Problem Chylde: Live from Pressure Cooker, USA

Last posting of the night because classes start tomorrow for me! AHHHHHHH!

I’ve received a few interesting anthology calls via e-mail that I wanted to share. Contact the different organizations/people if you’re interested.
Via Scatterbrained Soonee Sister:

Reminder: Literary Anthology Deadline (follow the link to see a FAQ and a sample pitch)

CALL FOR STORIES

Announcing a call for non-fiction, personal stories by American Muslim women on courtship and/or dating to be published in an anthology.

We are looking for talented writers to pitch well-written, surprising and compelling anecdotes for a book on loving and looking for love while Muslim.

WHY A BOOK ABOUT COURTSHIP/DATING?

There is a stereotype about Muslim women out there that does not show them as the thinking, feeling, lively people with loving hearts and independent minds that we know them to be. Partially, this is because there just aren’t enough real-life stories about Muslim women being told by Muslim women themselves.

The purpose of this collection is to take control of our narrative by telling our own stories, emphasizing the humanity we all share and celebrating the quirks that make us unique. We hope to do that through stories about courtship/dating because these rituals exist in every societal context; the search for a partner is universal.

We’re excited at the prospect of amplifying the voices of American Muslim women. If you think such perspectives need to be heard too, we invite you to contribute your story!

DETAILS

Stories must be auto-biographical and written by American Muslim women, either born in and/or predominantly raised in the United States . We are looking for contributors who identify as American and as Muslim, whether by birth or conversion, and who reflect a broad range of religious perspectives, from orthodox to cultural to secular.

Write about a transformative episode that defined your courtship/dating experience. Think about the epiphany, the crystallizing moment: At what point in your life did your religious identity play a role in your search for a partner? Did other factors, such as ethnicity, race, class, etc. merge or collide with your religious identity?

We want real-life stories rich with details so they read like fiction. We want more story-telling and less essay-like commentary.

Diversity: Contributions are welcome from Muslim women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, born and convert Muslims, Sunnis/Shiites, disabled, single, engaged, married, divorced, or widowed.

In order for your story to be considered, please send us the following information by Tuesday, January 15^th. All responses will be treated as confidential.

*Your full name
*Age
*Your geographic location
*E-mail address or phone number
*Ethnic/racial background
*Whether Muslim by birth or conversion
*A 300-500 word pitch describing the highlights of your story.

Pitches will be selected based on their literary merit. You already know what makes good writing: humor, drama, irony, triumph, and focus. Bring your anecdote to life with vivid characterization, plot, and surprising real-life details. Draw us in and leave us craving more of your story!

Contact us: Please send your pitch and all other inquiries to: relationship.anthology [at] gmail DOT com

Notification: We hope to make our selections by February 15, 2008. Final stories will be due May 1, 2008. Stories should range between 1,500 and 4,000 words.

All submissions may not be accepted, but every submission will be considered.

Via Lex (by e-mail):

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Who’s Your Mama: The Voices of Unsung Women and Mothers

Looking for women writers who are mothers,
trying to become mothers and
who are childless by choice or circumstance
There are so many books published about the motherhood experiences of
affluent, married, White women, books that often revolve around the “mommy wars,” the raging debate between mothers who work and those who stay at home. The fact that this small demographic is represented in the media as the face of U.S. motherhood has effectively removed the voices and stories of the true majority of mothers from the public dialogue. The true majority includes mothers who are: women of color, low and middle income, single, bisexual or lesbian.

This anthology proposes to gather women’s writings about motherhood that addresses race, class, sexuality, identity and intimate partnership. We have chosen to use the words women and motherhood, but it’s being used to focus on the female experience of parenting under patriarchy, not to exclusively define it.

Gen-X/Hip Hop generation women, those born between 1965 and 1984, grew up in the aftermath of social and political revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s that sought to re-define marriage, sexuality and motherhood. While the primary societal messages continue to trumpet traditional values and heterosexual marriage as the preferred norm, on the ground, women are actively engaged in crafting identities and family structures (including remaining single and/or childless) that speak practically to their personal beliefs, intimate relationships and economic realities.

