I spent the weekend at the Women's Media Center--started by Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan--as part of the first meeting of the Progressive Women's Voices Program:

a new media training and spokesperson program from the Women’s Media Center to connect media professionals with smart, media-savvy women experts in a variety of fields. Funded by a generous grant from the NoVo Foundation, the program will provide each of the participants with intensive media training and ongoing support to promote their perspective and message into the national dialogue.

I am humbled to be a part of such a wildly fascinating and successful group of women fighting for everything from immigrant rights to hurricane relief to intergenerational feminist dialogue to family-friendly policies in the workplace. The leadership over at the Women's Media Center are ridiculously knowledgeable, very intergenerational themselves (youngins Kathy Vermazen and Glennda Testone are show stoppers), and everyone has a good sense of humor (such a plus when you are trapped in a conference room for two days straight).

My favorite moment of the weekend was when the whole group was out to dinner, breathlessly anticipating the South Carolina primary results, and the restaurant staff changed the channel to SportsCenter right as the first data was coming in. The whole table let out a giant groan, exactly akin to the sound my crew of friends makes when the enemy team scores a touchdown. "Put CNN back on! Put CNN back on!" we all screamed feverishly.

You know you're with your people when they lose their minds over primary results. Anyway, thanks to the whole crew. I'll keep you feministing readers posted on how the training progresses. Right now, I'm focused on getting the message out to mainstream media that young people are politically engaged; we're just a bit more pragmatic and creative than what the country might be used to. Betta recognize.