Revisiting “Writing Not Raging”

Hi everyone! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Kaitlyn O’Hagan, and I just graduated from Macaulay @ Hunter in May, where I studied history and public policy. I was super bummed that I would no longer be a student when this course was being offered, but excited to take it up as an auditor.

I’ve long described myself as a feminist but it wasn’t until last fall, when I took a course on “Feminism, New Media and Health” that I really started to think about the word seriously and what it meant in terms of my life and environment. The course was literally a life-changing experience, and I find my daily thoughts constantly affected by work from that semester. The course also made me think more seriously about “new media” (technology/digital media/social media–I haven’t really spent enough time sorting through the differences between these terms and often use them interchangeably) and made me a twitter evangelist–though I’ll admit I was already somewhat of a social media addict (find me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. if you so wish). While I of course understand and acknowledge negative aspects of the tech-centric era in which we live, I try to embrace technology/social/new/digital media for its positive potential (and…it’s fun!).

For the feminism course I took last year, we had to maintain a blog, which I did: Writing Not Raging. I wish I had kept it up but am hoping that this course reinvigorates my thinking and writing around feminism, technology, and their intersection.

My other “academic” interests include creative writing, women’s history, education policy, and diabetes (I’m a type 1 diabetic)–all of which invariably inform my (feminist) perspective. I’m really looking forward to interacting with everyone and “hearing” your thoughts, and hope to make some of the in-person meetings despite being an unofficial auditor.