:D

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone's new year turns out to be wonderful!

Love,
Sarah

Upcoming Panel Event

Hey everyone. Hope this weekend wasn't too stressful and I hope everyone gets time to relax soon!

Here's the info from our NOW ladies on an upcoming panel event about sex trafficking that we'd like people to take a look at:

We just found out about a panel on the issue of sex trafficking (a longtime NOW-NYU social-justice interest) that's being held on Saturday, December 13 from 2-4pm at the Brooklyn Museum (2/3 train to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum).

It's made even MORE exciting because not only is Gloria Steinem, founder of Ms. magazine and the writer to bring the practice of female genital mutilation into U.S., if not Western, consciousness, RUNNING the panel, but our former event partner Rachel Lloyds, founder of GEMS (Girls Educational & Mentoring Services), is on the panel. GEMS is a great organization that aims to help house, rehabilitate and educate girls who have been victims of domestic sex trafficking in New York City (and state).

Here's the event info from the website (http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/calendar/index.php?show=day&month=12&day=13&year=2008)
Talks and Tours: Panel Discussion: "Sex Trafficking and the New Abolitionists"
2:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, 4th Floor
Acclaimed activist Gloria Steinem leads a panel discussing the fight against human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and violence against women and girls. Joining her will be Taina Bien-Aime, Executive Director of Equality Now; Dorchen Leidholdt, Director of the Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services at Sanctuary for Families; and Rachel Lloyd, Executive Director of GEMS.
Suggested donation: Students (with ID) $4

We'd love to see you there for a discussion on this very important issue, one often missing from social discourse in the U.S.!

Dec. 3, 2008 Meeting

Hey everyone.

Now that finals are coming up I know that everyone is stressed out and busy busy busy. However, we had a good meeting with yummy Mexican food this week and I hope to see you next week for our last meeting of the semester! :( I am definitely sad about that because I love seeing everyone on Wednesdays. What will I do on Wednesday nights to make up for the whole in my heart? ...... Anywho......

We'll be having a special guest stopping by next week. All I will say is that it is someone special from the National NOW. We plan to do a sort of pot-luck dinner type deal for food. Feel free to bring what you can and if you can't, no biggie! Use some of those swipes if you don't have any $$$. :D

We are also planning to do regular volunteering next semester (I believe about once a month) where all of us go to Planned Parenthood and escort women into the center (so they don't get harassed by protesters, etc.). We had to fill out a volunteer application at the meeting. If you weren't able to make it, you can fill one out online and hand it to Julie next week or I'm sure she'll have some to fill out at our next meeting. We want to get the ball rolling on this so we have something already in place when we come back.

We also have a drafted petition for the women's center that many of us liked that we will be sending around over winter break to get comments on so that we can also get started when we come back in the spring. We will be petitioning (i.e. getting friends' and professors' signatures), doing outreach to other clubs, and drafting a longer demand letter to the administration.

Take Back NYU! is having an event (that you can find on facebook) this coming week in the library called "Study Breakdown." E-mail Julie or search for it on facebook for more information.

At the meeting we discussed possible plans for next semester. We have a few things we'd like to do but, again, this is a club for our members so if anyone would like to bring some ideas or has anything they want to discuss next semester, feel free to contact us or bring it! We would love to see you next week and, if not next week due to finals hell, at least at the beginning of next semester. We look forward to working with everyone next semester on Womyn's Herstory Month, Black History month, and volunteering! Bring ideas! Bring books! Bring yourselves! Our first meeting next semester will be January 28.

Have a good finals week and good luck to everyone!
Love,
Sarah

Equal Pay for Equal Work Rally

Hello!

Our rally was awesome! Thanks to everyone who helped out with posters, flyers, "glass ceilings", marching, chanting, etc.! We are grateful for everyone's support and a special thanks to everyone who came out and joined us!

I posted the rally photos in a slideshow at the side of the webpage. Unfortunately not all would fit into the slideshow but feel free to take a look. I will try to get the rest of the pictures on our NOW-NYU facebook group soon.

Sexton better get his shit together otherwise we may just have to storm into Kimmel (like we weren't allowed to do during the rally) or into his office yelling and screaming, "Disclose it! Get off it! Put students over profit!" or "Secrets, secrets are no fun. The budget is for everyone!" or "Equal Work for Equal Pay. Transparency's the only way!" I'd love to see that.

Anywho, hope you enjoy all the pictures. I'll post more from other events soon!

xo,
Sarah

Poster-making!

Hey-lo.

