From herstory at cwluherstory.org Thu Feb 15 16:26:22 2007 From: herstory at cwluherstory.org (The CWLU Herstory Project E-Zine) Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:26:22 -0600 Subject: [Herstory] Winter 2007 CWLU Herstory E-Zine Message-ID: Welcome to the Winter 2007 issue of the CWLU Herstory E-Zine. Explore the CWLU Herstory website at http://www.cwluherstory.org 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. *************************** JANE: ABORTION AND THE UNDERGROUND BY PAULA KAMEN OPENS AT CHICAGO'S 20% THEATER Yes, Jane is back. The legendary Chicago underground abortion service has been chronicled in books, videos, articles, on the web and in Paula Kamen's play which officially opens again in Chicago. 'Jane: Abortion and the Underground' by Paula Kamen - directed by Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald* February 15-March 24, 2007 Thursday-Saturday @ 8:00 pm Sunday @ 7:00 pm $15/ticket 20 Percent Theatre Company Performed at The Side Studio, 1520 West Jarvis Previews on February 15th and February 16th, $10/ticket Box Office: 773.528.9488 or twentypercentchicago at yahoo.com Group Rates Available. Special Benefit Opening Night Performance: Saturday, February 17th. $25/ticket. *************************** JUDITH ARCANA RETURNS TO CHICAGO TO TEAM UP WITH PAULA KAMEN In conjunction with the Jane play, former "Jane" Judith Arcana will be appearing with Paula Kamen at Roosevelt University on March 29. Judith the poet and Paula the playwright? Sounds like a great evening, although we don't have full details yet. In other Paula Kamen news, Paula will be speaking on Women and Pain at the International Museum of Surgical Science on February 20. International Museum of Surgical Science 1524 N. Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, Illinois 60610 Tues., Feb. 20, 2007 5:30PM-6:15PM Reception 6:15 PM-7:15 PM Presentation Paula Kamen will also be signing copies of her book "All in My Head" about her own battle with chronic pain. Paula is now hard at work finishing her new book on the life of author Iris Chang. We're definitely looking forward to the day that appears in our local bookstore. *************************** WORK CONTINUES ON DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT SECOND WAVE FEMINISM Filmmaker Jennifer Lee reports that she is close to finishing her 90 minute history of the 1960's- 1970's feminism. Among the many people she interviewed were former CWLUers Heather Booth and Vivian Rothstein. The Herstory Project has been working with Jennifer to help her find period graphics and photos as well as research materials. According to Jennifer, college students who viewed a rough cut of the film in their feminism class responded very positively. The projected release date is sometime in 2007. We've waited a long time for someone to tell our story on film. Hopefully our readers be able to help Jennifer get the word out about her film and arrange showings in their communities. **************************** A TRIBUTE TO NAOMI WEISSTEIN Professor James M. Brown is planning a symposium at the May 2007 Vision Sciences Society meeting that will honor the scientific work of Naomi Weisstein. Known to feminists because of her work with the Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band, Naomi was also a pioneering research scientist in the area of visual perception. She was hit by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the early 1980's which severely curtailed her scientific work. Below is the description of the Symposium: "Before her brief, active career was cut short by illness; Naomi Weisstein made numerous central contributions to vision science, including 5 papers in Science in a short 12 year period. Vision was only one of her careers: she was a founding member of the Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band with CDs still in circulation, a touring stand-up comedian, and an outspoken feminist author whose writings were translated and read around the world. Her spirit and enthusiasm have been deeply missed by the vision community but they will be resurrected once more as we relive some of her great and often outrageous moments in science and follow some of the new work arising from her discoveries." If any of our readers attends the symposium, a report would be gratefully appreciated. **************************** NORI DAVIS CUBAN POSTER COLLECTION GOES TO THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO Many of our readers will remember Nori Davis, a former member of Rising Up Angry and a friend to many in the Chicago Women's Liberation Union. Nori died of breast cancer in 1990. Diane Horwitz of the Herstory Project recently contacted us and let us know that Nori's collection of Cuban posters will be housed at the University of New Mexico along with the Latin American poster collection of Jane Norling. The history behind the Jane Norling and Lenora (Nori) Davis Collection presents a moving story. Jane Norling and Nori Davis became friends in summer 1988 in a support group for women with cancer at Women's Cancer Resource Center in Berkeley, California. They were drawn to each other because of their work in similar fields of interest-art and design as applied to the needs of improving social conditions-Nori in Chicago and Jane in the Bay Area. Nori had recently moved to California with her husband, labor activist Bob Lawson, when she discovered breast cancer, which took her life in 1990. Jane and Bob later married. The posters will be on exhibit at the University of New Mexico's