Archive for MichelleGonzalez

Community Speak-Out for Reproductive Freedom

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Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 – Celebrating 38 years since Roe v. Wade!

11am – Gather

We need people to help establish the space for the Speak-Out.  We have a permit and need people to help occupy as much space as possible so that the anti-choice forces can’t.

12noon – Speak-Out

Come raise your voice for reproductive justice, to commemorate Roe v. Wade and the bravery of abortion providers in the face of increased terrorism against abortion clinics, and support a local clinic under attack.  See the attached flyer for a full list of demands and more details about the Speak-Out.

Dr. Emily Women’s Health Center
560 Southern Boulevard, South Bronx

#6 Train to E. 149th St.
BX19 Bus to Southern Blvd & 149th

How you can participate:

Organizations-

1) Endorse! Email nycradicalwomen@nyct.net with your organization’s name

2) Forward! Send this to your e-lists

3) Speak out! On 1/22 – all speakers are invited to bring their demands and share their stories connected to reproductive freedom.

Individuals –

1) Forward! Send this to your friends, make announcements at meetings, and help get the word out.  Flyers are also available for leafletting!

2) Join! “Like” the New York Coalition for Abortion Clinic Defense here.

3) Attend! Come early on 1/22 to help us establish our protest area

4) Early birds, if you can’t attend (or even if you can!) we need help calling the media at 6am the morning of the event.

5) Speak out! Come to speak your mind about the reproductive freedom you want to maintain or the abortion provider who made the difference in your life.  Even if you wish to remain anonymous, you can give us a written statement to read on stage so that we can share your support for reproductive rights.

Interested in helping? Email nycradicalwomen@nyct.net or call 212-222-0633

Sponsored by: New York Coalition for Abortion Clinic Defense and Radical Women

Endorsed by: Brooklyn/Queens NOW, Freedom Socialist Party, Socialist Core, World Can’t Wait, National Women’s Liberation, Nieves Ayress Moreno-Trabajadoras por la Paz de NY, Brooklyn Law School National Lawyers Guild chapter.

Category: Blog, Events /

Jumpstarting Adult Learning with Carrie Lobman

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Jumpstarting Adult Learning: How play and improvisation can help you become a better learner (or teacher) with Carrie Lobman

Saturday, January 22, 4:15-5:45pm

920 Broadway, 14th Floor (at 20th Street)

$25.00 in advance, $30 at the door

Click here to register

Lifelong learning is critical to professional and personal success. But for many adults this can be a challenge. As we get older, lots of things get in the way of learning new things — embarrassment, fear of making change, resistance to asking for help, and most of all, a lack of playfulness in our learning environments.  But new discoveries reveal that  playfulness, spontaneity, creativity, performance, and pointless conversation are critical for learning across the lifespan. In this workshop, Carrie Lobman — who has made learning a more joyous experience for thousands of adults — will help participants put play, fun and creativity front and center in even the most serious learning challenges.

Carrie Lobman is director of pedagogy at the East Side Institute, the founder of the Institute’s Developing Teachers Fellowship Program and associate professor at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. She is co-author of Unscripted Learning: Using Improvisation Across the K-8 Curriculum and a frequent presenter at professional conferences on learning, development and play, including meetings of the American Educational Research Association, the Association for the Study of Play and the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research.

To register go to: www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=214675

or contact Melissa Meyer at 212.941.8906, ext 304, mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org.

Category: Blog, Events /

News Flash for NYC Women: Your Health is Important – But Live A Little!

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Doctors Susan Love and Alice Domar Distinguish Between the Serious, the Silly and the Superfluous in Women’s Health

January 31st at 8:15 pm: The 92nd Street Y

TICKETS/INFO | www.92Y.org | 212.415.5500 | 1395 Lexington Ave.

PRESS CONTACT | Andrew Sherman | asherman@92y.org | 212.415.5693

New York, NY— Jan. 7, 2011— What are the three ‘must-do’s for breast cancer prevention? Can an old, irritating friend actually be bad for your health – and if so, what do you do about it?  How crucial to your health and happiness is eight hours of un-interrupted sleep?