We're meeting tomorrow (Nov. 11) on the 7th floor of Kimmel at 7:00pm to make posters for our "Equal Pay for Equal Work" rally on Wednesday, November 12, between 1:00 and 2:00pm starting in front of Kimmel (W. Sq. South). Come join us and have fun making signs for participants to hold while chanting clever things (also part of tomorrow's meeting).

Love,
Sarah

Flyers!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are our beautiful flyers, compliments of Mr. Tonner. :D

Equal Pay for Equal Work -and- Get out of Bank of America!

Hello hello hello!

We are having an incredibly exciting event this Wednesday!!!!! Everyone should come! Feel free to bring friends, hang out fliers, join the rally, or just let people know!

Equal Pay for Equal Work
Has NYU Broken the Glass Ceiling?

Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: Kimmel, 60 Washington Square Park South

NOW-NYU and its supporters, Take Back NYU!, Campus Anti-War Network, Students for a Democratic Society, Earth Matters and Students Creating Radical Change are demanding budget disclosure in the interest of ensuring gender pay equity! We will be marching around Washington Square Park in the hopes that the administration will hear our demands.

We are making signs and discussing any last minute details this coming Tuesday; date and time of the Tuesday sign-making meeting to follow.


Last meeting we also had a guest come and speak to us about banking: Ellie from Students Creating Radical Change stopped by to fill everyone in on a movement to get your OUT of Bank of America and IN to a socially responsible bank account. On November 12 from 11:30 until 2:00 you can open up an account with the Lower East Credit Union in the Kimmel Lobby. All you need is your NYU ID, and your regular ID (drivers license, etc.). We were given some information as to why you should switch over: The Inner City Press-Fair Finance Watch accused Bank of America and Citigroup of charging higher mortgage loan rates for African American and Hispanic borrowers than white borrowers. The ICP reports that blacks were over two times more likely to receive rate spread home purchase loans than whites, and Hispanics were 2.5 times more likely than whites to pay higher rates with all types of Bank of America loans.From 1989 to May 2006, Bank of America spent a total of $14,065,791 on political campaign contributions. In the 2006 election cycle alone, $2.07 million was given by Bank of America employees to political campaigns. Of that amount, $918,631, or 44 percent went to Democratic candidates and $1.14 million or 55 percent to Republican candidates.Bank of America has been sued by the New York State Attorney General for multiple instances of improper mutual fund trading, including the most costly trading scandal to date, which the company settled for $675 million.Bank of America is one of the largest investors in coal and coal fired power, which is responsible for nearly a third of the nation's CO2 emissions, and also funds surface coal mining.

We ate deliciously amazing vegan cupcakes (THANK YOU JULIE OH MY LORD THEY WERE DELICIOUS), and had some Mexican food. I forget the name of the place but I'll ask Julie...because it was really good.

I will be adding fliers to the website for everyon to print and hand out in classes, to professors, to send out, to tell people about, etc. Please get these out! Publicity is an important part of making any event come to life.

Thanks.
Love,
Sarah

Wednesday October 29, 2008 Meeting

Hey everyone! This week was full of exciting things!!!!

Political Action Committee: Sue talked about phone banking and the upcoming canvassing trip to Philadelphia this Saturday (Nov. 1). She also mentioned that people can go to the Obama website (if that's the candidate that you endorse) and call people who aren't sure where they're supposed to go vote. You can just whip out your cell phone and they have everything there for you! Names, numbers, info and even a small script.

Women's Center Committee: Nicole said that she found out a lot of information on some steps that need to be taken. Our first step is to get out a petition (soon to come) for people to sign. We can also look at other major schools that are NYU competition and see which have women's centers (sort of a "look what your competition has" thing). Also, we need to start outreach and find faculty and students that are interested in this. It's a good idea to see if we can contact any faculty or grad students that have gone to other schools with women's centers and get them on board saying why they thought it was helpful to have one. There's a draft of the petition to come!

Take Back NYU! Committee: We have a VERY VERY VERY VERY exciting event planned for us! (Share the excitement!!!!!).
EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK! -- Has NYU Broken the Glass Ceiling? A march demanding budget disclosure in the interest of insuring gender pay equity. Taking place in and around Washington Square Park (start place TBA), on WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 12th, 2008 from 1:00 to 2:00. We will be marching around Washington Square Park with plexiGLASS ceilings demanding gender pay equity. We will also need people to hand out fliers and hold up signs. -- This is a NOW-NYU event but it's important that we get other clubs and interested parties. If you are involved in any clubs, feel free to ask people to participate or, if there's interest, co-sponsor. Julie e-mailed more specific information to the listserve. If there's any questions or people want to co-sponsor the event or help out at it, feel free to contact Julie.

