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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Center for New Words

The Center for New Words is committed to a simple mission: use the power and creativity of words to strengthen the voice of progressive and marginalized women in society. To accomplish this mission, our programs support diverse women's engagement with the entire word cycle, from literacy to blogging to literary writing to opinion-making in the media and other domains of influence. Built on the wisdom, commitments, and competencies of 28 years of running New Words Bookstore, CNW is creating spaces and places where women's words matter. break

http://www.centerfornewwords.org

  • Callie House: My Face is Black is True

    Wed, Sep 14, 2005
    Mary Francis Berry reclaims Callie House, a magnificent heroine who, though so long forgotten that the site of her grave is unknown, emerges as a pioneering activist: a female forerunner of both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Born in to slavery in 1861, Callie House started the Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association, which sought African American pensions based on those offered Union soldiers, a movement so powerful it frightened the US government, upset Jim Crow legislatures across the South, and gave hope to hundreds of thousands of destitute former slaves. Co-sponsored by the Museum of Afro American History and the Center for New Words.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Center for New Words

  • Zainab Salbi: Between Two Worlds

    Mon, Oct 17, 2005
    Zainab Salbi reveals the tyrant Saddam Hussein through the eyes of a child, a secretly rebellious teenager, an abused wife, and ultimately a professional woman coming to terms with the horror of her family story. Salbi was 11 when her father was chosen to serve as Saddam Hussein's personal pilot. Her mother eventually sent Zainab to America for an arranged marriage, to spare her from Saddam's growing affection, but the marriage turned out to be another world of tyranny and abuse. Zainab started over. She forged a new identity as a champion of female victims of war, dedicating her life to speaking out on behalf of oppressed women around the world. This event is co-sponsored by Women Waging Peace and the Simmons College Institute for Leadership and Change.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Center for New Words

  • Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America

    Thu, Mar 10, 2005
    Pooja Makhijani, Patricia Goodwin, Judith Chalmer, and Lisa Drostova read from *Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America*, an anthology of essays by women that explore through a child's lens the sometimes savage, sometimes innocent, and always complex ways in which race shapes American lives and families.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Center for New Words
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    Hip Mama: From the Cutting Edge of Parenting

    Wed, Mar 16, 2005
    *[Hip Mama](http://hipmamazine.com/about/ "")* was developed, and edited by Ariel Gore. As a single mother dependent on public assistance, Gore wanted to reach an audience of readers who "do not want to do the whole yuppie thing just because they have kids." Her magazine explicitly integrates politics and parenting. Ariel Gore and regular contributors to *Hip Mama*, Annie Downey, Jillian Brady, and Katherine Arnoldi, read in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the legendary 'zine, and a decade of its earthy, honest, and soulful parenting essays. The magazine includes personal narratives, book and music reviews, sex and parenting pieces, commentaries, news, and "Girl-Mom" (resources and discussion for young parents). Recent articles include "Protest Primer" and "Just Say No to Genetically Altered Foods."
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Center for New Words

  • Our Bodies, Ourselves: A New Edition for a New Era

    Wed, May 4, 2005
    In celebration of the newest edition of *Our Bodies, Ourselves*, a panel of the book's authors and contributors for a look at how it has grown and changed to serve lesbians, bi women, and transpeople. In 1970, they showed us a cervix, talked openly about same-sex relationships, and helped get women safe information about sexual assault. But a lot has changed since *Our Bodies, Ourselves* first published the chapter *In Amerika They Call Us Dykes*! Co-sponsored by Fenway Community Health Center.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Center for New Words

  • Risking Hope: Women, Prison, and Life Behind Bars

    Thu, May 19, 2005
    Cristina Rathbone discusses *Risking Hope*, which explores every facet of prison culture and reveals the true face of the American criminal justice system. Rathbone spent five years visiting women prisoners at MCI Framingham, outside of Boston. *Risking Hope* provides a firsthand look at prison and the women that Rathbone came to know there, and shows why prison officials are so eager to keep journalists out. The book also describes the author's long legal struggle to gain access to the women inside. It took Rathbone a full year and two law suits against the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to win access to the women and hear their stories. Women are the fastest-growing population incarcerated in the United States; over 950,000 women are currently under some form of correctional supervision. Putting a human face to the statistics, Rathbone examines the devastating consequences of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the use of male guards for women prisoners, substandard medical care that leads to high rates of suicide, and the drastic effects skyrocketing incarceration rates have on millions of families across the country.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Center for New Words