This Women’s History Month began with a bang with interesting news bits that hasn’t positively affected women.

On March 6, Samantha Power, key foreign policy aid to Barack Obama called Hilary Clinton a monster. Following the negative press, she stepped down from the campaign.

A similar story about a much more well established woman in the media and politics occurred a day later.

On March 7, news broke that Geraldine Ferraro made some unfortunate comments about Barack Obama:

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept. via

She was then dropped by the Clinton campaign, and Hilary Clinton was accused of being racist among many other things.

On March 10, it was announced that Eliot Spitzer cheated on his wife with a prostitute probably more than once. And then begins the whole should she have stood next to her man questions about Silda Wall Spitzer.

Even better (worse) was the media breaking the myspace page of the prostitute he slept with.

Following these headlines, we saw plenty of Dina Matos McGreevy and with the latest revelation that the newest NYC Governor Paterson also cheated, we saw a lot of imagery of his wife as well.

All of these issues inspired a NYTimes article that I wrote about in this entry.

The rest of NWHM went by (unfortunately) quietly. With St. Patrick’s Day and earlier Easter a week a part, a lot of people stopped paying attention to women’s history in the middle of the month.

To celebrate the month, I attended two events put on by the National Women’s History Project. They honored women in the arts this year. The events finished up with a brunch at the Pen & Brush organization. The brunch honored Molly Murphy MacGregor who had the original idea for National Women’s History Month. She is a woman who I have been in close touch with for the past five years, as I wrote my M.A. thesis about the development of women’s history as its own academic field in the 1970s. MacGregor was one of the powerhouses behind that development.

It has been a hectic month. I wish I could have had more time to focus on NWHM but I had to attend to life’s matters.

I wonder what NWHM will be like next year when I am in graduate school again!

Its time to get ready for grad school and that means getting on top of my reading.  Earlier this week I started to read Race, Gender & Work by Teresa Amott and Julie Matthaei. I was actually assigned to read this book before I started my MA program in women’s history but I never did.  Well, I am very glad I recently started to peruse it.  I am only about 100 pages in but so far I have read about Native American women and Chicana women.  It certainly helps me with my conceptualization of race, gender, work and the idea of “place.” I really want to learn more about the history of Mexico and Mexican colonization prior to the US - Mexico war.  I have a book on my shelf about that. Need to do some digging around for books about that.  I have also ordered some books by some of the professors whom I will be studying with next year. I am very enthused to say the least.

Also in preparation for next year, I need to investigate my memberships for the

American Historical Assocation

Organization of American Historians

I joined them last December but never really figure out how to login.  One of them sends my information to my parents house. Must correct address forward soon.

The last few days have been spent entertaining out of town family, attending National Women’s History Month events, and hanging out with friends.

Yesterday, I met up with the husband’s family and we headed to Union Square. I led us to the fabulous Strand bookstore where I browsed through the Americana and history sections. I finally decided to give up a search for the book I left on the airplane last week and bought some Margaret Atwood books for under $25. I purchased

Cat’s Eye

Oryx and Crake

Wilderness Tips 

I forgot how much I loved going to the Strand and exploring the different shelves. You definitely cannot go in there expecting to buy a certain book but have to be open to the possibilities of what is in store for you.

Today I went to a national women’s history month celebration at the Puck Building in collaboration with the A.I.R. Gallery and the National Women’s History Project. We had a high tea where we celebrated and honored eleven women in the Arts. Full list here.

I went to see my funny friends who’s regular gig is Delusions of Spandex do their improv show Hot for Gym Teacher. Good Stuff! We went out to a wine bar afterward where I managed to spill a glass of $8 Malbec. I went home soon thereafter. I know when to call it a night!

Since I have made up my mind to attend one school over another, we can officially start the “pre-move” moving stage. It is time for me to assess my belongings and

- go through my stuff at my parents house, throw a lot of it out and donate stuff I don’t use.
- Pack up the remaining books at my parents house and take them with me.
- Ask if I can take my bookshelves from there with me.
- At my own apartment, get rid of clothes, books, trinkets I WILL NOT USE!
- Sell some stuff.
- Go down to the dreaded storage unit in our building and go through it.

Then of course we have to make real concrete decisions about how we are moving our stuff, where we are moving to and when we want to do this by. This opens up two whole doors, do we rent or buy? Do we throw our stuff into storage in our new town or move into a new place right away?

I also need to ascertain some new items before I begin the odyssey of graduate school

- A new laptop. I dropped mine (again) this morning. It still works for now.
- A real desk with drawers. My ikea desk isn’t making it happen for me anymore.
- Filing cabinets. Tall glorious filing cabinets.

Alas, I have to figure out my new methodology and practice as a graduate student. It’s been four years since I was in school last and A LOT has changed both in academia and with my personal life, skills and habits.

I MUST

- get a decent planner and stick to it. I currently use a hybrid of google calendar, personal calendar, two notebooks I carry with me and email to remind myself to do things, keep appointments and stay on top of tasks. This is one is very important.
- Figure out what kind of notebooks I like to use.
- Work on my note taking and my penmanship.
- Marking up texts. I use to love highlights but now I am more drawn to using mechanical pencils. I have more respect for the shape of a book but how long will this last when I have hundreds of pages due by tomorrow morning!