Doctors Susan Love and Alice Domar, co-authors of Live a Little! Breaking the Rules Won’t Break Your Health, have a message for you: Don’t sweat the small stuff. On Monday, January 31 at 8:15 pm at 92nd Street Y, Drs. Love and Domar help women manage top-of-mind, everyday health concerns, and give them some tips on how to do it without getting even more stressed out. First on the list?  Balancing career, family and exercise when you only have 16 hours a day (if you’re getting those eight hours of sleep, that is).  Also on the agenda: the inescapable companion to modern life – stress – and whether it can actually serve you well (or not).  And, with a peek in the pantry, they talk about importance of berries (and other anti-oxidants) on your shopping list, even in an era belt-tightening.

Dr. Love, author of the famous Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book (De Capo Press, now in its fifth edition), also looks at breast cancer and what’s changed since the book first came out in 1990, including: breast cancer awareness campaigns (and whether they have been successful); the possibility of a preventative vaccine on the horizon; and how to know the difference between an “interesting” media report on breast cancer and an important one.

Elizabeth Browning, CEO of BeWell.com, a social network focused on health issues and information (founded by Dr. Love and Dr. Nancy Snyderman), moderates the discussion.

Following the talk, Drs. Love and Domar will sign books (which will be on sale at the event).

More About the Speakers

Dr. Susan Love is a professor of surgery at UCLA and President and Medical Director of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. She’s a founder of the National Breast Cancer Coalition; and she was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board by President Clinton.  The fifth edition of her book, Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book, came out in Sept. 2010.

Dr. Domar, a pioneer in the application of mind/body medicine to men’s and women’s health issues, is the executive director of the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health. She’s also a Harvard Medical School professor and a psychologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

About 92nd Street Y

92nd Street Y’s unique fusion of community and culture makes it the only place of its kind in the world. 92Y is a not-for-profit community center, performance stage and lecture hall; a literary salon and home for artists; a school, outreach organization and summer camp; a gym, a residence and more. 92nd Street Y, a proudly Jewish institution since its inception in 1874, has become a community of communities, welcoming people of all ages, races, faiths and backgrounds. Now serving more than 300,000 people each year in its New York facilities, 92Y also reaches millions of “virtual” guests around the world through its website, satellite broadcasts and other electronic media.  Committed to making its programs available to everyone, 92nd Street Y awards nearly $1 million in scholarships annually and reaches about 7500 public school children through subsidized arts and science education programs.  For more information, please visit www.92Y.org

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This Sunday: Poetic People Power @ The Art at Bay Gallery!

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This Sunday at 3:00 pm, head to the Art at Bay Gallery on Staten Island for an amazing poetry show hosted by “Poetic People Power,” an activist group that uses poetry as a way to raise awareness about important social issues, such as universal health care and consumerism.  Their performances are inspiring, thought-provoking, and life-changing.  Sunday’s show will feature excerpts from their 2009 Show, “Tapped Out: Words About the Water Crisis.” Here is a brief description of the show:

Tapped Out: Words About The Water Crisis
On April 25, 2009, we presented Tapped Out: Words About The Water Crisis at Bowery Poetry Club. This show premiered new works about the privatization of water, the dangers facing freshwater, and the growing scarcity of this precious resource. Poets featured were Tara Bracco, Erica R. DeLaRosa, Andy Emeritz, Frantz Jerome, Angela Kariotis, Dot Portella, and Jonathan Walton. Tapped Out marked our seventh annual show.

Category: Blog, Events /

RAPE NEW YORK: A Series of Public Dialogues

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Jana Leo, author of Rape New York (Feminist Press, February 2011), will be joined by Jennifer Baumgardner, Mitch McEwen, and Michelle Anderson in a series of groundbreaking conversations about urban environments, violent crime, and the criminal justice system.

