Marina DelVecchio discusses the empowered nature of Maya Angelou’s girlhood in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. According to Marina, “Maya Angelou’s teen years are infused with a burgeoning sense of identity and power that make most girlhoods seem mediocre and ordinary.”
inContext looks at Louise DeSalvo’s On Moving, an account of the author’s moves and those of other writers throughout history.
Marina DelVecchio discusses the relevance of Shari L. Thurer’s “The Myths of Motherhood,” which brings to light the ways in which motherhood has changed with time. Marina writes, “Thurer reveals that motherhood is a ‘cultural conspiracy of silence’ (xiv)…motherhood and its tenets, its perfect-laden foundation is nothing more than contrived and man-made.” Get in on the conversation on motherhood.
In her essay, “Owning Up to Abortion,” Barbara Ehrenreich warns “the freedoms that we exercise but do not defend, or even acknowledge, are easily taken away.”
Marina DelVecchio discusses the political and social relevance of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” In her review, she points out that women “need to reclaim [their] power — [their] bodies — in the same way, because with each growing day, the numbers of rapes, genital mutilations, domestic violence, murders, honor killings, sex slavery, and rage towards women continue to increase.”
Kate looks at plastic and its place in our lives after reading Susan Freinkel’s Plastic: A Toxic Love Story.
Marina DelVecchio defends a condescending review of Téa Obreht’s “The Tiger’s Wife,” saying that “This is a beautiful novel—full of exemplary writing and story-telling and sex has nothing to do with it. It’s an intimate portrayal of family, loss, and love that transcends time and cultures.”
Kate was enchanted by “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern. From the book, she shares her thoughts about the significance of story in our lives. She says, “we need to be acutely aware of the stories we allow to become a part of ourselves. We need to be cognizant of the stories we put out into the world, and of those we tell about ourselves.”
Marina DelVecchio discusses “Bitten by Twilight,” wherein female scholars analyze the success and influence Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series has had on girls, women, and our culture. Marina writes, “This is a most unique book that brings scholarship and mainstream fiction to the same table in an attempt to analyze the overwhelming influence that this vampire series has had on girls and women of varying ages.”
Kate is a Massachusetts writer and artist. She holds a bachelor's degree in art and communications, as well as a Master's degree in adult learning and development, from Lesley University. Kate enjoys reading, writing and exchanging artist trading cards. She is in the research stage of a book about women's identity and development within relationships.
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In this podcast, cultural anthropologist Gina Athena Ulysse read from her poetry and discusses the narratives of her homeland Haiti, and how she strives to develop new stories in spoken word and performance poetry.
Marina DelVecchio brings up an older text, published in 1971, that introduces readers to ten obscure and famous women circa the 1800′s. Eve Merriam’s Growing Up Female in America: Ten Lives depicts the authentic first-person voices of women who "found the will to trudge forward into colleges and acquire degrees that went beyond ‘MPM — Mistress of Pudding Making — and RW — Respectable Wife’" (13).
Maya Angelou’s Empowered …: Marina DelVecchio discusses the empowered nature of Maya Angelou's girlhood... 
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The Help: Perpetuating th…: Mayra David writes about The Help and the history of the Mammy stereotype i... 
Squash Pie: a short story…: Part 1 of "Squash Pie," the story that is the culmination of Melissa Corlis... 
Recent Comments
Naomi Benaron on A New Writing Life
Thank you for your comment, Tisha. I hope the novel speaks to you.L.George Alexander on Louise DeSalvo’s On Moving
Thank you for your response, Kate Robinson. I guess it is true that we often find what we are...Lauren Nicole Nixon on On Works-in-Process
I'm glad that you enjoyed the piece, Shana!