Viva la Feminista

Summer of Feminista: Feminine or Feminist?

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:22:00 +0000

Written by Ana Lilian Flores, co-publisher of SpanglishBaby, a site for parents raising bilingual and bicultural children and can always be found @laflowers.

I don’t think I’ve ever considered myself a feminist. I’m not a provoker, an activist, nor a social conscious spear-header at large. Not that I’m much for labels, as it is.

I grew up in the midst of El Salvador’s deadly and grueling Civil War in an era when you did not question the status quo. Much less if you belonged to the close-knit social class I was born into. The words ¿por qué? were hardly ever uttered and much less encouraged. Not that I even minded back then. I didn´t know better.

The seed of political activism or of traditional feminist tendencies of any kind were never planted in me. The woman that shaped my life and formed my first tribe were indeed strong and luchadoras, but always within the safe confines of their vast and plentiful homes. They treasured their luxuries, their leisure, their freedom and their image. Life existed within a thin and, oh-so-very-fragile veil that separated them from the imminent and loud reality that surrounded us. The label we could apply here would be more of “femenina” than “feminista.” (Funny tidbit that the popular Top 40 FM radio station I grew up listening to was called “La Femenina.”) Yes, the women I knew were adored because they knew their place. Even my mother.

Divorced in her mid-twenties with two girls to fend for, she never failed to impress by her strength of character when faced with obstacles. I always attribute my independent, go-getter and strong-willed nature to her. Her years as a single mother of two, she worked hard and cunningly to sustain us by the highest standards--the best schools, the best clothes, the best surroundings, the best memberships. Then, she remarried to a man that would be able to take away all that burden from her and allow her to just be a women again--to run the house and the staff that kept it up; to play tennis and socialize; to travel; to care for her girls; to care for her man; and to run a fashion boutique of her own. Life became easy, manageable, fulfilled--or so it seemed behind that self-imposed veil.

As soon as I turned 18 I left the country that had cradled me in a sweet embrace of naiveness. I left behind my mask and started the true work of uncovering my realness. This is when I began to let out the authentic feminist voice in me. The one I didn’t even know I had. The voice of a woman who wants to have the chance to be unrestricted to express her soul. The diva who wants to shine wherever she chooses to. The Goddess who wants to explore her depths, her yearnings, her missteps and own up to them all. The dreamer who wants an equal share of the materialistic male-dominated world, without letting go of her feminine instincts and ethereal desires.

I still don’t consider myself a full blown-out feminist. It’s just a label, and labels are used to judge.

I am, however, a mother that lives with a constant mirror reflection of who I am and what I give. My daughter will always carry a part of her that reflects how I constantly continue to reconcile the feminine little girl in me with the more feminist and non-conformist luchadora that has claimed its place as well. I see in her the potential of full, unrestricted expression that is softly guided by the whispers of her ancestors to a place where its manifestation will belong only to her. That, I hope, is my gift to my daughter.

Summer of Feminista is a project where Latinas are sharing what feminism means to them. Positive. Negative. Academic statements. Personal stories. Learn more or how you can join the Summer of Feminista. This is a project of Viva la Feminista. Link and quote, but do not repost without written permission.

Summer of Feminista: APB: Help! Is this you?

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:43:00 +0000

When you sign up for Summer of Feminista, please, please, please include your name AND email in the little Doodle text box.

I have Jacky A. and Marisa A. signed up and I have no idea how to reach you, mujeres!

Please send me an email at veronica-dot-arreola-at-gmail.com so we can connect. Or just send me your Summer of Feminista contribution.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled program...

Summer of Feminista: FUG (Feminist until graduation)

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:47:00 +0000

Written by Dior of The Personal is Bloggable

My mother suspected that all this crazy feminist talk was a result of my attending Smith. She thought this would be a phase like she thought other things. Unfortunately (for her) it wasn’t. It also didn’t help matters that I became a Study of Women and Gender major. My mother didn’t agree with this not only because it was not explicitly connected with a well to do, money making profession but also because of its association with feminism. Why the reluctance to embrace the term? As a single mother she always told my sister and I to be independent and to never depend on a man. Therefore getting an education has always been important to my family. Many of my family members were not given the opportunity to get a higher education so being knowledgeable and self sufficient was critical. I see feminism all over this.

At Smith, I was involved in the feminist organization, Feminists of Smith Unite! (FSU!). I was among young Caucasian women who were passionate about their cause and wanted to organize to make sure their interests were being acknowledged. I was one of the few Latinas involved in the organization and after awhile, their investment in the organization lessened dramatically and eventually, they were no longer involved. I became co-chair and there were members who suspected that I was the first Latina co-chair of FSU!. This was never confirmed but it shows that feminism was and probably is still not something that is prevalent in the lives of women of color at Smith. Even in my participation in Nosotras, the Latina organization, I felt that I needed to bring in my feminist beliefs because the subject of feminism was not discussed. As the social chair, I organized the panel, “Race and Feminism: Latina Perspectives.” I wanted to create a venue where there would be discussions about Latinas and feminism. I wanted Latinas who consider themselves feminists in one room discussing the implications of this and how they came to this conclusion about their identities. My mother may have never used the word but she indeed raised me to be a feminist. I know this sentiment is shared with other Latinas because a panelist on the “Race and Feminism” panel mentioned how her mother brought her up as a feminist yet her mother said: “pero no lo sabia.” Feminism has always been viewed as a "white woman's issue" - something that only privileged women would involve themselves with. Feminism is much more than that. Feminism encompasses people (yes, women and men) of all races, genders, sexualities, classes and more. I wish my mother and other Latinas would understand this of feminism.

My growing up in a female headed household has heavily affected my identity as a woman and as a feminist. All my role models were women – my great grandmother who was outspoken and always said what she thought, and my grandmother who insisted that I get an education – something that no one could take away from me. Feminism wasn’t and will never be a phase for me. I graduated in 2009 and I am still proud to say that I am a feminist. Even though my entire experience as a feminist has consisted of defending myself against my mother, it has strengthened my resolve to embrace this part of me.

