Wednesdays: bring a friend to The New Agenda
December 3, 2008
by The New Agenda
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The New Agenda is 100% inclusive
Wednesday is “Bring a Friend” Day at The New Agenda, so grab a friend, break out your iPhones or your Blackberries over lunch or at the martini bar, bring up the blog, and talk about what you want for the women of this country—for your sisters, your mothers, your daughters or your friends.
Or tell a friend, a neighbor, a workmate, a family member, or anyone else about The New Agenda and invite them to come by and check us out.
What can they do once they’re here? They might think about a woman they know who’s made a difference for women. They might reflect on the qualified women in their state who could serve in Obama’s cabinet, or in Congress. They could wonder about how other countries are doing with women’s participation in politics. They might suggest ways for The New Agenda to build strong coalitions with other women’s groups around the country.
Encourage them to come and see what we’re about and to sign up, or you can do what Karen did: she wrote down her hair dresser’s email address (with her permission of course) and sent it to our Join box.
This is one of the ways we will build a nationwide effort, together.
Check in tomorrow for an update on The New Agenda’s first community grassroots meeting, coming up December 9th in Columbus, Ohio.
And if you’re visiting, or just reading along quietly, we’d love to hear from you, if you’re inclined to say hello in the comments.
Hello!
Hi everyone,
I L O V E the discussion here, it makes me feel like I’m not alone, I appreciate the education, and in general I think it is a wonderful wonderful organization.
Other than blogging and getting new members, is there any action anyone recommends I take right now to further our cause? I feel like the time I spent reading, talking and writing in the past 1.5 years of my participation in the presidential campaign didn’t amount to much, and I sort of want to just take action.
I guess I am getting impatient, and I notice that the passion I felt just a month ago is beginning to wane. I seem to care less and less everyday. The status quo thinking is beginning to take over! Help!
I want to make one recommendation: I have the sense that as I get pulled away from politics, It would help if the New Agenda made it really, stupidly easy for me to continue being involved. I am behind you, I agree with your ideas and your thinking and your agenda, so I am waiting for my marching orders.
(I’m being too impatient, right?)
I am not sure if I posted this idea that I had recently here, so if it’s a repeat, I apologize: But I was wondering what you all thought of having a very simple “Hall of Fame” and a “Hall of Shame” website, (independent of the New Agenda or a spinoff) where women or anyone can post instances in the media or their own lives where they see and experience sexism, misogyny or empowerment and victories.
I’d like to do it, but I want to hear some feedback about the idea first. What do you think?
Thanks you!
Anne-Marie
I think the website is a great idea. It would be kind of venting and encouraging at the same time. I understand how you feel. I’m frustrated too. I wish we could actually DO something too but try to remember the turtle always wins the race. Although sometimes I think the rabbit probably drinks less!
Hi, I just found the blog…You’re on our blogroll, but for some reason, I missed seeing the blog!!!!.. We at IA are big fans of Dr. Socks and the Reclusive Leftist and are carrying the torch for women as well…
Please check out the latest….The writer also has co-authored a book for girls, with advice on how to do a “stage faint” to escape “maths”…Honestly, you’ve got to see this. Unreal.
Martinis with Michelle–A Times (UK) Writer Jumps the Shark as Palin Helps Block a Senate Super-Majority
I’m reading a book about the suffragettes and how long it took to make headway- they felt the “mission” inside and carried it for years-
I sometimes think we are too impatient today with getting results, and I’m as guilty as the rest.
For myself, I plan to nurture that internal flame of “striving for women’s equality” and carry it for the rest of my life.
I like the idea of a Hall of Shame- to expose those instances of sexism, especially in the media, and call on other NEWers to call, write, email and fax our displeasure with them.
I also think we should become a national group with contact-able members, maybe pay dues, publish newsletters, meet up in real life, etc.
We will need gear too- like buttons? hats? party favors……..just kidding.
Anne-Marie
I really appreciated your very honest post. Don’t get too passive. You can always write letters to the media expressing your concerns, be they about Obama and gender parity issues, about concerns about media treatment of women (be it in general or more potently, about a particular article where you can site and example). You can tthink creativity: Perhaps put together a brief, bulleted-point overview of women’s accomplishments that are often ignored in school textbooks and see if the School Board of some other org could be a vehicle to help you raise awareness. You can contact your Congressman/woman and Senators to urge them to pass legislation to expand what language is considered “hate” language which could be tied to hate crimes against women. You can volunteer at a local Women’s Health Center. You can make sure you live you life to the max. There’s all sorts of things we can do every day, from highly personal micro scale things to macro scale. Hang in there. Meanwhile, don’t feel guilty if your passion for advocacy is waning. Living your life well is no small thing and if you’re doing that, you’re contributing to the cause!
