Weekly Newsletters, Fall 2008-Spring 2009

Thursday, February 21, 2008

FORCE Meeting Minutes: 2/21/08

Introductions and overview of agenda

***Amy Lee confirmed for 2/28/08 at 3pm in WRC***
- Teach-in about natural products for women with samples and DivaCup raffle
- Flyer by Mariana

Reminder about Ludacris protest Saturday
- Article about protest in Daily 49er

Lynne mentions potential forum/discussion about women and multitasking and the problems with fragmentation of tasks

Dolores Huerta Day – activist with Cesar Chavez coming to speak
- Tuesday, April 15th

*Women and Careers Conference on Friday, March 14th from 9am-1:30pm at the Pointe
- Promotion of event with designing posters and putting up flyers
- www.csulb.edu/women-and-careers

Representation at the Majors Fair for Women’s Studies (contact Dr. Rojas)

*T-Shirt making party
-Details on the Myspace page.

*Sexual Assault Awareness Week and Take Back the Night on April 29th, 30th and May 1st
- Discuss last year’s event: likes/dislikes, areas for improvement, etc.
-- Disorganized march path, not disabled accessible
- Necessary committees
-- SLD/ASI – Request any funding; reserve sites; rent chairs
-- Rally program – Schedule speakers; podium; banners; gifts for speakers
-- Speakout – Contact tribe for Puvungna and fire; Angie Evans or other music
-- March details – Select path; prepare signs and chants; PA equipment
-- Other events – Workshops, film screenings; men’s pledge; Interact performance on hate and sexual violence
-- Clothesline Project

Next week’s meeting:
- Select committees and preliminary to-do list
- Amy Lee’s workshop at 3pm

How To Kill a Transperson

How to kill a transperson

February 15th, 2008
By Ceridwen Troy
This article was written on Friday, Feb. 15, 2008.


On Saturday, Sanesha Stewart, a transwoman of color living in the Bronx, was murdered in her own apartment. She was 25 years old. Her accused killer, Steve McMillan, had known her for months, yet when he was arrested, he claimed to have been enraged to find out that she was what the media coverage called not really a woman. He stabbed her over and over again in the chest and throat. She tried to fight him off; there were defensive wounds found on her hands.

On Tuesday, eighth-grader Lawrence King was in a classroom in Oxnard, Calif. He was openly gay, and often came to school in gender-bending clothing, makeup, jewelry and shoes. According to another student, it was freaking the guys out. One of them shot Lawrence in the head. He was declared brain-dead on Wednesday.

It is easy to look at cases like this and think, how tragic. How random. How senseless.

But then, you forget how easy it is to kill a transgender person.

You forget that all across this nation, faith leaders of all stripes, men and women who claim to speak for God Himself, call us sinners, call us abominations, call us evil.

You forget that at best the media depicts us as something to be pitied, something that our families must be strong and overcome. At worst, they depict us as abnormal, exploiting our bodies for ratings, exploiting the publics fear of us for shock value.

You forget that on a good day, law enforcement agents are neglectful of us, and that far more frequently they join in our harassment. You forget the transwomen of color who are rounded up on suspicions of prostitution. You forget the beatings that go uninvestigated. You forget the molestation and rape we face when we are arrested.

You forget the medical establishment that drains our wallets for the therapy and hormones and surgeries they tell us we need. You forget the way we are then refused treatment when we are dying, dying of treatable diseases, dying of easily patched wounds.

You forget that, by the law of the land, it is legal in the majority of states to deny us employment, to deny us service, to deny us housing.

You forget the shelters and the rape crisis centers that will not allow us through their doors.

You forget that many of us do not even have family to turn to when we are at our most desperate.

You forget that the leaders of our own community have told us that it is not time for us to have rights, that it is not pragmatic for us to be considered worthy of the same respect as other human beings.

You forget that in our own circles, it is considered a negative thing to be too flamboyant. You forget the way our pride parades have been derided by our own community. You forget the scorn heaped upon drag queens by other gay men. You forget the fear to be seen in public with a friend who is considered too open, too queer.

You forget the way it seeps into the minds of transgender people, too. You forget the way a transsexual will shout that she is not a crossdresser, as if there were something wrong with that. You forget the catty names we call each other if we don't "pass".

You forget how many of us take our own lives every year.

