UofM Feminist

It is that time during finals week where some students seem to stop caring. I think I may be at that point...Take one look at my tiny bedroom and you will soon see that I have lost it! Your brain can't seem to hold any more information no matter how hard you try and papers never seem to turn out the way you want them to. I have completed three of my five classes. Now I'm on the home stretch with one more paper and one exam. What I love most about my majors of Political Science and Gender,Women, and Sexuality Studies is that most do not have exams or tests, just papers, which I love. I think it is much easier to complete a paper than it is to study for an exam. I can make a paper good or bad depending on how much time I spend on it or how hard I try. With an exam, you never know what grade you are going to get or what the exam is going to look like.

Finals come down to testing one's knowledge. I think that papers test ones knowledge of a text or concept much better than an exam. For example, in my American Political Thought class, we have had two papers due and now we have an exam on wednesday. In preparation for the test, I was given a sheet with about 80 terms on it. I am to learn all of these terms and be able to Define, Interpret, Explain, and Give the Significance of. The test will only have 15 terms on it and I am to choose 10 to write on. What frustrates me the most is that I will have to learn everything in the course over again only to be tested on 1/8th of it. It is a race to memorize everything you can and you will probably forget it ten minutes after you are done with the exam. I do not believe that ten terms consisting of quotes or rediculous concepts summarizes or appropriately tests my knowledge. Rather, I think it is a waste of my time and energy. I would much rather be assigned a text or concept and assigned a 5 page paper.

Once again, instead of studying, I am writing this silly blog. Off I go.

Posted by Jessica Englund at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

one of these days,
i'm going to tell my story
and you won't be able to escape any more.

you will forever be in print.

your sins and transgressions
forever recorded.

that is what i want.
i want you in ink.

stored on my shelf with the binding sparkling in the sun
next to aristotle and hooks because that is where you fit
in my life.

and maybe you do not understand
but my life is characterized
and plotted
by books
and authors.

you may not understand your place
in my life
but you cannot deny that you
were, are, and always will be
a part of my life
whether you want to be or not.

the effect you have had on me is greater than even
i like to admit
but i will continue to put it on paper, in ink.

and you will suffer at my hands and my pen.

i feel that is what your sentence requires.
you deserve your own book, a biography.

but it is my creation and
you will have no say.

but everything i say is the truth.
for your biography is my memoir.

so brace yourself for what i will produce
because not only do i have power
over my life
but i have considerable power
over yours as well.

no, you have no choice.

i am goddess divine
of my story.

Posted by Jessica Englund at 03:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have discovered a group of women that I love. We get together much like the women from Sex & The City at coffee shops and discuss what is going on in our lives and give each other advice. What I love most about these women is that they are not afraid to have opinions and voice them as if we had known each other forever. I love these women because they do not pretend and will be open about their reasons and I find that I get to know more about each of them everytime we get together. We each let something go and let the real self surface the more comfortable we become. It is this community and friendship that comforts me and allows me to be myself more than any other situation or individual. Of course, there are those friends that I have that I will never be able to hide anything from (you know who you are). I love discovering new truths in these women and gaining new perspectives on the world, issues, and my own personal experiences. I am not the only one who thinks this way! It is almost like a consciousness raising group, though we dwell between the lines of the 3rd and 4th waves of feminism rather than the 2nd wave. However, this does not decrease the importance or significance of our voices. We are able to obtain new viewpoints on everyday issues or problems that are not usually thought-provoking. I love these women so much as people. They are facinating and give me a new sense of comfort and passion that I haven't felt in a very long time. For those women who read this, know that I cherish you all.

Posted by Jessica Englund at 02:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"when you see a really drunk girl leave a bar alone late at night and you follow her and make sure she gets into her taxi all right, that's self-protection. when you aren't afraid of looking like a supreme chickenshit and ask your friend to go into a public bathroom with you be cause it creeps you out, but not for any tangible reason, that's self-protection. when you are in the music store and you pick a CD by women musicians who have your back instead of a bunch of boys who hog all the air time on the radio, that's self-protection. when you find out which politician is supportive of women, lesbians and motherhood and vote for her, that's self-protection. when you look at all the beautiful women on TV and in magazines in the grocery store and think they are part of a weird industry run by men with major, major dick complexes, that's self-protection. when you boycott all media not responsive in every way, shape and freudian slip to women's rights, that's self-protection. when you make a conscious effort to spend your money in establishments owned by women, that's self-protection. when you tell your dude if he can't hold his wad until you're damn well ready to come then he's gonna hafta invest in a strap-on dildo of your choosing, that's self-protection. when you ask for a raise, that's self-protection. when you insist everyone reread pippi longstocking again, that's self-protection. when you and your friends concoct plans of poetic guerilla terrorism against a teacher, fellow student, co-worker, or boss who sexually harasses women, that's self-protection. when you decide its in your best interest to worship a goddess who innately respects women, that's self-protection. when you cook a gormet, five-course meal no one but you will partake in, that's self-protection. when you "accidentally" spill your drink on a man at a party who looks at your body rather vulpinely, and you don't in the least appreciate it, that's self-protection. when you educate yourself about clitoridectomies, infibulation, forced prostitution, rape as a war tactic and a way of controlling women, the nation of islam, judaism, christianity and prepatriarchal religions, the inquisition, women painters, photographers, filmmakers, poets, writers, activists, politicians, sex-industry workers, historians, archaeologists and musicians, that's self-protection. when you read, then watch The Bandit Queen, that's self-protection. when you massage your friend because shes PMSing hard, that's self-protection. when you keep a tire iron by your front door, that's self-protection. when you buy a pull-up bar and install it in a doorway you pass constantly so you end up doing pull-ups all the time, even thought you used to think you couldn't do pull-ups, that's self-protection. when you dance, run, jump, buy yourself a birthday cake, even though your birthday's five months away, cavort, kiss all the girls you love to love, laugh, sing, shout, jump rope, ding-dong ditch the house of someone who gets on your nerves, swing, climb trees, pick your nose in public, daydream, eat with your fingers, break something on purpose, fart loud, skip and pin your friends to the ground and tickle them, that's self-protection. everytime you look in the mirror and your heart races because you think, "I'm so fucking rad," that's self-protection. protect yourself."
Inga Muscio
Cunt
pg 178-181

Posted by Jessica Englund at 01:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Feminist Thought & Theory today, we discussed the idea of the Feminist "Mother". Most student's mothers supported feminism or demonstrated the type of woman that led them to feminism. My mother was not a feminist nor was she a woman who suggested I get married, stay home and cook with my babies. My Feminist "Mother" is my best friend Jahna. She introduced me to the movement and feminist ideas. What I thought was interesting is this idea of the 2nd wave feminist mother that everyone supposedly has. My mother does not fit within this stereotype. I was not introduced to 2nd wave feminism until I came to college; I was first introduced to 3rd wave ideas. Jahna and I do not think exactly the same way, but she is that person that I look to for answers to the questions I have about the feminist movement and issues within that community.

Posted by Jessica Englund at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)