Page 28 RAIN April/May 1983 identification with the lives of my foremothers. Never Done is well researched and well worth reading. Taking Hold of Technology: Topic Guide for 1981-83 American Association of University Women 2401 Virginia Ave. NW Washington, DC 20037 $4.00, 1981, 88 pp. The AAUW has made "Women and Technology” a major topic issue for their branches to study and these materials are a good place to begin for women who are truly unfamiliar with the issues of technology assessment, energy and communication technology, and appropriate technology. This volume makes a good text for a study group or class. It includes bibliographies as well as project and study ideas and a good list of "found” women in- -Lane deMoll Lane deMoll, former RAIN editor, is mothering two sons on the Oregon coast. The Grand Domestic Revolution: A History ofFeminist Designs for American Homes, Neighborhoods, and Cities Dolores Hayden MIT Press 28 Carleton St. Cambridge MA 02142 $19.95, 1981, 375 pp. For six decades, "material feminists” expounded one powerful idea: that women must create feminist homes with socialized housework and childcare before they could become truly equal members of society. In The Grand Domestic Revolution, Dolores Hayden, a professor of Urban Planning at UCLA, gives us an in- depth look at a vital and lively tradition whose vision we would do well to revitalize today—not only within our own homes but in our neighborhoods and nation as well. Hayden calls such vision seekers as Melusina Fay Pierce, Marie Stevens Howland, Victoria Woodhull, Meuy Livermore, Ellen Swallow Richards, Mary Hinman Abel, Mary Kenney O’Sullivan, Henrietta Rodman, and Ethel Puffer Howes "material feminists” because they dared to propose a complete transformation of the spatial design and material culture of American homes, neighborhoods, and cities. These women were either dynamic leaders in the communitarian movements of their own times or else they took much of their inspiration and example from this movement to promote solutions to women’s economic dependence and exploitation at the hands of society at large. They were active at every political level, from the household and the neighborhood to the municipality and the nation. The example they set for those of us who see the need for our own vision to expand into one for a national land-use policy that promotes cooperation, conservation, and equality is outstanding. Never has the time been more critical for those of us taking positive action in these basic areas to instill new direction to national policy. The Grand Domestic Revolution helps us to see ourselves a part of a long and positive tradition. —Mary Vogel ACCESS: GOOD THINGS Zami: A New Spelling ofMy Name Audre Lorde Persephone Press P.O. Box 7222 Watertown, MA 02172 $7.95, 1982, 256 pp. "As for history and the daily tasks at hand, I was brought up in the middle of Harlem in New York City in the middle of the last depression. I write with my toes curled up very tightly and one eye on the nearest exit.” Zami, Audre Lorde’s biomythography, is her growing-up story of being horn in Harlem, of parents from Grenada in the West Indies. It is her story of coming of age in the 40’s and 50’s in New York City. Her relationship with strong women/her mother. School, black friends and white. Living through the degrading racist experiences that make up every black child’s growing up in America. Being a "gay-girl,” the bars, the wonderfulness of those first love affairs. The textures, the smells, the five senses are engulfed in such vivid descriptions that they linger on long after the reading. Sharing her life history opens doors to all of our lost histories—of being black or white or gay in this country during those years before stonewall. The strength and courage on every page, the beauty of our differences, and the richness of black culture shared is like a bright landscape painting that draws us in and transforms our lives, making our awareness of the world larger. —Sarah Cook Sarah Cook is a cultural worker and a distinguished older dyke. MS.: Our 10th Anniversary- August 1982 MS.. Foundation for Education and Conununication, Inc. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018 $1.75, 1982, 266 pp. Frankly, it is hard to believe it has been ten years. I, for one, was an avid MS. reader for ateut six of those years till I ran out of money to spend on magazines and decided to continue subscribing to RAIN instead of MS. and TIME. Sometime in those first six years, MS. had begun to confuse me as to the direction the publication was pursuing. Unfortunately, despite strong feminist goals, advertising became the same as in most women’s magazines — women-oriented consumption of booze, insurance, panty hose, sanitary napkins, diamonds, cosmetics, and the like. Advertising aside, however, MS. in 1982 is still a leader in feminist culture and the politics of change in the real work-a-day world. The anniversary issue exploded with news notes about successful women in politics, business, and the 8uis, as well as kudos for feminist men and short stories, poems, and photographs celebrating the feminist perspective. The best thing about MS. is that everytime I open it, feminism in action comes pouring out. It is important for women and men to remember that we are all tied together in the same struggle for justice and equality. 'The 10th Anniversary Issue brought me home again. —Jane Peters Jane Peters, energy activist, is an urban studies graduate student. Prospering Woman: A Complete Guide to Achieving a Full, Abundant Life Ruth Ross Whatever Publishing 158 E. Blithedale Mill Valley, CA 94941 $7.95, 1982, 224 pp. Prospering Woman is like a cool hand on the fevered brow of a woman coping with change. Reading this book is like talking with a good friend who isn’t necessarily any wiser than you are, but who is wiser and more grounded at the moment you seek her coxmsel. It is filled with simple, profound truths, and
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