Recently in Interviews Category

Regular readers will have noticed that in recent months, Feministing has brought in a number of new contributors: Ariel, Jos, Lori, Rose and myself. No doubt you're getting to know them by reading their posts and engaging with their ideas in the comments section, but I also suspect that you might want to know a little more about these wonderful women (I know I do!). Over the next few weeks, I'll be interviewing my fellow new contributors so that you and I can get to know them a little better. This week I interviewed Jos Truitt.

Jos joined Feministing as a contributor this July, and in the past few months has been blogging up a storm (those of you who love Mad Men Mondays, you can thank Jos for that!). Jos grew up in Boston and graduated from Hampshire College, where she studied philosophy of race, feminist organizing and sequential art, which, she informed me, is the academic term for comics.

Jos now lives in DC, where she is pursuing her passion for reproductive justice. She recently started working part-time at the National Abortion Federation hotline and she serves as a clinic escort with the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force. She has also worked and blogged for Choice USA. In her spare time, she likes to bake and spend time in the printmaking studio, and when I asked her which feminist she'd take with her to a desert island, she gave by far the sweetest answer I've heard yet.

And now, without further ado, The Feministing Five, with Jos Truitt.

Regular readers will have noticed that in recent months, Feministing has brought in a number of new contributors: Ariel, Jos, Lori, Rose Afriye and myself. No doubt you're getting to know them and their expertise by reading their posts and engaging with their ideas in the comments section, but I also suspect that you want to know a little more about these wonderful women (I know I do!). So, over the next few weeks, I'll be interviewing my fellow new contributors, so that you and I can get to know them a little better. This week I interviewed Ariel Boone.

Ariel is in her third year at Cal Berkeley, where she is completing a double major in Music and Political Economy. She grew up in Davis, CA, and was heavily involved with student activism during her high school career. At Berkeley, she is even more heavily involved in student activism, and her list of extracurricular activities reportedly makes her parents wonder how on earth she gets her schoolwork done. In addition to being a Senator in the Associated Students of the University of California and a member of Cal Students for Equal Rights and a Valid Education (CalSERVE), Ariel spends her summers doing a dizzying number of jobs and internships, working on a wide range of issues, from national security to reproductive rights.

Ariel is a self-described policy wonk and a huge West Wing fan (check out who her favorite fictional heroine is). She started contributing to Feministing this August, when she covered for Miriam when Miriam was on vacation. And I speak for all of us when I say that we're might glad that she stayed on.

And now, without further ado, The Feministing Five, with Ariel Boone.

A. S. Byatt, or Dame Byatt as she's officially known, is a Booker Prize-nominated novelist who writes stories about intelligent, complex women - in other words, the kind of women we love here at Feministing. Byatt has written almost a dozen novels and numerous short stories, but her best-known work is Possession: a Love Story. Possession, which she wrote in 1990, is a fascinating story about the interaction of gender, history, literature and love. It was named one of Time's Best 100 Novels of All Time, and is required reading in colleges and high schools all over the world.

In a 1995 interview with Salon, Byatt offered an explanation for her tendency to create educated, willful female characters. "I'm a political feminist," she said. "I think women's lives need quite a lot of improving, some of which has now happened. I'm interested in feminist themes, women's freedom." Despite her political leanings, however, when it comes to teaching literary history, Byatt has very little patience for the practice of reading women novelists simply because they're women. "If you want to teach women to be great writers, you should show them the best, and the best was often done by men... Women should be truthful and then it will be more often done by women, or as often done by women." Given the quality of Byatt's work, it would seem that this prediction has, in part, come true.

Dame Byatt is in the States promoting her new novel The Children's Book, for which she received a Booker Prize nomination. She'll be reading from it, and speaking about her work, this Thursday the 29th at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Tickets are $10 if you're under thirty-five, and $19 for everyone else. You can (and should!) book a seat here.

And now, without further ado, The Feministing Five, with A. S. Byatt.

Michael Kimmel is an author, teacher and activist, and is widely acknowledged as America's most prominent and prolific scholar on masculinity. Kimmel is the author of a staggering number of books, including Men Confront Pornography, The History of Men, The Gendered Society and Manhood in America (noticing a theme?). Most recently, Kimmel's book Guyland examined the lives of young American men. To write it, Kimmel interviewed hundreds of men between the ages of 15 and 25, using their words and his expertise to draw a frightening picture of young American manhood today. Luckily, Kimmel has a one-word solution to the problem: feminism.

Kimmel lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Amy Aronson, with whom he frequently co-writes, and their 10-year-old son Zachary, a budding male feminist. He is a Professor of Sociology at SUNY Stonybrook, where he teaches on gender and masculinity, and has taught and lectured all over the world. He is also a frequent contributor at The Huffington Post. And as if all this wasn't impressive enough, last year he was brought in as a consultant on gender politics during the production of Feministing's favorite TV show, Mad Men.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Michael Kimmel.

Rachel Simmons is a writer and a teacher who has penned two New York Times bestsellers. Not too shabby.

In 2002, Simmons' wrote Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, which shed light on the "mean girls" phenomenon and examined for the first time the cliques and codes of teen girl culture in an academic but accessible way. Like Odd Girl Out, Simmons' second book The Curse of the Good Girl, is based on hundreds of hours spent interviewing and teaching young girls, which Simmons does all over the world. At her summer camp the Girls Leadership Institute, during the months she spends every year teaching at a girls school in South Africa, Simmons gets a rare, honest look inside the torturously complex inner workings of Girl World. The Curse of the Good Girl was written for the parents of young girls, so that their daughters can not only survive Girl World, but emerge as authentic and self-aware young women.

Simmons lives in Brooklyn and, during the course of our phone interview, managed to parallel-park her car according to that borough's complex alternate-side parking rules, while also answering questions about the many challenges facing the modern feminist movement. Again, not too shabby. As you'll see from her interview, Simmons is a very impressive lady.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Rachel Simmons.

Kate Marsh, 27, is the Public Liaison Officer for Children by Choice, a pro-choice organization in Queensland, Australia. Children by Choice is a small organization that, in addition to advocating for reproductive rights, also offers pregnancy counseling.

In the last few months, Queensland's abortion laws have been thrust into the spotlight, thanks in large part to the case of Tegan Leach, a 19-year-old Queensland woman who is being charged for self-inducing a medical abortion using drugs bought overseas. Her boyfriend, who helped her procure the drugs, is also being charged.

The case has brought much-needed attention to the fact that despite the relatively common occurrence of abortion in Australia (in 2002, 25.2% of Australian pregnancies ended in abortion, which is comparable to the US's 24.5% in 2001), there are in fact very few circumstances under which abortion is legal in Australia. And as Marsh notes, the Leach case has led to a decrease in access as doctors around the country, fearing, criminal prosecution, have ceased to provide some forms of abortion.

As an Australian who has always understood the abortion debate in my homeland to be barely-existent, and Australian women's rights to be secure, the case has been eye-opening and upsetting. However, it was a pleasure to interview Ms. Marsh, who has been an outspoken advocate for legislative change on these issues. You'll notice that throughout the interview, I've had to engage in a small amount of cultural translation in order to make Marsh understood to Feministing's mostly American audience. Also, you may also notice that I've stubbornly used Australian spelling for this interview - just this one - in Ms. Marsh's honour.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Kate Marsh.

Patricia Berne is the Co-Founder and Director of Sins Invalid, a San Francisco theater company that blends performance and art with the political vision of a more just and equal world. The goal of the company is to challenge and reshape the public's ideas about people with disabilities and other traditionally marginalized groups. Focusing particularly on disability justice, their performances resist the framing of the company members' bodies as "less-than," simply by putting those bodies on stage. "It's the most basic claiming of voice and claiming of space by creating beautiful work with political grounding," Berne says.

Berne, who believes that performance and other forms of cultural work play a crucial role in movement building, has dedicated her life to social justice, a dedication that has taken many forms. Currently, Berne also chairs the board of San Francisco Women Against Rape. Clearly, her role as Director of Sins Invalid is only one piece of a life devoted to giving voice to the voiceless and empowering the invisible. When I observed that the mission of Sins Invalid sounds both challenging and crucial, Berne's matter-of-fact reply was, "It's challenging, but life is tough."

If you're building a social justice movement, this is the woman you want in your corner. That said, as her answer to question number two reveals, she is a (self-professed) total geek.

And now, without further ado, The Feministing Five, with Patricia Berne.

Melissa Harris-Lacewell is a professor, an author, a mother, a prolific Tweeter, and the possible future First Lady of the great city of New Orleans. Harris-Lacewell, an Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University, majored in English, which explains why she was the only interview subject I've spoken to who was immediately able to answer question number two in the Feministing Five. She didn't stay on long on the English track, however, and got her Ph.D in political science at Duke University and an honorary doctorate from Meadville Theological Seminary.

Fans of The Rachel Maddow Show will recognize Harris-Lacewell, who frequently appears on Maddow's show as well as on Countdown with Keith Olbermann (in fact, Harris-Lacewell had to cut her Feministing interview a bit short, as she was scheduled to appear on Maddow that very night). A very impressive woman, this year Harris-Lacewell was the youngest person ever to deliver the prestigious W.E.B. DuBois lectures at Harvard, and is the author of the acclaimed book Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought. Her upcoming book is called Sister Citizen: A Text For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn't Enough. We can only hope that Tyler Perry doesn't direct the movie version of that, too.

I was grateful to get a few minutes to talk to Harris-Lacewell, or as her students call her, MHL, as she's a busy woman; she spent most of the summer campaigning with her partner, James Perry, a candidate in the 2010 New Orleans mayoral race. So, without further ado, here is this week's Feministing Five, with Melissa Harris-Lacewell.

Welcome to the Feministing Five for another week. This week, I put our five tough questions (OK, four tough questions and one fun one) to Cristina Page. Page, a seriously impressive woman, is the author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America, and is moderator of the RH Reality Check series On Common Ground. She also writes the blog Birth Control Watch where she recently interviewed Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) on his unique position as a pro-life and pro-contraception political leader.