Center for Southwest Research from February 26 to May 18. Teresa Eckmann will present a lecture on March 1 at 3 PM in the Willard Reading Room, Zimmerman Library at UNM which will be followed by an official opening reception for the exhibition. For more info, check the events listing at UNM's Zimmerman Library. http://elibrary.unm.edu/zimmerman/index.php *************************** COOK COUNTY BOARD THREATENS MAJOR HEALTHCARE CUTS Cook County (Illinois) Board President Todd Stroger has proposed massive cuts in the public healthcare budget for Cook County. These cuts will seriously impact working class people, many of whom already have limited access to healthcare. Former CWLUer Dr. Mardge Cohen was among those who organized resistance to the cuts. Healthcare workers and community members rallied at the County Building in January and spoke out against the cuts at series of hearings held around the County. Retaliation came swiftly from Dr. Robert Simon whom Stroger had named Interim Chief of the Cook County Bureau of Health Care services. Four doctors for the County Jail were escorted out of their offices and fired for speaking out publically. Among the four doctors was Coral Norris's husband Michael. Coral is a member of the Herstory Project and a former CWLU health activist. She has requested that if you live in Cook County, to please contact your Board member and let them know of your outrage at these attacks on healthcare services and providers. You can read more about it at http://www.suffredin.org/news/newsitem.asp?'language=english&newsitemid=2000 *************************** AMY KESSELMAN NOMINATED FOR THE CHOICE USA 'GENERATIONS OF LEADERSHIP AWARD' Choice USA celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2007 and is holding a Generation-to-Generation Celebration on May 10. There is an award called the 'Generations of Leadership: Mentor and Legacy Award' for those who are 30 and over. Recipients of the Generations of Leadership Awards must demonstrate years of leadership, shared learning, mentoring and intergenerational organizing to support the next generation of pro-choice leaders. Brittany Turner has nominated Amy Kesselman for the award. Amy was a member of Chicago's "Westside Group", one of the early women's liberation consciousness raising groups. Several of the Westside Group's members were among the founders of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union. Amy is a professor of women's studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz. **************************** JENNY KNAUSS CONTINUES HER ALZHEIMERS ADVOCACY Jenny Knauss, a former CWLU health activist, has been engaged in a campaign around Alzheimers for the past several years. Assisted by her partner Don Moyer she has worked with support groups and has helped organize lobbying efforts for more effective research and treatment. Jenny sends out periodic e-mails urging people to take action and support her work. If you would like to get on her e-list or want to know more about Alzheimers activism, please visit http://www.alzsh.net/. **************************** THE GRAPHIC IMPERATIVE HEADS FOR THE APPALACHIANS The Graphic Imperative is an internationally acclaimed traveling exhibition of political posters. One of the posters is 'Lipstick' by the Cuban artist Jose Gomez Fresquet which was reprinted by the Chicago Women's Graphics Collective. It is still available through the Herstory website online store. After it's closing at the Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, the exhibition is reopening at Appalachian State College in Boone, North Carolina. If you are in the area, you can see it at the Turchin Gallery starting on March 2. For more info please visit: http://www.turchincenter.org/exhibits.detail.php4?exhibitsid=75 Next stop will be San Diego State University starting on September 10. Contact Tina Yapelli at tyapelli at mail.sdsu.edu for more info. Attention Canadian Sisters and Brothers: Look for the Graphic Imperative in Toronto in the Spring of 2008! *************************** KRISTIN LEMS TO REISSUE A DOUBLE CD WITH LOTS OF CLASSIC FEMINIST SONGS Kristin Lems has been singing feminist music for many years, but some of her best feminist material has been hard to find on CD. Now she is combining two of her 1980's albums 'In the Out Door', and 'We Will Never Give Up', into a new compilation she is calling 'Equality Road'. In addition, Laurie Haag is developing an accompanying booklet of ERA memories and stories. If you have photos or short narratives to share, you may submit them to: Laurie Haag 305 Windsor Drive Iowa City, IA 52245 lauriehaag at yahoo.com *************************** WE GET RESEARCH REQUESTS AND WE TRY OUR BEST TO HELP One of the best parts of the Herstory Project is the steady stream of questions and appeals for research assistance. It's good to know that people still value all that hard work and struggle we did in the 'old days'. Here are some recent samples: *Becky Kluchin will be returning to Chicago to interview people who were in the movement against forced sterilization. Becky interviewed a number of former CWLUers a few years back and then generously shared those interviews with the Herstory Project so we could construct some online bios. *BBC Radio4 contacted us because they are doing radio documentary on forced sterilization of Puerto Rican and Native American women in the 1970's. *A high school student from Silver Spring Maryland actually traveled to Chicagoland to interview Estelle Carol about the Chicago Women's Graphics Collective. *Another