I love your work, Anna. You manage to write about a depressing reality that many of us are navigating, and redefine it into opportunity. Thank you for this piece and for inspiring my creativity with yours x
This was such a great piece - it really made me think about how we view ourselves and how we limit our abilities/options by not thinking outside the box. As a lifelong fan of Madonna, I'm also in total agreement with you about how incredible she was back then - and still is, constantly finding new ways to bloom and inspiring a whole new generation each time. And I won't countenance any snarky comments about her age, appearance or attitude - I notice those same complainants rarely make the same judgements about a man. I loved this piece so much. Thank you for posting it. XX
many brownie points Iqbal re madonna looking tired - never hear such complaints about Rolling stones etc...
Creativity is playing outside the boundaries - chat bot AI can only "take over" if we do not choose to become the "boss" of it and take what we need and produce what only humans can
Yes! And this is so true. I read that piece in response to the New York Times piece and thought, yes! That’s what I’m doing anyway and have been doing for the past ten years. It’s hard work running a portfolio career but it’s bloody exciting because you have to keep your finger on the pulse, and there is nothing worse than that fake feeling of being comfortable, because the moment we feel it we should disrupt it imo. Be wary of feeling comfortable! (I feel a Substack coming on). Love you Anna 💕
Anna, I too love your work. You always have an upbeat feeling to your writing. It makes you sit up and listen. Very powerful and inspiring. I too read his article this morning, and was encouraged by it.
I've been following along with this conversation since that NYT article and the Substack responses. Born in 1969, I'm GenX to the core, and I'm far from dead. I'm working my way up to writing about the topic, and am loving reading everyone else's takes. I love that you worked Madonna into your perspective. She IS the perfect example of reinvention over the decades!
I just watched "Reality Bites" for the first time earlier this week. (I know, I know - how can I call myself GenX even though I never watched its seminal film?) I'm still processing it. One instant takeaway is that while I could definitely see the parallels between my 20-something-year-old self and the characters in the movie, I can also see parallels with my 55-year-old self. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Have I failed to grow over all these years, or am I demonstrating a continued ability to adapt?
Thank you. You expressed exactly how so many of us, GenX women feel especially those like myself in those creative industries you mentioned, and more importantly for me MADONNA as an artist! Fan of you both now...
Creativity is a messy business - it is the intersection of vulnerability and immense courage. Yes - reality can be challenging - yet is this not the whole point, that frisson that exciting that birthing of an idea and moving outside the confines of what was to create a new is?
We can wallow in self pity and ruminate on the rise of the machines. Yet - humans have imagination, we can go off tangents - we do instinctively know when a piece of writing or music is machine made.
We can harness the new and make it our bitch - not the other way round!!!
Thanks for your enthusiasm and support for women as creative change makers. Anna. One day I hope I can get up early enough ;-# to join with you and the other couragous women writing about change in your monthly workshops.
I feel moved to offer a glimpse into my life is a tiny example of how women have excelled in reinventing ourselves for survival into a new sense of Be-ing. My story is one of relative privilege as a white woman in an industrialised so-called advanced country. Yet I know from my life experience and research that women of all social, cultural, economic and geogrphical sectors can be inspired to follow and be pathbreakers and leaders simply by reinventing ourselves, saying 'No,' whatever the cost, to what is being forced upon us.
I'm a Boomer of 76 years, a survivor of the Swinging 60s, Beatle mania, flower power optimism, and huge socio-cultural change, such as the counter culture, civil rights and lesbian and gay liberation movements. Then, in the early 1970s, I and the rest of my generation had a rude awakening with the inflationary crisis, the oil crisis and political and economic instability of the early 1970s (sound familiar?). Change was forced upon us, as it is today. As a woman in Australia in 1972, I seized an opportunity to reinvent myself through personal tragedy and idealistic values in education, after I lost my sense of being and identity, as a healthy wife and future mother.
But that was also when Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister and his feminist wife supported his Labor government in bringing in radical reform that revolutionised women's lives. This allowed droves of 'mature age' women like me, too poor and with too little belief in myself beforehand, now to enter university and even be paid a small stipend to study!
It didn't take long for the forces resisting his changes to undermine Whitlam's government. About this same time, though, I had come to believe even more in myself, enough to reinvent myself into an aspiring Research Scientist in the new and exciting field of genetics. About four years and another reinvention later, I became politicised as a postgraduate into another reinvention--to translate my personal changes into a new, dynamic sense of agency and be-ing, as an academic studying and teaching about scientific, technological and socio-political change. A few more years of political growth (and the maturity that comes from the aging process) brought me to feminism and profound personal change in claiming a new reality of Be-ing as a lesbian feminist. As Mary Daly has described, it is 'the Ultimate/Intimate Reality in which we (all creatures) participate in by be-ing ourSelves' (Amazon Grace 2006, p.48) I have never looked back since then.
