Posts by Ashley:
- Decided on a date and a location for the ceremony and reception. (I will be getting married outside. No matter what. Seriously.)
- Bought my dress. (*squeal*) (That picture is NOT my dress, by the way. Like I’d put that online!)
- Decided I will be walking down the aisle to “All You Need is Love” probably played by some sort of string ensemble.
- Decided on colors (black and white) and bridesmaid dresses/shoes.
- My favorite season, fall, is finally upon us.
- I will be married one year from 10/9.
- I will be wearing an inordinate amount of pink and spamming your inboxes asking for donations for my Avon Walk 2010 (click to donate)!
Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/10
October 10th, 2009Another awesome picture from the Avon Walk 2009:
My Feet After 2 Days and 39.3 Miles
My feet don’t look too bad, huh? They hurt, though, I’ll tell ya!
Support Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Our Negative One Year Anniversary
October 9th, 2009
Image by littleREDelf via Flickr
As most of you know from reading this blog, I am engaged to a wonderful man, and, one year from today, I will be happily married!
That’s right, one year from today! I’ve discussed my plans for a feminist marriage and a not-so-feminist wedding before (so go read those posts!) and here’s an update on what I’ve done so far:
As far as I’m concerned, I’m ahead of the game. Feels good!
This weekend, Tim and I have decided to celebrate our negative one year anniversary. It was suggested by @jilliancthomas that, since it’s a negative anniversary, we should steal something from each other instead of giving each other a gift. While I really love that idea (I’d love to steal his charcoal grill!), we decided to celebrate with a little trip. We took a trip last year at this time to Steven’s Point, WI, and this year we will be headed to Madison, WI to enjoy some fall colors, hiking, sight-seeing, and to have my cousin, Jason, take our engagement pictures. It will be really fun, and I can’t wait to get away for a little bit and enjoy the long weekend! If you have any suggestions of places to visit in the Madison area, drop me a comment. Also, I will be using Witur and their awesome iPhone app to update you on my trip LIVE! How cool is that? You can follow along by following me on Twitter, or by checking my itinerary directly. You can also see my other itineraries on my Witur widget a little ways down the sidebar. Enjoy!
Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/9
October 9th, 2009Another picture from the Avon Walk 2009:
The Best Paramedic EVER
This guy was dancing behind the pink ambulance that blasted music and drove up and down the walk route. It was awesome to see him every few hours!
Early detection saves lives! Support Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/8
October 8th, 2009Let’s take a break from facts and check out some pictures, eh? This one is from last year’s Avon Walk.
Avon Walk Cheerleaders 2009
How’s that for turning gender roles on their heads? 🙂 Support Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Another Way Language Excludes People
October 7th, 2009
Image via Wikipedia
It is no secret that language can be used to exclude people. We’ve been talking about exclusionary and ableist language for a while now. It is very easy to make an entire population feel completely othered just by using a word you may think is harmless. While we are fighting against ableist language within the English language, there is another group of people who are being ignored – non-English speakers.
The quickest way to exclude someone is to start speaking in a language they don’t understand. We learn this at a very young age: we write diaries, journals, notes to friends in coded language; we use discourse our parents and teachers may not understand; we learn languages like “pig latin” with our friends. My students do this all the time – if they’re talking about something private, they switch from English to another language. This is all part of forming a community, but an unfortunate part of forming a community is also being able to exclude people from it. A community that really does good – a truly feminist community – must not exclude people.
In Feminist Theory From Margin to Center, bell hooks speaks very eloquently about feminists excluding women from the movement; white, upper class, college-educated feminists were excluding poor and/or black feminists from the women’s liberation movement. She says: “Like Friedan before them, white women who dominate feminist discourse today rarely question whether or not their perspective on women’s reality is true to the lived experiences of women as a collective group” (3). Although I think we are moving beyond this, especially with all of the discussions about ableist language, I fear we are still excluding those whose primary language is not English.
The wonderful thing about feminism on the internet is that both the fight for women’s rights and the internet are borderless – women everywhere are fighting for their rights in different ways, and we are using the internet to spread the word because anyone anywhere can find us! – which is all well and good, but only if they can understand us.
I want to point out this issue because so many people either assume a site is useless to them because it is not in English, or write about women’s rights issues from a strictly English-speaking cultural standpoint. And I think we really need to be aware of that and accomodate fo it. My first step (and I urge you to follow) is installing a translator on my blog to make it accessible to others. I would also love to read feminist blogs in another language (and translate them into English) and link to them from here. Do you know of any blogs that aren’t in English that I could read? What else can I do? What do you do to break down the cultural/language barriers? I’m completely open to suggestions. Let’s all do what we can to break down barriers. Who’s with me?
Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/7
October 7th, 2009Over eighty percent of breast lumps are not cancerous, but benign such as fibrocystic breast disease.
But it’s still important to get any lump checked out! Support Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/6
October 6th, 2009 from breast cancer in the United States in 2009:
Pink Ribbon
Estimated new cases and deaths
 |
New cases: 192,370 (female); 1,910 (male) |
|
Deaths: 40,170 (female); 440 (male) |
Early detection saves lives! Support Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community: Annotated Bibliography Draft 1
October 5th, 2009As most of you know, my thesis project is about Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community. As part of this project, I am required to create an annotated bibliography and write a literature review. I haven’t made it through nearly all of my sources yet, but I wanted to post the draft of 4 annotations I have so far for a few reasons. First, I’d love some feedback from those of you who have had to dredge through this before. Second, I wanted to inspire you all to look at some of these sources! They’re really great resources for anyone interested in feminism, blogging, or literacy.
Annotated Bibliography
Androutsopoulos, Jannis. “Potentials and Limitations of Discourse-Centred Online Ethnography.” Language@Internet, 5 (2008), article 9. 7 July 2009 <http://www.languageatinternet.de>.
Berryman-Fink, Cynthia, Et al. “Blogging About Feminist Interdisciplinarity in the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender.” Women & Language 31.2 (Fall 2008): 26-35. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Elmhurst College Library, Elmhurst, IL. 30 Sep 2009 < http://search.ebscohost.com/>.
Friedman, Jaclyn. “Blogging While Female: Cyberintimidation crosses a line.” Bitch Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop Culture (Summer 2007): 17-17. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Elmhurst College Library, Elmhurst, IL. 30 Sep 2009 < http://search.ebscohost.com/>.
This article originally appeared in Bitch Magazine, which has a primarily female audience. Friedman writes about Kathy Sierra, a techie and blogger who has entered into the primarily male world of technology with some terrible consequences. Just because she was female, she received several threats online, and Friedman details how she fought back against these threats. Friedman also brings up the point that women are not typically accepted in the blogging and technology world. This article, although not scholarly in its tone, will be very helpful to me in defining an online feminist community and the challenges women face when trying to make their blogs successful. Also, on my questionnaire that I will be using to interview the bloggers, I will be asking them about a time they were misunderstood on their blog. This article will help me think about what it means to be misunderstood, and will provide a frame of reference when talking about why the bloggers I’m interviewing received some of the comments they have.
Levy, Steven. “Blogging Beyond the Men’s Club.” Newsweek 145.12 (12 Mar. 2005): 16-16. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Elmhurst College Library, Elmhurst, IL. 30 Sep 2009 < http://search.ebscohost.com/>.
This Newsweek article appeared in 2005 after a Harvard conference on bloggers and the media. In it Levy questions, and rightfully so, the lack of diversity in the blogosphere. He questions that the smartest and best bloggers will rise to the top, since all of the bloggers at the top seemed to be white and male. He posits that this is because blogs are judged by how many people link to them, and as it appeared after that conference, white male bloggers were linking to other white male bloggers. He also provides a few suggestions as to how to promote diversity online. This article will be extremely helpful in my discussion about female bloggers and the challenges they face while trying to break into the blogosphere. Also, I plan on using a section of my project to discuss the diversity of my interview participants, and this article will go a long way toward helping me talk about why there are so few women at the top.
Lindquist, Julie and David Seitz. The Elements of Literacy. New York: Longman, 2009.
As a textbook, this was very informative and user-friendly in my Seminar in Literacy class this summer. I use several passages out of this book to compose my theoretical framework and my method for analysis of my interviews about the literacy events of feminist bloggers. The chapters in this book include an introduction to literacy, discussions about literacy and the mind, literacy and culture, literacy and class, literacy and work, and literacy and technology. These chapters all look at different literacy theorists and use the theories to analyze literacy events from every day life. I hope to emulate some of this analysis in my own project. I anticipate the chapters about technology, culture, and mind will be particularly helpful to me as I discuss blogging, feminism, and the individual literacy practices of the bloggers participating in my interview.
Miller, Carolyn R. and Dawn Shepherd. “Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog.” The Norton Book of Composition. Susan Miller, ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009. 1450-1473.
