It’s getting harder and harder to think of a good intro title…

Just in time for Jaclyn Friedman’s piece on online misogynist assholes harassing Feministe guestbloggers (fab article, BTDubs), I’ll be Feministe’s guest the next two weeks. My full name is Nona Willis Aronowitz (yes, a mouthful!). I’m a loyal reader of Feministe, but only a once-in-a-blue-moon commenter. I’m a 25-year-old journalist living in Chicago and working for the Chicago Tribune, but I’m a diehard New Yorker. I write about lots of different things, but my particular feminist-related loves are sex and pop culture.

I was raised by a feminist mama, writer Ellen Willis, and I first became a feminist pop culture devotee when I couldn’t bear to stomach teen magazines anymore at 13. They were making me feel so totally and utterly bad about myself that I wrote a fuck-you letter to Seventeen and sought my kicks elsewhere. Enter BUST, Bitch, back-issues of Sassy, and anything by Joan Morgan. Later, I devoured Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman by Michele Wallace, Against Love by Laura Kipnis, and Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, all of which sparked my obsession with sexual politics. (Guess the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.)

Nowadays I write a blog called Girldrive, the basis of my book of the same name that will be out late next month (woo hoo!). The blog and book is based on a road trip my photographer friend Emma and I took across the United States where we interviewed hundreds of young women about their lives, ambitions, and whether or not they relate to feminism. Now that our actual road trip is over, the blog mostly showcases awesome young women doing feminist-y things, often from a regional/grassroots perspective. I include a once-a-week feature of a reader’s photo and 2 cents (feel free to submit!). Girldrive also offers thoughts on issues that specifically affect young women.

I might cross-post from GD a couple times in these next two weeks, but I plan to get a lot more opinionated and detailed here than I usually get on Girldrive. Still, the focus will be on young women and their kick-ass grassroots, guerilla feminist tactics across America, since that’s my area of expertise.

So yes, I’m a blogger, but not the kind of blogger that usually graces the pages of Feministe. My blogging style is often short and sweet, I suppose because of my obsessive “stay-on-topic”ing for Girldrive. I’m verrrry excited that this guest-blog stint is 100 percent open-ended, though…so be prepared for a variety show.

Also, as a result of my newbiness, I’m not totally sure of my policy on moderating comments, except the obvious: stay on topic and no personal attacks. I welcome argument, but not low blows.

So hello to everyone and thanks to Feministe! I’m really excited to dip my toes into this community.