Summer of Feminista: This Is What A Feminista Looks Like

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Written by Natalia Knowlton of British Cherry. Reposted with permission.

It is a universal fact that feminism is the belief of equality between genders. Although women can relate to each other about the injustices they face in their daily lives, there are some injustices that not all women share. That has also become a universal fact; middle-class white feminists are not fighting for the same rights as Middle-Eastern feminists or African American Feminists. As I began studying feminism, I looked at it from very broad lens; how it affects women from all over the world. Sure I noticed that women had it quite differently depending on where they live, but I suppose I just saw how it affected women in "general" in North America. Whatever that meant. Then I started thinking about Hispanic Feminists. Being half Chilean and having lived there for half of my life, of course I had thought of the state of feminism in Chile, but I had missed out a big part. Hispanic women in general are very strong and independent women. They are feminists in so many levels, however, they do not use the F word to describe themselves, they probably don't even know what it actually means. You ask them what feminism is and they'll most likely say "Hairy women who hate men?” I'm not kidding, they will most likely say that. I started looking at my mother's family, all Chilean, and how feminism has occurred (without the F-word being spoken of course).

My maternal grandmother in Chile dropped out of school in grade five, never got an education, got married, and had five children. Obviously, her only "job" was to raise the children and clean the house while my grandfather brought home the bacon. My grandfather took advantage of his power and cheated on my grandmother multiple times, abused her physically and mentally, and never gave her the love and respect she deserved. She never left him because she had no education to get a decent job where she could feed five children. She was forced to stay with him until all of her children got married. Even when that happened, she still stayed with him. They finally got a divorce because my grandfather left her for another woman. My mother grew up watching this horrible domestic abuse and the horrible life my grandmother had because of her lack of power. My mother tells me that she became determined at a young age to get an education and be independent so she would never have to depend on a man the way her mother did. My mother was the only one, out of five children, to obtain a post-secondary education, travel outside of Chile, and work her ass off without the help of a man. She got married at age 21, to the love of her life who was Canadian (my dad), and moved to Canada with him. Then they had me (yay!). As soon as things weren't working in my parents' marriage, my mother filed for divorce. She moved back to Chile with me, as a single mother, and fought her way up to give me the best. She never had a boyfriend for ten years after that. She never saw men as a necessity, so to speak. She always said that if the right one came along, great, but she was not looking. She was always focused on her career and me. My mother taught me that it was crucial for me to be ambitious and to get a valuable education that could help me get ahead in life independently. There's no doubt that my mother has always been one of the greatest feminist role models for me.

Even though I first learned the true essence of feminism from my mother, she does not consider herself a feminist. Sure she'll say "I'm a feminist about some things, but not all. Men and women are different! I don't agree with feminists when it comes to that". That is her typical answer. And she only considers herself a feminist "about some things" thanks to my influence. Before that, she never even mentioned the word. So why is this? Why do we, especially Latinas, fear this word?

I think it's because of the strong sexism (el machismo) that still exists in Latin America, which is quite more substantial than in North America. Hispanic women have come a long way, but they only cared about legal equality between genders, not so much social equality. Most Hispanic mothers still raise their daughters thinking that they have to learn to clean and cook for their children and husband while being independent and having their job all at the same time. We're still taught to do things to be "desirable" to a man who might want to marry us. My mother taught me to get an education and be independent, but she also nags me about not knowing how to cook, since it is such a problem because apparently, I won't be able to feed my children (she expects four from me, yeah not happening). I even told her today "If I had been a boy, you wouldn't care if I didn't cook". She got mad at me for saying that but I made my point. And why is it that we have to learn to do things so we can "feed our children someday". Our society makes us think that the worst thing a man could do is kill someone, and the worst thing for a woman to do is to be a bad mother. As I was saying, my mother is still stuck on gender roles. She lives with her boyfriend now, and although he helps more than most Hispanic men around the house, I still think he doesn't do enough. It's always me or my mom. My mom never nags him about not cooking.

So...where do Latinas stand in feminism? I believe we are feminists at heart and we need to know the real meaning of that word. We need to know that we're more than we think we are. We're more valuable. We need to show men that we're equal and we're not their sexual objects (even though a lot of Hispanic women love to be whistled at on the streets). We need to know that it won't kill a man if he starts cooking or doing dishes. We need to stand up for who we are. We need to start embracing the label. We are feminists and we care about each other. We care about the advancement of women and society as a whole.

Viva la Feminista on Democracy Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:37:00 +0000

This is a lesson in being fearless.

After my panel on Thursday I went wandering around Netroots Nation and spotted Amy Goodman in line to get Ed Schultz to sign his book. I thought, "OMG, it's Amy Goodman!" so I went up to her to say hi and be all silly fangirl. Well Amy and one of her friends/coworkers/partner in arms started asking me where I was from, what I did, etc. Amy got her book signed and I chatted with Dennis some more. Then Amy asked which way I was walking and I said, "I walk, where you walk." She chuckled. After a few minutes of chatting, she whips out for mini-digital camera and starts interviewing me. At first I just babbled like an idiot, but recovered well despite thinking the whole time, "OMFG, Amy Goodman is interviewing me!"

So for your youngsters out there, don't be afraid to walk up to people you admire, be ready with your 30-second "This is who I am" talk and be prepared for anything. Cause some days anything does happens.

Summer of Feminista: I know "OF" feminism

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Written by Noemi Martinez of hermanaresist.com

Heaven forbid we ever called ourselves feminist, Chicana or acted “smart” growing up. My dad who came to the US during the latter part of the bracero movement said in his rancho, children didn't go past the education their parents received. This meant he only went up until the third grade. Then he tells me, his hermanos would find him reading books under a tree with the goats long gone. That little gem of desire to learn and read was passed along to me. The difference was I was a girl, of course.

My mom was 36 when she had my younger brother. She was a sociology student at a community college in Chicago, with five children and one of the way. Throw them in as a Pentecostal way of thinking couple and a father insisting his wife bear him a male, you get a 36 year old six month pregnant woman having a heart attack. She didn't' go back to school.

Fast forward to me being a teenager and dropping out of high school-because books turned us women evil (indirect quote-it was something like, te vas a volver loca como tu mama).

