Doing Feminism

Hello devout readers! I apologise for taking so long to post about the Women, Action, and the Media conference, but I have been struggling to get papers done. In fact, I have one due today, but really need to take a break and so, here I am.

In short, the conference was fantastic. It was also the first year it had reached full capacity: That’s 600 feminists mainly from America, but there were some from Canada (including myself, of course), and I do believe there may have been a couple from Europe. I’m sure there were a couple really dedicated people who flew in from elsewhere, too. Needless to say, the mere fact that there were over 600 feminists there made my weekend. Coming from conservative Alberta (”Canada’s Texas”), it was a pleasure to be at such an amazing conference. But enough of this introduction. I’m sure you want to know: What did I actually do…

Well, the conference began for me early Friday morning, as I showed up at the Center for New Words to help move everything for the conference over to the Stata Center. There, I met the amazing women behind the Center for New Words, along with blogger Roy of No Cookies for Me, who I was very much looking forward to meeting. I learned about WAM through his blog and am so grateful for it!

We moved everything to the Stata Center and gradually other WAMmers began showing up. The day moved rather fast and I met lots of great people. Eventually, the evening came and I went to the benefit, where I met even more great people. It was really pretty overwhelming, me being a university student from Alberta, surrounded by these people who were doing amazing things for feminism.

Eventually I left the benefit and went to the first keynote speech by Helen Thomas. Needless to say, I think, it was a pretty great experience. Perhaps due to my own ignorance, or maybe due to the fact that I live in Canada, I wasn’t aware of who Helen Thomas was until Roy informed me earlier that evening, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you want to check out some LiveBlog coverage of her lecture (and some other sessions), you can check out the WAM site. I haven’t had a chance yet, but I’m definitely looking forward to checking out some of the sessions I didn’t have a chance to attend.

Anyway, the night eventually ended after some socialising with other WAMmers, and Saturday began. The sessions I attended included: “Do It Yourself New Media: Creating and Maintaining a Viable Internet Presence,” “Beating the Old Boys’ Club,” and “Battling Backlash: Strategies for Fighting Back, Rising Above and Making Progress.” DIY New Media was fairly informative, but I felt I knew much of what they had to tell. No fault of theirs, of course, as the session was well done; I simply should have known better. Beating the OBC was one of my favourites. I ended up asking a question after the panel discussion, to which Hugo Schwyzer (who I had the great pleasure of meeting) has a great response over at his blog. Battling Backlash was a good session as well, but I was becoming very tired by this point in the day. I found the conference pretty exhausting because there was simply so much to take in!

Later that night was the WAM party, where I managed to do a fair bit of networking. Possibly my favourite moment was when I met the women – and fellow Canadians! – behind the Miss G___ Project. The night went on for some time and carried on from the Stata Center to a few other venues (for myself and a few others, anyway). Overall, it was a great night fueled by dancing, great conversation, and plenty of fun. It sure beats me as to how people can think feminists aren’t fun!

Sunday morning came far too soon. Trying to be as alert as possible, I stumbled into “Growing Independent Media in a Time of Shrinking Resources” and “Making Internet TV.” As I’m not involved in my own media, I didn’t get as much out of the former session as I could have, but it was great nonetheless. There were a lot of women from some magazines across the Western world, including Shameless, In Our Times, and Bitch (the fantastic Andi Zeisler was on the panel). Making Internet TV was my favourite. It was incredibly well-organised and I took away tons of information. I think over summer I may start vlogging, so keep an eye out for that!

Soon after that, the conference wrapped up. I said goodbye to many of the new friends I had made, and managed to meet some people at the last minute, including Mikhaela Reid (I bought three copies of her book, money well-spent!). Eventually everyone left and I was left to my own devices in Boston again.

I feel like no form of expression can really capture the greatness of WAM. It was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I have to do some more pondering, but it may have even been the best experience I’ve ever had. I’m already planning on going next year and deciding how to utilise the knowledge I’ve gained. Furthermore, I was able to network with some amazing people, and feel that, if I ever need help with something, or simply some advice, I know where to find it. To those who couldn’t make it, I strongly encourage you to plan to go in 2009, because you’re really missing out on a unique experience. I’m sorry I couldn’t have been more thorough due to my own time constraints, but I’d be glad to answer questions any of you might have. It would be great to see some of you next year!