NEWSLETTER
National Organization for Women
Iowa City Area Chapter / IA0100
/ June Y2004
YOUR E – MAIL ADDRESSES PLEASE (for newsletter & chapter
news e – announcements only). Send to jlvibhakar@netscape.net . I
am going to make yet another appeal for these; if you have one, yours would soooo help us out,
Folks, as I’ve just had to retype aaaaall the US Mailing address labels due to
two corrupted, previous files of same… at that, typing all of those again, well,
it jus’ wudn’t pretty. btw: it may be of interest to all of you – the
current roster from National NOW of Iowa City Area Chapter affiliate members equals 66 !!!
CALENDAR
NOW thru October Farmers’
Markets: http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/States/Iowa.htm
Coralville – Monday and
Thursday evenings; WIC coupons
Iowa City – Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings; WIC coupons
10 – 13 June
2004 Thurs – Sun 27th Annual NORTH LIBERTY FUN DAYS http://www.northlibertyiowa.org/fundays
NOW, Fall and Winter 2004 Upcoming events in
the AMANA COLONIES http://www.amanacolonies.com/events/index.html
20 June 2004 noon
– ~ 3:30 pm SUMMER SOLSTICE GATHERING, TAILGATE
& BASEBALL!
Sunday parking
lot near I–Cubs
Sec Taylor Stadium
// RSVP to & for
directions--bluemAAs@yahoo.com
26 June 2004 1:00 – 3:00 pm Iowa
Pro – CHOICE Coalition MEETING – IC Public Library Meeting Rm A,
Saturday email Jill and / or Brenda
Kole, bkole@iowanaral.org with plan and agenda ideas
& suggestions. Coalition consists of
the Iowa City Area NOW Chapter, the Emma Goldman Clinic, the Iowa NARAL, the UI FMLA and
the International Socialist Organization activists.
04 July 2004 probably & REGULAR CHAPTER MEETING – email Jill for time and place, jlvibhakar@netscape.net
Sunday most likely,
afternoon agenda to include
possibilities of post – March actions, rest – of – year activities
YES, the 04th,
actually == and,
most definitely, ideas re voter education and … THE ELECTION. A local
HOW TRULY
PATRIOTIC OF US! Coalition,
focused on voter education and the Election, is also in the works.
AND! AND! AND! National
NOW is soooo seeking our help with “the 10 for CHANGE Campaign” //
http://www.10forchange.org and http://www.now.org/nnt/spring-2004/10.html == helping to register and get out
the votes of women. DID YOU KNOW ??? that
22 MILLION (single) WOMEN, eligible to, did NOT vote in
Y2000? What would’ve THAT – ALONE –
meant for TODAY’S presidency – had they?
REGISTER at NOW website – IN SECONDS – TO
VOTE! https://ssl.capwiz.com/now/e4/nvra
16 – 17
July 2004 Fri
– Sat SOLON BEEF
DAYS http://www.solon-iowa.com/subjects.asp?SubID=179
16 – 18 July
2004 / Fri – Sun, Las Vegas 2004 National NOW Conference! http://www.now.org/organization/conference/2004/info.html
Riviera
Hotel Iowa City Member Sue Christiansen
plans to attend!
26 – 29 July Mon – Thurs 2004 Democratic Natl Convention / Boston
/ Fleets Center
30 Aug – 02 Sept Mon – Thurs 2004 Republican Natl Convention / New
York City / Madison
Square Garden
FYI …
… announcements / pronouncements of worth to the Iowa City Area & surrounding feminist
community
Saturday, 22 May 2004, members of the Prairie States NOW Region convened
in Des
Moines, Iowa, to elect the Region’s allotted three
persons to the National NOW Board
for two – year terms. Eleven persons appeared representing Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska; Jill Vibhakar and Blue Maas attended.
