Today in Japan it's Girls' Day. What to call this 3d day of the 3d month in cyberspace? 'Grrls Day, of course: it's the 1st anniversary of the birth of IntLawGrrls blog.We've grown a lot this last year. We began as a handful of pseudonyms, of women posting in the name of transnational foremothers. Midway through the year we found our own voices. Posting now in our own names, we number 23 -- plus more than a half-dozen colleagues who've contributed as alumnae or guest bloggers.
Nor have we forgotten our transnational foremothers. Our newcomers continue to dedicate their work on the blog to women who've inspired them, and all of us continue to
feed on that inspiration. To honor those women further, we introduce a new feature today: in our righthand column, just below our "visiting from..." map, you'll find a list of our foremothers, with links to all we've posted about them.IntLawGrrls have grown other ways as well.
There's readership, of course. At last count we've been visited more than 35,000 times (close to 70,000 page views) by readers from all over the world. Many of you continue to visit regularly and to comment when the spirit moves. Our heartfelt thanks.
Several of us have grown more comfortable with saying more more often, with sharing our knowledge outside the confines of classroom or workplace. For some of us this has meant more frequent posting (more than 1,000 items this past year!); for others, cross-posting on sister blogs. Just yesterday, IntLawGrrl
Marjorie Florestal published a revised version of her last post as a Sacramento Bee op-ed.Perhaps best of all is how we've grown as a community committed to giving a pink glow to international law, policy, and practice. Attending, when possible, one another's conference presentations. Celebrating, even from afar, each other's achievements: Marjorie's op-ed. Book publications by Elizabeth L. Hillman, Beth Van Schaack, and Connie de la Vega. My own wee honor last spring. The birth of Elena Baylis' daughter, our littlest IntLawGrrl. Naomi Norberg's successful defense of dissertation just last week, resulting in a Sorbonne Ph.D. with highest honors. We go, 'Grrls!
A very happy birthday to all IntLawGrrls, and, as my own Nana would've added, many, many more!