Also, we talked about wanting to do a monthly community service project. We originally thought of GEMS but realized that we should have a backup in case things don't work out with them. There was TORCH, Planned Parenthood, and a few others suggested. Next week feel free to bring in information about any volunteer opportunities that you'd like us to be a part of and we'll make a decision as to what to do as a club.

Have a great Halloween everyone!!!!!
I'm excited for this NOW/TBNYU! event! Tell your friends! Tell other clubs! Tell other organizations around the city!

Love,
Sarah

Last Week

Hey everyone! Hope midterms are going well! I know I'm stressed and trying to get everything done.

On another note, last week was Love Your Body Day. At the meeting, we heard the different updates from our Committee Chairs. There are plenty of e-mails going around that you should take a look at. There's phone banking and canvassing for the election. To know more, e-mail Rachael or Nicole.

We talked about loving our bodies and what everyone was going to do that day or this week or even this year to try and love our bodies. I think everyone set some good goals. We heard things like "I'm going to try and eat healthier" "I'm going to try to accept my body weight", etc. All different kinds of things. Even if you didn't make it to the meeting or couldn't celebrate last week, by all means, set a goal of your own! We should celebrate ourselves and our bodies every day.

We then had a discussion about times when we've failed to love our bodies or our images of ourselves clashed with the things we tell others or want to believe. It was a good conversation about body image, the media, self-esteem, body weight and issues and more.

After some delicious cookies, snacks and drinks, we were blessed to have a demonstration of Wing Tsun by Sihing Dan. It was all about self-empowerment through self-defense. We learned about the principles of Wing Tsun and some of the moves they do. We did this class for about an hour, learning different techniques, practicing them on each other and the instructors. There are things we can all do to feel empowered and safe, especially while walking through the streets of New York City and I think that Wing Tsun is definitely one of those things that will help. For more information about classes, prices or Wing Tsun, contact Sihing Dan at 917-328-3555 or khemica369@yahoo.com. You can also take classes at 18 W. 18th Street, 6th floor -- between 5th and 6th avenues on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7:30-9:00.


Also, there is an event that Nicole wanted everyone to take a look at: SPACE To Talk about Consent, Sexual Assault and Supporting Survivors: This interactive program explores myths and facts about sexual assault and trains members of the NYU community on how to help a survivor of sexual assault. Participants who complete this program will receive an “Ally” card which they can display to designate that they can provide a safe space for a survivor to come to them for support. Date: Friday, Nov. 14, 1:45-4pm. Location: Student Health Center, 726 Broadway, 3rd floor, Lafayette Conference Room. Light refreshments will be provided. Registration is required. Please email alyssa.lafosse@nyu.edu to register. (This program is free for all NYU students, faculty and staff.)

From Julie: The Take Back NYU Coalition is planning an action for Tuesday October 28th from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM! The action will be street theatre (Halloween theme) taking place around Washington Square Park supplemented by flyering and other outreach.The specifics of the performance will be determined during a meeting on Monday October 20th Kimmel 405 7 PM.As an endorsing club of Take Back NYU!, we hope that some members can volunteer for the action. We need actors, people to distribute flyers and talk to people, and people to help prepare for the action (costuming, brainstorming ideas, making publicity materials).If you are interested in volunteering for the action, please attend the Take Back NYU Coalition Meeting on Monday October 20th Kimmel 405 7 PM. -- I know it's too late for the meeting, but contact Julie for further information or any questions you have.

Sue sent a video link for people to take a look at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKPaxD61lwo.

Also, some of us went to the breast cancer walk this past Sunday. I had a great time and thanks everyone who came out and joined me. I will post pictures from both the Breast Cancer Walk (as soon as I get them developed) and from the Wing Tsun demonstration soon.

Have a great rest of the week and hope everyone can come out this Wednesday for our meeting!
Love,
Sarah

October 8, 2008 Meeting

Hey everyone.

Sorry I've been slacking off a bit the past two weeks. Things have been hectic. I'll try and be more on top of things again.

In this meeting we talked a lot about the new committees that have been formed and some upcoming events.

-One of our new committees is headed by Julie (also President), called the "Take Back NYU! Committee". We had members from SCRC (Students Creating Radical Change), also Take Back NYU!, come and talk to us about the Take Back NYU! campaign that we, NOW-NYU sponsor. I have a flyer and the "Disorientation Guide" in case anyone wants to take a gander. Julie has extra copies so you can e-mail her or get one at an upcoming meeting. According to the flyer that TBNYU! gave out, they are "a coalition of students and clubs dedicated to ensuring democracy, transparency and accountability at NYU." TBNYU's next meeting is October 17, time TBA. SCRC meets Mondays at 7pm in Kimmel room 405. If anyone wants to get more involved with this campaign or wants more information, please contact Julie.

