§ betty friedan and coretta scott king
The feminine mystique was a phony deal sold to women that left them unfulfilled, suffering from "the problem that has no name" and seeking a solution in tranquilizers and psychoanalysis. A woman has got to be able to say, and not feel guilty, 'Who am I, and what do I want out of life?' She mustn't feel selfish and neurotic if she wants goals of her own, outside of husband and children.
king's legacy
Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won you earn it and win it in every generation. I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
King's legacy is her work to keep her husband's ideology of equality for all people at the forefront of the nation's agenda. She goaded and pushed for more than a decade to have her husband's birthday observed as a national holiday, then watched with pride in 1983 as President Reagan signed the bill into law.
King became a symbol of her husband's struggle for peace and brotherhood, presiding with a quiet, steady, stoic presence over seminars and conferences on global issues. One of her crowning achievements was the creation of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta.
In contrast to Coretta Scott King's funeral, when her husband was assassinated in 1968, Georgia's governor, Lester Maddox, didn't even consider allowing the Nobel Prize winner to lie in state in the capitol building. Rather, even as King's mule-drawn funeral cortege moved through the nearby streets, he kept the state flag, with its Confederate stars and bars, flying high.
Betty Friedan is known as one of the founders of the modern feminist movement and has been central to the reshaping of American attitudes toward women's lives and rights. Through decades of social activism, strategic thinking and powerful writing, Friedan was one of contemporary society's most effective leaders.
Her l963 book, The Feminine Mystique, detailed the frustrating lives of countless American women who were expected to find fulfillment primarily through the achievements of husbands and children. The book made an enormous impact, triggering a period of change that continues today. Friedan was central to this evolution for women, through lectures and writing. In June, 1966, Betty Friedan and 27 other women and men founded NOW. Later that year she was elected NOW's first president, and her fame as an author helped attract hundreds of thousands of women to the new organization.
In 1963, the year in which The Feminine Mystique was published, the civil rights movement had yet to achieve its most important national legislative goals. Southerners had added a ban on sex discrimination to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a way to mock the bill, and at first it was widely treated as a joke. A Page 1 article in The New York Times in 1965 raised the question whether executives must let a "dizzy blonde" drive a tugboat or pitch for the Mets.
§ Equality Ride: a soulforce journey in the spirit of the freedom rides
Soulforce freedom riders will be stopping in Oklahoma for visits to two state universities on their nationwide Equality Ride. Beginning March 5, 2006, the Soulforce Equality Ride will cross the nation, visiting 19 schools from New York to Los Angeles.
At military and religious colleges around the nation, bans on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender enrollment force students into closets of fear and self-hate. These bans devalue the life of GLBT people and they slam the door on academic freedom. The Equality Ride empowers young adults to challenge these college bans.
The Equality Ride will take 25–30 young adults on a seven-week bus tour to confront religious and/or military colleges that ban the enrollment of GLBT students. At each stop along the journey the members of the Equality Ride will present a powerful case for GLBT equality.
Through dialogue with administrators and discussions with students, the young activists of the Equality Ride will make clear the harmful effects of the false notion that homosexuality is a "sickness and a sin,” and "a threat to the nation and the military.”
To make public their case for equality, the young activists on the Equality Ride will hold vigils, Bible studies, class discussions, community forums, and press conferences. The scheduled Oklahoma stops are March 20-21 Oral Roberts University and March 23-24 Oklahoma Baptist University. For more information visit www.equalityride.com.
§ Return to Camp Casey, Crawford
Keeping their vow to be in Crawford whenever President Bush is, hundreds of peace activists plan to converge in Crawford Texas for Easter Week, April 11 - 14. Cindy Sheehan, who made worldwide news last August when she camped near the Bush ranch to protest the war in which her son was killed, will be among them.
Concerts, workshops, marches and rallies will be part of the week's activities at the site that has become known as Camp Casey, named for Sheehan's son.
On Good Friday, participants will march from the center of Crawford about eight miles to the camp. A major rally will be held on Saturday, with speakers, music and more. The week will end with an interfaith service on Easter Sunday morning and a third anniversary celebration at the Crawford Peace House on Sunday afternoon.
Everyone is invited join in, and add their voice to the call for peace worldwide and an end to the US occupation of Iraq.
For updates and further details, as well as information about volunteering or donating funds to support these actions, please see www.crawfordpeacehouse.org or call 254-486-0099.
§ judy collins at ocu
Legendary folksinger and author Judy Collins was a mere 13 years old when she made her public musical debut, performing Mozart's "Concerto for Two Pianos." She went on to enjoy an extraordinary career as a singer and accomplished author.
After recording almost 40 albums, Collins, 66, will visit Oklahoma City University to discuss her new book Sanity and Grace, a deeply moving memoir, focusing on the suicide of her only son and the healing process that followed. She will speak at 7:30 p.m. March 28 in Henry J. Freede Wellness & Activity Center, NW 27th Street and Florida Avenue.
