Brooklyn College professor,Jeanne Theoharis, and Sarah Lawrence professor, Komozi Woodard, are hoping to change the way Americans view women’s roles in the Civil Rights movement. Their recent publication, Want to Start a Revolution? Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle, was the focus for their March 26 guest lecture at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The book, which was co-edited by UMass Professor Dayo F. Gore, is a collection of texts written by various historians and participants in the movement concerning women’s roles in the Civil Rights activism.
According to the introduction, the book is meant to challenge the idea that radical black women primarily held behind-the-scenes supportive roles in the Civil Rights movement. Instead, Theoharis and Woodard present evidence that these women acted as leaders in their own right. The book also attempts to refute the concept that politically radical black women were only interested in participating in the Civil Rights movement, when in fact they were involved in supporting a number of different causes.

“What we tried to say was let’s re-imagine and put women first, at the center, since you write the stories around men, and imagining everything around men,” said Woodard.

In their discussion of their book at UMass, Theoharis and Komozi said that they initially faced opposition to the publication of their book, “People are denegrating what we are doing, part of that denegration, I’m sad to say is intellectual because people were upset by what we were finding,” said Woodard.
    Theoharis and Woodard said the concept for writing the book arose from the lack of available information in the historical record about female participation in the Civil Rights movement.  “In part, this book is a reaction to this new flowering of black power studies that seemed to be missing and really marginalizing women,” said Theoharis.

In their book, Theoharis and Woodard argue that the focus on radical male leaders was a result of sexism in the historical record and not from a sexist attitude within the black power movement itself. They wrote the book in an attempt to accurately reflect the relative importance of radical black women in shaping the Civil Rights movement.

Women were also not often seen as being at the forefront of the violence that occurred during the fight for equal rights between black Americans and white Americans. however, Woodard argued that black women still had to fight to defend themselves against physical attacks. In their research,  they found that black women risked rape and sexual abuse when imprisoned for protesting segregation. Woodard pointed out in his lecture that women were able and willing to use self-defense during the Civil Rights period, as well as the time leading up to it.

“We have to understand self defense more broadly and not keep making [self defense] all about men and something that men do.  Even though women were less likely to get the focus and attention of the media during the movement does not mean that their stories and experiences are not as relevant and historically important as their male counterparts.
    Once Woodard and Theoharis began their research, they said that they were overwhelmed with the sheer depth of information to be collected on the topic, as well as the amount of people willing to participate in collaborating on the book. There were so many women whose efforts helped to further the Civil Rights movement that Theoharis and Woodard said they were unable to address all of them in their anthology, which spans 14 chapters.

In addition to co-editing Want to Start a Revolution?  Woodard and Theoharis have also collaborated on editing two other anthologies, Freedom North: Black Freedom Struggles Outside the South, 1940-1980 (2003), and Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America (2005).

Individually, Woodard is the author of  A Nation Within a Nation: Amiri Baraka and Black Power Politics,  and editor of Unity and Struggle. He has also written as a number of journal essays, reviews and anthologies concerning black power, urban and ethnic history, poverty, oral history and anti-colonial movements. He is currently an Esther Raushenbush Professor of American history at Sarah Lawrence College.

Theoharis has written or contributed to 20 books and publications concerning the Civil Rights  and Black Freedom movements. Her most recent publications include, Accidental Matriarchs and Beautiful Helpmates: Gender and the Memorialization of the Civil Rights Movement, (2008) and Dropped From the Rolls: Mexican Immigrants, Race, and Rights in the Era of Welfare Reform (2008). She is a professor of political science at Brooklyn College, CUNY. She is currently working on a biography on Rosa Parks and the mythology of the civil rights movement for Beacon Press.

On March 24, 2010, the New York Times published the article, “Behind Consumer Agency Idea, a Tireless Advocate,” written by Jodi Kantor with reporting help by Ben Werschkul. In addition to the text piece, there is an accompanying video put together by Werschkul with help from others at the NYT.

The article gives a bit of background on Warren, who is a professor of law at Harvard Law School and is “head of Congressional oversight for the Troubled Asset Relief Program,” where she is keeping a watchful eye and vocal mouth on the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Warren says that she is sticking up for the middle class, working families. A main concern for her is to fix the problem of mortgages that can “explode” financially without warning.

The article gives some basic information, and also links out so that an uneducated reader can learn a bit more about Warren without having to go into the details of her plans.

The video differs from the article because it appears that the purpose is to show Warren’s personality. The video follows the rule of “show, don’t tell” with a series of past clips and intermittent narration.