RAPE NEW YORK:

a series of public dialogues

Wednesday, February 16: Bluestockings, Lower East Side, 7:00 pm

Jana Leo & Jennifer Baumgardner, co-sponsored by Right Rides

Monday, February 21: Greenlight Bookstore, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 7:30 pm

Jana Leo & Mitch McEwen, co-sponsored by Hollaback!

Tuesday, February 22: CUNY Graduate Center, Midtown NYC, 6:30 pm

Jana Leo & Michelle Anderson, co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities at CUNY

*All events are free and open to the public.  Rape New York is available at www.feministpress.org.  To arrange an interview, order review copies, or for more information, contact Elizabeth Koke, FP publicity, at ekoke@gc.cuny.edu or 212-817-7928.*

********************************************************************************************************************

Praise for Rape New York:

“Absorbing, tender, insightful, terrifying, this book will change the way you think. In an extraordinary eloquent refusal of the line between the personal and the public, it takes us from the slow-motion details of a traumatic violation to a multidimensional reflection on the institutions and spaces of contemporary life. Memoir becomes urban manifesto.” — Beatriz Colomina, professor of Architecture and founding director of the Program in Media and Modernity at Princeton University

“Rape New York is evocative, wrenching—a raw, uncensored, singular exploration of the public and personal.” — Caitlin Roper, BOMB

“In this harrowing and exhilarating narrative, Jana Leo blasts open all the comforting fictions that we take for truths. Raped in New York, she turns the tables on New York and instructs her own case, drawing in landlords, police, lawyers, therapists, the entire environment which conspires to normalize complex and singular experiences.  A real eye-opener.” — Sylvere Lotringer, publisher of Semiotext(e) and Professor Emeritus, Columbia University

“Your front door lock is broken and your landlord doesn’t give a damn.  Jana Leo’s exploration of the public and private spaces in Rape New York effectively merges the vulnerability of the city with that of the body itself. A powerful and engrossing work.” — Arthur Nersesian, author of The Fuck-Up

“….In re-presenting the constellation of events that lead to and from that attack, Leo represents life in all its random brutality and orchestrated dignity – in other words, the best that can be said about this book is that it is true, which is the only real measure of real art, and honest existence.” — Vanessa Place, author of The Guilt Project and Statement of Facts

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Sara Kruzan, Human Trafficking, and the Criminal Justice System

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For most of her life, Sara Kruzan was sexually and physically abused.  When she was eleven years old, she met G.G., the man that would later become her pimp.  Two years later, she was gang-raped and trafficked by G.G. into the sex industry; she spent three years working as a prostitute.  At the age of sixteen, Sara Kruzan robbed, shot, and killed G.G. in a Riverside County motel room.  She was ultimately tried and convicted of “special circumstances” murder in the first degree; her sentence was life in prison without the possibility of parole.  For the past sixteen years, Sara has been an exemplary prisoner: she has received her associate’s degree, undergone several rehabilitation programs, and undergone a complete transformation.

In 2010, she asked California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant her clemency.  This case received national media attention and drew the support of countless activists.  Numerous petitions were drafted, urging the Governor to accept Kruzan’s request; approximately forty thousand Change.org members signed one such petition.  Other activists extended their support by making phone calls, writing letters, and even sending holiday cards to the Governor.

On January 2nd, 2011, Governor Schwarzenegger made his decision.  Although he did not release Kruzan from prison with time served, he commuted her sentence to twenty-five years in prison with the possibility of parole.  Here is an excerpt of what he had to say about the case:

“On March 10, 1994, 16-year-old Sara Kruzan shot and killed her former pimp, 37-year-old George Howard. In response to threats by James Earl Hampton, Ms. Kruzan went to a movie with Mr. Howard. After the movie, the pair went to a hotel. As they prepared to have sexual intercourse, she shot Mr. Howard to death. Ms. Kruzan was convicted of special circumstances first-degree murder (while lying in wait and during a robbery) with a firearm. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus four consecutive years for the use of a firearm. Ms. Kruzan appealed her conviction, but her sentence was upheld. Mr. Howard’s death is tragic, and I do not discount the gravity of the offense. But given Ms. Kruzan’s age at the time of the murder, and considering the significant abuse she suffered at his hands, I believe Ms. Kruzan’s sentence is excessive. Accordingly, I commute Ms. Kruzan’s murder sentence to 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.”

