Arts, media, and literature frame and influence how we perceive our world, our society, and our potential to make positive impact. Creative participation on the Internet, in independent media, and in the arts helps build community while challenging boundaries between those who create and their audiences. Tiffany will discuss participatory practice and her work as an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and editor, and invite attendees to (optionally) engage with her current work, the Easter Island Project.
** Starred items are particularly relevant to today's presentation.
(Ed. Unknown). The Drama Review: Private Performance Issue. Vol. 23 No. 4 (T84). December 1979. Important, brilliant, emotionally-founded work by a woman who, with others, secretly prepared and performed a Molière play in a concentration camps during the Holocaust (from A Useless Knowledge by Charlotte Delbo); fascinating, detailed coverage of the Squat Theatre, an influential Eastern European group pushing formal and audience/performer boundaries, often with lengthy theatre pieces taking place outdoors or in an apartment. Other articles include one about John Zorn and a narrative, accessible trip through the New York downtown underground performance scene of the time written by Eric Bogosian. The journal also features a semiotic analysis section.
Banksy. Wall and Piece. London: Century/Random House, 2005. Banksy is primarily a street artist, working happily in stencil and in the appropriation of public (including privately-owned) space. Banksy, in a word, rocks. His (or "their") pieces range from sly to obvious, featuring everyday images from cops to rats, but placing them very creatively. Humor reigns supreme, and politics are fair game. Unsanctioned street art obliterates boundaries between who is "allowed" to participate in civic discussion and in the creation, distribution, and showing of art.
**Baumgardner, Jennifer and Amy Richards. Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2000. This accessible and entertaining yet well researched guide to Third Wave Feminism in the 1990s includes excellent, in depth passages contextualizing the role of self-made media, music, and other arts in the emergence of the Third Wave.
Benjamin, Walter. Reflections. New York: Schocken Books, 1985. A rare blend of consideration, kindness, raw smarts, and deep scholarship save these academic inquiries from becoming dull or pretentious. Includes the classic "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," an early 20th century essay taking on the concepts of mass distribution and originality.
**Bey, Hakim: T. A. Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, and Poetic Terrorism. Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia. “Anti-copyright, 1985, 1991.” TAZ is the underground handbook for creating "zones" in which participatory, collaborative community and creativity emerge.
**Bourriaud, Nicolas: Relational Aesthetics. Translated by Simon Pleasance & Fronza Woods. Dijon-Quetigny: Les Presses du Réel, 1998/2002. A primer for the last decade's relational aesthetics craze.
**Bowditch, Rachel: “Republic of the Imagination: Staging the Avant-Garde in the Black Rock Desert.” Moderator: RoseLee Goldberg. NYU Humanities Council Faculty Workshops Redefining Performance Round-Table. April 6, 2005. Archived at http://www.nyu.edu/humanities.initiative/workshops/performance_21c/archive2005.html. More juicy Burning Man stuff.
Branwyn, Gareth. Jamming the Media: A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming the Tools of Communication. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1997. Works from the 1990s can offer special insight into how revolutionary the Internet and the idea of massive public creation and participation were, back in the day. Now that these things are everyday to many Americans, we sometimes fail to appreciate the radical shift in our mentality about participation. Branwyn's book focuses on fun, specific examples within an intelligent and passionate framework.
**Brown, Tiffany Lee. "The New Collaborators: Making User-Generated Content Work." Adobe, originally published September 2006, pp. 9-14. Intended for design professionals, this article is accessible enough for other readers. It details how getting the public involved in storytelling, online creations, and interactive museum displays changes the relationship between audience and presenter. Archived at http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/dialogbox/adobemag_usergen/usergenerated.pdf .
---. "Carnival of Souls." Women Who Rock, Nov/Dec 2003, pp. 86-87. One of my articles on Burning Man, focused on general culture and music-making.
---. "The Bubble of Silence." Oregon Humanities, Fall/Winter 2008, pp. 33-35. A personal essay pertaining to how art and writing open the door to social discussion of uncomfortable or hidden issues (in this case, childlessness and grief); mentions my participatory works in "The Easter Island Project" and "House Bound."