This is a scholarly article written primarily for those interested in the history of blogging as a genre. In this article, Miller and Shepherd set out analyzing blogs in order to discover many things about blogs, including why blogging caught on so quickly, what the motivations behind bloggers are, what rhetorical work blogs perform and how they perform this work, and how to define blogs as a genre. In order to answer these questions, Miller and Shepherd analyzed a random selection of personal blogs, well-known blogs, and evaluative criteria within blogging communities. Miller and Shepherd do a good job of looking at the history of blogs, as well as the history surrounding their emergence. However, this article is a bit outdated. They seem to be looking only at personal and famous blogs, not at activist blogs like the ones I will be analyzing. They also do not work with bloggers as authors of this genre, but rather focus just on the blogs themselves. The article is helpful to me, however, in looking at the emergence of blogs and their history, and is very helpful to me in defining blogs as a genre.
Morgan-Curtis, Samantha A. “Blogging as a Capstone and Continuing Project. Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women’s Studies Resources 27.2/3 (Winter/Spring 2006): 19-20. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Elmhurst College Library, Elmhurst, IL. 30 Sep 2009 < http://search.ebscohost.com/>.
Rosser, Sue V. “Through the Lenses of Feminist Theory: Focus on Women and Information Technology.” Frontiers 26.1 2005. 1-23. Web. 30 Sep 2009. Project Muse. Retrieved at Elmhurst College Library.
Watt, Jenn. “Blogging Busts Out for Women.” Herizons 20.1 (Summer 2006): 7-7. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Elmhurst College Library, Elmhurst, IL. 30 Sep 2009 < http://search.ebscohost.com/>.
Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/5
October 5th, 2009Did you know that ninety-six percent of women who find and treat breast cancer early will be cancer-free after five years.
Early detection saves lives! Support Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/4
October 4th, 2009Pink Ribbon
Did you know that the first sign of breast cancer usually shows up on a woman’s mammogram before it can be felt or any other symptoms are present?
Early detection saves lives! Support Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/3
October 3rd, 2009Pink Ribbon
Did you know that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74?
You can help reduce this statistic by supporting Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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On Abelist Language and Feministing
October 3rd, 2009With all of the discussions about language and breast cancer ads yesterday, I want to just reiterate how
Poster in my classroom urging students not to use "That's so gay!"
important language is in our society. Really, it’s all we have when we relate to each other, especially when all of our communications are online and completely centered around words. If we make writing our trade, even if we just blog as a part-time thing, we need to watch our language. And as someone interested in literacy practices and language in this feminist community, it disturbs me to see abelist language in popular community sites like Feministing.com.
The Open Letter to Feministing on this ain’t livin’ has drawn attention to this important issue, and you should all read it and cosign it. Consider me cosigned.
And this goes for all abelist language. This is my big deal in my classroom: I don’t want my students using phrases like “That’s so gay!” or “That’s retarded.” I have very personal reasons behind those two, but I believe it is my job as a teacher to promote tolerance, especially in language, by explaining to them why these phrases and ones like them are offensive and why we shouldn’t use them.
So, please, be a good example. Cosign the letter and don’t use that kind of language. Please.
Look for the Intent: Breast Cancer Awareness
October 2nd, 2009
Image by NinJA999 via Flickr
Apparently, not everyone is happy with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Laura over at Adventures of a Young Feminist and @meloukhia from this ain’t livin’ posted some interesting pieces here and here about Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (Seriously, go read them now. Then come back; I’ll wait.) They make some interesting points that – despite being well thought out, well written, and eye-opening – I have to respectfully question.
As you know, I am a staunch breast cancer awareness advocate. Just as a review, I’ve walked in 5 Avon Walks for Breast Cancer, walking 39.3 miles over two days and raising over $1800 which, along with funding research, also funds underprivileged women who cannot afford mammograms or treatments. This year, I’m gearing up for my 6th walk. I know that I’m doing a good thing, and I know that this walk these funds do amazing things for amazing people.
Yes, people. I know that breast cancer affects everyone, not just women. I walk for everyone. Just because I do it wearing pink does not mean I’m ignoring the men who are affected by the disease. The pink ribbon is a universal symbol for breast cancer awareness, and I think it’s OK – even helpful – for causes to have symbols (Do we have an issue with a red AIDS ribbon? Or the LGBTQ cause having a rainbow? Or any other symbols? If we do, I have never heard it.) Is the pink ribbon gendered? Yes. But, honestly, I’m not going to try to change the universal breast cancer symbol because it is pink.