When Kruzan was convicted in 1994, there was a very limited understanding of the complex nature of human trafficking.  Victims of human trafficking were, and in many cases still are, treated as criminals.  For years, Kruzan was sexually abused, psychologically manipulated, and repeatedly traumatized.  Her childhood had been stripped away from her and she was forced to fight for her life.  Rather than considering the extenuating circumstances of Kruzan’s case, her actions were seen as criminal offenses.

Kruzan was also a minor at the time that she killed her pimp.  Sentencing a minor to life in prison without the possibility of parole ends a life that has not even had enough time to begin.  Elizabeth Calvin, a children’s rights advocate at Human Rights Watch says:

“Teenagers are still developing.  No one – not a judge, a psychologist, or a doctor – can look at a sixteen year old and be sure how that young person will turn out as an adult.  It makes sense to re-examine these cases when the individual has grown up and becomes an adult. There’s no question that we can keep the public safe without locking youth up forever for crimes committed when they were still considered too young to have the judgment to vote or drive.”

Children’s rights advocates in California consider this case to be a victory and are hoping to make changes which can help juvenile offenders in the state of California.  Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco has recently reintroduced Senate Bill 9, which would allow courts to reconsider their decisions regarding cases where minors were sentenced to life without parole after they had served ten years in prison.

Although I am glad that Kruzan’s sentence was commuted, I was really hoping that she would be released from prison with time served.  She had undergone years of trauma and abuse; she should never have been sent to prison in the first place.  After killing Howards, Kruzan should have been sent to a rehabilitation program, such as California’s Children of the Night.  Since 1979, Children of the Night has been “assisting children between the ages of 11 and 17 who are forced to prostitute on the streets for food to eat and a place to sleep.”  Instead, the courts ordered her to spend the rest of her life behind bars.  Unfortunately, these types of scenarios are not a thing of the past.  Children in the sex trade and victims of human trafficking are often re-victimized by the criminal justice system.  They may be imprisoned, deported, or even sexually assaulted by law enforcement officials.  The system which is supposed to be fighting to ensure the safety and security of those living in the United States ultimately perpetuates this endless cycle of abuse and violence.

Category: Blog /

“Blackened Blues”

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This poem was written by Cristina Dominguez in honor of her friend Brittany, who passed away on January 4th, 2009.

It came after a fluorescent night
in between the closed lids
the squinted shut eyes
of our blinds

we, weak for being tired
we, weak for being
we, didn’t deserve the sleep
that comes with waking

See, the blues comes in shades of black
The blues comes in shades of black
and blues don’t always come back

Blue-grey dawn no longer
wool over our lives
the cold baked by
unwelcomed warmth

life, forcing itself
sunlight in the slits
the line rang rude
the cruel noon awakening

you in the past
you passed
my half answered and
I could hear

the voice on the other end
though she and we
were as far away
from life, as you

Watched the blues turn to shades of black
The blues faded to shades of black
closed those blinds because the blues won’t come back

Your hands were cold
your blues
bled into
your skin

the color
the cold
led me in
and I died

too
two
to
be

(peace)

be with you

Category: Blog /

NOW-NYC and Feminists for Choice Tweet-Up

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Announcing a new Meetup for The NOW-NYC Meetup Group!

What: NOW-NYC & Feminists For Choice Tweet-Up

When: Friday, January 21, 2011 6:00 PM

Where: (A location has not been chosen yet.)

Bloggers Go from Tweets to the Streets!