Page is particularly interested in the population of which Ryan is the most prominent member: the overlap between the 51% of Americans who classify themselves as pro-life, and the 60% of Americans who don't want to see Roe v. Wade overturned. Page believes that those Americans, and their leaders, like Ryan, and the members of the diverse coalition she has assembled at On Common Ground, are our best hope for a chance at a real discussion about how to reduce the need for abortion, while simultaneously protecting women's rights and access to abortion and other vital reproductive services.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Cristina Page.

Josh Phillips and Rachel Griffin make one heck of a team. The pair met at Central Michigan University, where they were both members of Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates, CMU's sexual assault education and prevention group. Today, they're taking the mission of that group off campus and all over the country.

Dr. Griffin is an Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University. Griffin's written works, including her doctoral dissertation, address the intersection of gender and race.

Phillips is the founder of East Coast Walkers, a group of CMU students who, in the summer of 2008, walked from Miami to Boston to raise awareness about sexual violence. His book about the experience, 1800 Miles, comes out this fall. The Walkers blogged about their trek along the way, and one entry, written from South Carolina, filled me with hope:

"Something remarkable keeps happen on this trip: our restaurant bills disappear. We will stop in a small mom and pop diner, the waitress will undoubtedly inquire what we are doing, and an eavesdropping patron will sneakily pay our tab as we devour whatever food is on the table. It must be magic..."

It's not magic, but something better: it's a sign that Phillips, Griffin and the East Coast Walkers are not alone in wishing and working for an end to sexual violence.

Phillips and Griffin regularly team up to speak about sexual violence, and to teach workshops on awareness and prevention. Their team approach works well, Griffin says, because when they're addressing a crowd on the topic of sexual violence, "there are people who can hear Josh who can't hear me and vice versa."

And now, without further ado, the inaugural Feministing Five, with Rachel Griffin and Josh Phillips.

I'm pleased as punch to announce the revival of our interview series and to introduce Feministing's new interviews contributor, Chloe! Chloe will be profiling amazing feminist women using a new format that we think everyone will enjoy: The Feminist Five. (No, you'll just have to wait and see.)

More about Chloe:

Chloe Angyal grew up in Sydney, Australia, and credits her radical parents and her all-girls high school for raising her to think that feminism was just common sense. She is a newly-minted graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in Sociology and founded Equal Writes, Princeton's first feminist publication. At Princeton, she worked in eating disorders awareness and prevention, and ran an all-girls dance company. Chloe has just moved to Manhattan, where she works for The Op Ed Project and Choices in Childbirth. She aims to be a writer, a professional feminist and an all-around good person.

This article from last week's NY Times has been inspiring some lively discussion. The article features an interview with Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, in which she claims, among other things, that in her experience, "female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers. Men love to hear themselves talk." In the same article, she goes on to make this gem of a generalization:

"We women take things very personally. We're constantly playing things over in our head -- "What did that mean when they said that?" -- when they mean nothing. And I'm certainly not immune to this. So there's a downside to women."

Of course, Ms. Smith covers a variety of topics in the interview, but these are the quotes that stood out to me. I came away with two main impressions after reading this article.

Taxes! Don't know about you, but just seeing the word "taxes" can bring full-on panic. This week, President Obama announced part of his new tax code plan. I decided to get some help understanding it all from tax professor Annette Nellen, director of the Master's taxation program at San Jose State University.

Hope this helps! Here's Annette...

Immigration reform is back in the news. I asked Christine Neumann-Ortiz, founding executive director of Voces de la Frontera based in Wisconsin, to help explain the latest developments.

Here's Christine...

Last weekend's post was my attempt to help readers, if they were having a hard time like I felt most folks were, understand what was going on with AIG, bonuses and bailout money. This weekend's post is my attempt to help folks better understand what's going on with the auto industry and the auto bailout plans.

Susan Helper is AT&T Professor of Economics at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management. She is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and MIT's International Motor Vehicle Program. Here's Susan...

Need help understanding what's going on with AIG, bailout money and the big picture issues behind the financial crisis? Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Program at the Institute for Policy Studies, helps break it down.

Here's Sarah...

Most industries are facing difficult times right now. Media, and independent media in particular, have long faced uphill battles, but the economic emergency is pushing many state and local newspapers to fold. As the bad news continues, I wanted to speak with someone about the possible ramifications of these losses.

Tracy Van Slyke, former publisher of the progressive, independent magazine In These Times, is the program director of the The Media Consortium, a network of the country's leading independent journalism organizations. (Full disclosure: Feministing is a member.) From their website:

"Millions of Americans are looking for honest, fair, and accurate journalism. We're finding new ways to reach them. Our strategy has three focal points: Making Connections, Building Infrastructure, and Amplifying Our Voice."

Here's Tracy...

Chris Brown's alleged violence against Rihanna has sparked intense debate and discussion about these celebrities.

I decided to ask Traci C. West, PhD, a professor of ethics and African American studies at Drew University's Theological School, for some perspective on the violence and the public's reactions. She researched the historical legacy of violence against black women for her book, Wounds of the Spirit: Black Women, Violence, and Resistance Ethics.

Here's Traci...

There were thousands of demonstrators this past Thursday outside of California's Supreme Court as justices weighed in on whether voters' decision to re-ban same-sex marriage in the state last November was a denial of fundamental rights or whether it's in the people's power to amend the state constitution.

But Prop 8 isn't the only issue facing LGBT communities. Ongoing battles across the nation continue for LGBT rights -- hate crime recognition, adoption rights, immigration and asylum rights, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," to name a few. Kim Ford has been an LGBT rights activist for more than 15 years, has worked extensively with community groups of color in New York City, and knows first-hand the myriad of everyday issues LGBT communities face. Here's Kim...

I recently interviewed Cate LaBarre, a life coach based out of Central New York, on her work -- especially during these difficult times. I hope her words are helpful.

Here's Cate...

There's been lots of talk about clean coal these days. Have you seen any of the industry's commercials? But what you haven't heard much about since Robert F. Kennedy visited the region back in the day is where coal comes from -- the Appalachian Mountains. His son continues to speak out about the region. Ashley Judd a long with many folks in her home state of Kentucky have been doing a lot of activism around mining and the disparities in the Appalachian Mountains there. Judd recently spoke out about a piece Diana Sawyer aired on 20/20 last week called "Children of the Mountains on Appalachian life in Kentucky -- Diane Sawyer is also from the state. The piece sparked some reaction in the blogosphere from folks who have been in the trenches working on these disparities just about their whole lives.

I decided to ask Theresa L. Burriss, the Assistant Professor of English & Appalachian Studies at Radford University, about everyday life in Appalachia and what she thought about clean coal and Diane Sawyer's piece. (Diane Sawyer did a follow-up piece last night on "Mountain Dew mouth".)

Here's Theresa...

Beth Schapiro is a nationally recognized expert on political campaign strategy. With over 30 years of experience in the field, she has developed campaign strategies for successful candidates for all levels of office throughout the Southeast. She is particularly proud of her experience helping to elect several government officials who were the first of their race, gender, or sexual orientation to win a particular office.

Beth is President of The Schapiro Group, Inc. Here's Beth...

Through EngageHer.org and documentary film Engage Her: Getting minority women to lead and vote, founder and CEO Mable Yee is working to get women to the polls -- especially women of color -- millions are registered to vote but don't cast their votes. So why do all those undecideds get so much attention?

Just 10 days to go till the big vote for the next prez. Here's Mable...

Hanaa Rifaey doesn't sleep much. I'll let her explain why. But the next time you find yourself pissed at another policy done wrong, know that Hanaa is on it. And you can be, too. Even if it's a small step, it'll add up.

Here's Hanaa...

Photo of Diane DiMassa by Love Alban

Photo of Cristy C. Road by Amos Mac

Diane DiMassa and Cristy C. Road are contributors of the new anthology, Live Through This. Edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev, Live Through This is a collection of original stories, essays, artwork and photography that explore the use of art to survive many of life's lows, traumas and struggles. Both illustrated and contributed real-life personal pieces to the anthology.

Diane DiMassa is best known as the creator of the comic heroine Hothead Paisan, Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist. She recently illustrated a graphic novel written by Daphne Gottlieb called Jokes and the Unconscious, and regularly contributes to anthologies.

Cristy C. Road's works and publications include the punk rock zine, Greenzine; illustrated storybook, Indestructable; a series of illustrated novels based on filmmaker Esther Bell's upcoming film, Flaming Heterosexual Female; and is currently working on Bad Habits, an illustrated love story.

Here are Diane and Cristy...

Judy Norsigian is co-founder of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective and co-author of the ground breaking Our Bodies, Ourselves published in 1970. Since its publication, women's groups around the world have developed cultural adaptations of, or other publications inspired by, Our Bodies, Ourselves. Most recently, women's groups in Albania, Russia, South Korea, and Tibet have produced new publications in book and other formats. Judy is also the co-author of Our Bodies, Ourselves: Menopause and most recently, Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth. Check out the Our Bodies, Ourselves blog when you can: http://ourbodiesourblog.org/

Judy speaks and writes frequently on a wide range of women's health concerns, including abortion and contraception, sexually transmitted infections, genetics and reproductive technologies, tobacco and women, women and health care reform, and midwifery advocacy.

Here's Judy...

From a recent performance at The Whitney Biennial. Photo by Eduardo Aparicio.

Coco Fusco is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist and writer. She is the author of English is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the Americas, and editor of Corpus Delecti: Performance Art of the Americas, and Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self (with Brian Wallis). Her work on military interrogation was selected for the 2008 Whitney Biennial.

"In the guise of a CIA manual, Coco Fusco's provocative A Field Guide for Female Interrogators offers an unflinching look at women's role in the military and at America's use of torture in the War on Terror"-- (from the book's back cover copy).

Here's Coco...

Martha Ma is a food and media educator and producer, community chef and health counselor. She is the host and producer of "The Tasty Life," a bi-weekly television show on Manhattan Public Access channel 57, and the editor of the e-newsletter, "Eater's Digest."

