ADIRONDACK GLIMPSES - EXCERPTS

VOLUME 20, NO. 3 - NOVEMBER, 2008

DID YOU KNOW? - AAUW WAS FOUNDED OVER 125 YEARS AGO, ON NOVEMBER 28, 1881

AAUW - "Sharing the Vision" - see below

We’ll be meeting on Thursday, November 20 at the Log Jam Restaurant, with the social time at 6:00 pm; dinner is at 6:30 pm, followed by the program at 7:15 pm. We’ll be ordering from the menu. Reservations are needed by Saturday, Nov. 15th. You can give the information to your caller, or call Kathy Black.
Kathy Hoeltzel

Plan to arrive at the Glens Falls Country Club, 211 Round Pond Road, Queensbury, NY, at 11:30 am for a social time. The luncheon will start at 12:15pm with the program to follow at 1:15pm. A pdf file with the reservation form and payment instructions are online here. Plese note that reservations are due by December 30nd. Guests are welcome.

Membership Data: Remember, please check your own listing in this year’s yearbook, and let us know if there are any corrections to it. If any of your information changes during the year, let us know as well - particularly your e-mail address.

11/20 BRANCH DINNER MEETING 6:00 pm, Log Jam Restaurant, Route 9

12/10 MORNING LITERATURE 9:30 am, Hostess, Nancy Cathers; program, Paula Bossert

12/16 EVENING LITERATURE 7:30 pm, Hostess, Nan Scinta; program, everyone presents

12/20/08 NEWSLETTER DEADLINE for January Issue; send material to Marjory Moeller

1/10/09 BRANCH LUNCHEON MEETING 11:30 am, Glens Falls Country Club, Queensbury

1/13/09 EVENING LITERATURE 7:30 pm, Hostess, Linda Campopiano; book, Lottery, by Patricia Wood.

1/14 MORNING LITERATURE 9:30 am, Hostess, Mildred Solberg, at The Landing; program, Mary Rose Holzhauer.

1/22/09 BOARD MEETING 3:45pm Church of the Annunciation

1/28 MORNING LITERATURE 9:30 am, Hostess, Sally Jones; program, Rosemary Miner

2/11 MORNING LITERATURE 9:30 am, Hostess, Mary Enhorning at Harrisena Church; program, Carol Bottiglieri

2/28 BRANCH LUNCHEON MEETING 11:45 am Montcalm Restaurant, Queensbury. Program: Youth Court

Click here for all of our monthly Branch programs for the 2008-09 year
 

For those of us living in the Adirondacks, the 2009 New York State AAUW Convention will be very close to home. NYS's AAUW Convention will be April 24-26, 2009 at The Sagamore in Bolton Landing.

Peggy Kelland, AAUW-NYS Program V.P., noted that "Mary Lou Davis and I just came back from checking the luxurious Sagamore Island resort on beautiful Lake George, the site of next spring's convention. The keynote speaker will be Jill Birdwhistell, the Chief of Strategic Advancement for AAUW, where her role is to work closely with national staff and AAUW leaders to facilitate implementation of Board goals and AAUW Strategic Planning. Dr. Birdwhistell holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, a MEd from the University of Virginia, and a PhD in Higher Education Administration and Policy/Law from the University of Virginia. Before coming to AAUW, she taught high school and served on the faculties of KU, UVA, and Tulane University. She was the Sr. V.P. for America's Health TV Network, and a senior executive for the American Lung Association, National Mental Health Association, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, American Medical Women's Association, Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, and Association of Women's Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nursing. Those state board members who have heard her attest to her interesting and dynamic presentations."

The National AAUW Convention will be held June 26-28, at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand and Suites Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. This hotel was formerly known as the Hotel Statler and was the backdrop for the March 1919 historic convention of the National American Suffrage Association. This was a period of time when women did not have universal suffrage in the United States: Some states permitted women to only vote in presidential elections while other states did not permit ANY women to vote. The League of Women Voters was created at this convention. A primary reason for its formation was to secure the vote in every state for women.

