[null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d4065352f53f998b48139/1529692280001/ACS_0091.jpg", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d4065352f53f998b48139/1529692280001/ACS_0091.jpg", "formatted_filename": "ACS", "alt_text": " A few donuts were definitely harmed in the making of this post. This plate of mini-donuts was enjoyed at Pip's in Portland. "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6c3cf950b7babda4a35a/1529703540769/Screen+Shot+2018-06-22+at+4.36.05+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6c3cf950b7babda4a35a/1529703540769/Screen+Shot+2018-06-22+at+4.36.05+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " What a year for Fifty Feminist Mantras! "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6d5d575d1f1055775f1e/1529703786942/Screen+Shot+2018-06-22+at+4.38.47+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6d5d575d1f1055775f1e/1529703786942/Screen+Shot+2018-06-22+at+4.38.47+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " Quimby's! "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6d7b03ce64d472f471e6/1529703969754/Screen+Shot+2018-06-22+at+4.38.33+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6d7b03ce64d472f471e6/1529703969754/Screen+Shot+2018-06-22+at+4.38.33+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " Chicago Woman Magazine! "}, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6f0e1ae6cfa2bfdf005e/1529704262511/IMG_6639.jpg", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6f0e1ae6cfa2bfdf005e/1529704262511/IMG_6639.jpg", "formatted_filename": "IMG", "alt_text": " Lady Parts Zine at Chicago Zine Fest 2018. "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d7016562fa7bc72081949/1529704528413/Screen+Shot+2018-06-22+at+4.54.10+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d7016562fa7bc72081949/1529704528413/Screen+Shot+2018-06-22+at+4.54.10+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " The Heidelberg Project in Detroit. "}, null, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6a3c758d463632aef824/1529703118986/cupcake+final.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5b2d6a3c758d463632aef824/1529703118986/cupcake+final.png", "formatted_filename": "cupcake final", "alt_text": "cupcake final.png"}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a774d1b085229a6166e8014/1517767977490/Screen+Shot+2018-02-04+at+12.11.04+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a774d1b085229a6166e8014/1517767977490/Screen+Shot+2018-02-04+at+12.11.04+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " from bell hooks'&nbsp; Feminism is for Everybody "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a775750c830259c53d5cefb/1517770582153/Screen+Shot+2018-02-04+at+12.55.50+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a775750c830259c53d5cefb/1517770582153/Screen+Shot+2018-02-04+at+12.55.50+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " from Trying to Make the Personal Political: Feminism and Consciousness-Raising published by Half Letter Press. Available here . "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a774e8c0d929789ff13182b/1517768367734/Screen+Shot+2018-02-04+at+12.13.28+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a774e8c0d929789ff13182b/1517768367734/Screen+Shot+2018-02-04+at+12.13.28+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " from Trying to Make the Personal Political: Feminism and Consciousness-Raising published by Half Letter Press. Available here . "}, null, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a49954c24a694278efccc62/1514771799725/Screen+Shot+2017-12-31+at+7.55.56+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a49954c24a694278efccc62/1514771799725/Screen+Shot+2017-12-31+at+7.55.56+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " That's Ravyn Lenae in the CHIRP studios after our interview. "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a499710f9619ae3bb6d023c/1514772248623/IMG_1617.JPG", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a499710f9619ae3bb6d023c/1514772248623/IMG_1617.JPG", "formatted_filename": "IMG", "alt_text": " Here's me bein' a goof at the last Forth salon. "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a4999e49140b7ea140dc770/1514772985674/IMG_7655.JPG", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a4999e49140b7ea140dc770/1514772985674/IMG_7655.JPG", "formatted_filename": "IMG", "alt_text": " Here's Wilco doing her very best academic work. "}, null, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a499edb71c10bd7b340316c/1514774246668/Screen+Shot+2017-12-31+at+8.25.44+PM.png", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a499edb71c10bd7b340316c/1514774246668/Screen+Shot+2017-12-31+at+8.25.44+PM.png", "formatted_filename": "Screen Shot   at", "alt_text": " Look at all those Lady Parts! "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a499fc60852291b7688665b/1514774480838/17212184_1472002662812997_8825303663780689998_o.jpg", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a499fc60852291b7688665b/1514774480838/17212184_1472002662812997_8825303663780689998_o.jpg", "alt_text": " Look at all these brilliant women who showed up to strike with us! "}, null, {"document_url": "http://www.ameliahruby.com/blog?category=My%20work", "unformatted_src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a49a14ce2c483236cffe744/1514774934306/IMG_5748.JPG", "src": "https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558c0dd2e4b007dc3bfb8681/t/5a49a14ce2c483236cffe744/1514774934306/IMG_5748.JPG", "formatted_filename": "IMG", "alt_text": " My essay for Forth stemmed from going to the women's march alone and what that meant to me. 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A few donuts were definitely harmed in the making of this post. This plate of mini-donuts was enjoyed at Pip's in Portland.

