Update from the road on our last tour of 2009

Silence is Violence at Lafayette!

Josephine Baker writes…

We performed this evening in Easton, PA at Lafayette College and what an awesome and fun show it was! We kicked off the night with my wig flying off. No worries, though. I caught it in mid air!

We had the best student volunteer to help us out. His name was Chris, but he later chose Frida Kahlo as his Guerrilla Girl On Tour name. During rehearsals he was amazing! He knew all his lines and was game to learn the improv that we threw at him. What was really funny, though, was that when we called him onstage it was obvious that he wasn't really expecting it. He had gotten quite comfortable in his audience chair. When we began our first improv, he sort of stood there, waiting for us to give him some clue as to what should happen next. It was apparent that he was a little shaken by the rousing welcome he received from the audience and so had forgotten a lot of what we rehearsed. After a few nervous minutes, he relaxed and fell completely into his stage persona as Frida. Chris/Frida was by far one of my favorite volunteer's to date!

All in all I won’t forget Lafayette….it was a great show, volunteer and audience. I can't wait to hit the road again.

Julia Child writes…

Whirlwind tour to Easton, PA. We hopped in our rental car, threw on the tunes, sped through the Lincoln tunnel to what we thought would soon be Pennsylvania. After about forty-five minutes of driving, we found ourselves at the Holland Tunnel. It wouldn't have been embarrassing if I wasn't publicly posting this diary, but I am and it is so there's a little lesson about staying humble. They say, "well-behaved women rarely make history," and we disobeyed THE RULES OF THE ROAD to make this mistake. trailblazers I guess.

Nafis our gracious host, welcomed us with hands ready to carry prop bags and bottles of water for thirsty soldiers marching through the deserts of sexism. I wish we were marching through the DESSERTS of sexism! It would have been a more fun story for the grandchildren, but as they say, "you can't live life through the eyes of the grandchildren." Too much candy from the floor, I guess.

The crowd was totally into our student volunteer, Chris--- as were we. He was a fabulous actor and game for ridiculosity. A total double whammie. Our tech folks were quick on the draw, and for that I was grateful--thanksgiving style. My favorite moment of the show was pretending to be a drunk co-ed in the date-rape intervention skits. Pretending to be drunk is actually more intoxicating than actual drunkenness. None of that pesky nausea and memory loss. It's like being your own stunt woman.

Lafayette treated us like queens and I wouldn't have it any other way. We left with the sweat of catharsis on our tongues and the bulge of college tortilla wraps in our bellies and headed back to the Lincoln Tunnel. We tried not to make eye contact with the Holland Tunnel.

Anne Sexton writes…

After taking the scenic route through the industrial back alleys of Jersey City (why do Josephine Baker and myself always find ourselves there?) we finally made it to the sprawling, picturesque campus of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Aphra Behn was busy developing the play-writing genre, but we knew she she was only a tweet, text, blog or page away.

What did we GGOT's find at Lafayette?

Liberal campus? Check. Astoundingly equal ratio of male to female faculty members? Check. The feminist uproar caused by a PA Representative Joe Pitts, co-author of the Stupak Amendment in the Affordable Health Care for America Act? Check.

No one seemed to protest when we voiced our disgust over Pennsylvania's own Representative, Joe Pitts. The amendment encroaches on a woman’s Constitutional right to an abortion by putting several road blocks in her way. Namely, by making the woman purchase riders--supplemental policies that would cover abortions--on a private insurance program if she accepts federal affordability credits from the new insurance plan, which may lead many back to the days of back alley abortions. Joe Pitts, we know you're a member of the Pro-Life Caucus and a chairman of the Fatherhood Promotion Task Force (Huhh?!), but how about joining the "Freewill Motherhood Promotion and Women's Rights Task Force?" (If someone does start said group, please let us know!)

And there were several men in attendance who nodded in agreement at our ideals and raised their hands loud and proud when asked if they were feminists, which always make me happy and hopeful that feminism is losing it's "dirty F- word" reputation of late.