high school student wanted to know who wrote the leaflet 'No More Miss America' that was handed out at the 1968 Atlantic City protest. We referred her to the PBS website on the history of Miss America and to Robin Morgan's website. *A professor at Ohio State wanted to know more about how the Chicago Women's Liberation Union was modeled after women's unions in Viet Nam and more about the CWLU's international solidarity work. *A professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago was researching when the term 'socialist feminist' was first used and also inquired about women of color in the CWLU. *A student at Wellesley College Students for Choice wanted to contact a former 'Jane' to speak about reproductive rights. *A person writing an encyclopedia article wanted to know if she could reprint the poster 'Sisterhood is Blooming' as part of her submission. *We also get requests of a more personal and urgent nature. Desperate women ask us about free or inexpensive abortions. Women who have been abused by their domestic partners, the medical system or the welfare system contact us. People who had home births through the Chicago Maternity Center want medical histories. People want to know what to do about sexual harassment at work. Teens have questions about sexuality and birth control. We try to refer them to qualified organizations, but for impoverished women in rural areas or small town America, a NOW chapter or a Planned Parenthood clinic might as well be on Mars. Jessica Barclay-Strobel of the Third Wave Foundation told us about the National Abortion Fund ( http://www.nnaf.org ) which helps people pay for abortions, as well as a smaller fund available from the Third Wave Foundation ( http://www.thirdwavefoundation.org/ ). Thanks Jesse, we'll be sure to pass this info along to those in need. *************************** THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S STUDIES ASSOCIATION WILL HOLD ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE IN CHICAGOLAND THIS SUMMER The NWSA Conference will be at Pheasant Run in St. Charles IL from June 28- July 1. For complete details please visit: http://www.nwsaconference.org/ The Herstory Project is planning to be at the Conference. If you'd like to help us make our presence known, please contact infogal at cwluherstory.org. *************************** WEB SURFIN' WITH THE HERSTORY PROJECT http://www.womenandprison.org 'Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance' is the first online archive to document women's experiences of the U.S. penal system. http://wikichix.org/wiki/WikiChix 'WikiChix' is an discuss issues of gender bias in wikis, to promote wikis to potential female editors, and for general discussion of wikis in a friendly female-only environment. Wikis are collaborative online sites to share knowledge. The most famous is the Wikipedia, the web's free collaborative encyclopedia project. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CWLU Speaking of the Wikipedia, there is an entry for the Chicago Women's Liberation Union. It needs more info and editing. Would you like to help? Learn how to be a Wikipedia editor at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction *************************** BOOKS! 'Life's a Stitch' edited by Anne Dalin just went out of print after its sales generated thousands of dollars for women's organizations. You can still find used copies of this women's humor classic online. 'Feminists Who Changed America' edited by Barbara Love is the biographical encyclopedia of the Second Wave feminist movement. Supported largely by the efforts of the Veteran Feminists of America, you can help get this book into libraries and schools. Just ask that it be placed there and explain why it's important. 'The Wonders of Mothers Milk' by Mishawn Purnell is a children's book about breastfeeding. Mishawn is a local Forest Park IL breastfeeding consultant. The book is illustrated by Dana T.C. Simpson who is a member of the Herstory Project. *************************** UPCOMING CHICAGO FEMINIST EVENTS Check out these online calendars: WomanMade Gallery http://www.womanmade.org/calendar.html Chicago NOW http://www.chicagonow.org/events.php Women and Children First http://womenchildren.booksense.com Chicago Foundation for Women http://www.cfw.org/ Chicago Girls Coalition http://www.chicagogirlscoalition.org/calendar.html YWCA http://www.ywcachicago.org/ Does your feminist group have an online calendar you'd like us to include? Contact infogal at cwluherstory.org ***************************** SERVICES OFFERED Do you need a professional transcription service for your voice recordings? Try Transcription Professionals at http://www.transprof.com. Executive Director Paula Kamen has assembled a great team that can even translate from a variety of languages. P.S. In case you're wondering, yes, it's the same Paula Kamen who gave us 'Jane: Abortion and the Underground', 'All in My Head' and other fine books and articles. ***************************** THAT'S IT FOR THIS ISSUE Please send us any news about former CWLUers, upcoming events and feminist happenings. We depend on you to be our eyes and ears. 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 it. 