Folks from Missouri, South
Dakota
and North
Dakota
were not present. Kathy Ahrens of Minnesota and Erin Sullivan of Nebraska were elected. The third Board member, one who in order to
be eligible, must be identified as of a diversity, a Region resident and
already a NOW member for two years is being sought; if such a person is known
to you, please inform Jill at jlvibhakar@netscape.net
. Elaine Larson, at – large member from
Iowa, is now the Prairie States Region’s National Nominating Committee
representative; and Iowa NOW President Jean Classon is Region Director. Additional matters discussed included what
the Iowa HF22 bill promoted by fathers’ rights groups and just this month
signed by Governor Vilsack as the
first such presumed joint custody bill in the United States (to take effect 01 July 2004) now means for custodial mothers, the need
to update states’ websites and the construction of local virtual NOW chapters.
Minutes of the meeting have not been received; email Jill or Blue later if
further updates desired.
NOW Times –
in case you missed your hard – copy issue!http://www.now.org/nnt/spring-2004/index.html Also archived issues there, too!
NOW’s stance on … “OUR Courts at RISK” = = http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/nominees/index.html
… quotes
/ excerpts / bumper stickers / controversy, opinion, inspiration, dissent,
gifts & comfort including yours:
i) some FEMINIST E – CARD websites: http://www.now.org/cards
http://www.expositorymagazine.net/feminist_ecards.php http://www.bushvchoice.com/postcard.cfm http://womensstudies.homestead.com/feministecards.html http://wwwomen.com/hercards
http://jpc-artworks.com/gallery/ecards http://www.care2.com/send/categorymore.html
Iowa City Area Branch NOW Newsletter /
June Y2004
Page
Two
ii) Six IMPRESSIONS from those of us back from the 25 April 2004 MARCH TO SAVE WOMEN’S LIVES - -
When I was a 17-year-old girl growing up in southeast Iowa,
I had picked out a big, old oak tree into which I would slam my car should I ever end up pregnant. The tree was perfectly set atop a sharp curve
to the left on the Five Mile Lane,
half-way between Columbus Junction and Wapello, the typical route on which I’d
drive every weekend to visit my boyfriend at the University
of Iowa. Though I had gone to my family physician (the
very same man who “delivered” me–Jyeah right!) to get on the pill before ever
having had sex, I knew I had
missed a pill or two here or there and had actually been advised by that man to
“take a break” after two years so as not to mess up my fertility---for when I would
eventually (it was assumed, of course, that I would) want to get pregnant. I knew how difficult it had been for my
mother–pregnant and forced to marry at the age of 16; then subsequently
abandoned two years and two kids later.
Begging for money from him and when he never gave it, having to get the
State of Iowa to garnish his
wages. And when the $250/month wouldn’t
cover it, having to go on welfare to feed us all while she was selling vacuums
door-to-door as well as going to night school to become a nurse.
I’d
also been wounded by comments made throughout the town–from friends’ parents
and even my own family members: they did
not want their children to hang out with me and my sister because…there wasn’t
a “man” in the house. I assumed they
meant my father ???
As though we were the ones with character flaws–even though he
had been the one to leave us. I also knew
that only sluts have premarital sex–well, at least in Mediapolis, that is. Didn’t matter that I’d so
had the same boyfriend for over four years. Attending the March to Save Women’s Lives in
Washington, DC, on April 25th, gave me the hope that someday some
current members of society will no longer legally be allowed to try to
inculcate into my own daughter the belief that…her whole life…is worth less
than…a piece of tissue. – Mika Thomas
When
I was in college, both of my roommates traveled via bus to DC with others from
our campus to the first major March for Women's Lives in 1989. I stayed home and studied. I was ambivalent about the subject of
abortion at that time. Since then, I've
grown up and am not only a NOW leader and reproductive rights activist but also
an abortion provider. So when the latest
March for Women's Lives was announced amidst a very dangerous administration in
regard to women's health in the 21st Century, I knew I had to take
part. I helped form a Coalition of other
PRO-CHOICE organizations including the Emma Goldman Clinic, the Feminist
Majority Leadership Alliance, International Socialist Organization and NARAL
Pro-Choice America.* We organized buses,
educational forums, fundraising and a rally.
