Blakely, Mary Kay

Numerous Organizations

Blakely has been involved with a number of organizations whose main objectives are to empower women to become the most productive members of society they can be. She is on the National Advisory Board for Women's Enews, which is a large Website covering news specifically tailored to women and women's issues. The main objective of Women's Enews is to allow women be completely informed in every aspect of life. Blakely is also involved with Journalism and Women's Symposium (JAWS), a group that brings together journalists, journalist instructors, and researchers from across the United States and abroad to empower women in journalism. She has served on the Board of the Directors for JAWS and currently serves on the Minority Mentor Program.

Influential Editor

Additionally, Blakely has been a contributing editor to Ms. magazine since 1981. Ms. magazine, first published in 1971, was revolutionary in its ability to turn from an insert in New York Magazine into a worldwide feminist voice. Ms. magazine is credited with bringing feminist issues, women's rights, and women's points of view to conventional society. Another organization with which Blakely has an interest is the National Writer's Union, where she is on the advisory board. With 1,600 members, the National Writer's Union is the only union that represents freelance writers by providing assistance in all areas of life, including jobs and insurance.

Blakely is also a former “Hers” columnist for the New York Times. She was also on the board of directors for MOMbo, a radio broadcast that subsisted from 1990 to 2007; its goal was to discuss motherhood from various perspectives.

Accomplished Writer

A prolific writer, Blakely writes her novels with moving prose and poignantly describe topics such as raising two sons after a divorce. Having married in the 1970s, Blakely humorously explores the crossroads of motherhood and feminism during the women's movement in American Mom: Motherhood, Politics, and Humble Pie (1994). She has also authored [Page 133]the critically acclaimed Wake Me When It's Over: A Journey to the Edge and Back (1989) which is Blakely's autobiographic account of the nine days she spent in a diabetic coma, at age 36, in a New York hospital. Mary Kay Blakely's American Mom: Motherhood, Politics, and Humble Pie (2004) was one of the first memoirs to concentrate on her experiences of motherhood. She describes raising two sons (Ryan and Darren) as a single mother (after a marriage of 10 years ended in divorce) and emphasizes the imperfect nature of her parenting. This is reflected in two of the rejected titles: The Good Mother—Not and Raising Outlaws. She emphasizes the practical difficulties faced by single mothers, from societal disapproval to too little money, as well as the ordinary problems of bringing up children.

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