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 infogal at 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 http://www.uic.edu/depts/crwg/ "We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster." - Rachel Carson From herstory at cwluherstory.org Thu Feb 15 17:22:39 2007 From: herstory at cwluherstory.org (The CWLU Herstory Project E-Zine) Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:22:39 -0600 Subject: [Herstory] Herstory CORRECTION!!!! Message-ID: Hello Herstory Fans: Please accept our apologies. Judith Arcana and Paula Kamen will appear together at Roosevelt University on MARCH 19, not March 29. The correction is also reprinted below: JUDITH ARCANA RETURNS TO CHICAGO TO TEAM UP WITH PAULA KAMEN In conjunction with the Jane play, former "Jane" Judith Arcana will be appearing with Paula Kamen at Roosevelt University on March 19. Judith the poet and Paula the playwright? Sounds like a great evening, although we don't have full details yet. In other Paula Kamen news, Paula will be speaking on Women and Pain at the International Museum of Surgical Science on February 20. International Museum of Surgical Science 1524 N. Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, Illinois 60610 Tues., Feb. 20, 2007 5:30PM-6:15PM Reception 6:15 PM-7:15 PM Presentation Paula Kamen will also be signing copies of her book "All in My Head" about her own battle with chronic pain. Paula is now hard at work finishing her new book on the life of author Iris Chang. We're definitely looking forward to the day that appears in our local bookstore. -- CWLU Herstory Website Project http://www.cwluherstory.org infogal at 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 http://www.uic.edu/depts/crwg/ "We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster." - Rachel Carson From herstory at cwluherstory.org Fri Feb 23 01:08:44 2007 From: herstory at cwluherstory.org (The CWLU Herstory Project E-Zine) Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 00:08:44 -0600 Subject: [Herstory] Susan Faludi in Portland? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Judith: This is a longshot, but I'm trying to reach writer Susan Faludi. The last address I have for her is in Portland, so I thought you might have a lead. She's working on a book about the late California environmental activist Judi Bari. http://www.judibari.org/ There are a bunch of us who knew Judi very well back when she was raising hell at the University of Maryland and at various workplaces around DC. I worked on the same underground paper with her and we were in affinity groups together during the University of Maryland campus uprisings of 1970-1972. I went to high school with her sister Gina who is now a science writer for the New York Times. The last bio of Judi was a rightwing hatchet job by Kate Coleman and Judi's old friends from Maryland want to make sure that Faludi sets the record straight about Judi's pre-westcoast days. We have a UM radical history website and an e-mail list and so far no one we know has been contacted by Faludi. http://www.route-one.org/ Thanks and looking forward to seeing you in Chicago with Paula, Bob S. -- CWLU Herstory Website Project http://www.cwluherstory.org infogal at 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 http://www.uic.edu/depts/crwg/ "We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster." - Rachel Carson From herstory at cwluherstory.org Mon Sep 3 20:55:58 2007 From: herstory at cwluherstory.org (The CWLU Herstory Project E-Zine) Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:55:58 -0500 Subject: [Herstory] Summer 2007 CWLU Herstory E-Zine Message-ID: <46DCAD1E.2070606@cwluherstory.org> Welcome to the Summer 2007 issue of the CWLU Herstory E-Zine. Explore the CWLU Herstory website at http://www.cwluherstory.org. 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. *************************** THE CWLU HERSTORY WEBSITE VERSION 2.0 IS ONLINE----FINALLY! After months of activity behind the scenes, we've launched the newly re-designed Herstory website. The technology behind all of this allows us to update the site and add new content much more efficiently. We really need your feedback as we debug the new site and add new features. Please feel free to comment or send us an e-mail with your reactions. Special thanks to Dana Simpson for her work in transferring the old content over to the new site. We know that a lot of women's studies classes link directly to the classic feminist writings in our archive. Please adjust your bookmarks to the new addresses. We will be setting up redirects over the next several weeks from the old pages. Here is what we are planning for the future: * An entire new section on the women's health movement based on a Power Point presentation produced by former CWLU health activists. * A new online forum to discuss feminist issues past and present. * An online version of the Chicago women's labor history slideshow originally produced by the CWLU in 1976. * More photos and more articles. With money raised from poster sales, we were able to buy a new document scanner to digitize original paper documents. It even collates the digital versions! * A new updated Herstory online store to sell posters, magnets and buttons. *************************** WE HAVE A BLOG SO GET THOSE OPINIONS READY As part of our new site design, we now have a Herstory Blog. A blog is an online journal of news and opinion. Stop by http://www.cwluherstory.org/herstory-blog/index.php and comment on the news and opinions we'll be sharing with the world. You'll need to register on the site to comment. We will not share your e-mail address with anyone. Do you have some feminist news you'd like to share? Send it along and we'll try to include it. *************************** SPEAKING OF BLOGS-- DON'T MISS CANCER BITCH Chicago writer Sandi Wisenberg has been blogging about her battle with breast cancer