We coordinated with Choice USA.* Together we sent five buses from Iowa
City/Waterloo. The Des Moines/Ames
Coalition sent an additional three more, adding up to eight buses total
traveling to DC from Iowa! And this time I was on one of those
buses. It was my first March, and it was
amazing! The bus trip was an endurance
test but provided the opportunity to get to know one of my colleagues better
and catch up with my sister, who joined me on this adventure. I rode on the "slow bus" so had the
opportunity to enjoy some of DC, such as the National Museum of Women in the
Arts,* which was packed with fellow marchers, and get a good night's sleep
before the March. This proved to be
priceless, as the next day was a marathon day.
It was wonderful to join over a million other like-minded people on the
Mall. The pre-March rally was
invigorating, and we were ready to roll!
However, shuffling turned out to be the better word. It took us 1½ hours to get off the Mall and
another three to return to the rally, which was almost over. During the March we chanted, ran into people
we knew, laughed, ached, got separated from people we
knew by waves of marchers and absorbed all of the energy from the throngs. Coming home, I felt a renewed sense of hope
and optimism. There were so many
different types of people at the March, including lots of young feminists--people
who have their act together much more than I did at their age! But it's never too late to learn: NOW we are taking that energy and forming an
Iowa Pro-Choice Coalition. – Jill
Vibhakar, MD * http://www.emmagoldman.com http://www.uiowa.edu/~uifu http://www.nmwa.org http://socialistworker.org/WhatOn.shtml &
http://www.internationalsocialist.org http://www.naral.org/yourstate/whodecides/states/iowa/index.cfm http://www.choiceusa.org
Clearly, the MARCH was amazing, the whole, done deal. To feel so gathered together with this many others who think and believe as
do I? For quite probably the THIRD overall, outstanding event and era in my entire life (the first, chronologically speaking, having been Woodstock and the second motherhood times three), I felt like I … belonged. I want, from the bottom of my being, to thank all of us in
the Iowa Coalition who tirelessly and relentlessly worked to make this place of … belonging … possible for me. For girls and women,
53 percent of the Entire Earth, to be harmed and left dying and for the men (including our Supreme Court’s) of the present United States’ and of countless other of the World’s governments and citizenries to not, every single hour, care and, collectively as well as individually, call upon Their Wills to cease this terror and holocaust? I find this notion – and fact – utterly unconscionable. And, without measure, unacceptable! I am only left then to act every other hour to outright oppose those (with their female counterparts of whom, of course, there are also entirely too, too, many) who perpetrate, as well as passively allow, these crimes to burgeon upon my and your humanity. – Blue
What was my favorite thing about the march? I think it was when they first announced it
on C-Span a year and a half ago. That
really made my day. I was down in the
dumps that day; had had it with Republican conservatism. I will most remember the incredible number
of people there. The people just
kept coming and coming into the street; it was like somebody opened the
floodgates on the dam. It was almost a
little scary; if people had become violent and started to stampede, I would
have been crushed. We waited almost half
an hour to get out of the mall area and into the street to march! (Of course, I was very unhappy to see the
religious protestors along the march route. These
people make me sick.) I was impressed by
the originality of many of the signs. My
favorite was "Lick Bush and Dick;" I just stood there and laughed at
it. I was also impressed by the great variety of people present! There were old
ladies, young men, numerous organizations and many, many young women. It was great to be in the presence of so many
people who think like I think on these issues.
It was reassuring to know that I am not the only liberal Democrat in the
country. I even began to think that
maybe we will have a chance to win this election next fall. But I was most
gratified that there was not violence, no terrorist attacks and few arrests.
That is pretty amazing for a crowd that big and that passionate. – Sue
Christiansen
I got on the bus in Iowa City
mostly to escape the ridiculous wind on the morning of April 24, 2004.
