A Special Presentation by Sally Roesch Wagner
Come hear Sally Roesch Wagner, PhD
in St. Pete March 28!
There may also be a radio interview prior to the event - watch this space for further info.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 28, 2009
MARCH 28: PRESENTATION BY SALLY ROESCH WAGNER, Ph. D.
“Meet Matilda Joslyn Gage”
Most Americans have at least a passing acquaintance with the names Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. However, most do not know of their far more radical colleague, Matilda Joslyn Gage, who, together with Stanton and Anthony, formed the driving force triumvirate behind the National Woman Suffrage Association more than a century ago. “...(t)he three names, Stanton, Anthony, and Gage...will ever hold a grateful place in the hearts of posterity,” predicted the Woman’s Tribune in 1888. But Gage’s name was all but lost following her death in 1898.
Nationally recognized historian Dr. Sally Roesch (pronounced ‘rush’) Wagner, literary executor of the Gage papers and Executive Director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation (formed in 2000), brings Gage back to life with her expert presentations. “Gage challenged the oppression of women by church, state, family and capitalism at its most fundamental levels,” says Wagner. “Her vision of a world based on true liberty for all people speaks to us with surprising relevance today.”
Wagner’s pioneering credentials support that assertion. One of the first women in this country to earn a doctorate for work in women’s studies, Wagner was a founder of one of the nation’s first women’s studies programs. She was a “talking head” on Ken Burns’ PBS documentary “Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton,” and wrote its accompanying faculty guide. She was an historian in the PBS special “One Woman, One Vote” and has been interviewed a number of times on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Democracy Now.”
Wagner has authored numerous books, including a reissue for the modern reader of Gage’s 1893 magnum opus, “Woman, Church and State.” Her monograph of Gage’s life, “Matilda Joslyn Gage: She Who Holds the Sky” tells of a radical suffragist who was also an abolitionist whose stately home served on the Underground Railroad, whose son-in-law was L. Frank Baum and that it was Gage who encouraged him to “write those [Oz] stories down.” Wagner’s “Sisters in Spirit” illuminates the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) influence on early American feminists.
Gage, adopted into the Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee nation the same year she was jailed for voting in a school board election, decried sex trafficking of women, exposed the fact that Catholic priests (and Protestant ministers as well) were sexually abusing children, warned of the danger of letting religion seep into government, and envisioned a true religion that would ‘set people free’ – all more than 100 years ago.
Recently, Gloria Steinem wrote that Gage was “...ahead of the women who were ahead of their time” and Ellie Smeal tagged Gage as “...the woman we need to know about today.”
Dr. Wagner’s presentation “Meet Matilda Joslyn Gage” is a Gage Foundation friend-raiser, and will include a brief video. The free event is at 2:00 PM, Saturday, March 28, at the St. Petersburg Unitarian-Universalist Church, 719 Arlington Avenue North at Mirror Lake. Q&A and light refreshments follow. Doors open at 1:30. Door prizes, 50/50 raffle, bookstore, silent auction. No credit or debit cards. Free parking. Registration is requested at http://www.matildajoslyngage.org or by phone at 315/637-9511.
Transformations: Alternative Visions of Peace, Studio 620 event
Performance Art as part of the community celebration and hosted by Michele Young will include Abasi Ote, Phyllis McEwen, Linda Brassell and an ensemble of Young Violinists and concluding with Cindy Hillma. Ote is known for playing World/Folk music and instruments including Didgeridoo, Tibetan Bowl, Conch Shell horn, Kilimba (African Mirba). To see and hear some of his musical soundings go to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pSmzrGAYYM.
Admission free. Purchased artwork will benefit AVP, local artists, and the studio @ 620.
Experiential Workshops
Mini experiential AVP workshops will be offered the first week in February at The Studio @ 620, exploring the concept of transformative conflict resolution. Each one is unique. Workshops are limited to 15 participants. Come to one or all three.
