Herland Sister Resources

Date: Saturday, February 17th
Time: 7 pm—11 pm
Location: Hollywood Hotel, 3535 NW 39th Street
Hostess: Miss Ivanna DeVille
Entertainment: Tara Henry, Alison Scott, DeShawna, Shannon
Cost: $6 advance or $7 per person at the door

Lose the winter blues at the First Annual Herland Mardi Gras Party,  Tickets are $6 per person in advance from Herland Board members or $7 at the door.  Sorry, no table reservations.  There will be a cash bar, and the event is smoke-free.  (There are several smoking areas within the hotel, and outside under the portico.) 

The fun will start at 7 pm with live music.  In between entertainers, the hostess will dazzle the crowd and a DJ will play just the right tunes to get down by.  A costume contest for the Best Solo, the Best Couple, and the Best Group will be held at 9 pm.  Between music sets, the other contests will be held: selection of  King and Queen (by who raises the most donations) and the  Hog-Calling Contest (which will raise the most laughs).  A silent auction will be conducted, with bidding closing at 10 pm.  The party will end around 11, but other clubs in the hotel go on until the wee hours.  (All hotel room rentals are $45 during the winter season, should you decide to sleep over.)  Several tables near the entrance will be reserved for information from CimarronArts Project, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, AIDS Mastery Workshop, Herland, and OKC Pride.  

Herland hopes to raise enough funds at the Mardi Gras Party to pay for the printing and postage of the newsletter for the entire year of 2007.  Donations of auction items are needed, small and large, due Saturday, February 10th, at the Herland bookstore.  (All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.)  For more info, contact Herland at herland@herlandsisters.org, or call (405) 521-9696 and leave a message.  Come and party down with the sisters… and brothers too!

The Cimarron Alliance Foundation displays banners throughout Oklahoma City during the month of June to celebrate LGBT Pride.  Some of the aging banners will be replaced this year with a new design in honor of Oklahoma’s Centennial in 2007.
Cimarron Alliance Foundation led the 2001 landmark legal challenge against the city of Oklahoma City, forcing the city to honor the First Amendment Rights of LGBT Oklahomans and allow Pride banners to be flown on city streets.
Cimarron is hosting a contest to design the new banners, with a prize of $500 to the lucky winner. The contest is open to all LGBT Oklahomans.  Entries are due on March 1st, 2007. To learn more about the banner contest, go to
www.cimarronalliance.org/banner_contest.htm.

Make plans now to attend the Third International Women’s Peace Conference sponsored by Peacemakers Incorporated in Dallas this summer.  The conference will focus on the “Essentials of Peace” and will feature three Nobel Peace Laureates (from Northern Ireland, Guatemala, and US).  Between conferences, Peacemakers Incorporated sponsors and/or supports a variety of peacemaking efforts, both locally and globally.  The conference plenary sessions will include keynote speakers, interactive workshops will be conducted by professional facilitators with expert panelists from around the world, resource experts will present lectures and experienced peacemakers will present seminars on peace skills and approaches to peace in their respective countries.  Participants will share opinions, ideas and strategies in facilitated discussion groups. 
  
Where: Adams Mark Hotel and Conference Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
When: July 10-15, 2007
  
For more information, see www.womenspeaceconference.org or call (214) 421-6707.  Locally, contact Joan Cowden at (405) 946-5000 if you would like to carpool and/or share a room with other Oklahomans. 

In January, sixty young activists gathered in Austin, Texas to begin training for the 2007 Soulforce Equality Ride. You can help support this essential week of training by donating books (new or used) that will be used in the training.  In March and April, these young activists will be visiting forty schools that have anti-gay policies in place. Help them be prepared by contributing to their training.  Soulforce, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization and all contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowable.  Visit www.soulforce.org to find out more.

Legislation to establish a cabinet level Department of Peace was reintroduced into the House of Representatives (HR 3760) and introduced for the first time in the US Senate (S 1756).  The function of this Department will be to research, articulate, and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. 
Domestically, the Department of Peace will develop policies and allocate resources to effectively reduce the levels of domestic and gang violence, child abuse, and various other forms of societal discord. Internationally, the Department will advise the President and Congress on the most sophisticated ideas and techniques regarding peace-creation among nations.
Call and write your members of Congress and urge them to support and co-sponsor the Department of Peace legislation.  Tell your family and friends and ask them to support the legislation.  Let’s make it happen sooner rather than later!
For more information, contact Lydia Gill Polley at (405) 948-1103