More lists and questions and hopefully answers to come!

Yesterday, I tuned into NPR and listened to Talk of the Nation. Journalist Meghan Daum discusses her aptly named article, Raunch is rebranded as ‘confidence.’ Her commentary on the program and article are brilliant.  She certainly hits many features of women and spring break life right on. What I like most about Daum’s journalistic style is that she calls certain statistics and reports “news of the ‘no duh’ variety.” I only begin to chuckle to myself when I think of all the news I read on a regular basis that induces a “duh” cringe in me. The kind of “duh–don’t we all know this already?!?!” reaction that makes me want to run away from the media crazed USA and move to a quiet British Columbia hamlet and be done with it all.

Daum’s no duh news:

The American Medical Assn. released figures about sex and alcohol use during rowdy spring break vacations. The poll, which surveyed female college students and graduates aged 17 to 35, found that 74% believed women used drinking “as an excuse for outrageous behavior”; 83% “had friends who drank the majority of nights while on spring break”; and 12% “felt forced or pressured into sex” during spring break.

Apart from Daum’s almost mischievous, hilarious terms, there is a troubling side to this column.  Daum correctly states that young women are equating their spring break antics with confidence. The wackier, riskier and raunchier they get, the more confident they can claim to be.  Ultimately what this article reveals is that young women are not only partying during spring break but that spring break represents an enlarged version of what is going on today with today’s youth (ie teenagers and young twentysomes.)

Yet another reason I am glad I went to high school in the 1990s.

On the relationship between internet social networks and professors:

Some do so in hopes it will attract attention for a book or paper they have written; others do so inadvertently, joining Facebook to communicate with students and then finding themselves lured deeper by its various applications. via

It sure is a different time than I was in undergrad!

It sucks to be a political wife these days (especially in MI, NJ and NY)

BUT its awesome to by a kittycat in the Ms. Rose Household!

So between Obama’s latest speech, Geraldine Ferraro’s comments, and what have you, it seems like the hierarchy of RACE, CLASS AND GENDER is among us. On all the mainstream news stations, print journals, and online media, the news anchors and journalists are acting like this is a BRAND NEW issue that America has never dealt with before. Well, clearly its been everyone’s minds for a LONG time but since this is the first time that a woman or an African American man is thisclose to winning the democratic candidacy, the topic is all over the place. But we still aren’t addressing these issues in the right way. Instead we are tip toeing around them, only mentioning them as abstract terms and theories. Leave that to the academics. it is up to the media to really get into it.
Even Clinton’s summary of the topics and Obama’s speech is strained at best:

In her opening remarks, Mrs. Clinton said she was “very glad” Mr. Obama had made his speech, given that she said that race had been a “complicated” issue in America that had been marked by “pitfalls” and “detours.” Asked why she was glad, she said that issues of race and gender are “important” and twice called them “difficult issues.” via

Meanwhile, alternative media like Alternet is approaching the categories of race, class and gender with full force. One of their latest pieces called “Veterans Decry Institutional Sexism in Military” excellently details issues female veterans deal with because of their gender.

As soldiers, then as veterans, and, even now, as members of the anti-war movement, women in the military are still fighting to be taken seriously. “It’s hard to be a veteran of the war and a woman,” said Iraq vet Patty McCann. “… A lot of times my experience gets boiled down to what I experienced as a woman — and I don’t get to talk about some of the things that I experienced as a soldier.”

One’s identity as a soldier versus a woman is fascinating. It is a dichotomy that is not explored on CNN or Fox news. It is one that could easily be applied to Clinton and Obama, their racial and gender identities and their identities as political candidates and public personalities.

Major news organizations should take a lead from media like Alternet to deliver us news we deserve.

I think its time to start a petition! Details to follow!

Beside the obvious reason that we have to if I want to continue my education, here are three major reasons why its good to get out of town and our neighborhood.

(1) The only decent drugstore in our hood closed! The Eckerd Pharmacy closest to us closed when it was bought by Rite Aid. Unfortunately, the pharmacy staff at the Rite Aid near us always acts like they cannot be bother to refill our prescriptions. So we go to CVS. The CVS is awesome for a pharmacy but to go buy a simple thing like a toothbrush takes like twenty minutes because of the lines.

(2) Bye bye video store! While I was in Argentina, the Hollywood Video across the street closed. This was not an awesome video story, it was not even a suitable video store , but it was good for picking up a fun popcorn movie on a weekend night. There is a blockbuster down six blocks but it doesn’t warrant a visit because you can get the same selection on the ondemand channel.

(3) Probably the worst one: our FAVORITE take away Chinese food just disappeared. A few days before it disappeared, my husband and I walked by and commented on how nice it looked inside. (No, we have never actually eaten there, we are LAZY new yorkers.) THEN POOF!!! SO sad!

So with our favorite and usual standby’s disappearing may be it is best we disappeared too??

Seems so!

A neighborhood street on a spring day.

One thing I will miss is how beautiful our neighborhood is.

The combination of celebrations today and this month make me think of the women in Northern Ireland and all they have done to work for peace not only in their area but throughout the world.

An example of this was the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, a political party made up of Catholic and Protestant women. While the group never stated whether they thought if Northern Ireland should be a part of the UK or Ireland, they opposed any form of violence. The group officially disbanded in 2006.