**Boál, Augusto. Hamlet and the Baker’s Son. London: Routledge, 2001. Famed for working with the Theatre of the Oppressed and for developing Forum Theatre, Boál offers a memoir of his life as a Brasilian, a baker’s son, and an artist. The rollicking storytelling voice and melodic translation from the Portuguese make this a downright entertaining read. Known for his Theatre of the Oppressed, Boál developed active participatory performances featuring the local residents themselves, who created or played the parts in each theatre piece using constructs and games.
Chekhov, Mikhail. To the Actor: On the Technique of Acting. New York: Harper & Row, 1953. Chekhov Technique, in which I am certified, should probably be taught in person by masters of the technique. The book operates more as a reminder than a guide. In Chekhov the focus on participation evolves from actors working together; however, the principles can be applied to a wide variety of participatory and collaborative situations outside acting, the theatre or performance.
Chantry, Art. Instant Litter: Concert Posters from Seattle Punk Culture. New York: HNA Books, 1985. Clear representation of how graphic design functioned as an important media form, enabling the emergence of the ultimate DIY/community scene of creativity, punk rock.
**Collier, Robert. “They came, they saw, they gazed into the fire: Spiritual themes permeate Burning Man.” San Francisco Chronicle, September 1, 2003. Archived at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/09/01/MN19444.DTL . Yet another Burning Man article, this one quite good, featuring an interview with Temple artist David Best.
Cotter, Holland. “The Collective Unconscious,” The New York Times, Section 2/Arts & Leisure. March 5, 2006. Cotter presents art collectives as “an alternative to used-up ‘alternative’ in art.” Digital collaborations remove the “personal touch” in art, which further eliminates the marketability of the work. Issues of identity are also explored; not the usual gender/race/etc sense of identity, but the artists assuming multiple names or working semi-anonymously under group titles. The article explores Otabenga Jones & Associates, the Center for Land Use Interpretation, and Critical Art Ensemble.
Gaar, Gillian G. She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll. New York: Seal Press, 2002 (2d. Edition). The expanded second edition of She’s a Rebel is formidably fact-filled and researched, written with a smooth narrative voice. Starting with the 1950s, Gillian Gaar tracks female pop, rock, rap, and punk artists, covering impressive ground that includes lesser-known sub-genres. The co-participatory nature of music distribution, media, DIY culture, zines, and the Internet inform this history.
**Gold, Eric. "Relating through Art." Oregon Humanities, Fall/Winter 2008, pp. 36-41. A good introduction to the idea of contemporary participatory art in the now, in particular social practice artwork made by artists in Portland, Oregon, during the last several years. Gold interviews MK Guth, Gary Wiseman, the M.O.S.T., and others.
**Harvey, Larry, and the Burning Man Organization. "Ten Principles." http://burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html
Heathfield, Adrian, ed. Live: Art and Performance. London: Routledge, 2004. This volume of essays, performance descriptions, and interviews brings to light various live artists, primarily North American and European, discussing their process and their beliefs about the relevance of their own work.
**Kaprow, Allan. Essays on the Blurring of Art & Life. Edited by Jeff Kelley. Expanded second edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Kaprow's way of blurring art and life became a major influence on the emerging participatory art and performance movement of the late 1950s and onward. His discussions of environment, experimental art, and Happenings include shockingly prescient musings about a possible media- and technology-infused future that has now become reality.
**Kennedy, Pagan. 'Zine. New York: St. Martin's, 1995. "Head" zinester Pagan Kennedy recalls, from an insider's position, the zine revolution; as she says, "a time when art could still save my life."
Meadows, Mark: Pause & Effect. Indianapolis: New Riders Press, 2003. Meadows dissects the functionality of interactivity in narrative, offering concrete tutorials and examples of digital interaction along with astute observation and philosophical discussion. Meadows, who was awarded the Golden Nico from Ars Electronica, brings to the discussion years of experience as both a traditional visual artist and as an interactive designer.
Montano, Linda: Art in Everyday Life. Astro Artz/Station Hill, Los Angeles/ Barrytown, New York, 1981. These simple examples of action documentation with brief commentary tie Montano’s earlier work to her continuing exploration of the Art/Life movement.
———: Letters from Linda Montano. New York: Routledge, 2005.