at http://www.cancerbitch.blogspot.com. You can also listen to Sandi on Chicago Public Radio at http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Search.aspx?search=wisenberg Sandi is a fine writer with a wry feminist sense of humor. Don't miss the pictures of her tattoos. **************************** ORDER BOOKS ONLINE FROM WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST BOOKSTORE Our friends over at Women and Children First bookstore(WCF) reminded us that you can get any book in print ? most often in two to five days ? from womenandchildrenfirst.com. Search by title, author or ISBN by entering it in the search field near the top of the screen. Put the books you want in your online shopping cart and choose whether to pick them up at the store or have them shipped. And please remember---the bucks you spend at Women and Children First support an independent feminist bookstore and a vibrant community institution. Women and Children First hit a financial rough patch earlier this year, but an outpouring of support from WCF loyalists put them back on track -------for now. Are you a teacher in the Chicagoland area? Women and Children First will personally deliver books to your school for classroom purchases. Just give them a ring to work out details. If you are a tourist in Chicago, make sure you catch the Red Line up to the Andersonville community and pay them a visit. You may be lucky enough to be there when they are hosting one of their many forums and book discussions. As a bonus, you'll be in CWLU Herstory country. Several of our members live nearby or in adjacent neighborhoods. **************************** NEW BOOKS ARE HERE 'Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Feminist as Thinker: A Reader in Documents and Essays' edited by Ellen Dubois and Richard Candida is now available. Ellen DuBois is a former CWLU member and is presently a history prof at UCLA. More than one hundred years after her death, Elizabeth Cady Stanton still stands ? along with her close friend Susan B. Anthony ? as the major icon of the struggle for women's suffrage. In spite of this celebrity, Stanton's intellectual contributions have been largely overshadowed by the focus on her political activities, and she is yet to be recognized as one of the major thinkers of the nineteenth century. The book is available through New York University Press. Deborah Siegel's 'Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild' has been getting a lot of attention because it explores the history of modern feminism in a concise yet multi-dimensional manner. Deborah Siegal grew up in Chicagoland and attended the University of Wisconsin. Contrary to clich?s about the end of feminism, Deborah Siegel argues that younger women are reliving the battles of its past, and reinventing it ? with a vengeance. The book is published by Palgrave Macmillan. Deborah Siegal is planning a fall barnstorming tour with feminist authors Gloria Feldt, Courtney Martin and Kristal Zook. Visit http://www.deborahsiegel.net/ for more info on how to book this event in your town or on your campus. **************************** NEW BOOKS ARE ON THE WAY Paula Kamen's 'Finding Iris Chang' is due in November 2007 and is already available for pre-ordering. Paula spent several years researching and writing this biography. Paula Kamen and Iris Chang were college classmates and longtime friends. Iris Chang was a brilliant young writer whose suicide came as a terrible shock to her friends and admirers. Iris Chang's book 'The Rape of Nanking' is the definite work on that WWII atrocity. Her grandparents were survivors of the carnage. Paula is a long-time supporter of the Herstory project. Her play about the CWLU 's underground abortion group 'Jane' is now a performed regularly on the college circuit. 'Finding Iris Chang' is published by Perseus Press. Anne Enke's new book called 'Finding the Movement: Sexuality, Contested Space, and Feminist Activism' is now in final production. It is a study of Midwestern feminism to be published by Duke University Press in October 2007. Anne visited us a while back and we had a long discussion about the unique character of the Midwestern women's movement. In the book, Anne Enke reveals how women?s relationship with public spaces shaped second-wave feminism. Focusing on women?s activism in Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis-St. Paul during the 1960s and 1970s, she describes how women across race and class created a massive groundswell of feminist activism by directly intervening in the urban landscape. The cover of Anne's book includes a poster from the Chicago Women's Graphics Collective. **************************** CAN ONLINE SOAP OPERAS FIGHT HIV/AIDS? You bet they can, thanks to the The Women's Project Against HIV/AIDS. Led by Dr. Rachel Jones, a nursing prof at Rutgers University, a talented team of creative actors and writers produced a series of online video clips aimed at stopping the spread of AIDS. The main goal of the project was to create an urban soap opera video based on women?s real stories about their relationships with men. They explored reasons why women engaged in unprotected sex with male partners that they distrusted and even thought were having sex with other women, or men, or injecting drugs. Check them out at http://www.stophiv.newark.rutgers.edu/. Make sure you have the latest version of the FlashPlayer so you view their videos right on your home computer. *************************** THE PERSIMMON TREE HAS BLOOMED 'Persimmon Tree' is an online magazine of fiction