Herland Sister Resources

Supper Club
The Belle Isle Brewery has been one of our most popular Supper Club locations. They serve everything from pizzas, to burgers, to tuna steak sandwiches, to vegetarian fare. And they do it all very well. We’ll be there on Saturday, November 12, at 6 pm for our monthly supper club. Belle Isle Brewery is located on the lower floor of 50 Penn Place, corner of NW Expressway and Pennsylvania.

After dinner, some folks plan to wander down to Full Circle bookstore at the other end of 50 Penn Place to hear Mary Reynolds and Louise Goldberg perform. Others will head back to Herland at 8 pm to watch the historic film, Tongues Untied, Marlon Riggs’s controversial, brilliant and highly political look at racism and homophobia in the United States. This is the film that sparked an uproar during the 1992 presidential election when Republican candidate Pat Buchanan attacked George Bush Sr. because the film received a grant from the NEA.

Work Day
If you have been to the Herland bookstore lately, you may have noticed a difference. Improvements include a new sink, counter top, and cupboards in the kitchen. Join us on Saturday, November 19, from 1-5 pm as we put the finishing touches on these improvements. We’ll need help painting walls, putting up trim, sprucing up the flower beds, and general fix up. Bring along any home or garden tools you think you might need and join us for all or part of the work day.

Scrabble Night
Do you know the difference between OSPD4 and SOWPODS? Real Scrabble players do! Join the pros and amateurs alike for our monthly Scrabble night on Saturday, November 26, at 6 pm.

Games are played at all levels and pizza is ordered as soon as most of the players have arrived. Don’t wait to exercise those brain cells any longer-let your Scrabble partners help you work out.

November 2005 Events

PFLAG Tuesday Nov 1 Church of the Open Arms 7 pm
OGLPC Monthly Meeting Monday Nov 8 Neighborhood Alliance 1236 NW 36th 7 pm
LGBT Talking Circle Tuesday Nov 8 Church of the Open Arms 7 pm
Fall Peace Fest Saturday Nov 12 Civic Center 10 am-4 pm
Herland Supper Club Saturday Nov 12 Belle Isle Brewery 6 pm followed by Video at Herland at 8 pm
Mary & Louise Saturday Nov 12 Full Circle Bookstore 8 pm
Family Pride Sunday Nov 13 Church of the Open Arms 4 pm
Mary Reynolds Friday Nov 18 opening for John Gorka at All Souls Coffeehouse Series in Tulsa 7 pm
Herland Work Day Saturday Nov 19 1-5 pm
Lisa Rogers Benefit Concert with Mary Reynolds Saturday Nov 19 Church of the Open Arms 8 pm
Herland Board Meeting Sunday Nov 20 4 pm
LGBT Talking Circle Tuesday Nov 22 Church of the Open Arms 7 pm
Herland Scrabble Night Saturday Nov 26 6 pm

Across the globe, armed conflicts have reached an unprecedented number. There have been 250 major wars since the end of World War II. Ninety percent of those injured or killed in the conflicts are civilians, 75 percent of who are women and children. As never before, women bear the burdens of war and civil strife.

Millions of women are targeted for rape or other violence, displaced from their own homes, lose loved ones or suddenly obliged to become the sole provider for their families. They are frequently faced with the need to rebuild their lives without the basic necessities for survival or a viable means to earn an income.
Founded in 1993, Women for Women International helps women in war-torn regions rebuild their lives by providing financial and emotional support, job skills training, rights awareness and leadership education and access to business skills, capital and markets. Through the program, women become confident, independent and productive as they embrace the importance of their roles in rebuilding their families, their communities and ultimately, their nations.

Participation in the one-year program launches women on a journey from victim to survivor to active citizen. W4W identifies services to support graduates of the program as they continue to strive for social, economic and political participation in their communities.

As each woman engages in a multi-phase process of recovery and rehabilitation, she opens a window of opportunity presented by the end of conflict to help improve the rights, freedoms and status of women in her country. As women who go through the progressive leadership positions in their villages, participate in the reconstruction of their communities, build civil society, start their own businesses, train other women and serve as role models, they become active citizens who can help to establish lasting peace and stability.

Women begin in the Sponsorship Program where direct financial aid from a sponsor helps them deal with the immediate effects of war and conflict such as lack of food, water, medicine and other necessities. While continuing to receive sponsorship support, women embark on the next leg of their journey and participate in the Renewing Women’s Life Skills Program that provides them with rights awareness, leadership education and vocational and technical skills training. Women build existing skills and learn new ones in order to regain their strength, stability and stature on the path to becoming active citizens.

Building on the skills training program, W4W offers comprehensive business services designed to help women start and manage their own enterprises. W4W gives them access to capital, and operates micro-credit programs in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Iraq with an overall repayment rate of 98%. W4W gives them access to markets by facilitating product sales through outside retailers and their online Virtual Bazaar. They provide expertise such as product design, production assistance and business development workshops. They also help women form micro-enterprises such as production facilities and cooperative stores to sell the goods women produce.

Read more about Women for Women International at www.womenforwomen.org.

The noise of more than 100 motorcycles engines belonging to VFW and American Legion members drowned out the voices of members of a Kansas church trying to protest at a funeral for an Oklahoma soldier killed in Afghanistan. The bikers kept Fred Phelps and his followers from being heard or seen by family attending the funeral. Phelps and his anti-homosexual group believe God is punishing the U.S. for protecting homosexuals by killing soldiers overseas.

Phelps’ group has shown up at funerals for slain soldiers in Wisconsin, Alabama, and Indiana this fall claiming that God is killing American soldiers using improvised explosive devices (IED). Previously, the group grabbed national attention by picketing the funeral of Matthew Shephard, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in 1998.

Phelps and his alleged cult live inside a fenced compound in Topeka, Kansas. The group has roughly 100 members, 90% of whom are related by blood or marriage to Phelps. His anti-homosexual core theology has been denounced by gay activists as well as both mainstream and fundamentalist Christians.

www.peacehouseok.org