Featured Community Member

Jan Eliot - Cartoonist

Stone Soup Cartoonist Jan Eliot became our very first community member. Eliot, a University of Oregon graduate in Women's Studies, began cartooning in 1979 and is now one of only eight women from among 250 nationally syndicated feature cartoonists. Stone Soup's entertaining, cranky characters can be found in 150 newspapers internationally.

Says Eliot, "I think there's a notion that feminism has become tired, [but] we still live in a country that does not elect women to the highest office. We still live in a country that speaks a language that is not… gender free… I need some day for someone to start incorporating humankind into our language instead of mankind-something people consider to be a frivolous little battle that we fight. But if you really look at our language, it's a fight that needs to happen, because it shapes who we are and how we view ourselves in the world.

The world is still a very bad place for women in general. It's important that centers like this exist, not only to keep the issues in the forefront, but also to do real scholarly work around them, so it isn't just assumption and hearsay--that we're really looking at what it's like to be a woman in this society and in the world.

	© 2002 Jan Eliot/Dist. by Universal Press Syndicate / All rights reserved / Reprinted with permission

I look forward to more connections between the community and CSWS, because I think that's really valuable. I want to stay in touch and know what's going on. Women are buried in history every single day. Every time someone rewrites a history book, a few more women get buried.

Keep up the good work CSWS!"

Note: For the first two years, members who contributed $1000 dollars or more received an original cartoon strip of Stone Soup signed by Jan Eliot. CSWS is grateful to Jan Eliot for her generous support.