and poetry by older women. The current issue includes work by Judith Arcana, Paula Gunn Allen, Faith Ringgold and the late Grace Paley. Published in association with Mills College in California, 'Persimmon Tree' is published quarterly. Subscriptions are free with donations encouraged. Visit them at http://www.persimmontree.org/ Contributor Judith Arcana is a longtime friend of the Herstory Project and a former "Jane". *************************** ANN TOMPKINS WOULD LIKE TO CONNECT WITH OLD FRIENDS FROM THE CWLU Ann Tompkins contacted us a couple of months back and asked to correspond with former CWLUers. She recently collaborated with historian Lincoln Cushing on a book about posters from China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution which is due out toward the end of 2007. You may contact Ann at annt at sonic.net. **************************** HERSTORY GOES TO THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S STUDIES ASSOCIATION The CWLU Herstory Project had a booth at the NWSA's 30th anniversary conference outside of Chicago this summer. We were able to make a lot of contacts with feminist academics as well as sell a bunch of posters and buttons to finance our project. Special thanks to former NWSA president Colette Morrow and all of the local Chicagoland feminists who helped make this possible for us. *************************** FEMINISTS WANTED FOR WIFE SWAPPING No, this is not a headline from 'The Onion', we really did get an inquiry from ABC-TV to participate in their primetime show "Wife Swap." They were looking for a feminist moms "who are proud to be wearing the pants and ruling their roost." According to ABC,"Each week from across the country, two families with very different values are chosen to take part in a two-week long challenge. The wives from these two families exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover just what it's like to live another woman's life." For the morbidly curious, you can read their invitation on our blog at http://www.cwluherstory.org/herstory-blog/9.html. We had just spent a wonderful evening with feminist media critic Jennifer Pozner the night before. We forwarded the ABC-TV email to her the next day...not surprisingly, she was not surprised. *************************** DO YOU COLLECT POLITICAL BUTTONS? Herstory visitors are probably familiar with Jo Freeman's scholarly work in women's history. But did you know that Jo is also an inveterate political button collector? Right now she is looking for a "Carole Mosely Braun for President" button. She'll trade you a "Braun for Senate" or a "Chisholm for President" button. Contact Jo at joreen at jofreeman.com if you are ready to deal. Check out JoFreeman.com for new photos and essays including one covering the women who have run for president---which includes some vintage campaign buttons. *************************** TEEN VOICES JOINS UP WITH OUR BODIES OURSELVES 'Teen Voices' magazine is joining forces with Our Bodies Ourselves(OBOS) this summer and fall to create new mental health resources for teenagers. Although adolescent girls need the empowering information provided by Our Bodies Ourselves, these days many teens turn to online resources or magazines as opposed to books. Funded by a generous grant from the Frederick & Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Foundation, the project will create modules that focus on topics such as depression, suicide, and anxiety. The modules will be publicized and distributed through the OBOS blog and website, online sites that many teens visit (such as MySpace and Facebook), and in print and online versions of 'Teen Voices'. Would you like to help them continue their work? Then host a house party to raise money and awareness. You may even be able to coax Executive Director Judy Norsigian to attend. Visit http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/about/houseparty.asp for a complete guide to a successful Our Bodies Ourselves house party. *************************** WEB SURFIN' WITH THE HERSTORY PROJECT http://www.wimnonline.org/ Women In Media & News, a media analysis, education and advocacy group, works to increase women's presence and power in the public debate. http://www.colorlines.com/ Currently in its 9th year of publication, ColorLines is the leading national, multi-racial magazine devoted to the creativity and complexity of communities of color. http://www.themuslimwoman.org/ If you are tired of the Main Stream Media's relentless distortions about Islamic women check out the news from the The Muslim Woman. It's the truth unveiled. *************************** THAT'S IT FOR THIS ISSUE Please send us any news about former CWLUers, upcoming events and feminist happenings. We depend on you to be our eyes and ears. 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 it. 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 infogal at 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 http://www.uic.edu/depts/crwg/ "We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster." - Rachel Carson From herstory at cwluherstory.org Tue Nov 6 12:30:55 2007 From: herstory at cwluherstory.org (The CWLU Herstory Project E-Zine) Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:30:55 -0600 Subject: [Herstory] Fall 2007 CWLU Herstory E-Zine Message-ID: <4730A4CF.1020106@cwluherstory.org> Welcome to the Fall 2007 issue of the CWLU Herstory E-Zine. Explore the CWLU Herstory website at http://www.cwluherstory.org. 