Learn about Planned Parenthood, Regionally and Nationally, Oct. 16

Ruth Ellen Blodgett

Ruth-Ellen Blodgett is President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Mid-Hudson Valley, which extends from Albany to Rockland County.She is familiar with the issues specific to health care in New York State, having worked in health care administration in upstate New York . She is known for her clarity as a speaker and her knowledge of the issues affecting Planned Parenthood.

Ruth-Ellen Blodgett’s talk on “Planned Parenthood, Locally and Nationally” is scheduled for Tuesday, October 16 at 5 PM in the Kingston Library Community Room, 55 Franklin Street.

The talk and discussion is part of the Kingston Branch of AAUW’s Public Policy Committee meeting and is open to the public, with special invitation to members of the Ulster County Activist Council of the Planned Parenthood Mid-Hudson Valley Action Fund.

After the discussion with the audience, all are invited to Keegan Ales, located around the corner from the library at 20 Saint James Street. All are welcome.— Doris Goldberg

10/2: Common Council to vote on Climate Action Plan at 7:30 tonight – please come out!

The Climate Action Plan will be discussed at the Common Council Meeting tonight (10/2) at City Hall, 420 Broadway, Kingston. The meeting starts at 7:30 PM, with public comment 8th on the agenda. Please come out to give support!

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Kingston Common Council to vote on Climate Action Plan Tuesday

KINGSTON, N.Y. – A Common Council committee has unanimously recommended the adoption of a 268-page report outlining ways in which the city’s government and residents can save energy costs and “become a more sustainable” community.

Alderman Thomas Hoffay, D-Ward 2, the council’s majority leader, said the so-called “City of Kingston Climate Action Plan” was endorsed by the Public Safety/General Government Committee Thursday night.

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Kingston aldermen debate ‘Climate Action Plan’ on eve of vote (video)

KINGSTON, N.Y. – Debate turned feisty Monday night between two Democratic members of the Common Council over a so-called “Climate Action Plan” for Kingston.

Alderman Robert Senor, D-Ward 8, questioned the wisdom of adopting the plan, which has earned the endorsement of the Public Safety/General Government Committee.

Community Read: The New Jim Crow

Lecture Series and Community Read on Issues
of Race and Imprisonment in the United States

Everette Hodge Center, 15-21 Franklin Street, Kingston

First Meeting: Tuesday, October 9, 6 PM to 8 PM

The Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library of Poughkeepsie is teaming up with AAUW Kingston, Occupy Kingston, and other groups to sponsor a lecture series and community read organized around The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, a New York Times bestselling book about the mass incarceration rates of African Americans in the contemporary United States. The group will meet on six Tuesdays: 10/9 10/23, 11/6, 11/20, 12/4, and 12/18.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Starting in the 1970s, the number of Americans residing in jails has risen more than 500% to total 2.2 million people. Though African Americans make up a little more than 12% of the total U.S. population, nearly half of those behind bars, or roughly 900,000 inmates, are black.

These statistics mean that African Americans are nearly six times as likely to be incarcerated as whites.
The racial disparity also encompasses Hispanics, who are twice as likely to be sent to jail as whites.
Laws and other targeting devices currently in place help to maintain and grow this tremendously unjust and repressive situation. The laws are there for specific reasons which have little to do with enhancing public safety and welfare.

We will be running this program with the dual purpose of educating ourselves on the facts today as well as looking at all we can do to change this untenable, destructive state of affairs. We will have guest speakers familiar with the particular topics highlighted in different chapters, and we’ll be encouraging a robust dialogue amongst ourselves leading to resolute and productive action.

Copies of the book are available. Come even if you are not reading the book!
Contact: Odell Winfield, 914-388-3092, odell_winfield@yahoo.com

Have You Taken Steps to Prepare for an Emergency?

September is National Preparedness Month. Severe weather causes the most frequent emergencies, but there are other emergencies, too. Have you taken steps to prepare for an emergency?

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), three elements of good preparation are:

FEMA | Federal Emergency Management Agency (Photo credit: Inventorchris)

Being Informed— Learn about the potential emergencies that can happen where you live and know the appropriate ways to respond to them.
Making a Plan
— Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is important to plan what you would do in different situations. How would you get to a safe place? How would you contact one another and get back together?
Building a Kit — Find a list of suggested items to include in an emergency supply kit.

These links will connect you with great material to help you prepare. Thanks to branch member Marj Roberts for providing this reminder of the importance of preparing.

9/12: NYS Senate District 46 Democratic Candidate Forum in Kingston

Hello, AAUW Kingston and friends! Please join our branch, which is sponsoring this forum, this Wednesday evening:

NYS Senate District 46 Democratic Candidate Forum
Wednesday, September 12
6 PM to 8 PM
Kingston High School Auditorium
403 Broadway, Kingston, NY

All three Democratic Senatorial candidates — Thomas Dolan, Monica Arias
Miranda, and Cecilia Tkaczyk — have been invited to, and plan to participate
in, the forum.