I know "OF" feminism.

I came to know of feminism through the back door, via the self-education route of zines and soaking up book reviews and top ten books from my favorite grrrl zinesters. I get a kick out of comments on blogs where folks complain that either there's too many women of color in their women studies classes or the same quotes of Audre and Gloria and hooks are rehashed over and over. Because that IS ALL I know. And I do not have a problem with that.

I had enough indoctrination of dead while males in the required literature courses at the local UT campus I went to eons ago. No one mentioned Gloria Anzaldua even though she walked the same campus and probably felt the same stifling oppressive valley heat that I did. The Lorde wasn't even on my radar, sacrilegious indeed.

And it's been good like this, a self-proclaimed mujerista, distinct and aparte from feminism like Chicana is to Latina. In some circles, a feminist sure, in other's don't even.

Summer of Feminista: Is it really good to be that strong?

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:25:00 +0000

Written by Dariela of Mami Talks

Since I can remember my parents have been divorced, they divorced when I was 4 y/o so I really have little memory of them together. And I’m really OK with this. I think they made a great decision cause I love my dad but I know that the harmony in our house was created with us 3 girls only, my mom, my sister and me.

I think that because of this, my mom started to tell us to always go for what we really want in life. “Hijas”, she said, you should be independent, go explore the world, be strong and fight for what you want. My mom herself is an Architect with a master’s degree in Library Studies, as a result she is the only expert in her field in her country, Venezuela, and almost in all Latin America, she is a designer and a consultant for Library Buildings. She definitely set the example for us. I admired how strong and independent she was.

Also, the opposite side of the example was set by the neighbor who if her husband leaves –my mom said- How will she survive? She doesn’t work, she’s a home maker and she doesn’t have anything for herself. Us as women need to have many passions that drive us, that are there only for us. And I agree, during my childhood I went to music school and learned how to play the piano, I also went to dance classes, I was always busy and then I went to Design school while still going to the Music Conservatory and participating in a famous Choral, all those things I really loved doing, I picked them and they were mine, only mine.

I still have so many things I am passionate about and I have traveled and left my home country per my mom’s advice: Anda hija, tu puedes, go meet the World! (Go girl, you can do it!). But wait, is it good to be this strong? Are we going to be so strong that nobody can touch us? Are we going to be these women that end up alone? Is it good to have that many activities and passions? I say it’s good to be strong as long as you know how to balance that together with the rest of the world, if you can also have a happy life with your partner, with your friends and family, have fun and take life not so serious too, if you can share all this with everybody and if you’re able to feel strong too, it’s worth it! We are not isolated, we can be strong, smart, independent and have our very feminine side too, is just a matter of balance!

I'm a 2010 Blogher Voices of the Year Finalist!

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:23:00 +0000

Back when I thought that I would be going to Blogher 2010, I submitted a bunch of posts for the Blogher Voice of the Year contest. Yes, it's a contest. People read the entries, people vote and only a few get to read their post to the conference. Anywho, I didn't win, but I am a finalist. And as such will be celebrated at the Blogher 2010 Gala and Art Auction. So yeah for not winning!

My not-quite-winning post was one that I wrote for Girl w/Pen on the balance between human life and scientific discoveries/guidelines in light of the new mammogram guidelines.

I'm happy that my writing was honored, giddy that it was something on Girl w/Pen and fucking off the wall that it was in the Geeky/Nerdy category. I'm disappointed that I won't be there for the Gala, but I couldn't do both Bloger and Netroots. A grrl on a budget has to make choices.

Happy Anniversary to Viva la Feminista!

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:34:00 +0000

It's been a quick three years since I set up shop here. Blogger tells me I have 848 posts in three years. WOW.

It is quite fitting that the post on my anniversary was the first installment of Summer of Feminista.

To make this occasion, I headed over to Wordle to make a new word cloud:

I like it!

Thanks to everyone who comes here to read my thoughts and much love to everyone who takes the time to comment and pass along my blog to friends. Here's to Year Four!

Summer of Feminista: Third grade feminista

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Written by Elizabeth of International Dreams

A grammar school friend that I had not seen in decades tells me that I taught her about feminism in third grade. This made me think back to the eight year old me. Was I a feminist that young? How did I know what that even meant? I remember being very self-aware, especially about being Latina, because I always seemed to stand out among my schoolmates. How did I teach anyone about feminism back then when now in my mid-thirties and a parent, I struggle daily at defining my beliefs?

I believe it comes down to my mami and mija. Mija is my grandmother who emigrated to New Jersey from Colombia to help my mami raise me. She is a head strong, willful, temperamental woman. My mother’s expectations were high but not impossible. She expected me to be educated, and was not satisfied with a college degree. I have an advanced degree, she is waiting for me to get a doctoral degree. She taught me to be my own person, and to do everything that I feared. Feminism meant that “girls could do anything”. Feminism meant that “I did not need a man”. Feminism meant that “women are not insecure”. Feminism meant that “I was everyone’s equal”.

I disappoint now. My mother scoffs when I say I am the person I am, a feminist, because of how she raised me. I married a man. I consult with him before I make important decisions. He and I are co-parents. He spends more time with our children than I can. I do not fix things like my mother. I am insecure sometimes. I worry.

This is not my mother’s feminism. This is my version of feminism, one that embraces all women - trans women, cis women – all women; and believes that each of us has the right to live and make choices that suits our personal needs and desires. It was much easier though, to define myself at 8 years old, than now.

Guest Post:: Gail Dines, PhD discusses the pornification of youth

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Dr. Gail Dines is a professor of sociology and women’s studies at Wheelock College in Boston, an internationally acclaimed speaker and author, and a feminist activist. I invited her to guest blog here as I await the arrival of her new book, Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked our Sexuality. Her work fits right into many of the concerns I have about how women and girls are portrayed in the media. That said, these are her words and I welcome all constructive critiques as well as high praise. ~veronica

Watch MTV, flip through the pages of popular women’s magazines, or just glance at billboards, and you’ll see slight variations on a theme: a heavily made-up, young, attractive, technologically perfected woman devoid of body hair, cellulite, age lines, or physical disabilities. She’s minimally clothed, with a seductive look plastered on her face. Whether it be an almost- naked Britney Spears writhing around on stage or a Victoria’s Secret model clad in a plunging bra and thong, women and girls today are bombarded with images of themselves as sex objects whose worth is measured only by their “hotness.”

