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March 24,1999
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Women’s History Events
The Last Word
Women's Health Fair
Local health advocates and
THE
LAST
W ORD
W omen’s Literary O pen Mike organizations for women will be
continues its w inter season at In on h a n d to share inform ation
O th er W ords W om en’s Books on th eir organizations. Partici­
and Resources (located at 3734 p a n ts in c lu d e th e O re g o n
SE H aw thorne Blvd.) T h e guest School of Massage, the College
host will be Kristy Athens. All of O rien tal M edicine, the Col­
women are invited to bring their lege of N aturopathic M edicine,
own poetry, short fiction, jour­ the W ashington County H ealth
nal m usings, personal essays, an d H u m an Services d e p a rt­
and other w ritten and spoken m ent, Planned Parenthood and
words to read for 5-7 minutes. the Breast Cancer Clinic. This
T he work runs the gam ut of hu­ event will be at Portland Com ­
morous, political, sexy, somber, m unity College, A pril 6 at Mall,
lo v e lo rn , lo v e stru c k , a n g ry , Building 3 from 10 AM - 2 PM.
quiet, personal, loud and sassy.
Asian American Poets
The Natural Way
T h e N atural Way Series is a
w orkshop series on E arth heal­
ing and sp iritu al grow th. O n
W ednesday, M arch 31, Sister
Jose Hobday, a Seneca Elder,
Sister of Franciscan O rd e r and
author of Sim ple Living: T he
Way to In n e r Freedom .
The Lavender Menace
In O th e r W ords is p ro u d to
p r e s e n t c e le b r a te d e d ito r ,
w riter an d activist K arla Ja y
read in g from h er sh arp , funny
new m em o ir of b ein g a ra d i­
cal le s b ia n in th e 6 0 ’s a n d
7 0 ’s: T ales o f th e L a v e n d e r
M enace. W ith a can ny eye for
d etail, h e r m em o ir creates a
vivid realistic p o rtra it o f early
1970s f e m in is t a n d s e x u a l
ra d ic a lism , fro m c o m m u n a l
living to g ro u p sex to th e wa­
tersh ed fem inist p ro test in th e
offices o f L adies H o m e J o u r ­
nal. K arla J a y w ill be read in g
fro m h e r n e w b o o k o n
W ednesday, A p ril 17, 7 PM at
In O t h e r W o rd s (3 7 3 4 SE
H aw th o rn e Blvd.).
Many Strong and
Beautiful Women
T h is th eatrical p ro d u ctio n
w as d e v e lo p e d b y th e Sam
Barlow H igh School’s T h eater
A rts program . T h e show por­
trays a w om an’s life from ado­
lescence to m aturity, illum inat­
ing the possibilities for the fu­
ture, w hile invoking m em ories
from past experiences. T h e play
draw s from literatu re by and
about women. A question-and-
answer session follows the 50-
m inute production. T h e event
will be at P ortland C om m unity
College on W ednesday, M arch
31 at T errell H all, R oom 122
from N O O N - 1 PM.
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Radical Women will host lo­
cal activists reading the works of
Asian A m erican women poets
on Thursday, A pril 8, at 7 PM.
A T hai buffet will be available
at 6:30 PM for a $6 donation.
Everyone is welcome. T he read­
ing w ill be h e ld at th e NW
Neighborhood Cultural Center
in th e C o m m unity Room lo­
cated at 1819 NW Everett in
P o rtlan d . C all 503/228-3090.
W heelchair accessible.
GirlFriend Prayer
Breakfast
C h rist M em orial C O G IC ,
D epartm ent of W omen Affairs
will be holding Girlfriend Week­
end. It will be Saturday and Sun­
day, M arch 27"‘ and 28*h. This
year’s them e is “W om an, the
Q ueen of His H eart.” T he scrip­
ture used will be I Samuel 12:24.
This event will be held Saturday,
M arch 27°“, at the Alderwood
In n at th e A irp o rt, 7025 NE
A lderw ood Road. T he Prayer
Breakfast will be from 9 AM to
I PM , and the tickets are $20.
T h e guest speaker will be N a­
tional Evangelist Lois Moore of
Los Angeles, C alifornia. C all
503/ 286-9624.
Pedal For Tbe Cure
In O ther Words will be showing
a slide show of the momentous
1997 PEDAL FO R T H E CURE,
w hile ra isin g aw areness a n d
money for the 1999 ride this May.
In November of 1997, a team of
II women made history by riding
bicycles from San Diego, Califor­
nia to Jacksonvill, Florida. Nicki
Eybel will host the evening. Eybel
will join 40 women in San Diego
on May 14 to ride across the
country. T he slide show will be
free. Call 232-6003.