At the end of last year, I wrote a post gathering together all of my major accomplishments in 2017. In that post I talked about the donut method for celebrating successes. It's fairly simple: every time you do something noteworthy, get to a new milestone, or accomplish a goal, you pause and celebrate with a simple, sweet treat. This helps overachievers like me from blowing past successes in favor of always charging ahead.

Since the first six months of this year are almost finished (!!), I wanted to pause and take a few moments to aggregate my donut-moments so far this year.

So, in no particular order, so far this year I have ... What a year for Fifty Feminist Mantras!

Hosted book launch parties for Fifty Feminist Mantras in Chicago and in New York City. In Chicago I shared space with forty amazing women and learned from my friend Rose Truesdale. In New York, I developed a mantra movement workshop with Aryn Shelander, and we led two dozen women in crafting embodied mantras. At the end of that workshop, each woman created her own movement mantra, and Aryn and I both (without consulting) came up with the mantra birth clarity!

I also found Fifty Feminist Mantras featured in the main window at Quimby's Chicago and on the back page of Chicago Woman Magazine! Chicago Woman Magazine!

Launched and hosted a series of four feminist creative consciousness raising events where 25 women explored themes of abundance, investment, process, flexibility, cycles, and interdependence through creative practice. We used colored pencils to map process, made bracelets to consider cycles, and experimented with watercolors to make collaborative reflections on interdependence. A view from above at the feminist creative consciousness gathering on interdependence.

Produced the third season of the Go Forth podcast which featured conversations about feminist values, collaboration, and radical transparency. I also co-hosted a kick-ass panel on all things $$$ in business that you can listen to here. Compiled the fifth and final issue of Lady Parts Zine and sold a bunch of copies of it at Chicago Zine Fest. It has been a true joy to share the work on more than twenty women in the past three issues of the zine, and I think this final issue was my favorite yet.

I also wrapped my four-year run as a DJ on CHIRP radio after 591 hours on hair. I closed with one final Girl Power Hour, and it was so bittersweet to sign off for the last time. Lady Parts Zine at Chicago Zine Fest 2018.

Traveled to San Francisco and Portland to see dear friends and took a trip to Detroit with a dear friend. Traveled to Syracuse to teach a zine-making workshop to a group of college students. Worked on my dissertation quite a bit and presented some of my dissertation research at a very cool feminist conference at Penn State. The Heidelberg Project in Detroit.

Been featured on local live talk show The Therapy Sessions, hosted an embodiment workshop for What Women Read, and interviewed for the WGN-affiliated Lise.FM podcast.

I also saw some amazing art at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Detroit Institute of Art and went to a few amazing concerts where I saw Porches, Snail Mail, Adult Mom, Lucy Dacus, and Valerie June. Valerie June at the Vic Theater.

And last, but certainly not least, I successfully launched, promoted, and funded a Kickstarter campaign to support Fifty Feminist States and threw a launch party to celebrate the project being funded! The next six months are going to be all about Fifty Feminist States, and I can't wait to share them! Please be sure to follow along there! from bell hooks' Feminism is for Everybody

It seems obvious that US culture has undergone a veritable feminist awakening in the past 18 months, and "feminism" has become a buzzword worthy of being voted Merriam-Webster's bright pink "Word of the Year" in 2017.

I've undergone my own feminist awakening of sorts during this time, and that process has been fruitful and challenging and made me feel both nourished and cynical simultaneously. From that process, I birthed a book of feminist mantras that helped me stay both centered within and critical of the world, and I met so many women searching for the same sort of feminist practice.

As a result, I've realized how hungry I am for feminist community -- not simply communities of women where many of them identify as feminists -- but communities in which women (and trans folks and non-binary babes and allies) come together to discuss their experiences and build feminist perspectives on and for their (our) lives and their (our) worlds.

During this time, I've also realized how important I find an art practice to be to that endeavor. Building feminist worlds is a matter of undermining structures of domination and oppression and imagining new lives. Doing that imagining is creative work that requires creative practice.