-The next committee is the Women's Center Committee, headed by Nicole. She will give more information next week as to a timeline and what needs to be done in order to get faculty support and for possible letter writing/grant writing.

-The Reproductive Rights Committee, headed by Rachael had a few things to discuss this week. There are three things that she is interested in getting people together for, or just for individuals to do on their own: 1) A rally on October 15th outside the last presidential debate in Hempstead, NY. All expenses paid. 2) Canvassing in Philadelphia on October 18th and/or November 1st to discuss Obama's pro-choice record on women's health with voters. Buses leave at 8am. (many of us expressed interest and are thinking of possibly getting some NOW members together as a group and going on the 1st of November). It costs only $10 and includes membership to the Planned Parenthood NYC Action Fund. 3) Phone banking. There are many dates for this and Planned Parenthood is always in need of volunteers! Please contact Rachael for more information regarding these events. She also previously sent out an e-mail with more information. She can forward that e-mail to anyone interested. She also gave out a flyer for a t-shirt that states "Regulate the banks not our bodies" in support of the Obama-Biden campaign. To order, go to: www.ada-obamashirt.com.

-Another new committee is the Political Action Committee headed up by Sue. She talked about an upcoming phone banking even with the College Dems tomorrow night at 7pm in Kimmel. She also talked about the Palin Rally in Florida and how it has effected voters. Please contact her for more information.

-The Breast Cancer Walk in Central Park is in a few weeks. Feel free to join us, even if you can't donate. Just walking and showing your support means a lot to these women and men who have fought long and hard. It's on Sunday October 19th. For more information, feel free to contact me, Sarah, or look at the previously posted information on this website.

-Love Your Body Day is next Wednesday. We will be celebrating in our regular meeting room at 7pm by having food and a self-defense class! Feel free to bring friends. It will be empowering and I think people will have a lot of fun with it. We will be loving our bodies and learning how to kick ass with them! :)

-Lastly, there is a movie showing on October 17th and/or 18th at the Angelica Theater titled "Who does she think she is?" Contact Julie for further information.

Thanks! Hope everyone had a good week, good Yom Kippur and hope to see everyone next week to learn how to kick some serious ass!

<3 Sarah

Breast Cancer Walk

Hey!

This is the website for the NYC Central Park Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk on Sunday, October 19, 2008.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=11618

Once at the website, go to "Join a team" and when asked for the team name type in NOW-NYU (don't forget all caps and the dash). After that it's up to you!

Hope people sign up!
Love,
Sarah

September 17, 2008 Meeting

Hola!

Last week we did some brainstorming for events and smaller things we'd like to do this year. Everyone ate delicious candy (thanks Julie and Rachael) and talked over the multitude of possibilities.

Here are some of the things we discussed:

-Having a movie night with TORCH (a group within NARAL, Teen Outreach Reproductive CHallenge)

-Love Your Body Day -- October 15th, 2008
We're going to try and get someone to come in and teach a self-defense class. We're also going to have both junk food and health food because who knows what we're going to want after kicking ass and taking names! (For instance, a member was heard saying "I'd say, I kicked ass! I want a cupcake!" ...which I very much applaud and agree with....though a carrot might be nice too). :D

-Women's Center
If anyone is interested in this please contact Nicole. What we really have left to do at this point is a lot of funding preparation and getting backing from faculty. If you know any cool faculty members, feel free to bring their names and e-mail addresses so that Nicole can contact them regarding this project.

-Register to Vote!!!!!!!
If you haven't already done so, register! We're going to be bringing in information next week on the different candidates (Presidential and Vice-Presidential) and what we would want to know about them. For instance, what they're for, what they've voted for or against in the past, things they've backed, etc...We'll be discussing what to put on the fliers, copying them and then handing them out within the coming weeks so that voters are informed about the candidates and informed on how to register to vote. SO GET OUT THERE AND REGISTER!!!

-Election Panel Discussion
We have a few ideas about this. We'll discuss this more on Wednesday.

-Breast Cancer Walk
The Breast Cancer Walk is October 19, 2008. Registration starts at 9:00 and goes until 11:00. I will be doing most of the planning but I welcome any ideas and if anyone wants to start a small committee with me to do group fundraising, e-mail me (seb420@nyu.edu). You can do individual fundraising or just come walk with us. I will be posting the information on how to sign up for our group shortly.

-WYSE (Women and Youth Supporting Each-other)
Julie (the prez) is part of this group and she discussed how empowering and wonderful it is to help these girls educate themselves and possibly educate others on mental and sexual health, relationships, etc. She said that it's a small time commitment but well worth it. If you'd like more information regarding WYSE, feel free to contact her.

