It's not too late for a video crash course through women's history

Sit down, strap in, press play and get ready for a whirlwind tour through women's history.

The four-DVD set "A History of Women's Achievement in America" is an ambitious project that covers 400 years in four hours. 

And it works.

This collection would be perfect for a daily or weekly dose of women's history  for the K-12 set or for an introduction to women's studies class.  It's brief, rhythmic format is what today's youth has come to accept and can easily digest, but it will leave more hard-core history buffs wanting more.

For the curious, it's a receiving line of introduction to fascinating individuals from poetry to politics, from science to sports, and everywhere in between.

Hosted by actress Donna Mills, the series includes lesson plans, a photo gallery, a time line and copies of historical documents such as the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, the text of the 19th Amendment and Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech.

The series begins in 1621 and ends in 2001, already leaving a 10-year gap to the present day.  I'd love to see it continue.

For Women's History Month: "Cleopatra: A life" Stacy Schiff gives the legendary queen historical context

"We know that she wore plenty of pearls, the diamonds of her day."  
-- Stacy Schiff, author of "Cleopatra: A life."

It is bold move for an author to take on an historical figure of Cleopatra's proportion. It's an even taller order to separate the myth from reality of a character that has become an icon of popular culture.

But, in writing "Cleopatra: A life," Stacy Schiff says her goal was slightly more realistic.

"I have not attempted to fill in the blanks, though on occasion I have corralled the possibilities ... mostly I have restored context."

What makes Cleopatra's story different from most women's stories, says Schiff, is that "the men who shaped it -- for their own reasons -- enlarged rather than erased her role."

Still,  some things never change when it comes to female stereotypes as they are applied to historical figures.

"It is notable that when she is not condemned for being too bold and masculine, Cleopatra is taken to task for being unduly frail and feminine," says Schiff.
 
Further, of Cleopatra's alliance with Caesar, Schiff says, "Cleopatra was every bit Caesar's equal as a cool-headed, clear-eyed pragmatist though what passed on his part as strategy would be remembered on hers as manipulation."

News Flashes

Local scholarships available

The Troy Women's Association will be awarding scholarships to graduating high school seniors pursuing higher education and adult women who are returning to or who are currently enrolled in higher education.  Obtain an application at troywomensassociation.org.  Completed applications are due by April 15.

OU and NOW present Title IX and reproductive justice update

Please join Oakland County NOW and the Women and Gender Studies program at Oakland University for a FREE Women's History Month event:  Title IX and Reproductive Justice: An Update

Location: Lake Michigan Room in the Oakland Center on OU’s Campus
Date: Thursday, March 31st
Time: 7:00-9:00 pm

Featured speakers:

Renee Chelian:  Executive Director of Northland Family Planning Centers and recently spoke in front of U.S. Congress and the UN in Geneva

Jennifer Martin:  Special Lecturer at Oakland University in the Women and Gender Studies Program

OU hosts same-sex marriage discussion April 4

"Haters, Sinners, and the Rest of Us," a speaking engagement by Dr. John Corvino about the diverging opinions on same-sex marriage and other LGBT issues.

April 4th, 2011 - 7:00 - 9:00pm
Banquet Room B, Oakland Center, Oakland University

A reception before and Q&A session after the engagement will include hors d'oeuvres and time to talk with Dr. Corvino personally.

Take Back the Night Tuesday, April 5

Rally, march and speak out against rape and other forms of sexual violence on Tuesday, April 5 from 6-10 p.m. in the Oakland Center Courtyard on the campus of Oakland University.  The event will feature live music and food.  Visit the Women and Gender Studies Program at Oakland University on Facebook for updates.

Michigan NOW's Women's HERtory Quiz

See how well you know you're HERstory.  Questions courtesy of Michigan NOW and the National Women's History Project.  Answers at the bottom -- don't peek :)

1. Who became the first female Secretary of State of the United States, appointed by President Clinton in 1997?
   
2. Who took over the management of Columbia Sportswear company in the late 1930s when it was nearly bankrupt and turned it into the largest American ski apparel company worth $4 billion in 1972?
   
3. Who was the first women in modern history to lead a major Native American tribe, the Cherokee Nation?
   
4. Who was the first American woman poet whose poetry was published in London in 1650?
   
5. Who was considered the first American woman to be ordained by full denominational authority and who also campaigned vigorously for women's suffrage?