Those and subsequent socio-political, economic and techno-scientific changes have brought enormous personal changes for me and many other women--both losses and gains, whether in our relationships, employment, economic positions, status, disillusionment with corporatised education, not much in the way of a formal career but so much more in many other valuable life experiences.
Even my feminist lesbianism has been rejected by feminist claims I am 'really' bisexual. But our conflicting views depend on whether or not one believes in biologically determined sexuality. I don't believe that's a scientifically provable 'fact', just as I don't believe in gender identity as a 'fact'. I do believe in the power of political persuasion, whether it applies to the positive ideology of lesbian feminism or the destructive power of gender identity deology that is attempting to destroy our hard fought for rights as women, whatever our sexuality. I am, of course, willing to admit to a different (unquestioned) past heterosexuality that I have soundly rejected in a long-term unchanging reinvention of myself as lesbian. I refuse a 'fixed' yet 'fluid' bisexuality, somehow freefloating outside a context of time and agency and political choice.
Madonna didn't and doesn't quite do it for me, as she did for my Gen X friends like yourself. It's been the Second Wave feminists who have been my trailblazer creatives in forging a path for women to follow and enlarge into the richness of the global women's liberation movement today. We are definitely required to fight back against the many headed hydra of misogyny. It is an honour to join forces with you and many, many like-minded women. There is no turning back. I'm happy to live and die for this cause as long as I am lucky enough to keep on aging. There is nothing left to lose and so much to gain in solidarity with my sisters through my online writing on the Substack platform and the website of the Coalition of Activist Lesbians (https://coal.org.au), when my health and political commitments allow it.
Thank you for creating this space for me to express myself here. Your space has been a valuable gift to me. I hope my contribution to your ideas has been a gift to you and/or your readers, too. I am unsure whether this breaks any 'rules', but I would like to republish this in my Substack, as it holds some ideas that I have been wanting to develop and express there.
I love your work, Anna. You manage to write about a depressing reality that many of us are navigating, and redefine it into opportunity. Thank you for this piece and for inspiring my creativity with yours x
Awww this is lovely to hear, I’m so pleased my words feel that way to you, Louise x
Great post, Anna, but "knackered??" From someone north of 60 years and from the States -- I had to look that word up.
🤣🤣 sorry, Nancy! Xx
more British parlance - how about cream crackered... (ie knackered) will have you speaking English in no time ;)
This was such a great piece - it really made me think about how we view ourselves and how we limit our abilities/options by not thinking outside the box. As a lifelong fan of Madonna, I'm also in total agreement with you about how incredible she was back then - and still is, constantly finding new ways to bloom and inspiring a whole new generation each time. And I won't countenance any snarky comments about her age, appearance or attitude - I notice those same complainants rarely make the same judgements about a man. I loved this piece so much. Thank you for posting it. XX
Ah thank you, Iqbal! I’m glad you enjoyed it! X
many brownie points Iqbal re madonna looking tired - never hear such complaints about Rolling stones etc...
Creativity is playing outside the boundaries - chat bot AI can only "take over" if we do not choose to become the "boss" of it and take what we need and produce what only humans can
Yes! And this is so true. I read that piece in response to the New York Times piece and thought, yes! That’s what I’m doing anyway and have been doing for the past ten years. It’s hard work running a portfolio career but it’s bloody exciting because you have to keep your finger on the pulse, and there is nothing worse than that fake feeling of being comfortable, because the moment we feel it we should disrupt it imo. Be wary of feeling comfortable! (I feel a Substack coming on). Love you Anna 💕
Anna, I too love your work. You always have an upbeat feeling to your writing. It makes you sit up and listen. Very powerful and inspiring. I too read his article this morning, and was encouraged by it.
Oh thank you so much, Ellie! I'm so pleased to hear this.
I've been following along with this conversation since that NYT article and the Substack responses. Born in 1969, I'm GenX to the core, and I'm far from dead. I'm working my way up to writing about the topic, and am loving reading everyone else's takes. I love that you worked Madonna into your perspective. She IS the perfect example of reinvention over the decades!
I just watched "Reality Bites" for the first time earlier this week. (I know, I know - how can I call myself GenX even though I never watched its seminal film?) I'm still processing it. One instant takeaway is that while I could definitely see the parallels between my 20-something-year-old self and the characters in the movie, I can also see parallels with my 55-year-old self. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Have I failed to grow over all these years, or am I demonstrating a continued ability to adapt?
Love you Anna, but will agree to disagree about Madonna. Have heard via friends who had kids who worked for her that she treats her staff terribly. 😞
Oh dear, Sarah. That’s not very good to hear 😬
🥴
I’ve been writing such a similar post! Minus Madonna. Great minds xxx
Great minds indeed! can't wait to read yours xx
Thank you. You expressed exactly how so many of us, GenX women feel especially those like myself in those creative industries you mentioned, and more importantly for me MADONNA as an artist! Fan of you both now...