This image didn’t appear from nowhere—it’s a logical outcome of living in a society that has become increasingly swamped by pornography. The prototype of the objectified, dehumanized, hypersexed female that is central to porn has now seeped into pop culture to such a degree that media representations today look like soft-core porn from ten years ago. It has so crowded out competing images that girls and young women see few alternative ways of being female. A quick look at pop culture will show you that I’m not exaggerating.

These images have a profound impact on how girls and women view themselves as sexual beings. As cultural beings, moreover, we are affected by the messages that the culture sends us, and there is no escaping the power of these relentless images.

In this hypersexualized culture, we are sexualizing our girls at an earlier age than ever. The person who best explained this to me was not an expert in women’s studies, but an incarcerated child rapist whom I shall call “John.” During an interview in a Connecticut prison, John told me how he had methodically and strategically groomed his ten-year-old stepdaughter into “consenting” to have sex with him, and then casually mentioned that his job was made easy because the “the culture did a lot of the grooming for me.”

As John has been through many years of therapy in prison, he had the lingo down pat, and in his eagerness to show off his knowledge to me, he used the word “groom” many times. This is a term psychologists use to describe the way predators socialize, seduce, and manipulate their victims into accepting—and often “agreeing”—to sexual abuse. John explained how, in his “conscious desire to desensitize her,” he used the questions she would ask (What is a blow job? What does a penis taste like?) as an entrée to introducing her first to adult porn and then child porn. John was very clear that the sexualized pop culture images his stepdaughter had been exposed to from an early age, as well as the sexualized conversations that such images generated in her peer group, developed a precocious sexual curiosity that “made grooming her easy.”

While this is one extreme example of the effects of a hypersexualized culture, an American Psychological Association study on the sexualization of girls found that our culture is affecting girls’ development. According to the researchers, there was ample evidence to conclude that sexualizing girls “has negative effects in a variety of domains, including cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, sexuality, and attitudes and beliefs.” Some of these effects include risky sexual behavior; higher rates of eating disorders, depression, and low self- esteem; and reduced academic performance.

As feminists we need to be critical of the increasing pornification of the culture and not confuse it with sexual empowerment. The pornographers are not out to sexually liberate us but rather to make money, and their plasticized, generic, formulaic images of women are stultifying and repressive. Feminism fought for women to be liberated from these images, not to capitulate to them, so for the sexual and psychological health of our girls we need to build a movement that resists them.

Gail Dines is a professor of sociology and women’s studies at Wheelock College. Her new book is Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked our Sexuality.

Book Review: Share This! by Deanna Zandt

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Disclosure: I count Deanna as a friend and colleague. While she interviewed me for this book, it wasn't included. She also asked me if I would review this book and obviously I said yes. Now on to my review...

Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking by Deanna Zandt is a must read for everyone who hates on social networking, who isn't sure why the hell anyone would engage in social networking and for those of us looking to use social networking for good. That's a lot of people, I know. But it's a quick read! Barely 100 pages, if you don't count the significant extras she puts in the resource section. But still a quick read.

As someone who uses social networking/media for fun and good, it was a breezy read. It was far too social networking for me, but I know far more people who need this book than who could have been quoted in this book. There is a need for this book. I understand that statement each day someone asks me if foundations should be online. Yes! Can they fundraise there? Yes! Will they fulfill their capital campaign by Tweeting? Probably not.

That naunce of using social networking is what Deanna gets spot on and explains well.

For most of my blogging career, I did it under a tiny veil of anonymity. The last few years of doing just that made me uncomfortable for many reasons including the fact that I wasn't getting the props I deserved and that those around me didn't know the resource that had in me. OMG how many times I've been in the "We should start a blog!" or "Why should we buy the dot com if we just use the dot org domain?" conversations. I wasn't just holding myself back, but others by proxy. Deanna digs into this as well and dares us all to use our own names and pictures of us.

What I appreciated the most from this book was the death of clicks = popularity. There is no way to measure your influence online due to social networking. Yes, sometimes you can see when someone clicks over from Facebook or via Twitter, but sometimes your links and story get disconnected from your bit.ly account. Viral is not easily measurable. Everyone needs to realize that. Marketers, swag pushers and politicos. It's like porn, you know a great connector when you see it.

There is also a good segment that deals a death blow to personal branding and a section on why parents shouldn't be scared of what is online. Hooray!

Bottomline is that this is a great book for the newbies. Don't fall for people telling you that they are a social media guru and can help you raise a shit load of money online. Don't warp your message to fit what someone told you is your brand. Just be you and have fun.

Please purchase a copy from an indie bookstore or Powells.com and hand it to your favorite troublemaker.

* Book links are affiliate links. If you buy your book here I could make a very small amount of money that goes towards this blog.

Why Jessica Valenti needs to be the next big mommy blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:36:00 +0000

With one retweet and a slightly snarky comment, I started a public conversation with Jessica Valenti about the politics of motherhood and how I think she needs to embrace her public power in that realm.

I've been reading Feministing since it started and honestly a lot of times I don't quite agree with them. But I do admire Jessica's power of the media. Then again, like any celeb, I also pity that power since it seems that everything that they do is put under a microscope. On the other hand, being a blogger means putting out some personal things and having to deal with personal questions. If you don't want to answer questions, then don't put it out there. Jessica wrote about (and I assume got paid to write about) her dog and how it was a starter baby. WHOA BOY did she get ripped for that and then got ripped for buying her dog through a breeder rather than do the "feminist" thing and adopt a rescue. She then got ripped for getting married, having her wedding featured in the NYTimes and now she's pregnant.

When she announced her pregnancy I knew that we would all be in for quite a feminist dissection of pregnancy and motherhood. Today she blogged about people touching her belly. But she again refuses to allow her personal life to be a topic for public discourse. I get that. But I think it's too late for that request.

