June 19, 2009

Speaking Her Voice - Alana Joblin Ain

Alana Joblin Ain - poet, creative-writing instructor, freelance writer and all around creative spirit - generously shares with the WCC her amazing talent and voice.

The Slower you Travel, the Further You’ll Get

Sometimes I want to feel solidarity with Silda
but instead I think
this is none of my business
and wish there was a station above the News called “Good News”
and instead of people asking what I do, they’d say “what are you looking for?”

At the gym I am superstitious about what number locker
I will put my lock on
I look into the window of Pole Dancing class
and wonder if I don’t sign up because I’m shy?
or because I’m married?
or because I’m married to a Rabbi?

If I could go back and offer advice to an earlier self,
I’d make it specific like

Don’t drink
while working
in a foreign country
during a war –

Something to account for every occasion.

The slower you travel the further you’ll get, a woman tells me,
for no reason, without turning around
and keeps walking towards something only she knows.


Return

God— it comes back so easily. I meet someone
who grew up in the town
where I once sat

on an old sheet in the park
watching fireworks explode
over Zeppelin tracks

first with my parents, then with the boy
I loved his fine sandpaper
sideburns, lemon and cedar

chips, Italian ices melting on the sheet.
Pink and yellow sky trail of
hazy dust heat­—

Bang.

A pot falls to the floor
when I am just a baby,
I do not flinch.

My father realizes something—
fluid— trapped in my ears, I could not hear
at all, those first months

learned the world through gesture, shape—
my mother’s ripe lips moving close together,
then apart, into language I could not live without.


Alana Joblin Ain grew up in Philadelphia. Prior to making New York City her home eight years ago, she earned her B.A. at Oberlin College, studying English and Religion, followed by seven months of writing poems in Israel's desert, as part of the Arad Arts Project. Alana earned her MFA in poetry at Hunter College, where she also teaches undergraduate creative writing. Her work has appeared in Quarterly West, Crab Orchard Review, and RealPoetik. She and her husband, Rabbi Daniel Ain, live in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

For more information about Alana or to receive permission to reprint her work in another publication, please contact info@womenscollaborativecircle.org.

June 18, 2009

It is Monday! What's for Dinner?

What are you doing Saturday night?

How about a consumer-informed, mindful dinner, and an eye-opening, thought-provoking movie! Check out Robert Kenner's new film (and website) Food, Inc.


If you can not make the movie, check out this reading list and pick up a book at your local library!
After you have seen the movie, let's share! Email us with your comments at info@womenscollaborativecircle.org.

June 17, 2009

Love


I think one of my wishes as a person is to be this open, honest, mindful and generous in spirit and in love. Check out this beautiful piece, My Husband's Other Wife written by Emily Yoffee, for Double X's life section.

And by the way, if you are a fan of Slate check out Double X-a new Slate spinoff for women.
[Picture credit: Double X My Husband's Other Wife.
Illustration by Robert Neubecker]



June 16, 2009

Corporate Social Responsibility and Rape-Free Products


Have you ever considered what your cell phone or ipod has to do with ending violence against women in conflict zones?

Eve Ensler--playwright (The Vagina Monologues), activist, and founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence among women and girls (http://www.vday.org/) - spoke to a packed audience at the D7: All Things Digital conference. No, Ensler was not there to buy a new computer; she was there to speak out on the connection between one of the major natural resources the Democratic Republic of Congo and the rape of over 1,100 women a month. Ensler showed these followers of the digital revolution that to further the mining of coltan, or columbite tantalite, a mineral that is essential to the manufacturing of a variety of electronics such as cellphones, ipods, and computers, rape is being used as a weapon of war.

According to John Paczkowski, author of "Eve Ensler calls for Rape-Free Cell Phones" (article here), Ensler says that "the coltan trade in the Congo has created a sort of 'Blood Diamond' situation there, with militias using violence and rape as a means of controlling the trade. She recounts some truly horrific examples of the type of violence against women." She continues to explain "that militias gain control of the mines by fracturing communities with rape, using sexual violence to control slave labor as well."

As a result, Ensler started the discussion about not only raising consumer awareness on the human right atrocity that infiltrates our daily life, but challenging corporations to take action by creating rape-free products. Ensler argues that this may be a very good marketing strategy for companies. As for the everyday person, sharing this information alone and raising awareness is key. Every phone call or text message is a reminder that the world is more interconnected than ever, and that our choices at home can have a profound impact on the lives of people on the other side of the world.

Change Starts With A Girl

"A revolution led by a 12 year-old girl!"

For more information please visist http://www.girleffect.org/

We at the WCC are thinking how can we get hop on the girl-revolution wagon! How can we inspire, support and lead our future girls - both locally and globally?! Any ideas contact us info@womenscollaborativecircle.org.

June 03, 2009

The F Word - Feminist!

What do you think about the word feminist?

WCC collaborator Jill wrote to us wanting to know what we thought of the word feminist. She said that she is continually fascinated by the loadedness of the word. We agreed and thought that was a great question.

Are you one? Why or why not? What does the word mean to you?

Email us info@womenscollaborativecircle.org and tell us your thoughts! We would love to share them with the rest of the WCC community!