The Women's Times
Volume 5 September 2000
This Issue's Articles (click on the one you want to go there)
| Introduction to the New Graduate Assistant | Health Watch |
| Holding Onto History | Fall Calendar of Events |
| My View | Museings |
An Introduction to the New Women's Studies Graduate Assistant
Hello,
my name is Claudette Dolan, and I will be working in the Women's Studies
department during the 2000-2001 academic year.
I am looking forward to an exciting, fall semester as a first year
graduate student at IUP, studying in the English department's M.A. in Literature
program. In May of this year I completed the B.A. in English and B.S.
in English Education programs here, so I am very familiar with IUP already.
Originally from
Bristol, Tennessee, I now live in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, which is close to
State College, with my husband, Eric, who is currently enrolled part-time in the
graduate program for safety sciences at IUP.
I have a son, Jacob, who is nine years old and in the fourth grade. We, also, have a Netherland Dwarf bunny named Clover, who is
extremely mischievous! I have
always enjoyed reading and writing, and hope to obtain my PhD, eventually, and
teach college literature or creative writing.
In the fall, I hope to attend either the State University of New York or
Penn State in the pursuit of my doctoral degree. I currently hold the office of historian for both Sigma Tau
Delta, the English honor fraternity, and the English Peer Mentors, and will be
the graduate liaison for NCTE-IUP, as well.
I strongly encourage campus involvement for every IUP student, as it
enhances one's experience at IUP more than one could imagine.
Please contact me if you would like information about any of the above
organizations.
In the coming year, I hope to encourage much interest and
involvement from students and faculty for Women's Studies, while learning more
about the program myself. The
department has many wonderful things to offer every student and faculty member.
I am only beginning to learn the ins and outs of the Women's Studies
department, but would be happy to assist anyone with questions about any aspect
of what we have to offer or direct you to someone who is more knowledgeable. Feel free to contact me at either (724) 254-4056 or
cloverdale_2001@yahoo.com. I look
forward to serving all of you at the university this year!
Claudette Dolan
Holding On to
History
by Jessica Donald
I
had the opportunity to meet with two wonderful women, Chris Catalfamo, and her
colleague, Veronica Watson, who literally founded the groundbreaking Indiana
County Underground Railroad Project. Their
brochure accompanying the project proclaimed, “Celebrating the courage and
conviction of Americans struggling for freedom and the Indiana County citizens
who gave them a helping hand.”
The
project was started in response to the National Underground Network to Freedom
Act of 1998. It commemorates all of
those men, women and children who gave or risked their lives for freedom and who
put themselves directly at risk by helping people escape the institution of
slavery. The brochure and
discussion centered around many current issues and other organizations that
Chris works with, including the N.A.A.C.P.
We discussed the differences between the current society, which is
building on individualism from her perspective, and the society in which she
grew up that tried to get all people to work as one.
Chris hopes that this project will stimulate interest in all Indiana
County residents to share in their history and bring forth a new community
spirit in which all persons can be involved.
The
Underground Railroad Project brings back a long-forgotten time in Indiana’s
history, when men and women were willing to go to jail and to die in order to
help fugitive slaves escape to freedom. They
risked everything for these slaves and gave them supplies to aid them in their
journeys. The directors are erecting an historical marker to
commemorate important events in the Anti-Slavery history, and are also arranging
walking and driving tours of areas that played a large part in the history.
They, also, plan to include educational exhibits for schools and
citizens, an oral tradition project, and their own web site.
There will be a countywide commemoration for this project in February of
2001. For all of these projects, they need help in finding grants
and holding fund-raising events, so, if you are interested in becoming part of
history and bringing some, perhaps, forgotten past to life, please contact:
Dr.
Catherine C. Catalfamo
1190 Old Route 119 North
Indiana, PA 15701
Chriscat@mail.microserve.net
Or:
Dr.
