Local anthropologist/feminist activist passes away

When I interned at the Post-Gazette in college, one of my assignments was an obituary of an Oakmont doctor, T.J. Ferguson. I was really nervous about the assignment because it's a tall order to sum up someone's life, especially who you've never met.

But it turned out to be one of my favorite assignments. By the end, I was wishing I HAD met Dr. Ferguson.

That's how I feel about this woman, whose obit ran in the PG today: Carol McAllister.

She was a professor at Pitt, which is how I first noticed the item at all. But wow -- it sounds like she did some truly amazing things:

• director of the University of Pittsburgh Women's Studies Program and was active with the Thomas Merton Center, the Women's Resource Center for Greater Pittsburgh and the Social Justice Action Team of the First United Methodist Church, Pittsburgh
• work with Early Head Start, a component of Head Start which helps low-income mothers and families prepare sooner for the health and education of their children.
• gave the children in these communities disposable cameras and told them to chronicle their lives. Her work and their photos were published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2005.
• organized a conference with speakers from Rwanda, Israel and Canada that focused on the roles that women can play in conflict resolution and rebuilding war-torn communities.

I am so sorry for her family's loss, a loss for the community and world as well. And, I find her story truly inspiring. I would be proud to do half as much in my own life.

Women in Iraq: The first victims of 'freedom'

Yanar Mohammed, architect, sculptor, and founder of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, is interviewed in Guernica Magazine.

"When I was a student, I was dressed like a modern girl and I wore long shorts. That is part of the past. There is fear in the streets. You cannot go out in the streets. You are looked at as if you come from another age. If there are any militias on your street, they will tell you to go back home and dress decently. They could beat you up or punish you worse than that. Some of us who have grown up in Baghdad are used to wearing what we please and walking where we please. ...

"At its worst, the women look like black objects: black gloves and black stockings—no flesh can show. I have never before in my life seen young women dressed like that. In 1993, when I left Iraq, I had never seen the black gloves. Now you go to Baghdad and with the high level of poverty you see women begging on the sides of the street; even the beggars wear black. ...

"The Star Academy winner [Iraqi singer who won on the Lebanese "American Idol"-style show] is a young woman who is in an open dress and is lovely. She is a symbol of the Iraqi life we used to have. That's what people voted for. If these Islamists grow stronger and more powerful, she will not be able to look like that or sing like that. This is the answer to the U.S. administration when it tells us that this is the elected representative government of Iraq. These Islamist parties are not only U.S.-backed but also backed by the Iranian government and ruling parties. They do not represent the people of Iraq. The U.S. said they’d bring democracy but they waited to see who is stronger— the rule of the jungle—and gave power to the strongest, best funded and best armed. But, then again, maybe the U.S. was hoping to have an Islamist modernist government, similar to the Saudis. They were thinking of something like that, but the genie came out of the bottle, and it will not go back any more. ...

"At this point, the women of Iraq do not even dream to have even a small part of the reality we used to have before. We have been put under the most notorious Islamic authority in Iraq. Our monies and resources have been taken away from us. If there was the possibility of a resourceful society, we have lost that also."

tomorrow is BE A BIG HIPPIE DAY

(Click image for larger version)

not only do you have yr Anti-War march ("aunty war" as I say it, confusing people who prefer the more clinical "ann-tie") -

tomorrow is also, apparently, Shutdown Day. so before you leave for the march, please unplug your computadora and do not reboot for the rest of the day. scary!!

peace and love,
karen

UPDATE (4/1/07): i DID manage not to turn on my computer all day! also, you can see my photos from the march here. they are already garnering some impassioned comments.