january fireside chat - aauw-pa · february fireside chat: a practical approach to mindfulness and...
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January Fireside Chat
The Saturday Evening Girls: From Immigrant Artists to the Antiques Roadshow With Dr. Dorothy King
Wednesday, January 24th (weather makeup January 31st) 6:00 p.m. Short business meeting and social time 6:30 p.m. Doors open to the public 7:00 p.m. Presentation with Q&A
Bellevue Park Community Building, Harrisburg
The Saturday Evening Girls (SEGs) began in 1898 in Boston as a reading club for Jewish and Italian immigrant women. They met at the North Bennett Street Industrial School, which was founded to furnish North End residents with vocational, educational, and recreational opportunities as a way to help them adjust to life in America.
The women became very good friends, and began calling themselves the Saturday Evening Girls. They eventually produced scholarly newsletters, interpreted the cultural heritage of their members through music and dance, and founded Paul Revere Pottery. The pottery is now highly collectible, valued at thousands of dollars, and has been featured on the Antiques Roadshow.
As an aficionado of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Dr. King first became aware of the beautiful SEG pottery, and then began to wonder who made it. She started tracing their history and meeting with their descendants. She has discovered a remarkable story which has great resonance with issues which are still relevant to girls and women today. She is now working on a book about the Saturday Evening Girls.
Dr. King is a retired Sociology Professor at Penn State Harrisburg who received her Ed.D. From Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a playwright and the founder of PenOwl Productions Theatre Company. Her 20th play in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Pulling Strings, will be presented at Penn State Harrisburg on January 15 and 16.
Directions to Bellevue Park Community Building at 143 Oakwood Road, Harrisburg:Take Market Street to Pentwater Road (across from the Bellevue Towers Apartments at 2400 Market). Stay on Pentwater to the triple fork. Take the left fork onto Briarcliff Road (you will cross Bellevue Road). Turn left onto Oakwood Road. Park along Oakwood Road.Carpooling is encouraged!
Presidents’ Message I am a January baby. Too late to be a tax credit during the gestation year, too little to take out of the house in freezing temperatures to show off to the neighbors. (I actually know a lot of January babies. Makes you believe in that old Rites of Spring thing.) January is usually the most trying/challenging season around here. This year has been exceptional. As we slowly crawl out of a ridicu-lously frigid spell – my furnace pilot light got snuffed by the gale force winds; my daughter’s kitchen drain turned into an elongated ice cube – perhaps we all need to overcome our PPD (post parties depression) and look to the great things coming
up to lift us into positivity. This year’s Fireside Chats are designed especially to jump start us into our “uplifting” Spring. I am really excited about the January 24 Fireside Chat about the women who created the Paul Revere Pottery. The work is stunningly beautiful and reflective of an era with such well-known artists as Maxfield Parrish (one of my favorites). Pieces are collector status and museum integrals now, but the story behind how they came to be is truly that of the female will to survive and grow, to be independent and productive and in charge of their own destiny. Come find out why. And, oh yes, it is right after my birthday, so I consider this a special gift to start my next chronological year. Yay!
PS: As to our disastrous dilemmas from the cold: my HVAC guy came immediately after I called him, got things warm again, and didn’t charge me because it was a super easy fix; and my daughter’s neighbors/friends got together and rerouted her plumbing so that there would be no more ice cubes. There really are lights at the end of what seem like darkest tunnels. Maybe they are the fireflies of summer, but usually they are just good people helping us all hold life together. We all know them… and we are them, especially the many friends of AAUW. Love to you all.
Welcome to 2018!!!
With warm appreciation,Carol and Susan
The Connection is published monthly September-May by
Harrisburg Branch AAUW (aauwharrisburg.org)
Editor: Allison Stark
Presidents: Susan Boal Shill &
Carol Stark
***Newsletter Contributions*** Any members who wish to contribute an article, upcoming event notice, or news item to the newsletter may do so by emailing them in the form of a Word document to Allison Stark at [email protected] by no later than the tenth of the preceding month.
Pictures Welcome! If you have pictures of any AAUW events or branch members taking part in any other relevant community events, please send those in, as well! Submissions need to be in jpeg format.
Thank you! Allison
Board meetings : upcoming dates February 6, 2018
March 6, 2018 Meetings will begin at 6:30PM on the first Tuesday of each month at the
Overlook Clubhouse Conference Room, 150 Erford Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011.
February Fireside Chat:A Practical Approach to Mindfulness and Meditation With Andrea RudolphFebruary 20th (weather makeup February 27th) 6:30 p.m. Short business meeting and social time 7:00 p.m. PresentationHome of Lee Johnson 2208 Yale Avenue Camp HillRSVP 717-761-2935
Learn how simple techniques of mindfulness and meditation can increase memory, enhance ability to focus clearly, lower blood pressure, decrease the stress response, and increase overall wellness. You’ll leave this Fireside Chat feeling refreshed and energized!
