Women's History Month 2010: Book Discussion - April 5

Metropolitan State University will host several Women's History Month
events during the month of March and on Monday, April 5.

The April 4 event will be a book discussion by Literature and Language
Professor, Dr. Carolyn Whitson, on the novel,"Kindred (1979)" by Octavia
Butler. Not many African-American women authors have ventured into the
genre of science-fiction and fantasy novels, but Butler is the most
famous and successful among them. Her novel, Kindred (1979), allows the
reader to explore what being of mixed-race ancestry and having a family
history of slavery has meant to modern black women.
The Equal Opportunity and Diversity Office graciously purchased several
copies of the book which are in reserve at the university library for
your reading pleasure before the presentation.

Date: Monday, April 5
11:30 Am to 1:00 PM
Library, Ecolab 302

The complete Women's History Month event calendar will be distributed as soon as possible.

Lavender Bridge News

I wanted to pass along this wonderful news to let everyone on the listserve know that Lavender Bridge (our GLBT and Allies group) is an official student organization again. We have 4 offers that are serving until the end of the semester:

President: Kathryn Blankinship
Vice President: Amy Hales
Secretary: Katie Rhodes
Treasure: Teresa Manzella
Co-Advisors: Aureliano DeSoto and Sidney Smith

A huge congratulations goes out to these people for their hard work and commitment to seeing that this organization becomes officially recognized by the university. Also, members of our new leadership team attended the Senate meeting on Friday and we now have a small budget to work with for the rest of the year. This is exciting news!

Hope to see you all on March 4th-

Speaking of funding, we will have a Lavender Bridge meeting on March 4th at 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm in LB 218. This meeting will be spent working on our budget request for next year and planning out what we want to do in the 2010-2011 school year. This meeting may run over, but please come no matter if you can stay the whole time or just a short time. We would love to have your input. There will be food available at this meeting.

OPEN CALL FOR GLBT PERFORMERS IN 2010!

OPEN CALL FOR GLBT PERFORMERS IN 2010!

PATRiCK’S CABARET is now taking submissions for the following shows in 2010:

• TRANSGENDER CABARETMarch 19-20th
• BISEXUAL CABARETApril 23-24th
  

We’re looking for 5-15 minute sets of performance art:

Dance, Comedy, Music, Spoken Word, Poetry…whatever!

If you have some work ready for the stage, LET US KNOW!

Please send submissions to Arturo Miles at: arturo@patrickscabaret.org

September Happenings

Zuna Institute National Survey of Black Lesbians

Zuna Institute would like to request your participation in a national survey of the black lesbian community. The survey examines the attitudes, needs, and priorities of black lesbians and will take less than 10 minutes to complete. All of your answers will be completely anonymous.
As the LGBT movement gains momentum around the country, it’s important to ensure that the perspectives and priorities of black lesbians are represented. Unfortunately, little data currently exists to help us gain insight into the experience of the community. That’s why your participation in this survey today is incredibly important.

After you have completed the survey, Zuna strongly encourages you to forward this on to other black lesbians so that their perspectives can be captured as well.
The data captured will assist program managers, organizations, and policy makers alike in developing strategies to best serve the community. Zuna Institute has partnered with Synergy Strategy Group to conduct this study.

If you have questions about the survey, please email survey@zunainstitute.org
Please forward to your networks. Thousands of Black Lesbians need to complete the survey in order to obtain a healthy sample of the community.
Survey Link: http://blacklesbiansurvey.questionpro.com

OutFront Minnesota Public Perception Survey
OutFront Minnesota is conducting a survey on your perceptions of the organization. The survey takes less than 3 minutes to complete, but your input is invaluable.
Please act now, the survey closes September 10th.

Click here to take the survey!

Coming Out Group for Women

Coming Out Group for Women Who Identify as Lesbian, Bi-Sexual or as Attracted to Other Women:

14 week psycho-educational support group. Discuss feelings & thoughts about ‘coming out’ to self and others, sexuality, gender and sexual identity continuum, internalized homophobia and heterosexism, queer culture, and meeting & dating women.

Starting: October, 2009
Meets: Thursday evenings for 75 minutesI
ntake appointment required.
Cost: $55/session. $130/Intake appointment. Sliding scale negotiable.
Facilitator: Irene Greene, Psychotherapist. 25+ years doing individual, couples & group therapy, education and trainings.