Veronica Toombs-Watson
Coordinator of Pan African Studies
Department of English
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana, PA 15705
Maat@grove.iup.edu
Or
if you are just interested in seeing what is
going on please visit the website at:
www.chss.iup.edu/ugrr
Chris will, also, be giving a panel presentation with Carolyn Thompson for the Women’s Studies evening Entremesa lecture series on Wednesday, September 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the Oak Room West. Please join us!
For as long as I can remember, popular
magazine covers that stare back at us from the grocery store shelf have told us
that we have to change something about ourselves.
They have proclaimed that we are supposed to be thinner, to look nicer,
to be more tan, to wear smaller-sized clothing and look as if we put an
abundance of time into our physical appearance.
The other, hidden side of this phenomenon is that we can only blame
ourselves, because we are the women who buy these magazines and pay the $2.95 an
issue in the store or buy lifetime subscriptions through some ad with Ed McMahon
on the front of it. Any woman can
tell you that the photos of women in those magazines do not represent the
majority of the female population, and that not even a small minority would be
able to fit into their clothes. These women are primped and emaciated by contracts and
modeling agencies. They are
air-brushed, cropped and plastered to the fronts of our Sunday morning
newspaper. These women do not exist
in reality. They are made up to be
ogled and desired, like any item on the menu at your favorite restaurant.
We, the consumers who support these
ridiculous notions, are the ones who are real.
If we want to stop it, we will take control of these false and damaging
images. We can control how women
are to look and be looked at, and for once, we don’t have to rely on our
outside appearances, but on the beauty that resides within us.
So, here’s how to do it:
First, you have to either stop buying your favorite
body-slamming/slimming magazines, and second, if you are craving that gossip or
“what we did in bed” column, check out magazines and ‘zines that help to
rebuild that stolen image. The
women and men that have created positive images for us need our support.
Many are grassroots projects paid for solely by subscription fees.
The best variety of these magazines and ‘zines offered is on CHICKCLICK.COM,
which also offers free email and a place to voice your opinions. The sites listed below are very worthwhile and interesting,
so, when you get a minute, check them out!
Bust-
WWW.BUST.COM
Hits on feminist issues and has a great atttitude for when you are depressed
SUBSCRIPTION INFO:
Bust
P.O. Box 1016
Cooper Station
NY, NY 10276
Four issues @$11.95
Alice Magazine-WWW.ALICEMAGAZINE.COM
Was started to commemorate Alice McGrath, who taught women’s self defense
classes in the 1950’s
Subscription Info:
Alice
Magazine
Medusa Press
41 Freitas Court
Santa Ross, CA 95407
Twelve issues @$25.00 (No profits here!)
Moxie Magazine-
WWW.MOXIEMAG.COM
Great articles on media portrayal of women and promotes all those “women who
dare” to be different
Subscription Info:
Moxie
Magazine
1230 Glen Avenue
Berkley, CA 94708
So you say you don’t want to wait for your first issue?
Check these magazines that have everything you could possibly want
on-line:
Today’s Woman Online-
WWW.TODAYSWOMAN.COM
Wench-
A message board with great comments-
WWW.WENCH.COM
Gurl-‘zine-
A great site with free email-
WWW.GURL.COM
Health
Watch
by Jessica Donald
So
you had a hot night last night, but either you used contraception (“half of
all women getting abortions reported they had used contraception during the
month they got pregnant,”according to the National Abortion Federation), or
you just forgot. Maybe it was an
experience that you would not want to remember, such as sexual assault.
Anyway, if you think that you may have become pregnant, there are several
things you can do before panicking. First,
you should know that sperm can live within the body for up to seven days.
Next, you can call Emergency Contraception Hotline at 1-888-Not-2-Late,
which can provide you with five emergency contraception providers near you.
Then, you have options such as “morning-after-pills,” which
are taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse.
They are combined with oral contraceptives taken 12 hours apart.
Or you can have an emergency IUD insertion.
