[Herstory] December CWLU Herstory E-Zine

[herstory-admin at cwluherstory.org]

Hello: Welcome to the December issue of the CWLU Herstory E-Zine. 
Please send us news tips about upcoming events you know about. Also, 
don't be shy. Send us news about yourself and what you are doing. 
Feminist networking is part of what we are about. Forward our E-Zine 
to colleagues and friends who may want to subscribe.

Remember: Buy online from Women and Children First Books or the 
History Channel.com using the links from our homepage. The links are 
the History Channel.com and Women and Children First logos. It's a 
great way to buy holiday gifts like books, videos, music or other 
items. We will earn a small but much needed commission.

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We've remodeled the Feminist Salon with regularly updated feminist 
news from around the planet

Please check out our newly remodeled Feminist Salon. We now have 
feminist news updated hourly from Moreover.com and updated daily from 
the Feminist Majority. If you want the latest in feminist news, we're 
the place to go.

Vote in our new online poll: Should feminist organizations take a 
public stand against war with Iraq?

Our Chicagoland feminist calendar of events is starting to get some 
traffic. If you have a Chicagoland event to announce or a national 
event that Chicagoland feminists might like to attend, e-mail the 
details to infogal at cwluherstory.org. Being an all-volunteer group, it 
might take a couple of days to get it up, so please try to send us 
event notices as far in advance as possible.

Please send us articles, announcements, news stories, poems, essays, 
rants etc. to post on the Feminist Salon.  You may upload them 
directly to the Feminist Salon from your web browser. We are indexed 
by Google and your submissions should show up in that search engine 
pretty quickly. All submissions are reviewed before posting and must 
be approved. Submissions are also subject to  minor league editing 
for typos and syntax.

Are you a college teacher? Ask your students to send us the best of 
their women's studies papers. Students may upload their work directly 
to the Feminist Salon with their web browser. For grade school and 
secondary school students we have the GrrlSmarts section. They may 
upload directly with their web browser as well. All submissions are 
reviewed before posting and must be approved. Submissions are also 
subject to  minor league editing for typos and syntax.

Last month we mentioned that one of our favorite quotes from the 
Feminist Salon quotation database was, "What would men be without 
women? Scarce sir, mighty scarce." If you were wondering who said 
that, it was Mark Twain.

The Salon may be reached from our homepage links at 
http://www.cwluherstory.org or directly at 
http://www.cwluherstory.org/phpweb/. Grrlsmarts may be reached at 
http://www.cwluherstory.org/phpweb1/ .


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Former CWLUer? Early member of NOW or another feminist group? Would 
you like to be interviewed for student projects?

It's student project season again and we are starting to get 
inquiries from both primary and secondary students about doing second 
wave feminist history projects. We had a list of potential 
interviewees from many months ago, but we would like to update that. 
If you would like to be contacted, please e-mail 
infogal at cwluherstory.org. If you sign up and you are busy when we 
contact you, no problem. We'll move on to the next person on the list.

Were you a Jane volunteer? Not surprisingly, the Abortion Counseling 
Service is the most popular inquiry, so we especially need former 
Janes. Paula Kamen regularly refers students to our website when she 
gets inquiries about her Jane play. With the 30th anniversary of Roe 
v. Wade coming up, we expect more attention focused on the struggle 
for abortion rights.

All that is required are your experiences to share and your patience 
with the students. Schools do an uneven job teaching women's history, 
so don't be surprised by students coming to you with misconceptions 
and very basic questions. You may conduct your interview any way you 
wish, via phone, e-mail, or even in person if the student is in your 
area. It's completely up to you.

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So what's happening with the Graphics Collective poster reprints?

Not much. We check with Epson regularly to see if their new archival 
inkjet printer is available, but it's still being held up. Early 
product reviews we've read give it high marks, but for reasons 
unknown to us, Epson has not released it to the retail channels.

Hang in there, we have a computer ready and waiting. All we need now 
is the printer and some time to print.

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Joan Berman is back from the  8th Interdisciplinary Congress on Women 
at Makerere University in Uganda

The conference was convened to allow women from many countries to 
come together and to reflect critically on gender issues and upon the 
experiences of women. Joan will be on a panel at the Association for 
Women in Psychology annual conference in March to discuss the 
Interdisciplinary Conference.

After the conference, Joan visited Kenya with her new telephoto lens 
to take photos of wildlife and landscapes. She is the featured 
photographer at http://www.RainbowArtists.com for the month of 
December, so if you can't make it to Kenya this year, you can still 
take a virtual tour with Joan as your guide.

Joan is a former CWLUer and a member of our project. Her well 
organized collection of CWLU documents form the basis of our online 
archive.

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JoFreeman.com adds a new section on rightwing extremism in America

Jo invites you to read her recent articles on Neo-Nazis in America, 
the Christian Coalition ( now headed by a woman) and her comparison 
of today's "War on Terrorism" with the Cold War of yesteryear. Jo was 
personally singled out during the Cold War red scare and tells a 
chilling tale of officially sponsored attempts to damage her work in 
the civil rights movement. For those with eyes to see, it is a 
cautionary tale of where this country might be headed in our time.