All of these are things we are going to work on in the coming weeks. If you are interested in any particular one, or all (which is completely fine with us), feel free to contact the above-mentioned people (all e-mails are at the left side of the website) or talk to us about these things at the next meeting.

We also had a great discussion about the upcoming election. I won't really go much into that because I think there was too much to post. But in case you missed it, don't fret. I'm sure we'll be having many more discussions as things come up before (or after) the election. We'll definitely be discussing it more next week when we make the flier to inform voters about the candidates. Stop by and bring information! or just stop by!

Hope everybody's week has gone well.
I'll keep you posted as things progress and I'll post more about the breast cancer walk as soon as I get everything set up.

♥
Sarah

First and Second Meetings

Hey everyone. Sorry I didn't post about the first meeting sooner.

I wanted to thank everyone who showed interest in our NOW-NYU group!

Last week we did did the standard introductions and had everyone draw what "Feminism" means to them. We got a great range of pictures and interpretations and had a good discussion about all different facets of feminism and what it means to be a feminist. Even if not everyone is an artist, the meaning behind those drawings displayed more than mere talent could.

Also, we made beautiful collage of both our images of feminism and cut out images from popular magazines. It was amazing to me how our positive images seemed to get shrouded in the negativity of popular culture and the media. We had a good discussion about the images and how we viewed them ourselves. Don't fret! I think that it was a good exercise to show that not only is NOW-NYU a place for you to vent your frustrations regarding the media and the sexist stereotypes that often co-exist with media images but a place for you to act upon those feelings and anger. It was great to have all different kinds of people with so many different opinions. That's what makes NOW-NYU such a great club to be in. It feels like a family, a release, a safe-haven.

On another note, I wanted to let everyone know that this week's meeting is for brainstorming ideas and possibilities for this coming year! Bring ideas! Bring events! Bring info from other clubs! We're open to all sorts of ideas and want to include all our members in the process of being a community and having presence on the NYU campus. We will also be having a discussion on the current election and how each person's beliefs and lives will be affected by the presidential candidates.

Come one! Come all!

Thanks for coming and I hope to see you again this week,
Sarah B.

FIRST MEETING!

Hey everyone!

It's Sarah here letting you know that our first NOW-NYU meeting is tomorrow, September 10, at 7pm in Kimmel room 805. As Julie, our President, stated in the listserve e-mail: Tomorrow's meeting will introduce you to NOW as well as give you an opportunity to explore your views of feminism with other NYU activists. We'll be providing desserts as well, so come hungry!

I hope to see everyone there and I'm excited for a brand new year with new faces and fresh ideas.

Also bring any magazines that you're more than willing to discard. We'll be doing some fun stuff during the meeting.

Also, if you'd like to be added to the listserve contact one of the NOW officers and we'll add you so that you can get updates (besides the ones I post here).

Love,
Sarah

Club Fair!

Hello everyone!

I hope everything went well on the first day of classes. I know mine was hectic but I was glad to see so many people out and about.

I want to let everyone know that the club fair is this coming Thursday, September 4th, 2008 from 2:00pm-7:00pm at Coles Sports Center on 181 Mercer Street, between Bleecker and Houston Streets. NOW-NYU will have a booth set up. Stop by just to say hello or to sign up for the listserve.

We'll be doing a lot of great things this semester and I hope to see all of you soon!

I'll keep everyone posted as the year progresses.

-Sarah B.

Summer!

Hey everyone! It's Sarah, the new "Web master/mistress". I know that it's a little late for this post but I wanted to write it anyway.

Congratulations to our seniors!!!!!! We will miss you all dearly and I'm sure that we'll be e-mailing you next year with questions. :)

I want everyone to know that I think we had a great year and best of luck to everyone this summer! Hope classes and finals went well and that everyone's happy and settled back into the groove of summer!

Lots of love,
Sarah

Various Pictures!

Tuesday's Meeting

First up! We made a banner and tshirts for Relay for Life! Relay is Saturday at 6! Shortly after that is the team lap, so everyone that can should really try to make it for that part for sure! Then, we'll be selling lollypops and doing some facepainting during the event to raise money for American Cancer Society. So, join the team and get pumped for Saturday night!

We also discussed a gift for some of the girls at GEMS to say thank you for coming to our film week. So, Wednesday, consider bringing something small like nail polish or hair stuff or a blank journal. Anything you think teenage girls would enjoy! We really want to keep up a good relationship with GEMS and show our appreciation for their participation at filmweek.

