Feminist or Faithful? Big Eyes and a Woman’s True Awakening

Last updated on: December 30, 2014 at 3:03 pm By Caryn Riswold

Some people have written about how Tim Burton’s film, Big Eyes, portrays the feminist journey of Margaret Keane, played by Amy Adams. Yet no one is talking much about the role of religion in her tale of eventual empowerment. I certainly think there are feminist critiques of patriarchy embedded in the film. From the voiceover narration of Margaret fleeing her first marriage with nothing more than her paintings and her daughter in the late 1950s (before it became “fashionable” for women... Read more

A Merry Feminist Christmas, part three

Last updated on: December 19, 2014 at 11:01 am By Caryn Riswold

I first shared this post in December 2012 … here it is again for your Christmas enjoyment: My friend Jann Aldredge-Clanton is the author of Inclusive Hymns for Liberating Christians, and I am taking these days surrounding Christmas to share some of her beautiful work, which features the beautiful images of others. Today, “Welcome Our Sister-Brother Creator” (to the tune of “Greensleeves”/”What Child Is This?”) which she describes as follows: Recording artist Shannon Kincaid sings “Welcome Our Sister-Brother Creator,” with pictures... Read more

A Merry Feminist Christmas, part two

Last updated on: December 19, 2014 at 11:00 am By Caryn Riswold

I first shared this post in December 2012 … here it is again for your holiday enjoyment: My friend Jann Aldredge-Clanton is the author of Inclusive Hymns for Liberating Christians, and I am taking these days surrounding Christmas to share some of her beautiful work, which features the beautiful images of others. Today, “Sound Forth the News That Wisdom Comes” (to the tune of “Joy to the World”) which she describes as follows: Recording artist Shannon Kincaid sings “Sound Forth the... Read more

A Merry Feminist Christmas, part one

Last updated on: December 19, 2014 at 10:59 am By Caryn Riswold

I first shared this post in December 2012 … here it is again for your Advent pleasure: My friend Jann Aldredge-Clanton is the author of Inclusive Hymns for Liberating Christians, and I am taking these days surrounding Christmas to share some of her beautiful work, which features the beautiful images of others. Up first, today, “O Holy Darkness, Loving Womb” (to the tune of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”) which she describes as follows: Recording artist Shannon Kincaid sings “O Holy... Read more

Just Because You Missed the Wave …

Last updated on: December 10, 2014 at 3:10 pm By Caryn Riswold

In a recent piece on CNN.com, Nina Burleigh reveals that she’s pretty ignorant about the history of feminism: “Historians could look back on this year as the beginning of feminism’s third wave.” This year – you mean 1995, or something leading up to it, right? No. She means 2014. THIS year. There are several problems with this claim. First, for an accomplished writer, she hasn’t read much about feminism. Rebecca Walker first named a “third wave” of feminism in her... Read more

Casting Off White Invisibility

Last updated on: December 4, 2014 at 10:28 am By Caryn Riswold

In a piece for Salon last week, Brittney Cooper wrote about her ongoing struggle with rage and frustration in the wake of the Ferguson nonindictment: “I woke up in black skin this morning. Frustrated, because for the first time in a long time, I felt the weight, the scourge of this skin. Had visions of being able to unzip myself, climb out of myself, and lay aside this weight, but the woman who climbed out was darker still. Since black... Read more

“To Welcome The Stranger”

Last updated on: November 21, 2014 at 10:32 am By Caryn Riswold

The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America released the following statement about President Barack Obama’s executive action related to immigration and deportation this week: As people of faith and leaders of the church, we support public policy that protects children, reunites families, and cares for the most vulnerable, regardless of their place of birth. The treatment of immigrants is a core religious value. To welcome the stranger is to welcome a child of God. In the New Testament, Jesus tells... Read more

Band Aid 30: Colonial Christmas Is Back!

Last updated on: November 18, 2014 at 10:18 am By Caryn Riswold

That’s right. Your 24/7 Christmas music playlists and stations are likely to have the Band Aid 30 updated version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in full rotation this season, topping sales charts with the charitable intent of raising money to help fight the Ebola pandemic in West Africa. Cathleen Falsani has written over at her Patheos blog about how the original song and Live Aid concert in 1984 inspired her with tiny glimmers of awareness about global poverty and... Read more

Feminist Scholarship & Pedagogies at #NWSA2014

Last updated on: November 11, 2014 at 1:09 pm By Caryn Riswold

I’ve escaped the cold blast hitting the Midwest this week by heading to the National Women’s Studies Association annual conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Today, I am spending time in a workshop for Program Administrators and Developers, as a former chair and founding member of the Gender & Women’s Studies Program at Illinois College. I’m looking forward to spending time with other colleagues who share the challenges and opportunities of leading and shaping interdisciplinary programs that call for innovative... Read more

“When Two People Love Each Other, What Right Do I Have…?”

Last updated on: November 11, 2014 at 10:01 am By Caryn Riswold

Marriage equality has come to Idaho. Idaho! Of course the big news is the fact that gay and lesbian Americans now have the right to marry in 32 states, a majority for the first time in U.S. history. But I have a small story to share about one place, one courthouse. My husband grew up in American Falls, Idaho, which is in Power County in the southeastern part of the state. The population of the town is about 4,000, and... Read more