Martha is also executive producer of the Food for Thought Film Festival. If you're in the NYC area this weekend, check out the last weekend of the festival at Cooper Union's Wollman Auditorium, 51 Astor Place at Third Ave. Feature films include King Corn, Black Gold, and Life and Debt. Shorts include The Meatrix I, II and II 1/2 and The True Cost of Food.

Here's Martha...

Sara Fajardo is a staff photographer at the Orlando Sentinel. Her photojournalism journey has taken her to many places, from local places in the States to covering the rise and fall of president Alberto Fujimori in Peru. You can see some of her photos at her website: http://sarafajardo.com/.

She's also the author of a children's nonfiction book, Enrique's Day: From Dawn to Dusk in a Peruvian City.

Here's Sara...

Allison Kilkenny describes herself as "a political humorist, a fancy way of saying writer, who makes shitty world news funny." She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, The Beast, Alternet.org's Wiretap Magazine, and Timothy McSweeney's. Her work has appeared on The Nation and SIRIUS radio.

Here's Allison Kilkenny...

Deborah Brenner is the author of Women of the Vine and proprietor of Women of the Vine Cellars. While writing the book, Deborah and winemaker, Signe Zoller met and teamed up in 2006 to launch a first-of-its-kind wine company; bottled and produced by Women of the Vine Cellars.

From 2002-2005, Deborah ran her own marketing and public relations firm, SmallFishBigPond, and worked with such companies as Cinecitta Studios of Rome, Quantel, NBC and CNBC. Prior to that, Ms. Brenner spent over 16 years working in the film, television and the post production industries and was involved in four technology startups.

Here's Deborah...

Miki Fujiwara, aka Urban Envy, is a self-employed visual artist/community activist based in New York City.

Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Miki is known to be one of the original members of the New York Tributary Art Movement. The majority of her work, mostly paintings, has been categorized as "Cultural Surrealism," often said to be in the "tradition of Cynthia Tom and Frida Kahlo."

Urban Envy's works can be seen in local galleries of New York City.

Here's Miki...

Bambi Weavil is founder and CEO of Out Impact, Inc and publisher of its online magazine Out Impact. Based in Wilmington, North Carolina, Bambi spends her days and her nights working to raise money for LGBTQ issues...while also squeezing time to write about pro wrestling and her guilty pleasure, "American Idol."

Here's Bambi...

Joan with Javonn, one of the many babies she helped deliver

Joan Bryson became a midwife in 1991, and between her nursing experience and midwifery practice, she's assisted in more than 1,000 births.

At her private practice in Brooklyn, NY--Community Midwifery--she provides midwifery and health care for women in their teens to post menopausal years, including regular gyn exams, breast exams, primary care screening, preconception counseling, STD screening and prevention and family planning.

She is also an active member of New York City midwives. Here's Joan...

Yvette Bello joined Latino Community Services (LCS) in June 2005 and is currently serving as the Executive Director. Based in Hartford, Conn., LCS works to reduce the further spread of HIV/AIDS among the Latino community and other populations at risk, and improve the quality of life of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.

Yvette also serves on the board of the Medical Interpreting Association of Connecticut, The Ryan White Latino Caucus, the Connecticut Association for Nonprofits board and the Mayor's Commission on AIDS.

Here's Yvette...

Sandy Shin is program coordinator at Breakthrough USA. Breakthrough is an international human rights organization that uses media, education and pop culture to promote values of dignity, equality and justice. It has two offices, one in NYC and one in New Delhi, India.

Sandy Shin has a Masters in Human Rights from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies and Sociology from the University of Albany. She was the Legal Advocate Project Director at the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault where she coordinated statewide trainings and provided constituents and the general public with services. Sandy has also been involved with community-driven social movements led by local activists employing anti-racism, anti-war ideologies.

Here's Sandy...

Nancy Northup is the President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a global human rights organization that uses constitutional and international law to secure women's reproductive freedom. The Center has won groundbreaking cases before federal and state courts, U.N. committees, and regional human rights bodies, such as the European Court of Human Rights. Working at the state, national, and international levels, the Center has built the legal capacity of women's rights advocates around the world, working in over 45 countries.

Nancy is an attorney with extensive experience in constitutional impact litigation, criminal law, and reproductive rights advocacy. Here's Nancy....

Katori Hall is a playwright, performer and journalist from Memphis, Tennessee. Her award-winning play, "Hoodoo Love" received its world-premiere at the Cherry Lane Theatre November 1, 2007. Her other plays include: "Remembrance," "Hurt Village," "Saturday Night/Sunday Morning," "The Mountaintop," and "Freedom Train."

She is a recipient of numerous writing awards including the 2007 Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama, 2006 New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting and Screenwriting, 2006 Royal Court Theatre Residency, 2005 Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award. Recently, she was nominated for the Wendy Wasserstein Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Award.

As a journalist, her work has been published in The Boston Globe, Essence, Newsweek and The Commercial Appeal.

These are just some of the highlights of Katori's career. Here's Katori...

Before coming to the Center for Genetics and Society, Emily Galpern worked for 10 years promoting community health and well-being through coalition-building, advocacy, and health education. She holds a BA in women's studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz and obtained her Master's in public health in community health education from San Francisco State University in 2004. She completed a graduate research project on women's sexual and reproductive health in southern Ecuador using a human rights framework, and conducted other research on health disparities and inequities and the impact of racial discrimination on health.

Here's Emily...

Photo by Steed Media Service

In the 1990s, Celeste Beatty traveled Europe, Central America and Africa as an exchange student to study local beer brewing customs after perfecting duplicates of American ales like Samuel Adams. She founded Harlem Brewing Company, the maker of Sugar Hill Golden Ale (delicious, I've tried) in 2000.

Harlem Brewing recently sealed a partnership with the major distributor Manhattan Beer Distributors, which supplies 35 percent of New York City’s market. The deal is helping to get Sugar Hill Golden Ale into bodegas, supermarkets and restaurants around New York City.

A native of North Carolina, Celeste gives 10 percent of her company’s income to charity, usually to jazz organizations. Here's Celeste...

From left to right: Megan Kocher and Heather Ites

Circa 1970-something, "two women decided to gather some books on women's topics and offer them for sale on the front porch of their living collective," and according to its website, Amazon Bookstore has been around ever since. It remains the oldest independent feminist bookstore in North America.

Megan Kocher and Heather Ites help run and own Amazon Bookstore Cooperative. Here's Megan and Heather...

Sister Outsider is the latest project of novelists, screenwriters, and entrepreneurs Elisha Miranda and Sofia Quintero who have been collaborating since 2000. They co-founded the nonprofit Chica Luna Productions and its project, The F-Word, that is working to train the next generation of women of color filmmakers.

Julia Carias is an actor, educator, filmmaker, and Sister Outsider's Director of Operations and Productions.
Among her list of works and activism, Julia co-wrote, produced and directed her first play in 2002, "Roots," a production by La Casa Latina, an organization dedicated to promoting Latino culture throughout the college community.

Here's Julia...

After graduating high school, Michelle Walker left NYC for the UK to spend years singing in renowned clubs like The Limelight and Ronnie Scott's. After moving to the D.C. area to study voice, she spent graduate school at American University, and continued her jazz studies privately with Madeline Eastman, Jay Clayton, Nancy Marano, Pam Bricker, Dena DeRose, Rhiannon and jazz vocalist Mark Murphy. Michelle also studied at the Amsterdam Music Conservatory in Holland and the Stanford Jazz Summer Workshop in Palo Alto, CA.

Some highlights of her work include opening on tour for jazz vocalists Mark Murphy, Rene Marie, Chris Botti, George Benson, Spyro Gyra, Terrell Stafford and opening for Wynton Marsalis. Michelle currently teaches privately and conducts workshops on musical performance and career management when she's not on stage. Here's Michelle...

Maya Nussbaum (right) with author Tayari Jones at the Girls Write Now 10th Anniversary Friendraiser on October 18. Photo taken by Nana Brew-Hammond.

Founded by Maya Nussbaum, Girls Write Now is the only East Coast nonprofit that provides all-girl mentoring and creative writing training for high school girls. Based in New York City, Girls Write Now matches young aspiring female writers with a professional female writer to serve as her mentor and writing coach.

Founder and Executive Director Maya Nussbaum reflects on the past 10 years and why girls need to write. Here's Maya...

Filmmaker Tiona. M. has worked in the educational documentary genre and pulled up her sleeves in the non-profit arena. This time, she has two documentary films that she wants to share with the world. One is on a Black women and her two daughters, and their university experience. The other, which I interviewed her on, is black./womyn.: conversations..., which should be out soon.

Here's Tiona...

Sol Mills does corporate social responsibility for a living, she works for CSCC. Originally named Cal Safety Compliance Corporation, it pioneered the concept of safety compliance inspections in the California apparel community. The company grew and changed its name to CSCC. Today CSCC provides corporate social responsibility consulting services to a variety of industries around the world, including garments and textiles, home furnishings, hard-lines, technology, cosmetics, toys, food processing, and agriculture.

Just to make sure, the following responses represent only the personal opinions of Ms. Mills and not of CSCC, the company.

Here's Sol...

Ren Jender is a writer/performer who for eight and a half years was the host and founder of The Amazon Slam, a Boston-based all woman poetry slam that won "The Best Poll" of The Boston Phoenix from 1998-2003 and was named "Best of Boston" in Boston Magazine in 1999. Her work has appeared in Bitch Magazine, Bay Windows and Spare Change. She has been profiled in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Boston Metro, The Boston Phoenix, Curve and Teen Voices. She was the co-curator/co-producer of the Lisa King Memorial show in Boston in May of 2006.

She's currently working on a new creative and community project. Here's Ren...

Staceyann Chin is a full-time artist. Writing from her experiences as a Jamaican national and a New York City resident, Staceyann has been an “out poet and political activist� since 1998. She's performed on the stages of the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, Off-Broadway and Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. In 1999, Staceyann took the American Amazon Slam title in Aarhus, Denmark.

Her acclaimed individual performances have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and "60 Minutes." Her poems and writings can be found in Stories Surrounding My Coming, and numerous anthologies, including Skyscrapers, Taxis and Tampons; Poetry Slam; Role Call and Cultural Studies: Critical Methodologies.

