Keynote Speakers
Vera Martin, and Barbara Smith.
Vera is African-American and a founder and co-director emerita of OLOC. She is ardently anti-agism and eloquent on the subject.
Barbara, as a black feminist, co-founded the Cohambee River Collective in Boston in 1974, a community-based black feminist group that rocked the Lesbian and feminist community. Currently she is a highly regarded Albany NY City Council member.
Entertainers
Ferron and Carolyn Gage
Ferron, Cree, Ojibway, and French Canadian, will come with her unique stories, songs and repartee. With twelve albums out, she is one of the mainstays of Women's Music.
Carolyn Gage (Sister Carolyn), of European ancestry, will present her acclaimed Lesbian Tent revival. Prepare to synapse, as your brain will fire up at her presentation.
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Activism for Racial and Class Justice
We hope many of you planning to attend the Gathering will come early enough to participate in the daylong session led by OLOC member Mandy Carter and her co-trainer, Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz. Be sure to check on the registration form, now available in the Feb/Mar Reporter and online at oloc.org, if you plan to attend.
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Greetings or other Program Book Ads
Consider placing an ad in the Program Book this year, whether or not you have done it in the past. It helps defray the costs of the Gathering, which will be high this year, as Boston is an expensive area. The ads and greetings form is included in the registration packet in the Feb/Mar Reporter and online at oloc.org. Online Registration is not yet ready though, so you will have to print out and send in forms. We'll let you know when it is up.
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Memorial
If you want to memorialize someone not yet in the OLOC Memorial Slide Show or on the Memorial Plaques, let us know very soon. We suggest a donation of $20.00 (more if you can, less if you can't) and will need your Old Lesbian's birth and death years plus an electronic photo. Send all to info@oloc.org.
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Frequent Flier Miles
If you have any miles you won't be using and want to donate them to OLOC, contact Ruth Debra at ruth@oloc.org. We will use them for financial assistance to Lesbians so they can attend the Gathering.
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Volunteers
We are looking for local area volunteers (any age) to help with the work of putting on the Boston Gathering. If you live there or you know people who do, contact us at info@oloc.org.
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OTHER OLOC NEWS
New Book Out from Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project
We are thrilled to announce that the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project has just released its second book. This one is called Without Apology: Old Lesbian Life Stories and, like A Gift of Age, contains the wonderful stories of a number of Old Lesbians. To order, go to www.olohp.org to print a form or to order online through PayPal.
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Sheila Ortiz-Taylor
Sheila Ortiz-Taylor, who was a keynote speaker at the 2010 Gathering in Cleveland and who is an author, has two new books just released by Spinsters, Inc. One is a reissue of her first novel Faultline and the other is a brand new one called Homestead, billed as "a lyrically beautiful homage to the strength and resiliency of women."
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Occupy
OLOC members continue to be part of the (un) Occupy movement. OLOC supports the Occupy Movements everywhere and encourages all of you attending to be visible as Old Lesbians from OLOC. The term (un) Occupy arose from the Albuquerque community, where First Nations people pointed out that their land has been occupied for a few centuries now and they did not like the term Occupy.
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Iceland
OLOC member Joy Griffith once worked in Iceland. She urges all of us to pay attention to what is going on there as they, too, have been involved in unrest due to bankers' debts and they, unlike the U.S. government, refused to pay them! Not to mention electing an out Lesbian Prime Minister.
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Seattle
Linda Robinson wrote to tell us that her Buddist dharma teacher has been doing work for a long time about encouraging, through the teachings of the buddha, the important work of understanding privilege and being in a "target" or oppressed group. They recently had a weekend workshop/retreat in Seattle where the Lotus Sisters (lgbt) and another sangha called POCAS (People of color and allies) joined to do some intense work around race, class, and all the other ways we are either oppressed or privileged. To see more about their work and their upcoming retreat, go to www.lotussisters.org. If you want to know more, reply to this E-News to request a copy of an interview with Arinna Weisman, guiding teacher, by Linda.
