The Maternal is Political, indeed

I just received my two contributors copies of The Maternal is Political, a fabulous new collection of essays edited by Shari MacDonald Strong. I was lucky enough to receive my copies hot off the press because I wrote one of the essays in the collection ("Campaign Confidential" -- a first-person account of what it was like to be a political newbie volunteering on a Federal candidate's nomination campaign last year; and why I felt compelled to go from being largely apolitical to politically obsessed, virtually overnight).

Here's a brief excerpt from my essay:

"I hadn't intended to become involved with anyone's political nomination campaign. I hadn't intended to become political at all. But early in the fall of 2006, the nine-month-old Conservative government in Canada (a government that can best be described as 'Bush lite') began slashing funding to, and redefining the mandate of, the federal department in charge of women's issues. The rationale? Women were already equal (or "equal enough," as some people were putting it). I followed the dialog online at grassroots websites that sprang up to challenge the cuts. I looked at my eighteen-year-old daughter and thought how very unequal her generation of women remained, and said to myself, I don't think so. Then I discovered that my local Member of Parliament had refused to carry forward a petition to the House of Commons, signed by local constituents, protesting these very changes. I took note, using an angry red pen."
- Ann Douglas, "Campaign Confidential," The Maternal is Political

The book was published this week by Seal Press. 338 pages. Contributors include Ann Douglas, Benazir Bhutto, Susie Bright, Gayle Brandeis, Alisa Gordaneer, Marrit Ingman, Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott, Beth Osnes, Jennifer Margulis, Nancy Pelosi, Rebecca Walker, Cindy Sheehan, Judith Stadtman Tucker, Anna Quindlen, Marion Winik, and others.   

Comments

[Andrea]

Ooh, I'll have to put that on my Amazon wish list. Congrats, Ann. :)

[Jennifer Margulis]

I just got my copies, too, and I'm looking forward to reading it. It's such a politically charged time in America right now -- in Canada too. I can't wait to read your story Ann. Thanks for this post.