Answers: 
1.  Madeleine Albreight 
2.  Gert Boyle
3. Wilma Mankiller
4.  Ann Bradstreet
5.  Olympia Brown
        

One of my personal SHEroes: Vandana Shiva

Dr. Vandana Shiva

I first became acquainted with Vandana Shiva when I read her 2004 article "Mad Cows and Sacred Cows" for a feminist theory class.

Trained as a physicist, Shiva could be considered the embodiment of the earth goddess within the ecofeminist movement who is fighting for an earth-based economy that transcends international borders and flies in the face of the corporations and governments that believe all of the world is a marketplace and everything is for sale. 

Instead, she advocates  an “earth democracy” meaning no nonsustainable rule by corporations. In a rights-based society, says Shiva, the environment should have rights too.  No creature should dominate another.  We should not use resources beyond our needs, because others have a right to them, also. 

She explains how trade agreements have made countries too poor to feed themselves by bringing in cheap goods so that local farmers cannot sell their crops competitively. This creates a spiral of hunger and poverty, especially for those who produce the food.

Agriculture is born from war, Shiva says.   

Those who made chemicals that killed during war now make chemicals that kill, but are essential for the production of food.  She is speaking of all the chemicals that were used to further faster development of food while eradicating pests during what is known as the Green Revolution. 

Shiva has taken steps to put agriculture back into the hands of indigenous women in developing nations by establishing a seed bank that is designed to perpetuate native species of plants that were designed by nature to thrive in local environments and provide for the people.   

She is one person who has used her background and education to interrupt the exploitation of the environment and – by extension – the exploitation of women.

Vandana Shiva talks about the drawbacks of bioengineering:

Poetry Podcast for Women's History Month ... Sappho: The original feminist poet

"In Sappho we hear for the first time in the western world the direct words of an individual woman." -- Willis Barnstone, author of "Sweetbitter Love:  Poems of Sappho"

Bust of Sappho, Musei Capitolini, Rome

The above quote sums up what feminist literature, poetry and research should do.  That is, bring in women's experiences and give them a voice.


That would make Sappho the original feminist poet.

Listen to selections from Sappho here:        

    
  
Podcast Powered By Podbean
    

   
There have been many translations of Sappho's remaining works. One that I like is "Sweetbitter Love: Poems of Sappho, a new translation by Willis Barnstone (2006.)

"Being a woman she wrote from her dubious privileged position as a minor outsider in a busy society," says Barnstone.

There are only a handful of  "facts" we know about Sappho.  As Barnstone says, "Biographical traditon of Sappho begins after her death and is a mixture of possible fact, contradiction, malice and myth."  The same can be said of other prominent female figures who are subject HIStory.

Poets.org gives us the standard verbiage: 

"She was born around 615 B.C. to an aristocratic family on the Greek island of Lesbos. Evidence suggests that she had several brothers, married a wealthy man named Cercylas, and had a daughter named Cleis. She spent most of her adult life in the city of Mytilene on Lesbos where she ran an academy for unmarried young women. Sappho's school devoted itself to the cult of Aphrodite and Eros, and Sappho earned great prominence as a dedicated teacher and poet...."

The date of her death is unclear.  Various sources list dates ranging from 572 B.C. to 592 B.C.

We know even less about what she looked like.  Again, no statues, coins or vases bearing images were rendered until long after her death.

While she was most likely a prolific writer, only two complete poems and a collection of "fragments" exist for us today.  This is due to what Barnstone calls "a thousand years of bigotry." 

Although her work was popular, the Catholic Church deemed her work and obscene and ordered the entire collection burned in 380 C.E.  Destruction of prominent libraries and a decline of learning in the early Middle Ages along with what Barnstone calls, "the consequent anger of oxidizing time upon neglected manuscripts" contributed to further loss.

In her book "Sheroes: Bold, Brash (and absolutely unablashed) Superwomen," Varla Ventura calls the loss an "erasing (of) what could only be some of the finest poetry in all of HERstory."

When Sappho's name is mentioned, the first connection most people make is to the island of her birth, Lesbos, which they then associate with lesbianism.  Then comes the homophobia along with the snickers and whispers and judgments that come from fear of difference.

