Iris: A Journal About Women articles from March 2003

Iris: A Journal About Women archives from March 2003

Editor's letter.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
March 22, 2003... The theme for this issue was first conceived by the iris staff in the weeks immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As we go to press, the United States armed forces are fifty miles outside Baghdad, gearing up for what experts say...

The white desert. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... The White Desert. In the stillness of the windbreak we sleep, each night colder than before. As we awaken Mansour bakes the tire-sized round of bread in the sand, piles it with hot stones, slaps grit off with the flat of his...

FUI: fuel your involvement.
March 22, 2003... JOBS, JOBS, JOBS NOW internships: Looking to step outside of the classroom and put your feminism into action? NOW, the largest feminist organization in the country, offers semester-long internships in Washington D.C. They offer leadership...

Did you know?
March 22, 2003... Since the election of George W. Bush, he and his administration have adopted several policies and laws affecting the safety and rights of women all around the world. The administration's policies over the past few years have often been...

Having crossed over. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... Having Crossed Over As if I were still eighteen having just crossed over the Atlantic in a plane, checked into a cold room in a place near the airport where, mid-afternoon everyone was sleeping off jet-lag, hangover, some...

Nora Strejilevich. (Interview).(Interview)
March 22, 2003... Argentina in 1976 was a world shaken. A military junta had taken over the country, targeting dissenters and Jews, but affecting all citizens alike. Then a young college student, Nora Strejilevich was "disappeared" by the junta and imprisoned in...

For my sister. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... For my Sister. A pair of unhatched Chicks, two moons In a single bowl. No escape from Gravity, No matter how Far you leaned. In the end, You simply fell.

Women of the Wall: an interview with Vanessa Ochs. (Interview).(Western Wall in Jerusalem)(Interview)
March 22, 2003... "Work for the unsilencing of women"--that is how Professor Vanessa Ochs describes, in part, the mission of Women of the Wall. Since 1988, this movement has looked to a single final goal: securing the right of Jewish women to pray aloud as a...

Rabbi Amy Perlin: a personal journey that led to the wall. (Feature).(Western Wall, Jerusalem)(Interview)
March 22, 2003... According to Rabbi Amy Perlin, the earth we inhabit is made up of many different worlds. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Metaphor or nor, Rabbi Perlin has spent a good part of her life navigating between different and conflicting...

Cool women to watch for: Anushay Hossain. (Iris Profile).
March 22, 2003... Dnushay Hossain heads the Afghan Campaign for Women and Children at the Feminist Majority Foundation in Washington D.C. Founded in 1987 by the current president of the organization, Eleanor Sneal, the Feminist Majority Foundation is "dedicated...

Profile of youth for peace: Bou Makara, Kuy Rumduol, and Seong Chantha. (Profile).
March 22, 2003... In each issue of iris, we profile women whose pursuits and motivations are aligned with the current issue's theme. This profile is dedicated to all young women who strive to make the issues of their people and their voices heard throughout the...

Interview with Diane Nash. (Interview).(Brief Article)
March 22, 2003... Diane Nash was born in 1938 and raised in Chicago in a middle-class African-American family. She received a formal education during the civil rights era and was affected by the cruel treatment African-Americans received. As a college student...

The daily life is one of wonder. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... The Daily Life is One of Wonder. Some mornings a clinic worker and her patient are in the sight of a rifle. How fine it is to till your garden in April. Mr. Bennett broke his wife's arm in the car door. Some can balance their...

News from the big bang. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... News from the Big Bang. Because they believed that sex with a virgin would cure their AIDS, many men sought out young Laxmi Krishna in Brothel 64 even though a girl cannot be a virgin over and over. This is why it matters so...

Unbeauty manifesto Soo Jin Lee. (Feature).
March 22, 2003... "When are you getting your surgery done?" asks my cousin, Jin Gun. He dumps a small poster with "Lee Soo-Jin" in Korean written across the front into an orange trash bin. It is 10:00 p.m. The Kimpo airport terminal looks no different than...

Girl on the street.
March 22, 2003... Do you support Korean-American women's choice to get reconstructive eyelid surgery to look more "western"? yes no don't care women 42% 58% men 54% 45% 1% Were you an expectant parent, would you consider a home...

Tied in knots: the complex and troubled relationship among women, aid, and development.
March 22, 2003... Even though women represent half of the world's population, the ~ United Nations tells us they "perform two-thirds of the world's work, receive one-tenth of its income and own less than one hundredth of its property." We all know that women are...

Grouse. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... Grouse. curve grouse flock watering intoxicated at the spring sip and hurry night in the desert morning as guests press to belly and breast wings hover a pool. slow beats end shoulder to shoulder. hungry cries...

Working with midwives in West Africa. (Students Get Involved Abroad).
March 22, 2003... I first fell in love with Mali during my semester abroad there in the fall of 2000. But I learned to truly appreciate it the second time while working with one enormous resource: its women. I went to Mali in 2002 through a grant from the Center...

Stories of strength: breaking the silence about sexual abuse and family violence in rural South Africa. (Students Get Involved Abroad).
March 22, 2003... A woman, six months pregnant and a mother of two, was gang raped. When she went to the hospital, she was tested for HIV. After she had the baby, a case monitor met her to report that she and the baby were HIV positive. She was happy; she...

