This weekend, I’m attending the Center for New Words’ Women, Action & the Media conference in Cambridge, thanks to a scholarship that subsidizes part of my registration fee. It’s my first time going, and I’ll be live-blogging the whole thing for the benefit of those who can’t attend.

What kind of conference is this? The official goal is “to bring together everyone who has a stake in achieving gender justice in media, in order to share facts and ideas, develop skills, build collaborations, bridge differences and create action plans.” In other words, this is SXSW if Jessica Valenti ran the show. Two things make WAM! especially progressive: 1) it is inclusive of all communities, including those typically marginalized by class, race, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and 2) it empowers participants with the tools they need to affect real change.

Naturally, I have a huge list of sessions I want to attend and have to do some narrowing down:

Saturday, March 28, 2009
11:00am-12:30pm

• FOIA for Feminists: Investigative Techniques You Can Use
• How to Work in the Mainstream Media—and Why You Want to
• In/Out of Focus, Broadening a Feminist Lens: Gender, Non-Conformity and the Media

2:00pm-3:30pm

• Feminist Blogging: From Journalism to Activism in Election Years and Beyond
• Get Inside the Minds of Editors
• Global Citizens, Global Journalists: Women journalists organizing around the globe
• Women’s Voices & Media Policy

4:00pm-5:30pm

• A WAM! Roundtable on the Economy: Crisis & Opportunity
• Got Democracy? Media and Movements
• More Than Guilty Pleasures: Sexism, Racism, Consumerism & Other Hazards of Reality TV
• New Administration, New World Order: The Top Five Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights Stories You’ll Want to Track - And How

Sunday, March 29, 2009
9:30am-11:00am

• Get Opinionated: Write and Publish Persuasive Op-Eds for a National Audience
• How to get your P.O.V. heard: A panel with the producers of the P.O.V. (Point of View) series on PBS
• New Technology, New Activism: Case studies
• Women & Investigative Journalism

11:30am-1:00pm

• Make Money From Your Writing: How to Negotiate Money and Rights with Editors
• Pulling the Plug on Rape Culture One Word at a Time: Using Accuracy to Undermine Dangerous Attitudes and Injustice

If there’s a session that particularly interests you (either from the full list or my shortened one here), let me know and I’ll try to attend or get the notes from someone. I’d love to get some input on which sessions to keep on or cut from my list. (The speakers for each panel can be found on the website.)

In addition to the four breakout sessions, I’ll be at the first keynote, Saturday lunch, the closing brunch, the Queer Women of Color party, and possibly a film screening. I’m especially looking forward to seeing comedian Sarah Haskins (Harvard ‘01, represent!) kick some sexist media ass on Saturday night. Stay tuned for the live coverage.