“By far the most comments (485 on the form plus all those in emails and letters directly to the chair) addressed Article IV. Membership and Dues, in particular the proposal to open membership to all those who support AAUW’s mission and purpose.

"The comments on this proposal were highly emotional, with many expressing the opinion that this would destroy the uniqueness of AAUW. Those supporting the proposal stated that if AAUW values equity for women, then we should be equitable in who can be a member. There was no other proposal in the Bylaws that elicited emotion or volume like this. The Bylaws Committee believes that the members are the ones who should be allowed to make this important decision at the June AAUW Convention in St. Louis.”

There is additional information about this and all the other proposed revisions to the bylaws on the Association web site. You can access it from this link - http://www.aauw.org/member_center/strategicProcess/. You will need to log in with your member ID number. (If you cannot find it on your Outlook magazine label, there is a link to look it up online.)

The proposed bylaws revisions will be presented at the national convention in St. Louis in June 2009 for a decision by the delegates. We hope that one or more of our members will be able to be there to participate in the discussion and voting.
Marjory Moeller, Adirondack Branch

The annual League of Women Voters UN conference, "Briefings on the Impact of Global Warming on Women and Children Around the World", will be held on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Note that the registration deadline was November 18th.

The Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN) will have its 11th annual conference on Friday, January 30, 2009 at the UN Headquarters in NYC. A pdf file of the registration form is online here. The registration deadline for this one is January 14, 2009.You can read more about the organization at http://www.teachun.org.

You may contact me for further information.
Joyce Smith, Branch International Affairs Chair

Thirty facilitators and panelists were recruited from the community by the conference committee to lead the roundtable discussion groups. The conference, which was made possible by grants from the Dyson Foundation and AAUW, was attended by 260; however, an additional 50 people had to be turned away. At the conclusion of the day, the facilitators reported on the various group discussions. Several facilitators noted that there was interest among the roundtable attendees for continuing their discussions at some future time. Nancy Cathers attended the roundtables on health and education; Mary King attended the media roundtable.
Mary King, Adirondack Branch

Every time you vote, you are automatically entered into a drawing to win one of ten $25 gift certificates to ShopAAUW, AAUW's newly updated online store.
Source: AAUW Outlook

MORNING LITERATURE
See the calendar listing for the current schedule. New members are welcome, but please call the hostess ahead of time; the group meets at 9:30 am on the second and fourth Wednesdays. Call Joyce Smith for details.

EVENING LITERATURE
The group meets monthly, usually at 7:30 pm. Please call the hostess if you plan to attend.

Our current plans are:

• Tuesday, November 18: Hostess, Elayne Leonelli; book, Annie Freeman‘s Fabulous Traveling Funeral, by Kris Radish.
• Tuesday, December 16: Hostess, Nan Scinta; book: please bring a short holiday item to share or a 2 minute book report on a favorite holiday book or other book that we have enjoyed.
• Tuesday, January 13, 2009: Hostess, Linda Campopiano; book, Lottery, by Patricia Wood.
• February, 2009: Date and hostess, t.b.d.; book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See.

Every member is welcome to join us for the evening and if you would like to bring a friend, please do as you will find that our book discussions are always interesting. For further information, call Elayne Leonelli.

If you are purchasing a book for Morning or Evening Lit Group from Red Fox Books in Glens Falls, mention that book club and you will be eligible to receive a discount.

Friday, January 30 will be the date for the first 2009 meeting of our Gourmet Group. Specific details will be given out at the Branch Luncheon on January 10th.
Rachel Quackenbush

Visit the aauw.org website, click on Member Center, sign in with your member number; then click on Membership Campaigns, Give A Grad A Gift. Complete the online form or download a form to mail. You'll find your member number on your Outlook mailing label, or you can look it up on the site.
Mary King, Treasurer

CLICK FOR A CAUSE - At The Breast Cancer web site, click on Fund Free Mammograms to help raise funds for underprivileged women's services. It's supported by the sponsors, who donate funds in exchange for advertising. You'll find it at www.thebreastcancersite.com. At the top of the page, you'll find tabs that link to other causes, including Literacy, Hunger, and Child Health.

