open swim

[Mary Bucholtz]

The facilitators are concerned about the silence on the list after our
initial flurry of activity, and we've received some feedback that the
structure may be inhibiting people from talking. So we're now calling for
"open swim": Jump in and discuss whatever issues concern you. We know this
is a difficult time of year for many people, but even brief comments will
be invaluable in making GALA the kind of organization we all want. To get
you going again, here are some questions that we haven't yet addressed in
our formal discussion, as well as some that are currently on the table:

0. Continuing our earlier discussion: Should the organization take an
explicitly feminist stance? If so, how?
1. Should the organization be informed by interdisciplinary studies or
specific language and gender methodologies?
2. Should the organization be national? international? nonnational?
3. What do we mean by "gender and language"? (men as well as women? other
'genders'? sexuality?)
4. What relationship should there be between this organization and other
gender and language organizations?
5. What should the organization be called?
6. Should we have a journal? What relation will it have to other language
and gender journals?
7. Should we have a conference? What relation will it have to other
language and gender conferences (especially the Berkeley conference)?
8. Should the organization recognize scholarly achievement? How?
9. How should the organization be structured and governed? How should
elections work? How can different groups be adequately represented in the
governing structure? How can we ensure that distribution of work is fair?
How should bylaws and policies be established?
10. How should finances be handled? Dues?

At this point we'll be airing ideas, not closing off discussion and voting.
We'll figure out later how to make sense of everything that comes up; right
now we need to hear everyone's thoughts. Please speak up about topics that
you feel strongly about--this organization is for all of us, so we want to
be sure it represents all of us.

Kira, Mary, Megan, Sara