There was so much love at Lafayette, including a standing ovation (go girls!) that one of the questions in the post-performance talk back stood out to me. "Do you feel like you're preaching to the choir at most of your college campus shows?". Well, no, actually. Quite often our shows are mandatory assemblies during women's history month or violence against women week where we are met with a barrage of scowls and stoicism. At those times we roll-up our sleeves and become the Rosie Riveters of Feminism, breaking down stereotypes and building awareness one block at a time. But Julia Child answered this question best with "That's great; we love preaching to the choir!". It's true, we love rallying the troops with the latest statistics and political hot topics so people will become even more inspired to make change.

Thank you Lafayette College for being such gracious hosts and being our choir of feminism!

Oh, and for the record, Rep. Joe Pitts was actually born in Kentucky.

HAVE A FEMINIST HOLIDAY

As the end of the year approaches, Guerrilla Girls On Tour look forward to our tours on the feminist holidays in 2010.

February 14- celebrate loving, committed lesbian and gay couples day. We tour New York State.
March 8--International Women's Day. We tour the Midwest with our brand new show If You Can Stand The Heat: The History of Women and Food.
April 8--National Pay Equity Day. We tour Tennessee.
April 26--Take Our Daughters to Work Day. We’ll take our little GGOT’s (see photo) to our tour of Florida.
September 20--Love Your Body Day. We take our tour overseas to Croatia!

SEE YOU ON THE ROAD!

ROOFIE BOMB EXPLODES!

Here is a story of an action that met with great success. Thanks to all who responded to Erin L’s action against the Wild Wing Café (for promoting and listing a drink on their menu called the “roofie bomb”.). She/We did it!. The drink is officially off the menu and an apology from Wild Wing Café has been issued. I hear that Erin L is graduating from UNC Charlotte this month and is heading for the jungle to become an official member of Guerrilla Girls On Tour!!!!

Here’s the letter Erin (and Guerrilla Girls On Tour) received from Wild Wing Café.

Erin,

Let me start with a sincere apology for this distasteful mistake. Our NE
franchisee picked this drink menu & recipe off the internet. It was part of
a large file which they sent to the corporate office for their drink book.
The verbiage was then transferred in a word document and sadly escaped our
review. We are appalled that anyone thinks this is remotely funny. As a
female, founder, Vice President and marketer of this company it offends me
personally and it belies our corporate philosophy and our personal values.

Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. I would appreciate it
if you would forward this response to the people you have contacted. You
can be assured that all menu books have been immediately removed and new
drink menus are being created. If you would like to contact me personally
to further discuss this situation I can be reached at 843-216-0616.


Sincerely,
Dianne Crowley
Vice President
Wings Over America

Roofie Bomb on the Menu

Here's a photo of the "Roofie Bomb" on the menu at the Wild Wing Cafe. Apparently it is only on the menu in the Charlotte, NC Wild Wing Cafe franchise. How about a wild protest, feminists of North Carolina and beyond.

Roofie Bomb

Here’s a great action by feminist Erin L. of UNC Charlotte who has started a campaign against the Wild Wing Café for promoting a drink they call the “Roofie Bomb”. Who’d a thought someone could come up with something so exploitive, offensive and supportive of violence against women? Let’s all join Erin’s cause and write to the the Wild Wing Café at contactus@wildwingcafe.com and ask them to pull the “Roofie Bomb” off the drinks lists. Here is a part of Erin’s letter to Wild Wing Café.

“…I went to the Charlotte University Wild Wing Cafe about a month ago. I had never looked at your drink menu (I usually just drink beer) prior to my last visit, but I was waiting for my food and bored so I flipped through it. I came across a drink offered in your menu that absolutely disgusted me and left me feeling angry and sick to my stomach: a "Roofie Bomb".