By visiting AAUW's Action Network you can print out flyers to sign up friends, family and co-workers to the AAUW Action Network. These flyers are great to use at branch events, community events, etc.

Want to write to your elected federal or state officials right now? Enter your ZIP code and click on GO, and you will reach an AAUW page with links to forms to send e-mail to them and more.

POLITICAL ACTION "QUICK CLICKS" - Check out these web sites which will provide information on where your elected officials stand on the issues and how you can contact them.

• www.aauw.org - Under Advocacy/Public Policy, go to the Two-Minute Activist to read about the latest issue in Congress and then e-mail your opinion to your representative.
  
• www.vote-smart.org - This is a non-partisan website informing voters about candidates and public officials in five categories: backgrounds, issue positions, voting records, campaign finance, and performance.
  

AAUW ONLINE AT AAUW.ORG - Have you visited our national AAUW web site? The Member Center offers immediate clicks to all the membership information you need, as well as today's hot issues of concern to women and girls and a "Take Action Now" button for you to make your voice heard in Washington. You'll also find quick links to convention, ShopAAUW, publications, and much more. You can even update your membership record online. Check it out at www.aauw.org!

AAUW IS NOW ON FACEBOOK - You're invited to join a growing community of AAUW members who are connecting with each other on Facebook.com, a popular social networking site. Why would you do this?

• To learn - social networking sites have the potential to help you filter the information overload and pick out items recommended by your friends
• To teach - there are 50 million people on Facebook, most of whom (sadly) have never heard of AAUW. To reach out to them with information about pay equity, our partnership with CARE, our funding opportunities, our legislative priorities and all the rest that we do, we need more interested members to do the legwork involved in getting our message out.
• To connect - share tidbits with AAUW members, relatives, and other friends through Facebook's wide range of communication tools. As life gets busier, alternatives to "let's do lunch" help build and maintain connections and add a rich texture to long-distance relationships.

AAUW JOINS THE BLOGOSPHERE - AAUW recently launched an online blog, AAUW DIALog (AAUW Discussion, Information, Advocacy Log), to provide timely commentary on current news and events and the way they relate to AAUW's mission. Periodic entries from guest "bloggers," including outstanding AAUW members, fellowship and grant recipients, and donors, will help illustrate the work of AAUW at all levels. AAUW joins several states and branches already using blogs to spur dialogue and spread the word about our critical work. All visitors are encouraged to share their thoughts about the issues covered in the blog. Stay up-to-date on all the latest! Visit the AAUW blog regularly at blog-aauw.org
Source: AAUW Mission & Action e-News

NEW YORK STATE AAUW WEB SITE - While you're online, check out the NYS-AAUW web site, at www.aauw-nys.org.
Keep it in mind, as well as the national site at www.aauw.org, as a source of much useful material about our organization.

AAUW ISSUES - Legislative resources are available to all of our members. Often we do not pay attention to politics until an issue is raised that will impact us in some manner. There is a wealth of information on legislative issues available on the web sites of both the national and state AAUWs. You'll find policy statements and information on current legislation which the association and state division are supporting or opposing.

For more detail about current issues at the Association level, you'll find a lot of information in this section of the web site - www.aauw.org/About/newsroom/. While on the AAUW web site, surf to Issue Advocacy and then to Tools For Grassroots Action for a page of useful links. Bring up the Two Minute Activist for summaries of current issues and just click to send a pre-written message to your Senators or Representative. Join the Action Network to discover what’s happening in Washington and what you can do to influence the outcome.

On the NYS AAUW site, check out the Public Policy section for information on AAUW issues.

Marjory Moeller, Branch Newsletter Co-Editor and Webmistress

AAUW PRINCIPLES

• Mission Statement: AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research.

• AAUW Value Promise: By joining AAUW, we belong to a community that breaks through educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance.

• Vision Statement: AAUW will be a powerful advocate and visible leader in equity and education through research, philanthropy, and measurable change in critical areas impacting the lives of women and girls.

• Diversity Statement: In principle and in practice, AAUW values and seeks a diverse membership. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or class.

© 2008 Adirondack Branch, AAUW; All rights reserved
Webmistress