The Sister Project » Race and Feminism

An Update on ‘Having It All’

margaret — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:37:19 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

By Paige Smith Orloff
ACCORDING TO THE Harvard Business Review, more women are managing, in their words, to actually “have it all.” Maybe I missed the memo, but I thought we had all agreed to agree that having it all is actually impossible. Here’s why.

‘Sex and the City’ and the F Word (Um, That’s Feminism, Sisters)

margaret — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:24:22 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

By Anastasia Smith
EW, WHY DOES Sex and the City keep betraying their awesome roots by making horrible movies that involve living happily ever after whilst traveling to foreign lands? (Did you see the first movie? Will you see this one?) Despite its annoyingly shameless focus on consumerism, I used to love watching the show. In the early seasons especially, the writing was fresh and funny–the female friendships, complex and compelling. But with this new movie coming out, I’ve been inspired to do some critical thinking (and reading) on the show’s ever-controversial relationship to feminism. Here goes–and I’d love if you’d weigh in with your own thoughts after reading mine.

A Road Trip to Celebrate

margaret — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:50:01 +0000

ON APRIL SIXTH, 1916, suffragists Nell Richardson and Alice Burke left New York to drum up support for voting rights for women. Accompanied by their kitten name Saxon, they drove west to California as a moving symbol of women’s rights (above). Come join our Sister Marion in celebration.

Sisterhood of the Geisha, Redux

margaret — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:42:31 +0000

W HAT GOT ME STARTED LOOKING AT GEISHA PHOTOS, I do not know, but I suppose that all this sister talk on TSP has me seeing sisterhoods everywhere. When I first discovered the breathtaking vintage-photo collection of Rob Oechsle, or Okinawa_Soba as he is called on Flickr, including many images of geisha, I knew that without question the women depicted were a sisterhood: “the solidarity of women based on shared conditions, experiences, or concerns,” as defined by Merriam-Webster. Yes, the geisha definitely qualify on all fronts. See a geisha slideshow in vintage photos.

Farewell, Sister Lucille Clifton

margaret — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:44:03 +0000

WE ARE SAD TO LEARN OF THE DEATH OF LUCILLE CLIFTON, an American treasure, a prolific poet and author, and a recipient of just about every major poetry award or fellowship we can think of. Some months back TSP’s Sister Paige posted Clifton’s poem “sisters,” saying it “just made me want to cry, dance and sing.” Let’s cry, dance and sing today for the loss of Clifton, 73, by reading it aloud:

sisters

me and you be sisters.
we be the same.

me and you
coming from the same place.

me and you
be greasing our legs
touching up our edges.

me and you
be scared of rats
be stepping on roaches.

me and you
come running high down purdy street one time
and mama laugh and shake her head at
me and you.

me and you
got babies
got thirty-five
got black
let our hair go back
be loving ourselves
be loving ourselves
be sisters.

only where you sing,
I poet.

Enjoy, and to learn more, read this biography, and treasure this list of favorite Clifton poems selected by Clifton’s longtime editor. Also, be sure to check out our recent poetry show, curated by Anna Clarke, read about commonplacing, and most all, reemember–poetry has power.

(Thanks to BOA Editions for the image of Lucille Clifton, and PoemHunter for the text of “sisters.”)