New Members
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We're almost at the 100 member mark! Thanks for spreading the word and inviting your friends.
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Kingston AAUW Calendar
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March Women's History Month March 8, 3 pm International Women's Day
Walkway over the Hudson Tues. March 15 11 am Board Meeting at Gateway Diner, 620 Washington Ave., Kingston 1 pm Book Group: Francis Perkins The Woman Behind the President
Thurs., March 17, 4:30 pm
A Global Conversation about Women and Girls
Saturday, March 19, 1 pm Branch Meeting, Nurturing Your Body Tues., March 29, 5:30 pm Public Policy Film & Discussion
April 12
Equal Pay Day
April 15-17
AAUW NYS Convention
Saturday, April 16, 1 pm
Branch Meeting: Memoirs
April 19, 1 pm Book Group: Vanity Fair
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Spring Trip
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 | | Picasso Guitars |
April 4, 2010
Spring Trip to MOMA
Join us for a trip to NYC and the Museum of Modern Art. We will make a brief stop at Trader Joe's on the way back.
Leave Kingston at a civilized 9:30 am. Leave Manhattan for home at 4:30 pm.
Current exhibits here.
Trip details here.
Cost for members: $56
Bus only: $39
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Potluck & a Film
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Recently, I watched that 1985 classic, Kiss of Spider Woman, and I wondered if my friends also haven't seen it in awhile (summary below). It's so terrific, I'm hoping you'll come to watch it with me again this month.
In Kiss of Spider Woman, Luis Molina (William Hurt) and Valentin Arregui (Raul Julia) are cell mates in a South American prison. Luis, a homosexual, is found guilty of immoral behavior and Valentin is a political prisoner. To escape reality Luis invents romantic movies, while Valentin tries to keep his mind on the situation he's in.
We'll meet as usual at ViVi's (directions on request) at 5 PM, share a covered dish supper, then watch the movie, followed by a brief discussion. I'll have weisswurst and rice.
Hope you can make it!
ViVi
P.S. We will have two additional couches on the porch, so more can enjoy sitting for two hours.
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International Committee
Our Sisters' Keeper - Investing in Women
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Update from Rokki Carr:
KAAUW's Board has committed to support the International Committee's recommendation that we "adopt" three international charities by donatiing $500 to each: Kiva, a microfinance organization; a local Haitian support group; and Samasource, an international training/educational/job placement program.
The Committee has spent considerable time evaluating the programs and fiscal efficiency of many organizations, and their appropriateness to our mission goals. This monitoring is a continuing process.
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About AAUW
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AAUW's Value Promise
By joining AAUW, you belong to a community that breaks through educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance.
AAUW's Mission
AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research.
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| Greetings! | Today, Susan Holland and I represented the branch at the International Women's Day celebration Meet me on the bridge at the Walkway Over the Hudson. Hundreds of people from up and down the Valley turned out and it was quite glorious. We walked with the Poughkeepsie Branch. Here's a photo from the day.
 | | Meet me on the bridge |
It's also Women's History Month. Send me a note sharing your favorite women in history. wahtera.ruth@gmail.com
All the best,
Ruth Wahtera, Editor
P.S. Sorry the newsletter is so late this month. My help hasn't started yet.
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Women's History Month
Celebrating Rachel Carson
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This is an excerpt from an article by Susan Holland on our blog, which you can read in full here.
Rachel Carson - writer, scientist, and ecologist - 1907-1964 | | Rachel Carson |
In 1936, she began a 15-year career in the federal service as a scientist and editor and rose to become Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Carson wrote pamphlets on conservation and natural resources and edited scientific articles. In her free time, Carson turned her government research into lyric prose, first as an article "Undersea" (1937, for the Atlantic Monthly), and then in a book, Under the Sea-Wind (1941). In 1952, she published her prize-winning study of the ocean, The Sea Around Us, which was followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955. Carson resigned from government service in 1952 to devote herself to her writing. Carson wrote several other articles designed to teach people about the wonder and beauty of the living world, including "Help Your Child to Wonder," (1956) and "Our Ever-Changing Shore" (1957). Embedded within all of her writing was the view that human beings were one part of nature distinguished primarily by their power to alter it, in some cases irreversibly. Disturbed by the profligate use of synthetic chemical pesticides after World War II, Carson reluctantly changed her focus in order to warn the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides. In Silent Spring (1962), she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government, and called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world. Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and some in government as an alarmist, but courageously spoke out to remind us that we are a vulnerable part of the natural world subject to the same damage as the rest of the ecosystem. Testifying before Congress in 1963, Carson called for new policies to protect human health and the environment. Photo of Carson from Lear/Carson Collection, Connecticut College.