I am extremely disgusted at your company's decision to name a drink a "roofie bomb". I'm saddened to no end because rape and violence against women is such a serious issue that we, as a society, should be trying to stop NOT condone. I'm sure you have a sister, a mother, a female friend, or (depending on your sexual preference) a girlfriend. How would you feel if someone tried to take advantage of someone you love by slipping them a roofie and attempting to rape them? I can't imagine how I would feel if I was a rape victim and I read your drink menu. It's the subtle messages, such as naming a drink a "roofie bomb", that make sexual violence a little more accepted in our society. One in every six women will be a victim of rape or sexual assault. I don't know about you, but that's a scary number to me. Even worse, college women are four times more likely to be a victim of sexual assault and your University Area establishment is only a few miles from UNC-Charlotte.

You are knowingly promoting rape and date rape drugs. Is that really the image you want your establishment to have? You are normalizing something that greatly affects our society every day. A "roofie bomb" might sound innocent, but what is it really saying about Wild Wing Cafe's views on rape and date rape? Rape is not a joke, but your drink is making it one and downplaying the seriousness of the issue. Your choice of language, as small as it may be, has HUGE implications for our society.

I ask you as a human and as my sister or brother to remove the drink from your menu. Until that is done, you can guarantee that I will NEVER pay another penny to and Wild Wing Cafe nor will I promote your company ever again. I may be one person, but as a college student I have a huge network and I will not go silently. I will continue to express my disgust to anyone who will listen. Please, make the right choice….” - Erin

Guerrilla Girls On Tour just sent our letter to contactus@wildwingcafe.com
Join us and send one off today.

Go bananas!

Sexual Assaults on Campus

Last week UND student Josh Brorby wrote a horrible op-ed piece for the online Dakota Student in which he described how to rape a woman. It was printed and responses have been extreme. It was horrible and disgusting but what also bothered me is the number of negative responses to the article about equal the positive ones.

There was a great piece by Kristen Lombardi yesterday describing how sexual assaults on campuses are always shrouded in secrecy. She reports on one student’s efforts to pursue her rape complaint via the college judicial system.

Roughly one in five women who attend college will become the victim of a rape or an attempted rape by the time she graduates. A recent study found that more than 95 percent of students who are sexually victimized do not report to police or campus officials.

Rape culture abounds on the UND campus, on college campuses across the US and the world. Rape culture is writing about how to rape a woman, getting it published and applauded.

Guerrilla Girls On Tour’s past three performances have been of our show “Silence Is Violence” that addresses date rape and violence against women. There are women and men on college campuses who realize the need to address a problem they face and bring it to the forefront. Let’s hope UND is next on our tour list.

Link to Sexual Assault on Campus Shrouded in Secrecy by Kristin Lombardi http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/campus_assault/articles/entry/1838/

Link to One-night standing: the Method by Josh Brorby
http://tinyurl.com/UNDrape

-Aphra Behn
December 2, 2009
New York City

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT!

Guerrilla Girls On Tour's Diary
(from our tour to Rochester Institute of Technology's annual Take Back The Night!

I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday than to perform “Silence Is Violence” at RIT’s annual “Take Back The Night” rally with Julia Child and Edith Evans. Yes, the morning I turned none-of-your-business (as Julia would say) I was boarding a US airways flight to the beautiful and chilly city of Rochester with my two BGF’s (best guerrilla friends). After checking into our hotel and singing a few musical theatre medleys we head off to the RIT campus – a huge sprawling brick conglomerate of gianormous buildings and winding roads. We find the theatre and meet our fabulous hostess, Susanne, who greets us with veggie wraps and coffee…the sure fire quick way into our hearts. After a tech rehearsal that was interrupted by a constant changeover of the tech crew we go over our posters, DV stats and improvisations on date rape and bystander intervention. We meet our fearless student volunteer, Nevin, who takes the name of Frida Kahlo as an honorary member of Guerrilla Girls On Tour for a day. Backstage it’s all warm ups we recently learned at Upright Citizens Brigade (yes, we are all trained in long form improv techniques) and we’re off on the first show of the season.