Awww thanks Krista! I’m glad this piece spoke to you. X
Creativity is a messy business - it is the intersection of vulnerability and immense courage. Yes - reality can be challenging - yet is this not the whole point, that frisson that exciting that birthing of an idea and moving outside the confines of what was to create a new is?
We can wallow in self pity and ruminate on the rise of the machines. Yet - humans have imagination, we can go off tangents - we do instinctively know when a piece of writing or music is machine made.
We can harness the new and make it our bitch - not the other way round!!!
Thanks for your enthusiasm and support for women as creative change makers. Anna. One day I hope I can get up early enough ;-# to join with you and the other couragous women writing about change in your monthly workshops.
I feel moved to offer a glimpse into my life is a tiny example of how women have excelled in reinventing ourselves for survival into a new sense of Be-ing. My story is one of relative privilege as a white woman in an industrialised so-called advanced country. Yet I know from my life experience and research that women of all social, cultural, economic and geogrphical sectors can be inspired to follow and be pathbreakers and leaders simply by reinventing ourselves, saying 'No,' whatever the cost, to what is being forced upon us.
I'm a Boomer of 76 years, a survivor of the Swinging 60s, Beatle mania, flower power optimism, and huge socio-cultural change, such as the counter culture, civil rights and lesbian and gay liberation movements. Then, in the early 1970s, I and the rest of my generation had a rude awakening with the inflationary crisis, the oil crisis and political and economic instability of the early 1970s (sound familiar?). Change was forced upon us, as it is today. As a woman in Australia in 1972, I seized an opportunity to reinvent myself through personal tragedy and idealistic values in education, after I lost my sense of being and identity, as a healthy wife and future mother.
But that was also when Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister and his feminist wife supported his Labor government in bringing in radical reform that revolutionised women's lives. This allowed droves of 'mature age' women like me, too poor and with too little belief in myself beforehand, now to enter university and even be paid a small stipend to study!
It didn't take long for the forces resisting his changes to undermine Whitlam's government. About this same time, though, I had come to believe even more in myself, enough to reinvent myself into an aspiring Research Scientist in the new and exciting field of genetics. About four years and another reinvention later, I became politicised as a postgraduate into another reinvention--to translate my personal changes into a new, dynamic sense of agency and be-ing, as an academic studying and teaching about scientific, technological and socio-political change. A few more years of political growth (and the maturity that comes from the aging process) brought me to feminism and profound personal change in claiming a new reality of Be-ing as a lesbian feminist. As Mary Daly has described, it is 'the Ultimate/Intimate Reality in which we (all creatures) participate in by be-ing ourSelves' (Amazon Grace 2006, p.48) I have never looked back since then.
Those and subsequent socio-political, economic and techno-scientific changes have brought enormous personal changes for me and many other women--both losses and gains, whether in our relationships, employment, economic positions, status, disillusionment with corporatised education, not much in the way of a formal career but so much more in many other valuable life experiences.
Even my feminist lesbianism has been rejected by feminist claims I am 'really' bisexual. But our conflicting views depend on whether or not one believes in biologically determined sexuality. I don't believe that's a scientifically provable 'fact', just as I don't believe in gender identity as a 'fact'. I do believe in the power of political persuasion, whether it applies to the positive ideology of lesbian feminism or the destructive power of gender identity deology that is attempting to destroy our hard fought for rights as women, whatever our sexuality. I am, of course, willing to admit to a different (unquestioned) past heterosexuality that I have soundly rejected in a long-term unchanging reinvention of myself as lesbian. I refuse a 'fixed' yet 'fluid' bisexuality, somehow freefloating outside a context of time and agency and political choice.
Madonna didn't and doesn't quite do it for me, as she did for my Gen X friends like yourself. It's been the Second Wave feminists who have been my trailblazer creatives in forging a path for women to follow and enlarge into the richness of the global women's liberation movement today. We are definitely required to fight back against the many headed hydra of misogyny. It is an honour to join forces with you and many, many like-minded women. There is no turning back. I'm happy to live and die for this cause as long as I am lucky enough to keep on aging. There is nothing left to lose and so much to gain in solidarity with my sisters through my online writing on the Substack platform and the website of the Coalition of Activist Lesbians (https://coal.org.au), when my health and political commitments allow it.
Thank you for creating this space for me to express myself here. Your space has been a valuable gift to me. I hope my contribution to your ideas has been a gift to you and/or your readers, too. I am unsure whether this breaks any 'rules', but I would like to republish this in my Substack, as it holds some ideas that I have been wanting to develop and express there.