While Jessica doesn't think she has to answer questions about pregnancy and motherhood, I told her that I think she has the responsibility to answer these questions. Now Jessica & I aren't friends, but we have enough common friends that I know some background info. I know that Jessica and the rest of the Feministing crew have struggled for years to get the media to pay attention to someone other than Jessica (the pretty white feminist). I get that. So when Jessica says that other feminist mom bloggers have been discussing the very issues I say she needs to address, she responded that she shouldn't be the person talking about them, us feminist mom bloggers should.

Yes. But is CNN really going to come talk to me about feminist pregnancy issues? Nope. Are they going to seek out the hundreds of other feminist mom bloggers out there? Not really. Yes, some of us get out spot in the limelight when a smart journalist digs deeper than the uber-feminist blogger (not a slam on Jessica!). But in all honesty, Jessica being pregnant and entering the motherhood is the moment us feminist moms have been waiting for.

Oh yes, there are those of us who have been talking about these issues before we were moms, for decades and will continue to champion, but how many of us can command the media like Jessica?

Should we really care that Jessica can take our issues, now hers too, and ratchet them up in attention like she discovered them? Yes and no. Yes, because it says a lot about celebrity, but no in terms of Jessica.

How many of us, especially GenXers knew it was ok to touch a person with AIDS before Princess Diana did? How many of us knew about the dangers of landmines before Princess Diana shone her sparkly light on the issue? How many people knew polar bears were in danger before Al Gore's movie?

Women In Media & News was helping connect journalists to kick ass feminists before SheSource was conceived. ParentsWork has been working on paid family leave before Momsrising painted their first onsie. There are tons of us who have been working hard on issues but someone shinier, with more connections and more celebrity swoops in and gets the attention and funding.

Does this piss me off? Yes. Does this mean I can't work with said celeb? No. I am in the SheSource database. I support Momsrising. I'm happy at the thought that Jessica Valenti can take years of feminist mom writings and help us actually get somewhere. Will she do as good of a job as a certain Latina zinester in Texas? Hell no. Should that someone else be getting the media attention? Yes, but I've come to the conclusion that sometimes we need to hitch a ride on that celeb to the finish line.

Why else would we get excited when we hear a Hollywood star mention feminism in an interview? Or rally around a feminist cause? Why else are we heartbroken when they laugh off feminism? Because they are celebs and like it or not people listen to them. They have a power we could only imagine having.

Does this mean that those of us who haven't been able to catch that media zip in a bottle should stop working? Hell no. But I have gotten to a point where instead of being upset that someone conforms to what the media whats to see and use as an expert, I see it as an opportunity. An opportunity for those who do garner the media attention to shine a light on the work we have done in the shadows. And for us to use that person in power as a point to rally around, whether to cheer with them or critique them.

When I responded to the journalist about the breastfeeding is creepy article, I quoted Annie from PhD in Parenting. I figured that either the journalist would talk with Annie herself, which she did, or hopefully Annie will be quoted via me. That was me taking part of my 15 minutes of fame and giving a minute to someone else who I think is also doing a kick ass job. I don't get a lot of 15 minutes either! It might not always work, but perhaps with some great collaboration, partnering, etc., we can also benefit from a few celeb moments.

But that's only if that celeb is ready to carry us with her.

Thus, if feminism is truly about the personal is the political and I contend that there is nothing more political than becoming a mother, then I hope that Jessica will find a way to use her celeb status to push a feminist mothering agenda and still maintain the privacy she seems to want.

A fab review of "Pink Brain, Blue Brain"

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:47:00 +0000

You would think that I wrote Pink Brain, Blue Brain the way I'm obsessed by it. But I just had to share with you the fact that Rosalind C. Barnett and Caryl Rivers, authors of Same Difference: How Gender Myths Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children and Our Jobs, have an excellent review in Women Review of Books.

AND I got special permission to share it with you!

It's a PDF file, but it's well worth the download and read. Enjoy.

Join the Summer of Feminista

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:52:00 +0000

After I posted about the Census and Dept of Ed boxes that don't properly include Latinos & Latinas, I received some comments & emails about this blog. Comments from Latinas about how they felt like they were raised in a feminist way, but without knowing or learning the word feminist. Comments about struggling with feminism as a Latina. Comments about feeling shunned in women's studies courses (as someone who has two women's studies minors broke my heart). So it's been stewing...What can I do about this?

The Summer of Feminista (or so I'm calling it now, other suggestions much appreciated!) was born.

If you are a Latina and have issues with feminism, things you want to discuss about feminism or merely reflect on how your abuelita raised you in such a radically feminist way despite the fact that she never uttered the word, then I am asking you to submit a guest blog post between the June 29th and Sept 14th, in other words, the rest of the summer. While I appreciate the heavy intellectual stuff (feminism vs womanism), I'm also looking for a straight forward post about your thoughts. No need to footnote your post! Unless you want of course.

You will submit posts to me via email and I will link back to you unless you want to post anonymously. I know some of you have already said that you want to be more open than you think you can be with your name attached. I'm cool with that.

Please use this doodle page to sign up for a week. Please, please leave your email so I can contact you! Thanks!

EVENT: Fulfill your pledge at a Chicago Red Stars game!

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:44:00 +0000

Remember my challenge to you my dear readers? The one where I asked you to pledge to attend ONE professional women's sporting event in 2010? Well Chicago friends, July 25th is a wonderful chance to fulfill that pledge!

Chicago Red Stars vs Boston Breakers

July 25, 2010

3 PM

Toyota Park

$19 per ticket

For $19 you get discounted Harlem End tickets with a hot dog or pizza, dessert/fruit cup, and drink during a pre-game tailgate lunch at the stadium. You will be placed in seats with the “I Pledge to Attend a Women’s Sports Game 2010” group. If we purchase 50 tickets in this section, 11 lucky kids, age 11 and under, will be selected to be player escorts for the Chicago Red Stars, leading WPS players onto the field during introductions. Use our super special ticket portal to purchase your tickets!

