Jul

13

Blogathon 2009

Filed Under blog news, blogging, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 10 Comments

blogathon2

Last year, I participated in a little something called the Day of Blogs — a 24 hour blogathon, with a post going up every half hour.  As a result of the effort, RAINN received a $454 donation!

This year, it’s called the Blogathon, and it takes place on July 25 from 9am EST to 9 am EST.  I will be participating again this year, but this time, I’m doing it for SAFER.

Regular readers of the blog will have seen me mention them often.  That’s because they run one of my favorite blogs.  But while those of us in the feminist blogosphere may tend to know them primarily as an awesome anti-rape blog, offline they’re an utterly amazing organization that works to implement real strategies for reducing the rate of sexual violence.  There are two things that I absolutely adore about SAFER, and which make them my favorite charity:

  1. They promote and help to implement real response strategies to sexual violence, that include not only comprehensive victims services but also real accountability proceedings for perpetrators.
  2. They promote and help to implement real prevention strategies that focus on (potential) perpetrators — and bystander behavior — rather than (potential) victim behavior.

And while their work is directly applicable only to college campus life, their strategies for community response and dialogue surrounding rape are useful with regards to organizing in many other venues.

Click here to sponsor. (If you want to see the running total of sponsorships, check out the Blog List page.) You can choose to either sponsor a flat amount, or an amount per hour (which would of course be 24 total, assuming I make it the whole way through).  When the Blogathon is over, you’ll be sent an email asking you to send in your donation.  Unlike last year (to my great relief), I’ll never personally see any of the money.  But please do put in your pledge amount through the site, so that we can keep track of how much we’ve raised!  I’d absolutely love to beat last year’s total and get to $500.

Here, dear readers, is what I need from you.  I’m getting into the game relatively late — less than two weeks out — but seeing as how I spontaneously decided to participate last year with only five days notice, I’ve got myself a ton of time, right?  Right.  But I still need help!  Here’s four things you can do to pitch in — and even doing one would be very much appreciated.

  1. Sponsorship! I know that money’s tight right now, but fun though 24 grueling hours of blogging may be, there is no point in doing this without the charity aspect!  So again, here’s where you go to sponsor my efforts for SAFER. Whether it’s $5 or $50, every bit helps!
  2. Promotion! Help get more sponsors on board by spreading the word to your circle through Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, whatever it is you use, or if you’re feeling extraordinarily generous, with a blog post of your own.
  3. Ideas! Last year, I learned very, very quickly that there is little time to think, and absolutely no time for in depth posts.  Which means that while I can’t write my posts in advance, I do need to research and get ideas in advance.  My plan is to, for the first 12 hours, blog about sexual violence related topics.  The second 12 hours, when I will be much too tired to blog about anything serious and have far fewer readers, I’ll be blogging about my other favorite topic — The Beatles, of course!  But I want to make sure that this year, unlike last, I have a good representation of topics.  That means I don’t want to just blog about male sexual violence against cis women, but a whole range of issues — rape of men by men, rape of men by women, rape of women by women, rape in prisons, rape against people with disabilities, rape of sex workers, rape in abusive relationships, rape against trans women and men both necessarily included as an aspect of all of the above and discussed separately, prevention strategies . . . and probably more that I’m forgetting at the moment.  So if you’ve got resources for me that will help out with that, I need to see them.  Please leave them here in the comments or email me at cara.kulwicki AT gmail DOT com.  The same goes for just any sexual violence news story or general topic you’d like me to blog on.  And it even goes for Beatles topics!  While that will be requiring minimal research and I surely have plenty of ideas (a song each half hour, for example), and while there will sadly be no time for Top 5 lists, I’m willing to take requests!  If there’s a song, or Beatles event, aspect of a band member, etc. that you’d like to see me comment on, I’m likely happy to oblige.
  4. Support! On the day, stop by and leave comments as much as you’re able.  Comments at night, of course, will be particularly appreciated.  I will almost certainly be setting up a sub-blog like I did last year, so as to not have every uninterested party unsubscribe from their feeds, but will let you know that address both in advance and on the day of the Blogathon.

Questions? Suggestions? Leave them in the comments!

Apr

18

Blogiversary

Filed Under blog news, blogging, personal and self-promotion | 19 Comments

Today, April 18, 2009, is the two year anniversary of The Curvature. And coincidentally, the post after this one will also be my 1,000th post.

Wow. Two years. One thousand posts. I’m not in a hugely philosophical or reflective mood, so I will simply say: that’s a lot of feminism, ranting and random Beatles stuff.

Those two years have been a lot of things. Busy, fruitful, stressful, exciting, infuriating, painful, joyful, sobering and rocky. After all, establishing oneself as the Feminist Beatles Fan Extraordinaire (FBFE for short, of course) may be worth it, but that doesn’t make it easy!

So, I just want to take a quick moment to say a big thank you to all of you who read. And especially those who have shown your immense support for my writing and/or for me personally, and also those who have at some point given me a much-needed smack upside the head. You all rock, every last one of you.

Jan

7

Final Yoko Post is Up

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Yesterday, the final post in my Yoko Ono series went up accidentally for about 10 minutes. It’s up for real now, but I’m getting word that the post activated (to a blank screen) in many RSS feeds yesterday and is not reactivating today with the updated and available content.

If this is the case for you, here is the link to the post: Addendum: Just Like Starting Over

I apologize for the inconvenience and for cluttering up your feeds. Also, thanks so much to everyone who has read and enjoyed the series and been so supportive throughout it. It means a lot.

