I have been asked the question, “What is Women’s Studies?”, by a number of girls now, and I think it would be great for you to learn what this subject is, because you all actually make up a huge part of it.

In general, Women’s Studies is the study of females’ experiences that have been affected by things such as race, gender, class, and others.

It is important to learn about the history of women (and girls!) because then we can explore their contributions to the world that involved many hardships along the way. Learning the history of women also helps us to compare the what women and girls have done in the past with the what we’re doing now in order to get a better understanding about how far we have come in making accomplishments.

Women’s Studies is essential because it looks into finding ways to make the world a better place for girls growing up in it today. By taking classes that are based on gender, you can learn about how the media may be hurtful for girls in some ways.

Some that you may have already noticed are TV shows that aren’t very diverse in their characters, the negative role models that are placed all over the inside of mainstream magazines, and many others.

Being a Women’s Studies major helps me to recognize issues that affect girls all over the world, and also teaches me skills to find ways to resolve such conflicts.

Many of you are already having wonderful discussions about important issues that are going on today, and that are great examples for topics that are actually brought up in Women’s Studies classes.

Some subjects New Moon Girls have dived into are:

• Phoebe, 14, New York, began a thread called Barbies where girls gave opinions about whether or not Barbie dolls should still be around, and based it on Barbies’ impractical body figure and the importance of attractiveness.
• This topic about Queen Elizabeth by Sydney, 13, North Carolina, comments on how William and Kate’s potential daughter would be allowed to be first in line for the throne.
• A poem by Palette, 10, Poland, describes inner beauty being far more beautiful than anything else.
• Faith, 10, Massachusetts wrote a short biography on Florence Nightingale, a strong nurse during a time of war.
• You can also learn even more about different women and girls throughout history at Women’s History on NewMoon.com!

As you can see, Women’s Studies includes lots of different kinds of subjects that anyone can find interest in! Are you fascinated by the subject of Women’s Studies and want to begin your own discussions? Check out Shout Out under the Voices tab, and find an area that fits your topic.

Whitney

New Moon Intern

Hello New Moon Girls!

We want to let you know about some changes that are being made to how you receive our NMG e-newsletter. Our former enews provider deleted our list of subscribers who want to get our weekly enews for girls. This provider wasn’t very helpful getting back our current lists. Because of this, we now have only the list of everyone who had ever subscribed to our enews, including anyone who ever unsubscribed.

We never spam and are very sorry we don’t have an accurate record of active subscribers anymore.

We need you to let us know if you would still like to have us send it to the email you signed up with. If you don’t want the enews, or have unsubscribed, email girlenews@newmoon.com with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. Of course, we hope you love reading our enews. And if you want to keep getting it you don’t need to do anything. To help make sure that you receive our enews correctly, please add girlenews@newmoon.com to your address book or contact lists.

If you would like to subscribe to our enews, but haven’t signed up yet, email us at girlenews@newmoon.com with “subscribe” in the subject line.

But if you don’t want to get any future issues of the enews, you can unsubscribe by just emailing girlenews@newmoon.com and putting the word “unsubscribe” in the reply. We’re very sorry for the hassle.  If you don’t want to get our enews, we want to immediately unsubscribe you.

If you unsubscribe from our enews you will still get emails related to New Moon Girls memberships and renewals. And you can keep up-to-date, stay in touch, or share about us with us at these links:

Here’s what you get with New Moon Girls enews:

• Weekly enews with occasional special editions.
• You hear first about exclusive NMG news and special offers!
• Spotlights on upcoming events, activities, and tips for both girls & adults.

Thank you for supporting us – we appreciate it.

Nancy Gruver, Founder

On May 23, 1810 the writer Margaret Fuller was born. So this week I would like to celebrate Margaret’s life by inspiring all of you to try out your own writing and reading skills!

Margaret Fuller was the first female to gain access to the Harvard Library, but in the 1800’s only men were allowed into! After completing a lot of research in the Library, Margaret went on to hold meetings with other women in order to start conversations among them and to help women learn that they could think for themselves.

In 1840 Margaret Fuller founded The Dial, which was a journal that she would edit for. Soon after that Margaret began to work for the New York Tribune where she was able to edit stories that made her more aware of equality, such as, helping women get the right to vote, equal education for all people, and human rights in general.

Margaret Fuller continued to write even when being told that she wouldn’t make it. Here are some tips to help you become the best reader and writer that you can be:

• Join a book club, New Moon Girls has an awesome book club which features a new author every month

• Keep a journal, it can even be a fictional one! Take a look at Emma’s , 12, Massachusetts journal entries about her “magical creature” family!
• Write for your school newspaper, Madison, 11, Oregon wrote about how writing for a newspaper can spread the word about important issues.
• Make your own magazines, novels, etc. from home; Nina, 10, Connecticut gives her ideas about do it yourself magazines and newspapers!

Writing can be a wonderful way to get you to motivate not only others, but also yourself. Writing let Margaret Fuller travel the world and encourage women that writing is key to bringing about awareness and change.

Take some time to write, and see where it could take you!