If you haven't been to a Red Stars game, let me tell you that it's awesome. The crowd is super family friendly, parking is right outside the stadium and the game is great.

In case you are wondering, I am not benefiting from this promotion at all. Not one penny goes to me.

Now go get your tickets and I'll see you at the fruit cups.

Book Review: Girl Sleuth by Melanie Rehak

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:01:00 +0000

When my daughter was old enough for chapter books, I couldn't wait to get her a Nancy Drew book, specifically a young readers version of Nancy called "Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew." She fell in love!

It's precisely this handing down of Nancy Drew from mother to daughter, aunt to niece and super cool friend of Mom's to a young girl that has allowed Nancy Drew to remain one of the best selling children's book series of all time. In Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, Melanie Rehak does an excellent job at outlining the birth and rise to world domination of our beloved Nancy Drew.

The birth of Nancy Drew came from a combination of "father of only daughters finds feminism" and a new found attention of the massive buying power of teens. In 1922 "the Stratemeyer Syndicate [which birthed Nancy Drew] earned $9.1 million, $1 million of which was from [one of their girls series] (page 98)." Which leads to one of the themes of this double biography - the evolution of girlhood in the USA. How did such a strong girl character catch in the years between the first and second wave of feminism?

Girl Sleuth is the story of the two women who did indeed craft Nancy's character and sustained our appetite for more and more Nancy Drew mysteries. One woman charted her own path in writing and journalism, the other found a career opportunity out of her father's untimely death. Both were partners in crime, yet also were antagonistic to each other over the years.

What made me smile was the way that Rehak weaved in feminist history into Nancy's history. Rehak doesn't say that Nancy is a feminist character, but she does show us how the role of women in the workforce, girlhood and the emergence of the second wave of feminism all impacted Nancy's development.

This isn't a new book. In fact the series my daughter likes to read isn't referenced as it started in 2006 and this book was published in 2005. But it's a book that I've been meaning to read for years. Fellow book worm, Rachel read it years ago and said I had to read it and that I would love it. She was right. I received this book through PaperbackSwap.com.

I would add this to any summer reading list. It's an easy read, enjoyable and if you loved Nancy as a girl, you'll love this book. Purchase a copy from an indie bookstore or Powells.com and toss it in your bag.

* Book links are affiliate links. If you buy your book here I could make a very small amount of money that goes towards this blog.

Why don't Chicago museums love Chicago kids?

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:58:00 +0000

I'm pretty sure I've noticed this before, but it wasn't until a co-worker sent me a list of free days of Chicago museums that it dawned on me again. There are not many free days for Chicago Public School kids. The last day for CPS is not until this Friday, June 18th.

The Adler Planetarium doesn't have one free day between June 21st and September 6th. In fact they have a free day on the FIRST DAY for CPS. There is a free week two weeks before CPS lets out for the summer.
The Field Museum has three free days during the CPS summer break. It also has three free days in June before CPS kids are off for the summer.
The Museum of Science and Industry has one free day during CPS summer break. There is a free week two weeks before CPS lets out for the summer.
The Shedd Aquarium has ZERO free days during CPS summer break. There is a free week the last week CPS is in session (this week!).

I think that most of us would consider these four museums the four of the big five or major museums in Chicago. The fifth is the Art Institute which has free evenings every Thursday from 5 pm - 8 pm.

So why? Why would four of our biggest museums shut their doors to Chicago Public School kids? Their parents (myself included) pay taxes to support these institutions. Considering the budget cuts in CPS and the lack of field trips to these institutions, I would like to think that these museums would all be accessible to CPS kids during the summer time. In fact, I believe there should be CPS free days. Bring in your report card to prove you go to a CPS school and get in free.

That seems fair, right?

Until that time, take a look at the list of museums for the smaller ones who remember that they belong to a community.

Book Review: A Bad Day for Pretty by Sophie Littlefield

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:05:00 +0000

Stella looks like and usually acts like your run of the mill grandma. But she has a secret that is protected not by her, but also by the women she helps. Stella spent years in an abusive marriage and busted out of it in the most literal sense. Now she dedicates her life to busting other women out of abusive relationships.

A Bad Day for Pretty by Sophie Littlefield held my attention like no other mystery novel. Not only did I want to learn the conclusion of the murder mystery, but I also wanted to know more about Stella. I wish we all had a Stella in our lives and not just because she kicks ass. I want to share a beer with her.

This book was pitched to me as a feminist mystery novel and there are certainly a lot of feminist messages. What I loved even more was a debate between Stella and her partner-in-crime in training, Chrissy about which women deserve to be saved. There's even an awesome scene where Stella goes off on Working Mother magazine. But in the end, I'd say it is a sisterhood book. Tales of sisterhood. Sprinkled with murder, lust, love, broken hearts and fresh bread.

I give this book a big thumbs up! It was fun, smart and a quick read. Purchase a copy from an indie bookstore or Powells.com and toss it in your beach bag.

Disclaimer: The only payment I received was the copy of the book.

* Book links are affiliate links. If you buy your book here I could make a very small amount of money that goes towards this blog.

Another shooting that targets women & the media just yawns

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:38:00 +0000

Jennifer Pozner at WIMNs Voices:

It happened again. Another violent guy shot and killed his wife — and went on to gun down six other women unfortunate enough to be in his path before committing suicide. Four women are now dead; three others are in critical condition. And some media outlets (such as the AP story on Yahoo! News, “5 dead after shooting in Miami-area restaurant,”) are still failing to report this as a gender-based hate crime… echoing previous journalistic failures.

Me two years ago:

Friend of Viva la Feminista, Jennifer Pozner has been writing about the gender imbalance in school, now mass, shootings since Jonesboro in 1996. Heck, one of my first pseudo-blogs back then was the keep a running photo memorial to the women killed in the shootings from Jonesboro to Columbine. Yet time again, shooting after shooting, the media scoffs aside the fact that MEN do most of the killing.

Is there anything new to add to this conversation?

Now go read the rest of Jenn's post.

**

In light of my 10th year of blogging, I swear, I'm going to find my ancient geocities pages just for kicks. But mostly because I want my Jonesboro webpage. I may need to dig out my Mac Performa and hope it turns on.