SILENT AUCTION
The branch made $436.00 on the silent auction at the Holiday tea which was contributed to AAUW Funds as part of our 2017
contribution. Thanks to Marcia Hajduk for organizing!
ALLENBERRY BRUNCHWe are seeking a response to gauge interest in a brunch and theatre event at Allenberry
on April 8.
The brunch would be a buffet with an omelette station and Belgian waffles, followed by the play Steel Magnolias.
12:30pm brunch, 2pm show. Tickets would be $50, which would include a
small EF contribution.
Please email Marcia Hajduk at [email protected] if you might be
interested (no obligation), with registration information to come later.
PUBLIC POLICY
Sexual Harassment
The term sexual harassment is a relatively new addition to our vocabulary, created by feminists in 1976 to name an age-old practice. Court litigation in the 1970s led to the adoption of regulations defining sexual harassment by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) in 1980. Those EEOC definitions largely were confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1986 case, Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the court’s first confirmation of sexual harassment as a form of workplace sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Later cases focused on schools and drew on Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments as a legal basis. Despite the widespread appearance of the term “sexual harassment” in public discourse and political debate, the legal concept of sexual harassment differs somewhat from popular usage, where the term often refers to types of sexual misconduct not covered by more narrow judicial definitions of sexual harassment. Just what is sexual harassment, according to the U.S. Supreme Court? The Supreme Court outlined two types of harassment that translate into illegal sex discrimination. First, there is a general consensus about quid pro quo harassment, in which a supervisor’s unwelcome sexual advances are linked to rewards or punishments for the employee, including termination, reassignment, promotion, benefits, and so on. Later U.S. Supreme Court decisions found that sexual harassment exists even if the supervisor did NOT follow through on threats, that the victim and harasser may be a woman or a man or of the same sex, and that the harasser need not be a supervisor but could be a co-worker. The second type of court-defined, unlawful sexual harassment has proved more problematic. This involves offen-sive, unwelcome behavior that creates an intimidating, abusive, or hostile work environment. Offensive behavior could include epithets, physical threats, ridicule, taunting, putdowns, jokes, pictures, or insulting objects. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the conduct must be “severe or pervasive;” thus petty slights and non-serious single incidents do not rise to the level of illegality. But how do courts determine whether conditions meet the threshold of “severe or pervasive”? Judges utilize the reasonable person standard—that is, deciding whether the situation in question would be considered hostile or threatening by most people. However, this gender neutral approach runs the danger that men and women are likely to look at the same behavior differently—like whether teasing interferes with a woman’s ability to tackle her work duties adequately. Some courts have chosen to employ a reasonable woman standard but the U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on this alternative way of dealing with the issue of assessing the seriousness of the offensive behav-iors. Court decisions hold that plaintiffs can sue for monetary damages only if they filed a complaint with their em-ployers or a school official. This has led employers to focus on putting rules in place and, in the best case scenarios, on preventing harassment. Helping victims generally has taken a back seat, and for most women, raising the issue hurts current as well as future job prospects. We may now be witnessing a turning point, an end to the silence of the past and, hopefully, improved outcomes for women.
Submitted by Dr. Carol NechemiasPublic Policy Committee
Holiday Tea 2017
Culture Vultures View Vermeer!
AAUW Culture Vultures traveled to Washington, D.C. on a lovely Sunday morning to enjoy a day at the National Gallery of Art. There were many wonderful exhibits on display. We were very happy with the Vermeer and His Contemporary Dutch Painters show. It was a very interesting, beautiful, and informative, clearly demonstrating how artists inspired one another back in 1650.
Pictured are Chris Zuzack, Lillian Grieco, Mary Linn Faries, Linda Humes, Marjorie Harle, Barb Warfel, Jane Pomerantz, and Tammy Carter, just a few of the 53 art enthusiasts on this trip.
CULTURE VULTURES
Culture Vultures overseas travel - 2016 Sunny Portugal, 2017 Imperial Cities of Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. Our next overseas excursion for 2018 DISCOVERING SCOTLAND with Collette Tours.
Travel date: October 14 to 24th 2018 all inclusive for $3699.00 (except travel insurance).
There will be an informational meeting at Barbara Warfel’s home on January 31, 2018 at 1:30 PM. Please contact Barbara at [email protected] or call 717-774-5559 to sign up for the January meeting.
