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Annie Murphy is a Portland-based artist whose new comic is making waves in the self-publishing world. Murphy discovered the title of her historical/biographical/autobiographical comic “I Still Live” written on the tombstone of 19th-century spiritualist Achsa Sprague. At the age of 20, Sprague came down with a joint disease which caused her to spend the next six years bedridden. But in November of 1852, Sprague was revived and credited her convalescence to the presence of angels and spirits. Her reconstitution inspired her to tour throughout the United States and Canada, spreading not only spiritualism, but women’s rights as well. Read on for more on Annie and some of her moving pen and ink works...

At long last, there's a place for y'all to start systematically giving us your thoughts and feedback about the future direction of B-Word/Bitch. Please go here to complete our survey! The survey will be up until December 31st. Please spread the word... Thanks!

The Grassroots Media Justice Tour is starting soon and might just be coming to your town. Check it out and spread the word! Bitch is proud to be a sponsor. In fact I was supposed to participate on the tour, but... well, as you all know, we need all hands on deck to sustain our beloved organization. I'm there in spirit...

Tour Highlights:

* Performances, multimedia, and interactive presentations from grassroots media makers.

* Workshops, trainings, and skill-shares.

We're thrilled to announce that just three short days after our announcement that we need to raise $40,000 by October 15th in order to print the next issue of Bitch, you've rallied together and propelled us beyond our $40,000 fundraising goal. In fact, by the time we looked up from our computers, you'd already donated $46,000! On top of that, you've spread the word far and wide, and offered powerful and inspiring words of support.

This tremendous and swift outpouring has been honoring and humbling—particularly because you've offered it during the worst days the U.S. economy has seen this year. Thank you. We're deeply grateful.

Please help us keep the momentum going and continue donating and offering your feedback and ideas. We know many of you have ideas and concerns about Bitch's future and sustainability, and we're grateful for the critical feedback and ideas you've offered so far. We're listening. And we assure you we're hard at work on a sustainable vision, based on your feedback (and we're at work on a survey to help facilitate this process).

Because again, it's critical that everyone who values independent publishing know what independent journalists are up against... 

By Tim Karr at the Huffington Post:  

In St. Paul this week, a new generation of media makers is under assault by the city's mayor and law enforcement officers.

These local officials think freedom of the press is a privilege that extends only to their closest allies in mainstream media.

This morning in my in box was an e-mail titled, "An Open Letter to the South End Press Community." I clicked right on it, before I read my daily-headlines e-mail or the note from Debbie asking my opinion on a Very Important Matter—and even before I read the note from the boy I am currently most crushed out on. Because I am a member of their Community Supported Publishing program, which means I get a copy of every single book they publish as a thank-you for my monthly donation, and that's how much I love South End, the publisher of some of the most important political books being pubished today. Just to make sure you know.

If you're not already familiar with South End, you should get to know them right now. They are, as their letter notes, "the nation's only unapologetically radical, feminist, mission-driven, and majority women of color publishing collective." Their list is tremendous: big names like bell hooks, Vandana Shiva, and Howard Zinn, plus less well-known but no less important books from Incite!, Andrea Smith, Kristian Williams, and many more.

And they're in trouble, because Borders is in trouble, and the unfortunate thing about the publishing business is that the actual producers of actual content are generally at the mercy of retailers and distributors when it comes to our financial survival. Just like Bitch, South End is a nonprofit organization that relies on its community of readers to get how important media is to social justice and to back that understanding up with cold, hard cash.