The Education of Shelby Knox

Yesterday the fantastic Courtney Martin (of Feministing and 'Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters' fame) posted 'A Day in the Life of a Feminist Writer/Activist' to shed some light on what she does as a freelancer everyday. I'm copying her. (She encouraged it, promise!)

5:35am. Pet Galahad, the heavy long-haired orange and white cat that's kneading my chest, before (gently!) nudging him to the floor.

7:15am. Finally give into Galahad's yowling. Drag myself to the kitchen to discover we are out of tuna; put on housemate's huge, heavy coat and trudge to the deli. More cat screams as I mix the food with the kitty vitamins and boil water for coffee.

7:30am. Sit down to emails. Procrastinate by reading the Daily Beast and Women's eNews first, set aside links in a Google Doc to be used in later posts, writing, and status updates. Finally get to the emails - make a note to post again for an intern.

9am. More coffee, write a summary for a column due next week and transcribe notes of a conversation with a fantastic 15 year-old feminist activist who interviewed me the night before for her new site on girls' activism.

10:15am. Update blog roll for the Pro-Choice Public Education Project's website, get lost somewhere on reproductive health blogs, end up writing a blog post for Amplify on sex ed legislation.

12pm. Run to store to get eggs and soy milk; return to find the cable and internet are out and housemate's new Macbook Air (the new bane of my existence) is burning up and sounds like it's going to take off and crash in the Hudson. Have a nice convo with Apple Care, a fight with Time Warner, get everything working, housemate is happy. Yay.

2pm. Return to the email (I get emails from young activists, colleagues looking for resources and advice, requests for events, and all the little maintenance emails that go with being a freelance speaker. I also get emails from the many lists I'm on, random Republican rhetoric from my father, and absolutely unforwardable links from several of my friends from my DC days.)

3pm. Research in prep for a summer course I am teaching to teen girls on activism and organizing. Call a friend on the staff and arrange notes for planning call with director.

4:15pm. More coffee. Start on the first of three speeches on choice and the new wave of feminist activism I am giving in sunny Florida next week. Stop frequently to try to remember what sun feels like - purr at Galahad at the memory.

6:20pm. Start thinking about packing for Florida and California - pull out a couple of tank tops and a dress and call it progress. Print the flight and event itineraries and remember I loaned my
bigger suitcase to a friend to go Australia. Give up on packing.

7pm. Go downstairs to check on the computer, get frustrated with Adobe Reader and conduct a laborious search for the 'Downloads' folder, which is hiding in the 'Trash'.

7:45pm. More email. Facebook. Twitter. More email.

9pm. Finally off the computer and into bed with a stack of books and notecards, looking for a historical quote for one of my FL speeches and a good chapter on womanist activism for 14-16 year-old girls.

1am. Wake up with light on, contacts in. Turn off light and TV and go back to sleep.