In 2000, Staceyann's first one-woman show, "Hands Afire" ran for ten weeks at the Bleecker Theater. Off-Broadway Theater welcomed her second show, "UNSPEAKABLE THINGS" in the summer of 2001 before she took it to Copenhagen for a week-long run. London, Helsinki, Sweden and Norway are in line for showings. These are just some of her accomplishments.

She is currently a host on Logo's After Ellen internet show "She Said What?" and a co-host of BETJ's "My Two Cents." She's still creating and sharing. Here's Staceyann...

Elizabeth Dahmen front; Photo by Liz Liguori

Elizabeth Dahmen is a comedian, actor and singer who's performed in countless productions in NYC over the last 10 years. She's been featured in The L Magazine, and in GO Magazine’s “100 Women We Love.� She also hosted karaoke at Meow Mix for three years before it closed down and starred in the hit lesbian short "Bar Talk " directed by Cheryl Furjanic. She starred in "Ex-Antwone" a controversial play directed by Juan Souki that had an English language world premiere at PS 122 last fall, and just recently shot a scene in Madeleine Olnek's upcoming film.

She's also Terry Tone of The Lesbian Overtones. Here's Elizabeth...

A 2002 study found that 87 percent of women in Jordan believe their husbands are justified in using physical and verbal violence against them. So the country is launching a project, under the direction of Queen Rania, to curb violence against women.

Feoshia Henderson is a former reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Before the Enquirer she covered the Kentucky Legislature and Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Post and The Kentucky Gazette.

She is currently a freelance journalist and blogs about social issues on her Myspace page. Feoshia describes her blog, Femblog, and her blog identity, Femblogger, as:

“I’m a frustrated political reporter looking for people who care about themselves and the world and are looking for a place to talk about it. I blog every day and you’ll find stories here that you usually won’t hear about anywhere else. I’m working to create an e-community of people who vote, who pay attention and who have something to say to politicians. Come by MySpace anytime! If you like it, then friend me. Here you’ll read about politics, social trends, technology, free speech, mass media, women’s health, sex, gender issues, relationships and more!�

Here’s Feoshia…

Trish has written for Time Out Chicago, The Village Voice, Punk Planet and AfterEllen.com. She is one of the Hook-up bloggers on Ourchart.com, one of the curators for Queer Fest Midwest, and was the co-founder and publisher of the now defunct, chillmag.com.

Trish took time out this week to report back on Queer Fest Midwest in Chicago last weekend and her views on mainstream queer media. Here's Trish...

Women Don't Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation—and Positive Strategies for Change, by Sara Laschever and Linda Babcock was first published in 2003 and recently released in paperback February 2007. I know some women who think this book has truly changed their lives and their literal outlooks.

Sara Laschever, pictured above, is a writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, the Village Voice, Vogue and other publications.

Here's Sara...

Tatiana

Tatiana Suarez Pico, Tara Lopez and Aurin Squire together make a bilingual comic strip titled, "Bodega Ave." Tatiana translates and writes, Aurin writes and Tara draws.

Their website describes "Bodega Ave." as a pop fantasy and ridiculous satire based on a bunch of pre-teens in Brooklyn."

Here's Tatiana, Tara and Aurin...

Deidra has been running her blog, Black and Missing but Not Forgotten since July 2007. She states:

"This blog is dedicated to all the missing black women in America. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr once said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." If the media doesn't step up—who will? Let these ladies know that we did not forget about them."

Deidra made time between her two jobs and blog to answer my questions. Here's Deidra...

Wendy is the current president of BiNet USA and a software engineer. BiNet USA is the oldest national bisexual entity in the United States. "It is a network of groups, projects and individuals, encouraging dialogue and participation as a way of creating and maintaining a cohesive bisexual community and empowering individuals to feel proud of their bisexuality."

I caught up with Wendy over email. Here's Wendy...

Singer and songwriter Nicole Nelson recently returned to New York City after a long run in Boston, MA where I first saw her perform. Her voice and music are often compared to the artistry of Eva Cassidy, Donny Hathaway, Gladys Knight and Erykah Badu; and her style and poise are often compared to those of female greats well beyond her years.

I thankfully caught up with Nicole over email amidst her hectic schedule. Here's Nicole...

Mattilda, a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore, is the author of a novel, Pulling Taffy, and the editor of three nonfiction anthologies: That's Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation; Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving; and Tricks and Treats: Sex Workers Write About Their Clients. She is at it again with her latest anthology, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity.

I caught up with Mattilda over email. Here's Mattilda...

Brooklyn filmmaker Sarah Schenck’s first feature film, Slippery Slope, bills itself as “a comedy about pornography and feminism.� Those aren’t words you see together every day. All too often, the debates around the topic are polarizing and volatile.

Here, Schenck takes an antiporn feminist who’s trying to get funding so her film Porn for Dummies can go to the Cannes Film Festival, but the only way she can make ends meet is to take a job on the set of a porn flick helmed by a woman. She has to keep her job a secret from her boyfriend while also figuring out the logistics of the genre and what her own politics will let her do. “With hot button issues, humor is often the best way to start a conversation about it,� says Schenck.

The 41-year-old mother of two, who was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for producing 2004’s Virgin, starring Robin Wright Penn and Elisabeth Moss, was inspired by her own potential dip into the world of porn directing, which she ultimately chose not to pursue. While making Slippery Slope, though, Schenck herself got an education in the mock-porn business, shooting mishaps, and learning when to compromise. Her, she delves into the complexity of feminist debates about housework, babies, and smut.

by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Maribel Ortega is a fashion designer whose about to open up her first shop featuring her clothing line, LANENA, in Madrid, Spain. Right now you can get her T-shirts online.

LANENA comes from a nickname her family and friends call her—"La Nena"—meaning "Little Girl" in Spanish. Here's Maribel...

Katina Paron is the editorial and program director of the nonprofit Children's PressLine (CPL) housed in the Martin Luther King, Jr. high school in New York City. CPL teaches youth between the ages of 8 and 18 the craft of oral journalism to empower youth and educate adults on youth issues. Youth at CPL interview other youth throughout the five boroughs and across the country on various social and economic issues that affect their everyday lives, their interviews are then in turn published in adult media outlets such as The New York Daily News and Alternet.org for adults to read and learn.

When she's not getting CPL interviews published, Katina's working hard to get funding. Here's Katina...

Deborah Siegel, PhD is a writer and consultant specializing in women's issues. She is a Fellow at the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership and co-editor of the anthology Only Child. She has written about women, sex, families and popular culture and has been featured in Psychology Today, USA Today, The New York Times, Time Out New York and Ms.

Deborah took time out from her participation in the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) Conference, June 28-July 1 in St. Charles, Illinois to email the answers to my questions on her new book, Sisterhood Interrupted, From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild.

Here's Deborah...

Some old fashioned woman hate for your Wednesday.

Farida Nekzad began receiving menacing calls on her cell phone a half hour after arriving at the funeral of a fellow female journalist assassinated by gunmen.

"'Daughter of America! We will kill you, just like we killed her,'" she quoted the man on the phone as saying as she stood near the maimed body of Zakia Zaki, the owner of a radio station north of Kabul.

I won't go as far as the article to say that women's lives have "vastly" improved since the fall of the Taliban. The condition and lives of women in Afghanistan are deplorable, but it seems to be a new trend that journalists and other media related women that are in highly visible spaces are being targeted with violence and murder.

"They want to make news, and targeting the journalists is a way to make news," Naderi said. "They're showing the world, 'We're here and we're still in charge of this country.'"

Women have played a large role in the country's media advances the past six years, and several women work on TV news programs as reporters and newscasters. They are typically modestly dressed, with their hair and necklines carefully hidden under scarves.

Still, some Afghans think it is inappropriate for women to appear before the public.

via AP.

Photo by Niesha Studio, copyright 2006.

Audacia Ray is an executive editor of $pread, a magazine by and for sex workers, and is a contributor to the porn blog Fleshbot. She is also the director/producer of a bisexual feature adult film, The Bi Apple and head of her blog, WakingVixen.com. Audacia describes herself as "a sex nerd in both bookish and salacious ways."

Here's Audacia...

Apparently not. This woman is actually supposed to disgust you.

Apparently this is just one in a series of Brazilian ads for light yogurt that takes iconic images of women and replaces them with "fat" women. The tagline? Forget about it. Men’s preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt.

Excuse me while I go dispose of all the yogurt in my fridge. Fuckers.

Via tigtog and the f-word.

Queercents, founded and headed up by Nina Smith, is a personal finance blog serving the LGBT community. Launched in April 2006, Queercents is produced by a variety of writers, including Nina.

Nina has a strong background in finances and financial planning. By day she sells software and conducts her own real estate investments--fixing and selling properties for hefty profits--and by night she runs Queercents. Nina started blogging because she was looking for a creative outlet in her life.

Here's Nina...

From left to right: Sharon Kedar and Manisha Thakor.

Sharon Kedar and Manisha Thakor both have extensive experience in the financial services industry. At various points of their careers they have each worked as financial analysts, portfolio managers, and client servicing/marketing executives for leading investment management firms with billions of dollars in assets under management. Both Manisha and Sharon earned MBA degrees from Harvard Business School and are Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA�) charterholders.

Manish and Sharon dedicate their newly released book, On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance to all women.

Here's Manisha and Sharon...

Avideh on right.

Avideh Moussavian has been the Director of Immigration Policy and Advocacy at the New York Immigration Coalition, since late 2004. Prior to joining the Coalition, she practiced law in the private sector for four years, where she gained pro bono experience working with and representing asylum seekers.

Avideh said, "Immigrant rights work has been a wonderful way to combine my interests in law and social justice and working with an international community."

Here's Avideh...

Our very own Jessica Valenti, founder and editor of Feministing.com, has published her first book Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters; released late April 2007. The book has since sparked discussions across the political spectrum.

