Brando's Blog

Naomi Wolf was excellent. She is truly a great speaker and cares very much for others. I was a bit nervous attending because I consider myself a feminist, but find that I do not agree with all feminists. I believe in equality for women: socially, in the work place, in education, everywhere. Everyone is equal and should be treated thusly. However, sometimes someone claiming to be a feminist will cross the line and seek the superiority of the female gender. This isn't really feminism at all and I don't agree with it at all. I was afriad that Naomi Wolf would be one such feminist.

I was pleasantly surprised. She turned out to express none of the radical, across-the-line attitudes toward the male gender. She only wanted to help women to realize that they needed to step up and take what is theirs in a society where they won't get it any other way.

She also talked about many topics that did not apply specifically to females. Naomi spoke of cultural trends that are universal. One such trend was the middle class trend to feel that financial power is a bad thing. Naomi said that she struggled with this after her first book became an international best seller. She suddenly had financial power so many others wanted, and felt guilty and undeserving.

She shared that as she came to terms with having financial power, she realized that it was a neutral force, as is any kind of power. It could be used for good or bad. Naomi explained that once she began tithing her income to church or charity she realized that the more financial power she gained the more she could give away to those who really needed it, making her financial power a force for good.

Another trend Naomi Wolf spoke about was the idea that you had to work for somebody out of college. She encouraged everyone to "dream their biggest dream" and then make it happen on their own. She described ways to seek out investment money to fund your dream. Often times it was money that, sink or swim, you aren't liable to pay back.

Naomi spoke about the way she funded her dream, the woodhull institute for women leaders, and explained how this could be adapted to our own dreams. She observed that the trend in our society is for this kind of knowledge to be given to the upper class only. She related how foreign the idea of a group of people just looking for someone to give their money to sounded.

I was glad to have been a part of Naomi Wolf's visit to SRU. There was an article about it in today's rocket issue.

Oh, and thank goodness it's friday because this week has been a rough one. I think I'm atoning for the ease of last week. I've got a break now though, fortunately.