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. Don't forget to buy your books at Women and Children First Bookstore. If you can't visit the store at 5233 N. Clark St. in Chicago, you can always order online at http://womenandchildrenfirst.com. *************************** THE CWLU HERSTORY WEBSITE REACHES ITS 100,000 VISITOR Early in the morning on October 21, 2007, the Herstory website received its 100,000th visitor since it opened in 1999. Our anonymous visitor looked at the Judy (Syfers) Brady essay, "Why I Want a Wife," one of the most popular articles on the site. Should we plan for a Herstory 10th anniversary party for sometime in 2009? *************************** THE GRAMMY MUSEUM PLANS TO OPEN WITH AN EXHIBIT THAT INCLUDES THE CHICAGO WOMEN'S LIBERATION ROCK BAND The Grammy Museum in LA, currently under construction and opening in Fall 2008, will explore the enduring legacies of all forms of music, the creative process, and the history of the Academy. "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom" is the museum's inaugural temporary exhibit and the first major museum exhibit in the United States to explore the 200-year history of music and politics in America. It will run from Fall 2008 to Spring 2010 and then travel to major museums in the U.S. Professor Dan Cavichi is curating and would like to include some Rock Band material. We are working with Dr. Cavichi on this project and have offered to share our photo collection. We are also trying to get a copy of the original vinyl album for the exhibit. Former members of both the Chicago and the New Haven Liberation Rock Bands are being contacted. We'll keep you posted as to how this is going. *************************** SPEAKING OF THE CHICAGO WOMEN'S LIBERATION ROCK BAND, YOU SHOULD HEAR SUSAN ABOD NOW. Susan Abod is a professional musician and film maker. The former lead singer of the Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band is out in Santa Fe making some great music. You can see one of her performances on video at http://www.cwluherstory.org/myblog/susan-abod-live-in-santa-fe.html There are also links there for Susan's film documentaries as well as info on how you can book her for concerts. Former Rock Band member Susan Prescott has a video interview with Susan Abod at http://www.blip.tv/file/17924/. Susan Prescott is executive producer of the Insight New Mexico radio show on AM 1350 which you can read about at http://insightnm.net/. **************************** SAYING GOODBYE TO MARDGE COHEN AND GORDY SCHIFF Three hundred people crowded in Reza's restaurant on the Northside of Chicago to bid farewell to Mardge Cohen and Gordy Schiff, two of Chicago's finest physicians. Gordy has accepted a teaching position at Harvard, meaning that Mardge and he will be moving to Boston. Mardge is a former member of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union. Mardge and Gordy have been battling for quality healthcare at Chicago's Cook County Hospital since the 1970's. There were many heartfelt tributes at the farewell dinner from colleagues, friends, family members and former patients. Mardge is one of the world's leading experts on HIV/AIDS and has worked extensively in Rwanda with HIV/AIDS patients there. You can read an interview with Mardge at: http://www.thebody.com/women/resource/interview_mcohen.html Gordy is known in the world of medicine for his research on patient safety. You can read a CNN interview with Gordy at: http://archives.cnn.com/1999/HEALTH/12/08/schiff.chat/index.html Mardge and Gordy's outspoken efforts on behalf of decent healthcare for working class Chicago made them some powerful enemies among the city's power elite. Gordy said that their move to Boston was actually more of an "exile". Both Mardge and Gordy plan to stay in close touch with their Chicago friends and colleagues. To help continue Mardge's work with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda, please visit WeAct on the web and donate some much needed $$$$. http://www.we-actx.org/ We would love to post photos and video of of Mardge and Gordy's farewell party on the Herstory site. Contact infogal at cwluherstory.org if you can help. **************************** EMMA IS PLAYING IN CHICAGO EMMA, a play by Howard Zinn about the renowned American anarchist Emma Goldman will be opening at the Trap Door Theater on October 18 in Chicago. It is being directed by Kate Hendrickson, the daughter of Ayrie Moore, who belonged to the Chicago Women's Liberation Union (CWLU) and Rising Up Angry. Zinn's drama ?Emma? is based on the life of American Anarchist Emma Goldman. Passionate, audacious, and notorious Emma was also a popularizer of the arts, a defender of civil liberties, a proponent of birth control, and a free love advocate. Emma explores not only her political life but also the friendships, and tumultuous love affairs that sustained and inspired her. "Emma" has been performed in New York, Boston, London, and Tokyo. This is its Chicago premier. Closes: Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 8PM Runs: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM Admission: $20 (2 for 1 on Thursdays) Where: TRAP DOOR THEATRE 1655 West Cortland Ave. Chicago, IL 60622 For Information/Reservations: 773-384-0494. For more detailed info please visit their website at http://www.trapdoortheatre.com . **************************** PAULA KAMEN GOES ON THE ROAD FOR HER NEW BOOK: FINDING IRIS CHANG Paula Kamen's 'Finding Iris Chang' is now out and Paula will be criss-crossing the USA talking about her book. If you are in Chicagoland, here is a schedule: Wednesday, November 7, 7:00 PM 57th Street Books 1301 