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New Mexico State University

NMSU WSP Online Women's History Month 2013

Celebrating Online Feminisms

 

 

 

 

A Gaga Parody In Honor of Women's Suffrage and Statement from President Obama on #VAWA Passage


THIS WAS THE EMMY WINNER FOR BEST INFORMATIONAL/INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM 2012, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Nashville/Midsouth Chapter

 

 

Find Lyrics Here

 

Statement from the President on the House Passage of the Violence Against Women Act

I was pleased to see the House of Representatives come together and vote to reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act.  Over more than two decades, this law has saved countless lives and transformed the way we treat victims of abuse. Today’s vote will go even further by continuing to reduce domestic violence, improving how we treat victims of rape, and extending protections to Native American women and members of the LGBT community.  The bill also reauthorizes the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, providing critical support for both international and domestic victims of trafficking and helping ensure traffickers are brought to justice.  I want to thank leaders from both parties – especially Leader Pelosi, Congresswoman Gwen Moore and Senator Leahy – for everything they’ve done to make this happen.  Renewing this bill is an important step towards making sure no one in America is forced to live in fear, and I look forward to signing it into law as soon as it hits my desk.

 

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Dispatches from the Twitterverse

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Special Post for Every Day of Women's History Month

The NMSU WSP Tumblr page will be featuring special posts for Women's History Month each day during the month of March. Be sure to check out our Tumblr page every day to see what the posts. These will range from videos, to interviews, and participatory items. Let NMSU WSP filter your feminist online experience of Women's History Month!

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Women's History Month Music Mix

 

 

NMSU WSP music mix for Women's History month 2013! A mix of 82 songs to commemorate #WHM from artists working in several genres. If you listen to one #WHM mix this month of March, make sure it is this one!

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Essay: "Feminist Killjoys (And Other Willful Subjects)"

by Sara Ahmed

 

"This paper is dedicated to all feminist killjoys. You know who you are!"

 

It can be hard to remember becoming a feminist if only because it is hard to remember a time that you did not feel that way. Is it possible to have always been that way? Is it possible to have been a feminist right from the beginning? A feminist story can be a beginning. Perhaps we can make sense of the complexity of feminism as an activist space if we can give an account of how feminism becomes an object of feeling, as something we invest in, as a way of relating to the world, a way of making sense of how we relate to the world. When did "feminism" become a word that spoke not just to you, but spoke you, that spoke of your existence or even spoke you into existence? The sound of it, your sound? How do we gather by gathering around this word, sticking to each other by sticking to it? What did it mean, what does it mean, to hold onto "feminism," to fight under its name; to feel in its ups and downs, in its coming and goings, one's own ups and downs, one's own comings and goings?

 

 

Please read the complete essay on our NMSU WSP Tumblr page.

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A Song for International Women's Day

UN Women Releases Song "One Woman" on March 8th for International Women's Day

 

From China to Costa Rica, from Mali to Malaysia acclaimed singers and musicians, women and men, have come together to spread a message of unity and solidarity: We are "One Woman". To be launched on International Women's Day, 8 March 2013, the song is a rallying cry that inspires listeners to join the drive for women's rights and gender equality. "One Woman" was written for UN Women, the global champion for women and girls, to celebrate its mission and work to improve women's lives around the world. This year, International Women's Day will focus on ending violence against women - a gross human rights violation that affects up to 7 in 10 women and a top priority for UN Women. As people everywhere prepare their commemorations, "One Woman" reminds us that together, we can overcome violence and discrimination: "We Shall Shine!" Join us on 8 March to help spread the word and enjoy this musical celebration of women worldwide.

Listen to artists discuss the song and their experiences on our NMSU WSP Tumblr page.

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Online Film Festival

Inocente: 2013 Oscar Winner for Documentary Short Subject

The streaming of this Oscar-winning short is made possible by MTV. We present it on our Tumblr page.

Image of ...

INOCENTE is an intensely personal and vibrant coming of age documentary about a young artist's fierce determination to never surrender to the bleakness of her surroundings.

