I don’t have time right now to write a longer reflection on this article in the New York Times about lesbian communities and women-only land — but I wanted to post a link to it because it quotes my women’s studies professor and from undergrad, Jane Dickie, with whom I collaborated on an oral history project involving a group of women who have ended up living on a women-only land trust in Missouri.* As Joseph (who forwarded the link to me) says, “it’s the first time I’ve ever read the NYT and gone, ‘Hey! I’ve met that person!’ and it is kind of a strange feeling.”
Miriam, over at feministing, has already posted her reflections on the story and on the phenomenon of lesbian communities. If I have any Big Thoughts after sitting down to read the piece, I’ll be sure to follow up with a “take two.”
*You can read about the research project we did in the essay “The Heirs of Aradia, Daughter of Diana: Community in the Second and Third Wave” published in the Journal of Lesbian Studies (vol 9, no. 1/2, 2005) also published as Lesbian Communities: Festivals, RVs, and the Internet, edited by Esther Rothblum; also in “Responding to Aradia: Young Feminists Encounter the Second Wave” by Leslie Aronson, Adrienne Bailey, Anna Cook, Jane Dickie, Bethany Martin, and Elizabeth Sturrus, published in Iris: A Journal for Women (issue 47, Fall/Winter 2003).
Image from Hawk Hill Community Land Trust, Missouri, Summer 2005 (personal photo)
the feminist librarian 
Had you noticed that the NYT classified the story in the Style & Fashion section? Says a lot about how they think, doesn't it?
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Yup, I noticed that zrusilla. Clearly, they aren’t thinking much about the political aspects!
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hey Anna, I have never googled myself before and so for lark (and to avoid reading student papers for a while longer) I did, and up popped your blog. It was fun for me to remember the hours you put in transcribing interviews with the wonderful women in Missouri. There’s so much more to say, maybe it is still a retirement or sabbatical project:-)
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hey Anna — I have never googled my own name and so I just for a lark (and actually to avoid reading student papers for a little longer) decided to do it. And upcomes your blog. As I was interviewed for the New York Times piece I thought back to all of the hours of transcriptions that you did and how much more there is to say about the wonderful community of women we met in Missouri. maybe a retirement task for me in the years ahead 🙂
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