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Branch Meeting
Nurturing the Body
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 | | Image by David DeSilva |
Nurturing the Body as Well as the Mind
March 19, 2011, 1 pm
Kingston Area Library Community Room
Jill Taylor is a physical therapist who will talk with us about ways to care for ourselves. She will cover some norms for strength, endurance, and flexibility as we age. She'll share some of the research about the impact of exercise on our well being and its interaction with many disease processes. She will also information on community and internet resources.
Jill graduated from Ithaca college and has been a physical therapist for 35 years. She has worked in a variety of settings including private practice with an emphasis on orthopedic and sports medicine. For the last 10 years she has worked in a hospital setting with an emphasis on balance and vestibular patients as well as the general geriatric population. She recently took the exam for specialist certification in geriatrics from the American Physical Therapy Association.
Join us on March 19th to have your questions answered.
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Selling Fleas to
Benefit Women & Girls
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 | | Our table at the Saugerties Flea Market |
Thanks to everyone who contributed items and to our volunteers who worked the French Club Flea Market. It was a busy, active, and successful day financially. We took in $278, brought leftovers to the Salvation Army in Kingston and New Paltz, and retained selected items for our holiday gift table next December.
Thank you,
Dolores LaChance
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Public Policy
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
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 | | Utah Demonstration |
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 5:30 PM
Public Policy Film/Discussion
Kingston Library, Community Room
This documentary uncovers a retail giant's assault on families and American values. The film dives into the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to fight a goliath. A working mother is forced to turn to public assistance to provide health care for her two small children. A Missouri family loses its business after Wal-Mart is given over $2 million to open its doors down the road. A mayor struggles to equip his first responders after Wal-Mart pulls out and relocates just outside the city limits. A community in California unites, takes on the giant, and wins! Producer/Director Robert Greenwald takes you on an extraordinary journey that will change the way you think, feel -- and shop. 2005, 98 minutes Join us to watch the film and discuss the issues raised. As you know, AAUW financially and organizationally supports the lead plaintiffs in the gender discrimination case against Wal-Mart. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments, also on March 29. The issue before the court is whether the case can move forward as a class action. For more information click here.
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International and Public Policy Committees
A Global Conversation Continues
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A Global Conversation about
the Lives of Women and Girls
Thursday, March17, 4:30 PM Kingston Library, Community Room As part of My Sister's Keeper, an AAUW-NYS Initiative, we are pleased to welcome our guest speaker Lois Shapiro-Canter, president, CEO, and founder of the Saratoga Foundation for Women Worldwide (http://saratogafoundation.org/). This meeting is a continuation of our Half the Sky book discussion. Come and join in the conversation!
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Book Discussion Group
Frances Perkins
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 Frances Perkins: The Woman Behind the President
by Kirsten Downey
Tuesday, March 15, 1 PM
Kingston Library, Community Room
Perkins was the first woman to serve n an American Presidential Cabinet. She was instrumental in securing "New Deal" ligislation and served 12 years as Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor.
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News, Celebrations, and etcetera
Headlines
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Room Change
During tax season, our Tuesday meetings will be in the Story Hour Room, not the Community Room. This applies to the board meetings on 4/12 and the book discussion on 3/15.
Op-Eds - AAUW Voices Project
Did you know that women write only 20% of the op-ed articles published in the USA. And that's because far fewer women than men submit op-ed articles. AAUW has joined forces with the American Forum to increase the number, especially those writing about issues related to AAUW's mission.
Over 100 women across the country have been participating in an on-line workshop preparing op-eds for Pay Equity Day, April 12. Kingston AAUW Communications Chair Ruth Wahtera is part of that group.
Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being
The White House Council on Women and Girls, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Economics and Statistics Administration within the Department of Commerce worked together to create the Women in America(pdf) report. This report for the first time in recent history pulls together information from a cross section of Federal statistical agencies to compile baseline information on how women are faring in the United States today. The report also examines how these trends have changed over time. It provides a statistical portrait of how women's lives are changing in five critical areas:
10 for 10 Campaign
As you know girls have shied away from STEM careers despite their high salaries and career opportunities. . The objective of 10 for 10 is to reach 10,000 10-year-old girls with positive engineering experiences in one year. AAUW has joined nine other national organizations to reach the 10 for 10 goal.
It's too late for our branch to do anything this spring, but if any of you STEM professionals would step up, the rest of us will support you in putting together a STEM event in Ulster County next year. You can find what other branches are doing on the AAUW website and on the AAUW STEM page on facebook.
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