You forget because the noise is always there, a constant drone in the background. Every newspaper piece that calls a transwoman he instead of she. Every talk show host who spends an hour talking about our genitals. Every childish taunt about looking like a tranny. Every transperson who talks about themselves as true transsexuals. Every activist and politician who tells us now is not the time.

You forget too, how easy it is to kill a person of color, with myths about gangstas and lies about immigrants. You forget how easy it is to kill a person living in poverty, cutting off her welfare because she is suuposedly being paid to breed. You forget how easy it is to kill a sex worker, with sex-shaming language, slinging about slurs like hooker and whore.

You forget the message hidden inside every single one of those statements.

You are less than I am. You are not worthy of the rights and respect that I am worthy of.

You are not human.

It is very easy to kill something that you do not see as human.

It is very easy to kill a transperson.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

10th Annual Women & Careers Conference

We have had a major change of venue for our

10th Annual Women & Careers Conference!

It’s at “The Pointe” in the Pyramid
Friday, March 14, 2008
9am-1:30pm



We have some amazing panelists including a film publicist (for the Dream Girls among others), a drug tester for the National Football League, the Director of Technology at CSU Fullerton , the Executive Chef (and restaurant owner) of Delius Restaurant in Long Beach … and more. The event includes lunch with our guests, a Q&A following lunch, opportunities to network with these amazing professional women, door prizes … and more!

We are developing an intensive marketing strategy to let students, staff, and faculty know about the event and we need your feedback about our ideas and your help in spreading the word.

We also have opportunities on the day of the event including being a table host, taking photos and several other tasks. Attached is a list of opportunities along those lines.

Also attached is a poster/flyer we are distributing

Thanks for reading this and we look forward to hearing from you – in the affirmative of course. :)




Hi all –

A volunteer opportunity awaits you at the fabulous
Women & Careers Conference!
9am – 1:30pm at The Pointe at the Pyramid


8:45am for registration, food and pre-conference networking ☺
March 14, 2008

If you would like to volunteer during the day
to set-up and decorate tables: 7:45am
to assist with registration: 8:45 – 9:05am

(to collect surveys, distribute packets, seat attendees)

To be the host of a conference table
(welcome people to your table, and facilitate conversation and topical discussion during conference, collect closing letters ☺)

to host at the refreshment table 8:45-9:05am, 10:40-11am:
(monitor: refilling dishes, checking on food, coffee, napkins, etc)

to take photos of people at the conference: throughout the day
(including photo release forms so we can share the photos!)


to help “close-up shop” after the conference!


Contact the Women's Resource Center:
562/985-8576

Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you at the conference – for any period of time you can attend.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Critical Race Conference at UCLA

Moderated by faculty members of CRS Program at UCLA,/"Race, Sexuality & the Law: Abercrombie, Imus & Beyond"/ will feature interdisciplinary academic panels exploring the role of law, culture, media and communities in shaping representations of race, gender and sexual orientation. Sponsored in conjunction with the Williams Institute, the nation's leading think tank on sexual orientation law and policy, the Symposium will foreground current events and questions including:

*·** *What are the connections between homoerotic and racially exclusionary images used by retailers, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, and prevailing conceptions of masculinity and beauty?

*·* How do employment laws permit, reproduce or challenge these exclusionary practices?

*·* How do media framings of controversies such as Don Imus' attack on the Rutgers' women's basketball team obscure the intersectional nature of discrimination against women of color?

*·* How do stereotypical representations of people of color and their sexuality in media and entertainment influence interracial interactions and opportunities in workplaces, universities and public spaces?


Launched in April 2007, the CRS Program Symposium is an annual event which brings together academics, practitioners, students and community members to examine leading research on racial justice in an interdisciplinary and intellectually rigorous forum.
The Symposium is free to the public and convenes over 300 people from law schools, ethnic studies and race-related research centers, graduate and undergraduate programs, law firms, legal services organizations and community-based social change agencies from across the country.

To register for this event, please go to
www.law.ucla. edu/home/ apps/crs/ register. aspx



*The mission of CRS at UCLA is to _think_ new ideas, _teach_ new scholars and_transform_ racial justice advocacy.



