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Women of color
continued from page 1
oppressions that women of color face, is organized
by the ASUO Women’s Center Diversity Coordinator.
This year’s coordinator, Celine Jo, said she was hap
py with the way the conference turned out. Jo, a sen
ior history major, wanted the keynote to be entertain
ing and uplifting to conclude the event.
All day, the EMU housed nine panel discussions
and workshops about problems and issues particu
lar to women of color. The workshops addressed
many different topics, such as affirmative action,
healing white racism, celebrating diversity and sur
viving sexual assault.
At 6 p.m., about 100 people gathered for a buffet
dinner and performance called “Womyn with
wings.”
The main theme of the three-person play was how
women can still “fly” even if someone, or something,
is trying to hold them back.
James Chapmyn, who choreographed the play,
was the voice of all men and stood far to the right, al
most out of sight.
The performance touched on domestic abuse, gen
ital mutilation, abortion, eating disorders and other
issues that face mainly women. “Some people were
crying, they were so moved by the play,” Jo said. -
As the caterers cleared the tables and organizers
popped balloons, the remaining people inside the
ballroom mixed with the actors and expressed grati
tude for their inspiring performance.
D'Ebrar Chapman, one of two actresses in the play,
said she enjoys the message the performance gives.
Chapman has been with the Chapmyn Spoken Word
performing arts company for four years. The play
shows that “no matter what you’ve been through,
Francis Piven
continued from page 1
vate funding made possible an
expansion of the associated pro
grams including the creation of
four classes dedicated to the is
sues Piven will address.
For three decades, Piven, 67,
has stridently worked toward un
derstanding public welfare poli
cies and how they impact or pro
hibit democratic citizen
participation. Her most famous
work, the 1971 book “Regulating
the Poor: The Functions of Public
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you have power,” she said.
Chapman stood or $at center-stage arid often added
clothes, changed her headdress or put on glasses to
signify a change in character. At the beginning of the
play, she boldly declared that she was every woman.
“I am European women, I am Native women, I am
Aboriginal women,” she said.
Meanwhile, Amy Varshock portrayed a woman
who had been violated by a man she formerly trust
ed. Varshock has been acting for only a year.
“I feel I am learning more than I teach,” Varshock
said. “Helping people along the way is an added
bonus.”
Chapmyn took on the voice of society in a section
on eating disorders. He boomed demands from men
over Chapman and Varshock as they tried to explain
what women with eating disorders go through.
“When we accept ourselves, we find the beauty we
all possess,” Chapman and Varshock said in unison.
Varshock, who had stood stage left the entire play,
finally took center stage near the end of the show.
She portrayed a woman who had been raped,
stabbed and beaten and left to die. She stood in front
of Chapman and displayed her strength as she de
clared she did not have to go it alone to be strong.
She vowed she would fight to bring the perpetrator
to justice and show that he could never destroy her.
Darlene Dadras, a theater arts and romance lan
guages major, said she thought the play was wonder
ful. “It had a lot of powerful messages.”
Dadras, who also attended some of the workshops,
said she learned a lot at the conference.
“I’m glad they decided to have a performance in
stead of a speaker.”
In future years, }o said she would like to see more
collaboration in planning the event and is working
on ways to facilitate this for next year’s coordinator.
Welfare,” examines the connec
tion between systemic welfare
policies and the widespread so
cial change they incite.
Currently distinguished pro
fessor of political science and so
ciology at the City University of
New York, Piven’s extensive
writing and personal activism
make her an ideal occupant of
the chair, according to Morse
committee member and director
of the Labor Education and Re
search Cener Margaret Hallock.
“We invited her because we
believe economic inequality and
the growing disparity between
professional and wage workers is
of paramount concern,” Hallock
said. “And we are at risk if we al
low this gap to develop and grow
leading to alienation and a lack
of participation.”
Speaking to participatory poli
tics, Piven will use the recent
WTO protests in Seattle as a step
ping-off point for much of her
presentation topics schedule. In
her view, such groundswells of
activism are signs of hope against
the behind-the-scenes govern
ment policy making she evalu
ates.
In a statement regarding her
trip to Eugene, Piven said, “The
overall theme of the visit is eco
nomic inequality, which is taking
a heavy toll on American life,
and not only on the poor who are
its first victims. When money
talks as loudly as it does today,
the voices of ordinary people
cannot be heard, and democracy
atrophies.”
But Hallock acknowledged the
author’s positive outlook for the
future when large-scale protests
like Seattle bring these issues to
the forefront of American con
sciousness. Changes in policy,
Piven believes, often come from
the bottom up, not from the top
down.
“She is simultaneously a critic
of the systems in place but also
very insightful and optimistic
about opportunities for mobiliz
ing people and including them in
the political process,” Hallock
said. “Having a voice, that’s
what it’s all about.”
Giving voice to the issues close
to home, Piven’s participation in
the community forum will give
local residents a chance to dis
cuss the labor and justice issues
that affect Lane County.
With a total population of
313,000, according to 1998 Ore
gon Employment Department
data, the average annual wage in
Lane County is $26,137. The
area’s unemployment rate, how
ever, is slightly higher than the
national average. This is partly
because of the decline of lumber
and wood products jobs over the
last decade, which provided the
largest component of manufac
turing employment for the re
gion.
Eugene and Springfield have
seen an increase, though, in serv
ice sector and high-technology
jobs over this same period. Yet as
Piven argues in her writing, un
skilled workers get squeezed out
when their jobs are either mech
anized, outsourced or require ad
ditional training.
As regional economist for Lane
County, Brian Rooney studies
these trends and agrees that they
help to create the “disappearing
middle” Piven discusses.
“There is more of an income
disparity here because lumber
production jobs have been re
placed by high-tech ones like
Sony Disc Manufacturing that
don’t pay as well,” he said. In the
past, we were dependent on
those jobs, and we felt the pain
when they left.
Still, Rooney is encouraged by
the influx of companies that have
moved to the area recently, in
cluding Levi-Strauss and a num
ber of call centers which provide
new jobs to both skilled and un
skilled laborers.
“The economy looks good here
in Lane County,” he said. “Ex
panding manufacturing, finance
and software design is helping us
to diversify and that’s good for
our future.”