from kate bornstein

Please still see below post for your posting requirements.




I feel like this is an important video since we are reading Kate, and since we just had a wiki on teen suicide. Kate keeps a blog also that deals with teens who are conflicted abotu gender and sexuality and feel suicidal. Take a look at it.

Hello Class!

So I've not posted anything in a while, and I apologize. I had a conference I chaired all weekend, so just did not get to it.

That being said, I must be understanding if you are behind in posting.

I'd like you all to please find your favorite poem in Kinky, and quote from it. Then find a corollary passage in Barbie's Queer Accessories, and quote from it. These passages can relate in a variety of ways. Perhaps one illustrates the other. Perhaps they contradict each other. Perhaps the juxtaposition of the passages brings up a new point you'd like to discuss. Explain why you picked what you picked and then take a bit of time to write your general reactions to both books.

Do this by Friday please.

Here is some more Denise Duhamel poetry for you and a some others too:















Enjoy!

Your blogs

You all are doing well on your blogs. I had trouble getting blogger to work Friday, so perhaps other people did too. You have a paper due today, so the blog posting is not due until Wed. If you ahve already posted in response to a reading that is absolutely fine.

Additional topics you could post on:

1. For the #8 readings in BO and MB, you had a choice of three. Write a brief summary of the one you chose and why you chose it. Are you happy with your choice? Why, why not?
2. Write a bit about learning your gender role growing up. Choose one important scene to describe and discuss. Consider what role other identities play in your gender identity: religion, ethnicity, class, geographic location.
3. Find any current topic in the media that you feel relates to class and vent here (link to coverage of it, or embed video if you like).

Have fun.

Weekend posting

Hello all:

1. Please find your wiki partner's blog in the blogroll to the right. If it is not there, remind that person to email me the address. Comment on each other's last blog and find one otehr classmate to comment on.

2. For this weekend, please react to the Body Outlaw and Mondo Barbie readings:

• You can choose quotes form the readings to post and react to.
• You can choose a topic brought up by one of the readings and discuss that topic, perhaps linking to other online info/new/images about it.
• Link a Body Outlaw reading to a Mondo Barbie reading.
• Write about whether online writing can be gendered in the ways we were discussing last class. Find examples.

Have fun! Please include at least one fun thing that you can do on a blog that you could not do in a normal journal entry: (images, videos, hyperlinks...).

Check out this link (if you've never seen it) to Miss Bimbo
And here is one reaction to the website.

Create a bimbo. Tell us what you think.

Hello "Women and Writing" Class

Hello members of ENG 306j: Women and Writing ["Plastic, Flesh and Desire"].

I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself and this course. My name is Lydia McDermott and I'd prefer you call me Lydia. I have a BA in English Literature, an MA in creative writing/poetry and am currently working on my dissertation for a PhD in Rhetoric and Composition. I have a graduate certificate in Women's and Gender Studies, and tend to write a lot about issues related to that field.

I love teaching Women and Writing because I love writing that challenges, interrogates, or engages gender construction. I think Barbie is a ripe topic of discussion and she will be the centerpiece of our class, though we will discuss issues related to body image and desire from other angles as well.

We will write. A LOT.

You will be creating your own blog, following the directions I've linked to on the right. Your first post should be a lot like this. Who are you? Why are you in this class? How do you feel about writing? About Barbie?

I currently own a few Barbies, though as a child I did not actually own very many. My favorite Barbie is actually Midge: I have the pregnant Midge that was released in 2003, and is no longer made. She was pulled off of Wal-Mart shelves for encouraging teen pregnancy. Her belly is magnetic, and it pops off. Inside is an itty bitty baby girl, with diaper already painted on. The baby comes with accessories, though just like real life, they do not fit in Midge's belly.

Here is a picture of her, though I'll be sure to bring her to class.

I also have a Daphne doll, which I like a lot (Daphne as in Scooby-Doo).

I have three little boys at home: Fionn:8, Sawyer: 4 1/2, and Thatcher: 14 months. They do not play with the Barbies much, but every once in a while my middle son finds a renewed interest in them. I bought Daphne for him at a yard sale. He loves Scooby. (Surprise Surprise). Midge stays on a shelf in my office because she's in good shape (so to speak) and is a collector's item (not that I normally collect).

I look forward to meeting all of you and to reading your blogs.

Lydia