A few hilarious mishaps both planned (Obama dances al la Saturday Night Fever) and not planned (Julia’s wig flies off) later Julia and Edith surprise me when the audience sings a loud “Happy Birthday” to me at the end of the show. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Yes, we had the audience practicing chanting all though the performance so that by the end and the beginning of the “Take Back The Night” rally we’d all be in fine voice for our march around the gym. As a survivor of domestic violence it was particularly poignant and touching for me to be doing this on my birthday…god knows there was many a chance that I would not have made it past my 27th! A fine Q and A ended our two-hour show and we headed off to the nearby coffee shop which is also a bar for some celebratory cocktails to end the night. I got carded….no longer flattering, just plain ridiculous at my age, and the nice barkeep bought me a birthday pint. Now that’s hospitality Rochester style. I fell asleep like a baby in my heavenly bed dreaming of tours to come.

-Aphra Behn
October 1, 2009
Rochester, NY

Edith Evans here, just back from upstate New York, Rochester to be exact, where the leaves are all ready turning, the temperature is all ready dropping, and the students are all ready involved, chanting and marching, for 'Take Back the Night.'

For those of you like me who skipped the college culture and went directly into bohemian artistic employment - 'Take Back the Night' started in the late 1970's as a way to raise awareness to sexual violence and support those who have been victimized. The goal of these gatherings is to help women achieve a feeling of safety and empowerment. Many events are women only, but now men are also standing up as survivors and some events are becoming co ed. (takebackthenight.org)

Julia Child, Aphra Behn and I started our day together at the airport drinking coffee and eating delicate, beautiful, little cupcakes in honor of Aphra's birthday. What a nice treat!

Aphra and I also got to experience a little culture shock while buying some disposable camera's in the local Rite Aid. The cashier was so friendly. We had a long lengthy discussion with her about heat and our new friend wanted so much to continue the conversation she walked us to the door on the way out. Being from NYC we confessed to being afraid she wouldn't leave us but would follow us right into our car.

Off to campus. It is a big campus. Once again though, a friendly security guard drew us a map of where we needed to go. And he was right!

Susanne was there to greet us and set us up (and got us some much needed coffee too, thanks Susanne!) and tech began. And many hours later tech ended. Show time!

The audience was really responsive. There was almost no need for Julia to encourage them to get into the spirit and rock the house out with their voices. Our student volunteer Nevin did a fine job as a chest bumping, subway sub eating male student. And after marching around the campus 'Sentinel' the students came back for a Q & A.

Afterwards, we went to a local bar (and got carded, would you believe!) and had a beer once again in honor of Aphra's birthday. We slept on the delightful heavenly rest mattress, and came home on time thanks to the most efficient flight attendant ever. Yeah baby.

It's nice to be back on tour,
Edith Evans

www.ggontour.com
www.twitter.com/GuerrillaGsOT© 2009

BEST BOOKS OF 2009

Guerrilla Girls On Tour breaks from our policy to not comment on living artists in light of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2009 Top Ten List that contained ZERO books by women and an almost total absence of books by people of color. HERE, for the first time, is GUERRILLA GIRLS ON TOUR's BEST BOOKS OF 2009. Except for plays and some non-fiction entries, this list is courtesy of the WILLA list compiled by women working together to chronicle Great Books by women 2009. If you have a book to add or to view the complete WILLA list go to http://willalist.wikia.com/wiki/The_WILLA_List_Wiki. Thanks to all who wrote to us re the great work WILLA has done in capturing and maintaining this vital list. Drum roll please....

