Bluebird

I'm a big fan of Ariel Gore. She's the powerhouse who started the Hip Mama zine before authoring a few parenting books, a memoir, a novel, a book on writing, and editing two anthologies. Her work oozes honesty and I absolutely love her voice. I actually got to meet her eight years ago at a conference in Madison, attending her workshop on raising a teenager though my son was merely four. "I work with teenagers," I told her. "Closely... so it's like anything you have to say about parenting will be applicable for me too." (How embarrassing, is that? Not something to broadcast, I know. But the thing that makes Ariel so admirable is her bravery to tell things how they really are--warts and all, so I'm following her lead, hoping to achieve that same level of honesty in anything I write.)

When I saw Ariel Gore had a new book out, I checked to see if the library had it, which they didn't, but a nearby district library did. I waited until I was actually going to that library before checking it out and devouring the book. Bluebird: women and the new psychology of happiness is Ariel's attempt to make sense of the issue of women and happiness--tackling questions like why are women said to be more prone to depression than men, why are all the experts of the new 'positive psychology' field men, and "can a woman be smart, empowered, and happy?"

She did plenty of research, including attending a 'positive psychology' conference, and having women keep journals (herself included). She asked these women questions about happiness, such as did they think they were more or less happy than their mothers were and how heavily did they weigh their own happiness when making life decisions. The book is fairly short so she really crams it in there (which I loved) and is an enjoyable read for anyone interested in the issue of happiness from a feminist perspective.