Please RSVP and reserve your seat by calling Darrell Hefte at 727-799-0683.
- February 2 6:30-8:30 PM : "Creating a Positive and Affirming Community"
- February 3 6:30-8:30 PM : "Practicing Pro-active Communication"
- February 5, 4:30-6:30 PM : "Transformative Conflict Resolution"
A team of experienced trainers will facilitate the workshops. There is no charge. Donations are always welcome.
About AVP
Alternative Visions of Peace, known internationally as the Alternatives to Violence Project, is a non-profit organization which sponsors workshops in war-torn countries (such as Rwanda and Kenya, Columbia and Bosnia), in prisons and communities throughout the US and around the world. Workshops involve basic building blocks of affirmation, community building, communication and cooperation skills, dealing with conflict management and resolution experientially, and through introduction of the concept of Transforming Power which is at the core of the project. Participants examine violence as it surrounds us in our lives and how it is personal to each of us. By working and playing together, we discover ways to function more effectively and peacefully every day.
AVP Tampa Bay consists of a group of community volunteers who offer at least one workshop a month, often two, at Coleman Federal Correctional Complex, Women's Camp in central Florida as well as workshops in the Tampa Bay community for youth.and adults. It currently has an active group of young adults in the Peace Studies Program at USF/Tampa working with students at the college. Dr. Darrell Hefte, Coordinator of AVP Tampa Bay, has also worked with children and youth using AVP principles through the Pinellas County School System; the Pinellas County Health Department; and with Family Services as part of a grant to serve the Boys and Girls Clubs of Pinellas County (KUNGA).
Come find out more about AVP during our open-house on Sunday and during the week when AVP facilitators will be available to talk.
To find out more about AVP, please visit http://www.avpusa.org online or e-mail avp-tampabay@tampabay.rr.com
Contributing Organizations/Volunteers
Youth Arts Corp: A Program of Family Resources, Inc., is a free youth development, arts education and job training program that uses the fine arts to help youth reach their potential. The opening will feature patchwork pillows made by young women in the Quilt Project of the Florida Youth Arts Corps at Wildwood Community Center. http://youthartscorps.org/
Community Volunteers: Local artists and non-artists alike joined together to create multifariously painted chairs and imaginative craft projects.
About Abasi Ote
Abasi Ote - Excels at The Art of Primal Musical Instrument Making He is noted for his sounds that he creates on the aboriginal Australian didgeridoo and for the making and playing of primal music instruments from Africa & the Middle East such as the Outa, Bull Roarer, and Clapper. Abasi Ote aslo does presentations that include information on the historical origins of instruments, their relationship to ecology and the cultures they come from. Abasi Ote, a peace maker, musician and primal instrument maker, teaches you to discover music anywhere, through innovation, adaptation, and borrowing from different cultures. Abasi uses traditional and indigenous instruments such as wooden flutes, didgeridoos, bull roarers, rainsticks, musical mouth bow, and clappers. He teaches about their historical origins, as well as, their relationships to the ecology and the cultures from which they are derived. He pays special attention to Africa and Australia."Many children are becoming passive consumers at an early age," Abasi says. Without elaborate toys, games, and media, they often regard their surroundings as inadequate or boring." Abasi's hands-on presentation encourages the audience to identify and make use of the bounty of human and natural resources all around us, creating deeper sense of connection to the world.
About Phyllis McEwen
Phyllis McEwen describes herself as a Chautauqua-style actor-scholar and visual artist. She is also an educator, librarian, poet and storyteller. For over 19 years, she has traversed the state of Florida regaling audiences with her performance as Zora Neale Hurston.
About Linda Brassell:
Linda Brassell is a Gulfport musician who makes and plays Native American style flutes. She is also a visual artist whose work reflects her native American ancestry. She is co-founder of Flute Circles in the TB area. She creates her Spirit Ponies and plays her flutes for the Native American community.
