Hey everyone. My name is Cara and I’m the latest in the round of guest-bloggers. You may know me from my blog The Curvature. Or you may know me from a guest-blogging stint that I did a couple of months ago at Feministing. Or, I could be totally brand new.
I know that lots of Feministe guest-bloggers have interesting personal circumstances that they blog about. I’m more of a news analysis type of blogger — like the regular Feministe bloggers but less famous. I imagine that this will cover the majority of my posts, but in any case, here’s everything important and interesting that there is to know about me:
I’m 23 years old, I live in Upstate NY and I’m married. If I wasn’t me, I’d probably say that 23 is pretty young to be married, too — but then again, I’m nosy. I also know that he’s great and we’re happy. He’s Australian, and I went to college in Sydney, where I lived for three years. My BA is in English, and I moved back to the States at the beginning of 2005. It was an absolutely great experience, but I have to say that I lived a very normal life there and did little of the normal touristy stuff.
Right now, I don’t have a paid job. I do work two days a week as a volunteer fundraising intern with my local Planned Parenthood. Fundraising wasn’t my first choice (I’m more of an advocacy or education type person), but it’s been a lot more fun than I expected. I get to write fundraising letters to the major donors and devise fundraising campaigns. I work somewhat with the other departments, too, and it’s a ton of fun with really great people. I love it!
Other than that, I blog. Which, for those of you who also blog and are very serious about it, you’ll know is pretty much a full-time job. I started The Curvature back in April, and it has taken off much better than I ever could have expected. Sure, I had dreams of doing cool guest-blogging stints, chatting with famous feminist writers and regularly getting several hundred hits a day, but I can’t say that I really believed it would happen. Things have gone well, happened quickly, and I couldn’t be more pleasantly surprised or grateful for it.
Of course, I blog about feminist issues. The topics I tend to touch on most are reproductive rights and sexual assault, but I try to get into a little bit of everything. I also blog about liberal politics, and more and more I’m trying to discuss issues of racism (I’m white) and the intersections between queer and feminist movements.
I swear. A Lot. Especially when I get angry. I plan on toning it down while I’m here, but still, there’s your warning. Oh, and I have a cat (of course).
I’ll consider taking requests for posts, but speak now or I’ll just write about whatever I want (and might anyway!). As for comment moderation, some might call me strict. I have little to no tolerance for racism or for rape apologism. I also have little tolerance for general misogyny, unless the comments are a) particularly amusing and prime for mocking or b) a potential learning experience. Homophobia and fat-hate are out, too . . . am I missing something? Probably. But, as the comment policy on my blog says: don’t be an asshole. I’ll do my best to return the favor, and I think that we’ll get along just fine.
I’ll be at Feministe this Thursday-Sunday and the same time next week. Thanks for having me, I’m really excited to be here!
Yay for Cara! Can’t wait to read your thoughts. Defintely do a debate post-mortem if you can.
Great to see you here.
How exciting! I’ve got you on my google reader, and it will be great to see you on here too!
Are you the same Cara that shared with me the joy of smacking down those misogynistic trolls at Shakesville? If so, cool.
If not, also cool.
Wait. You’re cutting down on the swearing? I think Feministe readers wouldn’t mind so much…
Welcome!
This is way OT, so my apologies…
I googled a certain Pandagon entry and when I clicked on the result it led to a “Malware Warning” page which said that her site may harm my computer.
The advisory was provided by Google.
Is Amanda aware of this? I was afraid to go to her site to get her email, so could one of you let her know? Maybe some wingers hacked her site and installed malware, or something.
Thanks :)
What the fucking fuck you gotta do that for?
Welcome!
I sure don’t. Swear away!
Alright, well that’s cool with me. Fuckity fuck fuck.
I don’t think so, Betty, because I don’t comment on Shakesville. Smacking down misogynist trolls is a hobby of mine, though.
And I got the same message yesterday while doing a google search for Pandagon, too, Jeff. My computer has been fine, but I’ll email her about it.
love your blog Cara! nice to see you here, too.
Hi Cara,
I don’t know if you read this pieceby Jen Clayton on the fword. I was curious about your take on the issues she’s raising. (‘Even among enlightened women who know better than to think of feminists as man-hating angry lesbians, the perception remains that to be a feminist you must be a modern woman with a job, money and an education. I suggest that there are millions of women in the UK who don’t feel that this picture describes them, so conclude that they don’t have the right credentials to be a feminist. They are not clever enough. They never went to college. They had six kids rather than going out to work. They are not white or middle class. They can’t walk. They live in a council house. They don’t speak English very well. Consequently, they reject feminists because they see us as an elite clique.’)
I’ve only been reading feminist blogs for 8-10 months, and it has occurred to me (even before I read Jen’s piece) that they occasionally seem somewhat ‘elitist’ – if not by their content, then by the way they are written. Heck, I find them quite difficult to read and understand now and then. So I was just wondering if you have any experience/opinion regarding this.
Anyway, I enjoy your blog a lot of the time although I also quite frequently disagree with you. Good to see you here as well!
WooHoo Cara is guest blogging! You said at my blog that you might write a post at the Curvature inspired by a post I wrote, that’s my request, do one here exploring intersectionality and how it is difficult to see it when you aren’t experiencing it, or that two or more perspectives may be true and valid but differ based on a persons life’s experiences. Something along those lines and what we were discusssing.
Hey, I live in upstate NY too! Although I have recently been informed I live too far south to actually call it upstate. Welcome Cara! I enjoyed your posts on feministing and I’m looking forward to reading them here too!
Hey Cara, welcome! Congrats on all the exposure of late…
Oh boy, have I found a topic for you to deconstruct…you have got to see this to believe it! And I definitely think this one should be spread far and wide and denounced loudly on every feminist/liberal blog out there. Here goes: Sexist & Racist swill in Ohio State U student paper
Wow, Donna. That really is fucking vile. Thanks. I think. (It gets to a point where I’m stuck between the thoughts of “yay, link! someone did my job of finding things to blog about for me!” and “I really wish that I had never, ever read that.”)
I was reading more of that student paper and it gets worse. I thought maybe it was just the one “humor” article. But here’s a poll:
What’s the best phoney excuse to give for missing class?
“My car broke down.”
“My babysitter cancelled. Oh, you didn’t know? I have four kids.”
“My power went out.”
“I’m black, and let’s face it… you owe me.”
“No habla ingles.”
“Sorry, I ate La Bamba’s last night.”
“I got roofied last night.”
“I have cancer.”
And another article: The Black Guys Guide to Landing White Chicks
And how about: Why a Woman Should Never Even Think About Running for President
I just don’t know what to say about this. How long has this paper been in publication? Why is this hate speech being spread around campus as acceptable? The paper isn’t the official one, it’s an alternative independent conservative paper. But if you read the “about” page, it appears to be distributed to every building on campus. I would love to hear what current students/alumni think of this.
[...] tip to Donna for finding the article. She points out more objectionable content in The Sentinal, asks why Ohio State University allows this hate-speech filled crap to be distributed all over [...]