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December 2008   Vol. 2, Issue 4
February, 2008 - Vol 1, Issue 1
In This Issue
KAAUW Calendar
Potluck and a Film
Winter Trips
Recent Blog Posts
President's Letter
What's Up With Voting Machines?
Revised Book Club List
Transitions, News, & Celebrations




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Kingston AAUW Calendar
Kingston AAUW Calendar

Tues. Dec. 9 - Board Meeting, Reginato's, noon.

Tues. Dec. 9 - What's Up with Voting Machines in NYS? Public Forum & HBO film Hacking Democracy: See article. 7 pm, Kingston Library.

Sunday, Dec. 14: Potluck and a Film, See below. Vivi's, 5 pm,

Tues. Dec 16, Book Discussion, Poetry, 2 pm, Kingston Library. Note time change.

Tues. Dec. 16, Holiday Party, 4-7 pm. Great music, great food, great company, bring great small gifts for women in the domestic violence shelter.

Tues. Jan 13, New! Jane Austin Book Club: January selection - Emma. Read the book, see the movie, or just come. Olympic Diner, Washington Ave. (across from the Holiday Inn), 5:15 - 7:00 pm 

 
Make the KAAUW google calendar a favorite and you'll always know what's happening. Integrate it with your own google calendar. Print it.
Potluck and a Film
Kitchen Stories 
 
On Sunday, December 14th, 5 PM, we will gather at ViVi's house (link to directions below) to watch "Kitchen Stories." Here's a synopsis of this 2003 Norwegian film, directed by Bent Hamer:
 
In post war Sweden it was discovered that every year, an average housewife walks as many miles as the distance between Stockholm and Congo, while preparing her family meals. So the Home Research Institute sent out eighteen observers to a rural district of Norway to map out the kitchen routines of single men. Sitting in strategically placed tall chairs in each kitchen, the researchers are forbidden to converse with the subjects or be included in the kitchen activities.  In this delightful mix of science and cantankerousness, a warm and genuine bond develops.
 
Covered dish supper at 5, after which we will watch the movie, followed by a brief discussion.  Let me know if you're bringing a dessert; we only need a few of those.  Hope you can make it.  ViVi
Directions to Vivi's
Winter Trips
Metropolitan Museum Christmas Tree
The trip to NYC and the Metropolitan Museum has a couple of seats left, but don't delay. Follow the links or call Pat Whalen between noon and 10 pm at 845-657-6807 for details.

Thursday, December 18- NYC and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saturday, January 17 - Puccini's La Rondine on the big screen in Hudson
has had to be canceled, but people who are interested may make your own arrangements, purchasing tickets for the Sunday, January 18th show at 1pm. Call 518-822-8448 or for tickets go to
www.timeandspace.org
Recent Blog Posts
 
UN Trip

Read Janine Mower's reflections on the trip to the UN.

Info on the National Day of Listening. Did you record someone? Make time this holiday season.

Bush administration targets Family Medical Leave Act

Our two websites are updated regularly.The first has AAUW news -- local, state, and national. You'll also find great member profiles with pictures.

The second,Unofficial Passionsincludes a patchwork of things we care about. A sample from this month:
Any member can submit items any time. Send them to any Communications Committee member.
Quick Web Links
Kingston AAUW Branch Communication Committee
Garnette Arledge
Doris Goldberg
ViVi Hlavsa
Susan Holland
Doris Licht
Irwin Rosenthal
Ruth Wahtera, Editor

If you have something you would like posted on either the Kingston AAUW or the Unofficial Passions site, e-mail the information to a committee member.
Holiday greetings, 
small logoJust when tuition is skyrocketing and women need scholarship money to further their education more than ever, we find our trip income shrinking. Raising money for local scholarships, the AAUW Education Foundation, and the Legal Advocacy Fund will likely play a more prominent role in the coming year.

Of course, the economy is presenting challenges for everyone. It's good to know we can count on each other for support. Please speak up when you, or someone you know, needs help.

We had an exciting fall working on voter registration and education, traveling to the United Nations conference and Chinatown, premiering our first TV program and a humble fundraiser talent-share (the start of a November tradition?). Members are sharing their expertise - Garnette Arledge and Susan Holland job and salary negotiations 'how-to' with UCCC business students, and Ruth Wahtera (me) an RSS workshop. And, of course, plenty of food, films, books, and bridge. Whew!

Here' my quote for the season:
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
- William Arthur Ward

Thank you all for your friendship and encouragement, your commitment to AAUW values, and your support of branch activities. May the Holidays bring joy with family and friends and may the new year bring peace and prosperity as part of t promised change.
The editor

President's Letter

Celebrate the Holidays with Us!

small logo

We are pleased that Split the Bill, a musical duo that includes Elisa Geliebter, manager of the children's book program at Lisa Libraries, has agreed to provide the entertainment at our Holiday Party, Tuesday, Dec. 16, from 4 pm at the Kingston Library.

Please bring an unwrapped gift (valued around $5), suitable for a woman in the domestic violence shelter. They especially need bath and personal care items, games, puzzles, and books for all ages, and winter hats, scarves, and gloves.

Here's a bit from Split the Bill's website:

With lots of close harmonies, interwoven acoustic guitars, piano and mandolin, this singer-songwriter duo consists of Myra Dirnfeld and Elisa Geliebter.

Their songs and arrangements have been called "compelling. . . and haunting". The Kingston Freeman wrote that Split the Bill makes music in "a comfortable living room way that's been lost in recent years. Split the Bill does a fine job of bringing real music back, as it should be."