PLAYS
Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo
Blasted by Sarah Kane
God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza
The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson
Ruined by Lynn Nottage
Or by Liz Duffy
This by Melissa James Gibson
Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker
Killers and Other Family by Lucy Thurber
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Rebeccca Gilman
In the Next Room the Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl
Let me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith
After Miss Julie by Sienna Miller
The Wonder by Susanna Centlivre
A Lifetime Burning by Cusi Cram
The Night Watcher by Charlayne Woodard
Happy Now by Lucinda Coxon
FICTION
Megan Abbott, Bury Me Deep
Marguerite Abouet, Aya: The Secrets Come Out (Graphic Novel)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Thing Around Your Neck
Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood
Margo Berdeshevsky, Beautiful Soon Enough
A.S. Byatt, The Children's Book
Amina Cain, I Go To Some Hollow
Chelsea Cain, Evil At Heart
Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage
Mary Caponegro, All Fall Down
Emily Chenoweth, Hello Goodbye
Farai Chideya, Kiss the Sky
Inger Christensen, Azorno
Jennine Capó Crucet, How to Leave Hialeah
Randy Sue Coburn, A Better View of Paradise
Lydia Davis, The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
Rachel DeWoskin, Repeat After Me
Elissa Elliot, Eve: A Novel of the First Woman
Erdrich, Louise, The Red Convertible
Janet Evanovich, Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Gillian Flynn, Dark Places
Ru Freeman, A Disobedient Girl
Amanda C. Gable, The Confederate General Rides North
Diana Gabaldon, An Echo in the Bone
Mary Gaitskill, Don't Cry
Mavis Gallant, The Cost of Living: New and Uncollected Stories
Meg Gardiner, The Memory Collector
Kate George, Moonlighting in Vermont
Amelia Gray, AM/PM
Lauren Groff, Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories
Tina May Hall, All the Day's Sad Stories
Masha Hamilton, 31 Hours
Samantha Harvey, The Wilderness
Elina Hirvonen, When I Forgot
Joanna Howard, On the Winding Stair
Michelle Huneven, Blame
Tania James, The Atlas of Unknowns
Holly Goddard Jones, Girl Trouble
Toni Jordan, Addition
Stephanie Kallos, Sing Them Home
Laura Kasischke, In a Perfect World
Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna
Deidre Knight, Butterfly Tattoo
Laila Lalami, Secret Son
Dylan Landis, Normal People Don't Live Like This
Glenda Larke, The Last Stormlord
Stacey Levine, The Girl With Brown Fur: Tales and Stories
Laura Lippman, Life Sentences
Sophie Littlefield, A BAD DAY FOR SORRY
Sheila Lowe, Dead Write
Li Yiyun, The Vagrants
Lisa Lutz, Revenge of the Spellmans
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
Juliet Marillier, Heart's Blood
Joyce Maynard, Labor Day
Jill McCorkle, Going Away Shoes
Jen Cullerton Johnson, Seeds of Change
Maile Meloy, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It
Anne Michaels, The Winter Vault
Marie Mutsuki, Mockett Picking Bones from Ash
Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs
Nami Mun, Miles From Nowhere
Alice Munro, Too Much Happiness: Stories
Antonya Nelson, Nothing Right
Bich Minh Nguyen, Short Girls
Audrey Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry
Sara Paretsky, Hardball
Ann Parker, Leaden Skies
Gaile Parkin, Baking Cakes In Kigali
Victoria Patterson, Drift
Samantha Peale, The American Painter Emma Dial
Lydia Peelle, Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing: Stories
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, There Once Was a Woman Who Tried to Kill
Gin Phillips, The Well and the Mine
Jayne Anne Phillips, Lark and Termite
Naomi Pringle, Ginga' Root Tea
Amy Reed, Beautiful
Sarah Rosenthal, Manhatten
Joanna Ruocco, The Mothering Coven
Preeta Samarasan, Evening is the Whole Day
Lisa See, Shanghai Girls
Nicole Seitz, A Hundred Years of Happiness
Heather Sharfeddin, Windless Summer
Brooks Sigler, Five Finger Fiction
Emily St. John Mandel, Last Night in Montreal
Kathryn Stockett, The Help
Jean Thompson, Do Not Deny Me
Laura Van den Berg, What The World Will Look Like When
Kate Walbert, A Short History of Women: A Novel
Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger
Jennifer Weiner, Best Friends Forever
Tracy Winn, Mrs. Somebody Somebody
POETRY
Carrie Olivia Adams, Intervening Absence
Kim Addonizio, Lucifer at the Starlite
Deborah Ager, Midnight Voices
Rae Armantrout, Versed
Jessica Bozek, The Bodyfeel Lexicon
Ana Bozicevic, Stars of the Night Commute
Brigitte Byrd, Song of a Living Room
Teresa Cader, A History of Hurricanes
Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Apocalyptic Swing
Kara Candito, Taste of Cherry
Andrea Cohen, Long Divison
Norma Cole, Where Shadows Will
Gillian Conoley, The Plot Genie
Rita Dove ,Sonata Mulattica
Kate Durbin, The Ravenous Audience
Robin Ekiss, The Mansion of Happiness