NOW-NYC is teaming up with Feminists for Choice, an online collective of feminist writers, to host a “tweetup” in honor of the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which recognized a woman’s right to seek an abortion. Join us for feminist fun and networking and to learn more about volunteer opportunities for our on-the-ground clinic defense efforts and how to take action for choice in 2011!

To be held at:
Dove Parlour | 228 Thompson Street | New York, NY 10012
Subway: West 4 St, Washington Sq

RSVP to this Meetup:
http://www.meetup.com/NOW-NYC/calendar/15916103/

Category: Blog, Events /

Work Study: Sex Work and the New School Student

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This past fall, New York Post headlines decried the “Hooker Teacher!”–a tenured public school teacher who is also a graduate of the New School. Amid the myths and sensationalism is the plain fact that many students and professors count sex work among the jobs they have had to pay the bills.

Join the “Hooker Teacher” Melissa Petro, moderator Jennifer Baumgardner (feminist author and activist), writers Audacia Ray and Melissa Febos (both New School graduates), Niesha Davis (a current student), and others, including advocacy groups, to discuss sex work, feminism, and why an open conversation about sex work is critical now. Co-sponsored by Gender Studies, Lang@25, n+1, and Paradigm Shift.

Details:

March 22nd, 2011

6:30-9:30 pm

66 West 12th street

Wollman Hall, 5th floor

Category: Blog, Co-Sponsored Event, Events /

The Athena Film Festival: A Celebration of Women and Leadership

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THE FIRST ANNUAL ATHENA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES THE FESTIVAL’S 2011 NARRATIVE AND DOCUMENTARY LINEUP

“Miss Representation, Desert Flower, and Mo”

The Athena Film Festival:  A Celebration of Women and Leadership, announces its 2011 lineup of narrative and documentary films.

Straight from the Sundance Film Festival, the New York City premiere of Miss Representation, a film about the media’s disparaging portrayals of women, punctuated by candid interviews with Katie Couric, Nancy Pelosi, Rosario Dawson, Lisa Ling, Catherine Hardwicke, Geena Davis among many others.

Desert Flower, a film based on the bestselling book recounts the incredible journey of African refugee Waris Dirie who became a top international model.

The Festival is also proud to announce the U.S. premiere, in partnership with BBC Worldwide, of Mo, in which award-winning actress Julie Walters portrays Mo Mowlam, the charismatic woman whose no-nonsense approach to politics helped achieve one of the monumental landmarks in recent British history, the Good Friday Peace Agreement.

The festival will also present three shorts programs — including 12 features and documentaries all directed by women.

“We are extremely proud to announce the diverse slate of films we have selected for our inaugural season.  The films we’ll screen exemplify our mission—to bring women’s unique and powerful voice to the forefront,” said Kathryn Kolbert, co-founder of the Festival and director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College.  “It is an honor for us to bring films with distinguished, creative and innovative visions and voices from all over the world, to our community,” said Melissa Silverstein, co-founder of the Festival and founder of Women and Hollywood.

Hosted by Barnard College and Women and Hollywood, the festival takes place February 10 -13, 2011.  Films will be shown on Barnard’s campus in Morningside Heights.  For All Access tickets or more information, visit www.athenafilmfestival.com.

The current lineup follows.  Additional screenings, panels and special events including the winners of the 2011 Athena Awards still to be announced.

FEATURE PROGRAM (Includes both documentaries and narratives):

MISS REPRESENTATION (Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom) NY Premiere

Miss Representation explores how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in power by promoting limited and often disparaging portrayals of women. Writer/Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom interviews some of America’s most influential thought leaders in politics, news, entertainment, and academia to reveal what lies beneath the media’s messaging. (Documentary)

DESERT FLOWER (Directed by Sherry Hormann)

Based on the novel by Waris Dirie and Cathleen Miller, Desert Flower recounts the incredible journey of an African refugee  who became a top international  model.  The book became a worldwide bestseller with more than 11 million copies sold.  (Narrative)