The root. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... The Root I too have tasted what your mother grew. In from the garden, she snapped gnarled roots from stems, sliced rough-skinned rounds into butter. Sweet and soft, they slurred the truth: She said, what, you've never...

The IRC of Charlottesville: small town contribution to an international effort. (Feature).(International Rescue Committee)
March 22, 2003... On the International Rescue Committee (IRC) website, there is a list of their locations: Belgium, Bosnia, Iraq, Kenya, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington D.C., Dallas, San Francisco, and... Charlottesville? It doesn't seem to fit. How...

Interview with Brooke Weddle. (Interview).(Interview)
March 22, 2003... Brooke Weddle graduated from the University of Virginia in 2001 with a double major in Spanish and Economics. She was awarded a grant from the Fulbright Commission to spend a year in Lima, Peru and write the testimonials of women who receive...

Lost anniversary. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... Lost Anniversary. Once, when she could remember, she promised him: everything, always. and everything came. Dances and mourning knotted her fingers, the years shook, chattering, into loose heaps she could not reconnect. ...

Reasonable person: a feminist goes to Law School, Part II. (Feature).
March 22, 2003... CHAPTER 2 - I OBSERVE Or, The First Semester Survived January 2003 I am writer's-blocked. At the end of the first installment in my reports to iris about my law school experience, I looked forward--with much excitement...

Decoding Megumi. (Feature).
March 22, 2003... A third-year student slouches in the doorway of the teacher's room in the high school where I work as an English teacher. Her blackish-blue eye and the eight small stitches under her left eyebrow are hardly noticed by anyone but me. Her...

Thinking globally is acting locally: the only way for me to think and, therefore, act productively, is to view the people I have encountered as local; far away, perhaps--but nevertheless my neighbors.
March 22, 2003... I am well aware of the fact that I am lucky. At the age of 21, I have traveled more, seen more than most. When I was seven-years old, my father, an agricultural economist, took our family to Zambia for five years. I've been to Zimbabwe, South...

Outlook. (Poetry).(Poem)
March 22, 2003... Outlook Like an eye in her shinbone, that sightless knot in her back-lit films could cost her the leg. A tumor under shimmers of muscle aims for a life. Enchondroma echoes from doctors' mouths, sounds like Hiroshima. ...

Syria: stories of fat, food, and pleasure. (Feature).
March 22, 2003... I did not discuss Karim, my Syrian beau, with Hind. My freedom as a Westerner annoyed her. After we kissed each other on the cheeks, she said, "You've put on kilos." My feelings were hurt by the comment, but maybe it was only misplaced...

Refugee voices. (Feature).(Promises)(Interview)
March 22, 2003... Even in her sleep, Kayan worries. Recently, she dreamt her youngest brother was run over by a tank. Her sleep, she told me, is littered with nightmares of death. Kayan's childhood friend Sanabel often wakes from the gunfire of her nightmares to...

Women in global politics. (Feature).(enfranchisement)
March 22, 2003... If love makes the world go 'round, politics keep the gears working together: While varying types and constructions of government have come and gone over the years, such as parliaments, dictatorships, monarchies, or democracies, they all...

Angels. (Fiction).(Short Story)
March 22, 2003... Lucia saw the first drawing at Bleeker Street. She was crammed against the door of the 4 express train, which meant she saw only a glimpse of it flickering through the columns as the subway cars roared downtown towards Wall Street. But somehow...

Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics & Disposable Domestics: Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy & Sweatshop Warriors: Immigrant women Workers Take on the Global Factory. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
March 22, 2003... Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics Cynthia Enloe University of California Press, 2000 Disposable Domestics: Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy Grace Chang South End...

Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
March 22, 2003... Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism Daisy Hernandez and Buslira Rehman, Eds. Seal Press, 2002 Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman have redefined colonization. "To colonize," they say, "is to strip a people of...

Policing the National Body: Race, Gender and Criminalization. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
March 22, 2003... Policing the National Body: Race, Gender and Criminalization Jael Silliman and Anannya Bhattacharjee, Eds. South End Press, 2002 The editors of Policing the National Body describe their anthology as directed at "activists, students,...

Happy Songs. (Music Reviews).(Sound Recording Review)
March 22, 2003... Happy Songs Audra Mcdonald Nonesuch 2002 Repeatedly hailed as the next Barbara Streisand (a comparison that any musical theater actor would hawk her best pair of tap shoes to hear), three-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald is, and has...

A Love Story. (Music Reviews).(Sound Recording Review)
March 22, 2003... Vivian Green Columbia 2002 Soulful. Jazzy. Funky. Honest. Vivian Green's debut album, A Love Story, takes you on the journey of love. Inspired by Green's personal experiences, A Love Story is a mixture of soulful love ballads and original...

Say what? Iris celebrates global women by sharing inspiring and insightful quotes by women from all over the world.
March 22, 2003... The history of all times, and of today especially, teaches that...women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves. --Louise Otto, German feminist, 1849 If it is true that men are better than women because they are...