Sarah Gambito, Delivered
Amy Gerstler, Dearest Creature
Kate Greenstreet,The Last 4 Things
Marilyn Hacker, Names
Leslie Harrison, Displacement
Brenda Hillman, Practical Water
Janet Holmes, The ms of m y kin
Julie Kane, Jazz Funeral
Bhanu Kapil, Humanimal
Jesse Lee Kercheval, Cinema Muto
Myung Mi Kim, Penury
Amy King, Slaves to do These Things
Ish Klein, Union!
Noelle Kocot, Sunny Wednesday
Jennifer Kronovet, Awayward
Rachel Levitsky, Neighbor
Rachel Loden, Dick of the Dead
Dana Teen Lomax, Disclosure
Barbara Maloutas, The Whole Marie
Sabrina Orah Mark, Tsim Tsum
Jen McCreary, :ab ovo:
Karyna McGlynn, I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl
Nicole Mauro, The Contortions
Helena Mesa, Horse Dance Underwater
Chelsey Minnis, Poemland
Mel Nichols, Catalytic Exteriorization Phenomenon
Hoa Nguyen, Hecate Lochia
Lisa Olstein, Lost Alphabet
Alicia Ostriker, The Book of Seventy
Gaile Parkin, Baking Cakes In Kigali
Carol Peters, Sixty Some
Kiki Petrosino, Fort Red Border
Marie Ponsot, Easy
Lisa Robertson, Lisa Robertson's Magenta Soul Whip
Sophie Robinson, a
Kim Rosenfield, re: evolution
Lee Ann Roripaugh, On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year
Lisa Samuels, Tomorrowland
Laurie Sandell, The Impostor's Daughter (Graphic Novel)
Sarah Sarai, The Future is Happy
Sandra Simonds, Warsaw Bikini
Carmen Gimenez Smith, Odalisqued in Pieces
Pamela Sneed, KONG
Alison Stine, Ohio Violence
Terese Svoboda ,Weapons Grade
Stacy Szymaszek, Hyperglossia
Michelle Taransky, Barn Burned, Then
Eleanor Ross Taylor, Captive Voices
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Open Interval
Catherine Wagner, My New Job
Anne Waldman, Manatee/Humanity
Liz Waldner, Trust
Susan Wheeler, Assorted Poems
Dara Wier, Selected Poems
Allison Benis White, Self-Portrait with Crayon
Rebecca Wolff, The King
Karena Youtz, The Shape is Space
Rachel Zucker, Museum of Accidents
NONFICTION
Julie Abraham, Metropolitan Lovers: The Homosexuality of Cities
Diana Athill, Somewhere Towards the End
Nancy Balbirer,Take Your Shirt Off And Cry: A Memoir
Carlene Bauer, Not That Kind of Girl
Helen Benedict, The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq
Eula Biss, Notes From No Man's Land
Rebecca Brown, American Romances: Essays
Lily Burana, I Love a Man in Uniform
Ashley Butler, Dear Sound of Footstep
Gwen Cooper, Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale
Mary Cappello, Called Back: My Reply to Cancer, My Return to Life
Staceyann Chin, The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir
Jennifer Culkin, A Final Arc of Sky: A Memoir of Critical Care
Jenny Diski , The Sixties
Hope Edelman, The Possibility of Everything
Lise Eliot, Pink Brain, Blue Brain
Barbara Ehrenreich, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive
Terry Galloway, Mean Little Deaf Queer
Michelle Goldberg, The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future
Temple Grandin, Animals Make Us Human
Debra Gwartney, Live Through This
Duchess Harris, Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton
Lyanda Lynn Haupt,Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness
Jane Jeong Trenka, Fugitive Visions: An Adoptee's Return to Korea
Diana Joseph, I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story
Mary Karr, Lit
Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor,Traveling with Pomegranates
Hermione Lee, Biography: A Very Short Introduction
Sara Maitland,A Book of Silence
Brenda Miller, Blessing of the Animals
Eileen Myles, The Importance of Being Iceland
Maggie Nelson, Bluets
Rebecca K. O'Connor, Lift
Lilian Pizzichini, The Blue Hour: A Life of Jean Rhys
Dawn Potter, Tracing Paradise: Two Years in Harmony with John Milton
Ruth Reichl, Not Becoming My Mother: And Other Things She Taught Me
Harriet Reisen, Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women
Robin Romm, The Mercy Papers
Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities
Helen Thorpe, Just Like Us
Spring Ulmer, The Age of Virtual Reproduction
Andrea Tone, The Age of Anxiety: A History of America's Turbulent Affair
Rebecca Walker, One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk About Polyamory
Lauren Weber, In Cheap We Trust: The story of a misunderstood American
Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti, Yes Means Yes
Roberta Wohlstetter, Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decition
Susan Strange, States and Markets
Martha Finnemore, The Purpose of Intervention
Frances FitxGerald, Fire in the Lake
Kathryn Sikkink and Margeret Keck, Activists Beyond Border
Samatha Power, A Problem from Hell
Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons
Theda Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions
Beth Simmons, Who Adjusts? Domestic Sources of Foreigh Policy
Valerie Hudson and Andrea Den Boer, Bare Branches
Kim Neilsen, The Teacher and the Student
Margeret Randall, To Change The World
Kirstin Downey, The Revolutionist
Jennifer Ring, Baseball is War