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W OMEN
S H IS T O R Y
M ONTH
THE END OF PATRIARCHY
tu ry , th e re is a resu rg en ce o f
arch is W om en’s His valuing the fem inine qualities of
tory M onth. Currently, q u ie t w isd o m , re c e p tiv e n e ss ,
women are questioning n u rtu rin g , gentleness and holis­
thinking.
Som e in the m en’s
Patriarchy as they redefine tic them
­
selves and influence our changing m o v e m e n t a re a w a k e n in g to
society. W om en are collectively th e ir own fem inine side to find
recognizing their inner masculine balance. T hey are strong by be­
at
peace
w ith in
qualities to achieve balance within in g
themselves, but the old images of th e m se lv e s...th e y a re g e n tle r,
masculine under patriarchy leave wiser and in touch with feelings.
many women conflicted and polar­ D aniel G olem an w rote the book
ized. We can define patriarchy as E m otional Intelligence in which
“the system of paternal/filial au­ he states th at em otional intelli­
th o rity over th e m a te rn a l and gence is m uch m ore im p o rtan t
child like that renders us incapable then IQ in d e te rm in in g success
of genuinely loving ourselves and in today’s w orld.
T here are m asculine images
others. “T his is the definition of
Claudio Naranjo in his book, The that are positive and not connected
End of Patriarchy and the Dawn­ w ith patriarchy. T he word hus­
band itself means “one who takes
ing of a Tri-Une Society. Patriar
chy means power and control over. cares of.” He is one who cares for
It means a system that does not and cares about his world. He gives
value the feminine qualities of co­ all his strength, beauty and wis­
operation, nurturing, surrender, dom to th a t endeavor. A “real
trusting, love, compassion. It also m an” is one who has power-in-re-
sponse instead of power-over. He
does not value the child like quali
ties of playfulness, spontaneity, knows himself and has compassion
and stewardship as high values. He
openness, questioning and joy.
U nder patriarchy, women are is not just in this life for himself
exploited and m ade depen d en t alone, to accumulate “things” and
upon the econom ic support of a ignore his fellow hum ans and the
m an. T hey are constantly bom ­ environment.
Some men and women in our
b arded w ith im ages of the ultra
fem inine like a super m odel or society are still jockeying for power.
negatively portrayed as posses­ T he equality sought by both sexes
sive, seductive, m anipulative or is not the equality betw een the
“angry fem inists,” N aranjo states millions of m en and women on
th a t he has been exploring for a this planet; that is only the out­
long tim e the view of patriarchy ward appearance. W hat is really
as the single root of industrial- happening is not a “battle between
m indedness, capitalism , exploi­ the sexes,” it is a war between each
tation, greed, alienation, our in­ individual’s masculine and femi­
capacity for peace and the d e ­ nine natures, explains M ichael
Katz, a local writer.
struction of the n a tu ra l world.
N aranjo envisions a tri-une so­
As we move into the 21“ cen­
B y J oy R amos and D iane A dams , M.A.
M
ciety in which we honor father,
m other and child. All three have
equal power and c o n trib u te to
our m utual well-being. C hildren
are m arvelous teachers of tru th ,
newness, play, spontaneity and
freshness. We m ust recognize
them in both our laws and prac­
tices. T hey have a com plem en­
tary and harm onizing effect on
both m en and women. Like a tr i­
angle, man-woman-child form a
stable structure.
T he system of patriarchy can
only function with the cooperation
of women. In the past their coop­
eration was secured by gender in­
doctrination, education, denying
women the knowledge of their his­
tory and dividing w om en, one
from the other, by defining out­
right coercion; by discrim ination
in access to economic resources
and political power. For nearly four
th o u s a n d years, w om en have
shaped their lives under the um ­
brella of patriarchy and they have
done so willingly because to step
outside of women’s roles m eant
terrible consequences.
Today, our planet, our peoples,
our future depends upon women
assuming the right to define our
collective values, policies and pro­
cedures. This means redefining all
of our societal structures: educa­
tion, economics, politics, religion,
social, family and entertainm ent
priorities. It begins with women
recognizing and affirm ing their
worth to hum anity and challeng­
ing the patriarchal system on ev­
ery level. W omen and men of con­
science must unm ask patriarchy,
make it visible and in the light of
day redefine our world.
Benefit Concert
High School Band Fund Raiser - $10.00 oer Person
Dave Hubbard
“From the voice of the California Raisins
Comedian: Eddie Lawrence
Rap:
Rob
.
Date:
Friday Night, March 26, 1999 8:00 PM
Location:
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Fort Vancouver High School Auditorium
Vancouver, WA
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