Please visit http://www.jofreeman.com/rightreport/rightreport.htm  to 
access these articles.

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Paula  Kamen  explores the "shadow side" of female relationships in a 
Chicago Tribune book review

Paula recently had a major article in the Chicago Tribune reviewing 
Phyllis Chesler's Woman's Inhumanity to Woman and other books that 
explore the unsisterly side of life.  Paula concluded that these are 
not "woman bashing" books as some have charged, but rather-

  "... offer valuable, multilayered, introspective and solidly 
researched insight into the complex underlying power dynamics 
involved in women's relationships with women--and the bigger societal 
questions they raise. Meanwhile, in the process of critiquing women 
realistically, they don't idealize men's ways of dealing with 
conflict or brush their stereotypically more direct forms of 
aggression under the rug."

You may read the entire review online at 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/booksmags/chi-0211240011nov24,0 
,5318707.story?coll=chi%2Dleisurebooks%2Dhed

Paula is the author of Jane: Abortion and the Underground and more 
recently,  Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution.

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The Herstory Project still needs interns. Volunteer now!

Graduate and undergraduate students are needed to write, edit, 
research, interview, do audio/video, add documents, do publicity and 
lots more. Our projects are exciting and challenging.  You can pretty 
much design your own project or work with our suggestions.

If you need academic credit, you will have to work that out with your 
professors, but we're willing to help. We are a project of the UIC 
Center for Research on Women and Gender. Dr. Margaret "Peg" Strobel 
is our primary academic contact person.

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Did you get properly credited for your work on the CWLU Herstory Project?

We have a section of the site to recognize the many people who helped 
out on this project, whether their contribution was great or small. 
Please check http://www.cwluherstory.org/CWLUNew/contrib.html and let 
us know if you would like your name to be added. You may send along a 
short bio of yourself if you wish. You may also include your e-mail 
or a personal website address.

We haven't kept up with this section as well as we should have, so if 
we left you off, we apologize in advance. Please help us to correct 
any oversights.

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SO WHAT'S NEW ON THE HERSTORY SITE?

We added a memoirs from Naomi Weisstein and Ruth Carol about their 
experiences in the worlds of academia and  science during the 1970's.

Naomi Weisstein's article is entitled  "How can a little girl like 
you teach a big class of men?"--the Chairman Said and other 
Adventures of a Woman in Science".  In it Naomi, a research 
psychologist, details her various encounters with the pervasive 
sexism of the time. Naomi Weisstein is a former member of the CWLU 
and was member of the Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band.

Ruth Carol's article is called "I Want To Pick Your Brains: An 
Autobiographical Sketch of A Professional Woman".  Ruth Carol battled 
sexism at Columbia University while trying to do research in her 
field of nutrition. Ruth is the mother of Estelle Carol, a former 
CWLUer and our website designer.

Both Naomi's and Ruth's memoirs are posted in the Memoirs section and 
in the Feminist Salon section. We urge women now active in science 
and academia to visit the Salon and comment on these articles. How 
much (or how little) have things changed since the bad old days?

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Our timeline of Chicago and national second-wave feminism from the 
1960's to the 1990's  developed by UIC student Ann Medina, is now up 
at http://www.cwluherstory.com/CWLUAbout/timeline.html. We have some 
blank spaces, so read over the timeline and send us your suggestions, 
additions and corrections. There is a form at the bottom you can fill 
out and submit.

The timeline is an ongoing project and we welcome help from anyone 
who wants to help us expand it.

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We added the poem Shema by Aurora Levins Morales to our Feminist 
Salon. Aurora  generously allowed us to post a web audio file of her 
reading the poem.  Shema was written in the wake of Sept 11, 2001 and 
is dedicated to Aurora's cousin who died trying to save lives on that 
terrible day.

Aurora tells us that her book Shema: Writings on Love and War with an 
accompanying CD will be available soon. Aurora is a poet and 
storyteller whose Puerto Rican/Jewish background gives her a unique 
perspective on the world. Both she and her mother Rosario were CWLU 
members. You may reach her at RemediosCenter at aol.com.

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BOOK!

The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women: Exploding the 
Estrogen Myth" by  Barbara Seaman (Hyperion )

Due to be published in 2003, Barbara Seaman writes the long overdue 
history of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), tracing it back to the 
19th century when the 1899 Merck Manual listed a number of "remedies" 
for menopause.  "Often they contained heroin and opium, but they had 
a product called Ovariian, made from the dried ovaries of a cow," 
according to Barbara Seaman.

Visit 
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/nycu/health/articles/021118/18hrt.htm 
for a US News and World Report article on HRT that mention's 
Barbara's upcoming book.

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WEB SURFIN' WITH THE HERSTORY PROJECT

Here are some web links of interest to feminists. Please send us your 
favorite links. The Internet is a huge place and it's easy to miss 
the buried feminist treasures.
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http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~women/

H-Women is a good place to start if you are serious about women's 
history. Besides its excellent list of news, reviews and resources, 
you can sign up for their moderated listserv and find out what's on 
the minds of women's history scholars around the planet.