Split the Bill performs a blend of intriguing and rhythmic originals and covers including The Beatles, The Indigo Girls, Radiohead, Jackson Browne, The Eagles and Emmylou Harris.

The duo is based in the Hudson River Valley between the river and the mountains; the sound of the beautiful land flows through their music.

AAUW members have been volunteering with the Lisa Library, helping catalogue, shelve and pack some of the children's books donated by publishers for women's prisons, after-school programs, and underfunded children's collections in public libraries. Formerly in Brooklyn, the office moved across from the Kingston main post office last year. Both Poughkeepsie and Kingston AAUW send volunteers to assist.

Bring your singing enthusiasm as we celebrate the winter festivals with good company and refreshments.

Aloha,
Garnette
What's Up With Voting Machines in NY?
Film image This Tuesday evening!
  • How does a mandated switch to op-scan computers in 2009 square with the Constitution?
  • Can we save our levers---and millions of dollars, too?
  • Can op-scan voting be trusted?
Come to a public forum sponsored by the branch public policy committee, 7 pm, Tuesday, December 9, at the Kingston Library, 55 Franklin Street.

This important discussion is open to the public. Bring your friends and neighbors.

We'll watch the HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy," which examines how voting by touch screen and optical scan computers, even with paper ballots, can be secretly hacked without a trace.
 
Following the film, Andi Novick, noted voting integrity author/attorney and co-founder of Campaign to Save our Secure Electoral System will explain why op scan and other forms of computer voting don't meet the requirements of the NY State Constitution, which demands an "observable, transparent, and secure" system. She will also detail the enormous costs a switch to computer voting requires and the pending legal case filed to ensure that legislators adhere to the Constitution.
 
For more information: contact Irene Miller at 518 678-3516
Revised Book Club Reading List
Cat and books
Photo by Oolong
 AAUW BOOK CLUB Revised Reading List for December '08 to June 2009

Dec. 16, 2008 Vivi Hlvasa will help us explore the poems in Section 2 of the looseleaf binder that she has assembled. The binder can be purchased or borrowed from the library. Note meeting time: 2pm, immediately prior to Holiday party.

January 20,2009 Leeway Cottage by Beth Cutcheon  A story about a couple who meet at Julliard and are separated by WW2, when the husband goes back to his native Denmark and becomes involved with the successful rescue of the Danish Jews.

Feb. 17,2009 The Known World by E. P. Jones. Before the Civil War, a black slave buys his freedom and then buys black men to work for him.

March 17, 2009 The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. This heroine in early 20th century New York has no fortune and is unable to find her place in the upper .level of society. Fictional depiction of the rigid class system of the time.

April 21st, 2009 Vivi Hlvasa's  Community Wide Selection : Stories by Andrea Lee

May 19, 2009 Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles- (BCB) Adair Colley, an 18 year old girl in Missouri at the time of the Civil War is arrested by the Union Army as an Enemy Woman. She is interrogated by a Union Major and they fall in love.
 
June 16, 2009 Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Henry Fleming is a teenager who joins the Union Army during the Civil War. He is fearful of killing and dying and friends betray his fears. His wound is the red badge of courage. This is a coming of age story that does NOT glorify war. It has been called the first modern American novel.

 News, Transitions, and Celebrations
AAUW graphic
Volunteers needed for gift wrapping at the Mall, Friday Dec. 19th. We will cover the service from about 4PM to closing. 2 to 4-hour shifts. We earn half of the sales and all of the tips for our Legal Advocacy Fund. You get to talk with interesting people and see the gifts they have purchased for the people they love. Thanks to those who worked this past Saturday. The willing should call Joan Davis.

*****
Branch Directories: Thanks to Sheila Beall's hard work, the new directories are ready. To save on postage, they will be available for pick-up at the Holiday party. If you won't be there, please arrange for another member to pick it up for you.
*****
Conference Opportunities:
The Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN)  presents Protecting Human Rights: The United Nations - Our Schools, Friday, 30 January 2009,
Keynote speaker -- AAUW member Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea - One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ...One School at a Time and co-founder of the non-profit Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace.  The day includes additional UN speakers, a resource fair, optional tour of the UN, and other interesting options. See www.teachun.org for more information.From Joan Monk, our AAUW-NYS Cultural Interests Director:

AAUW-NYS Convention,
April 24 - 26, 2009 -- The Sagamore, Bolton Landing Convention is just not for officers and our branch tries to send a few people each year. It offers a chance to learn about AAUW and make new friends from across New York State. Have a terrific weekend at a great resort on the beautiful Lake George.. $434 per person for the entire weekend. 2 nights, 6 meals, workshops, entertainment, and just plain fun! www.aauw-nys.org

AAUW is proud to be a convening partner of the Feminism 2.0 conference on Feb. 2, 2009, from 9:30am to 5pm in Washington, D.C.  Feminism 2.0 brings together the leadership of major women's advocacy organizations and online women's communities. Effective advocacy isn't just about organizations lending their name to an issue or speaking up on Capitol Hill; it's about all citizens concerned with equality being knowledgeable and aware of the current status of important issues and taking action.

Stretch Your Dollars:  AAUW has a new partnership with Barnes & Noble's online sales site, www.BN.com/aauw . The site is our own customized AAUW bookstore where AAUW members automatically receive a 5% discount on purchases (10% this month & periodically)-and that's on top of other available discounts that apply to the purchase. We've added a link in the sidebar of our blog. Happy reading!