2009 was a great year for me.

It was the year I reclaimed my feminism and began to write again. I started this blog. I was published in Bitch Magazine and contributed to the Women’s Rights blog at Change.org, among others.

I traveled, going to Virginia/Washington DC twice. I attended the National Young Women’s Leadership Conference (re-named National Young Feminist Leadership Conference for 2010 – see you there!). I was lucky enough to breathe in the sea breezes on a visit to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.

I became involved the fight for health care reform and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) even told my health care story in a speech advocating for the public option on the Senate floor in June. My Christmas gift came shortly after 6:00 AM CST on Christmas Eve, when the Senate passed its version of the health care bill.

2009 was one of the best I’ve had in many years and certainly the best I’ve had since my illness in 2005. I am excited about the possibilities 2010 will bring. I try not to set resolutions but I like the idea of goals. I haven’t decided what my goals are for 2010 yet but when I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Or maybe not. A woman’s gotta have some secrets, you know.

Happy New Year!

Photo Credit: Selva Ganapathy on Flickr

I’ve got a new post up at Women’s Rights | Change.org : Veterans Day: No Longer Just A “Man’s Holiday”. Here’s an excerpt:

Today is Veterans’ Day in the United States, a day when we pause to recognize those who have served in our nation’s armed services. Veterans’ Day is traditionally a man’s holiday, where we honor the men who have fought and died in our nation’s wars. However, the number of female veterans has doubled over the last twenty years, from 4% in 1988 to 8% this year. This number will only continue to grow as our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan continues.

It is important to pay tribute to all veterans, including female veterans. According to the IAVA, more than 212, 000 female service members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, making up 11% of the force over there. More than 600 have been wounded in the combined wars and more than 120 women have died, including Staff Sgt. Amy C. Tirador of Albany, New York, who died November 4 in Kirkush, Iraq.

Keep reading at Womens Rights | Change.org

Photo credit: kevindooley on Flickr

In addition to yesterday’s post on the New Office of Women’s Health in House Health Care Bill, I have another National Women’s Day of Action for Health Care Reform postup at the AAUW Dialog blog entitled I Am Not a Pre-Existing Condition. here’s an excerpt:

I have a long list of pre-existing medical conditions, so I have a lot invested in health care and health insurance reform. But even if I didn’t have this crazy, messed-up body with all its injuries, conditions, and surgeries listed in my medical chart, I could still be denied health insurance. At the very least, I would probably have to pay more than a man would.

Why, you ask? The answer is simple. I’m a woman.
Keep reading…

Also, a little National Women’s Day of Action for Health Care Reform link love:

• The Undomestic Goddess takes stock of women’s health care in the U.S. in her post Women’s Day of Action for Health Care Reform
• Criss Writes… has an unbelievably important post on the need to include transgendered women’s health issues as part of any conversation on women’s health in her post The Choice Movement and [Trans] Women’s Health
• The Frisky explains why abortion might derail health care reform in What All Women Need To Know About Health Care Reform And Abortion

So… have you called or emailed your representative and senators to ask them to vote for health care reform? Do it now!

Happy Halloween! Hope your Saturday is treating you well. Here are a few of the week’s best links:

First, a little horn-tootin’. I am humbled and honored to be included on this list of 50 Eye-Opening Women’s Studies Blogs, along with some of the great feminist blogs on this list. Check it out!

Ashley at the Small Strokes blog has a new project: This is What a Beautiful Bride Looks Like, which features pictures of real brides. Here’s a description of the site, in Ashley’s own words:

As an engaged woman who loves her body, I am sick and tired of seeing ads for “Wedding Weightloss” routines and images of 100% “perfect,” unattainable brides! Here, I hope to collect some pictures of brides with REAL beauty! To submit a photo, e-mail samsanator(at)gmail(dot)com

On Thursday, I participated in a Conference Call with Rep. Cynthis Lummis (R-WY). BlogHer has now posted the full transcript of the event, including my Q&A with the congresswoman.

Finally, here’s a little Halloween fun for ya. The fab team at Bitch Media has put together an awesome list of Feminist Halloween Costumes. I love the idea of going as one of Jem and the Holograms.

I’ve got a guest-post up at the Adventures of a Young Feminist blog on the Denise Handicapped episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Here’s an excerpt:

Last week on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry meets a woman named Denise in a coffee shop. They flirt and Larry asks her out. Larry is excited about it… until he sees Denise is in a wheelchair.

Larry is clearly repulsed by the idea of going out with Denise but as he tells his friend Jeff, “I was stuck. I didn’t want her to think I was a bad guy.” Jeff tries to reassure Larry that it’ll be okay to date a woman in a wheelchair by saying, “It’s an adventure, it’s an adventure.” Yeah, Larry, dating a woman who can’t walk is like a trip to see the freaky disabled woman in the sideshow at the circus. Who knows, she may even get frisky with ya. That’ll be adventurous, for sure.

Now head on over to Adventures of a Young Feminist and keep reading:

I’ve got a guest post up at the Small Strokes Project: What Feminism Means To Me: Danine Spencer

Here’s an excerpt:

Feminism is the belief that women’s rights are human rights. No matter where they live, women and girls should have the same social, political, legal and economic rights as their male counterparts. Because women and girls have historically been marginalized by patriarchal societies worldwide, feminists have had to fight for every right men take for granted: the right to vote, work, go to school and oh yeah, make her own decisions.

Now go on over to the Small Strokes Project and keep reading…

Exciting news, people! My post Women are 40% of this year’s Nobel Laureates – so far has been included in the Sixth Carnival of Feminists. This one is hosted by Deeply Problematic and features tons of great posts on rape, harassment, women’s health, education and more. So go check out it already!

Photo credit: Deeply Problematic

I’ve got a new post up at Change.org on Women in Science Celebrated by Nobel Committee & White House. Go check it out!

Dr. Carol Greider and Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, 2009 Nobel Laureates for Medicine

I’ve got a new post up at Change.org: Two American Women Win Nobel Prize for Medicine.

In the column, I report on Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine (along with their colleague Jack Jack W. Szostak) “for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.” I even try to tell you what that means. (Big thanks to my cousin, Dr. Brenda Schroeder of Washington State University’s Department of Plant Pathology for the fact-checking.) Finally, I reveal the pathetically tiny amount of women who have woman Nobel Prizes.

Are you intrigued? You should be. Head on over to the Women’s Rights blog at Change.org and read my new post already!

Photo credit: Nobel Foundation

Exciting news! I let Ashley over at the Small Strokes blog pick my brain for her Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community interview project. Here’s a sample of what I had to say:

1. Define the online feminist blogging community.

Feminists, particularly younger feminists, have exploited social media really well. We use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to network and exchange information with each other. Blogging allows feminists to network with each other like Facebook and Twitter but it’s more than that. Blogging allows us to contribute to the feminist (and sometimes national) dialogue as soon as we hit “publish.” By examining the world around us through a feminist lens and writing about it, we are participating in online and real-life activism. Continue reading….

Now that I’ve got you hooked, continue reading at the Small Strokes Project!