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http://www.tui.edu/

The Union Institute is a unique university learning experience for 
self directed creative people who want a real education-- not just a 
piece of paper tied up with a nice ribbon. With faculty like Judith 
Arcana & Minnie Bruce Pratt and graduates such as Rita Mae Brown, 
Aurora Levins Morales and Representative Danny Davis, it is worth 
serious investigation if you are a person who values ideas and how 
they can change society.

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http://www-dept.usm.edu/~mcrohb/

The Civil Rights Documentation Project is a comprehensive online 
resource for studying the civil rights movement in Mississippi. 
There is a complete listing of oral history tapes available as well 
as online resources including text, sound files and photos.  Some of 
the early pioneers of the women's liberation movement were civil 
rights volunteers in the Deep South and their civil rights experience 
was an important influence on the women's movement.

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FEMINIST EVENTS AND ACTION CALENDAR

Attention artists and poets! The movement to stop violence against 
women is looking for creative talent

Outspoken Art/Arte Claro is seeking poems and visual art pieces for 
its March 17-22, 2003 exhibit to be held at St. Thomas University, 
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Outspoken Art/Arte Claro advocates the United Nations' Declaration on 
the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women. 
http://www.cidh.oas.org/declaracion.mujer.htm .

All communication will be done by email. There will be a jury process for selection/inclusion. There are no exhibition fees. The artwork and the poem should reflect the theme of the exhibition. Your submissions may be in Spanish or English. If you are interested in this project, please request the Poet Registration Form or the Artist Registration Form as soon as possible. E-mail Nela Rio, Organizer and Coordinator, St. Thomas University nrio at stthomasu.ca.

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The Database of American Labor Graphics needs your help

The goal of the Database is to identify domestic resources that hold 
diverse media, including graphics, prints, and posters depicting 
workers, the workplace, labor organizations, and labor culture, and 
create an online resource that will allow researchers to identify, as 
accurately and quickly as possible, which institutions are likely to 
have the materials they are looking for.

Please look at their website 
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/~lcushing/LaborGraphicsProject.html for a 
list of the currently identified collection sources and to find out 
more about this project. If you know of any institutional or personal 
collection, large or small, that may have something to contribute to 
this survey please contact Lincoln Cushing, 
lcushing at library.berkeley.edu, (510) 642-1056 .

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Student conference to support reproductive choice to be held in 
Washington D.C.  January 22-23.

On January 22-23, 2003, hundreds of students from across the country 
will gather in Washington, DC to show their support for abortion 
rights on the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court 
decision that gave all American women the right to safe, legal 
abortion.

At the Never Go Back Student Leadership Conference: Mobilizing Youth 
to Save Abortion Rights, pro-choice students from across the country 
will strategize together new ways to protect reproductive rights for 
future generations. Major leaders of the women's rights movement 
today will address the conference, including: Gloria Feldt - Planned 
Parenthood, Kate Michelman - NARAL, Kim Gandy - NOW, Dr. Jane Smith - 
Business and Professional Women USA, and many more!

Register at http://www.feminist.org/store/ngbconference . The 
conference is being organized largely by the Feminist Majority which 
has stepped up its campus organizing efforts.

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Do you enjoy comic books and comic strips?

Scholars are invited to submit  articles for an anthology,"Queering 
Comics," edited by Dr. Jeffery Dennis.  The deadline is February 15, 
2003. Contributions may explore depictions of same-sex desire, gender 
transgressions, glb  etc. Visit 
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/announce/show.cgi?ID=131901  for more info 
or contact jdennis at fau.edu.

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LOOKING FOR A JOB?

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is looking 
for both a communications director and a development director

PFLAG made up of the parents, families and friends of lesbian, gay, 
bisexual and transgender persons, celebrates diversity and envisions 
a society that embraces everyone, including those of diverse sexual 
orientations and gender identities.

Both jobs are based in Washington DC. Visit 
http://www.feminist.org/911/jobs/jobdescription.asp?jobID=2539 to 
find out more about the communications  position or 
http://www.feminist.org/911/jobs/jobdescription.asp?jobID=2538 for 
the development position.

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The Feminist Majority Foundation maintains a constantly updated 
database of employers looking for feminists. Visit 
http://www.feminist.org and look for "Career Center" on their 
homepage. They also have a place to post your resume if you are 
looking for a job. They have recently upgraded their career section 
with some very useful features, so check it out if you are on a job 
search.

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Well that's it for this month. Please send us any news about former 
CWLUers, upcoming events and feminist happenings. We depend on you to 
be our eyes and ears. Did you write a great article, poem, story or 
novel? Are you in the middle of an ongoing social movement?   Do you 
need research assistance? Do you provide a service? Do you need a 
service? Do you have a cool project you need help with? Are you 
looking for a job? Do you have a job to offer? Let us know and we'll 
try to include your contribution. Feminist networking is part of what 
we are about. E-mail infogal at cwluherstory.org with your contribution.







CWLU Herstory Website Project
http://www.cwluherstory.org
PO Box 548
Oak Park, IL 60303-0548
708-386-7197
A Project of the University of Illinois
Center for Research on Women and Gender

"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is:
I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express 
sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."- Rebecca West