This must be done by a clinician, and can be effective within five
days of unprotected intercourse. Or
you can call Planned Parenthood at 1-800-230-Plan, so they can give you
other choices based upon your personal decision concerning emergency
contraception. You can also get a
list of emergency contraception centers and treatments at opr.princeton.edu/ec/.
Now, for some information that you may not have known about…
-You
can get pregnant during your period. Sperm
can live up to seven days. After
the cycle, ovulation can occur within just a few days of your last period.
-You
can’t have your period if you are pregnant, but you can have vaginal bleeding
while pregnant, although it is very rare.
-Abortion
occurs most frequently between the ages of 11-24. 34% of those women who have had an abortion were between the
ages of 20-24.
-1/6
of abortion patients describe themselves as “born-again” or Evangelical
Christians.
Mifepristone
was formerly known as RU-486. This
medication blocks the action of the hormone progesterone.
Progesterone is needed to become pregnant.
Mifepristone, in conjuction with other medications called prostaglandins,
has been used for medical abortions since 1988 in France and China and since the
early 1990’s in the United Kingdom and Sweden.
More recently, nine other countries have licensed it, including Israel. Millions of women have safely used mifepristone regimens to
end their pregnancies.
FALL
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
THURSDAY,
SEPTEMBER 21
Women’s Studies Welcome Back Picnic and cookout, College Lodge, times???
Refreshments provided
“Entremesa”
evening colloquium series “Women in Politics,”
Oak Room West 6:30 – 8:00.
Join us for refreshments and informal panel
discussions including a variety of perspectives on topics concerning women and
politics in this important election year.
Wednesday,
Sept. 13
Dr. Chris Catalfamo, historian and activist and Prof. Carolyn Thompson, IUP
faculty and activist
Wednesday,
Sept. 20
Indiana County League of Women Voters
Thursday,
Septemer 28
Ms. Yvonne Redd, Provost’s Office and Indiana Borough Council Dr. Pat Heilman,
IUP Professor of Journalism and President, APSCUF
Wednesday,
October 11
Madeline (sp) Ross, Managing Editor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday,
October 25
Attorney Carol Hanna, specialist in
family law, and State Representative Sarah Steelman
Women’s
Studies would like to extend a warm welcome to new IUP faculty, students, and
administrators and a welcome back to those returning from summer break.
The theme of Women’s Studies programs this fall is “Women in
Politics.” You will find a
schedule of events on page 6 of this issue of The Women’s Times.
Our first event of the year, Women’s Equality Day Celebration, was held
on August 30, in honor of the 80th anniversary of the ratification of
the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed women
the right to vote. This anniversary
serves to remind us that American women and men struggled for seventy-two years
to win this basic democratic right. The
Indiana County League of Women Voters and the community group Friends of
Women’s Studies joined us in our celebration to distribute information and
conduct a voter registration drive.
We
urge everyone who hasn’t already done so to register to vote as soon as
possible. October 10 is the last
day to register for the general election. You
must register to vote:
--if
you have never been registered and will be 18 by the day of the election
--if
you have moved
--if
you have changed your name
--if
you wish to change your party or nonpartisan enrollment
Important
Dates to Remember!
--October 31 = last day for a civilian absentee ballot
--November
3 = last day for the County Board of Elections to receive absentee ballots
--November
7 = general election
For
further information, please contact the Indiana County Voter Registration Office
at 825 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, PA 15701,
(724) 465-3852.
The
League of Women Voters is sponsoring a “Meet the Candidates” meeting on
Monday, October 23 at
7:00
p.m. at the Omni, Old Route 119 South. Check
out the voter resource at www.dnet.org
for more info on the candidates.
Please
note: The Women’s Studies office
will be moving to the first floor of Gordon Hall on Friday, September 8.
Marcia McCarty’s office will be in room 110 and the Director’s office
will be next door in 111.
Stay
tuned for more information!
Best wishes for a great semester!