CHILDREN/YOUNG ADULT
Katie Alender, Bad Girls Don't Die
R.J. Anderson, Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter
Pam Bachorz, Candor
Cyn Balog, Fairy Tale
Eileen Beha, Tango - The Tale of an Island Dog
Lauren Bjorkman, My Invented Life
Molly Breen, Darkwood
Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon
Leigh Brescia, One Wish
Jennifer Brown, Hate List
Ann E. Burg, All the Broken Pieces
Megan Crewe, Give up the Ghost
Kirstin Cronn-Mills, The Sky Always Hears Me (and the Hills Don't Mind)
Sarah Cross, Dull Boy
Kate di Goldi, The 10 PM Question
Erin Dionne, Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies
Deva Fagan, Fortune's Folly
Megan Frazer, Secrets of Truth & Beauty
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Creatures
Matthea Harvey, The Little General and the Giant Snowflake
Cheryl Renee Herbsman, Breathing
Kerry Cohen Hoffman ,It's Not You, It's Me
Deborah Hopkinson, Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson
Mandy Hubbard, Prada & Prejudice
Jennifer Jabaley, Lipstick Apology
Stacey Jay, You Are So Undead to Me
Danielle Joseph, Shrinking Violet
Suzanne LaFleur, Love, Aubrey
Cynthea Liu, Paris Pan Takes the Dare
Malinda Lo, Ash
C. Lee MacKenzie, Sliding on the Edge
Sarah MacLean, The Season
J.E. MacLeod, Waiting to Score
L.K. Madigan, Flash Burnout
Lisa Mantchev, Eyes Like Stars
Nan Marino, Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man
Neesha Meminger, Shine Coconut Moon
Kate Messner, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z
Saundra Mitchell, Shadowed Summer
Jenny Moss, Winnie's War
Sarah Ockler, Twenty Boy Summer
Rosanne Parry, Heart of a Shepherd
Jackson Pearce, As You Wish
Diana Peterfreund, Rampant
Shani Petroff, Bedeviled
Aprilynne Pike, Wings
Cindy Pon, Silver Phoenix
Sarah Quigley, TMI
Amy Reed, Beautiful
Carrie Ryan, The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Sydney Salter, My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
Fran Slayaton, When the Whistle Blows
Kristina Springer, The Espressologist
Jen Cullerton Johnson, SEEDS OF CHANGE: The Wangari Maathai Story''
Rhonda Stapleton, Stupid Cupid
Heather Duffy Stone, This Is What I Want to Tell You
Charity Tahmaseb & Darcy Vance, The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading
Jessica Verday, The Hollow
Lara Zielin, Donut Days
Michelle Zink, Prophecy of the Sisters