The problem is that the article itself is only linked to in the quick description of the video, and therefore it would be natural to be drawn to the video first. Although it is possible to pick up some information on whom Elizabeth Warren is, if you have never heard of her, the video is a bit difficult to follow.

Because it jumps right in to a series of clips, the audience or viewer may be confused as to who she is. What is made evident from the start is that she is fighting on behalf of taxpayers and the working class consumers.

What it comes down to is that the video shows her personality and her passion for a financial protection agency. The article goes into deeper detail, and does not assume that the reader is educated on the subject.

She came with curls in her blonde hair, adorning a New Jersey gold necklace. She came with mascara accenting her blue eyes, excitement in her voice.

She came to talk about hockey.

Robenhymer, or “Julie Loves Hockey” as she goes by, graduated from UMass Amherst  in 2003. She came back as an alum to talk to the class about two things: dedication and personal drive.

Now working for HockeyBuzz.com, Julie records video clips from her hotel room as well as writes various blog posts…all about hockey. However, she is quick to say that her dedication and commitment to her future got her there.

And it’s not easy. “There’s never an end. I’m always doing something,” she said.

While at UMass, Julie proved her professor wrong by landing an internship that she was told would be a waste to even apply for. She said that she came to school knowing what she wanted to do, and success came as she pushed herself.

Julie has taken advantage of the online world of journalism, as she makes use of Twitter to compliment her job and own personal blog. To her astonishment, even Bob McKenzie is a follower, she said.

Some helpful (paraphrased) tips from Julie:
*Start a blog
*Update it regularly
*Be passionate about what you are doing
*Don’t let people tell you that you can’t do something
*Use Twitter, but never tie your name with any organization

And now, the cynicism.

When asked if gender plays a role in her career, Julie Loves Hockey brushed off the question and referred only to the “trolls” that comment on her physical appearance online in her videos. Basically, she can’t have a bad hair day without hearing about it.

But what I wonder (and I do so with no intended offense to Julie) if in fact gender plays more of a role than it seems. Although Julie landed the job (or more accurately, accepted the persistent offer) because of her level of professionalism, knowledge, readiness to learn and natural talent, some of her viewers disregard that entirely because of her attractiveness.

I clicked through several of the comment sections on the videos. On her February 16, 2010 video, Julie did make the comment that “most people comment via email or on facebook or twitter.” However, judging by the many video comments that very inappropriately refer to Julie’s appearance (and aren’t deleted, mind you,) whether she likes it or not, her looks attract an audience. And some of that audience, are frequent site visitors.

It goes without saying that sex appeal has a major role in the media. But are we finding that it is creeping its way into journalism? Do we dismiss the “trolls?” Or has the need for site traffic kicked a dignified leg right out from under online journalism?

The iPhone has just released a new application available for download accepted in Austin, TX: TabbedOut. The idea of TabbedOut is, as mentioned in its name, to create an electronic tab at restaurants and bars that is connected to your credit or debit card for easy payment.

After downloading TabbedOut, and storing your card information during the set-up process, you can browse your iPhone for restaurants and bars near you that accept this type of payment. You are providing the establishment itself with your card information, and it “It pops up on the merchant’s point-of-sale system for them to fulfill your order and accept your payment.” The app is not interchangeable with a credit card.

As you order, your drinks will be placed on your electronic tab, so that when you choose to leave, you can make payment and tip right on the iPhone. To put you at ease with the transaction, a receipt can be emailed to your address.

TabbedOut may not only be useful for customers, as merchants can also reap the benefits of a quick and easy check out. A  short article from SXSW.com makes the argument that servers will not have to worry about splitting the check, as each party member will have their own electronic tab. Also, the risk of lengthy check outs would be eliminated by the use of TabbedOut.

As technologically captivating as the TabbedOut app may be, if it’s bad to bring your plastic to a bar, does that mean you should now leave your iPhone at home, too?

Being the addict that I am, you can imagine my annoyance when I tried signing into Sony’s PlayStation 3 network last night and was repeatedly told on the screen that there was an “8001050F error.” Not only was I unable to access the internet via PlayStation, but I could not feed my Monsters craving.

To make matters worse, after a quick Google search, I found that users should not try to turn on their console until further notice of the problem being fixed. I had turned it on multiple times and now I’m left with nothing to do but keep my fingers tightly crossed.

The PlayStation blog states that “this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.” Although the post mentions hopes of having the problem fixed in 24 hours, some functionality in certain systems may be permanently damaged, such as restoring old data and trophy usage.