Here, Montano steps up with bold questions, explanations, musings, rants, and occasionally confrontational denunciations of the art world and academia. Some of her works blatantly invite audience participation, but even her more private works trample all over the divide between artist and audience.
Moore, Scott. “I Think, Therefore I Party! Rocker Andrew W. K. Wants to Spend Some Time with You… Philosophical Partying Time!” The Portland Mercury. April 5, 2007, p. 11. Andrew’s latest performances blended parties with lectures. Says the artist, “the party is meant to create an energy through its difference with the lecture, to create a friction so that there’s energy behind both of them… I don’t have any idea what’s going to happen. I can participate as a member of the audience…”
Santen, David Jr. “The Citizen Intellectual: Matthew Stadler’s Back Room salon beckons to the hip. So why leave early?” The Oregonian, Arts, p. 8. June 10, 2007. Matthew Stadler, a writer, “public intellectual,” and editor is given a full-page Sunday newspaper article, examining the pros and cons of his approach to the arts and literary worlds. Stadler has hosted the Back Room series of arts conversations/dinner parties together with Reed College Cooley Gallery curator Stephanie Snyder. The article is a good little powder keg of gossip and opinions, but it also brings up valid questions about how we as artist/writer/public intellectuals comport ourselves in larger society.
Conrad, Lettie. Third Wave Feminism: A Case Study of Bust Magazine. Northridge: California State University, 2001. Conrad follows the arc of Bust from a photocopied zine to an international phenomenon that helped rally the nascent third wave movement.
Futrelle, David. “Been there, zine that.” Salon, June, 1997. http://www.salon.com/june97/media/media970609.html . One view of the zine revolution and how it inspired thousands of everyday people to seize the means of production and distribution in publishing.
Hermosillo, Carmen: “Technology and the New Feminism.” In Leonardo. Boston: MIT Press, mid-1990s (exact date citation unavailable). An early look at women's attempts to infiltrate the outrageously male-dominated Internet of the time. All "participants" are not necessarily created equal.
**Hyde, Lewis. The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World. New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 2007. Participatory art offers an invitation to interact. The interaction itself may become a gift, from initiator (artist) to recipient (audience/society) and, as Lewis beautifully describes, back again.
McRea, Nora. “Literary Portland’s Accidental Revolution.” PDX Magazine, April 2006, pp. 11-13. DIY literary and publishing in action, in current day Portland, Oregon. Includes Clear Cut Press, Future Tense,
2GQ, and other local phenomena.
Montano, Linda. Performance Artists Talking in the Eighties. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. A humongous compendium of fascinating interviews with performers, arranged by subject matter. One section, for example, is entitled "food." The focus is not on participatory artwork, but the artists' personal stories of interacting with audiences are invaluable.
Morahan-Martin, Janet. “Women and Girls Last: Females and the Internet.” IRISS ‘98: Conference Papers, International Conference, Bristol, UK, March 25–27, 1998. Archived at http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/archive/iriss/papers/paper55.htm . A place for statistics and factoids on women and the Internet.
**Munroe, Alexandria and Hendricks, Jon. Yes Yoko Ono. New York: Harry Abrams/Japan Society, 2000. Yoko Ono is a highly influential conceptual artist who uses participatory elements with breathtaking simplicity and clarity. Yes Yoko Ono is the companion catalogue to her 40-year retrospective at SF-MOMA.
Press, Joy and Jake Walters. “Anger Is An Energy.” The Wire 215. January 2002. Archived at http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/207/?pageno=2. More riot grrl history relevant to third wave feminism, zines, punk rock, and the DIY movement.
Shade, Leslie. “Using A Gender-based Analysis in Developing a Canadian Access Strategy: Backgrounder Report from the Ad Hoc Committee for the Workshop on Access to the Information Highway.” Information Policy Research Program, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto, April 1997. Archived at http://www3.fis.utoronto.ca/research/iprp/ua/gender.html. Just what it sounds like.