Dec

15

Clickity Click

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For those who didn’t notice it on their own, I added some more icons to my list of social networking sites through which to share the post.  You can now easily submit blog posts through Facebook, Google, Tumblr, LinkedIn and SphereIt.  Let me know if there are any other networks you would regularly use the icons for that I missed — and of course, do click them! :)

Jul

26

Day of Blogs 2008 has begun!

Filed Under blog news, blogging, blogswarm, personal and self-promotion, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 4 Comments

This is where I will be writing for the Day of Blogs to benefit RAINN.

The first post is even up — only 47 more to go! Stop by, read, comment and show your support. I’m sure that I’ll need your help and encouragement to make it through!

Jul

25

Update on Day of Blogs

Filed Under blog news, blogging, blogswarm, personal and self-promotion, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 2 Comments

Look at that, we’re 92% of the way to my Day of Blogs goal! So close — and as I’ve said, wouldn’t it be great to surpass that goal? Now’s the time to give! Thanks again to everyone who has contributed so far.

I’ve decided to set up a little sub-blog for the day of blogs. I’ll post a very large link to it tomorrow at the start of the event. I’ve decided to go with this idea for several reasons, namely to not bury any and all posts I’ve written for the past several weeks and to not really piss off people who are subscribed to me through a blog reader. If you do read through a blog reader though, please add the event blog to your reader now!

I’m also putting out another call for help, this time more than just financial. I’m going to do my best tomorrow to put up as many posts about sexual assault as I can (though I’m sure that a few “here’s how I’m holding up” and “oh look, it’s a Beatles song!” posts will pop up). That’s where you come in: I’m compiling ideas for various things to write about tomorrow, and can use some help. Since I have to blog so very often, most posts will be short. So if you’ve got: news stories, links to relevant blogs or websites, relevant artwork/videos/music, and/or suggestions for topics that you would like to see me cover, please pass them along! It would be extremely useful if you could email me any links to cara.kulwick@gmail.com. More abstract ideas can be left in the comments.

Thanks so much. My one other request is that you all show up tomorrow, read and comment! I’m sure that I’ll need the encouragement and interaction to see it through. Wish me luck!

Jul

21

Day of Blogs

Filed Under activism, blog news, blogging, blogswarm, rape and sexual assault, violence against women and girls | 3 Comments

UPDATE 2: I take back the previous update — the people have spoken, and credit cards seem to win. So I’ve upgraded the account and now you can give however is most convenient for you. In fact, paying with a credit card may of right now be preferable, as it will make me feel better about the decision to upgrade ;)

80% of the way to goal! Wouldn’t it be great to surpass it? (*hint hint*) Thanks everyone!

UPDATE: Thank you folks who have donated so far! As of this update, we’re already 35% of the way to my tentative goal. I just want to let people know that if possible, it’s best to use your bank account with PayPal rather than your credit/debit card. This is because credit/debit card transactions are charged a small fee (5% + $.30) on the receiving end. Don’t worry if you’ve already sent your donation via credit card, because I didn’t realize the issue either, or if it really is your only payment option. While I’m happy to make up the difference in fees, the more I have to do that the less I can add on as an additional donation from myself! Especially since I can apparently only receive three more credit card transactions (eep!) and would have to upgrade my account and pay fees on everything in order to receive more. Thank you!

–

Alright folks, I need your help!

Because I apparently enjoy doing things on a whim, I just signed up for the Day of Blogs after seeing this post over at SAFER. Here’s how it works: on July 26th, a 24-hour blogathon begins. Participating blogs will be updated every 30 minutes. Each blogger has chosen a charity for whom they will collect sponsorships.

My chosen charity is RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network). They are the largest and most well-known anti-rape organization in the country.

Please help by donating below. I know that this is short notice, but that’s why I’m starting off with a modest goal and why I’m begging.  Any amount will help!

If you would prefer to pledge an amount per post, please email me at cara.kulwicki@gmail.com to let me know that you’re pledging, and I will contact you after the Day of Blogs with the total amount to donate. Posts are going up every 30 minutes, for up to 24 hours — in other words, 48 posts is the absolute maximum number of potential posts.

Thank you, everyone! I hope that I’ll be able to raise some money here and stay awake as long as possible on the 26th.  Please forward on this blog post or my ChipIn page to anyone else who you think may be interested.

Jul

14

Going to D.C.

Filed Under blog news, blogging, personal and self-promotion | 5 Comments

I’m leaving tomorrow, Tuesday the 15th, for the Planned Parenthood Organizing and Policy Summit in D.C. My little (almost) all-expense paid trip is courtesy of a scholarship, and I’m really psyched and grateful to be able to go!

I’ll be away until late Friday night. Since I unfortunately don’t have a laptop, I’ll most likely be out of contact for the entire trip. But I have scheduled some short posts to go up in my absence. My lovely husband has agreed to moderate comments for me a couple of times a day, so please be patient — and if you’re an asshole who gets stuck there until I’m back, deal with it.

I imagine that I’ll be spending most of my day frantically packing and finishing those short posts.  See you when I get back!

Jun

30

Note

Filed Under blog news, blogging | Leave a Comment

I’m having internet access trouble.  My modem is fucked and I won’t be able to get a new one until tomorrow afternoon.  Seeing as how I’ve already lost internet access three times in the last two hours, I have no idea whether or not I’ll actually be able to get anything up today.  I also might not be around to moderate comments.  Thanks for your patience.

May

4

Very Short Break

Filed Under blog news, blogging | 16 Comments

As I suggested I might, I’ll be taking a short break this week. Just a few days, and I’ll still be around moderating comments and such. In fact, taking time off from writing may give me a chance to finally get caught up on my blog reader and to go through the news for what is honestly the first time in a week.

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