I'm still not White, but am I American Indian?

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:21:00 +0000

A few months ago when a bunch of us Latinas and Latinos were discussing which box to check on the Census we came up with a good way to express our desire to be seen as Latino to the government. Not white. Latino. We would check yes for Hispanic/Latino and then write in Latino for other.

The Department of Education ain't gonna play that game.

Last month my daughter came home with a note asking us to re-identify her (our) ethnicity for school records [Link is not to her school, just an example]. There was no "other" option (see below). OK, I"ll just leave the second question blank and check the yes for Hispanic/Latino. Then I read further on that if I did that, someone at her school would check a box for us. WTF? The U.S. Department of Education is requiring this of all students, staff, faculty/teachers across the country. As someone who works in education, I had to do this for myself.

Part One: Is this person Hispanic or Latino? (Must choose one)

Hispanic or Latino

Not Hispanic or Latino

Part Two: Select one or more of the following categories that apply to this person.

American Indian or Alaska Native

Asian

Black or African American

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

White

See how in part two, one can be any or all of these, but none of them reflect my heritage as a Mexican-American. The lack of Hispanic/Latino in part two is moving researchers to look into how we see ourselves. Yet, I fear that the researchers aren't quite getting it either. In a recent article about Latinos seeing themselves as White they said:

However, in the New Immigrant Survey used in this study, participants were not given the option of choosing “some other race.”

As a result, in the New Immigrant Survey, more than three-quarters of respondents (79 percent) identified themselves as white, regardless of their skin color.

“This shows that Latino immigrants do recognize the advantages of a white racial identity. Most are attempting to push the boundaries of whiteness to include them, even if their skin color is darker,” Frank said.

About 14 percent of the sample refused to identify with any of the listed races, even though this was not an official option in the survey. (emphasis mine)

Excuse me? Really? As someone who had to fill out a survey just like the one studied, lemme tell ya how I thought my way thru it. Definitions come from the sidebar on this page. My judgment is in bold & italics.

American Indian or Alaska Native:: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. Close...
Asian:: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. No.
Black or African American:: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Um, technically we all do, right? But no.
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander:: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. No.
White:: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. No.

I'm left with reaching waaaay back into Conquistador history to check off white. I've also been told that somewhere on my maternal side, a stubborn and in love Spanish girl ran off to Mexico (now Texas) to marry her beloved and start a ranch. Still have to verify this logical* part of my family history. But I kept going back to the American Indian definition. Yes, I have origins in the original peoples of North America, specifically the mountains of Durango and Baja. Many of my family elders look a lot more like Navajo than Spanish or European.

My decision? I marked American Indian. And I feel terrible.

I feel terrible because I believe that American Indian should be reserved for American Indians...Navajo, Cherokee and Alaskan Natives. I was not going to let someone chose my heritage for me. I don't think that White reflects my history either. But there isn't a straight up Latino box!

So going back to the study that said Latinos chose White for the advantages. No. I'd gather to say that Latinos chose White (when other isn't available) because we are practically forced to choose it. For those of us who don't have Hawaiian, Black or Asian ancestors, what else are we supposed to do? Either option I was left with wasn't authentic. I also know that these counts feed into policy. Do I up the Native numbers or the White numbers? What's the implications for that?

I'd love to hear from other Latinos who have had to make this DOEd decision. I'd also welcome comments from the Native community, even if you want to tell me I screwed up.

*This would cement my line about raising the latest in a long line of stubborn women.

Someone send City Hall a dictionary

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 03:27:00 +0000

Apparently "could" and "should" are being mixed up.

The EPA has told Chicago that the Chicago River should be cleaned up to a level where people could swim in it. The EPA didn't say we should all jump into the Chicago River, but Da Mayor told the Feds to go swim in the Potomac.

Of course the EPA just wants the Chicago River, which is increasingly becoming a place for Chicagoans to canoe and kayak, to be clean enough for people to enjoy. I ran into a friend a few weeks ago and she looked amazing. Her secret? She's rowing. On the Chicago River. She said it stinks like hell, but her guns are loaded! Why is it such a terrible thing for the EPA, hell our own mayor to think that the river should be clean enough that we wouldn't need a series of tetanus shots if we fell in?

For instance, Chicago is the only major U.S. city that doesn't disinfect wastewater before pumping it into waterways. As a result, wastewater pouring out of the district's North Side Treatment Plant contains bacteria levels that are more than 400 times higher than those in disinfected wastewater that Philadelphia pumps into the Delaware River.

Levels of microscopic organisms in the Chicago River also are significantly higher than what Illinois allows in other waterways. Until now, though, pollution standards have been less strict for the Chicago River because it was assumed that people wouldn't come near it.

After five years of study and two years of debate, the federal EPA concluded the river can be restored and made more pleasant for people. "All of us want to see this environmental turnaround continue," the agency said in a statement. [link]

While Chicago officials are looking up "should" and "could" they should also look up SHAMEFUL because I think their pictures are being installed there. One reason why the river shouldn't cleaned up, according to Chicago officials, is that people will drown!

Richard Lanyon, the district's general superintendent, also cited the death last month of Cashmere Castillo, an 8-year-old boy who tumbled into the river while playing a game of tag. Cashmere could not swim.

"The EPA's misguided advocacy would place additional lives at risk because the waterways are not safe for swimming," Lanyon said.

Shameful to use the name of a boy just lost to the river to prop up a dumb idea that if we cleaned the river it would lead to more deaths. The murkiness of the river led to rescuers at the momenet Cashmere fell in from finding him once he slipped into the water. The murkiness of the river lead to the lengthy recovery of his body. Yet, a clean river would be dangerous.

There's something to be said about such arrogance of public officials. But underneath it all, just under the tiny surface is that clear message from public officials that the Chicago River is a sewer and we need to just suck it up. Hopefully your canoe doesn't tip over while you're sucking.

Review: Bitch Magazine the Action Issue

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:21:00 +0000

Action Issue Cover
Originally uploaded by bitch_magazine

It never fails. When I see Bitch magazine on the floor in the pile of mail, I squeal. And rarely does the issue fail me.