Verzemnieks, Inara. “Filming Away the Fear.” The Oregonian. Portland, November 16, 2006. Section E, Living, p. 1. Portland filmmaker Andy Blumbaugh is interviewed. Several years ago, Blumbaugh was attacked and beaten badly by five homeless kids under Steel Bridge. He developed a paralysing fear of leaving the house and functioning normally. He decided to deal with it by making a film, and also by corresponding directly with three of his attackers. Here, a directed form of engagement results in catharsis and healing.
** Verzemnieks, Inara: "Multidisciplinary artist Tiffany Lee Brown seeks meaning in a quest." The Oregonian, Sunday, January 25, 2009. "O" section, pp. 1-4. Archived online at http://www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2009/01/multidisciplinary_artist_tiffa.html. We will be discussing The Easter Island Project—and, optionally, participating in it—during today's presentation. Verzemnieks describes it better than I can…
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PARTICIPATORY &/OR BOUNDARY-BUSTING ARTISTS MENTIONED:Marina Abramovic: "Rhythm 0," 1974.
Berger, Joshua: Anti-War graphics site, www.anti-war.us . 2002-present.
Augusto Boál: Theatre of the Oppressed, Forum Theater. Late 1960s +.
Laura Curry: “Performance Memoirs: Portland.” Performance at Mark Spencer Hotel, Portland, Oregon, September 9, 2006.
David Best: Temples and similar structures at Burning Man, in San Francisco, and Detroit. 2000-present.
Lilian Gael: “Revery.” Performance at Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, Oregon. April 15, 2006.
Allan Kaprow. Various Happenings and instructional pieces. (late 1950s-posthumous).
Larry Harvey. Founder of Burning Man. 1987-present.
Miranda July & Harrell Fletcher: "Learning to Love You More." 2002-present.
Sol Lewitt: Wall Drawings.
Yoko Ono: "Cut Piece," "Painting To Be Stepped On," the instructional book "Grapefruit," and the "Wish Tree."
Kristen Tsiatsios: "Letter Doulas." Participatory work for Plazm magazine's "The End of War" series. 2008.
Edie Tsong: “Telecommunity Portrait.” Digital participatory performance/"real-life" installation. At Time-Based Art festival (TBA). Production of Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) at Wieden +Kennedy building, Portland, Oregon. September 14, 2006.
Gary Wiseman: Tea Parties, Suddenly, and other works, 2004-present.
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Works by Tiffany Lee Brown, discussed and/or
appearing on presentation video, "Art of Part."
In order of appearance:
"Deathpri." Online conceptual art. Associated with the dUdU art collective. Online/Oakland. 1992-1993.
"Tea Party in a Closet." Just what it sounds like. Portland. 2007.
"Foreman: Feathers." Performance involving instructional and participatory aspects, and off-site residues/takeaways. Richard Foreman Festival, Performance Works NW. 2006.
"Drowning Rat." Participatory, collaborative community madness. Oregon Cascades. 2002-present, annually.
"A Compendium of Miniatures." Interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary collaboration with Clare Carpenter. Glass work by Jo Newhouse. Various locations in Oregon. 2006-2007.
"Burning Man." Tiffany has been involved as an audience, artist, participant, community member since 2000. Edict: "No Spectators!" Related works by Tiffany: "Burning Tarot 2003" is a Tarot deck featuring various photographers and community members. "Tarotist Training" 2008 with photographer Steve Fritz and other collaborators. "Burning Tarot 2008" is in progress, a participatory, community-created Tarot deck featuring photographer Steve Fritz and other collaborators, and performative Tarot readings.
"House Bound." Video installation, participatory art, performance art, food-based art, Internet-based participation. Performance Works NW. 2008.
"The Easter Island Project." Participatory art, theatre, music, and performance, in progress. Documentation appearing on video, in order of appearance: prints from full moon session, 2009; New York City tattoo session, 2008; Seeds, Oregon, 2008; "Seeding Easter Island," Fort Worden, Port Townsend, Washington, 2008; Seattle session, Studio Current, 2008; various seeds. Acorn sculpture photo and green-hood portrait of the artist by Motoya Nakamura, the Oregonian.