Also, what is concerning is that games played offline are also affected by this system-down status. A user should not need to connect to the internet in order to play a game saved on his console that does not have the option of playing it live.

The only users to escape the wrath of the error code are owners of PlayStation 3 Slim, a newer model of the console.

Cue governmental involvement.

An article from BBC News states that the UK Parliament is introducing a new Digital Economy Bill that will enforce the responsibility of “libraries, universities and cafes offering free wireless… if people use it to pirate movies and music.” This means that those supplying the free network connection must police the users, to ensure no copyright infringement.

University representatives are protesting the bill. While students of universities will not be affected by the bill, assuming they are not illegally downloading off the internet, the network providers risk being faced with the weight of policing as well as the potential for bills of large sums.

Such outrage has erupted because of the bill, that petitions with a lengthy list of signatures have already been generated. It is not the expenses or responsibility alone that cause the upset. It is also the invasion of privacy.

The government will have a close involvement with the new bill—which is still being debated—as the Secretary of State will be allowed to “intervene in internet domain name registration.”

But when something new comes along and proves to be successful, there’s always something else in the works, waiting to surpass it. This is the case with Twitter. Google took a break from its vicious battle with Microsoft to take a jab at Obvious (creator of Twitter) by launching Google Buzz.

Google Buzz, or Buzz, is in the same category of social media, as its intention is to allow people to communicate with messages. Yet though it has similarities, where Twitter is limited, Google Buzz soars. David Pogue’s New York Times article, “Google Message Feature Moves Beyond Twitter,” details the differences.

“[There’s] no length limit on your messages. You can search for messages, give certain ones a “thumbs up” (you click a button labeled Like as you do in Facebook). You can forward messages by e-mail. Comments and replies to a certain post remain attached to it, clumped together as a conversation. You can link to your Flickr, Picasa or YouTube accounts, making it easy to drop a photo or a video link into a Buzz posting.”

However, Google monopolizes on its product as a Gmail account is necessary to use Buzz. In turn, this means that you can only “follow” people who also have Gmail or Gmail Chat.

Google Buzz is in its early stages, so it is presumable that there will be tweaking done to the site, but its foundation is set. As of yet, Obvious has not let known of any intentions to come back at Google with any major Twitter changes, but who’s to say it needs to.

Love it or hate it, Twitter’s not going anywhere.

After a few excited hellos and giddy screeches from my friends, I myself tilted my head toward the screen. Two videos were displayed: a live webcam of  us, and a live webcam of them. By “them,” I mean a variety of people shuffling through the screen, sitting there, saying hello or requesting/overtly offering self-exposure.

This, is ChatRoulette.

ChatRoulette is an unfiltered site where people with webcams get an endless stream of video and audio from total strangers. There is no registration and the site is completely free to all users. When you visit the site, to begin the “roulette,” all you must do is click on the start button and you will be staring back at (hopefully) the face of one of the 10,000+ users unknown to you.

The webcam videos take up the left half of the screen, leaving the right side for chatting if users prefer that over speaking into the webcam’s microphone. If typing, the conversation will be between the given screen names, “You” and “Stranger.”

You can choose not to to participate in a roulette with any certain user by simply clicking on the “Next” button that will randomly connect you to another webcam. This works adversely; any user can also “Next” you as they so please. It is noteworthy that you do not need a webcam for ChatRoulette, as you can still see the live videos of others. However,  a blank screen will inevitably be “next”-ed in seconds.

An obvious downside to ChatRoulette is the lack of control users have in whom they chat with or what that total stranger staring at you does in his/her webcam. Sam Anderson’s New York Magazine feature, “The Human Shuffle,” discusses the reality of this unfiltered chat room wheel. This is not a site for children.

At least, if it had been, the actions of some men and women on the other side of the screen eliminate any hopes of a PG rating.

Some other sites to check out on ChatRoulette:

Weirdest New Internet Pastime – Fastcompany.com
“If you use Chatroulette, you will be harassed” – BlackBook Magazine

Needless to say, I lived most of my life in the 21st century version of the Stone Age–Blackberry-less. Not only did I live it, I enjoyed it. It was my thing; I was the girl who still actually made phone calls to my friends.

But somewhere amidst the 5,000 texts I now send/receive a month, the hours-long rounds of Wii Boxing I now wear myself out in and the Facebook photos I now snap (and then edit,) I  let my guard down. I let the technology in.

And I’ve never been happier.

This blog is intended to keep an update on new and upcoming technology, be it useful or absurdly superfluous, and hopefully get those last standing, strong-willed landline users aboard the bandwagon as well.