These realizations lead me back to ideas about feminist consciousness raising groups that I wanted to share here.

What are feminist consciousness raising groups?

Feminist consciousness raising groups first emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as spaces where women gathered to discuss their experiences as women. These groups were community gatherings with critical aims. They sought to bring women together to examine their lives and feelings on their own terms and imagine new and different terms around which they could center their experiences.

As a result, consciousness raising groups were (and are) very personal. They are not meant to be occasions to examine abstract theoretical or sociological phenomena, but rather opportunities to reflect on individual and group experiences by the individuals and groups present. They both affirm and interrogate our histories, presents, and futures. from Trying to Make the Personal Political: Feminism and Consciousness-Raising published by Half Letter Press. Available here.

What have been some of the problems/issues with these groups in the past?

To put it bluntly, feminist consciousness groups failed to include and engage women of color, women from economically disadvantaged positions, women of different abilities, and, at large, women who weren't white (upper)-middle class women. As a result, they became spaces in which white women talked about privileged issues and failed to work toward addressing marginalization and oppression as systemic, structural issues impacting different communities differently. Their "feminism" became too exclusive. 

What can a twenty-first century feminist consciousness raising group look like?

To avoid past problems, feminist consciousness raising groups have to be inclusive spaces that bring together women from different backgrounds to share their divergent and similar experiences of the world. They have to cultivate trust across difference in order to hold all of these experiences and make sense of them together.

This is hard work! But I also think it's why creative practice brings new meaning and intention to consciousness raising spaces. Our experiences of art can be parlayed into conversations about our lives in ways that keep the focus on individual and group experiences while maintaining societal reference and inviting other perspectives. Creating art together can also give groups a sense of shared purpose and endeavor that threads voices together without diminishing any one.

This tentative thesis is why I've called this new group, a feminist creative consciousness raising series. This group/series centers the creative spaces of imagining new, feminist worlds amidst the important personal and political work of discussing our experiences and lives.

This group will bring together women, femmes, and allies in conversation and artistic practice. It will be actively inclusive and non-hierarchical. Those in better economic positions will support the participation of those in more marginalized positions without comment. Each meeting will center specific feminist values that provide a starting point for conversation, and dialogue and creation will proceed communally.

I very much consider this series an experiment. I'm not positive that feminist consciousness raising groups (even creative ones) will be the best way forward, but for now they seem to me to be a fruitful path toward feminist action and the dismantling of white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy.

If you're interested in joining, you can find more information here. I'd love to be in community with you. Only a few donuts were harmed in the making of this post.

I recently had a conversation with my most-successful-business-owner friend (yes, I know this is a dubious category -- hi, Kristen!) about how her business slows down toward the end of the year and she feels like she ends up wrapping the year on a low note even though it was full of immeasurable highs.

I feel like I often fall victim to this way of thinking as well -- moving so quickly past major successes that I forget to celebrate them because I'm on the next thing. Earlier this year, in fact, another friend (hi, Caro!) called me out on this and introduced me to the donut manifesto. The idea of the manifesto is that you treat yourself to something small (in this case a donut) every time you accomplish a goal. That way you pause for at least a few moments to celebrate your achievement before being off to the next thing.

Since 2017 is wrapping up in a few hours, I thought I'd take some time to count my donuts for the year and compile my donut-worthy 2017 achievements.

So in no particular order, this year I ....

Interviewed (and mostly produced) 25 episodes of CHIRP Radio's local artist interview podcast. Some of my favorites were these episodes with: Matchess, Air Credits, Tortoise, Half Gringa, Ravyn Lenae, BJ the Chicago Kid, Vagabon, Liars, and Lykanthea. I also started a new, small series I've been calling "In Conversation" where I got to have conversations with a few of my favorite artists about trans representation in the Chicago music scene and sexism in the music industry. One of those conversations even led to my first appearance in the Chicago Reader.

Oh, and hosted Girl Power Hour on air at CHIRP every Tuesday morning (6-9am CT)! That's Ravyn Lenae in the CHIRP studios after our interview.

Worked with Forth Chicago to host events, run their social media, and launch a brand new podcast called Go Forth, where we interviewed Chicago's most fantastic creative women entrepreneurs. Every episode of that podcast is a gem, but interviewing Julie, Jenna, Alia, Emily, and Kelly were particular joys.

Oh, and hosted a Go Forth podcast wrap party and panel (my first public event!) with some of my favorite podcast guests. Shout-out to my co-collaborator Amanda for making all those things happen with me. Here's me bein' a goof at the last Forth salon.

