Posts Tagged ‘Shelby Knox’
Friday Round Up on Monday: What Was Your Anita Hill Moment?
It’s the 20th anniversary of Anita Hill’s truth-to-power moment (I’ll dub it Hill’s personal “power to” moment) confronting then U.S. Supreme Court Nominee, now Justice Clarence Thomas, that changed the culture’s understanding about sexual harassment forever. I delayed the Friday Round Up in order to share two important events that I participated in last week, along with a selection of related news reports and commentary…
What Movement Have You Started Today?
Thanks to Shelby Knox for posting this on Facebook today:
On this date in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, AL, city bus. Her arrest sparked the bus boycott and her courage fueled the burgeoning Civil Right Movement. Parks once said, “I want to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free…so other people would also be free.” A beautiful goal, achieved by a revolutionary woman.
Parks helped to spark the Civil Rights Movement by this action. Over on my 9 Ways blog this week, I’m showing examples of No Excuses power tool #7: “create a movement”–with ways we can join together with others to do everything from planning Thanksgiving dinner to world-changing actions like Rosa Parks’.
Today is also World AIDS Day. It’s a good day to think about the amazing progress that has been made so that a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS is not the death warrant is was when the disease was first identified in the 1980’s, thanks to the many people who started movements large and small to combat the disease.
What movement have you created, joined, or contributed to lately? What movement do you think needs creating?
Read MorePower Tool #7: Create a Movement
In this video, women wearing their virtual shirts put their convictions into action. But they didn’t do it alone.
In No Excuses, I show how to apply movement building principles to any area of life. Those principles can be described as Sister Courage: be a sister. Reach out and ask for help when you need it. give help when someone else needs it. Have the courage to raise issues. Put the two together with action and you have a movement.
Think about it. When you needed to plan Thanksgiving dinner, didn’t you call on your sisters to help you plan the menu and distribute the workload? Those same skills can be incorporated into the workplace and in politics.
Read MorePower Tool #4: Embrace Controversy
Controversy. Does it make you run for the hills, or charge into the fray?
Watch the video and find out what feminist activists Jodie Evans, Gloria Steinem, and Shelby Knox have to say about their relationships with controversy.
Controversy gives you a platform, and it also give you an opportunity to define your values. Controversy can nudge you towards clarity. And it can also become a source of strength. What are ways that you have embraced controversy in your life in order to make a positive change?
Read MoreWas There a Moment When You Knew You Had the Power To?
Most high school debaters can tell you that the first person to set the terms of the debate usually wins. That’s because when we allow someone else to define the terms, we allow them to set the framework that constructs our thoughts. Just think about how power has typically been defined, as an oppressive power-over model. If we shift the definition of power to a power-to model, suddenly the discussion is about leadership, and the ability to get things done. As I say in No Excuses.
Almost anyone can employ power-over, but it takes skill to employ power-to. It takes a skill to lead others rather than to force, requires, coerce, or lord over them. Leadership power is much different from the use of force to gain acceptance of a goal.
Watch feminst icon Gloria Steinem, CODEPINK founder Jodie Evans, young feminist leader Shelby Knox, El Diario/La Prensa editor-in-chief Erica Gonzalez, and others talking about their power-to moments, both personal and interpersonal.
Was there a moment when you knew that you had the power to . . .(you fill in the blank)? What was it? And how did you feel? What did you do? If you didn’t have one moment, was there a process that led you to that awareness? What can you share with other women that might help them on their journey?
Read MoreWriting Women Back Into History
On Monday I told you the story of Sybil Luddington, a Revolutionary War hero who has been all but erased from history. We all know who has written the history books, and how that has resulted in men getting to tell their version of events. But there are two sides to every story. Part of changing our relationship with power means that it’s time for women to reclaim our history, and write ourselves back into the history books.
Shelby Knox took some time to speak with me at my book launch last week about a woman who has inspired her: suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage. Take a look at what Shelby has to say about Gage’s contributions to women’s history.
What women from history have inspired you? Whose shoulders are you standing on? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments section.
Shelby Knox: Live Tweeting from No Excuses Book Launch
Read MoreI was so excited to have the fabulous Shelby Knox (on the far right in the photo) agreed to live tweet from my book launch at the Barnes and Noble Lincoln Triangle on October 5th. Shelby is an itinerant feminist organizer, a writer, a speaker, and a self-described revolutionary. (And I would agree with that!) You can keep up with her on Twitter.
To see more photos from the event, be sure to check out the book tour page. And if you missed the event, here are Shelby’s tweets to give you a nutshell version of the night!
Feminism in Second Life–and Its Challenges in the 21st Century Real Life
Listen on Blogtalk radio to the lively multi-generational conversation that took place last night on Second Life–and please share your comments–I’d love to hear how you would answer the questions that we were asked.
The panelists are journalist and author Lynn Harris, youth activist Shelby Knox, and myself talking with host Jay Ackroyd.