Jessica has a Master's degree in Women's and Gender Studies from Rutgers University. In addition to founding Feministing.com, Jessica is a co-founder of the REAL hot 100, a counter campaign to Maxim magazine's Hot 100, that instead highlights the important work young women are doing across the country. She has worked with such organizations as NARAL Pro-Choice America, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund), Planned Parenthood and the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). Her writing has appeared in Ms. magazine, Salon, The Guardian (UK), Bitch, Alternet, The Scholar & Feminist and Guernica.

Here's Jessica...

From left to right: Make/shift founders Jessica Hoffmann, Stephanie Abraham and Daria Yudacufski. Photo by Christopher Bazin.

The first issue of Make/shift magazine is now out and about. Founded and created by Jessica Hoffman, Stephanie Abraham and Daria Yudacufski, make/shift creates and documents contemporary feminist culture and action by publishing journalism, critical analysis, and visual and text art.

Based in Venice, California, make/shift is produced by an editorial collective that is committed to anti-racist, transnational, and queer perspectives. According to the magazine's mission statement, "We know there’s exciting work being done in various spaces and forms by people seriously and playfully resisting and creating alternatives to systematic oppression. Make/shift exists to represent, participate in, critique, provoke, and inspire more of that good work."

The second issue of make/shift is in the works and will be released this fall. Here's Jessica, Stephanie and Daria...

Barbara Carrellas is an author, sex educator, and theater artist. Her most recent books are Urban Tantra: Sacred Sex for the Twenty-First Century and Luxurious Loving: Tantric Inspirations for Passion and Pleasure. She conducts Urban Tantra workshops throughout New York City and is the co-founder of Erotic Awakening, a groundbreaking series of workshops which toured the United States and Australia. Believe me, her list of amazing accomplishments goes on and on.

Barbara is currently directing her partner Kate Bornstein in Kate’s new solo show, “Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger.� They also frequently perform and tour their sex positive, gender-bending lecture/performance piece, “Too Tall Blondes Do Sex, Death & Gender.� Barbara is also the Dean of Femmenergy at Miss Vera’s Finishing School For Boys Who Want To Be Girls, a crossdressing academy.

I corresponded with Barbara over email on her new book Urban Tantra. Here’s Barbara…

Contributed by Rachel Kramer Bussel

38-year-old writer Peggy Munson lives in “the wilds of western Massachusetts,� where she’s been penning lusty stories that are frequently featured in annual anthologies like Best Lesbian Erotica and Best American Erotica as well as other types of fiction and poetry. She’s also the editor of the 2000 anthology Stricken: Voices from the Hidden Epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Haworth Press), and her disability plays a large role in her work, affecting everything her writing schedule to her writing style. Her first novel, Origami Striptease, a “lyrical love story between a writer and an enigmatic wanderer named Jack,� was published in 2006 by San Francisco queer indie publisher Suspect Thoughts Press, after winning the 2004 Project Queerlit prize. Here, Munson explains via email just what “iambic meter� is, the connection between identity and language, why she’s been “buoyed� by the queer writing community in the wake of having a video of her reading from her novel (which you can see, and salivate over, at blip.tv) censored from a Lambda Literary Award finalist reading (Origami is up for Best Lesbian Debut Fiction), and pushing the edges of the queer literary canon “to its breaking point.�

Daisy Hernandez is the Managing Editor of ColorLines, a bimonthly progressive magazine based in Oakland, CA that takes the issue of race in America to the forefront of national debate. It is published by the Applied Research Center based in New York City.

Daisy is the co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Today’s Feminism. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Ms., Newsday, National Catholic Reporter, The Progressive Media Project, Bitch, Curve, Criticas, and In These Times.

Here’s Daisy….

Teen Voices is an international feminist teen women’s magazine based in Boston that is by, for and about teen women. The magazine and website, Teenvoices.com, publish writings and artwork by teen women from all over the world on issues that matter to them.

I became a volunteer editorial mentor for the magazine back in 1997, and became the magazine’s Senior Editor shortly thereafter. I couldn’t wait to graduate and be its Senior Editor full-time! I worked at Teen Voices for six glorious years, and then it was time to move on.

One of my comrades and close friends, Tori Costa, who I met at Teen Voices, is now its Marketing Director. She started out as an editorial mentor back in 1999 and became a full-time staff person when she graduated in 2000.

Here’s Tori…

Contributed by Mandy Van Deven.

During time off from her book tour, Jennifer Baumgardner invited me to talk about her new book Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics. Her previous books, Manifesta and Grassroots: A Field Guide to Feminist Activism (both co-written with Amy Richards), resonate with many young women who are searching to establish their own feminist identities. Look Both Ways combines an examination of how the social and political gains of the second wave feminist movement contribute to the ability of younger women to claim their own sexualities – and all of the complexities that come with it – while featuring the personal stories of many well-known bisexual women across generations. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to dig deeper into these issues with this prominent third wave writer and activist.

Faye Driscoll is a daring and thought-provoking choreographer who is currently an artist in residence at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange in NY. She has toured internationally as a dancer and has taken her choreographed shows on the road across the U.S.

Her new show, “Wow, Mom, Wow,� will make its world premiere at Dance New Amsterdam in New York City, April 26-29. Faye will also be performing the show at the Michigan Womyn’s Festival August 7-12.

I spoke with Faye over the phone. Here’s Faye…

Martha Diaz is the president of The Hip-Hop Association, and producer of the H2O International Film Festival and Hip-Hop Education Summit, amongst many other projects. An educator, organizer and filmmaker, her impact in hip hop can be traced to her early days as a young and aspiring production assistant for the late Ted Demme, the groundbreaking producer and director behind "Yo! MTV Raps. "

The H2O International Film Festival is taking place May 31-June 15, 2007 in New York City and its theme is "The World Is Yours?" It “highlights the Hip-Hop community of the early/mid 90’s; a time when youth in the community began demanding money, power, and respect.�

I caught up with Martha over email. Here's Martha...

Kerrita McClaughlyn (left) and colleagues at the International Diabetes Federation’s 19th World Diabetes Congress in Cape Town, South Africa in December 2006.

Kerrita McClaughlyn is the media relations coordinator of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) based in Brussels, Belgium. For over 50 years, IDF has been at the forefront of global diabetes advocacy. The Federation is committed to raising global awareness of diabetes, promoting adequate diabetes care and prevention, and encouraging activities towards finding a cure for the different types of diabetes that many people are not aware of.

Kerrita answered my questions over email. Here’s Kerrita…

Photo by Patrick Bishop

When I think of Etta James, I think of her sultry and indescribably amazing voice singing the words to “At Last.� Then I think of Melissa Acosta. I saw Melissa sing “At Last� at a bar in Boston. I think Etta would have been proud.

Melissa has been climbing the music scene since as far back as she can remember. She’s now singing with the progressive hip hop/R&B/reggae/funk New York City-based band, Emergency Service. Melissa is currently on tour with them, so catch her if you can.

She took time to email me her answers to my questions. Here’s Melissa…

Helena D. Lewis is an actor, playwright, poet, and social worker. She performs her autobiographical one-woman plays across the country chronicling with humor her life as a certified alcohol and drug counselor and HIV/AIDS educator. Helena has appeared in multiple movies such as “Golddigger Killer,� TV shows, and slam poetry festivals. She is currently a member of the troupe, HerStory, a multi-cultural group of female performers who are touring the U.S.

Helena will be performing her play, “Call Me Crazy� at the Nuyorican Poets Café from March 22 to March 25th. Make sure to catch it. You definitely won’t forget it.

I interviewed Helena over email. Here’s Helena…

Rachel Aimee is one of the founders and Editors-in-Chief of $pread, a quarterly magazine by and for sex workers and those who support their rights. $pread was founded in the summer of 2004 by Rachel, Rebecca Lynn, and Raven Strega.

Rachel first became involved in the movement for sex workers’ rights while living in London, where she was a member of the International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW). She also blogs at Dive Bar Dancer.

Rachel answered my questions over email. Here’s Rachel…

Lucy Georgeff lives and works on Lovejoy Brook Farm in Andover, Vermont with her boyfriend Oliver. She works for Lydia Ratcliff, who owns the farm, and who has within the last 30 years started two meat co-ops in the state and still runs them.

Lucy worked at the feminist young women's magazine, Teen Voices, in its teen programs department, before she made the switch to country life.

Here’s Lucy…

Photo by Audrey Cho as it appeared in The Chicago Reporter.

Salome Chasnoff is executive director of the alternative media nonprofit, Beyondmedia. Salome is a video and installation artist, media activist and educator, whose work is dedicated to expanding media access for marginalized communities. She has been an arts educator for the past 20 years in university and community settings, and an artist-activist in the prison moratorium movement for 8 years.

Beyondmedia, for the most part, works with young women between the ages of 13 and 25. They also partner with many women’s and queer youth groups.

Here’s Salome…

Some of the women who run Casa Atabex Ache.

Daynara Marte has been executive director of the “House of Womyn Power� Casa Atabex Ache in the South Bronx of New York for four years. She came to Casa in 1999 as an intern and has stayed and moved up in the organization ever since.

"Casa" in Spanish means house. "Atabex" is one of the many names for the Taino goddess or earth mother of Puerto Rico. Taino are the indigenous people of Puerto Rico, and other islands in the Caribbean. "Ache" means power in Yoruba, the language of a West African ethnic group.

Between 30 to 65 young women learn about self empowerment through cultural and indigenous rituals, spirituality, and social justice at Casa Atabex Ache at any given time. Currently, Dayanara is working on outreaching to the large Mexican immigrant community living in the South Bronx. Many fear entering community establishments and being asked for their immigration papers.

Here’s Dayanara…

Photo by Kaya Nati

Hanifah Walidah is a hip hop artist, playwright, actor, music video maker, and filmmaker. Her list of accomplishments goes on and on, literally. Here are just a few of them: Her first LP, “A Headnadda’s Journey to Adidi-Skizm� was released in 1994 under the name Sha-Key. In the early 90s she was co-founder of two poet/performance collectives, The Vibe Khamelons and The Boom Poetic, both recognized as groundbreaking for fusing a hip hop approach to traditional beatnik rhythm. In 2002 she wrote and performed her one-woman show “Straight Black Folks Guide to Black Folks.� In 2006 she was the musical director of “What It Iz,� a hip hop/spoken word adaptation of “The Wiz.�

And thankfully, Hanifah is at it again. Hanifah’s new album, “Once Upon It Is� debuted this month. Check out her new song and music video, “Make a Move� on her website. Or better yet, vote to make it #1 on LOGO’s [LGBT-focused channel] “Click List.� It’s the first video that depicts gay women of color in a positive and celebratory light.