Demographically, this generation of mothers looks different from its
predecessors. Many did not even have children until they were 25 years old or older and on average they are having only two children. Therefore in comparison to their mothers and grandmothers they are older and have fewer children to look after. Having come of age in the 1980s and 1990s these women also grew up taking feminism (and the benefits it bestowed) as a given. For Gen-X and Hip Hop generation women, they believe that they can choose to raise healthy happy children and still be true to themselves.

Unlike previous generations, Gen-X women are represented by a diversity of contexts for motherhood that include heterosexual marriages, single parenting, committed partnership and gay marriage. Furthermore we recognize that the ability of a woman to have the option to be a working mother or a stay at home mother is frequently dependent on her socio-economic standing as demonstrated by her access to informational and financial resources, nearby, reliable and affordable child care and good fortune to work in a flexible work environment.

Furthermore, more women are consciously choosing not to have children and it is necessary to understand the remaining societal costs or the unexpected freedoms that are the consequence of choosing to remain childless. Lastly, every mother was someone before she had children. Therefore while motherhood is a significant life event, this book wants to examine how women develop other aspects of themselves alongside their identities as mothers, including their careers, friendships (particularly with other women), sexual personas, intimate relationships, familial and community bonds.

Many Gen-X women, although they were brought up and encouraged to “have it all” have a thorny relationship with feminism. Many understand that the freedoms that they take for granted, including the right to: work in nontraditional jobs; receive equal work for equal and; have reproductive choice were the result of feminist agitation. Nevertheless while many young women eagerly embrace the feminist label, far more equate feminism with angry, unattractive, affluent, man-hating, White women and do not believe that feminism represents their perspectives on religion, sexuality, culture, class or race. We are interested in ascertaining whether a woman choosing to become a mother or not is influenced by her identification with feminism (even if that identification is oppositional) and its perceived tenets, how does a woman’s acceptance (or rejection) of feminism or its principles inform her mothering or extend her focus on social and political issues such as parental leave, affordable childcare, court enforced child support, etc?.

We are seeking honest essays written in the first-person from Gen X/Hip Hop generation women of all classes, races, sexualities and religions. Submissions from emerging as well as established writers, activists, scholars and everyday women will be accepted. The personal narrative should record how your decision about motherhood empowered you and in some way made you reconsider a way of being, a personal truth, political ideology or cultural norm or community standard that you have never previously questioned. Additionally, we are interested in essays that explore how new definitions of motherhood and female empowerment are pushing women toward new thinking around social and political change.

We welcome and will consider new ideas in addition to the topics suggested below.

• the emotional and financial costs of motherhood
• mothering and sexual identity
• how becoming a mother changes your politics
• daycare and childcare
• single motherhood
• lesbian or bisexual mothering
• motherhood and marriage/committed partnership
• gender and care of the children
• health care and motherhood
• motherhood and poverty
• what does having it all really mean?
• what makes a feminist mother different from others?
• balancing motherhood and work
• the financial costs and rewards of being a stay at home mother

• discrimination against mothers in the workplace
• negotiating societal expectations about motherhood
• race, class and motherhood
• raising bi-racial children or children of a different race
• childless because you do not want children
• childless because you do not have a committed partner (and you do
not want to be a single mom)
• childless because you believe that having a child would adversely
affect your career or finances
• infertility
• adoptive mothers/guardians/foster parents
• incarcerated mothers

DEADLINE: February 1, 2008

WORD COUNT/PAGE LIMITS:
Personal Narratives - 20 pages/5000 words.

FORMAT:
Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Please include your
address, phone number, email address, and a short bio on the last page. No simultaneous submissions. Previously published essays will be considered if the writer owns the copyright. Essays will not be returned. Essays will not be published without the writer’s consent.

SUBMITTING:
Electronic submissions are preferred. Send essay electronically as a Word
format file (with .doc extension) to Yvonne@YvonneBynoe.com. Write “Motherhood Anthology” in the subject line. If email is not possible, mail two (2) copies of the essay to Yvonne Bynoe at PO Box 14068, Washington, DC 20044 attn: Motherhood Anthology. Please direct any inquiries to info@yvonnebynoe.com.

EDITOR:
Yvonne Bynoe is a Senior Fellow at the Future Focus 2020 Center at Wake
Forest University and the author of Stand & Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture and the Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture.

