Recently in Bad-Ass Women Category

By Elizabeth Hemmerdinger

I've always thrown myself into Thanksgiving. You can see in the photo below, from my turn as a Pilgrim in the 1956 sixth grade pageant at Hunter College Elementary School in New York City. Long, long ago. Might as well have been the first Thanksgiving ever. As a playwright I can tell you, I've got the lead in the scene – the others are just villagers. I don't think I'm accused of being a witch; I think I would have remembered that.

Back then, I knew nothing about Sarah Josepha Hale- who helped found Vassar College, and persuaded President Lincoln to establish Thanksgiving.  In her 1827 novel Northwood: A Tale of New England , she calls for the 40,000 American churches to take up collections for a observance to be called Thanksgiving, with the funds to be used to put an end to slavery in the U.S. She meant for it to be a day of sacrifice and generosity, not just feasting.

I don’t remember the script of my Thanksgiving play, but I remember my mother toiling over the costume design. I love the story of the Pilgrims and the Puritans who left their homes to surrender to the tempestuous seas and disinterested terra incognita in the name of freedom. ....

For the full story, click here .

Hey everyone, I just read a really great article about some young women who have started up a band in Jidda, Saudi Arabia called the Accolade. Even though they cant take pictures for album covers or play publicly due to how overwhelmingly conservative their country is, they still play secret shows and even have an underground hit "Pinocchio" which you can download on the bands MySpace page. You can check out this link to read the article which includes a bit of an interview with the bands founder.

In honor of Larry Summers' return to the media spotlight, I thought I'd take a moment to recognize the women in math and science whom I look up to.

One of the biggest names in my own field, quantum computation, is Julia Kempe.  At age 34, she has degrees in math (bachelors, masters, PhD), physics (bachelors, masters) and computer science (PhD).  Yeah, she has two PhDs.  She also has in impressive list of publications, including two hugely important results.  Along with co-authors, she showed that building a quantum computer requires being able to interact at most 3 "quantum bits" at a time.  She also showed that two types of quantum computers, circuit-based and adiabatic, were equally powerful.

In other fields, I have a lot of admiration for Nora Volkow and Alison Jolly.  Nora Volkow is the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  She has pioneered the use of brain imaging techniques in understanding addiction, and has done a lot bring her results to the attention of the general public.  Alison Jolly is a primatologist, and author of Lucy's Legacy , one of the best popular science books I've ever read.

So who are your favorites?

Rolling Stone did a recent poll to determine the greatest rock singer of all time . Paul McCartney? No. Robert Plant? Def not. Elvis Presley? NOPE. Not a dude at all, but the revered Ms. Aretha Franklin. FUCK YEAH. I love her and it makes my day that she won this. Keep rockin' out Aretha!

The F Word has posted a video of Maya Angelou's reaction to Obama's victory. Her interview starts about 3 minutes in, after some outlining of African-American history. I've never seen this lady speak before, and what an inspiring woman! She even recites some of her poetry at the end. Check it out.

I also found a pre-election interview with Ani DiFranco on youtube, it seems to have been filmed a couple of days before November 4th.

In the first week after Election Day, we couldn't help zeroing in on the numerous midlife women included in the new inner circles. (Watch at WVFC for more interviews as things proceed.)

They come from a range of backgrounds, from corporate boardrooms (several on the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women) to California classrooms and governor's mansions.)  Here's an initial honor roll, with as much video as felt appropriate:

At the helm: One of the transition team's three co-chairs is Chicago attorney Valerie Jarrett , 51, CEO of The Habitat Company (seen above(.  A Newsweek profile in May noted: "Jarrett got her start working for Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor. Her grandfather ran the Chicago Housing Authority in the 1940s. Obama has long turned to her for advice. When he wanted to run for the U.S. Senate, he first had to convince Michelle and Jarrett that it was a good idea. He's been seeking her counsel ever since."

In the boardroom:

Granholm, who was mentioned as a dark-horse vice-presidential candidate, is also on the transition team's Advisory Board, which also includes Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano , 51,  who was profiled by Newsmix in July as a veep prospect; Susan Rice (above), 43, Brookings Institution fellow and former assistant secretary of state for African Affairs; and former EPA chair Carol Browner (below), the longest-serving administrator in the history of the agency, staying through both terms of the Clinton presidency.