Next week! Nicole is going to be leading a little session on sex and our sexual health. We'll also be holding elections for next year on this day as well. We discussed this briefly on Tuesday, but there is still time to think about the role you'd like to have in NOW next year. If you're interested, please email Liz with the positions you're interested in, and please, if you're interested in multiple positions, rank them in order of how interested you are. The positions, again, are: president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and webmaster/historian. We'll also have many opportunities for leadership available in committees.

Email Liz by Sunday if you're interested in a position! See you Wednesday (Saturday, if you're attending the Relay!)

Updates.

First of all, as if we haven't all said it enough, congratulations to us for an amazing filmweek! If you happen to see anyone that came to a night, please be sure to thank them again for coming. Also, please send me your thoughts at jpk297@nyu.com. Just a few sentences on the nights you saw so we can record it all for, you know, posterity!

Coming up this Tuesday:

We'll be making t-shirts for Relay for Life as well as talking about our activity for the night of the event. Annnnd if you haven't, SIGN UP for the team!

We'll be discussing elections in a little more details, talking about what each position entails, as well as the possibility of forming more committees for people interested in taking on some extra responsibility on a particular issue. Think about whether you'd like to make the extra commitment by being a committee leader or executive board member and come ready to say a few words about it!

If you can't make it Tuesday, but still want to be considered for a position, try to email Liz tonight so we can have you in mind when we discuss this tomorrow.

See you all tomorrow at 8 in the 9th floor lobby!

(Send my your film week thoughts!!!)


(Please!!!!)

Film Week Flyer!

Click to see a larger image!



















Here's the info that's on the small handbills. 6 will fit on a regular document sized page:

NOW-NYU, FILMAID and New Space for Women’s Health
PRESENT:
WOMEN IN THE ARTS
4/1:The Business of Being Born:Silver 405
4/2: Refugee Films: Silver 520
4/3: Sex Trafficking: Silver 408
ALL from 7:30-10:00 www.now-nyu.blogspot.com

The larger black and white flyer:

Week of
WOMEN
in the
ARTS
APRIL 1st - April 3rd, 7:30pm to 10:00pm
Sponsored by NOW-NYU, Co-Sponsored by FilmAid

DAY ONE: Women’s Health: Ricki Lake’s
Silver 405 The Business of Being Born presented
by New Space for Women’s Health

DAY TWO: Refugee Women: FilmAid
Silver 520 Documentaries with Catherine Filloux

DAY THREE: Sex Trade: Discussion with G.E.M.S.
Silver 408 (Girls Education & Mentoring Services)





For More Information: www.now-nyu.blogspot.com

Relay For Life

Relay For Life is fast approaching! It begins Saturday, April 12th at 6:30 and runs until Sunday, April 13th at approximately 8 am. Opening ceremonies and the Team Banner Lap are at 6:30, so everyone will want to be there for that! The Survivor's Lap and the Luminaria are at 9, so that's a time not to be missed either. Other than that, there's no pressure to stay all night, but fyi, if you leave past 12, you can't get back in until 6 (free breakfast!). Although we haven't chosen a theme as a group yet, we'll be doing so at some point in the future, as well as making a fun banner and deciding on a fundraiser for our time at the Relay.

While we don't have any team fundraisers planned for the weeks leading up to the big event, everyone can feel free to do as much individual fundraising as they want! Hit up any businesses you know or relatives you have that might want to contribute to this amazing cause devoted to the fight against cancer. You can collect change at other clubs or activities you're involved in, or even empty out that own cute little piggy bank of yours. Whatever you feel comfortable with! Any checks you get should be made out to the American Cancer Society, and any money you come up with can be given to Liz or Julie and we'll made sure it gets to the coordinators of the event.

Also, if you or anyone you know want to buy a Luminaria to honor the life of a survivor or commemorate someone who has passed away, Julie has the forms you'll need, and the cost is only 5 dollars.

Most importantly though, if you haven't already, join the team! Click here to sign up! Anyone can be a part of the NOW-NYU team!

Hey-OH! Tuesday's Meeting!

Firstly, and very, very importantly, updates and important info on the Film Week!!!

Basic Info:

Tuesday, April 1, Silver Rm 405, 7:30-10
The Business of Being Born
A Q & A with the director of New Space NYC, a group currently striving in collaboration with Planned Parenthood to get a birthing center/women's health center opened in Manhattan.

Wednesday, April 2, Silver Rm 520, 7:30-10
FilmAid refugee-made movies!
Plus more info about FilmAid and its mission.
AND a discussion with Catherine Fillieux.

Thursday, April 3, Silver Rm 408, 7:30-10
TBA
GEMS will be in attendance!

More specific information to follow in the coming days/week! Also, a few lovely NOW ladies are making fliers that I'll put up here as soon as possible!