THE MIGHTY MACS (Directed by Tim Chambers) NY Premiere

In the early 1970’s, Cathy Rush becomes the head basketball coach at a tiny, all-girls Catholic college. Though her team has no gym and no uniforms—and the school itself is in danger of being sold—Coach Rush looks to steer her girls to their first national championship. (Narrative)

REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES (Directed by Patricia Cardoso)

This is the story of Ana, a first generation Mexican-American teenager on the verge of becoming a woman.   She realizes that leaving home to continue her education is essential to finding her place proudly in the world as an American and Chicana. (Narrative)

BHUTTO (Directed by Duane Baughman)

A riveting documentary about the recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto, a polarizing figure in the Muslim world. Following in her father’s footsteps, Bhutto was expected to dominate Pakistan’s 2008 elections, but her assassination sent Pakistan into turmoil. (Documentary)

MY SO-CALLED ENEMY (Directed by Lisa Gossels)

In July 2002, 22 Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls traveled to the U.S. to participate in a women’s leadership program called Building Bridges for Peace. My So-Called Enemy is about six of the girls and how knowing their “enemies” as human beings complicates the next seven years of their lives. (Documentary)

PINK SMOKE OVER THE VATICAN (Directed by Jules Hart) NY Premiere

Pink Smoke Over the Vatican is a documentary about impassioned Roman Catholic women who are defying the Church hierarchy by being illicitly ordained as priests and refusing to remain voiceless in the religion they love. (Documentary)

PINK SARIS (Directed by Kim Longinotto)

Pink Saris follows Sampat Pal Devi, the leader of the “Pink Gang,” who brings her own brand of justice to the streets of Uttar Pradesh, India, combating violence against women. (Documentary

THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS (Directed by Leanne Pooley)

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls tells the story of the world’s only comedic, singing, yodelling lesbian twin sisters. Part concert film, part biopic, part historical record, part comedy, the Twins share their journey with laughter, honesty and wisdom. (Documentary)

CHISHOLM ’72 – UNBOUGHT & UNBOSSED (Directed by Shola Lynch)

The first historical documentary on Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and her campaign to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in 1972.  (Documentary)

PASSIONATE POLITICS:  THE LIFE AND WORK OF CHARLOTTE BUNCH (Directed by Tami Gold) Premiere

Passionate Politics brings Charlotte Bunch’s story to life, from idealistic young civil rights organizer to lesbian activist to internationally recognized leader of a campaign to put women’s rights, front and center, on the global human rights agenda. (Documentary)

VISION (Directed by Margarethe Von Trotta)

Vision is a film about Hildegard von Bingen, a visionary in every sense of the word.  This famed 12th-century Benedictine nun was a Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, poet, naturalist, scientist, physician, herbalist and ecological activist. (Narrative)

MO – US Premiere in partnership with BBC Worldwide (Directed by Philip Martin)

Award-winning actress Julie Walters takes on the lead role in a revealing portrait of Mo Mowlam, the powerfully charismatic woman whose no-nonsense approach to politics helped achieve one of the monumental landmarks in recent British history, the Good Friday Agreement. (Narrative)

SHORTS PROGRAM:

A HARLEM MOTHER (Directed by Ivana Todorovic)

In 1998, 18-year old LaTraun Parker made a documentary about the difficulties of growing up in Harlem. Eights years later he was shot dead on the street. Today his mother Jean Corbett-Parker fights youth gun violence and helps other parents survive the pain through her organization, “Harlem Mothers.”

FAO (Directed by Aitor Echeverría and Carolina Alejos)

Hunger, loneliness and the will to survive push Fao to embark on a journey that will bring her face to face with her fears.

PERISTA (Directed by Kim Weiner)

Theodora, grandmother of the filmmaker, recounts the story of her childhood in Greece during WWII. When fighting broke out in her homeland, she fled with her sisters and mother to the mountain village of Perista. There, they struggled to survive and outlast the war that Theodora would never forget.