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NEWS OF INTEREST TO OLOC MEMBERS
Nigerian Lesbians at Risk
The entire LGBT community in Nigeria is the target of hate legislation attempts. Nigeria is pushing forward a law that would make it a punishable offense - of up to 14-years in prison - for anybody to go to a gay bar, to work for or be involved with LGBT organizations, or to be in an openly gay relationship. To see more, go tohttp://www.allout.org/
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Research. Two Opportunities.
Army of Women about Breast Cancer
Go to armyofwomen.org if you have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Or, if you have friends who have been, let them know. Be one in a million to answer a survey which will help increase the well-being of Lesbian and bisexual women with breast cancer and help reduce health disparities. Thank you, Sharon Kuromiya, for alerting us to the study (approved by our Research Gatekeeper, Sharon Raphael).
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Lesbian in Our Daily Lives
Sharon Raphael, OLOC's Research Gatekeeper, has also approved the study below. Here is what Sharon says about it: "I have approved this study by Ms.Laura Serbonich, M.S. Chestnut Hills College, Philadelphia. Ms. Serbonich is studying for a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She has met OLOC requirements regarding ethical requirements, IRB request, ethical consent forms etc. and other criteria required by the OLOC Research Gatekeeper."
From Laura Serbonich:
"I am interviewing lesbians aged 65+ for my doctoral dissertation research. I
will be conducting either over the phone interviews or face-to-face interviews.
These interviews will be approximately 1 hour long. I will be asking questions
about your everyday experiences with individuals and situations. I will be
asking in more detail about whether there are situations in which you may easily
identify as Lesbian, or if there are situations in which you do not feel
comfortable "coming out." If you are interested, you can contact me at
Serbonichl@chc.edu or give me a call at 607-624-4373.(Philadelphia area)
This has been a very slow start for this research project, so if any member knows of another individual whom may be interested, I would greatly appreciate if you could pass along this
information. This allows for the Lesbian community to have a voice and provide
their story. Thank you so much considering this opportunity!
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May Sarton Conference
Martha Wheelock let us know about the May Sarton Conference in York, Maine, May 3–6, 2012. It will be a celebration of Sarton's life and work on what would have been her 100th birthday. For more information, visit maysarton100.org. It is called May Sarton Centennial Celebration.
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Ishtar Films
Martha Wheelock is the filmmaker who made One Fine Day, which many of us have seen at music festivals and elsewhere. She has a film list at www.ishtarfilms.com. If you decide to buy any, be sure to tell her you are an OLOC member or supporter.
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Hide/Seek at Tacoma Art Museum March 17–June 10, 2012
If you are in the area or will be, you might want to see this amazing exhibit.
From the tacomaartmuseum.org site:
HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture....The exhibition debuted at The Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in 2010 and is the first major exhibition to address the question of how gender identity and sexual orientation have dramatically shaped the creation of modern American portraiture.
HIDE/SEEK offers an unprecedented survey of nearly 150 years of American art and includes more than 100 works by masters including Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and more.
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Cuba Delegation
See www.womenandcuba.org to find out about a delegation of women going there from March 9–21, 2012. Application deadline is February 9th, so not much time. It is part of the US Women and Cuba Collaboration. US Women & Cuba Collaboration is an association of women and organizations working in coalition with women in Cuba to build bridges within and between our nations that foster inclusive and progressive women's movements and networks for justice, real security and women's rights. OLOC supporter Catherine Steele let us know about the delegation.
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Housing
The National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, a project of Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) has a new section on their website with information about housing for Old Lesbians (and GBT).http://www.
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More on Housing
Both Ruth Debra (National OLOC Steering Committee Member) and Jezz Jesmain, OLOC member and keynote speaker at the 2010 Gathering in Cleveland, sent us news that HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) has just announced the LGBT Equal Access policy—a new rule that will protect more than 5.5 million people across the country from discrimination in public housing and Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages. For more information, go to the website of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The new rule was announced at the annual Creating Change conference, attended by a few OLOC members. Go to thetaskforce.orgfor more details.
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