Hanifah will also be releasing an accompanying documentary to the video, U People, this June for Pride. The documentary features behind the scenes discussions on the video and a closer look at the women who make up the video. It will be debuting on LOGO.

You can also catch Hanifah on a European tour this spring. Here’s Hanifah…

Pauline Park was the first openly transgendered person to be grand marshal of the New York City Pride March in June 2005. Currently, she is an active chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA). Its mission: “to advocate for freedom of gender identity and expression for all.�

Pauline also blogs regularly at www.bigqueer.com.

I caught up with Pauline on the phone and over email. Here’s Pauline…

Laura Hershey’s parents didn’t listen to her doctors’ assumptions that spinal muscular atrophy would end her life when she was a child. Forty-four years later, Laura is still here, and isn’t planning on going anywhere.

Laura Hershey is a consultant, published writer/researcher, and committed advocate who has 20+ years experience as an activist for disability rights. You can read Laura’s writing at Crip Commentary, a web site she runs that discusses various aspects of disability rights. She’s currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing.

I spoke with Laura from her home in California. Here’s Laura…

Noemi Martinez makes her Hermana Resist zine out of her South Texas home, usually when her son and daughter are sleeping. By day, she’s the human trafficking outreach coordinator at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.

She says, “Between 800,000 to 900,000 people are trafficked in the world every year, with an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 of those in the US. A trafficked person doesn't have to cross international lines, and it can happen to a US citizen not only to undocumented persons.�

I spoke with Noemi over phone and email about her zines. I plan to talk about her anti-trafficking work in an interview to come. Here’s Noemi…

Alyx on right.

Alyx Beckwith works with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on a joint project with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Progam (WFP) to improve the livelihoods of orphan and vulnerable children in the Mafeteng District in Lesotho, Southern Africa. She's been working on the project since September.

Alyx emailed me her answers to my questions. Here’s Alyx…

Rosalie Little Thunder is a long-time Native community and environmental activist. Of the Sicangu band of the Lakota Nation in South Dakota, Rosalie has been on the frontlines to save the wild herd of bison that roams Yellowstone National Park.

I spoke with Rosalie over the phone yesterday about her activism for the new year. There’s a deep trail between her home and Yellowstone. Here’s Rosalie…

Linda Nieves-Powell is the president and CEO of the multimedia entertainment company, Latino Flavored Productions, Inc. based in New York, which she founded in 1995. As well as a playwright, author, mother, wife, and entrepreneur.

I spoke with Linda over the phone in November. Here’s Linda…

Rachel B. Tiven is the executive director of Immigration Equality based in New York City. Immigration Equality is a national organization that fights for the U.S. immigration rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive individuals. Founded in 1994 as the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, Immigration Equality has grown to a membership of 10,000 people in cities across the country. Immigration Equality is funded by donations from members as well as private foundations.

Here’s Rachel…

Retired teacher, Helen Nichols from Nebraska, decided recently to let out all of her frustrations against George W. Bush in a book. It’s titled, Open Letter to George W. Bush: Including a Great Number of Select Quotations.

She’s onto her second book as we speak. Here’s Helen…

After numerous assaults on women walking home by themselves late at night in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, two Brooklyn, New York neighborhoods, partners Oraia Reid and Consuelo Ruybal decided to do something about it. RightRides has been giving many women, trans and gender queer folks rides home since 2004.

In honor of the official “RightRides for Women’s Safety Day� on Thursday, December 14, RightRides is hosting a special celebratory event at the Cake Shop in New York City. Come show your support if you’re in the city.

Here’s Oraia…

Girlistic Magazine debuted December 1 on Girlistic.com, “Your Ultimate Feminist Resource.� Based in the Central Coast of California, Jaymi Heimbuch and her partner April Weiland launched Girlistic.com in mid-July.

Described as being the end result of a threesome with Ms., Bitch, and Bust, Girlistic Magazine is available online and in a PDF format for free in-hand access. Features include: interviews, editorials, profiles, essays, and reviews.

Here’s Jaymi…

Sean gets real about smacking up bitches.

I don't know what is worse, this video or this sexist thread that followed it.

You can hear her voice every last Thursday of the month at 2 p.m. on KPFK, Pacifica Radio for Southern California, on the radio show "Some Of Us Are Brave." It has been listened to by people the world over, including Brazil, Turkey, Syria, Korea and Singapore. The show is titled after the revolutionary book edited by Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith, But Some Of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Black Women’s Studies.

Long-time media activist Thandisizwe wrote her first short story when she was 5 years old, and learned about journalism when she was 7. Now, she’s working to share her media activism skills with a new generation of women through the founding of the Ida B. Wells Institute. Here’s Thandisizwe…

Former U.S. Congresswoman and member of the Nixon Impeachment Panel, Elizabeth Holtzman, joined forces with journalist Cynthia L. Cooper to publish, The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens.

Elizabeth is the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress and won national attention for her role on the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate. Reflecting on her past experiences, and the present actions of the current administration, Elizabeth states there are many similarities between the impeachable offenses of President Nixon and President Bush.

Here’s Elizabeth…

Photo by Rosalia Rivera

Caridad De La Luz, whose name translated in English from Spanish means “Charity of Light,� is a slam poet, screenplay writer, actor, hip hop artist and reggaeton artist, and social justice activist. I saw Caridad perform as La Bruja this fall at a human rights forum provided by Breakthrough, an international human rights organization. She’s also married, and the mother of an 8-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl.

Caridad has appeared on HBO’s Russell Simmons’ “Def Poetry Jam.� Is the author of the highly successful one-woman comedy show, “Boogie Rican Blvd.� Was Cuca in Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled� in 2000. And played Lucky in the Sundance-winning 2004 film “Down to the Bone.� She just released her latest CD, “Brujalicious.� It’s all about hip hop, reggaeton, social justice, and good beats.

For non-Spanish speakers, “La Bruja� means “The Witch.� I’ll let her explain. Here’s Caridad…

A New York Times photo

Andrea Batista Schlesinger has been the Executive Director of the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI), a think tank for the progressive movement, for five years. Under Andrea’s leadership, DMI has released several important policy papers to national audiences, including “Middle Class 2004: How Congress Voted,� “People and Politics in America’s Big Cities,� and “From Governance to Accountability: Building Relationships that Make Schools Work.�

And just in case you need an extra boost to help get you to the polls on Tuesday, here’s Andrea…

Katherine Arnoldi wrote her first article about equal rights for teen moms in a magazine called Hard Labor in 1976. She has won numerous literary awards since then. And her graphic novel, The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom, published in 1998, was named one of the top ten books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, was awarded two American Library Association Awards, and is being made into a major motion picture.

Katherine Arnoldi became a single mother when she was 17, living in Canton, Ohio in the 1970s. The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom chronicles Katherine’s journey through abusive relationships, toxic factory work, and the backlash she received as a single teen mom, to a college education at the University of Arkansas. Katherine has been advocating for the rights of teen moms to education and mobility ever since. And is currently a doctoral candidate in creative writing at Binghamton University in New York.

Busy Katherine emailed me her answers to my questions. Here’s Katherine…

Lakshmi Chaudhry has been a writer and a reporter for independent publications for more than six years. And now she’s the Puffin Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute and Contributing Writer at The Nation magazine. Lakshmi was a Senior Editor at In These Times for a year and before that the Senior Editor of Alternet.org for three.

Lakshmi is also the co-author of Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq and Start Making Sense: Turning the Lessons of Election 2004 into Winning Progressive Politics.

I interviewed Lakshmi last month by phone. Here’s Lakshmi…

Lani Ka‘ahumanu is a published author, editor, poet, and long-time bisexual rights activist. She and her friend Loraine Hutchins co-edited the groundbreaking anthology, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out in 1991, which was listed on the Top 100 Queer Books of the 20th Century by Lambda Book Review and is still in print.

Lani, now 63, is a safe sex educator and is working on writing her activist memoir. She told me: “There is so much history. And some of it people have no clue about. And some of it is not very pretty. But we have to tell the truth about the bigger picture so that people can understand why so many bisexuals are really cranky.�

Here’s Lani…

The firing of Melanie Martinez, 34, marks the second PBS moral values scandal. The first was the censorship of the “Postcards from Buster� episode last year where Buster the Bunny, who regularly visits families in every episode, went to visit a family with two mommies. Previous families featured in “Postcards� episodes have included Mormons, Hmong and Pentecostal Christians.

Melanie Martinez was fired from her position as host of PBS KIDS Sprout's "The Good Night Show" because she appeared in two 30-second online films when she was 27, “Technical Virgin� and “Boys Can Wait,� that spoofed abstinence-only education. The PBS ombudsman dedicated two of his columns to voice his opposition to the firing of Melanie, but her job wasn’t saved. Melanie says there is no lawsuit in sight.

I spoke with Melanie one Tuesday afternoon in September, until her 4-year-old son said, “Mommy, I’ve been waiting a long time.� Here’s Melanie…

Tamar McFarlane has worked with Families United for Racial & Economic Equality (FUREE), a multi-racial, women-led, membership-run organization based in Brooklyn, New York, for the last two years. While at FUREE, she has worked on welfare reform, youth empowerment, and the beginning of a pay equity childcare campaign. With a long history of youth activism under her belt, she’s onto gentrification and Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s plan to develop Brooklyn.

