Here We Are: Feminists from All Walks of Life Share Their Stories
Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World is more than just a how-to guide for feminism. It’s a gathering of voices, experiences and perspectives. It’s an invitation to join the feminist party, and all are welcome!
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a Quick Review of Irish-American History
Why are we all wearing green today? How is it that one particular ethnic group came to figure so fully—politically, culturally—in the American story, to the point that as a … Continued
Women of the Periodic Table
Ever since reading The Disappearing Spoon, I’ve had a minor obsession with the periodic table. Each element has its own quirks and its own story. Those stories, of course, involve the people who discovered and studied the elements. For Women’s History Month, I thought it would be interesting to explore the women of the periodic table. Two of them have elements named for them — you probably know a few things about Marie Curie. Others you may never have heard of.
Punitive Measures, Pushout and Pittsburgh
At the same time that Black women are outpacing others in the post-graduate arena, many young Black women are being left behind in public schools, marginalized by punitive and surveillance systems embedded into our education programs and into society at large. Black girls make up 16 percent of the public school population, but represent more than one-third of all girls with a school-related arrest.
Natural Hair Magic
I never knew the true texture of my hair until I was in my mid-twenties. The time I spent at my aunt’s shop meant slapping a relaxer on my hair and smoothing it out until she was convinced my hair would be straight enough for the gods. I never went too long without a relaxer for fear of the new growth or “naps” underneath, a severely flawed fear passed down from generation to generation.
Getting it Together
Confession time: I have recently become obsessed with bullet journals. It’s an organization system that takes the idea of keeping a planner, a myriad of Post-It to-do lists, and a journal and then throws them into a blender. You can keep all of that stuff tied together in one handy, non-digital notebook, hopefully with the result of being super productive.
A Year to Read
This year, I’ve set intentions to read much more than I currently do and engage in as many joyful experiences in my daily life as I possibly can. The catalyst for this isn’t the “new year, new me” resolutions that I normally make and break, but rather my experiences over the last 18 months working for the Library. This place is seriously joyful.
Throwback Thursday: Books (But no Snakes) On a Plane
I try not to go anywhere without at least one book. You never know when you’re going to be stuck in rush-hour bus traffic, or sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room, or standing in line at the bank. Might as well have something to read, just in case, right? Here’s a quick peek at some of the books I took.
Trans Women Share Their Stories
This reading list brings together a hard-partying rock star, an excommunicated Scientologist, an everyday teenager, A TV personality with a budding career and a New England professor. What these women all have in common is that they were designated male at birth, but later transitioned to womanhood, allowing their outward gender expression to match their inward gender identity. What they also have in common is that they all shared their stories in riveting books that highlight the ways different parts of their lived experiences and identities intersect with gender.
She Drowned in Moonlight, Strangled by Her Own Bra
Over the course of her career, Carrie Fisher gave life to one of the most iconic women of science fiction, advocated for mental health awareness, wrote gloriously smart, funny books and inspired generations of girls and women to be unapologetically themselves, to take matters into their own hands and to stand up for justice regardless of the consequences.