At 15, Inocente refuses to let her dream of becoming an artist be caged by her life as an undocumented immigrant forced to live homeless for the last nine years. Color is her personal revolution and its extraordinary sweep on her canvases creates a world that looks nothing like her own dark past - - a past punctuated by a father deported for domestic abuse, an alcoholic and defeated mother of four who once took her daughter by the hand to jump off a bridge together, an endless shuffle year after year through the city's overcrowded homeless shelters and the constant threat of deportation.

Despite this history, Inocente's eyes envision a world transformed...where buildings drip in yellow and orange, where pink and turquoise planets twinkle with rescued dreams, and one-eyed childlike creatures play amongst loved babies and purple clouds. Inocente's family history is slowly revealed through her paintings.

Told entirely in her own words, we come to Inocente's story as she realizes her life is at a turning point, and for the first time, she decides to take control of her own destiny. Irreverent, flawed and funny, she's now channeling her irrepressible personality into a future she controls. Her talent has finally been noticed, and if she can create a body of work in time, she has an opportunity to put on her first art show. Meanwhile, her family life is at a tense impasse - - if she legally emancipates herself from her mother to strike out on her own, she'll risk placing her brothers in foster care, but to stay is unbearable.

Neither sentimental nor sensational, INOCENTE will immerse you in the very real, day-to-day existence of a young girl who is battling a war that we never see. This film will usher you into the secret life she returns to at the end of every day, where she navigates the instability, despair, and neglect of a situation she must endure through no fault of her own. The challenges are staggering, but the hope in Inocente's story proves that her circumstances not define her-her dreams do.

 

Trailer for Inocente


Please watch the complete documentary on our NMSU WSP Tumblr page.

#SheDocs

PBS and Women and Girls Lead make possible this #SheDocs online film festival. We present these films thanks to them. 

We Still Live Here-As Nutayunean

We Still Live Here - As Nutayuneân is the story of the revitalization of the Wampanoag language, the first time a language with no native speakers has been revived in this country. The Wampanoag's ancestors ensured the survival of the Pilgrims in New England, and lived to regret it. Nevertheless, through resilience and courage they kept their identity alive and remained on their ancestral lands. Now a cultural revival is taking place.

The story begins in 1994 when Jessie Little Doe, an intrepid, 30-something Wampanoag social worker, began having recurring dreams: familiar-looking people from another time addressing her in an incomprehensible language. Jessie was perplexed and a little annoyed - why couldn't they speak English? Later, she realized they were speaking Wampanoag, a language no one had used for more than a century.

These events sent her and members of the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag communities on an odyssey that would uncover hundreds of documents written in their ancestral language, lead Jessie to a earn herself a masters degree in linguistics at MIT, and result in something that had never been done before - bringing a language alive again in an American Indian community after many generations with no native speakers. With commitment, study groups, classes, and communitywide effort, many are approaching fluency. Jessie's young daughter Mae is the first native speaker in more than a hundred years.

 

Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority

Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority (2008), explores the life of the late U.S. Representative Patsy Mink, the first woman of color in Congress and co-author of the landmark Title IX gender equity legislation. Patsy Mink became the first Asian American woman and woman of color in the United States Congress in 1965. This film looks at Mink's remarkable political journey, while often lonely and tumultuous, she fought for the most disenfranchised and forgotten in society.

This film won the Audience Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival and San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize at the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival, and Spirit of Humanity Award at the San Joaquin International Film Festival, among other honors.

 

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the astonishing story of the Liberian women who took on the warlords and regime of dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a brutal civil war, and won a once unimaginable peace for their shattered country in 2003. As the rebel noose tightened around the capital city of Monrovia, thousands of women - ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim - formed a thin but unshakeable line between the opposing forces. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they literally faced down the killers who had turned Liberia into hell on earth. In one memorable scene, the women barricaded the site of stalled peace talks in Ghana and refused to move until a deal was done. Their demonstrations culminated in Taylor's exile and the rise of Africa's first female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Inspiring and uplifting, Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a compelling example of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations.

