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Center for New Words

The Center for New Words is committed to a simple mission: use the power and creativity of words to strengthen the voice of progressive and marginalized women in society. To accomplish this mission, our programs support diverse women's engagement with the entire word cycle, from literacy to blogging to literary writing to opinion-making in the media and other domains of influence. Built on the wisdom, commitments, and competencies of 28 years of running New Words Bookstore, CNW is creating spaces and places where women's words matter. break

http://www.centerfornewwords.org

Radical Mommyhood

Thu, Nov 13, 2008

Join Amy Richards and Maegan "Mamita Mala" Ortiz for a frank conversation on radical mommyhood. The two examine how making the decision to have a child impacts who we are and who we want to be (as women, feminists, anti-racists, and artists); the intersections of feminism and motherhood; and how race and class in particular, play an important role in how motherhood is encountered, seen, and experienced. **Amy Richards** is the author of Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself, and the co-author of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and The Future and Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism (both with Jennifer Baumgardner). She is co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation and the feminist speakers bureau Soapbox. She lives in New York City with her family. **Maegan "Mamita Mala" Ortiz** is a radical Nuyorican mami, blogger, poeta, and freelance writer. La Mala is currently co-editor of one of the top US Latino blogs, VivirLatino. She is also a contributor on Anti-Racist Parent. Her words , blogging, and opinions have been featured at The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, NPR, and Latina Magazine.

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Nami Mun: Miles from Nowhere

Wed, Jan 21, 2009

Nami Mun reads from her debut novel, *Miles from Nowhere*. Teenage Joon is a Korean immigrant living in the Bronx of the 1980s. Her parents have crumbled under the weight of her father's infidelity; he has left the family, and mental illness has rendered her mother nearly catatonic. So Joon, at the age of 13, decides she would be better off on her own, a choice that commences a harrowing and often tragic journey that exposes the painful difficulties of a life lived on the margins. Joon's adolescent years take her from a homeless shelter to an escort club, through struggles with addiction, to jobs selling newspapers and cosmetics, committing petty crimes, and, finally, toward something resembling hope.

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Center for New Words
Daily Realities: Feminist Curiosity and Globalization

Thu, Jan 27, 2005

Cynthia Enloe, author of the collection of essays, *Bananas, Beaches, and Bases* makes sense of globalization and international politics by taking a look into the daily realities in a range of women's lives. She proposes a distinctively feminist curiosity that begins with taking women seriously, especially during this era of unprecedented American influence. This means listening carefully, digging deep, challenging assumptions, and welcoming surprises.

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Center for New Words
Grassroots: A Field Guide for Activism

Wed, Feb 23, 2005

Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards discuss their new book, Grassroots, which answers the perennial question, "What can I do to help?". Baumgardner and Richards argue that this question rings ever louder in the post-9/11 political landscape. Whether you are a student or a stay-at-home-mom, an artist or a corporate professional, *Grassroots* illustrates how anyone, no matter how much or how little they believe they have to offer, can become involved. It also shows how even small efforts have the potential to produce a sea change in our lives.

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Center for New Words
Hip Mama: From the Cutting Edge of Parenting

Wed, Mar 16, 2005

*[Hip Mama](http://hipmamazine.com/about/ "")* was developed, and edited by Ariel Gore. As a single mother dependent on public assistance, Gore wanted to reach an audience of readers who "do not want to do the whole yuppie thing just because they have kids." Her magazine explicitly integrates politics and parenting. Ariel Gore and regular contributors to *Hip Mama*, Annie Downey, Jillian Brady, and Katherine Arnoldi, read in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the legendary 'zine, and a decade of its earthy, honest, and soulful parenting essays. The magazine includes personal narratives, book and music reviews, sex and parenting pieces, commentaries, news, and "Girl-Mom" (resources and discussion for young parents). Recent articles include "Protest Primer" and "Just Say No to Genetically Altered Foods."