Wrote a dissertation proposal and defended it to a committee of my favorite scholars in my department. This means I'm officially ABD and (theoretically) working on my dissertation full time to (perhaps) complete my PhD in 2019.

Oh, and traveled to Atlanta and Berlin to give papers on parts of my dissertation to a lot of academics. Here's Wilco doing her very best academic work.

Saw a TON of great art in all media (even though I was crazy busy with all the aforementioned projects).

- Fave concerts of 2017: LCD Soundsystem at Pitchfork, Liars at Riot Fest, Ravyn Lenae at Mamby, Big Thief at Thalia Hall, Alvvays + Jay Som at Thalia Hall, Half Gringa at the Whistler, Future Islands at the House of Vans opening, Dan Deacon w/Marijuana Deathsquads + Art Credits at the Empty Bottle, Angela James in residency at The Hideout,

- Fave readings + podcast tapings of 2017: Patti Smith reading at Music Box Theatre, Call Your Girlfriend at Lincoln Hall, Longform at The Hideout, Love + Radio at The Hideout.

- Fave art exhibitions: Yayoi Kusama at The Broad (LA), Non-Binary Portraits by Laurence Philomene at Cogalleries (Berlin), Pre-Vinylite Society female screen painters at Chicago Arts District, finally going to The Brooklyn Museum to see Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party. Angel Olsen is somewhere on that stage at Pitchfork.

Edited the fourth edition of Lady Parts zine and made a new series of zines with mini-essays on some of the feminist topics most important to me. Then tabled Chicago Zine Fest and sold a ton of copies of them. Look at all those Lady Parts!

Hosted a strike event for International Women's Day with Forth Chicago where I did a teach-in on Intersectionality (with that yellow zine up there) and ended up on the Chicago evening news!

Oh, and I taught three sections of a course on sex and gender where I used that zine to enlighten a few college minds. Look at all these brilliant women who showed up to strike with us!

Ran a 10k and did a *ton* of work on body-love, including writing an incredibly vulnerable essay about my relationship with my weight that got more responses than probably anything I've ever put on the internet (even my very best cat and food pictures).

Oh, and I wrote some other essays for Forth Chicago and The Glossary and sent out a monthly newsletter about feminist feelings. My essay for Forth stemmed from going to the women's march alone and what that meant to me.

Made my most ambitious zine since 2013 for an exhibition curated by my friend Amanda Roscoe Mayo and remembered what it feels like to be an artist and explore materials.

Wrote a feminist mantra every Monday and then published a book of the compiled and revised mantras. This may be my favorite thing I've ever created, and I get all warm and fuzzy every time I think about it. Zine on the left, book on the right!

Managed to take time off and go on actual vacations to visit friends in Los Angeles (twice!), San Francisco, Joshua Tree, North Carolina, New York City, and Milwaukee (twice!). Sunrise in the Mojave Desert.

Okay, I think that's all the donuts for 2017, and *damn* I'm exhausted just compiling that list, let alone doing all those things.

Up first thing in 2018 is the Fifty Feminist Mantras book party (tickets here!) and then the launch of my most ambitious project yet. See you in the year of the dog, y'all! The end of 2017 has been a very busy time for me, and I'm excited to announce that I have not one, but *two* books out in the world this week!

The first is my recent release Fifty Feminist Mantras. This book began as a series of weekly blog/Instagram posts last fall and blossomed into a year-long project that I just wrapped. I wrote 50 mantras for the project, then edited and compiled them for this book.

Inside, there are fifty feminist mantras arranged by week and season. with the purpose of helping readers embrace feminisms and themselves as feminists. Each mantra includes guided reflection and writing prompts, and the idea is that meditating on each mantra will help readers embrace feminisms and themselves as feminists.

You can purchase the book here!

I've also just finished a special edition zine to accompany my friend Amanda Roscoe Mayo's new exhibition at The Franklin, Art of Sight, Sense of Feeling.

The exhibition is inspired by Edwin Abbott's book Flatland, and I used the text as inspiration to create a zine that emphasized the multidimensionality of art, even in 2D forms. This was a really fun project where I got to delve back into my past five years of zine-making and revisit old art store haunts to find papers and pens that connoted the dimensions I was hoping to invoke.

You can find copies at The Franklin at 3522 W Franklin Blvd in Chicago!


My work in the real-world

Essays + long-form pieces

Feminist musings + politics

Lots about bodies

Self-care + getting shit done

Woo-woo things

Year-end posts + gifsticles