 

 

When I Rise

When I Rise is the inspiring story of Barbara Smith Conrad, a gifted black mezzo-soprano who, as a music student at the University of Texas, found herself in a civil rights storm that changed her life forever.

Barbara had transferred from Prairie View A&M University in the fall of 1956 as part of the first racially integrated undergraduate class at the University of Texas. Shortly after beginning her new life in Austin, Barbara's innate musical talent attracted the attention of her professors in the School of Music, and she was cast as the romantic lead in the campus rendition of Dido and Aeneas - opposite a white male student.

Opposition to the casting decision fueled a racial controversy that traveled from the university campus to the Texas Legislature. Mere days before the opera opened in May 1957, university officials succumbed to pressure from a small group of radical segregationists. The Dean of Fine Arts asked Barbara to step down, and a white student assumed the role of Dido.

A flood of media coverage ensued, beginning with the Houston Post and quickly escalating to the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, and most notably, a controversial article in Time magazine. Harry Belafonte, an entertainment superstar of the era, read about Barbara, called her at her dorm in Austin, Texas, and the rest - as Barbara says - is history.

Although she was raised during the height of the Jim Crow period, Barbara had been nurtured in what historians refer to as a "safe haven" community. Center Point, Texas, was a tiny beacon of culture where education, church, community, and music were the norm, and limitations imposed by the "white world" were held at bay by the community's nurturing arms. Barbara's parents were college-educated leaders in the Center Point school system, at the core of which was an all-black boarding school that drew students from across the United States. Her parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents all imprinted on Barbara the importance of education and culture. And, within the embrace of her family and tightly knit church community, Barbara had been given a sense of self that would prove to be her life preserver during "the incident" at the University of Texas.

This small-town girl, whose voice and spirit stem from her roots in east Texas, emerged as an internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano and headlined on stages around the world.

In 2009, Barbara returned to Texas and the university, finding the grace and dignity to forgive the past.

 

Strong!

Cheryl Haworth is an Olympic weightlifter who has competed in three Olympic Games, winning the bronze medal in Sydney in 2000. She held the title of National Champion for 11 consecutive years. Weighing close to 300 pounds, Cheryl uses her size to her competitive advantage in a sport that has traditionally been the province of men. Strong! is the story of Cheryl's weightlifting career, the rigors of training for competition, and her personal experience of being big in a culture that values women who are small.

Cheryl entered the weightlifting world at age 13 after seeing women weightlifters at the gym. With her parents' support, she began training and entering competitions. At 15, she was the American national champion, and at 17 she competed in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the first Games that included a women's weightlifting event.

Cheryl says her large size is a plus, something that makes her sturdier and more stable, enabling her to lift weights in excess of 300 pounds. She is conscious of what she eats and follows a balanced diet, but her fast metabolism and the need to maintain her strength and build muscle require her to take in additional calories in the form of daily protein supplements.

She has always been strong, even as a child, and now her strength is a tool she puts to use in her chosen sport. Explaining the two competition events - the snatch and the clean and jerk - Cheryl notes that weightlifting is not just about heaving a weight over your head; it requires timing, flexibility, and knowing how to use inertia and gravity to make the weight move as if it is a part of your body.

As in most sports, injuries are a risk, and Cheryl has suffered several torn ligaments over her career. After sustaining a traumatic injury at the 2003 Junior World Championships, she experienced a loss of confidence and had to work hard to rebuild her mental, as well as her physical, ability to lift weights. In the four-year cycle leading up to the 2008 Olympics, Cheryl set a world record at the 2005 Pan American Games, lifting 161 kilos, or 352 pounds.

After graduating from college, she moves to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to train for the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships in Thailand. Despite struggling with new injuries, she scores well enough in Thailand to help the American team secure four slots for the Beijing Games.

