Write To Change the World – New York Super Seminar, March 25, 2012

Today, March 25, The OpEd Project hosted an amazing public seminar in NYC.

This super session brought together a great group of new participants, OEP Alum Ambassadors and mentor-editors. The session was led by Katie Orenstein, OEP founder and director. The day was filled with lots of challenging excercises, thought provoking discussions, and inspiring stories.

A special shoutout to Laura Wexler, Katherine Lanpher and Deborah Siegel for being present for this amazing conversation. A warm and hearty thank you to Victor and Kitty for filming all the awesome moments throughout the day!

Here are some highlights from day:

The NYC Public Seminar included close to 30 participants!

Victor, our AWESOME cinematographer, asking participants about their areas of expertise.

Our Cool OEP Ladies (left to right): Deborah Siegel, Katherine Lanpher, and Alissa Quart

A group shot of all our amazing participants!

Martha Southgate, an OEP Alum, raises a glass!

Congrats to our new class of OEP Alums! We look forward to reading you!

PFV Leaders Walk the Talk

As anyone who’s been to an OpEd Project seminar, browsed the website, read a mentor-editor interview, seen an article about us, or had their ear talked off by a born-again opinionist knows, The OpEd Project reiterates a few points over and over again. Expertise isn’t only conferred by a degree. Your voice can change the conversation. Regardless of whether you receive positive or negative feedback, or are wrong or right in your opinion, your voice will enrich public debate.

Sometimes it’s difficult to maintain the belief that these things are true in our own particular cases. Facing a blank screen with no voice but our own to fill it, all these affirmations can fly from our heads and leave us feeling doubtful of what we knew to be true when it came from the mouth of a mentor-editor or seminar leader. It can be hard to recapture the feeling that we may have had while listening to the transformative OpEd Project message.

Which is why we should make sure to keep our eyes peeled for OEP teachers and mentor-editors on the pages of the nation’s opinion forums. Examples inspire! The lesson of public engagement continues every time that an alum, teacher, or mentor-editor publishes an op-ed. Just this past week three fantastic models of brave engagement in public discourse appeared on the pages of the nation’s leading publications in the form of articles written by Public Voices Fellow Leaders Annie Murphy Paul (Yale), Courtney Martin (Princeton) and Michele Weldon (Stanford).

Annie Murphy Paul at TEDGlobal 2011, July 7-15, 2011, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Annie‘s piece “The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction,” ran in the Sunday Review of the New York Times. In it, Annie presents a slew of new neuroscience research that suggests that stories stimulate the brain and even change how we behave in life. Words that evoke memories of smell, movement, and texture enliven our experience of reading, the research says. “There is evidence” Annie writes, “that just as the brain responds to depictions of smells and textures and movements as if they were the real thing, so it treats the interactions among fictional characters as something like real-life social encounters.” In this way, she says, the findings affirm the experiences of readers who find novels illuminating or instructive. Reading literature may be a more concrete step towards self-betterment than we previously imagined. So interesting and so clearly and compellingly written! A true demonstration of how esoteric information can be presented in a way that makes it not only understandable, but enjoyable to lay people. Thank you Annie!

Courtney E. Martin speaks during Session 2: Life's Symphony, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010, at TEDWomen, Washington, DC.

Courtney‘s article “From Young Adult Book Fans to Wizards of Change,” appeared on the popular New York Times blog “Opinionator,” and spotlights groups like Hunger Is Not a Game and The Harry Potter Alliance, who have begun to mobilize the devoted fan bases of Young Adult (YA) fiction for political activism. YA fiction, says Courtney, is the world’s fastest growing literary genre, and the fan base can be positively rabid in their support of their favorite heroes and heroines. Courtney points out a few key strategies that make fan activist campaigns most successful: “Invest deeply in the literary themes, prize weirdness, honor the power of cohesive online communities and link to larger organizations that can implement the big ideas of plot-fueled real world advocacy.” Such a fascinating topic of such enormous importance as we look to the future of activism. Thank you Courtney!

Michele Weldon with her three sons circa 1996.

Michele‘s op-ed  “On Mothers Who Bury Their Sons,” was featured on Chicago Tribune Opinion. Michele uses the example of Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin who said “Trayvon is my son. Trayvon is your son,” to draw attention to the community that grieving creates among all mothers of sons.  Pulling together experiences on all scales– personal, national,  historical,  biblical — Michele speaks of the pain that all mothers face when one mother has the the profound sadness of burying her boy. “Because when a mother you know buries her son, young and promising, you mourn fully,” she wrote, “And when it happens to mothers you do not know, you mourn fully still.” In the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death, Michele’s poignant piece speaks to the common ground that mothers everywhere occupy in regard to their children’s lives and safety.

Thank you Annie, Courtney and Michele for you powerful voices! They remind of us what we know to be true: that speaking out matters.

