Hugo Schwyzer

Tonight’s opening event of the WAM 2008 conference here in Boston was a keynote address by legendary, 87 year-old White House correspondent Helen Thomas. Speaking to a crowd of several hundred “WAMmers”, many of whom — with considerable justification — lionize her for her extraordinary career as the thorn in the side of nine presidents, Thomas gave a strongly-worded call to action for young feminists and journalists.

As you’d expect, Thomas shared a great many anecdotes and reminiscences of her long career holding presidents accountable. But both during her talk and the following (lengthy) Q&A session, she returned to what was surely her central theme: the need for courage on the part of those who are angry, dispirited, and frustrated by the current state of the American media. In a very real sense, Thomas — whom Ann Friedman of Feministing introduced as the “patron saint of those who will not shut up” — embodies what is perhaps the second most essential quality for any feminist who aspires to change the world. The first essential quality, of course, is a passionate commitment to women. The second, I think, is a willingness to be tenaciously uppity and relentlessly confrontational towards injustice. For six decades, Thomas has been “getting in the faces” of those who hold (and frequently abuse) power. Those who were not born until Thomas was old enough to collect Social Security do well to learn from her tenacity and her fearlessness.

Thomas wasted little time stepping into the contentiousness of the current presidential campaign. Though she said nothing to slight Barack Obama, she did take issue with what she saw as a strong “anti-Hillary” bias in the media. Addressing what she may or may not have known is one of the most explosive issues for young feminists today, Thomas said (and I wrote this down verbatim): “being racist is more verboten than being anti-woman.” Like Gloria Steinem in the New York Times a few months ago, Thomas seemed to take a clear side in the “racism v. sexism” struggle. As she spoke, I looked around the auditorium; I saw a few nods, a few slow headshakes, and I heard a couple of audible gasps of disappointment. But regardless of how one feels about revisiting the “suffering Olympics”, Thomas’ larger point about the lamentable coverage of the Clinton campaign was well-received.

Journalism is not my field, except in the very distant sense that this blog has some journalistic aspirations. But listening to Thomas tonight, and listening to the terrific questions thrown her way, I got a real sense that now is both a perilous and exciting time for a young person to be thinking about life as a writer and reporter. On the one hand, major networks and major newspapers have cut back drastically on their reporting of serious news. On the other, there’s tremendous opportunity for young journalists to harness the “new media” (blogs, vlogs, online magazines) to reach an ever-growing audience. Making a living through this kind of “new media” work is very hard. I blog for pleasure, not livelihood. With my teaching as the island of support on which I stand, my writing is a passion and a hobby rather than a means of support. (Though I do have some books in my head I long to see published). To be surrounded, as I am tonight, by so many women who are working so hard to find a way to make a living with words, words that matter and change the world, is humbling.

At the reception before the Helen Thomas talk, I got the chance to meet a few folks of whose work I am a devoted fan: the aforementioned Ann Friedman, Jaclyn Friedman, Jessica Valenti, Jill Filipovic, and Courtney Martin. Courtney and I got to chat for a few minutes, and I was able to pass along how much my students are enjoying her Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters. (Which will be coming out at the end of summer in paperback, apparently with a revised title.)

I’ve counted seven other men here at the conference so far; only one other was to be seen at the benefit reception. This is, after all, not only a conference about women but for women. I’ve been to conferences in the past where I was one of only two or three men among hundreds of women, so the ratio is slowly improving.

Off into the cold, and more tomorrow.