Cheryl knows her career is nearing its end, and starts to think about life after weightlifting. She looks into joining the Coast Guard, but notes that she would have to lose a significant amount of weight to meet the requirements. She hadn't focused on romance during her years of training, but now she wants to lose weight but be healthy, to wear nice clothes, to be whistled at once in a while. She sees a world that values people more if they're smaller. She admits to feeling big, heavy and cumbersome, to feeling unhappy in her body - a body that's good for weightlifting, but that doesn't fit the social norm.

Strength itself is morphing for Cheryl - it's not just about lifting heavy things or succeeding on the platform anymore: it's about perseverance and grappling with disappointment and loss.

 

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#TooFEW: Feminist People of Color Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon on Friday, March 15 (2013) from 11am-3pm EST

 

From The Chronicle of Higher Education Blog

By Adeline Koh

Have you ever wondered why there are few instances of detailed entries on women and gender studies, disability studies and on people of color on Wikipedia? Wikipedia itself has noted its own systemic bias-Wikipedians are by and large privileged, educated Anglophone males who might not consider these fields worthy subjects to annotate. According to the Wikimedia Foundation's study in 2011, only 13 per cent of countributors to the site were female. Claire Potter has pondered about this in a recent article titled "Prikipedia? Or, Looking for the Women on Wikipedia." If this concerns you, now's your chance to rectify this!

 

In celebration of Women's History Month and WikiWomen's History Month, groups across the United States are organizing both virtual and in-person meet-ups to edit Wikipedia to include more perspectives on women and people of color on Friday: #tooFEW - a feminist Wikipedia edit-a-thon! Originally conceived of as part of a virtual way to connect the upcoming THATCamp unconferences on feminism, there are now widespread events everywhere. If you can't find a way to physically get to one of the edit-a-thon parties, please consider just jumping in, editing entries and following on the Twitter conversations using the hashtag: #tooFEW

 

Dr. Jonet states that "This is a powerful action by feminist digital media to use its voice to make presences that often go undocumented in contemporary social media felt. It also adds to rethinking how we understand activism as a culture and demonstrates the importance of rethinking a number of boundaries that create these kinds of systematic absences, as well as denies the importance and presence of digital feminisms/gender studies."

Here are Some More Ways to Help!

 

Help generate ideas for new entries or entries to be improved - you can add your ideas to our working list here

Participate in Wikipedia community

  • Sign up for a Wikipedia account (consider using a pseudonym at the outset, you can always change it once you're comfortable)
  • Watch this video to learn just how to edit Wikipedia. Be sure to set aside some time for this video, it's an hour long, and we recommend clicking on FLASH - it tends to play better that way. (Although, we will provide editing help at the edit-a-thon, if you don't have time to do this.)

Join us virtually by doing your work during our edit-a-thon. If you're on Twitter, send out a Tweet that includes the hashtag #tooFEW to let us know you're out there. We'll be live editing from 11am-3pm EST, Friday March 15.

Join us in person at one of the following:

Tell Somebody

  • Students - Do they need extra credit? Can this be a class project? Are you learning about some really cool people in POC/Trans*/Queer/Women's History that don't have wiki pages or have pages with bad information? You can fix it!
  • Friends - Do you know other folks who should know about this? Please spread this information to activists you know, faculty, etc. Everyone is welcome!
  • Organizations - These edit-a-thons work best with lots of folks working on specific things. Do you know orgs like INCITE or SONG that know specific types of folks who should be added to Wikipedia or projects folks should know about?

Too swamped and don't want to login to Wikipedia but would like to contribute? Add your idea to this Google doc.

We look forward to seeing you on Wikipedia and the hashtag #tooFEW!

Moya Bailey is interviewed by Al Jazeera on the Wikipedia feminist edit-a-thon here:

 

 

** Credits go to Jacqueline Wernimont and Moya Bailey for the copy on "ways you can participate."

 

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Dr. Jonet is the coordinator of this website, the NMSU Women's Studies Twitter feed, Facebook group, and Tumblr page.