American Assoc. of University Women- Harrisburg presents…
Discover Scotland October 14 – 23, 2018
See Back Cover
For more information contact Barbara Warfel
American Assoc. of University Women- Harrisburg (717)774-5559
Book Now & Save $100
Per Person
AAUW AFTERNOON BOOK GROUP 2017-2018 The Group will meet on the first Tuesday of each month and the meetings will begin at 1:00pm except for June when we will meet at 12:00 (noon). Please notify the hostess at least three days ahead of the date to let her know if you plan to attend. As decided at the June planning meeting, because of the increase size of our group, space will be provided for the first fifteen people who RSVP for each monthly meeting. New members are welcome but must RSVP for each meeting. The schedule for the books has changed slightly at the request of the reviewers. In February, Kathy Bard will review “Winter’s Journey” and in May, Pat Shepherd will review “The Mandibles…”. Please also note the change to Jan’s email address. Below is the updated schedule with the changes annotated in red.
As of December 11, 2017
Date Book and Author Reviewer Hostess Oct 3 Mary Coin
By Marissa Silver
Pat Riker
Marcia Nye 220 N. 25th Street Camp Hill 761-2837 [email protected]
Nov 7 Primates of 5th Avenue
By Wednesday Martin
Marcia Nye
Mary Jean Holmes 511 Indiana Avenue Lemoyne 761-2547 [email protected]
Dec 5 The Orchardist
By Amanda Coplin Jan Reinhardt
Joyce Ensign 20 Linda Drive Mechanicsburg 697-2869 [email protected]
Jan 2 America’s First Daughter
By Stephanie Drays and Laura Kamoie
Lorraine Slattery New Cumberland Library Barbara Whetstone 774-6195 [email protected]
Feb 6
Winter’s Journey By Diane Armstrong
Kathy Bard Carol Nechemias 314 Oak Hill Road Middletown 944-2928 [email protected]
Mar 6 The Last Days of Night
By Graham Moore
Mary Jean Holmes Simpson Library Mechanicsburg Mary Linn Faries 766-3004 [email protected]
Apr 13 Catch 22
By Joseph Heller Kathy Krause Jan Reinhardt
647 Willow Way Mechanicsburg 697-6820 [email protected]
May 1 The Mandibles – A Family 2029 to
2047 By Lionel Shriver
Pat Shephard TBA
Jun 5 (1200)
Planning picnic at Lorraine Slattery’s. Bring a dish and a book to share
Lorraine Slattery 3 Naragansett Drive Mechanicsburg 766-7940 [email protected]
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS: 2017-2018Afternoon Book GroupContact: Lorraine Slattery [email protected] 766-7940Books chosen in June by members are reviewed by a member each month. We meet October through June on the first Tuesday of the month at 1:00 at a member’s home, with a few exceptions. Please notify the hostess at least 3 days in advance if you plan to attend. New members are welcome, but because of the increased size of the group, only the first 15 RSVPs can be accommodated.
Chefs at Home Contact: Joan Swetz [email protected] 564-4983. This group plans and prepares gourmet meals in each other‘s homes.
Cuisine Club Contact: Joyce Ensign [email protected] or 607-2869.Cuisine meets seven or eight times, starting in September or October and ending in May. We welcome new members, couples or singles. Members take turns hosting, which means contacting members via e-mail, making reservations with a restaurant - your choice or one someone else has recommended, and being there.
Culture VulturesContact: Barb Warfel [email protected] 774-5559We love art and architecture. When something really wonderful is happening in Philadelphia, Washington DC or New York City, we go. Members suggest places to travel and events to attend, plans are made, & great memories are created.
Dine Around Contact: Kathy Silks [email protected] 717-315-5440This group meets once or twice monthly to enjoy great meals and lively conversation at a wide variety of local and re-gional restaurants, with dinners on the second Wednesday and lunches on the fourth Wednesday. All group members receive email notices of venues and dates.
Fine Film GroupContact: Erica Voss Meloy [email protected] 432-83263We meet about once a month, usually at the Midtown Cinema, usually a matinee, for a movie, coffee and conversation.
Morning Paperback Book GroupContact: Dorothy Brown [email protected] 763-1080 The morning paperback book group meets monthly to discuss books members have selected. We read fiction, literature and discuss in depth ideas and structure of current books and classics.
Nonfiction Book GroupContact: Lillian Grieco [email protected] 541-1643Nonfiction books chosen by members are reviewed by a member. Meets September through June (except December) on the first Thursday of the month usually at noon.
Theater GroupContact: Dorothy Brown [email protected] 763-1080We have season tickets to Center Stage in Baltimore for the Wednesday afternoon performances. We travel to Baltimore by van, eat lunch at Sascha’s Restaurant, then some of us walk and some take the van to the theater for the perfor-mance. The van picks us up at the theater after the show for the return trip. We have 15 members (the seating capacity of the van) but are interested in signing up members for the substitute list.
Walking GroupContact: Lee Johnson [email protected] 761-2935If you’d enjoy occasional walking excursions with AAUW companions, this group is for you. Anyone may propose a walk (or even a hike) and we’ll see who would like to go along.
*PLEASE SEE BRANCH CALENDAR FOR SPECIFIC DATES/TIMES: http://harrisburg-pa.aauw.net/