Call or email for flyer and more information:612.874.6442
irenegreene@earthlink.net
100 West Franklin Avenue,
Minneapolis, MN 55404


More than skin deep: uprooting white privilege and white supremacy one cell at a time, Oct 3

“More Than Skin Deep: Uprooting White Privilege and White Supremacy one cell at a time”
Overview All it takes is a small upset, a new situation to deal with, or a tough task at hand, and suddenly your stomach tightens, your heart beats faster, and you find it hard to sleep. Behind this anxiety lies a biological mechanism that is part of how we are wired to be human. Any disturbance to the environment, whether it’s physical (cold, hunger, infection, etc.) or emotional (fear, mourning, deadlines, etc.), triggers a response from the body aimed at guaranteeing its survival by maintaining its internal balance. At issue is not that we react, it’s what we do with these reactions. And then it’s about the institutions we create to help us control or alleviate or hide these reactions, to maintain our “internal balance”. This process is as true for something as seemingly benign as stubbing one’s toe, to the more complex, complicated and intense responses we have to issues of racism and white privilege. And while dramatically different in their intensity, impact on society and import in our lives, their physiological roots are the same; thus, to understand this root is to begin to find a deeper, and hopefully more effective, pathway in responding to issues of racism and white privilege in our lives.

This workshop is for white people who already have an understanding of white privilege and white supremacy (WP/WS) and want to learn more about how to dismantle WP/WS through embodiment work, education, visioning and practical action.

The intention of this training is to use critical race content and embodiment exploration to uproot ideologies of white supremacy and systems of white privilege in our lives. This will be done through becoming more conscious around the presence of WP/WS at our deepest selves as well as in our work to end racism. To be clear, this is not about subtly re-centering whiteness, but instead is work we as whites must do in the service of ultimately dismantling the structures of racial oppression in our society, in our work places, in our communities, and in ourselves.

There will be a mixing of critical race and embodiment content delivery and practical application in this workshop. So, white folks who are used to doing this work through a typical analytical workshop lens will be asked to lean into playing with personal transformation and likewise those who come to this work from a framework of personal exploration, will be asked to engage in deeper analysis via the critical race content presented.

Presenters Susan Raffo is a writer, community organizer and craniosacral therapist currently studying with Suzanne River in Global Somatics. Her interest is to bring together embodiment work and experiences with political work and experiences to end oppression and further social justice. Heather Hackman teaches courses in social justice and multicultural education, heterosexism and homophobia in the US, race and racism in the US, and oppression and social change. While we have been doing this work individually and together for a number of years, we feel it important to note that we are not positioning ourselves as “experts” on the issue of race, racism, white privilege or white supremacy as white supremacy would have us (and any whites doing this work) subtly do. Instead, we are simply attempting to share some of the experience we have gained in doing our own work and working with others around these issues and welcome your contributions to this workshop as we grow together.

Logistics Advance registration is required for this workshop – space is limited to 40 participants. The workshop will be held Saturday, October 3rd from 10-5 (there will be a 1.5 hour “working” lunch) at the Midtown YWCA in Minneapolis. Registration is $50 and there is a sliding fee.
Call or email Susan at 612-245-4056 or raffo95@gmail.com or Heather at 612-599-1221 or hwhackman@stcloudstate.edu and we will send you a registration form.

Food Lunch: A vegetarian lunch and some snacks throughout the day will be provided. Please let us know if you have any additional dietary needs.

Preparation
1. Wear comfortable clothes – there will be some level of movement, but that will be determined by your level of comfort and not by any directive from us. Plus, it’s a long day and so we would like you to be comfortable.
2. Please bring paper and pens for writing, notes, and journaling.
3. Please bring your response to the question below.
4. And of course bring an open heart, an open mind, a willingness to lean into your edges, and an acceptance of inevitable change.
Preparation question: What does being white mean to you? Please include any history, stories, images, thoughts, concerns, concepts, fears, and/or feelings that come up in response to this question. This is not an “assignment” but rather a way to help us enter into the content before we all get there. What you write will be shared only to the extent that you choose to disclose it in the workshop.

Patrick’s Cabaret Open Call for GLBT Performers

Patrick’s Cabaret is now taking submissions forUPCOMING SHOWS IN 2010
TRANSGENDER CABARET:March 19-20th
BiSEXUAL CABARET:April 23-24th
QUEER GiRLS NiGHT:June 25-26th
QUEER BOYS NiGHT:July 23-24th

We’re looking for 5-15 minute sets of performance art:Dance, Comedy, Music, Spoken Word, Poetry…whatever!