BLIND EYE (Directed by Laura Degnan)

A mother torn between being a good citizen and protecting her child discovers that both intervening and turning a blind eye can have negative consequences.

OUT OF INFAMY:  MICHI NISHIURA WEGLYN (Directed by Nancy Kapitanoff and Sharon Yamato)

Michi Nishiura Weglyn (1926-1999) was a noted civil rights activist who gave up a successful career as costume designer for the popular Perry Como Show to write the landmark book, Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps, which set the record straight about the incarceration of more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent during WWII.

THE DELIAN MODE (Directed by Kara Blake)

The Delian Mode is an audio-visual exploration of the life and work of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire. A collage of sound and image created in the spirit of Derbyshire’s experimental processes, this film illuminates her unique soundscapes onscreen while paying tribute to a woman whose work has influenced electronic musicians for decades.

gasp  (Directed by Thomai Hatsios)

A film about a young mother who will do anything, including endangering her own life, to ensure that the lights in her home stay on and her daughter is safe.

GROWING UP BARNARD (Directed by Daniella Kahane)

Compelled by her family’s four-generation legacy at Barnard College, alumna Daniella Kahane ’05 explores the relevance of women’s colleges today.  The film includes interviews with distinguished alumnae Judith Kaye ’58, Anna Quindlen ’74, Suzanne Vega ’81, and Joan Rivers ’54, among others.

AUDREY SUPERHERO (Directed by Amy K. Jenkins)

The experimental documentary explores the shifting terrain of gender identity.  “I wanted to be a boy when I got borned outta your tummy!” says Audrey, 6, who insists she’s Superman.  Playful and arresting, Audrey de-cloaks from Clark Kent to Superman, revealing her ‘secret identity’ as a boy.

BISMILLAH (Directed by Jolene Pinder and Sarah Zaman)

Bismillah follows the beginnings of one Muslim woman’s groundbreaking struggle against America’s political structure. The film tells the story of Farheen Hakeem, a feisty 31-year- old Muslim Girl Scout troop leader who puts herself under public scrutiny by taking part in the consummate patriotic act—running for office.

POSTER GIRL (Directed by Sara Nesson)

POSTER GIRL is the story of Robynn Murray, an all-American high-school cheerleader turned “poster girl” for women in combat, distinguished by Army Magazine’s cover shot. Now home from Iraq, her tough-as-nails exterior begins to crack, leaving Robynn struggling with the debilitating effects of PTSD and the challenges of rebuilding her life.

THE LOST GIRL (Directed by Elizabeth Chatelain)

Nyanwuor Duop’s fled her village along with thousands of other children. She walked for days from the Sudan to a refugee camp in Kenya.  She made it to the US.  In 2004, she was finally given asylum.  She spends time traveling around Texas advocating for Sudanese refugees and spreading awareness of the continuing situation in the Sudan. Nyanwuor dreams of one day returning to her country; to show her daughter the beautiful and peaceful Sudan where she was born.

ABOUT THE ATHENA CENTER

Barnard College’s Athena Center for Leadership Studies is a premier interdisciplinary center devoted to the theory and practice of women’s leadership.  Renowned civil rights attorney Kathryn Kolbert is the Athena Center director.

ABOUT WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD

Women and Hollywood operates at the intersection of feminism and entertainment.  Since its inception in 2007 it has grown to be one of the most respected sites focused on women’s issues and popular culture, and its founder, Melissa Silverstein has become a well-respected commentator on the subject.

ABOUT BARNARD COLLEGE

The idea was bold for its time. Founded in 1889, Barnard was the only college in New York City, and one of the few in the nation, where women could receive the same rigorous and challenging education available to men.  Today, Barnard is the most sought-after college for women and remains dedicated to the education of strong, independent-minded women who change the world and the way we think about it.

WANT FREE TICKETS TO SELECT SCREENINGS?  Go to the ticket site and plug in the code: ATHENA11

Category: Blog, Co-Sponsored Event, Events /
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