Iris: A Journal About Women articles from September 2005

Iris: A Journal About Women archives from September 2005

Editor's letter.(pop culture)(Editorial)
September 22, 2005... When it comes to pop, everyone has an opinion. I remember my mother admonishing me as a kid for reading Babysitter's Club books: "Bubble gum for the brain!" she said. But then the same year scientists declared: "Bubble gum helps you...

F "D is for debacle!" A.(embarrassing moments)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... OMG. So, my friends and I were trying to decide if Plan B should be over-the-counter, and they were all like, "Oh, my God! It will totally prevent 1.7 million unintended pregnancies a year and like, 800,000 abortions or something!" and I was...

But we're all equal now!(embarrassing moments)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... I was hanging out with my boyfriend in the park when this guy walked by and my bf yelled, "You don't belong here, FAGGOT!" It bothered me, but I laughed anyway because I like him soo much! Later, I was hanging out with some girlfriends and...

Who needs efficiency when you look so good?(embarrassing moments)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... I love my SUV! I get to look down on all the other cars on the road, and I know nobody is going to mess with me since my grill is as high as their sunroof. I know gas prices have been going up and stuff, but the government is like, giving me...

I think I made a boo boo ghraib.(prisoner abuse)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... I was working at this prison in Iraq, and the prisoners were REALLY pissing me off. They wouldn't answer my questions when I asked, they spoke some foreign language, and they weirded me out with their icky religion. I mean, you would be ticked,...

Jessica Simpson changed my life: three generations of Protestant pop.
September 22, 2005... Frances, 64 (March 1, 2005) "She's my sister. My spiritual sister." Frances gestures towards one of the many framed photographs of Loretta Lynn that hang on her living room wall. "Loretta knows what it's like being a woman. Everything that...

Amy Richards & Jennifer Baumgardner activists.(Interview)
September 22, 2005... Can pop culture be an effective arena for feminist social change? Should it be? Are there specific current examples that spring to mind where pop and politics have called people to action? Jennifer: Pop culture can reflect positive social...

Absolute value.(Poem)
September 22, 2005... Morning sun freckles the city river. In the storefront window, beneath the ornate clock as big as a whale's eye, a woman polishes a bare mannequin with a cucumber-green sponge, scrubbing the sternum with such vigor...

Katie Marshall.(portraits)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... These are portraits of men wearing women's clothing. I aimed to approach the topic of "gender-bendrification," and to capture the more personal element of each man's reaction to being put into a feminine costume. When asked about these pieces,...

Cult of the body beautiful.(women athletes' sex appeal)
September 22, 2005... While women comprise roughly 40% of athletes in organized sports, media coverage of women on the field amounts to less than 10%. To date, Amanda Beard's swimming has earned her seven Olympic medals. Her recent gold in Athens is a magnet for...

Poem for a leftist man.(Poem)
September 22, 2005... poem for a leftist man Only when I left your house that night--the handlebars: ice in my hands--did I feel the cold. Earlier I'd asked you What will we say when we see each other on the street? You distracted...

On being a Palestinian activist.(Activate!)
September 22, 2005... Wander through the 'natural foods' aisle of your neighborhood grocery store, and you have witnessed the extent of American activism. We activists have not yet convinced you to care about Iraqis, or help fight AIDS, but we have provided...

A note on the comedy romantic rights of women.
September 22, 2005... While I wouldn't put it ahead of the ERA as a feminist priority, the problem of equality--or even plurality--of representation onscreen is a central one. More than 150 years after Sojourner Truth asked, "Ain't I a Woman?" women of color can...

Notes from the stupid tent.
September 22, 2005... I rarely walk past the E's in the bookstore without seeing some hungry young reader (usually a boy reader) whipping through one of Bret Easton Ellis' tales of debauchery and excess. His novels Less Than Zero, American Psycho, Glamorama--in fact...

Quiz: which celebrity talk-show host are you?(peripheral)
September 22, 2005... You're a t a Hurricane Katrina relief party. Of course, people know who you are, but you don't know them. You're first small-talk topic is: a. What other charities people are involved with. b. The feeling of healthy body-image around...

Spider-work.(cyberfeminism)
September 22, 2005... I call myself a feminist. The thing is, though, I often put cyber in front of the F-word we love. When I call myself a cyberfeminist, people often try to confirm this label by checking to see if my internet-enabled cell phone is on hand or if...

A tangle of gold: the man at the end of the hall keeps a woman and a gun.(Fictional Work)
September 22, 2005... The man at the end of the hall keeps a woman and a gun. We pass sometimes at the mailboxes, the man and I, the woman and I, the man and the woman and I. We mumble the quick hellos and excuse mes of entryway conversation. On those days when he...

2 x 4: two women. Four questions.(Interview)
September 22, 2005... Johanna Drucker Johanna Drucker has published and lectured extensively on topics related to the history of typography, artists' books, and visual art. She is currently the Robertson Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia....

Look out!(tampons)
September 22, 2005... Every woman has a story about her period. You were twelve and wearing white pants, you forgot to bring a tampon to the big dance, or you had cramps and couldn't explain why you weren't feeling well to anyone around you. Maybe you still get...

Lesbian chic.
September 22, 2005... The backdrop is a sun-soaked LA coffeeshop nestled among leafy palms; the camera pans in on a group of women in their mid-to-late-twenties gathered around a table sipping on over-sized pastel mugs Two of the women sit conferring quietly-one is...