The Democratic Primary will take place the following day, Thursday, September
13, from noon to 9 PM.

The purpose of this forum is to give the residents of Ulster County, and beyond, an opportunity to ask questions and get answers about issues that are important to them, so they can make an informed choice at the polls on Thursday, and then again in November. These issues include a broad range of topics related to economic development, education, the environment, government spending, health care, and much more.

The moderator, branch member Irene Miller, will ask each candidate the same opening question, followed by a series of questions. Members of the audience and the news media will be invited to submit their questions, which will be presented by the moderator to the candidates.

NYS SD 46 map:
http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/2012s/fs46.pdf

Facebook event link:
http://www.facebook.com/events/256038337833058/

Women’s Equality Day Protest, August 26, 2012

HUDSON VALLEY PROTEST TO DEFEND WOMEN’S RIGHTS

On Sunday Aug. 26, Women’s Equality Day in America, AAUW Kingston joins with other Hudson Valley advocates of women’s rights in New Paltz, N.Y., to march and rally in opposition to what is being called the ongoing “War on Women.”

Women’s Equality Day commemorates the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote after a 100-year struggle for basic rights including suffrage for women. Congress in 1971 designated Aug. 26 a perpetual “Women’s Equality Day” after New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug introduced the legislation.

Protests in support of women’s rights will take place in a number of cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago on Aug. 26, the day before the Republican Party Convention in Tampa, in opposition to legislative and rhetorical attacks on women and women’s rights taking place across the nation.

These attacks, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, “include a wide range of policy efforts designed to place restrictions on women’s health care and erode protections for women and their families. Examples at the state and federal level have included restricting contraception; cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood; state-mandated, medically unnecessary ultrasounds; abortion taxes; abortion waiting periods; forcing women to tell their employers why they want birth control, and prohibiting insurance companies from including abortion coverage in their policies.”

According to Donna Goodman of New Paltz, an organizer of the local demonstration: “Women have always known that winning the right to vote ‹ as important as it was ‹ still left many rights yet to be gained. Some additional advances have been obtained in recent decades, but political attacks on women’s rights from the right wing have been sharply increasing in the last couple of years. Last year alone, 26 different states enacted new anti-choice laws. The Women’s Equality Day protests in the mid-Hudson region and elsewhere are part of the fightback. We demand full equality!”

The Hudson Valley demonstration begins with a 1 p.m. rally in Peace Park next to New Paltz Village Hall (25 Plattekill Ave.). This will be followed by a march with signs through the downtown village district, returning to the park for a brief final rally. (In event of inclement weather, the rally will be inside the hall.)

The various actions in the U.S. Aug. 26 are in response to a call for protests by a new activist/feminist organization titled Women Organized to Resist and Defend (WORD), which “is dedicated to building the struggle for women’s rights and equality for all.” The organizers emphasize “Women and men of all ages, nationalities and sexual orientations are invited to join in this campaign.”

An endorser list for the New Paltz event is in formation, but so far includes: the American Association of University Women (Kingston), Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter, NAACP (Ellenville), Occupy New Paltz, Peace and Social Progress Now, Women in Black (New Paltz), Middle East Crisis Response, End New Jim Crow Action Network, Real Majority Project. A partial list of those endorsing the national events Aug. 26, including the New Paltz rally, include: Roseanne Barr, actor; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Leah Bolger, President, Veterans for Peace; Farheen Hakeem, National Co-Chair, Green Party of the United States; Sarah Sloan and Peta Lindsay, ANSWER Coalition.

The Aug. 26 demonstration is being organized by the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter on behalf of nine Mid-Hudson women activists: Ariana Basco, Donna Goodman, Elizabeth Gross, Margaret Human, Judith Karpova, Terry Leroy, Helaine Meisler, Joanne Steele, Barbara Upton: For information about the New Paltz event contact donna0726@earthlink.net, or (845) 255-5779.

Details about the national events are at http://www.defendwomensrights.org/

Visit Monet’s Garden Sept. 9, 2012

Claude Monet, the celebrated Impressionist painter, was also a passionate gardener and horticulturist. The gardens he constructed during his 40 years at Giverny, rank as one of the great artistic projects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

He settled there in 1883 and remained until his death in 1926. It was in Giverny that he conceived a paradise of arches with climbing roses, a water garden with a Japanese bridge covered with wisteria, weeping willows that reflected in the pond, and water lilies that bloomed all summer long. From this exquisite landscape, he created his most famous paintings.

You won’t have to travel further than the Bronx to get a taste of Monet’s magnificent paradise; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory has transformed its space into gardens reminiscent of Monet’s Giverny. On Sunday, September 9, you can enjoy a private tour of the gardens.

Designed by Tony Award-winning set designer Scott Pask, a façade of Monet’s famous pink house with green shutters provides a stunning entrance – stepping out from the house into a long corridor of
magnificent flowers. The main attraction is a living approximation of the two major gardens that Monet created; one in traditional French style, the other, a Japanese-inspired fantasia of water, lily pads and weeping willows. The Victorian glass house of the Conservatory opens onto an indoor re-creation of the Grand Allée at Giverny – a long path with extraordinary flowers blossoming on either side. As the seasons change, so will the flowers.

