Friday Book Review Bonus: Q&A with Girldrive‘s Maria Elena Buszek

The authors of Girldrive, the subject of this week’s book review, decided to make Kansas City a stop on their cross-country tour primarily because of Maria Elena Buszek, a published feminist scholar and professor at the Kansas City Art Institute. Buszek was acquainted with the mothers of both authors, Nona Willis Aronowitz and Emma Bee Bernstein, because of their mutual presence in the realm of art and feminism.

The following is an excerpt from a chat with the charming and candid Buszek, who spoke about the Girldrive experience, her new class on feminism at KCAI, and her upcoming book, Extra/ordinary: Craft and contemporary art.

The Pitch: What was it like to have Aronowitz and Bernstein visit you on their road trip?

Maria Elena Buszek: You know, they really didn’t stay very long. I think they were only in town for two days or so. They both went to school in Chicago, and they both really seemed to like the ways in which Kansas City, as a city, functioned a lot like their favorite parts of Chicago. Like, when they drove out to my neighborhood, I live in north Waldo where there’s a lot of older houses, and they were blown away by the historical aspects of the city that they weren’t expecting. They were running really late when they got to my house, and had to hit the road. I don’t think they stayed longer than an hour and a half. I pretty much fed them breakfast, we chatted, we took a picture, they split. They were apologetic that they couldn’t stay and talk for longer.