Who Needs Feminism? Everyone.

 

I am both appalled and thrilled. Appalled that women are still treated so badly in our culture, and thrilled that some young women are willing to speak out and demand change.

I'm not exactly an optimist on this subject. After all, I was fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment in North Carolina in 1979 and 81, and have an idea of what we're up against. But I've been hanging on to the hope that things are better for today's young women.  

Not any longer. Last night I visited Who Needs Feminism, a site created by students in a class at Duke University and recommended by my friend Susan. Judging from the hundreds of posts, young women's lives are as bad as the old days, if not worse. By bad, I mean: 

• Being manipulated into having sex
• Enduring catcalls while walking down the street
• Being judged solely on the basis of appearance
• Getting blamed for sexual harassment
• Putting up with "slut-shaming"
• Having "no" interpreted as anything other than NO!
• Being unfairly judged by parents, girlfriends, boyfriends, teachers, bosses and everyone else who wants to weigh in

And our country is so far ahead of the rest of the world?! That's not much to be proud of, considering how constrained and abused women and girls are in other cultures.

It's funny--well not funny, just serendipitous--that just yesterday I read Lewis' Law of Online Feminism. The law, coined by British Journalist Helen Lewis: 

The [hostile] comments on any article about feminism justify feminism.

Just another example of how far we haven't come.

Doodling my way through life

Going through old journals, I'm finding my history in doodles. Actually, there isn't much of a historical thread: I just kept trying different things with whatever tools I had at hand.

As you can see, the results are all over the place. (Disclaimer: I couldn't bear to include the really ugly ones, and there are plenty of them.)

What I see in these pages, all created from 2005 to 2008, is the beauty of journals. Because there's no audience, it's much easier to get past the inner critic, mess around and see what happens. 

The result, at least for me, is a kind of raw energy that I can't reproduce if I try. 

Why not try it yourself? I mean, what have you got to lose, right? You might happily surprise yourself, and if not, you can always turn the page.

 A few ideas, in case you're not feeling inspired.

• Choose a shape and repeat it over and over, big, small, overlapping and separate. Fill in the shapes with color, lines, patterns, whatever. 
• Divide the page into 9-12 smaller squares. Fill each one with different kinds of lines (narrow, wide, close, far apart, crossing, radiating, etc.) to create different textures. 
• Draw a big squiggle, making sure that lines cross often. Doodle in some of the spaces you've created.
• Write a single word in the middle of the page. Outline it , following the contours of the letters. Outline around the outline, and keep outlining till you run out of space (or interest).

Don't forget the cardinal rule: have fun! And send me pictures, okay?

One more way I know I'm "not from around here"

When I talk about my latest project, nearly every North Carolinian reacts the same way: "The Farmer's Almanac! It was always on my grandparents'/ parents'/uncle's kitchen table! They used it every day!"

Not me.

Of course I knew about the Farmer's Almanac, but I don't think I'd ever really looked at one till I started cutting them up to cover a notebook and tissue box. 

So I had no idea that astrology was such an important part of it. I didn't know that there was such a thing as barren signs (Leo, Gemini, Virgo), or fruitful signs (Aries, Taurus, Libra, Capricorn), let alone that such things could have an impact on farming. 

Astrology and farming? It sounds incongruous, but I'm pretty sure that the advice--vegetables planted in the new moon will grow vigorously, trees trimmed when the Earth is in Leo will surely die--is based on observation and experience. So take that, all you astrology haters and doubters.

Okay, then: back to the subject. The Almanac's real charm is in the small things scattered through its pages.

• Tongue in cheek articles: How To Ruin a Child, Alibis for Every Month of the Year
• Humorous stories: Tragedy Hits Dancer in Old 1944 Dress (rips on stage), Fisherman Hooks 290-Pounder (hog)
• Fillers and facts: there's no such thing as tired blood, the highest numbered house in 1964 was 51,202 N. 170th St., W. Lancaster, CA.  
• Jokes: One way to keep people from jumping down your throat is to keep your mouth shut
• Ads: Don't Be Skinny! Throw Away that Truss! Build Back Blood Power Fast! 

I could go on, but let me leave you with a personal favorite, just as relevant today as when it was published in 1958: 

Thrift is a great virtue, especially in an ancestor.

Bits and pieces

Between gorgeous weather, cleaning out the attic (again), discovering new pens and other distractions, my mind is all over the place.

As a result, I've spent more time writing and rewriting this entry than ever--and haven't liked any of the results. By now the only sensible choice is to throw out the words and post a journal page instead.

This was a happy accident.  I'd randomly pasted some images in my journal and (of course) promptly forgot them. So I was surprised and delighted when this fish appeared at the bottom of the page.

Wishing you happy accidents of your own today!

Note to self: remember to...

Student:  "What's been the biggest challenge in becoming an animator?"
Chris Landreth: "Myself."

Brilliant. The internal obstacles are so much harder to overcome than the external ones, at least for me. To do anything--especially creative things--I have to get past layers of self-doubt, fear, procrastination and perfectionism. 

I have to quiet the voice inside that is constantly judging and always finding me lacking.  "Who do you think you are? What makes you think you're any good? Why should anyone care? " my inner critic asks, LOUDLY.

Apparently this kind of abuse is common. It's been called resistance (Steven Pressfield, The War of Art), disinclination (Eric Maisel, Creativity for Life), editor (Peter Elbow, Writing with Power), and ego (my friend and coach, Rivka From), to name a few.

The real question, of course, is how to get past it. There's lots of advice out there, but here's what works for me. 

• Make friends with the critic. Understand that creating and correcting are distinct activities, requiring different parts of the brain. Reassure the critic that there will be time to evaluate after the process of creating. Notice the conversation and let it go.
• Start something. That's the challenge. When you have a million ideas--or none--it's hard to pick one. The best advice I got was from The Path of Least Resistance, by Robert Fritz. In the middle of the page, in bold capitals, he says "MAKE IT UP!"
• Keep going. Know that there will be a big gap between what you see in your mind and what you actually produce. The more you practice, the smaller that gap will be. So practice. Get over yourself and do the work. 

Excellent advice, Deb. Let's get going.