“Basically, at one point I was reading Patrice Lumumba [a former Congolese anti-colonial leader], and it just came down to this…even if I am able to move these young people, if their parents don’t have a place to live, or an affordable place to live, then they won’t be able to live as healthy, conscious human beings. And so people have to start thinking about each other and their communities. They can’t wait for their government or someone in office to. They have to start taking care of each other.�

Here’s Tamar…

“Fighting discrimination with facts, humor and fake fur!�—that’s the motto of the internationally acclaimed anonymous activist artist group, The Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls celebrated their 20th anniversary last year, and have no plans of stopping.

I spoke with Frida Kahlo, one of the founding members of the Guerrilla Girls, one early morning this summer. We also caught up a bit over email. The Guerrilla Girls are extremely busy with a lot of projects. Their next sighting will be at the Istanbul Modern Museum in Turkey, October 17 and 18.

Here’s Frida…

Toronto-based queer Sri Lankan writer, spoken-word artist, and teacher Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha released her first published book of poems in April 2006, Consensual Genocide.

Leah spoke with me from Toronto about her new book, her poetry, and the re-emergence of Sri Lanka’s civil war. Clashes over the past month have been the deadliest encounters between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels since the 2002 ceasefire that ended Sri Lanka’s 21-year civil war.

Here’s Leah…

· “A college-educated woman with one child can easily pay a ‘Mommy tax’ (lost lifetime earnings) of $1 million.�

· “Consider that in the Army a family that makes below $28,000 annually pays no more than $43 per week for childcare, or around $2,000 annually. And then compare that to the national average cost of childcare, which can rise to $10,000 per year or more.�

· “In terms of infant mortality rates, the U.S. tied for 38th in the world with Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, and the United Arab Emirates in 2003.�

These are just some of the harsh realities Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner and Joan Blades researched and discuss in their book, The Motherhood Manifesto: What America’s Moms Want—And What to Do About It.

I spoke with Kristin from her home in Kirkland, Washington. Here’s Kristin…

August 29 marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,700 people in the Gulf area and left hundreds and thousands of people displaced.

One year later in New Orleans: 17 percent of city buses are running; 54 percent of restaurants are still closed; 3 out of 9 hospitals with emergency rooms are open; and rent has jumped 39 percent.

In St. Bernard Parish, east of the ninth ward, 7 percent of public schools have reopened.

Jazz vocalist and pianist, Monica N. Dillon, was born in New Orleans and raised just outside the city in a town called Kenner and Metairie. I spoke to Monica on her way back to her home in Kenner, one day before the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Here’s Monica…

Austin Young

Standup comic diva Margaret Cho has been working the burlesque scene since April in her show “The Sensuous Woman.� It plays the third Wednesday of every month in Los Angeles at El Cid, and monthly in San Francisco at The Plush Room. She hopes to take it monthly to New York City starting in October, and is working on booking a Minnesota show with local burlesque troupe Foxy Tann and the Wham Bam Thank You Ma'ams for December 8th.

Margaret is also still doing standup, and incorporates comedy in all of her burlesque shows. She spoke to me from her home in Glendale, California. Here’s Margaret…

June 5th marked the 25th anniversary of the first report of what is now known as AIDS. I spoke with Shelagh Johnson, Youth HIV Prevention Coordinator at the Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) in Portland, Oregon, a couple of weeks after this historic date.

No one from CAP was in Toronto for the 16th International Conference on AIDS that took place this week, but they were following the conference’s developments, Shelagh informed me over email:

“When Bill Gates talks about women being the key to stopping the HIV pandemic, that could directly affect the future of funding, programming, etc. It’s fascinating. Plus, any International AIDS Conference puts HIV/AIDS back in the media, which is needed!�

Here’s Shelagh…

Jen Chau and Carmen Van Kerckhove first met in 2002. Four years later they run their own diversity training company, New Demographic; a blog, Mixed Media Watch, that focuses on the intersection of race and pop culture; and the biweekly podcast, “Addicted to Race,� that explores America’s obsession with race with a specific emphasis on mixed race and interracial relationships. And all while both holding full-time jobs!

Here’s Jen & Carmen…

Hir books Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us and My Gender Workbook are taught in more than 120 colleges and universities around the world. Ze has performed hir work live on college campuses, theaters, and performance spaces across the United States and in Canada, the UK, Germany and Austria. And renowned author, playwright, performance artist, and gender activist, Kate Bornstein is at it again. This time with a new book just released last month for youth titled Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws. Bornstein’s alternatives range from “#2: Take a deep breath and touch yourself� to “#22: Moisturize!� to “#79: Take drugs� to “#81: Starve yourself.�

I caught up with Kate during hir busy tour of the book. Here’s Kate…

Food Network junkies know them from their hit cooking show, “Too Hot Tamales� (1995-1999). But Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger have known each other since 1978, and haven’t stopped working together since the opening of their first restaurant in 1981.

In 1988, they were the first women to receive the California Restaurant Writers’ “Chef of the Year� award. And in 1993, they were two of only 16 chefs worldwide invited to appear with Julia Child on PBS’s “Home Cooking with Master Chefs.�

Mary Sue and Susan took time out of their busy day to do a conference call with me. Mary Sue called in from Border Grill, their restaurant in Santa Monica, California; they also have a Border Grill in Las Vegas. And Susan called in from Ciudad, their restaurant in downtown Los Angeles

Here are Mary Sue and Susan…

My good friend Gary freelances for Pop and Politics and interviewed me last week about Feministing. Please read with a sense of humor;)

Enjoy!

Today marks the opening day of Gay Games VII in Chicago, Illinois. More than 12,000 members of the global lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community from 70 countries will be taking part in the Games all week. And Nancy Brigham, 49, of the San Francisco team will be one of them, competing in the women’s bodybuilding/master physique portion of the Games for women ages 40-49.

Nancy won a gold medal in Sydney in 2002, and is looking for another gold this year. She’ll be competing on Tuesday. So if you’re in the area, give the girl some support! The closing ceremony is Saturday, July 22.

And when Nancy is not at the gym training, she’s at Brigham’s Therapeutic Massage. The private practice she founded in 1988.

Here’s Nancy…

Winifred Breines is a sociology professor at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts (my alma mater;). I spoke with Winifred about her latest book, The Trouble Between Us: An Uneasy History of White and Black Women in the Feminist Movement. Winifred's research spans from the Civil Rights Movement through the 1970's women's movements, to 1980's activism and a brief look at third-wave feminism.

In addition to her research, Winifred personally partook in the new left, anti-Vietnam War, and women's movements in Madison, Wisconsin; Ithaca, New York; and Boston, Massachusetts.

Here’s Winifred…

(Photo by Anh Dao Kolbe)

As the Program Director for the Center for New Words, formerly the 32-year-old feminist bookstore, New Words, based in Cambridge, Mass, writer and performer Jaclyn Friedman is busy coordinating feminist spaces online, and all over Boston.

Thankfully, Jaclyn made time out of her busy schedule to speak with me about surviving change and the importance of independent bookstores and media. Here’s Jaclyn…

This interview is brought to you thanks to Sara Burke, Editor at Peacework Magazine.

Bill Weinberg, editor of the online journal World War 4 Report (ww4report.com), interviewed Houzan Mahmoud on March 21, 2006 on WBAI radio, and Peacework Magazine editor Sara Burke corresponded with her by e-mail in May. Portions of both conversations are included here. To learn more, visit Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq [OWFI] at www.equalityiniraq.com, or visit Houzan Mahmoud’s blog at http://houzanmahmoud.blogspot.com. Published in Peacework, June 2006.

Houzan Mahmoud is the Head of Iraq Freedom Congress-Abroad and one of the leading figures of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. Women’s organizing has been key to the development of Iraq’s secular resistance, as women know that they are the most vulnerable to persecution and repression in a militarized, Islamist nation.

Here’s Houzan…

Check out this interview on Democracy NOW with Eve Ensler and Kimberle Crenshaw (LOVE). They discuss race, violence against women and prisons.

Badass feminist civil rights law professor Kimberle Crenshaw highlights some of the shortcomings of both the anti-incarceration movement and the anti-violence movement.

Yes, well, you know, one of the things that's so remarkable about this event and what Eve is bringing to our attention is the relationship between violence and incarceration. I like to call this a tale of two movements, because, frankly, there's been an anti-violence movement that really hasn't dealt with the consequences of violence for women who are incarcerated or how incarceration is often a precursor to violence, so that whole relationship hasn't been explored. There's also an anti-incarceration movement that more or less just focuses pretty much on men, how men wind up being incarcerated, some of the consequences.

So this is an opportunity to actually look at women who fall between the cracks of both movements, who are the women who are both victims of violence, but also are victims of state violence, namely, because they have been subject to rape, battery, incest, a whole range of other things that happen to women in society, are more likely to be incarcerated, right? And once they are incarcerated, they're subject to a whole range of consequences that are sometimes particular to women, so this is bringing attention to women, to issues that really haven't come up on the agenda of either the anti-violence movement or the anti-incarceration movement, so it's a dramatic radicalization of both of these movements.

Good shit. Historically, it is indeed incarcerated women that fall between these two movements and tend to be overlooked. It is also pretty safe to say that the majority of these women are poor, working class, women of color.

It’s not my usual time to post, (I will post on Saturday, too) but I spoke with Joan Blades, co-founder of MoveOn.org yesterday afternoon on the issue of “Net Neutrality� from her Berkeley, California home. And she said Friday might be the day when the internet changes for all of us.

Here’s Joan…

Inga Muscio, author of the controversial, rebel-rousing manifesto Cunt: A Declaration of Independence, is at it again with another critical look at the way our society works, and doesn’t work.

Inga caught up with me over email from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to discuss her latest book, Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil: My Life and Times in a Racist, Imperialist Society. She will start her big book tour for Blue-Eyed Devil this fall. But for right now, Inga says: “I’m working with an artist on an illustrated story called ‘Patience and Heartbreak and War.’ It’s about a woman who becomes a sniper/mercenary after being gang-raped by six men. More uplifting material for the world from me.�

Here’s Inga…

Elizabeth Berrios, 28, is from Hartford, Connecticut. She’s been working at various prisons in Hartford, and in maximum-security prisons in rural areas north of the city for a year as a Correctional Commissary Officer. She works the first shift, 6:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Her day begins at 4:45 a.m. and her second shift begins at 3 p.m. when she picks up her 3-year-old daughter from daycare.