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DIY (DO IT YOURSELF) GLOSSARY OF TERMS from discussion
Participatory Art & Related TermsSocial Practice
Relational Aesthetics
Participatory Art
Audience Participation
Art/Life Movement
Happenings
New Genre Art
Community-Engaged Practice
Performance Art
Conceptual Art
Instructional Work
Digital InteractivityUser-Generated Content
Web 2.0
Virtual Community/Digital Commons
Blogs/blogging
Podcast
Commenting
YouTube
Social Networking
DIY MediaZine/Zine Revolution
Third Wave
Riot Grrl
Independent Media/Independent Publishing
Media Jamming
Small Press
POD (print on demand)
Communication/Broadcast CirclesOne-to-many (broadcast)
Edited/Curated Content
Guided Content
Skilled DIY
Unmoderated Content
Freeform
Many-to-many
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READINGS SPECIFIC TO THE EASTER ISLAND PROJECT, FEMINIST ART, & ISSUES OF CHILDLESSNESS(an opinionated and not particularly academic review of sources)
* Recommended
Bartlett, Jane. Will You Be Mother? Women Who Choose to Say No. New York: New York University Press, 1994. Another book largely cheerleading the minority of women who choose to be childfree, drawing from fifty interviews and following the usual self-help format.
*Burkitt, Elinor. The Baby Boon: How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless. New York: Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2000. The author’s shrill, finger-pointing attitude makes this book as irritating as any other social indictment written by an oppressed minority. Like other works that identify discrimination-of women, gays, racial minorities, etc.-The Baby Boon was very instrumental to raising political consciousness and is worth a read.
**Cain, Madelyn. The Childless Revolution. New York: Da Capo, 2002. One of the best books I’ve found in this genre, The Childless Revolution finds a devoted mother exploring the sociopolitical and personal realities of childless and childfree living in the United States today; her subjects are weighted slightly more toward the unintentionally childless rather than women who are childless by choice. The childless are discriminated against in government, workplaces, the tax structure, and within families and among friends, shown here without rancor or self-righteousness. A bout with infertility heightened Cain’s awareness of the silent childless minority, and she followed through on this research even after crossing over into the “mommy club.” An excellent introduction, accessible even to the many closed-minded parents out there who react defensively to any discussion of this issue.
Casey, Terri. Pride and Joy: The Lives and Passions of Women Without Children. Hillsboro, Oregon: Beyond Words, 1998. Twenty-five real women tell their own stories about living childfree, hoping to offer “validation, community,” and “inspiration” as well as “insight” for the loved ones of childfree women. The uniformity of the women’s voices leads me to believe their stories were heavily edited; the results range from ponderous to cheerleading, but these stories do debunk some stereotypes of childless women.
**DeMarneffe, Daphne. Maternal Desire: On Children, Love, and the Inner Life. New York: Back Bay Books/Little, Brown/Hatchette Livre, 2005. Psychologist, feminist, and mother Daphne DeMarneffe explores the personal pleasure that women derive from mothering, the denial of that pleasure in our culture, and the fear that acknowledging maternal desire will encourage outdated views on motherhood and the nature of women. An impassioned writer, she analyzes important political, psychological, and emotional underpinnings of our desire to mother and our society’s devaluation of mothering.
Domar, Alice D. and Kelly, Alice Lesch. Conquering Infertility: Dr. Alice Domar’s Mind/Body Guide to Enhancing Fertility and Coping with Infertility. New York: Penguin, 2002. Like many infertility-focused self-help books, Domar’s advice arrives couched in comforting, somewhat patronizing language; she waffles between recommendations for increasing fertility and shoring up the concept of childless living (on a “path toward a rich, full, happy life”). However, the book does present useful techniques for coping with the rest of life while dealing with infertility or childlessness.
*Finley, Karen. A Different Kind of Intimacy: The Collected Writings of Karen Finley/A Memoir. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2000. Controversial performance artist Karen Finley, one of the NEA 4 and an outspoken feminist with her own agenda regarding the use of her body, offers occasionally analytical narratives of her work, politics, and life, interspersed with photographs, poems, paintings, posters, and excerpts of performance scripts/transcriptions. Finley systematically challenges prevailing notions of femininity, performance, and intimacy.
*Ireland, Mardy S. Reconceiving Women: Separating Motherhood from Female Identity. New York: Guilford Press, 1993. Accessible, well-written, and smart exploration of feminist issues written by a clinical psychologist. Includes excerpts from interviews with over one hundred childless women from various ethnic and educational backgrounds.
