It’s been true for a while now, but I’m making it official: Girldrive, as an ongoing presence in the blogosphere, is dead. I will no longer be posting updates, takes on the news, or Your 2 Cents. As much as I have loved maintaining this site for the last four years, I need to concentrate on my new-ish job as associate editor of GOOD (yay!) and other projects and pieces that I have in the wings.

But this doesn’t mean that Girldrive the project, or the concept or the spirit or the voice, is dead. The comforting (and scary) thing about the Internet is that it lasts forever. There are hundreds of women in these archives who embody the curiosity and motivation that drove Emma and me to go on Girldrive in the first place. There are important projects, declarations, and stories. These will always be here for all to search.

Thanks to every single person who spoke to us around the country and through the computer, who spread the word, who bought our book, and who decided to get off their asses and hit the road.

Enjoy the ride!

xo Nona

First, a Nona update: I’m still at WNYC, doing some work for their music talk show, Soundcheck. And I don’t mind telling you I’ve already imbued a little feminism into the hour. I just produced a piece about Nicki Minaj, where I got Feministing blogger Lori Adelman in the studio to talk about whether she’s good for women in hip hop:

I’ll also be producing segments on neo-burlesque and bad-ass rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson in the next couple weeks, so look out for those, too. Finally, the anthology of my mom Ellen Willis’s rock criticism, called Out of the Vinyl Deeps, is coming out in May!

Now for a cryptic, Girldrive-related update: I’m planning another political road trip this year. It has a little bit to do with this, and it channels this and this. I promise to blog about it very soon. Promise!

I’d also like to announce that this site will take a broader focus in the coming months. To me, “Girldrive” means more than discovering feminism–it means getting out of your comfort zone, talking to people who haven’t grown up with the same values and expectations and circumstances as you. It means having heated conversations face-to-face rather than screaming at people over the internet. While doing Pop and Politics, we had extraordinarily intimate conversations with, among others, Black Tea Party candidate Allen West (who later won a seat in Congress), a Mexican-American minuteman, and someone from the Tohono O’odham nation whose homeland is split down the middle–people who are so much more complicated than their 5-word ID suggests. It’s convinced me more than ever that a good reporter treads on the turf of their subjects–sits down with them, shares a cup of coffee, and listens until they’re done.

So this year, “Girldrive” will be about discovery and the road in the broadest sense. About feminism, of course, but also about people who don’t often get to speak for themselves, or people who are going out of their way to pop the comfy bubble of their lives.

More soon!

It’s going to encompass a lot of things–a call for jobs, health care, civil rights. It’s meant to, as my girl Sadye puts it, “remind our people of the hope and change we voted for in 2008.” It’s to balance out the voices of Tea Party activists and other rightwing conservatives. It’s to re-energize the lefties, who seem to have become quite complacent as of late. (And for the last few decades, but that’s another story.)

As a preview for the event, I am co-sponsoring a party in NYC this Thursday. The details are here:

When: 6-10 p.m. Thursday, September 16
Where: Gallery Bar, 120 Orchard Street, Manhattan
Who else: Bill DeBlasio and Scott Stringer at 6:30 pm, Iron Solomon at 8 pm, NSR deejaying

See you there!

Lyrics to “Girldrive”

Verse 1

Two girls on a mission
Keys in the ignition
on the road to listen
old friends with a vision

The tank is reading full
60 days to go
Stories to be told
Ready… set… go!

Chorus

Drive, Girldrive, Girldrive
Drive, Girldrive, Girldrive

Verse 2

So far from their home
Talk into the microphone

They never met before
But they opened up their doors

The highway is their guide
To find the way inside

The voices of the youth
Speak the bravest truth

Drive, Girldrive, Girldrive
Drive, Girldrive, Girldrive

Nona and Emma Bee
Came and talked to me

Krista in Tennesee
And Sharon in Fort Greene

“On the road” with a twist
Are you a feminist?

Thank you for your words
We listened and we heard

Drive, Girldrive, Girldrive

Also check out the interview I filled out on the website (one of those pieces of paper where the readers can see your handwriting, celebrity-style)!

Speaking of San Francisco media, Girldrive was featured in the San Fran Chronicle today! Yay!

Check it out…it’s pretty amusing:

Berkeley reading:

When: TONIGHT, March 4th, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley
What: I will be signing copies and reading from Girldrive, including profiles of some Bay Area ladies.

San Fran reading:

When: Friday, March 5th, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Modern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia Ave., San Francisco
What: I, along with Girldrive interviewees Rebecca Rosenfelt and Bea Sullivan, will be reading from Girldrive. Famed ecofeminist Starhawk might make a guest appearance, too!