“The amazing tales of Jewish girls on six different continents who celebrate the Jewish ritual of becoming a woman.” —The Jewish Journal Winner, Spirituality Category, New England Festival Best Books of the Holiday Season Divided into nine regions—Africa; Asia; Australia and New Zealand; the Caribbean, Europe; the former Soviet Union, former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe; Latin America; the Middle East and North Africa; and North America—this book tells the story of each girl’s unique journey and introduction into womanhood. Gorgeously illustrated with more than 100 black and white family photographs, Today I Am a Woman also captures each area’s unique customs and how they affect the lives of Jewish girls and the local Jewish community’s traditions. “The editors scoured the globe to find powerful, varied, and moving depictions of bat mitzvah in the contemporary Jewish world. This is a rich resource for anyone interested in understanding religious diversity, folk practices, and cultural creativity through the lens of gender.” —Deborah Dash Moore, former Director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies and a Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of History and Judaic Studies, University of Michigan “The stories speak for themselves, putting Jewish girls and women on the center of the stage, into the limelight, and at the pulpit. By showcasing ritual innovation, they make a point about Judaism’s elasticity and women’s agency.” —Hasia R. Diner, coeditor of Remembering the Lower East Side

Today, I Am a Woman is about a woman living for today, putting the past behind her and finding out what is in store for her tomorrow, which is everything. Sophia Marshall is a perceptual poet, characterized by her treatment of the senses. She has been compared to e.e. cummings, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson, and Sappho. She is a credentialed journalist and music critic, as well as a poet, with credits in several jazz journals and other music publications, and she has published letters on politics in The Boston Phoenix. She has a blog, The Flash Boston (theflashboston.com), covering Boston music and culture. She is a transgender woman. She lives in Boston.

What makes a woman/man? What drives them? What hurts them, damages them? In a matching set of stories, Thirteen Press authors explore all facets of woman and man, some of Thirteen's most talented ladies writing about women, the talented men writing about men, from their hearts. Enjoy... explore... see where these stories take you and how many of your dark secrets are revealed in another's words...

The Womens Feminist Movement (Women's Lib) started in the western world in the 1800's and has gone through three waves. The 'first' wave was in the 1800's, and was orientated around the stations of middle or upper class women. The 'second' wave began in the 1960's. It addressed unofficial inequalities, sexuality, and perhaps the most controversially, "reproductive rights." The 'third' wave started in the 1980's and continues through the present. It focused on embracing contradictions, conflict and irrationality. I AM WOMAN --The Book, is the 'fourth' wave in the Feminist Movement. It is the final wave : the Tsunami Wave! The book, like the women's organization, will help quide women to empowerment and transformation. It is for women seeking to re-invent themselves, and becoming the beautiful butterfly they really are. I AM WOMAN will finally re-unite men and women, and women can now stand tall and proudly say : "I AM WOMAN"....Watch me soar!

When woman removes all the definitions that the world uses to define her, everything from her job to her wardrobe; from her hair and nails to the job she keeps, or even the job roles and stereotypes of cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, tending to children, and paying bills, what is left? What does the bare, vulnerable, unadulterated woman look like? What does she need? What does she desire? What does she express? The pieces in this book are only small reflections of the larger picture. I, being one woman, can fathom only so many feelings and expressions that only when we collect the expressions of every woman on this earth, can we realize the full essence and beauty of woman. For now, let us begin the conversation inch by inch, poem by poem, woman by woman.

One of the foremost Native writers in North America, Lee Maracle links her First Nations heritage with feminism in this visionary book. "Maracle has created a book of true wisdom, intense pride, sisterhood and love." -Milestones Review