A sister University of Michigan, Ann Arbor graduate, Karen Kelsky and I spent time in Japan together back in the 80s, and lo and behold, some time later, both came out as femmes! My memory is one Christmas letter from her contained the phrase, “Aren’t butches great??!!”
Karen was an academic for over 15 years, and you should check out her monograph, Women on the Verge: Japanese Women, Western Dreams. She also spent time making and selling jewelry from Japanese paper and fabric through her business, Paper Demon Jewelry. Currently, however, she is tearing it up over at The Professor Is In, tagging the Ivory Tower with her mad femme wisdom about how to actually get a job once you’ve spent all that time and money getting your degree(s). Her book, The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your PhD Into a Job is a hella of a read and she’s not kidding with the “essential”. If you’re a brainy femme spending time pursuing advanced education, (or a brainy anybody at all), you need to read this, and perhaps hire her services over at her website, http://theprofessorisin.com/.
Deep gratitude to Karen Kelsky!
I have a lot on my mind right now regarding the impact of Trump on academic life. Kellee and I ran a free Academic Life Under Trump webinar a couple days ago, and it was good to open space for a conversation about the anxieties and uncertainties and fears this unthinkable situation has engendered. I am working up to a blog post on it, but not yet. It’s still too much; I’m not at the state of coherence yet. I am at the state of resistance, however: I’ve done every form of resistance I can find, including protesting at the Oregon state capitol today, and calling representatives almost daily (about each new outrage). I urge all of you to do what you can: we must resist, and never normalize.
–Dec. 19, 2016 Pearls of Wisdom blog post
Every Friday, I will showcase a queer femme goddess. Suggestions welcome!
The Total Femme 