"Oh, if you knew my dreams! My vaulting ambition…"

-Zora Neal Thurston


First and foremost, the article for this week's blog comes from "Bitch Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop Culture". Although this is not the focus of my blog, it is important to me to address this name. When I began reading some of the entries I agreed, with much of what several of the authors were saying, but the fact that it is called "Bitch Magazine" is somewhat disappointing. Why would a group of woman advocating for female equality and such use a derogatory term, especially one that is way overused and often in an incorrect manner? It seems somewhat pointless and just more "in your face" than necessary to use this as a name.
That being said, this article I read "The Ambition Condition" had a lot of insight into the world women writers are live in, a world despite how much we hate to admit it, is dominated by men. The fact is that women who seek success and ambition are often portrayed as spiteful and domineering. Many examples are given of movies such as the "Devil Wears Prada". Women writers who seek success through their writing, often don't admit it and make it seem as if it's something they just do on the "for fun". To put it bluntly this sucks. Why is a women who wants success in the business world categorized as a "bitch" or forced to choose between a family and a career?

The Ambition Condition

Women with Guns

I had never really given much thought to the idea of a gun being a masculine or feminine thing but then again I had also never given much thought to the ideas of guns. It really is though one more area where feminism is affecting women's lives. I imagine that even a few years back a women owning a gun would have been considered radical.
I have never owned or even held a gun and although I imagine it would be a weird feeling and I would feel pretty nervous. I feel like a guy who has never held a gun or been around guns would feel the same way. I'm not sure if this is really an issue of being a women or a man, but more of what you have grown up around.
The idea of women owning guns is empowering but maybe empowering in an unnecessary way. It seems that this only encourages the "man-hater" idea that many men have about feminists. Why do women feel it so necessary to make it socially acceptable for them to own guns? I guess this would lead to a bigger issue about people owning guns in general, despite gender.

Author discusses impact of women and guns

On a bit of a Side Track....

My favorite part of literature is that it really affects all parts of our lives. Maybe because I love language and hate math, but I am a strong believer of the fact that you really could not get through live without words and you might be without numbers.
Getting back to the point though, this woman author addresses women's issues in her book This is How We Do It: The Working Mothers' Manifesto. The author, Carol Evans, is the founder of Working Mother Media. Just the title can bring hope and optimism to our day but one idea she mentioned is, with the recent election is that of Sarah Palin. Despite the controversy she brought to the election it definitely caught people's attention which is still powerful and. It also says a lot that women both on the left and right came together to protect her right to run.
More importantly though Carol Evans is a women writing about politics, even though this is not at all the main focus of the article. Politics has often been an area of writing that women tend to stay away from more recently though women have began to enter this area more and more.

Author sees brighter future for working women

What if Shakespeare had a Sister?

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln set a great example by having an event celebrating women writers. Yet it is still sad to think that it is necessary to have a "Women's History Month" and "Women's Week". I mean after all we don't have a "Men's History Month"'; our history is in general dedicated to men and this makes that just that much more obvious.
Despite my pessimism though this event is really a good thing. The fact that it was called "Shakespeare Sister" is especially interesting and amusing. With Shakespeare being one of the best writers and most influential people in history it really is curious to think what would happen if he had a sister. Obviously it is completely hypothetical to consider, and more in theory. If Shakespear thought like a girl, how would his poems, plays, and stories be different?

Shakespeare's Sister celebrates women writers

Finally Receiving some Recognition

The first thing that caught my eye about this article was the fact that it said "herstory", as opposed to history. I automatically thought awesome women in history!
I have often heard that the best writing comes from personal experience. It's easier to write about what you have lived through and know. A great example of this is Zora Neal Thurston.

Zora Neal Thurston defied racial and gender barriers and is claimed by many prominent Black woman authors as their literary mother. Hurston was married three times, smoked in public while wearing slacks and was raised in one of the few all-Black municipalities in the country, Eatonville, Fla.

The only book I have read by Hurston is Their Eyes Were Watching God and I would highly recommend this book not only because it describes many things Hurston actually went through but also because it's a good story. It displays also many things black women had to go through at the time. But books are finally coming out recognizing all of these achievements.

Black Women writers are making Herstory

Being a Minority Among a Minority

Women have struggled throughout history to achieve what they have so far. These women that fought for suffrage and equal rights were usually middle class white women. Black women, especially lower class had even more barriers to overcome. Not only did they have to fight sexism but at the same time they had to fight racism. Despite these obstacles though several black women have become famous authors and wrote many widely read literature. Some of these women include Maya Angelou, Pearl Michelle Cleage, Beryl Gilroy, Opal Palmer Adisa, Sonia Sanchez, and Zora Neal Thurston. This article barely begins to show the achievements these women have made.

Black Women Writers-Licensing News

Vamos!

Growing up as a Latin American girl in the United States, I grew up very much a part of two cultures simultaneously. I know that in South America, Central America and most Latin countries have very patriarchal societies. Women in these countries have made several advances but it's still surprising yet inspiring that Latin American and Spanish women are making a stir in literature. Even though I have grown up amidst both cultures and can read and write in Spanish, I have never read anything by a Latin American women author. As I read this article I tried to think of women authors that I had at least heard of and could think of only one. Having lived in a bilingual house for eighteen years I find that pretty disappointing. This article gives hopes though that not only will these women authors be known but also widely read.

Latin American and Spanish literature at fore of conference