The entire show is organized by Paul Hays Tucker, one of America’s foremost authorities on Monet and Impressionism. There are two original Monet paintings on view; “The Artist’s Garden in Giverny” and “Irises.” Also on display is Monet’s painting palette, the only one in existence, on loan from the Musée Marmottan. Photographs of Giverny in different seasons by Elizabeth Murray, who gardened at Monet’s estate, are on view as well.

The cost – $105 – includes luxury coach, all gratuities, mimosas with breakfast en route, admission to the New York Botanical Garden, and private guided tour of “Monet’s Garden.” A selection of cheeses will be served with wine on the return trip. Note: Lunch is dutch-treat and available in The Visitor Center Café or Garden Café.

The bus departs from the back of the former Ames, Kingston Plaza, at 8am and the front of the Monticello Govt. Center at 9:15am. We return to Monticello at approximately 5:30pm and Kingston at approximately 6:45pm.

To reserve: make your check payable to AAUW (American Association for University Women), include your phone number, address and email, and mail it to: Linda Gold, 1 Jacobs Lane, New Paltz, NY 12561. For further info, call Linda at 845-255-5256 or email artladyLG@aol.com. Specify “art tours” in the space for “subject.” Sign up early to ensure a spot. There will be no refunds unless the spot is filled by someone on the waiting list.

Tell Congress to Increase the Minimum Wage

Can you support your family on $15,000 per year?

National Day of Action to Raise the Minimum Wage

Millions of workers – mostly women – struggle to make ends meet on the current minimum wage. At just $7.25 an hour, or roughly $14,500 per year, the current federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised in THREE YEARS and is leaving working families in poverty.

Since that last increase, prices of basic goods such as milk, gas, and college tuition have climbed steadily, but the federal minimum wage remains stuck at $7.25 an hour.

Kimberly Fountain, AAUW’s State Grassroots Advocacy Manager, who was with us at the AAUW-NYS Summer Leadership Conference last weekend in Cazenovia, mentioned that MomsRising is a great partner in our national efforts to address economic justice issues. We multiply our efforts when we join other progressive organizations working for the same goals as AAUW.*

Partner with MomsRising by telling your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012 to raise the outdated federal minimum wage. Click the Take Action button.

The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012 would gradually raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.80 per hour, increase the tipped minimum cash wage from $2.13 per hour to 70 percent of the minimum wage, and index the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation.

Increasing the minimum wage and tipped minimum wage are key steps toward fair pay for women.

Meet AAUW Member David “Uncle Sam” Cardall

David Cardall as Uncle Sam by Daily Freeman staff photographer

This was his 30th year. Yesterday, AAUW Kingston branch member David Cardall once again marched — well, maybe ambled — along the Saugerties 4th of July parade route. David climbs up onto his stilts and dons his striped pants and top hat to chat with the kids and enjoy the crowds.

Three miles is a long walk on stilts in the heat of the day, but you won’t find him anywhere else at parade time. David loves it!

And, we love to see him every year. Thanks, David.

Title IX Makes Kwasnowski’s All-American Rating Possible

[This letter to the editor was sent to the Daily Freeman June 14th but has not been published so we thought we’d publish it here.]

Congratulations to Kingston High School lacrosse athlete Lauren Kwasnowski just named a U.S. Lacrosse All-American. And thank you to the Freeman for your consistently excellent coverage of women’s sports.

None of this would have been possible without the passage of Title IX ensuring gender equity in education. June 23rd is Title IX’s 40th anniversary. When Congress passed Title IX in 1972, few high schools or colleges had sports teams for young women. There’s been great progress in many places, although sports scholarships for young women like Lauren lag far behind the millions in sports scholarships available for young men.

Increased athletic opportunities for women and girls are only one aspect of Title IX. Title IX has made it possible for women to pursue careers as lawyers, doctors, mechanics, scientists; it affects all areas of education and applies to all institutions and education programs receiving federal funds. Some of those areas include access and admission to higher education, career and technical education, education for pregnant and parenting students, equity in math, science, engineering and technology education, and sexual harassment, as well as athletics.

Like many other areas today where women believed we had made progress in breaking through gender barriers, we find that Title IX is being eroded. Those who oppose equity for women and girls are using targeted budget reductions, reinterpretation of regulations, ineffective compliance monitoring, and the erroneous notion that there is a “boy crisis.” AAUW maintains that education is not a zero sum game, and that the real issue is about girls doing better, not about boys doing worse.

AAUW Kingston encourages all those concerned about equity for women and girls– your daughters, your mothers, your wives, your friends or yourself — to become a watchdog and speak out wherever erosion is occurring or progress needs to be made. That includes our school district and college budgets and policies, as well as local, state and federal legislation.

We wish Lauren and young women everywhere all the opportunities women have fought for throughout our history and those we have yet to win.