Jaffe, Janet with Diamond, Martha Ourieff and Diamond, David J.. Unsung Lullabies: Understanding and Coping with Infertility. New York: St. Martin’s, 2005. A straight-up how-to book, Unsung Lullabies offers practical advice and quick-fix mini-explorations into important issues facing the childless and/or infertile. The annoying writing style typical of self-help books is used in force, so don’t worry: you won’t need a dictionary to read this one.
*Juno, Andrea and Vale, V., eds. Angry Women. San Francisco: RE/Search, 1991. Important underground feminist text for the early 1990s pop culture, featuring Karen Finley, Carolee Schneemann, and bell hooks, among others.
*Lafayette, Leslie. Why Don’t You Have Kids? Living a Full Life Without Parenthood. New York: Kensington, 1995. The founder of the ChildFree Network brings intelligence to the inescapable self-help format. Of course there are the usual interviews and real-life examples, but Lafayette’s personal explorations are strong and analytical.
*Leibovich, Lori and Salon.com. Maybe Baby. New York: Harpercollins, 2006. Thoughtful, eye-opening essays from 28 well-known writers, including Rick Moody and Anne Lamott, divided into three categories: those contemplating parenthood and so far choosing “no,” those on the fence, and those who’ve chosen “yes.” Not recommended for those in the active, painful, acute stages of grief over childlessness; this book contains too many well-written, heartbreaking reminders of what you’re missing.
*Lisle, Laurie: Without Child: Challenging the Stigma of Childlessness. New York: Routledge, 1996. Writing a feminist work with an encouraging, accessible tone, Lisle combines historical research with her own story; for example, discussing the role of the “maiden aunt” in 19th century America or the relationship between Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller.
Mendelson, Cheryl. Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House. New York: Scribner/Macmillan/Simon & Schuster, 1999. This immense, personably written encyclopedia to keeping house has its fair share of philosophical musings, particularly in the well-written introduction.
Parker-Pope, Tara. “Voices of Infertility.” New York Times. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/voices-of-infertility/ . Video interviews with women undergoing infertility and infertility treatments. This article is most notable for the comments it subsequently generated online, which are still archived here. The comments clearly reveal the fierce and often cruel attitudes of many people toward infertile women, while also giving voice to those women and their advocates.
**Peacock, Molly: Paradise, Piece by Piece. New York: Riverhead/Penguin, 1998. This beautifully written, poignant memoir pulls no punches and holds up well as an absorbing work of nonfiction, to be enjoyed by appreciative readers regardless of their parental status or interest in childfree/childless issues. Peacock is a noted poet who decided, for very complex and often rather stark reasons, not to have children. Far from childfree cheerleading, Paradise is nonetheless a powerful story affirming the value and validity of a woman’s right to choose whether to reproduce.
Ratner, Rochelle, ed.: Bearing Life: Women’s Writings on Childlessness. New York: The Feminist Press/City University, 2001. Using essay, memoir, creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, myriad women explore life without babies, discussing abortion, childfree choice, loss, and women as mothers. Excerpts from other books figure prominently. The inclusion of such impressive names as Grace Paley, Molly Peacock, Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, and Amy Tan kicks Bearing Life up a few notches compared to similar anthologies, but its scattershot, everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach lacks focus.
Safer, Jeanne: Beyond Motherhood: Choosing a Life Without Children. New York: Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, 1996. Safer weaves tales of her personal life and family life with those of childless and childfree women she interviewed. With a self-help tone, this psychoanalyst offers perspective but isn’t the most mellifluous writer.
Shawne, Jennifer L.: Baby Not on Board: A Celebration of Life Without Kids. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2005. Though it’s cheaper to troll the Internet for hyped-up childfree snark, here you can purchase such writing with cute illustrations added in. Not on Board, while trying to lightheartedly disrespect parents and parenting, unfortunately paints childfree women with a familiar, discriminatory brush.
Updates on books and articles relating to childlessness and other explorations of moms and not-moms in contemporary American culture will be made at the Nymphe blog:
http://magdalen.blogs.com/nymphe.
