before I let Tall Middle-Aged Guy get farther ahead of me.