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL More info Thursday, November 8, 7:30 PM Women and Children First 5233 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL Please go to http://www.booktour.com/author/paula_kamen_ for information about other cities and to request a visit from Paula to your favorite bookstore. Iris Chang was a brilliant young writer whose suicide came as a terrible shock to her friends and admirers. Iris Chang's book 'The Rape of Nanking' is the definitive work on that WWII atrocity. Her grandparents were survivors of the carnage. Paula spent several years researching and writing this biography. Paula Kamen and Iris Chang were college classmates and longtime friends. **************************** WE MISS GRACE PALEY Grace Paley, one of our finest writers, passed away last August. To celebrate her life and work, Judith Arcana has helped organize an 85th birthday party on the evening of December 11 at Broadway Books in NE Portland OR. Judith Arcana is the author of 'Grace Paley's Life Stories; a Literary Biography'. Judith is a poet and a former 'Jane'. If you miss Grace Paley too and would like to organize a birthday event for that evening in your town, please contact your local bookstore and get one going. **************************** THE AURORA PLANNED PARENTHOOD HEALTH CENTER IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS If you follow the contentious US debate over reproductive justice, you are probably aware of the battle over whether the Aurora IL Planned Parenthood clinic would be allowed to open. After days of demonstrations and legal sparring, the clinic had its Opening Day celebration on October 2. For some video of the struggle visit: http://youtube.com/profile?user=PPCAAurora *************************** THE CHICAGO ABORTION FUND LOOKS INTO ITS HISTORY At a recent fund raiser for the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF), the question of its history came up. CAF helps people with limited finances obtain safe abortion services at a time when abortion is under constant attack. CAF Executive Director Gaylon Alcarez contacted the Herstory Project for information about the group's origins. Intrepid Herstory researcher and CAF co-founder Amy Laiken then began going through her personal files. What follows is a summary of Amy's report: After the 1972 arrests of 7 Jane members for performing illegal abortions, a defense committee formed which became the Abortion Task Force (ATF). The charges against the Jane women were dropped following the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, and that summer, the Health Evaluation and Referral Service (HERS) was formed, in part, as an outgrowth of the ATF. HERS was a workgroup of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union. The Chicago Abortion Fund was founded in 1985 by a coalition of groups including HERS. Over the years, CAF has honored several former CWLUers for their service to reproductive justice. *************************** WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONVERSE WITH A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE? The American Medical Women's Association is inviting you to have a conversation with the candidates about their plans for health care reform by participating in a series of conference calls that started in mid-October with Hillary Clinton. The next conference call is with John Edwards on November 9. If you would like to participate, please sign up at the AMWA website. http://amwa-cwc.org/ **************************** WHAT'S NEW ON THE HERSTORY SITE? You can now download 'The Chicago Women's Liberation Union: The Legacy of Organizing Around Women's Health Issues', a 101 slide PowerPoint presentation created by former CWLU health activists. It's a 40 megabyte download, so you'll need a fast Internet connection or a lot of patience. We're also filling in our Chicago Women's Liberation Timeline with details that were gathered by the same group of women who put together the slideshow. We're adding new links to our Resources section. If you would like to suggest links, please register on our site and use the Suggest a Weblink menu item (only visible to registered users). If you are a regular reader of Infogal's blog on the Herstory site, you will notice that most of our newsletter articles are drawn from the blog. So check the blog if you can't wait for our next newsletter issue. *************************** WEB SURFIN' WITH THE HERSTORY PROJECT-BLOGGER EDITION http://vivalafeminista.blogspot.com/ Wit and wisdom from Chicago's very own Veronica Arreola. http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/ A blog to advance the radical feminist views of Twisty Faster. http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/ The Angry Black Woman. The title says it all. http://www.womensvoicesforchange.org/ Women's Voices for Change is changing attitudes about women over 40. http://www.echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/ Opinions from a minor Greek goddess. http://feministblogs.org/ Independent alternatives to the malestream media. *************************** THAT'S IT FOR THIS ISSUE Please send us any news about former CWLUers, upcoming events and feminist happenings. We depend on you to be our eyes and ears. 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 it. 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 infogal at 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 http://www.uic.edu/depts/crwg/ "We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster." - Rachel Carson