As I sat there and watched people gather and park their cars, it
occurred to me that at the age of 29, I was....old. See, I don't have dreadlocks or anything but
my ears pierced. I don't wear pants that require me to shave my belly, and I
have two young children whom I had left behind that weekend so I could be part
of
the "largest march for women's lives in history." Of the 80 or so people on that particular
bus, there were about 10 of us who were over 22. This didn't alarm me right then as I watched
them gather in clusters and greet each other with squeals of delight from
across the parking lot. In fact, until
that day, I hadn't seen the difference between old feminists....and the rest of
them. In fact, even if the difference
had presented itself to me before that day, I wouldn't have known that
I'm....old. It soon became clear to me
that there are two distinct groups within the feminist community: those that are weathered and broken in by
personal experience with the madness of the patriarchy
and
those who just aren't. They're either too
young or lucky. Or perhaps they're just
not paying attention. There're Becky
Bell's dad and brother who spoke at the March about losing Becky to an illegal
abortion--and then there's the topless girl-woman with the NARAL stickers
covering her nipples wandering through the crowd looking dazed and
confused. I saw a woman in a wheelchair
wearing a shirt
Iowa City Area Branch NOW Newsletter /
June Y2004
Page
Three
that
said, "I had an illegal abortion."
Women in their 40s and 50s carrying signs with wire coat hangers taped
to them. There are women who have lost
their children and their selves to ridiculous court rulings, and there are
women who aren't mothers yet. There's Ani
DiFranco and her beautiful poems about this country and its people, and there's
the crowd who are so very tender and young that a one-hour movie about the life
of a brave abortionist is, in their words, "too intense" for
them. I thought I'd see some STUFF in Washington, DC. And I did. But what I saw
wasn't over a million feminists. It was two crowds of people: Those who get it. And those
who don't. Not that not getting
it is a fault; it's just a fact. I rode
for over 40 hours that weekend on a bus full of feminists who have not felt the
slap of the hatred of women that has shaped so many of our lives. At first, it pissed me off. Especially when I realized that at home, I am
surrounded by people who do not approve of my militant stance on a woman's right
to choose if, when, and how she gives birth; and on that bus, I was surrounded
by "feminists" that had not experienced the REASON that we
"radical feminists” are as radical as we are, and certainly seemed to have
a problem with any conversation or activity that would tear them away from
party-time on the bus. After it was all over,
I'm happy to say that I'm so very glad I went. The March was a
life-altering experience. But next time, (since….there WILL STILL need to even BE ‘a next
time’), I think I'll fly. – Rachel Morey –
Geissinger
My name is Susan Norris. I am an elementary school art teacher in Ames, Iowa. I am 47, married 25 years, mother of four sons ages
19, 21, 9 and 24. I heard about the "March For Women's Lives" from my friend, Blue Maas, in September of 2003, and knew immediately I would be there. Actions speak louder than words. I mentioned the March to my good friend, Suann Peck, over coffee and bagels on a Friday morning; I was pleasantly surprised when she agreed to accompany me. Little did I know how significant our plans would prove to be come April 24th when we drove from Ames to Iowa City and boarded the fast-track bus to DC. My sister, Wendy Hinkle Gillon, took her own life on Saturday, April 3, 2004, at Red Top Mountain State Park in Kennesaw, Georgia. I was at her home in Acworth with my father and her two children, ages 12 and 14, where we had gathered to attempt to thwart this tragic event. While many women rise above self esteem-defeating situations and events similar to those that caused my sister to believe that she didn't matter to anyone, there are far too many like my sister. Her life experience included many issues for which we were marching: she had two abortions in her late teens, she was married to and divorced from a verbally abusive man, she felt she did not measure up to parental expectations, her 14-year-old daughter was out of control...I could go on. Some folks wondered if I'd make the trip so soon after this tragedy. There was not a doubt in my mind. I learned on the trip why my friend, Ms. Peck, had so quickly agreed to accompany me: a high school friend had had a botched abortion in the late ‘60s from which she nearly bled to death and which prevented her from having children. Ms. Peck invited her soon-to-be daughter-in-law to attend, and the three of us "adopted" a young woman from Des Moines who had flown to DC on her own to be part of this historic event. This is one story of millions–and that was the power of the event. To stand together and listen to women speak about women's issues, to march passed the White House chanting, "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! George Bush has got to go!" accompanied by the cadence of the "pagan drum corps." Powerful stuff. As a mother of sons, I wanted them to know how important women's issues are. Mothers of daughters also marched so their children may come of age in a country where women's issues are given credence and serious consideration.