September Womanspirit
Altar Cloth Memorial
In the spring of 2007 the Florida W & R District hosted an inspiring conference called Healing and Changing Our World. Younger women from the UU of Clearwater Florida were so stimulated by the power of our W & R circle they were aroused to action. A few of these women took the helm and offered to help plan the next retreat. One of these women was Jenn Davis.
Many of us were involved with Jenn in planning our last retreat in the fall, 2007. The theme was about working toward both personal and global Peace. During this retreat Jennifer Davis and Andrea Pisanello offered to co-chair the district.
In reflection the memories of the peace rituals and healing space we created have become even more sacred after the events of Dec., 14th. On that day the Florida district lost both our co-chairs Jenn and Andrea to domestic violence. Jenn’s two children aged 2 and 4 were killed as well.
While trying to find a focus for my grief and a way to bring order out of madness a thought came to me that perhaps I could find hope and a sense of purpose by working with women nationwide to “weave” together all our expressions about domestic violence and our need to continue working on female empowerment issues. The result would be a large art piece; one that could travel and hang in congregations nationwide. Personally I very much needed to process the deaths of our friends and the children and for me that needed to come in some creative form.
The call was put forth and about 50 people responded in Florida and beyond. Women from W & R circles in Rhode Island, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Florida and California sent fabric pieces that were placed into the final project in Clearwater.
I would like to thank all those who organized the circles, gathered the materials, sent cards, words of love and encouragement and made sure to send the finished pieces in time for them to be placed on the final collage. Special thanks to Dotti Doyle, Karen Frank, Savanna Pendergraft, and Diana Fraser for helping finish the final piece on a very long rainy Sunday afternoon. Blessed Be!
News from GA
I attended GA in Ft. Lauderdale this summer to represent the Florida District of W & R. At that time we listened to a fascinating opening talk given by the Rev. Shirley Ranck. I was honored to be in her presence and found her humility, quiet strength and fortitude to be an inspiration to us all. Our Florida district co-chairs Jenn and Andrea were honored in a service by Rev. Addae Watson. Women from around the country lit candles in their honor. The beautiful altar cloth/art healing piece was the center of the altar. Rev. Watson created a healing circle that I will always remember. The piece was place in the GA W & R booth. You can see pictures at the link listed below.
During GA a request was made to send and/or bring the cloth to the International Convocation of UU Women in Houston, TX in February of next year. There was talk that the art piece could be a traveling consciousness-raising exhibition to be launched at the Convo. It would be nice if domestic violence educational material or curriculum could be packaged along with the piece. I am hoping one of you can gather some materials. I was asked to present a workshop, but my work commitments will not allow me to do this. Perhaps someone in our group has some expertise in this area and would like to go. All UU women are invited to attend. Many dynamic women will be presenting. It should be a wonderful event.
Other news – the second portion of Cakes for the Queen of Heaven is now complete and can be ordered on line. Both Cakes I and Cakes II are $40.00 each and can be ordered online at UUWR.org
Link International Convo http://www.icuuw.com/index.html
-- Former District Chair
Susan Pendergraft
GA booth with the banner:
Rosemary Matson turns 91
W&R foremother/implementer/activist Rosemary Matson turns 91 on September 20, 2008. Groups she has been active with, many for decades, include the United Nations, Humanists of America, UU Women & Religion, UU Women's Federation, UU Women's Heritage Society, Carmel Valley Women's Network and others. She has received numerous awards and honors throughout her life. If you are so inclined, cards may be sent to her... [Rosemary passed in 2014]
In Memoriam - Rev. Laurel Sheridan
In Memory: Rev. Laurel Sheridan (1940-2008)
http://www.uuma.org/blogpost/569858/100036/In-Memory----Rev-Laurel-Sheridan-1940-2008
Rev. Sheridan died on May 15, 2008 after hospitalization for numerous ailments. She was ordained in 1982 in Duxbury, MA, and served in Vermont, Maine, and Pennsylvania before returning to Massachusetts.