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Center for New Words
Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era

Wed, May 4, 2005

In celebration of the newest edition of *Our Bodies, Ourselves*, a panel of the book's authors and contributors for a look at how it has grown and changed to serve lesbians, bi women, and transpeople. In 1970, they showed us a cervix, talked openly about same-sex relationships, and helped get women safe information about sexual assault. But a lot has changed since *Our Bodies, Ourselves* first published the chapter *In Amerika They Call Us Dykes*! Co-sponsored by Fenway Community Health Center.

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Center for New Words
Risking Hope: Women, Prison, and Life Behind Bars

Thu, May 19, 2005

Cristina Rathbone discusses *Risking Hope*, which explores every facet of prison culture and reveals the true face of the American criminal justice system. Rathbone spent five years visiting women prisoners at MCI Framingham, outside of Boston. *Risking Hope* provides a firsthand look at prison and the women that Rathbone came to know there, and shows why prison officials are so eager to keep journalists out. The book also describes the author's long legal struggle to gain access to the women inside. It took Rathbone a full year and two law suits against the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to win access to the women and hear their stories. Women are the fastest-growing population incarcerated in the United States; over 950,000 women are currently under some form of correctional supervision. Putting a human face to the statistics, Rathbone examines the devastating consequences of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the use of male guards for women prisoners, substandard medical care that leads to high rates of suicide, and the drastic effects skyrocketing incarceration rates have on millions of families across the country.

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Center for New Words
Callie House: My Face is Black is True

Wed, Sep 14, 2005

Mary Francis Berry reclaims Callie House, a magnificent heroine who, though so long forgotten that the site of her grave is unknown, emerges as a pioneering activist: a female forerunner of both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Born in to slavery in 1861, Callie House started the Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association, which sought African American pensions based on those offered Union soldiers, a movement so powerful it frightened the US government, upset Jim Crow legislatures across the South, and gave hope to hundreds of thousands of destitute former slaves. Co-sponsored by the Museum of Afro American History and the Center for New Words.

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Drawing Diversity with Jennifer Camper

Sun, Jun 5, 2005

Jennifer Camper, queer comic artist and editor of the new comic anthology Juicy Mother, brings contributing artists together to discuss comics as an expressive medium that is not representative enough in terms of diversity of perspectives. The stories in Juicy Mother are an exuberant and carefree celebration of artistry and diversity. Included are stories about an African-American gay man coming of age; an Arab Muslim lesbian searching for her identity; two big hairy men having a sappy wedding; and a cynical Latina teen battling the cosmos. In a genre especially known for being dominated by straight, white men, Juicy Mother is an alternative to alternative comics. The collection places emphasis on the voices least represented in the comic world. Contributors to Juicy Mother include: Alison Bechdel, Jennifer Camper, Howard Cruse, Diane DiMassa, Michael Fahy, Leanne Franson, Joan Hilty, G.B. Jones, Rupert Kinnard, Robert Kirby, Karen Platt, Ariel Schrag, Serpilla, Robert Triptow, Ivan Velez, Jr., and Stephen Winter. Co-sponsored by Simmons College Institute for Leadership & Change.

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Pop Culture

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Center for New Words
Bebe Moore Campbell: 72 Hour Hold

Tue, Sep 6, 2005

Bebe Moore Campbell reads from her latest book, *72 Hour Hold*. In this novel of family and redemption, Keri struggles to save her 18 year old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness and the bureaucracy that refuses to help her. When, out of desperation, she decides to put her daughter's fate into the hands of an unorthodox alternative to the state system, Keri begins a journey that has her calling on the spirit of Harriet Tubman for courage. In the upheaval that follows, she is forced to confront a past that refuses to stay buried, even as she battles to secure a future for her child. Co-presented with Elizabeth Stone House and the Cambridge Family YMCA. Bebe Moore Campbell is the author of three *New York Times* best-sellers: *Brothers and Sisters*, *Singing in the Comeback Choir*, and *What You Owe Me*, which was also a *Los Angeles Times* Best Book of 2001. Her other works include the novel *Your Blues Ain't Like Mine*, which was a *New York Times* Notable Book of the Year and the winner of the NAACP Image Award for literature.

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Mental Health Month

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Center for New Words

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