HOWEVER, this is where everyone comes in!!! Advertising! You will be receiving via email small fliers to douse your classrooms with as well as larger fliers to put up around your dorms (just run it by the ra or someone first). Also, ask any and all professors if you can make a brief announcement to the class about our events as we get closer to the big days. AND, if you're feeling brave, ask your professors to make attendance at our nights worth extra credit! The worst they'll say is no! On top of this, we will also be doing some sidewalk chalking as well as facebook advertising to get the word out! Don't forget word of mouth either! Tell all your friends to come!

Aside from that, we also discussed a few of this week's past events:

Naral's Health Panel, attended by Liz!
Not all universal health care plans are created equal! Therefore, it's important that we all be more informed about the terms and the specifics involved in politician's individual plans!

Trip to Albany with Planned Parenthood, attended by Rachael and Brittany!
Interesting timing, considering the recent Spitzer news, but they also learned more about the Reproductive Rights bill up for consideration which would ensure that New York women can still obtain an abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Girl's Rock, attended by Liz, Julie C, Julie K, Sue, Sarah, and Nicole!
Women/Girl/Female Awesomeness and Empowerment!

There's so much more to be said about all of these topics, so if anyone wants to share a few more thoughts, please post a comment for those of us who couldn't attend the events!

Also! Have you signed up for NOW's Relay for Life team? It's gonna be fun! Click HERE to sign up!

Wednesday's Meeting

First up! This Friday we're hoping to go the movie Girls Rock! hosted by NOW-NYC! More info to come, but let Liz know ASAP if you want her to get you a ticket. You can buy them the night of...if they aren't sold out!

Tomorrow/Today (Thursday that is) is a panel on Universal Health Care in Silver 408 from 6:30-8:30.

ALSO on this very day is ANOTHER panel on the 2008 Election entitled "Power, Politics, and Predictions," featuring four of NYU's very own professors. This one is at 7:30, in Schimmel Auditorium (in the Tisch building).

And AGAIN also on Thursday is a vigil in honor of those killed and missing in Columbia. 4 Pm at 140 E. 57th St and Lexington.

Relay for Life is coming up! We have a team so go sign up for TEAM NOW NYU/MOST AWESOME TEAM EVER (too much?)! http://events.cancer.org/RFLNYUNY

Also, Carrie and Julie went to a facilitation training this Wednesday, hosted by SCRC. We learned a lot of great techniques for how to encourage a non-hierarchical, yet functional meeting that sort of embraces the natural differences in the way we all act in meetingish situations. I can't wait to share some of what we learned!

Also, if you're sticking around til May 18th, and you're interested in participating in the AIDS walk, Sarah is your girl! Talk to her for more info!

OK! Next meeting is crucial because we have really got to get going on advertising for our Film Week! If we all attack this from every angle at our disposal, we'll get a great turnout and hopefully open a lot of minds to some of these issues. So come to our meeting this Tuesday, in the 9th floor lobby, at 8 pm, ARMED WITH IDEAS for getting the word out!!!

Update city!

Only Wednesday and the week is already full of awesome NOW-ish stuff!

First thing, Sarah, Nikita, Julie, and Liz went to the play, Body and Sold this Monday. Whoa! It was definitely thought provoking. Basically, it was the story of 8 or 9 average people and how easily they fell/got trapped into a horrible cycle of prostitution, drug use, and abuse. Sad, but uplifting at times, too.

Also, some lucky ladies attended the discussion this Tuesday at Think Coffee! This is what Liz had to say when she filled me in:

The discussion at Think was really interesting; we stayed for the whole thing which was 3 speakers and then some Q and A.
They mainly focused on the Christian Right and how they've infiltrated our government since bush has been president. they
also highlighted some main things that need to be done THE MOMENT whoever comes in next starts the job; ie eliminating the
global gag rule that prohibits any country receiving us funds to not talk about family planning options, getting all of these "faith
based" sections of offices eliminated, especially from the oval office, stopping our torture practices, implementing
comprehenxive sex ed and eliminating the huge budget for abstinence only ed. personally i think that if we wanted to do
something on comprehensive sex ed, or make that a priority for next year, it would be great!
one of the other women specifically discussed this sect of christianity which is called the "quiverful movement"; basically their
core idea is to have as many children as possible because 1) chlldren are a blessing, 2) trying to avoid pregnancy is questioning
gods will which is a sin, and 3) as many good christian babies need to be born to counteract all of the secular atheists at home
and all of the muslims abroad. scary stuff...the goal is to have like 8 kids, which im sure you can imagine makes their
movement quickly growing haha.
the other woman talked about how this anti-abortion movement isnt really about abortion, which is proven by the fact that
anti-abortion believers also dont believe in contraception which is the only PROVEN method of decreasing the number of
abortions nationally. instead, its basically a war on the american lifestyle, which includes single people staying single longer,
gay people being together, and non-traditional family structures. and of course let's not forget, all those extra babies keep
women at home where they can stay out of trouble and stop questioning things...i mean a lot of what she was talking abotu
was SO conservative...although its hard for me to understand even being against contraception, so i guess im a biased judge of
insanity haha.
the Q and A was good--one kid asked about tips for getting comprehensive sex ed into his school district back in
nebraska...they were basically like UMMM GOOD LUCK haha but then they talked about how he's armed with the truth because
abstinence-only curriculum has been proven to correlate with higher teenage pregnancy rates and also higher rates of
STDS...since, surprise these kids dont know what theyre doing! one girl commented on how the movie Juno was anti-choice,
and Racheal (YAY!) commented back that really that movie focuses very much on THE CHOICE that she has to make and just
because she doesnt choose to have an abortion doesnt make her or the movie anti-choice. plus, at least theyre talkinig about
teenage pregnancy as a real problem that can effect all kids!
keri asked about the abortion pill (which i hadnt even heard of...good work liz haha) and what impact it would have, but
basically they said it hasnt increased access because apparently the same places that abortions are available are the only places
that the pill is available (ie not in low-income areas).

If anybody has any thoughts they'd like to share on either event for those of us who couldn't be there or for those of us who might not be at the next meeting to hear what yall have to say, LEAVE A COMMENT!

Also, if anyone is interested, this Monday, March 3rd is the kickoff event for Women's Herstory Month! A pretty cool looking female comedy show is being put on featuring Chicks and Giggles, "a stand up group featuring the best female comics in New York. You'll be totally vadged out." Vadged out?! I'm there. It's at Kimmel, 4th floor, doors open at 7, and tickets are FREE at Ticket Central! Could be fun! If a few girls are interested in going together, comment here, and get something worked out!

We are famous!

The videos Liz, Julie, and Rachel made for Chris from College Dems are UP! No matter who you support, I think this is a pretty cool idea!

Click HERE to check us out!

Wednesday's Meeting

For those of you who haven't been reading your emails...

Wednesday's big highlights were falafel AND the inclusion of 3 boys (excuse me, men) into our meeting!

Duncan, from Students Creating Radical Change stopped by to talk about some of their work on getting more disclosure from NYU, specifically on budgetary issues! This affects all of us to the tune of many, many dollars, but also because of possible serious gendered discrepancies on salary! He's going to keep us updated on further events, but for all those interested in demanding more knowledge about the allocation of their tuition dollars, who would like to attend a meeting, they meet Tuesdays, at 7:15, in Kimmel, sooomewhere on the 8th floor.

Also, Chris, from College Democrats came in to record some people's thoughts about Hillary and the reasons why they support her. Liz, Julie, and Rachel all made brief videos, so look for a link to those very soon!

This Saturday is a day long Teach-In at Kimmel about our civil liberties and the ways in which many of them are being taken away. It's optional (of course), and people can stay as long as they want! A few people are interested in going, so keep your eyes open for more information on that as well!

Annnd, brief NOW/FilmAid film week update: We officially have one night reserved in Silver! Diana is working on getting us more! Collaboration with FilmAid is being worked on, and as soon as we have more dates secured, we can seriously get down to work on making this happen, and making this an event for all of us to be super proud of!

But don't forget! March is Women's Herstory Month! So, let's do something fun! It can even be something that's just for us! What do YOU want to do?! We'll hear some ideas on Tuesday ( I hope!).

Finally! Next week is a Tuesday meeting! I can't wait to have a reunion with our busy-on-Wednesday-nighters. Tuesday meetings are at 8 in the lobby, but there's a really interesting discussion at Think Coffee (on Mercer right below W. 4th) about women's bodies and their rights at 7 pm! So, the plan for right now is to meet there at 7, and, if it's too crazy, head over to Kimmel for our meeting at 8. If you can't make it at 7, give Liz a call around 8 to see if we'll be at Think or at our normal position in the 9th floor lobby.

Keep checking the website and your email for more fun and exciting things!

Welcome to our new website!

This is exciting!

Basically, this blog serves as sort of a go-to place for info on our upcoming events, plans in the works, pictures, and what goes on at meetings. This will be especially helpful for those of us who can't make it every other week to stay up to date! Also, how legit will we sound when people ask us about our website? "Do you have a website?" "Um, of couuuurse we do!" You can personalize that for yourself...I plan to brag about it.