Nothing will activate this blog like NaBloPoMo

Question is, Can I keep it up????

1. Election news…I kinda wonder why she just won’t quit.
2. I’m struggling over what kind of blog this is, a grad student (to be) blog or a women’s history (which specializes in media and mormonism kinda?) blog or a hybrid of both. Or just a personal blog that covers both ends of that. I am somewhat relieved my friend hanVnah is. dealing with the same issue.  She and I are beginning similar journeys: starting grad school in new but familiar cities.
3. BIG ADULT DECISIONS: I made one of these when I moved in with my boyfriend (now husband), made another when we got engaged then married, adopted the kitties but the latest one seems like a REAL BIG DEAL. More on that later when it is settled.
4. A NEW DESK!!!: I need a nice new desk that has drawers that close. And I probably need a filing cabinet too so the kitties don’t eat all of my paper. There is this option from IKEA. Although I kinda like the idea of having a non IKEA desk because IKEA kinda is for that time in your life when you are just starting out. But who am I kidding I cannot afford anything but IKEA or Target or you get the drift.

Lately, I haven’t felt compelled to update my blog because I’ve been overwhelmed with travel, emotional decisions, and the desire NOT to update about the Spitzer bonanza. In my inclination not to post, I have missed a great opportunity to blog about National Women’s History Month. In late March, I am attending two events in New York sponsored by the National Women’s History Project. I am taking part in their Women’s Art: Women’s Vision Celebration. Check out this link to see all of the women they are honoring this year.

I am very excited for these two events and plan to use the next few weeks to write about women who have really inspired me to honor Women’s History Month.

Their events:

Friday, March 28: There will be a high tea celebrating the honorees at the Puck Building at295 Lafayette Street from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Saturday, March 29: There is a special Women’s Art Brunch and Bus Tour. From noon until 2:30, we will host a brunch at the Pen and Brush Club, 16 E 10th Street , NYC, which was established in 1894 and is the oldest women’s art club in New York City.

To commemorate thirty-fifth anniversary of Roe V. Wade, it’s Blog For Choice Day!

This year’s theme is why it’s important to vote pro-choice…

Why I vote pro-choice:

• To ensure that we maintain the legacy of American feminism started by women before and after Seneca Falls by allowing women to have complete freedom over their bodies.
• To ensure women have complete access to health care which includes reproductive rights.
• To ensure that there is comprehensive sex education available to women of all backgrounds, ages, races and socioeconomic stations.
• To ensure that women and men know what options are available to them.
• To ensure that Roe V. Wade is upheld by congress and the government.
• To ensure that Roe V. Wade decision is respected by the government.

These are just some of the many reasons, I support and vote pro-choice.

- Ms. Rose

I’m proud to have joined Blog for Choice  Day on January 22, the thirty-fifth anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Yeah!

I’m over the serial comma.  Just completely over it.  I am trying to get rid of unnecessary things in my life, and I believe that the serial comma is one of those things.

Too much: I love peanut butter, jelly, and bread.

Just right: I love peanut butter, jelly and bread.

The one problem is that I am currently editing a lot of my old work in which I regularly use all those commas! Oh dear.

I hope I used punctuation correctly during this post…EEK!

So I organized some of my tags. All the ones that were labeled hottlinks, media and media are now just labeled as hottlinks. My thinking for this was that its obvious that anything tagged as hottlinks is related to media and pop culture issues because its either a video link or newspaper link.

I still have more organizing to this! (What will I tag this as?)

When I started this blog, I had several specific ideas about what I would be posting on a regular basis. In my first few posts I wrote that I would write about famous women in history, women I admired, and I also promised I would do a whole bunch of other things on a regular basis.

I FAILED!

But I really don’t care. A majority of my blog posts are feminist-centric, so I’m staying true to who I am. I’ve also been posting a lot about media and pop culture, two subjects I’m very interested in studying on the graduate level. I’ve also opened up personally talking about my travels. One area I would like to improve is incorporating more discussions of history. I’m not sure how I’m going to do this yet, but I know one way that can help is by writing about books I am reading. Most of the books I do read our historical analyses and memoir. What I’m going to start doing is listing all the books I have read in the beginning of every month and then write a review on one or two of the books from the prior month. Who knows I could end up writing more reviews and I won’t limit myself to posting about books just in the beginning of the month.

One thing I have loved blogging about and something I didn’t think I’d write about at all is blogging and internet culture, blogging etiquette and Wikipedia! So I will definitely continue doing this.

I’ll also continue with what I named “hottlinx,” a list of newspaper articles I find relevant to women and/or just plain funny and bizarre. I need to figure out how to make this more of a regular pattern. I like the double T spelling of “hott” because I think its funny and that it is putting a new spin on the word hot, just like the women over at the REAL hot 100 are doing…bless them.

Another organizational issue: my categories. I have a ton of posts lumped in “about ms. Rose” “pop culture” etc. I may reorganize posts a little so they are attached to more specific tags. All for now.

Awesome line:

So it may be time to step back from all this girl-power cheermongering and recognize a simple fact: Women don’t just need to be free to aspire; they also need to be free to just be. Yes, women can be every bit as good as men in track or mathematics, but we don’t have to excel in either to deserve respect as human beings. Wait, haven’t a bunch of feminists been telling us that all along? Duh!

From The Supergirl Syndrome by Lakshi Chaudhry

And I just found out about The Scholar & Feminist Online from Feministing.

I can’t wait to start reading.

Jessica Valenti’s (of Feministing) new book called Full Frontal Feminism.  I totally love the title. I read an interview she linked to on Feministing with Rebecca Traister of Salon.

What I like about Valenti’s style is that she is so honest and nothing is sugar coated.  Like her, I have been unsettled by women who believe in equal pay, equal rights, voting rights, are prochoice etc etc but would rather die than call themselves a feminist.

The most meanigful parts of the interview for me occurs when Traister asks Valenti about her opinions toward rape, rapists and their unfortunate victims:

You write about your frustration with critics who say rape and murder victims like Imette St. Guillen should not have been out so late alone at a bar, but I presume that you also want to teach women how to be safer.

All people should be taught to be safe and make smart decisions. But when you say, “Of course she was raped and murdered,” because she was transgressing by being in a bar having a drink … [Fellow feminist blogger] Shakespeare’s Sister did an amazing post on this pointing out that women aren’t raped because they’re drunk or dress a certain way, women are raped because they’re in the presence of a rapist.

Not to sound lame but you GO GIRL!