PUBLISHER:
Soft Skull Press (New York)

REPLY: Please allow until March 1, 2008 for a response. If you have not
received a response by then, please assume your essay has not been selected. It is not possible to reply to every submission personally.

Via Nadia (via e-mail):

* Thinking of joining a nunnery?
* Feeling asexual and just want to cuddle?
* Swinging and loving it?

We want to see/hear/read your stories! Audio stories are great, too. CDs
may accompany the anthology.

SEND YOUR CREATIONS TO THE FORTHCOMING ANTHOLOGY:

“Desire: A Girl’s Guide to Dreaming - Queer Women of Color Writing Critically on the Erotic” (working title)

///INTRODUCTION

“Imagine weaving a lamentation into something whole, bigger than itself, more healed than the song.”

We invite people to share their experiences and thoughts on sex, lust, love, relationship, desire, the erotic, being stone, being poly. How do you envision, enact, do sex? And not. This anthology is about opening up language, story, healing.

Is it okay to ask your queer of color fam to cuddle, without it being sexual? What does it mean to touch and connect with people without wanting sex, without it being sexual? What is erotic? How is it lived by queer women of color?

If people are looking for liberation in their bodies, in their shared connection with people, what does that look like? What does queer sex feel like, taste like, dream like? What if you could dream your way out of survivor, into thriving, into living and creating intentional relationships that heal, rather than sting, love and push through
all the bifurcations of our lived lives.

How do you touch your way out of colonization, how do touching and connection become a way of resisting colonization and objectification, and healing from rape, assault, sexual abuse, physical abuse? What language is used? What words are created?

When we are in desire, the articulation of the possible, how do we free ourselves, how are we already free where we see traps? Where are you, finally, free? In desire, are you free?

A sense of humor is a must in all relationships; we seek levity and gravity, fun, light energy that is also deep, connected, and profound. Funny stories, essays, and work with a twist all welcome.

///This anthology is born in the spirit of Audre Lorde’s definition of the
erotic:

“The erotic functions for me in several ways, and the first is in providing the power which comes from sharing deeply any pursuit with another person. The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between
them, and lessens the threat of their difference” (Audre Lorde).

///Where to send the beautiful words, art, funny anecdotes, poetry, images, stills of performances?

Please e-mail ///desireanthology@yahoo.com/// with your brilliance. The deadline for sending work is 1 March 2008. If you desire a land address for mailing work, contact us at the above e-mail address.

We look forward to hearing from you,
Pak Soo Na and Sherisse Alvarez

PS: Happy holy days!

///Who are we?

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Pak Soo Na is a Corean-born video artist, writer, and storyteller. Soo Na is honored to dedicate her work to the well-being, self-naming, and healing of young womyn of color and little girls everywhere. Her art is informed by oceans, breathing, memory, and the heart. Find her writing in the anthology, “Outsiders Within: Writing on
Transracial Adoption,” and the zine, “Tigers and Rabbits: Writings by Korean
[North] American Women on Ending Violence and for the Power of Love.” She is
a graduate of Hampshire College. In 2005, Soo Na was the recipient of a Fulbright grant to Corea. Her documentary, “The Silence Between Oceans,” screened at the
13th Annual UC Santa Cruz Women of Color Film Festival. A self-published book, “Child-as-gift-of-Amnesia,” is companion to her documentary. In the past, she facilitated workshops on young women of color and sexual health, and transracial adoption. She is moving toward performance art, centering her work around her body and movement. Between dreaming, she lives and loves in New York.

Sherisse Alvarez is a Cuban-American writer and yoga teacher interested in
the poetry of the body, dislocation, and memory. A graduate of Hampshire
College, she concentrated in writing, art, and cultural studies.  Her thesis was a multi-media exhibition titled “Splitting Fruit: Notes Toward Womanist Artistic Practice.”  Her work has appeared in Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology,” and “Becoming: Young Ideas on Gender, Identity, and Sexuality.” Most recently, she worked at the Yale University School of Art where she served as curator for “Intersections/Intersecciones,” an exhibition of 13 intergenerational Cuban artists. She currently lives in New Jersey.