The long arms of the law:  Women helping power the transition's legal team include  general counsel (and Harvard Law school classmate) Cassandra Butts , former senior vice president for domestic policy at the Center for American Progress and senior adviser to Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.);  Lisa Brown , the Executive Director of the American Constitution Society, and Melody Barnes, 43, of the Center for American Progress as co-directors of agency review; and Clinton adviser Christine A. Varney , 52, as counsel for personnel.

That different voice:  Get used to another face next to the familiar Obama spokespersons Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod:  Michelle Obama's chief of staff, 40-year-old Stephanie Cutter (seen above dueling with Chris Matthews during the campaign). During the Clinton Administration, Cutter worked as deputy communications director in both the White House and U.S. EPA.

We at WVFC now know we have to get busy deciding who on this list we should try to interview and profile. We'd welcome readers' comments — both about who we should talk to, and what questions you want to ask them when we do!

-- Chris L.

Feminists in the media are often portrayed as Birkenstock wearing, dread having, vegans, who hate all things religion and who will do anything, literally anything, for their cause.

A life-long abortion activist and founding member of the third-wave feminist movement, Jennifer Baumgardner should fit the stereotype, but walking into Joe's Coffee, a chic West Village java joint, she just doesn't.

Wearing a trendy black dress that fits loosely on her small frame, her strikingly blonde hair and fair skin pop. She types away furiously on her Blackberry, responding to e-mails and finding a table while answering a question, "I went to church my whole life and I still believe in God, I just believe that God wants me to have choices."

Besides running her own business, Soapbox, Inc., a booking agency for feminist speakers, Baumgardner is also a journalist, teacher, author and mother of a 4-year old son. She has written for Glamour, The Nation and Harpers. In total, she has penned 4 books.

Her just-released paperback, Abortion & Life, hit shelves this fall. It has three-parts, with sections being on the history of abortion, the true stories of women and their experiences with the process, and a call to action for young activists to protect the right to choose. The book is scorchingly hot in this election season with the media attention that has been focused on women's issues.

Congratulations to Amy Poehler and her husband, the also hilarious Will Arnett. They welcomed their baby boy Archie Arnett on Saturday. 

Amy Poehler is a great role model. Funny, smart, strong, and doing what she loves. I have been fortunate to meet Amy, and I can tell you this: She loves hip hop! I think that is what makes me smile most about the clip above. She is as pregnant as she is going to get and still here she is with so much energy, not hiding herself or taking a break, but doing what she loves the most and without asking for any kind of credit for being pregnant. 

Amy is really supportive of other women. Watching her and Tina Fey come into the spotlight during this campaign has been such a treat, because they have been friends for years, and I think its amazing they get to do so much of this together.

So big ups to Amy, and woot woot as well. That's what she would want.

Well this is my first post and for it I have a great story. My sister has always had guy problems, She has been with an abuser and she has plenty of "baby mama drama." Well the guy she is with now revealed his true colors tonight and my mom made me the proudest daughter ever!

Anyway he was blabbing about how my sister should quit her job or should work during the day, so she can be home to cook him dinner and she can spend quality time with the family. My mom went crazy, she is like you are a Male Chauvinist Pig! She basically went on saying how she sacrifice herself to be a mother and now she is raising my nieces and nephew, so basically being a mother all over again. My youngest sister is 18. She is now giving up manager job up for me. She wants to make sure I get a chance to spread my wings and fly. My mom is the most awesomeness person ever and she is truely my hero. I Love her with all my heart and she told me tonight not to take any bullshit from anybody.

I hope everyone else has a mom like mine, I know most don't but I would surely lend mine to you if you want.

So does anyone else have any stories about your influences or mommas. I would love to hear them.

Thanks!

The anonymous author of "What To Expect When You're Aborting" has pretty much told her story, and wants to continue her site.  Her latest post asks readers to contribute nice postcards, art projects, playlists and whatever youc an think of to comfort anyone who might visit the site in the future looking for information or support!

The blog does not support comments, but you can contribute to this idea or just write to the author at expectanabortion at gmail dot com.  I've written to her a few times and she is a total sweetheart, it might take her a while to get back to you, but she will!