Pink Ribbon

OK, I know it’s technically September 30, but tomorrow marks the beginning of October, which means a few exciting things:

1. My favorite season, fall, is finally upon us.
2. I will be married one year from 10/9.
3. I will be wearing an inordinate amount of pink and spamming your inboxes asking for donations for my Avon Walk 2010 (click to donate)!

I am also introducing a new blog series – Breast Cancer Awareness. Every day (or almost every day) for the month of October, I will be posting a new fact or resource about breast cancer. Breast Cancer Awareness is an issue close to my heart, and in order to raise money and awareness, my mom and I have walked a total of 196.5 miles and raised over $9,000 EACH in five Avon Walks for Breast Cancer. And now, we’re getting ready for our 6th in 2010. Please consider helping out this month by donating here.

I don’t have a fact for today, though, (since it’s not October yet!) but stay tuned!

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Today’s podcast is an excerpt of my “good wife” paper about whether or not my confidence caused some of my former coworkers to bully me.  The original piece was inspired by Dara Chadwick and her blog post of the same title, which you can find here.

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Transcript:
Hello and welcome to the Small Strokes podcast.  This is Ashley Lauren here, and I am the author of the Small Strokes blog, which you can find at smallstrokesbigoaks.com.  This will be an extension of the blog, and a place where I will be talking about all things feminist: sometimes it may just be me talking, and sometimes I may be interviewing another person or hosting a panel discussion to talk about feminist issues.

I’d like to begin today by talking about my definition of a feminist.  All too often, women are very reluctant to define themselves as feminists.  The word, feminism, sometimes has negative associations with an extremely radical movement and, as such, many women shy away from defining themselves as feminists.  I, however, will say it loud and proud: I am a feminist!

Feminism, as I define it, involves taking note of the marginalization of women, exploring the reasons why women are marginalized, and making an outward effort to minimize that marginalization. As feminists, we should applaud any attempt at social progress, and participate as we see fit; if radical movements are your style, then so be it.  If, like me, small strokes are more your thing, then that’s great, too.

I have been very fortunate to be welcomed in to a wonderful feminist community through smallstrokesbigoaks.com and other social networking sites.  The feminist online presence is particularly strong, and, I think, a modern form of activism. In fact, [r]adical feminists in the late 1960s and 1970s wrote massive amounts of ‘temporary,’ networked texts.  These texts were often collaborative in nature and distributed quickly.  These texts parallel today’s cyber-culture in many ways, especially in their emphasis on networking writings just like we do today through hyperlinks and social networking.  The online feminist community is a powerful force, working not only to exterminate the marginalization of women, but working to empower women as well.

I believe feminism is necessary in the world today.  We see all too many injustices against women, and we must work to correct them.  Hopefully, through smallstrokesbigoaks.com and social networking, I’m starting to do just that.  And I’d like your help!  I’m currently accepting submissions for guest posts to my blog, as well as volunteers to participate in interactive podcasts.  If you’d like more information about either of those, please visit smallstrokesbigoaks.com.

That’s all for today!  Hopefully you enjoyed my first, and shortest podcast, and, if you did, be sure to subscribe for future updates, and, while you’re at it, subscribe to smallstrokesbigoaks.com, too!

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