Dear Friends,

Last year my mother and I had companion articles printed in ON THE ISSUES (a feminist magazine). The articles were titled, "Fed Up With the Diet Industry: A Mother and Daughter Battle Size Discrimination Not Weight" by Dawn and Mary E. Atkins (Winter 1996). They addressed our experiences in feminism, size acceptance and our work with the Body Image Task Force, as well as the strength of the mother-daughter feminist relationship that has supported both of us.

Well, we just received notices (& checks) this week that our articles will be reprinted in a college textbook published by Mayfield Publishing Co, entitled: EXPERIENCING RACE, GLASS, AND GENDER IN THE UNITED STATES, 2nd Ed. (This text is used in quite a few introductory women's studies classes.)

Nice to see how one's activism/writing can take on a life of its own. It is amazing to me to realize that our stories and message will now reach a generation of young women and men without every having met them. The power of writing amazes me every day.

Meanwhile, I have just finished the first draft of an academic article entitled, "Can There Be a Male Feminist Ethnography? -- Standpoint Theory and Male Standing." After some feedback and more work on the piece, I hope to submit it for publication in an anthropology journal. Oh, the answer to the question? A very complicated but hopeful, "Yes, there had better be."

I have been reading and writing non-stop since returning from California at the first of the month. This is the last week of the semester and I will be trying to finish up my papers/take-home finals by Monday. Then I turn to cleaning the house and preparing for Yule. And I still have a lot of reading/writing planned for the break. I have to reedit Looking Queer, and rewrite this and a couple other articles for publication.

Well, I am going to go re-read my paper before turning it in.

Dawn