If you have some work ready for the stage, then let us know!
Please send submissions to Arturo Miles at: arturo@patrickscabaret.org

Twin Cities Black Pride Weekend, Sep 11-13

Twin Cities Black Pride Weekend, Sep 11-13

[facebook event page]

Friday, September 11, 2009

Opening Night w/ Color Coordination
Where: Guthrie Theatre
Time: 6:00pm-8:45pm
Join Color Coordination and Twin Cities Black Pride for a night of elegance and artistic expression. Featuring renown writer and novelist Alphonso Morgan and his very special guests Lisa C. Moore and G. Winston James and a number of aspiring young writers from a workshop Morgan facilitated this summer.

1st Annual BLoW uP Tha Mic Singing Competition
Location: Gay 90s
Time: 9:00pm-1:30am
Who will be the last standing? Come and support our local LGBT talent as the 9 contestants compete for the grand prize in this ultimate singing competition.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Color Coordination Interaction 2009
Location: South High School
Time:10:00am-5:30pm

Red Party
Location: Patrick’s Cabaret
Time: 9:00pm-1:00am
Come and celebrate being Red! Being HIV aware and knowing your current HIV status. Featuring DJ Lady L. on 1 and 2’s, special performances by Kevin “Kaoz” Moore, Miss Gay 90s Genevee, Miss Spirit of the Lakes Shamika Dupree, Mahogony Blue, Victoria Gotti, Taz and many more surprises. Oh and DON’T forget to wear your RED!

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Twin Cities Black Pride Church Service: “Unity is the New You!”
Location: Parkway United Church of Christ
Time: 10:00am-11:30am
Join us as we reclaim back one of the most influential institutions in our community: the church. An institution that has traditionally been a place tainted by religious-based homophobia and perverted by homonegativity and abuse. The Twin Cities Black Pride Community Choir will be making their debut this service so you definitely DON’T wanna miss it!

Park Festival and S’more Cook-off
Location: Boom Island
Time: 4:00pm-10:00pm
Have a famous dish that nobody on God’s green earth can make quite like you? Here’s your chance to showcase it at this potluck extravaganza. There will be music, relaxation, games, great company…and later on a s’more cook-off! What does the ultimate s’more consist of??? Come and find out!

Allan Spear Forum on Wednesday, September 9

What Is HIV Prevention? Does it Even Work?
What do YOU Think?

B.R. Simon Rosser, Ph.D., M.P.H., L.P.
Wednesday, September 9 at 7pm
At the Minnesota AIDS Project
1400 Park Avenue

25 years following the news that this deadly virus was rapidly spreading around the world, we have seen a number of HIV prevention programs come and go. Governments have supported, or not supported, these efforts. Some have blamed those who have become infected as being “careless” and “reckless” – even worse. Others have questioned why we educate people about HIV risk.

Hear from an expert about if these programs are making a difference – and importantly what steps you and others can take so that HIV can be stopped.

Bring your questions, concerns, comments and ideas to this groundbreaking forum.

Guest Speaker will be B.R. Simon Rosser, PhD., M.P.H., L.P.

B. R. Simon Rosser, Ph.D., M.P.H., L.P., is professor and director of the HIV/STI Intervention and Prevention Studies (HIPS) Program, in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. He is an award winning author of 5 books and numerous scientific articles, serves as a reviewer for NIH on the Behavioral and Social Consequences of HIV/AIDS, and is best known for his research in the areas of HIV prevention, male homosexuality, homophobia, sexual health, Internet sex, and structural level interventions.

Saint Paul Domestic-Partner Registry Opens September 2nd

Saint Paul Domestic-Partner Registry Opens September 2nd!

From OutFront Minnesota.
Following a unanimous vote of the Saint Paul City Council on July 22nd creating the states third domestic-partner registry, and being signed that evening by Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, the Saint Paul Domestic Partner Registry comes into effect on Wednesday, September 2nd.

Couples wishing to register with their community as domestic-partners may do so by obtaining forms from City Hall and paying a nominal fee. “While largely a symbolic move by the City, the fact that our states capital has joined Minneapolis and Duluth in doing what it can to promote fairness for same-sex couples represents another sign of progress toward full equality,” says OutFront Minnesota Legal Director Phil Duran.

If you plan to participate in the Saint Paul domestic-partner registry, and would be willing to speak publicly about your experience and why you chose to register, please contact OutFront Minnesota Public Policy Director Monica Meyer at mmeyer@outfront.org.
[stpaul.gov: Domestic Partnership Registration]