I'm still getting use to the color thing and the yellow isn't helping, but hey, if that's the worst I can say about this issue...

First, Andi Zeisler in her letter to the editor addresses the "we don't need feminism" bullshit from Venus. Gotta say that I never got into Venus. I have friends who lived by it, but I'm a music dork. And not even Venus could make me cool.

There's an excellent interview with Heidi Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell Out of the Sky on page 10. I read the few chapters in a book store and fell in love. I really need to get that book. There are awesome pieces on Italian TV and hip hop that acknowledges that us chicks have orgasms too.

But the all out best piece in this issue is a kick ass essay about the hot mom phenomena and how it needs to die.

My mom blogging/tweeting friends know that I say 'Hell Yes!' to this. I feel that women have enough pressure to look hot all the time, to be sexually available all the time and that for moms to also be that way? Fuck that. Correction, fuck the prescriptions that come from blogs, books and magazines about how I should behave, dress and look in order to be a MILF. I'm so tired of being made feel like I'm not sexy just because I don't do this or wear that. I feel that in order to feel sexy, you do what makes you feel sexy. Of course, I won't get a book deal from that line.

But there's more! There is also a great interview with Jen Sorensen about her comics. A look at priv-lit - literature/media that tells women that all they need is to spend a lot of money for their lives to be better. I don't usually read best sellers, so I totally missed the whole "Eat, Pray, Love" mania and after reading this article, I'm kinda happy! But also very curious about how one book could cause such a stir. For the vocab focused of us is a mind scratching piece about the use or lack of use of the word lesbian.

And of course there are always some wonderful book, DVD & music reviews!

Bitch magazine is independent media. It is feminist media. And we need to support it. So please, if you aren't a subscriber, do it today!

Latino Book Giveaway - RESULTS

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:36:00 +0000

For the month of May, I had a total of 26 comments and 8 were from me. So that's 18 entries for the Latino Book Giveaway!

I'm going to number all the comments 1 - 18 in the order received...

And now to go and count up to 10....

And that means that Shannon aka the Radical Housewife has won three books of her choosing:

Try to Remember By Iris Gomez

Hot (broke) Messes By Nancy Trejos

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter By Kathy Cano-Murillo

Little Nuggets of Wisdom By Chuy Bravo, Tom Brunelle

Lone Star Legend By Gwendolyn Zepeda

Into the Beautiful North By Luis Alberto Urrea

Amigoland By Oscar Casares

If Shannon declines or fails to respond to my email within a reasonable amount of time, I'll go back to Random.org and pick another winner.

Thanks for commenting everyone!

Book Review: Motherhood and Feminism by Amber E. Kinser

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica) — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:59:00 +0000

I doubt any role is more judged than mother. Add in sexuality, class and race into the equation and for some of us, we will never be a good mother. But what are we really comparing ourselves/each other to?

We are trying to live up to a myth. A myth of Biblical proportions that has been around for less than sixty years. Stephanie Koontz’s The Way We Never Were does an excellent job at debunking the myth of a “Leave it to Beaver” family and letting Donna Reed be our benchmark. Amber E. Kinser picks up that conversation and runs with it.

In Motherhood and Feminism Kinser outlines the evolution, both natural and government imposed, of the role of motherhood in American society. At the same time she is tracking the evolution of the feminist movement in the USA. Sometimes both areas collide, others they complement each other. And that is what is fascinating about this book – How easily motherhood and the role of the women in families can be shifted by outside economic pressures and government propaganda as well as how the feminist movement often takes its cue from how motherhood is framed.

During the first wave of feminism, it was obvious that many of the women who were engaged in the fight for suffrage took a look at themselves and s,aid, “Hey, women need the vote so we can be better citizens for our children and because women are just better people than men.” The theory that infusing women into politics would clean it up remains with us today. The fact that women could not ask for their own rights for their own sake, but rather used their children as the reason why they shouldn’t be left penniless after her husband dies, also remains with us. Consider how many mothers organizations fight for rights on behalf of children rather than for women themselves.

In many ways the fight for women’s rights has and continues to be fought in the home. The so-called Mommy Wars are a proxy for where a woman should be in society and not about the well-being of children. It is also a proxy for who is worthy of support. “How dare that woman take government money to stay home with her children when my husband works hard and I budget so I can be home?” The backlash against mom bloggers earning money, directly or indirectly through free samples, is yet another battle over where a woman’s priorities should be: her career or her children?

Kinser makes the point over and over again that not all mothers movements are feminist, nor do they want to be. It is honestly easier to get a thousand women to rally for children’s health care than to rally for their own health care that includes access to full reproductive health services. And that’s where the gruff lives.

I've talked with feminists who wished that mothers organizations would just claim the damn label, but I get it. And yes, it usually falls to the abortion question. Kinser has one of the BEST rationales on why feminism must include a pro-choice stance, no ifs ands or buts. I won't quote it, as you really should get the book. I think she does a good job at tackling moms of color, queer moms and low-income moms. This is not a history of white middle class feminist motherhood...Althou she correctly states that much of "mainstream" feminism and motherhood expectations are white middle class and then she rips it apart.

Kinser's book is well written and documents a shared history that many moms and feminists often forget or aren't even aware of. Without moms, we wouldn't have won the right to vote. Without feminism, moms wouldn't have the rights they have today. We're like peanut butter and chocolate...And some us are peanut butter cups.

Lastly, a lot of people have asked me if I teach, I don't. Some of those people then follow up with why not? Or you should. If I were to teach a class, I'd start by using this book. And I just might inquire about starting off with a seminar class. But I have a few other things to wrangle at the moment.

I've already said to go and get this book and regular readers know that I'm gonna ask you to please purchase from an indie bookstore or Powells.com. Now, what are you waiting for?

Disclaimer: The only payment I received was the copy of the book. Amber and I are also both in The Encyclopedia of Motherhood, but we have never met...at least that I recall. :)

This month is Latino Book Month. To celebrate, I'm giving away three books to one reader. To enter, just comment on any May 2010 post by May 31, 2010. I'm too busy to make you jump thru hoops. Comment!