I understand that many people feel that pink ribbon marketing is exploitative – that companies are profiting
from the pain of those who have been touched by breast cancer by putting pink ribbons on products in order to make a profit. I agree. Slapping a pink ribbon on something and promising a donation is not activism, and it is fast becoming a tool for companies to simply increase their profits. Other than the Red campaign, I haven’t seen much in the way of companies fighting for other causes. Why focus on making things pink for a cause? I don’t know. It probably has something to do with the stereotype that women spend lots of money on frivolous things and will do so even more if these things are pink.
Pink Ribbon
I do think marketing products in this way is ridiculous. I don’t usually buy products that have pink ribbons on them unless I know the person selling them and I know they’re doing it because they’re raising money for a walk. But I have bought a lot of that stuff, and I think that’s OK. It’s for a good cause, and since I buy most of it while registering for the Avon Walk, I know where that money is going.
However, raising awareness is a touchy thing. Sometimes it takes shocking statements to grab people’s attention. I don’t think there is anything wrong with wearing a shirt that says “I <3 Boobs” or “Save the Ta-Tas.” We need to look at the intention behind such statements. My intent, personally, is to create awareness, raise money, and save the lives of people who have or who may have breast cancer. And, although I can’t speak for everyone else, I imagine that sentiment is shared by many people. I don’t think many people buy and wear a shirt that says “I <3 Boobs” because they really just love them and have no sense of the cause. I think most people, when wearing and saying such things, have the cause and the lives of people in mind, and that is why they do it. At least, I hope that’s true.
Now, I’m not so sure about these ads. (@TheUndomestic can testify: I messaged her about the first image making me uncomfortable as soon as I received it.) I told her the nature of these made me uncomfortable and, although they aren’t too far off from one of those t-shirts I wrote of earlier, there is a fine line here that I feel was crossed. These ads, unlike the t-shirts, don’t scream awareness to me, and probably don’t to you, either. It wasn’t until the end of the latter that I realized it was something to raise awareness, and even then I thought: “Well, that was a stretch.” These ads, I’m not OK with.
I think, when looking at products and images and ads, we all know when the intent to do good is genuine, and I don’t think it’s fair to write off people or their methods to raise awareness when that intent is there. I think, also, that when a product or an ad or an image is not genuine, we know that too, and when it comes to calling out those, I’m 100% with you.
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Banned Books Week
October 2nd, 2009
Image by DML East Branch via Flickr
How did this get away from me?! As an English teacher, I love almost all banned books. A few of my faves include Catcher in the Rye, Howl, Beloved, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Ulysses, Invisible Man, Slaughterhouse Five… the list goes on.
What are some of your favorite banned books? What are you reading now in the feminist realm? I’m always looking for something good to read – leave me some suggestions!
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Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/2
October 2nd, 2009Pink Ribbon
Did you know that every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer?
You can help reduce this statistic by supporting Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Yours Truly on The Undomestic Goddess!
October 1st, 2009
The Undomestic Goddess
Hey, check me out! My post about Blogging as Social Activism is featured on the Undomestic Goddess site! Go forth and read it (again)!
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Breast Cancer Awareness – 10/1
October 1st, 2009Pink Ribbon
Did you know that one in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime?
You can help reduce this statistic by supporting Breast Cancer Awareness here.
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Links and more Links!
September 30th, 2009People like me! Despite my lack of sleep and general business the past few weeks, this makes me very happy.
Wordie picture from Chally's Canival of Feminists
I’m apparently linked in a few places this week, which is really cool. I’m expecting a few guest posts and cross posts to go up, too, but most importantly, I’m included in this month’s Carnival of Feminists over at Zero at the Bone! (The next carnival is being held at RMJ’s href=”http://deeplyproblematic.blogspot.com/”>Deeply Problematic so don’t forget to submit!)
I’m also on the Global Feminist Link Love over at the Gender Across Borders blog! What a great blog! If you haven’t checked it out yet, you definitely should.
Thanks for all the love, bloggers! One day I will have the time to return it all. For now, check out the lovely blogs on my blogroll!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!
September 30th, 2009Pink Ribbon
OK, I know it’s technically September 30, but tomorrow marks the beginning of October, which means a few exciting things:
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!
Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community: Yours Truly!
September 25th, 2009
Ashley Lauren
1. Define the online feminist blogging community.
2. Tell me about how you came to be a blogger.
Jump off the Bridge
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