Catching you all up on California Successes

Chelsea Carmona here, Regional Manager in LA and SF, and I have an incredible list of women who have been contributing to the west coast public debate lately! Whenever I get the opportunity to talk with some of our lovely alumni, I am always so inspired to learn of all the amazing work they are doing! Here are some highlights I have heard about in the past few days:

1. Tabby Biddle (pictured right) “The Women’s Movement: What’s Next?”

2. Ruth Schulenberg: “Heath Care Act Provides Crucial Consumer Protections”

3. Penny Mudd ”Mike Daisey’s fictional attack on Apple and Foxconn reveals fact of Silicon Valley greed”

4. Kimberly Dark, “Surrending to Popular Views: A Time for Reflection”

5. Lisa Davidowitz, “Lisa Davidowitz in Support of Torie Osborn for the 50th AD”

Keep up all the great work ladies!

Mentor-Editor Alissa Quart Weighs in on Mentoring from NYC

OpEd Project Mentor-Editor Alissa Quart — an award-winning author, journalist, columnist, Columbia Journalism School professor and senior editor at the cutting-edge long-form journalism outlet The Atavist — weighs in on why she mentors.

Alissa most recently mentored our own OpEd Project Junior Fellow Ravenna Koenig, whose op-ed on Obama and sexual politics on campus was published by The Women’s Media Center. From all of us to you, Alissa: thank you for being awesome!

The Power of Words: Interview with OEP Junior Fellow Ravenna Koenig

Just yesterday, OEP Junior Fellow Ravenna Koenig published an op-ed in response to the comments that sprang up in her University’s community on the heels of Obama’s announcement that he would be speaking at the Barnard 2012 Commencement. Her powerful piece caught the attention of President Spar, the President of Barnard College, who has given Ravenna the opportunity to meet with her and air her concerns. We are so proud of Ravenna and commend her amazing achievement.

Today, I, Anaam (Social Media Fellow) had the oppurtunity to check in with Ravenna and ask her a few questions about her recent success:

- Can you give us some background on what inspired you to write this piece? Why was it important for you address this issue?

Working with The OpEd Project, I’ve often heard it said that powerful op-eds don’t have to be the culmination of a lifetime of research, they can just as legitimately emerge from a lifetime of experience, and are usually more powerful when they do.

I brought 21 years of experience to the op-ed that I wrote about the misogyny that emerged on Columbia University’s online forums in the wake of Barnard College’s announcement that President Obama would give the commencement address to the Barnard class of 2012.

As I read the misogynistic comments that cropped up online in reference to this announcement, and as I began to talk to other women on campus in the successive week,  my personal experiences of sexism and misogyny began to achieve the weight of a collective experience.  

I began to realize that I wasn’t the only one in my age group who had spent years feeling hurt and offended by the sexism that is rampant but often written-off as “harmless,” “just immature,” or evidence of “joking,” in our youth culture. All of a sudden I was angry that I had been made for years to feel like an aberration because I let sexist comments rile me up instead of “just ignoring them,” as I’ve so often been encouraged to do. And I wanted the other young women who are affected by this issue and issues like it to feel like they’re not being dramatic or overreacting when they get offended. Misogyny is not okay. We need to be more vocal about that. So I wrote an op-ed.
- What kind of response have you generated? good or bad?

Most of the responses have been good. Almost all of the comments posted on the article itself have been really, really supportive and encouraging. The most special ones have been from people who were in the vanguard of the feminist movement and have expressed how important they think it is that women my age don’t lapse into complacency on these issues.

But I also think that where the article was published– Women’s Media Center– has something to do with the positive homogeneity of the response. It seems to me that WMC isn’t where people who have sexist leanings go to get their news, so a part of me feels that the response I’m seeing is indicative of the fact that I’m preaching to the choir. 
- What do you hope to accomplish with your op-ed? (Do you hope more students will get involved, call to action, etc)

The first thing I wanted to do with the op-ed was just vocalize an unequivocal condemnation of the comments and the mindset they are symptomatic of. I wanted women and men at Columbia and Barnard to feel that their outrage over speech like this has a corporeal presence in public discourse. I hope they do, but if they don’t, I hope that my op-ed might inspire others who have views on this topic to voice them, whatever they are.

I also hope that this article makes people who read it shift their idea of what our responsibility is to voicing our moral objections. All too often we’re encouraged to embrace the excuse that “boys will be boys.” I think that’s wrong. I think we’ve settled down in a limbo that we’re calling a state of gender-equality, and it’s false. But moreover, I want young women and men to approach their lives with a sense of stewardship over the principle of respect– to speak up when they hear an off-color remark, engage in disagreements with compassion and civility, be fearless in trying to broaden someone else’s view, and be receptive to having their own minds broadened from time to time. 

There are many organizations out there that work to address the many disparities between men and women in the status quo, and I think it’s important that people get involved in these. But I think it’s just as important to devote time to thinking about how we as individuals can be more intentional in our personal efforts to exhibit and foster respect. 