So, was Sappho a lesbian?  Because some of her most passionate work was directed to women, that's the assumption a homophobic society makes.

Who cares!  Does it really make any difference? Did she identify as such?  So what if she was?

Sexuality is not as neat, well-defined or categorized as western society would like it to be.

In the essay "Reorienting Desire," J.A. Massad, while discussing male same-sex relationships in the Arab world, proposes a theoretical sexual continuum whereby it is acceptable to embrace different kinds of sexuality depending ones point of development needs at a particular stage of life.  There are many kinds of intimate relations – such as friendship – shared between both sexes – so who says everyone has to be gay or straight?

Interestingly, Jone Johnson Lewis, writing for About.com, makes this point:  

"Sappho's interest in women was what today would be called homosexual or lesbian. (The word "lesbian" comes from the island of Lesbos and the communities of women there.) This may be an accurate description of Sappho's feelings towards women, but it may also be accurate that it was more acceptable in the past -- pre-Freud -- for women to express strong passions towards one another, whether the attractions were sexual or not."

News Flashes

Clinton won't serve or run again

From the Detroit Free Press 


In an interview with CNN, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that, although she intends to complete her current term, she does not want to serve in a cabinet post again and will not seek an elected office.


"There isn't anything that I can imagine doing after this that would be as demanding, as challenging or rewarding," she said.

U-M Center for the Education of Women offers workshops for March & April

The University of Michigan's Center for the Education of Women offers programs on a variety of topics.  Some are free, while others charge a nominal fee.  Visit www.cew.umich.edu to register.

The CEW is located at 330 E. Liberty St Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2274  Tel. 734.764.6005  Fax: 734.998.6203 Email address: contactcew@umich.edu

  

Thou Shalt Not Steal: What You Can Do to Stop Wage Theft - Free 

Kim Bobo, Director of Interfaith Worker Justice and the CEW Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist, will discuss her book on the growing problem of wage theft.     
Monday, March 21,  5:30 - 7:00 pm, Ecumenical Center, 921 Church Street 

Introduction to Leadership and Strategies for Success - Free

Gloria Thomas PhD, CEW Director, will introduce basic leadership concepts to help graduate students and research fellows become more effective, value-centered and visionary leaders.    

Wednesday, March 23, 12:00 - 1:30 pm, Rackham Assembly Hall 

Natasha Trethewey, Poet, Frances & Sidney Lewis Visiting Leader - Free

A Pulitzer Prize winning poet,Trethewey will read from her work and answer questions.

Wednesday, March 30, 5:30 - 7:30 pm, Michigan League, Hussey Room

Assertiveness Training - $25.00

Gloria Thomas PhD, CEW Director, and Doreen Murasky, CEW Senior Counselor and
Program Specialist, will address concerns about being assertive and lead role playing scenarios.  
Tuesday, April 5,  5:30 - 7:30 pm, CEW, 330 East Liberty   

 An Eye Towards Retirement - $10.00
Doreen Murasky, CEW Scholarship Manager, will explore making retirement a time of
opportunity and enjoyment.   

Tuesday, April 12, 4:30 - 6:30 pm, CEW, 330 East Liberty

   

Focus on Liberia: Pray the Devil Back to Hell - Free  

This film is a powerful look at a group of women who demanded peace for Liberia. Following its showing, Abigail Disney, one of the film's producers, will discuss the film and answer questions.
A reception will follow. Tuesday, April 19, 5:30 - 7:30 pm, Michigan League, Vandenberg Rm.

Focus on Liberia: Leadership and the Women's Movement in Liberia - Free
Using Liberia as a case study, Vivian Lowery Derryck of the The Bridges Institute will discuss the new era in political leadership where women are rising to the highest political offices.

Wednesday, April 20,  5:00 - 7:00 pm, Michigan League, Hussey Room. 

 

Gender discrimination suit in South Haven, Mich.

 From the Detroit Free Press

Three female police officers are suing the city of South Haven, Mich. for past gender discrimination.

The women claim that the city's former police chief created "a hostile work environment" for them because they were women.

The women are seeking damages for "emotional distress, physical damages, mental anguish, damage to professional reputation, embarrassment, humiliation, outrage, rear of retribution and fear of safety".  They are also seeking "attorney fees, cost and interest an award for other legal or equitable relief."