Correctional Commissary Officers supervise inmates who work in the prison in an assembly-like line packaging products [TVs, CDs, envelopes, etc.] that inmates of the prison legitimately buy from the prison. These boxes are later checked and approved by the Correctional Commissary Officer to ensure nothing extra is packed into the boxes. These boxes are then hand-delivered to the inmates by the Correctional Commissary Officer with the help of a Correctional Officer (CO) [prison guard].

I spoke with Elizabeth on May 24, 2006, two days after she found out a CO at one of the prisons she works at was beaten by one of the inmates with the phone that was on her desk. Here’s Elizabeth….

Ellyn Ruthstrom was diagnosed with breast cancer on July 6, 2005. She was 45. Close to a year later, Ellyn is almost finished with her last rounds of chemotherapy for this stage of the treatment. She will be returning from her close to three-month leave of absence as the editor-in-chief of Teen Voices at the end of June. And she’s ready to get back to publishing more kick-ass teen-written features for teen women everywhere. Here’s Ellyn…

Madeleine Shaw would never be caught taking a pill to stop her period. In fact, she loves and honors her period. And wishes more women would, too.

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Madeleine [below right with business partner Suzanne Siemens] is the founder and partner of Lunapads International Products Ltd. Madeleine, now 38, had a lot of different career ambitions in her life, including being part of the foreign service, a fashion designer, and a social worker. But designing and making washable menstrual products ended up being her calling. And her feminist vehicle for change. Here’s Madeleine…

Last year, while waiting to see if she got accepted to the PhD programs she applied to, Maura Finkelstein decided to audition for a PBS reality show. Her friend at PBS told her about the open-call, and Maura said, why not? But what she didn’t expect was getting picked.

The PBS producers found Maura comfortable and real enough in front of the camera to be the “girl of all work�—a maid—on the “Texas Ranch House� reality show. Maura, 26, found this out the same week she got accepted to Stanford. But Maura decided to first spend a summer back in time, in the wild, wild west. So she did. Here’s Maura…

Aishah Shahidah Simmons has lots to say about the Duke rape case. Based in Philadelphia, Penn, Aishah is the producer, writer, and director of the film NO! The Rape Documentary. She finished No! last August. Its world premiere was in February. And she’s been on tour with it ever since. She’s also the founder and president of AfroLez Productions, LLC, a multimedia arts company.

I spoke with Aishah on the phone in April, on a Friday morning. At that point in the case, there was no DNA evidence. But Friday, May 12th, the defense attorney for the accused Duke rapists, Joe Cheshire, said the semen obtained from vaginal swabs of the accuser indicates that she had sex with a man who is not a Duke student that night.

According to Cheshire, DNA was also found on a plastic press-on fingernail. The fingernail was taken from a trash can by two Duke players who rented the house where the rape is alleged to have occurred. The players were said to have volunteered the fingernail to the Durham, North Carolina police department after the players learned of the rape allegations. The genetic material found on the fingernail does not belong to either of the players who have been indicted.

I’ll withhold my comments.

I caught up with Aishah while she was in L.A., before another screening of No!. Here’s Aishah…

“Yo my sister, yo my brother!
When they ask you, you check ‘other’
You don’t fit in, you’re in between
You push their buttons Boo
You’re just like me

Ahha, This is Womyn’s Music baby
Ahha, It’s a good thing!�

Just in case you didn’t hear Nedra’s “Ahha (It’s a Good Thing)� on Showtime’s “The L word� last season, here are some of her in-your-face lyrics. There’s definitely more where that came from. Nedra’s all about staying true, and her lyrics definitely don’t sway from the truth. From “Prozac (So Fun Living…) to “Any Way You Need Her,� Nedra keeps it socially conscious and butchy sensual.

I caught up with Nedra that morning in April, when it was snowing in NYC. And did some follow-up emails throughout the month. She does freelance web design work when she’s not on the road. And this July…girl is turning 40.

“Just not cracking yet,� she said. Here’s Nedra…

Check out this interview that Sonali Kolhatkar from Uprising Radio did with Barbara Palmer, the co-author of a new book, “Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections.�

The authors did research on every election between 1956 through 2004, attempting to find how women won (when they won), and why they didn’t win (when they didn’t). They found that the answer to the latter question is that most incumbents are men (and most incumbents win).

Before I start to confuse y’all and myself some more, just go listen to the interview. Interesting stuff.

Check out this mini-interview with Maria Hinojosa, senior correspondent for NOW on PBS and anchor and managing editor of NPR's Latino USA.

Meeting all these amazing women this weekend, one thing was definitely a trend--we are all fucking exhausted, mentally and physically. Working for change ain’t easy!

Killer B at Shooting full force finds out how Hinojosa keeps it together in this video blog. (Keynotes are nice and all, but sometimes it’s really cool to find out random personal things about folks.)

I couldn’t help it.

You must check out BUST magazine’s Feb/march Music Issue with the ever-so-hot Peaches on the cover. This issue takes on a number of kick-ass musicians/performers, including Feist, Trina, and special guy guest, the scary-but-strangely-sexy Henry Rollins.

Click here for more info on the issue.

In an interview with Barbara Walters today, Saudi Arabian King Abdullah stated that he intended to expand the rights of women in the nation by eventually allowing women to drive. I’d love to believe it.

Saudi women are currently not allowed to drive, go out in public without a male relative or go to college; in other words, they can’t do shit. Yet the king assures ABC that that women will drive one day, and that acquiring this fundamental right to go places “will require patience. In time, I believe it will be possible."

So he’s saying that he thinks that eventually women will maybe have the freedom to drive, perhaps.

I’m sold!

Check out this interview in the Village Voice with Susan Estrich about her new book that says future President Hillary Clinton will save us all.

The Case For Hillary Clinton hits bookstores next week, and argues that Hillary’s election into the White House will rescue the Democratic Party from their shit storm, and better the lives of all women.

If y’all don’t know her, Estrich is famed as a Fox News political commentator and the first woman to head a presidential campaign when she worked for Michael Dukakis in 1988. Here’s a little snippet of the interview:

Is a Hillary presidential race really good for all women? Once President Hillary is elected, gender inequities will change. There is a great quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in which she says she wants a woman on the court, but not any woman. She wants a woman who'd advance women's rights. The same could be said for a woman president. I used to sit in the West Wing and watch groups of men go in and out, seven at a time. With a President Hillary, they'd have to get themselves a dame.

But feminism has become such a bad word in politics. Feminism has been defined in a negative way. But I was watching Desperate Housewives the other day and there was a scene involving a poor, working mother, a housekeeper who wanted to be there for her child's first day of school, and, of course, she couldn't be because of her mean boss. Well, feminism was supposed to be about making changes in the workplace so women could be there. President Hillary, I'm sure, would create more family friendly policies.

Make sure to check out the whole interview. They even compare Clinton to Geena Davis.

Check out this New York Post article (free subscription) and interview with former stripper/dominatrix/porn director/performance artist/sex educator Annie Sprinkle. The fabulous sexpert discusses her experiences in the industry as well as her new book, "Dr. Sprinkle's Spectacular Sex: Make Over Your Love Life With One of the World's Great Sex Experts."

Sprinkle on, Annie!

I’m a bit late on this, but there was a good debate last week on Democracy Now between NOW president Kim Gandy and Communications Director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Phil Singer. You can guess what it was about.

As an update to previous coverage on talk of Democrats considering putting reproductive rights on the side (or I should say entirely out of the agenda) in order to obtain more conservative votes, we find that Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are showing signs of the Democratic Party’s support of this “big tent” approach.

Pennsylvania Democratic State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. has recently announced his decision to run in the 2006 U.S. Senate race. Casey happens to be an abortion rights opponent, and has also happened to have been courted to run by senior member of the democratic party for the previous weeks before his announcement. Former State Treasurer and pro-choice supporter Barbara Hafer had made it clear she intended to run, but the governor asked her to step down so Casey could take the reigns. In the meantime, Rhode Island Secretary of State and pro-choicer Matt Brown has been planning to run in the race, but now the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is urging anti-choicer Rep. Jim Langevin to run. Gandy and Singer take on these recent cases in their debate.

While Singer tries to assure Gandy that this is merely a strategy that will put more Dems in Senate seats and actually help women’s reproductive rights, Gandy doesn’t buy it:

“One of the primary issues that energized the Democratic base was the issue of Roe v. Wade, the issue of the Supreme Court. It's what brought millions and millions of people to the polls. One point one five million of them came to Washington, D.C. last April to march for women's rights, and women's lives and reproductive freedom. That energized the Democratic base all over the country; and now the leadership of the party is slapping all of those people in the face and saying, ‘You know what? We don't really care about your rights. We're willing to throw your rights overboard so that’ – so that for what reason?”

Check out the full transcript, audio or video of the interview here.

Check out this great article from Democracy Now yesterday that covered a “W Stands for Women” event at the Waldorf Astoria lead by Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney, as well as a interview with radio host Laura Flanders.

The article includes the transcript of the speeches given the First Lady and Mrs. Cheney, which I must say are pretty corny and lacking of substance. The interview with Flanders, however, was quite interesting.

Flanders is the author of Bush Women: Tales of a Cynical Species, and her latest book, The W Effect: Bush's War on Women. You can hear her on public radio, KALW FM, and on Air America. In her interview with Amy Goodman, she has some really great and informative views on the event and Laura Bush’s campaign, “W Stands for Women”. Even though I recommend you read the whole interview, here is a bit of what she has to say:

“This is a woman from a family who models disdain for facts and reality. She wants to be doing her needlepoint, she says, instead of paying attention to the news; and she really counts on the people of America, I think, to show the same kind of lack of interest in what's really going on...This event yesterday became a kind of grandmother contest. The substance of the -- the biggest substance was: Who is the grandmother of America? Is it Lynne Cheney or is it Barbara Bush? It was a very, very, kind of pathetic display.”

Me like Laura -- Laura Flanders, that is.

For Feministing’s take on the “W Stands for Women” campaign, check this out!