KEYNOTE ADDRESS by:
Dr. Dwight A. McBride
Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Professor of African-American Studies, English, and Gender & Women's Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

COMMENTARY by:
Russell K. Robinson
Acting Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

PANELISTS include:
Mary Ann Case
Arnold I. Shure Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School

David L. Eng
Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Program in Asian American Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Cheryl I. Harris
Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

Phillip A. Goff
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Penn State

Sonia Katyal
Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law

Mignon R. Moore
Assistant Professor of Sociology, UCLA

Dean Spade
Law Teaching Fellow, UCLA School of Law, Williams Institute

MODERATORS:
Devon W. Carbado
Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

Kimberlé W. Crenshaw
Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

Scholarship Opportunity, due March 17th, 2008

CSULB's Women & Philanthropy is providing scholarship support for undergraduate students doing research or creative activity under the supervision of a faculty member. This is the third year this scholarship has been provided. In the past two years $40,000 has been awarded and students can apply for up to $4,000 for this scholarship. It is important for students to provide a budget that is specific on how their scholarship funds would be utilized.

Scholarships will be awarded at a reception on May 7, 2008 and students are expected to attend. Typically students will be using the 2008 summer to work on their project.

APPLICATIONS are due MARCH 17, 2008. Applications are available through the link provided below or on the CSULB website through the Division of Students Services/Center for Scholarship Information. Questions may be directed to Barbara Holden at ext 54126.

http://notesapp1.csulb.edu/StudentServices/ScholarshipData.nsf/b598e468aeff91d788256f0b0064a57f/0ba5b9b35c72999a88256f0e007e819d?OpenDocument

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

7th Annual Latina Connection Conference

CSULB Latina students are invited to participate in the 7th Annual Latina Connection Conference to be held on:

Friday, March 7, 2008
8:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.


In the University Student Union (USU) Ballrooms.


The goal of this free conference is to help you succeed at CSULB and to graduate.

Come meet other Latina students, faculty and staff at CSULB.

To register and and learn more visit the Latina Connection Conference Website:
http://www.csulb.edu/~rosac/index.htm

Sunday, February 10, 2008

F.O.R.C.E. Meeting Minutes 02/07/08

Introductions – FORCE purpose, members, 49er reporters

Ludacris concert
Protest rumors
ASI irresponsible spending
Commentary in 49er

Consciousness- raising on 35th Roe v Wade Rally in
January, abortion in recent films, men’s rights
activists and abortion

Teach-in update
March 5th Friendship Walk booked, but not enough
members can commit time necessary to put on a large
event
Alternative:
Smaller monthly discussions in WRC after meeting
Invite a group/rep to lead talk, bring info, etc.
Which groups/topics?
When? Thursday 4pm once a month?

49er/Union Opinion Pieces
Members encouraged to provide a feminist voice to
counter the frequently idiotic opinion pieces featured
in the 49er and Union
Ideas: Valentine’s Day; Vagina Monologues; any
essay/artwork that would have gone in the zine

Clothesline Project - Valentine’s Day
T-shirt making tent only, no large display
Thur 2/14 10-3pm Friendship Walk
SACA-certified volunteers:
Priscilla
Any other volunteers to help set-up, take-down,
explain the purpose of the Project, etc.?

For next week’s meeting:
Planning the first teach-in discussion for beginning
of March
Semester goals – a few smaller events/workshops or
more focus on Sexual Assault Awareness Week and Take
Back the Night?

Feminist Organization Reclaiming Consciousness and Equality

Thursday, February 7, 2008

National Young Women's Leadership Conference



Dear Feminist Activist,

The countdown has begun! One month from tomorrow the Feminist Majority Foundation will host its 2nd Annual National Young Women's Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.!

Feminists from around the country will gather for two full days to address crucial issues from our Get Out HER Vote campaign, to Birth Control Pricing, Exposing so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centers, and Global Reproductive Rights issues like the United States' deadly Global Gag Rule.

Throughout February, student leaders are demonstrating, hosting teach-ins, and circulating petitions as part of a nationwide build-up for our conference in March. Start hosting events and circulating FMF's global petition today, then join us the weekend of International Women's Day when we take this crucial message to our nation's leaders!

Student delegations from Los Angeles, CA, to Kenne, NH are making the trek to DC. Whether you come by the dozen or by yourself, you don't want to miss this one-of-a-kind conference in an historic election year. Register Today!

For women's equality to really be achieved, we need to ensure that all women are empowered. Your action and your voice count!