Be sure to check out Ravenna’s amazing op-ed here.

Ravenna Koenig (right) with Courtney Martin (OpEd project advisor, mentor-editor, and leader of The OpEd Project Fellowship Program at Princeton University)

Getting Psyched about Voice, Power, and Access

Yesterday, over 90 psychologists and directors of state associations gathered for an informative panel discussion on “Psychology at the Editorial Table: Advocating through Op-Eds and Letters-to-the-Editor” at the American Psychological Association’s State Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. I was joined on the panel with moderator Tracy Russell, Executive Director of the New York State Psychological Association; Margot Friedman (an OEP alum!), Principal of Dupont Circle Communications; and Christian Trejbal , Editorial Writer of The Roanoke Times.

Christian, Alyssa, & Margot

Members of the audience were interested in how they could increase their visibility as thought leaders in their communities, how to use opinion pieces to advocate and inform the public and policymakers about psychology-related issues relevant to their daily lives, and how to build relationships with editorial staff. I learned some great tips as well, including that members of a group may call to set up a meeting with the editorial board and that it’s best to prepare what Margot refers to as an editorial board memo. Christian advised not scheduling one of these meetings before an election.

A couple of participants chimed in with their successes getting their opinion pieces published in major outlets and we encouraged the group to stay connected and share these results with one another. In closing, I referenced the op-ed by OEP founder and director, Katie Orenstein, and Seminar Leader, Courtney E. Martin, that recently ran on CNN.com – once the participants begin to see others in their field broadcasting their voices, peer influence will help make it possible to see themselves as thought leaders too.

–Alyssa Best, East Coast Program Manager

Public Voices Fellows Broaden Their Relevancy

Amalia Kessler of the Public Voices Fellowship Program at Stanford University made it into the New York Times last week!

Her article “Stuck in Arbitration”  explains how in our modern world, teeming as it is with terms and conditions, we often fail to read the fine print when making purchases or applying for jobs, and thus increasingly find ourselves without the right to file a lawsuit if anything goes wrong.

Instead, says Kessler, we often have only the option of submitting to arbitration, a costly, lengthy process that operates outside the law and is often systematically biased by the arbitrators in favor of the companies that hire them.

Under this system, argues Kessler, consumers and workers “are left without recourse and must bear the cost of unfair, deceptive and harmful practices.”

She advocates the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 as a step in the right direction. Fantastic piece! And so exciting that it was picked up by the New York Times!

Also in the op-ed pages recently was Leslie Gerwin, one of the Public Voices Fellows at Princeton University, whose opinion piece “Flu Season and Fiction: What Downton Abbey and Contagion Tell Us About Facing Reality” ran on the Huffington Post.

Drawing together the threads of popular entertainment and public health, Gerwin presents an argument for how the popularity of a rosier portrayal of influenza (presented by Downton Abbey) and the unpopularity of a plausible worst-case scenario (such as the portrayed in Contagion) tells us something about our denial to face the threat of a deadly pandemic in real life. Tremendously important topic framed in a compelling and surprising way. Thank you Leslie!

But it’s also good to be reminded of the fact that being relevant doesn’t necessarily mean being relegated to the 800 word format of an op-ed piece.

Christina Greer, professor of political science and Public Voices Fellow at Fordham University, demonstrated this beautifully by appearing on NY1 last week to weigh in on Super Tuesday predictions.

Introduced as one of the “top observers of the inner workings of democracy,” Greer commented on how Super PACs have changed the primaries into a much longer affair than is actually good for the Republican Party.

NY1 claims a viewership of about 4.5 million. Congrats Christina for broadening your relevancy into the seven digits!

Thanks to all who have published in recent weeks. And to those who haven’t, or have been slogging through the drafting process: keep thinking, keep writing, keep pitching! We need to hear the important things you have to say.

Dartmouth Faculty and Scholars convened with The OpEd Project on March 9, 2012

UCSD Women’s Conference

This morning I had the honor of watching our very own Barbara Field speak as the keynote at the UCSD Women’s Conference. More than 600 women roared in laughter as she charmed them with her intelligence, quick wit, and contagious sense of humor.

Barbara Field

I have never seen such an inspired, dynamic crowd at that hour in the morning.

The OpEd Project was not simply a flier in the gift bag, but a central theme throughout Barbara’s talk. I just wanted to say Congratulations Barbara Field, keynote speaker at the UCSD Women’s Conference!

Written By: Chelsea Carmona, Regional Manager- LA

30th Anniversary of the National Council for Research on Women

Last night, OEP Rockstars (Debbie Siegel, Jolie Solomon, and Katie Orenstein) attended a dinner in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the National Council for Research on Women where they had an opportunity to snap a photo with honoree, Anita Hill. The honoree, Ms. Hill, was recognized for challenging the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas two decades ago for sexual-harassment.

From left to right: Jolie Solomon, Deborah Siegel, Anita Hill, and Katie Orenstein.

What an inspiring moment and great honor!