Yes, it's been almost 18 months since I last wrote. My life has gotten in the way of my best efforts to blog, but my return to the comfortable and embracing folds of has been progressing along. I gave birth to a daughter this past January. Katherine speaks to me in ways I never imagined. Though I adore my son (and hope he one day partners with a feminist just like me), having a daughter has made all of the issues about which I once was so passionate all the more real.

I made my first formal move back into the circle of feminism this week, which is probably why I'm now approaching the blog with renewed vigor. I took Kate with me to a meeting of the National Organization for Women. Though I once despised the organization for its pandering to moderate feminists, I now accept that I can exist outside the NOW framework in my personal life and still participate in its ideas because they work in the Political (yes, the capital P is on purpose) arena.

I volunteered to help with the publicity campaign for a benefit concert our Now chapter is having in June. The concert itself is something that my son, Jayden, will enjoy as well, so it will be a nice family experience for us.

Feminism is something that has been part of my life since high school. I would become incensed reading about the injustices visited upon women, and my own life reinforced those ideas. When I started reading about feminists, I made fairly predictable choices - Gloria Steinem, Margaret Sanger, even Susan B. Anthony. These women and their lives were real to me in a way that even my own life was not. Their stories made sense. There was passion and desire.

I majored in Women's Studies in college (along with history and sociology), and I became the angry, raging feminist. I organized. I lobbied. I protested. I stopped eating meat (for a time), wearing makeup, and shaving my legs.

Then that world became less appealing because for all of the goodness I had wanted for humanity, I could not see any progress. For all of the work I had done, I had no marketable skills. So I retreated, saying that I now understood the failures of feminism. I was still a feminist, just not such a loud one.

Now, I am coming back to that place, but it is slower this time - and more learned. I am discovering old passions but trying to renew my spirits, too. When I get down, I can look at the poster beside my desk. "for lots and lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement."

Welcome!

Feminism is not dead! It's alive and well, and I want to share it with you.