"RIOT GRRRL: TRACES OF A MOVEMENT" & THE FEMINIST CONTINUUM

photo courtesy of Dragana Drobnjak

A few Fridays ago my friend Rachel and I indulged in lots of art activities, walking from PS1 for Printed Matter's Art Book Fair, to Prints Gone Wild in Williamsburg, and back. Saturday, we walked to Long Island City for more. I quickly bought a ticket and ran to the "Riot Grrrl: Traces of a Movement" conference session while my pals continued to check out the tables at the Book Fair.

I sat down and a good friend of mine, Dragana, happened to be sitting right next to me, camera in hand. Dragana took photos of the entire slide presentation, and when we got near the end, I gasped in surprise (seriously).

Jenna Freedman, founder of Barnard Library's zine collection, featured selected images of the collection, tracing the history of twenty years of zines from the original riot grrrls through today. In one of her last images, she projected the caption "EveryGrrrl plans a feminist conference," with a scan of our [For the Birds'] She-Bang pamphlet from this year. I think of DIY feminist cultural production in a continuum, something that is always in conversation with its history, present, and future. This one moment really solidified that feeling. My review of the conference might explain what I am getting at a little more.

You can read my review of the conference now at Elevate Difference, featuring another photo by the lovely Dragana.

STILL LIFE

of a feminist birthday!

JHOPPS HEARTSTOPS

"Not to floss," but one of my fav feminist music writers just gave my conference review a legit shout-out on her blog, which I am an avid follower of. Psyched.

BIG TIME

RE/VISIONIST got a shout-out on Feministing yesterday, which made us feel pretty big time.

THIS IS A THANK YOU SONG

My summer internship with Le Teegs came to a close, and I got to celebrate with LT and fellow associate Lily! Dreams do come true, y'all. Food coma, feminist heroine dreams.

OLD NEWS IS NEW AGAIN

I HAVE A FEATURE UP AT RE/VISIONIST this month. An updated edit of my review of the plenary panel at "The Message is in the Music: Hip Hop Feminism, Riot Grrrl, Latina Music & More" conference, including Mimi Thi Nguyen and Fiona Ngo, and an illustration by the lovely Cristy C. Road!

In sync with Sarah Lawrence’s recent call for papers for 2011’s Women’s History Conference, I am syndicating my review of the plenary panel from this year’s The Message is in the Music: Hip Hop Feminism, Riot Grrrl, Latina Music & More with RE/VISIONIST (it is also currently published in this year’s Women’s History newsletter). Specifically Ngo and Nguyen’s papers, in the context of the Conference at large, really inspired me to pursue my thesis work on masculinities in punk rock. Watching other scholars dare to take on pop culture subjects like music gave me hope and certainty that cultural production is worthy of an historical treatment.


This article is also timely as it preempts the publication of International Girl Gang Underground, a compilation zine about the way riot grrrl has influenced punk feminist cultural production over the past twenty years. Nguyen’s early iteration of her paper, “Aesthetics, Access, Intimacy” or “Race, Riot Grrrl, Bad Feelings” will be included in the zine, nestled in among scene reports and personal stories from all over the world.

Read the full article here.