Do you have samples of your own stories that you would like to share with us? If so, post them under fiction! If poetry is another form of writing that you enjoy, we would like to read those too!

Whitney

New Moon Intern

All information about Margaret Fuller provided by http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/poet/fuller.html

"My friends and me on a trip to camp for school! Canoeing was like my favorite!" - Coletta, 11, Michigan

The school year is finally coming to a close and the weather is heating up, do you know what your plans for summer are yet? If not we have some great ideas to get you outside and to get your energy up!

There are so many fun ways to stay active during the summer.  One way to get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine is by going for a bike ride. Check out this story where Cupcake Queen, 11, California shares where she likes to bike, along with other tips on how to stay healthy.  Staying healthy is important for the summer, and all year long, so you can help your body be strong and feel good!

When friends are busy, or you just feel like hanging out with your favorite companion, walking your pet is another great way to have fun while getting exercise. Anna, 11, Hawaii, shared a video of her walking her dog, Kimo. Some neighborhoods even have dog parks, so if you’re feeling really adventurous you can ask a parent to go with to the dog park where you can do all other sorts of activities with your pet like playing Frisbee or teaching new tricks!

Don’t have a pet that you can take on walks? See if a friend or family member will let you borrow theirs’ for the day!

A cool way to express yourself and feel powerful is through dance. Dance helps to get your whole body moving and lets your creative side come out. Being outside can inspire all sorts of new dance routines and lets the world be your stage. Fiona,10, New Hampshire talks about her self- expression through dance and how it can build endurance.

Some other suggestions for staying active are

• 

  "For my eighth birthday, I had a bug scavenger hunt in our local park. I wanted my friends to discover a world of exploration almost in their own backyards. It was a big hit! My friends LOVED it!" - Megan, 8, New Jersey

  Go canoeing! Canoeing focuses specifically on arm strength, and on teamwork. Coletta, 11, Michigan shared a picture of her and her team on their school trip!

• Decorate the sidewalk; chalk is a wonderful way to put your artistic abilities to use; you can also create games such as hopscotch and relay races!
• Plan a scavenger hunt! Check out the picture of Megan, 8, New Jersey going on a bug scavenger hunt. You don’t even have to leave your backyard!
• Write and perform a show; you can dress in goofy costumes, you can dance, you can sing, you can pretty much do anything! A talent show or a play are two ideas that can get the spotlight on you!
• Read! After a long day of using all that energy, take a breather and give your mind a workout instead. Who knows, maybe a book or magazine will give you more ideas for what to do the next day.

Those are just a few of many activities you could do over the summer to stay healthy, strong, and happy. Do you have some ideas of your own about how to have an energetic and eventful summer? Share them with us in the comments!

Whitney
New Moon Girls Intern

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for all of your letters!  I love answering questions, and I hope that I can be helpful to each and every one of you!

I’d like to talk about an issue that is a problem for many girls that I talk to:  Feeling Left Out.  There are many times a girl may feel left out, and here are just a few:

• You might feel left out of a lunch table conversation when you don’t know what people are talking about and everyone else seems to be having a good time.

• You may feel left out because you didn’t get invited to a party or a sleep-over.

• Or maybe you didn’t make the traveling soccer team, and all your friends did, even the ones who aren’t as good as you.  That could make you feel left out.

• Your body may be less developed than your friends’ bodies.  They may be getting taller, or getting bras, or even getting their periods—and you may still have no curves whatsoever. That can make you feel left out, even if your mom reassures you that you’ll catch up to them pretty soon.

• Or your body may be more developed than your friends.  That can make you feel left out too.

• Your best friend may “dump” you and be best friends with someone else.  That can definitely give you a left out feeling.

Lots of times a girl feels like something’s wrong with her if she feels left out—like she’s “weird” or “unpopular” or “not good enough.” So what can you do?  How can you help yourself feel better, even if you feel left out?

Here’s how one girl helped herself feel better—and hopefully her ideas will help you find a way to feel better too!

Angie is 13 and knows what it means to feel left out. Her best friend Dara decided to be friends with a girl who has never been nice to Angie.  Sometimes the 3 girls hang out together, and when this happens, Angie feels “invisible” because Dara and the other girl laugh about secret things. Once they were all at the mall and the 2 girls left Angie to get a cookie—and never came back!  Angie had to go home alone.

Angie said, “That was it for me.  I knew I had to do something, but I didn’t know what to do. Then I talked to some other friends who felt Dara had changed—that she wasn’t the same person when she was with the other girl.  So that gave me an idea—I decided to branch out and be close friends with other girls.  I still consider Dara my closest friend because we’ve known each other since Kindergarten, but if she’s hanging out with the other girl, I just make plans with other friends. It just feels better that way.”

So take a tip from Angie—if you feel left out in a situation, try to hang out with people who help you feel included, wanted, and likeable just the way you are!

All best wishes,
Jill

Do you have more questions about what you should do in situations that stress you out? Ask Jill by clicking here, she’ll answer a new question each week!

Check out more advice that Jill has given to New Moon Girls members on Ask Jill!