SHE WRITES DAY OF ACTION NOV 13, 2009

DID YOU KNOW THAT there are ZERO women (and almost total absence of people of color) on Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2009 list??
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704263.html

Mad Yet? Take part in the first-ever She Writes Day of Action!
On November 13, 2009 please do three simple, but enormously powerful, things:

1) Post a blog on She Writes (http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/mad-yet-take-part-in-our)responding to the exclusion of women on PW's list. Make your own list, as many of you have done already, or take this opportunity to reflect more broadly the ramifications of its women-cook-the-food-but-only-men-get-Michelin-stars message, and share your thoughts with us all. (More ideas on this to come.)

2) Buy a book written by a woman in 2009. Take a photo of yourself holding it. Post its cover on your page. Tell us what book you bought, and why.

3) Invite five women writers you know to read your words and join us on She Writes.

Once you have posted your blog, send the link to kamy@shewrites.com. SHE WRITES will send these links to their entire community (5000+) on Saturday and will send out a press release then too. If you are a well-known writer, you know how greatly we need your response, your leadership, and your help in spreading the word. If you aren't, we greatly need your response and your leadership too. Use this platform as a platform of your own.

GO BANANAS!!!!

ROLL CALL ON HEALTH CARE BILL

1) Dems who voted NO #HCR
Kucinich, Kratovil, Kosmas, Kissell, Holden, Herseth Sandlin, T. Edwards, L. Davis, A Davis, Childers, Chandler, Barrow, Bright, Boyd, Boucher, Boren, Boccieri, Baird, Altmire, Adler, Markey, Marshall, Massa, Matheson, McIntyre, McMahon, Melancon, S. Murphy, Minnick, Nye, Peterson, Ross, Shuler, Skelton, Tanner, Tylor, Teaque, Gordon, Griffith.

For complete voting list: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/votes/house/healthcare/index.html

NOTE: Women Dems who voted NO #HCR Kosmas, FL; Herseth Sandlin, SD; Markey, CO.

2) DEMS who voted YES on STUPAK amendment to restrict women’s rights.

Altmire, Baca, Barrow, Berry, Bishop, Boccieri, Boren, Bright, Cardoza, Carney, Chandler, Childers, Cooper, Costa, Costello, Cuellar, Dahlkemper, A. Davis, Donnelly, Doyle, Driehaus, Ellsworth, Etheridge, Gordon, Griffith, Hill, Holden Kanjorski, Kaptur, Kildee, Langevin, Lipinski, Lynch, Marshall, Matheson, McIntyre, Melancon, Michaud, Mollohan, Murtha, Neal, Oberstar, Obey, Ortiz, Perriello, Peterson, Pomeroy, Rahall, Reyes, Rodriguiz, Ross, Ryan.

3) DEMS who voted YES on STUPAK and NO on #HCR – what was the point???

Altmire, Boccieri, Boren, Bright, Chandler, Childers, A. Davis, Gordon, Griffith, Marshall, Matheson, McIntyre, Melancon, Peterson

For complete list: http://www.openleft.com/diary/15915/dems-who-voted-for-the-stupak-amendment-to-restrict-womens-rights

A public service message from Guerrilla Girls On Tour!