Blonde burning.(poetry)(Poem)
September 22, 2005... blonde burning Goldilocks came to visit me today. Her voice was a telephone telling the truth. No ing's, the drawl of iron licorice, the news that Papa Bear's in love with me, with me the breakfast mush is fine. I...

Caring for community art outreach.(Activate!)
September 22, 2005... In Mongolia, when a colt's mother dies, its owner sings Urtyn Du, an extended a cappella lyric, to coax another mare into accepting the orphaned colt as her own. In Urtyn Du, the lyric is not only an expression of care, but also an active and...

Sarah Small.(Body Building Championships )(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... I found out about Body Building Championships through a poster in NYC's financial district shortly after September 11th. I attended this event and snapped a few pictures with my point and shoot. I brought home with me a glossy-coated,...

Oh, man! Guys say the darnedest things.(peripheral)
September 22, 2005... What was the last CD by a female artist that you bought or downloaded? "Ashlee Simpson, but it was for my sister. Please don't print my last name."--Wes, 20 "I am secure enough my masculinity to admit that I own Madonna's Bedtime...

Momie dearest.(Hollywood curious about celebrity moms)
September 22, 2005... The latest, greatest style trump card is not a pair of spangled Manolo stilettos, nor is it a priced-to-kill Birkin bag. It can't be charged at Bloomingdales or even ferreted out on eBay (yet). What's more, even the top stars face a daunting...

Shazia Mirza: comedian.(Interview)
September 22, 2005... When Shazia Mirza walked into an LA hotel a few months ago, the man behind the desk asked her what floor she was cleaning. Mirza, holding her suitcases, was bemused. "He thought that because I'm brown I must be a Mexican, and therefore I must...

Girl power: goes to the beach?(Girls Gone Wild)
September 22, 2005... If you need filling in on the Girls Gone Wild "phenomenon," then here's your space suit and beads, welcome to Mardi Gras Mars. Turn on cable TV anytime after 9 or 10pm, and you're likely to be bombarded with a cheesy, low budget ad for any of...

Ask Auntie Iris.(peripheral)
September 22, 2005... Help!? When it comes to iris's own Auntie Iris, who knows whether to be ecstatic... or or in hysterics? She's constantly giving us all the advice we never wanted. But, we keep coming back for more. So, read on to get answers to your most...

Dream a Little Dream Of Me.(Book Review)
September 22, 2005... Dream a Little Dream Of Me Eddi Feigel Chicago Review Press, 2005 "I'm going to be the most famous fat girl who ever lived," "Mama" Cass Elliot used to say. Eddi Fiegel appropriates this sentiment and designates it the theme of her...

New Black Man.(Book Review)
September 22, 2005... New Black Man Mark Anthony Neal Routledge, 2005 When it comes to black masculinity in contemporary culture, everyone's an expert. One only need watch four minutes of Nelly's "Tip Drill" music video to see how rampant misogyny and...

Dissolution of Ghosts.(Book Review)
September 22, 2005... Dissolution of Ghosts Berwyn Moore Cherry Grove Publications, 2005 The title of Berwyn Moore's first book is as vivid, elusive, and rich as the poems contained within her collection. In Dissolution of Ghosts, Moore indulges in images...

The Last Days of Dogtown.(Book Review)
September 22, 2005... The Last Days of Dogtown Anita Diamant Scribner, 2005 Anita Diamant's latest novel, The Last Days of Dogtown, depicts the lives of peculiar people in a rural hamlet on the coast of Massachusetts in the early 1800s. Starkly different...

Robyn, Robyn.(Sound Recording Review)
September 22, 2005... If Britney were a piece of real estate, she'd be that sand-blasted pink trailer in South Florida with crooked curtain rods, a pair of his and hers La-Z-Boys, and a satellite dish. So it's no wonder that we're hankering for the free health care,...

Electrocute, Troublesome Bubblegum.(Sound Recording Review)
September 22, 2005... Electrocute's name tells everything about their particular brand of pop music: it is simultaneously cute, cheeky electro-pop and aggressively threatening. Troublesome Bubblegum, their first full-length album, has this same clash of meaning--a...

Fiest, Let it Die.(Sound Recording Review)
September 22, 2005... If you listen carefully, you might recognize the voice, but very little seems familiar about Feist's new album, Let it Die. Coming to us five years after she made her debut with Monarch (Lay Down Your Jeweled Head), Canadian Leslie Feist has...

Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill acoustic.(Sound Recording Review)
September 22, 2005... Maverick 2005 We've all heard Alanis Morissette's 1995 debut, Jagged Little Pill. Seriously, with over 16 million of these CDs sold, if you haven't heard it, you've at least heard of it. So, four CDs and ten years later, what purpose would...

Wardrobe.(poetry)(Poem)
September 22, 2005... ward robe 1. My grandmother gets ready for work. Smell of black coffee, lavender soap, perfume misted from an atomizer. Pressed powder on her face, dusting powder between her breasts. Sheen of stockings,...

Top five candy accessories.(hit lists)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... five things we wish would be big again Cut off shorts for men Whether you thik it's ridiculously hot, or just ridiculously silly looking--you can never go wrong with a good man-leg. Rolling backpacks They can't come back if they never...