… works
/ workers / authors / artists / performers / activists / cds / videos / dvds /
theatre performances, etc:
i) MEN WE APPLAUD:
a)
Curtis Boyd, MD,
of 800 – 727 – 225, the Dallas / Fort Worth /
Austin area and http://www.fairmountcenter.com and the subject of his son’s, Kyle’s
documentary film, “Life Matters” and who has been providing people their choice for a safe abortion
since before 22 January 1973, at massive risk to himself and his family
both before and especially after that date. Email Jill to reserve your need for use of
the vhs video, 59 minutes.
b)
Robert Jensen,
Professor of Journalism, Univ of Texas – Austin, whose “A Cruel Edge: The Painful Truth About
Today’s Pornography – and What Men Can Do About It”, http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/pornography&cruelty.htm
, is also abridged in the Spring 2004 Ms. Magazine.
c)
Jack Straton,
Professor of Physics, Portland (OR) State
University
and of the 1994 – 2002 Ending Men’s Violence’s citation database,
Citebase, http://www.nomas.org/EMVCiteb.doc
. This citation database and
accompanying files which print out in Word to 47 pages may be used for any
personal or educational purpose IF copyright is also included.
ii) Three reading recommendations forwarded to
this editor from IC Area NOW Member Sue Christiansen, all on http://amazon.com:
a)
The War on Choice by Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s President and former
Texan, Gloria Feldt
b) Had Enough?: A Handbook for Fighting Back by James Carville, and
c)
MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country: How to Find Your Political Voice
and Become a Catalyst for Change
iii) One from Blue: “America as a One – Party State” @ http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/2/kuttner-r.html
and by Robert Kuttner in “The American Prospect,”
v 15, #2, 01 February 2004 . “Today's hard right seeks total
dominion. It's packing the courts and
rigging the rules. The target is not the Democrats but democracy
itself.”
iv) And
a film: “The Day My God Died” 2003 // http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0376559 // 70
minutes. “Filmed in Nepal and India
this
documentary presents the stories of young girls whose lives have been shattered
by the child sex slave trade. The film
provides
actual footage from inside the brothels of Bombay, known even to the tourists
as ‘The Cages,’ captured with spy – camera technology.
The
documentary also introduces the heroes of the movement who are working to
abolish child sex slavery and who remind us that, ‘these are our daughters.’ ” Winona Ryder – and
Tim Robbins – narrated.
… web
sites of worth to the Iowa City Area and surrounding feminist community / PUT YOUR BIZ HERE!
http://www.awakenedwoman.com/noble_wm_center.htm
= “How About Creating a Women’s Political Party?”
http://www.gatherthewomen.org =
Gather the Women Global Matrix http://www.wova.org
= Women of Vision and Action
http://www.emergingwomenwriters.com/fiction/trishJune.html
= Emerging Women Writers http://www.croning.org = Resources for Wise
Women of All Ages http://www.honorearth.com = Indigenous
Women’s Network http://www.gasbuddy.com = cheapest gasoline
stations
Iowa City’s own Thai Flavors
of http://www.thaiflavors.com, proud to be a supporting
sponsor of the Emma Goldman Clinic! The End …