Friday Round Up: The Revolution Must Be Funded Edition
While there was plenty of political intrigue and sex scandal dominating the news this past
[caption id="attachment_6847" align="alignright" width="237" caption="Courtney Martin"]
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week, the most provocative article I read was Courtney Martin’s “’You Are the NOW of Now!’ The Future of (Online) Feminism.”
Courtney, a leading young feminist writer and an editor of Feministing.com, last year
Read MoreShall We Start a Pool re When Cain Leaves the Race?
In my previous post about Herman Cain, I suggested responses to the sexual harassment allegations that could keep him in the running. Now I agree with former Ohio Secretary of State who said at the beginning of this debacle that Cain is toast.
If you were betting, when do you think he will leave the race for president?
And what do you think last night’s election returns mean for him and the rest of the Republican candidates?
Arena Asks:Herman Cain held a press conference tonight to defend his reputation, choosing to address accusations of sexual harassment directly. “I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period,” Cain said, indicating that he has no idea who accuser Sharon Bialek was. He added that he would not be stepping out of the presidential race.
Is Cain wise to remain in the presidential race? And does his defense of his reputation seem plausible?
My Answer: Cain is getting less plausible by the minute…
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She's Doing It: Tiffany Dufu Leads the White House Project Forward
This week’s “She’s Doing It” features a first person account of how a woman I very much admire came into leadership and stepped into her power as naturally as rivers flow from their source, despite some negative messages she received as a girl. Tiffany Dufu is a role model and example of how younger women are moving the leadership needle forward for themselves and others. Read on. And if you’re one of the over 13,000 who has had an experience with The White House Project thus far, won’t you share it here?
It all started when I got the Girl of the Year Award.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest as the daughter of a homemaker and minister, I remember adults around me insisting: “little girls can’t lead.” Yet taking the award into my hands that day, I realized how eager I was to make a profound impact. I had a deep desire to not only affect change, but also be public about it so that other girls would see that they could be leaders, too…
Read MoreWhat should be the response to the Mississippi “Personhood” proposal?
Arena asked “Should Miss. ‘personhood’ proposal pass?” The answer is NO. And further….please read on to see what else I think about what the proposal means, and what should be done about it.
The Arena Asks: An initiative in Mississippi Tuesday would impose the country’s tightest regulations on abortion and birth control. Initiative 26 would change the definition of a person to include “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.”
Should the ‘personhood’ proposal pass?
My Answer: Everyone who is or has a mother, sister, woman friend, or daughter should vote against any candidate, Republican or Democrat, who fails to support a woman’s fundamental human right to make her own childbearing decisions–including whether to have a child or not. Period.
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Old Dominion University Women’s Center
Thurs. and Fri. 11/3/11 & 11/4/11: Norfolk, VA
Keynote and No Excuses Workshop
Old Dominion University Women’s Center
Women’s Institute for Leadership Development
Webb University Center
Friday Round Up: Who Will Carpe Occupy Wall Street's Chaos?
Nature abhors a vacuum, right? So who do you think will eventually occupy the leadership vacuum that has been a deliberate feature of Occupy Wall Street’s laudably idealistic start as a movement?
Why not a you or a woman you know?
Read MoreShe's Doing It: Young Women of The Loud Empresses Declare Their Power To!
My heart bursts with joy when people tell me what No Excuses and the message of changing how we think about power so that we can embrace it in a positive way has meant to them.
When I speak to organizations or conferences, I often ask the question “When did you know you had the power to_____.” Each person fills in the blank for herself. Then we discuss the answers with one another. Try it, and talk about it with your friend, sister, mother, or whoever you can requisition.
So after my keynote speech for the New Directions Career Center in Columbus OH (a fantastic organization that helps low income women gain economic self-sufficiency), I had one of those joyful moments. Why?
Read this post by Rae Reed in The Loud Empresses blog, Living Life OutLoud and you’ll see some young women who are embracing their power TO.
I attended an event last week, Gloria Feldt presenting “No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power,” hosted by The Center for New Directions.
I’ll be honest. I had no freaking idea what to expect. Young, wearing jeans and a V-neck, I sat amongst women with ears perked, eagerly anticipating the night’s featured speaker.
It wasn’t long before I figured out why. Wisdom poured from her lips like my brain begged for more…
Read MoreIs World Population Day of 7 Billion Scarier than Halloween?
Today, on Halloween no less, the Earth welcomed the baby who tipped world population over the 7 billion mark.
I probably wouldn’t have known much about the topic of world population but for a fluke as I prepared to graduate from the University of Texas Permian Basin the summer of 1974. To my surprise, I was told I needed three more hours of science.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4HxPxNrZ0&feature=related[/youtube]
National Geographic video showing population growth
It had been a long 12-year road for me, what with three children to care for, a five-year stint teaching Head Start, and other detours along the way. Finally, I thought, I’d be done by the end of June.
Once I got the bad news, I looked for the easiest science course I could find, preferably one without the
Read MoreCan Herman Cain Survive?
You knew it was just a matter of minutes before a sex scandal would erupt with one or another presidential candidate. Personally, I was betting it would be Michelle Bachmann and/or her husband. So much self-righteousness is usually a mask to hide some skeleton in the closet. But no, it was Pizza Dude Herman Cain. Though many of the first responders on Arena’s commentator bench say Cain is toast, I’m not so sure. Read on and tell me what you think…
Arena Asks: POLITICO reports exclusively that during Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by him. The women signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. How damaging are these revelations to Cain’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination?
My Answer: These allegations aren’t an automatic KO but they are big and they are damaging. How Cain comports himself in the aftermath will determine whether he remains a viable candidate or becomes cold pizza. So far, not so good.
This month is the 20th anniversary of Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment by then U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. A comparison to those events might shed light on what this might mean for Cain…
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Friday Round Up : As Pink Headlines Declare End of Feminism (Again), World’s Women Leaders Keep Moving Forward
Want to have a little cognitive dissonance?
First watch this video of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a keynote address at the first-ever Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Women and the Economy Summit 9/16/11 in San Francisco CA, essentially saying that women are the key to the world’s economic future.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jbLUHIveIQ[/youtube]
And for good measure, take a gander at the latest
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