The book speaks to all who have experienced the premature and sudden loss of a loved one. During her suffering, Collins found relief by reaching out to others for help and support. Now, she extends her hand to comfort those whose lives have been affected by similar tragedy.
The lecture is free to the public, but seating is limited. Doors open at 6 p.m. For more information, call (405) 208-4956 or visit www.okcu.edu.
"Suffering is the price of being alive," Collins said, "And it is music and singing and art that have helped me live through some of the most difficult things that have happened to me."
§ wow! work of women
WOW! (Work of Women) is a global membership organization within World Neighbors, a not-for-profit community development organization working in partnership with the rural poor in hundreds of villages in Asia, Africa and Latin America. WOW! membership fees and donations support and enhance World Neighbors efforts to improve the lives of women and their families who are living in extreme poverty, through programs that include:
* Literacy Education
* Food Security
* Nutrition
* Income Generation & Savings & Credit
* Reproductive & Community Health
* Clean Water & Sanitation
The Oklahoma WOW! Network Upcoming Events include WOW! Poetry Reading on Monday March 6 from 7 - 8:30 pm at Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City and WOW! screening of the film Yesterday on Tuesday, March 7 at 6 pm at the Downtown Library.
If you would like to learn more about WOW! Networks please call 405-418-0443 or click here.
§ Anti-War Fair
Saturday, March 18
Noon to 4 pm
Northwest Highway & Memorial
(Lake Hefner Park)
Speakers, musicians, free
speech signs-to-traffic, teen
& children's activities, refreshments.
(Live Music
will continue to 9 pm.)
§ Grants for Lesbian Artists and Writers
The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is looking for applicants for its two major grant programs for individuals - the Astraea Visual Arts Fund, and the Lesbian Writers Fund.
Astraea Visual Arts Fund Deadline: Wednesday 3/15/06
Recognizes the work of contemporary lesbian visual artists within the U.S. Two awards are made in the amount of $2,500 each. This fund does not include film or photography.
Lesbian Writers Fund Deadline: Friday 6/30/06
For emerging lesbian poets and fiction writers within the U.S. One award is made in each category, in the amount of $10,000 each. Additional smaller awards are made to runners-up.
For a copy of guidelines and application for the above grants, please contact Astraea at: 212-529-8021, ext. 22 or via email at: grants@astraeafoundation.org.
Guidelines and application forms are also available online.
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice works for social, racial and economic justice in the U.S. and internationally. Our grantmaking and philanthropic advocacy programs help lesbians and allied communities challenge oppression and claim their human rights.
§ Pinkie and the Snakeshakers
Benefit concert for OKC Lightning Women's Football Team
Saturday, March 11 - 9:00 PM
Bora Bora - Classic Rock
3217 N. May
$10 entry at door
Show your support!
§ featured events
supper club
We're going to try someplace new we've never been before for supper club -- Cimarron Steak House, 201 N. Meridian. We will meet there at 5:30 pm on Saturday, March 11 or meet at Herland at 5:00 pm if you would like to carpool. After that, we will go to 66 Bowl, NW 39th and Portland, at about 7 pm for a few games of bowling.
L Word video night
On Saturday, March 18, 7 pm, we will watch the third and fourth episodes of The L Word, Season 3. To get you up to date, Bette and Tina are raising baby Angelica with attachment parenting -- meaning they never put her down -- but Bette may not be able to adopt Angelica. Carmen's family loves Shane and dressed her up in a really pretty dress for a quinceanera party. Alice, the carefree creator of "the Chart," now seems to have turned OCD. Helena has somehow gotten over the need to control and manipulate everyone. Jenny, back home in Illinois for a visit, has picked up a Midwesterner and is making her way slowly back out to LA. Bring something to snack on and join us for another two episodes of America's best lesbian soap opera.
scrabble games
Join us on Sunday, March 26, at 1 pm at Herland for a few games of Scrabble and perhaps some pizza. We had two tables of four people each at our last Scrabble date and the competition was stimulating.
§ events at a glance
March 2006
(location is Herland office unless otherwise noted)
World Friendship Day
March 1
Wow! Work of Women Poetry Reading
followed by Open Mic
Monday March 6
Full Circle Bookstore
7 pm
PFLAG
Tuesday March 7
Church of the Open Arms
7 pm
Mary and Louise
Friday March 10
Full Circle Bookstore
7 pm
Herland Supper Club
Saturday March 11
Cimarron Steak House 5:30 pm &
Bowling at 66 Bowl 7 pm
OGLPC Monthly Meeting
Monday March 13
Neighborhood Alliance
7 pm
IRIS in concert
Friday March 17 (St. Pat’s Day)
at Sisters
8 pm
Herland Video Night
Saturday March 18
7 pm
Herland Board Meeting
Sunday March 19
4 pm
Mary and Louise
Friday March 25
Galileo’s
9 pm
Herland Scrabble Game
Sunday March 26
1 pm
Mary and Louise
Saturday April 1 Full Circle Bookstore
7 pm
Mary and Louise
Tuesday April 4
Galileo’s
8:30 pm
Herland Spring Retreat
May 19-21
Roman Nose State Park
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