I think that the new agenda should team up with NOW here in New York State. Many of us up here are very pissed off. Many of us feel that the feminist establishment didn’t due enough during all the woman bashing in the primaries and the general election. Even the ones who endorsed and supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries didn’t do enough to address the media misogyny. Furthermore, they totally fell down on the job when it came to calling out the sexist dems. They seemed afraid. of the male democratic establishment. I was shocked!!
We need to breathe new life into the feminist movement with some good old Al Sharpton style in your face politics. I mean big marches like the million man march, public protests that are well coordinated and well attended. We need more public education about the status of women in our country, compared to other countries. We need to work in conjunction with other women’s groups to groom and support women candidates.
We need to change public opinion about accepting sexism. We need to insist on the exclution of sexist slurs in our public and political discourse. We need to shame and boycotts cable news outlets that sanction sexism on their netrworks.
Cynthia, thanks for your words of encouragement. I don’t mind being a turtle, if I felt like I was doing anything that was gaining ground. I want to be effective, I want to see results.
bluelady, I have an internal flame too, it’s always been there. I’m not sure what it means to nurture it though. This election was like throwing logs on a fire that grew very big, consumed me…I am not sure what to do next. I feel the need to take concrete effective action.
look forward to paying dues, and meeting in real life. I would buy buttons, hats, party favors, anything that can have an impact in the real world. What are you reading about the suffragettes? A book, article? I’d like to read it too.
Anna,
Thank you for your support and suggestions. I don’t want to get passive, I want to get active. And there are many ways to get active–you mentioned a few. I am looking towards TNA for leadership on a way to get active that will be effective.
I think whatever we set out to accomplish, it works better if we do it as a group. If TNA leadership decides that the thing to do is to introduce anti hate language legislation, and they tell us, “okay, make an appointment to see your rep and touch on these points, and this how you do it, and this is our deadline” and I knew that we’re all doing it together all over America, I will do that.
Is that unrealistic to expect of The New Agenda?
Anne Marie: Thank you for your enthusiasm about The New Agenda! This is your group, and we want you to feel a sense of ownership and inclusion here, so we’re delighted to hear your thoughts and ideas. A “Hall of Fame”/“Hall of Shame” site is a great idea. Let us know if you need help setting it up. You can email me at dawnc@thenewagenda.net to talk about how to create an interface, if you like.
To you and Cynthia and Anna and bluelady and others who experience frustration at the vagaries of activism: there are opportunities for action in just about every post on this blog. We will make them more explicit (“stupidly easy”, as per Anne Marie), and we’re developing a tabbed page of grassroots materials for people to take and use. We’ll have buttons, and flyers, and perhaps letter templates (as we develop them). In fact, Jenn Lee has a great idea for getting flyers out that we’ll post about soon. There’s a lot you can do. Organizing real-life meetings in your own area is much encouraged, and we always always always want to hear back from you about what you’re doing, so that we can celebrate all our efforts and our successes together. I could do a weekly “Ready for Action” thread, where people can say what they did or are doing, what they want to do, and what they want help with. Would that be something people would be interested in? What would be the best day to post it?
InsightAnalytical-GRL: welcome! Thanks for linking your site. I went over and commented. And yes—Violet is fabulous, and much-admired around these parts, too.
KendallJ: “in your face politics”—yes! We’ll have some tools to help you spread the word, soon. All ideas are welcome.
I get burned out and apathetic some days, too. I think we all have days when it seems overwhelming, and it would be easier to just wander back to the status quo and go along to get along, but I just take it easy on those days, and then something comes up that gets my ire up again, and I get engaged in responding to it, and it renews my determination. I think as long as we allow ourselves to keep becoming engaged, we’ll keep going.
Dawn, I am so glad to have read your last comment, and to learn that The New Agenda indeed plans to help us take action. I would love a “Ready for Action” thread. I’d say to post it at the beginning of the week. I can’t wait to start wearing a button or tshirt to advertise this organization and its mission.
I remember when I was campaigning for Hillary that her website allowed visitors to type in a zipcode and find out the nearest house party or organizing meeting. Or it allowed a visitor to set up a meeting, at a home or a cafe. I found that tool very useful, and I was wondering if it would be possible for TNA to use it or a version of it to help us organize regular regional meetings?
How hard would it be to have a pinned thread on this website where we could just list our posting names and cities so people who are already on the website could know who is in their area? We could be across the street from each other and not know it.
[...] Wednesday, people responded to this post, noting their frustration with the slow pace of change, and talking about ways to cope with [...]
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