the f word

As Vita mentioned, it's Women's History Month in the States* as well as International Women's Week this week and as International Women's Day on Tuesday, March 8th. That's a whole lot of celebrating.

On Sunday, I woke up too early and trekked all the way to Vancouver for a brunch at the YWCA with some empowering women which was actually just some fruit and a bunch of people talking about the work they do for the greater good. The young people in the room were put on the spot afterwards for the discussion and someone even gave me their card before I left. Fancy that!

For the rest of the afternoon, I hung out in the Vancouver Public Library's Central Branch (a huge and wondrous place). This, of course, is after my mom and I have dragged my friend all over the city in search of this one amazing sushi restaurant that we were sure was on just the next street. And then the street after that.** In case you're wondering why I sat in a library for three hours, A) that place is freaking awesome and B) it made logical sense to hang out in Vancouver rather than go home and come back for my writing class that night.

In my small hamlet we have not one, but two library systems. It's kind of ridiculous but pretty useful. It's nice that you can always play them off each other and it definitely widens the available material. The libraries themselves aren't extremely large but the database is quite full. What I prefer about central branches and especially those of big cities is that they have teen non-fiction. And I am a fan of teen non-fiction.***

I brought Catching Fire which I was rereading at the time, thinking I would just find a chair and read that, but then... I saw the teen non-fiction section. And I was lost to the world.

In short, I found a book called Full Frontal Feminism and figured I might as well read a bit, to participate in the movement in some way and three hours later, I was halfway through it and reluctantly put it back on the shelf. (I don't have an inter-library card. Alas.)

I learned a lot in those three hours and the book was pretty amusing, too. The voice was very honest and the argument compelling. Maybe the word feminism has a bad connotation in our society but that book made me want to embrace it (not the bad connotation but the word and the movement).

Anyway, if you're looking for some way to observe the 100th International Women's Day, I recommend Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti. It's lays it out, clear and simple, and if you're not a feminist by the third chapter, well, I don't know what to say.

*I think we celebrate Women's History Month in October in Canada. Or that's what the government is saying.
**We eventually found the place but it was the journey that made it worthwhile.
***Not that there's anything wrong with adult non-fiction but sometimes it's nice to read something that's written for you as an audience.