That Takes Ovaries!
Page 23
For offering comments, or help with networking and writing, I thank Cathy Armer, Joani Blank, Soul Brown, Kari Bodnarchuk, Teresa Dovidio, Ophira Edut, Holly Jackson, Patricia A. Johnson, Shoshanna Kaplinsky, Julayka Latigua, Lynn Lu, Kathy Morris, Regina Preciado (Benevolent Dictator of the Writergrrls), Amy Richards, Liz Skipper, Naomi Sweitzer, Kara Trott, Theresa Urist, Janie Ward, and all the Writergrrls. Thanks to Siobhán Ohmart
The National Writers Union is vital—necessary if we want to organize for our rights as writers. Join today
My Repetitive Strain Injury team is made up of these mensches and miracle workers who keep me able to work: the Coalition for New Office Technology, Rick Bird, Jenn Dean, Peggy Dellea, Priscilla Mann, Diane Sheehan.
A decade and a half of thanks to Doc Hubbuch.
My deep appreciation to everyone dedicated to finding the cause and cure for Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), for all the research, advocacy, and info dissemination you have done, and all the patient care and support you have given. Living with unrelenting exhaustion, brain-fogas-thick-as-pea-soup, and the societal stigmatization of this invisible and poorly named but very real and debilitating physical illness, is… well, hard. Anyone who lives in spite of CFIDS’s life-altering restrictions has BIG ovaries. For info: CFIDS Association of America, P.O. Box 220398, Charlotte, NC 28222-0398, USA; (800) 442-3437; (704) 365-2343; www.cfids.org
Thanks to Eileen Cope, Barbara Lowenstein, and the crew at Lowenstein Associates for agenting my book beyond the call of duty. Thanks to Rachel Kahan, my editor at Random House, who immediately understood the book’s message and goal, and whose support was/is sooooo helpful.
My heartfelt appreciation to the hundreds of women and girls who submitted their stories for this book, including those who did and did not make the final cut.* You are amazing! You have plowed through oppression, sailed gracefully around obstacles, jumped over barriers, and walked through fear. Whether you impulsively did something sorta silly, or wisely implemented a well-thought-out altruistic deed, in the end you playfully danced on top of dead, outdated stereotypes, and therefore blazed new trails for the rest of us to follow. Go get’em, grrrrrrrrrls!
*Adrienne, Krissy, and Rachel: After you submitted your stories and I chose to include them in the book, I searched high and low for you but you had disappeared. Please contact me and we’ll give you proper credit in any subsequent editions.—Rivka
about the author
RIVKA SOLOMON writes and rabble-rouses on the East Coast. Her work has appeared in national magazines, newspapers, and anthologies and has aired on radio broadcasts—including all the right places, such as Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture; Bust: The New Girl Order; Lilith Magazine; MoXi: For the Woman Who Dares; Sojourner: The Women’s Forum; and WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio news station. Since damn near babyhood, she has been a women’s rights advocate and activist.
Copyright © 2002 by Rivka Solomon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York.
Member of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
www.randomhouse.com
THREE RIVERS PRESS is a registered trademark and the Three Rivers Press colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
That takes ovaries!: bold females and their brazen acts/edited by Rivka Solomon.—1st ed.
1. Women—Biography. 2. Women—Conduct of life. 3. Courage.
4. Risk-taking (Psychology) I. Solomon, Rivka.
HQ1123.A3 T53 2002
305.4′092′2—dc21 2001053507
eISBN: 978-0-307-56621-8
v3.0