If you are working in the fields of human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and water sustainablity, PulseWire welcomes you to their founding online community.

Here, any woman with access to a basic computer, and eventually a cell phone, can speak her truth, ask for what she needs and share her solutions through pictures, audio, video and the written word.

Please visit Pulsewire to learn more.

 

Grace Paley, one of our finest writers, passed away last August. To celebrate her life and work, Judith Arcana has helped organize an 85th birthday party on the evening of December 11 at Broadway Books in NE Portland OR. Judith Arcana is the author of Grace Paley's Life Stories; a Literary Biography.

If you miss Grace Paley and would like to organize a birthday event for that evening in your town, please contact your local bookstore and get one going.

Three hundred people crowded in Reza's restuarant on the Northside to bid farewell to Mardge Cohen and Gordy Schiff, two of Chicago's finest physicians. Gordy has accepted a teaching position at Harvard, meaning that he and Mardge will be moving to Boston.

Mardge and Gordy have been battling for quality healthcare at Chicago's Cook County Hospital since the the 1970's. Gordy is known in the world of medicine for his research in patient safety. Mardge became one of Chicago's leading experts on HIV/AIDS and has worked extensively in Rwanda with HIV/AIDS patients there. Mardge is a former member of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union and has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Herstory Project.

The American Medical Women's Association(AMWA) is sponsoring a series of call-in phone conferences with the presidential candidates in preparation for the 2008 election.

The theme of the teleconferences is women's health. According to AMWA,

Guaranteed access to high-quality, patient centered, preventive and curative health care is the most fundamental women’s health issue of our time.

AMWA already held a teleconference on Oct 18 with Hillary Clinton. To sign up for future conferences, please visit the Conversations with the Candidates website.

EMMA, a play by Howard Zinn about the renowned American anarchist Emma Goldman will be opening at the Trap Door Theater on October 18 in Chicago. For more detailed info please visit their website.

It is being directed by Kate Hendrickson, the daughter of Ayrie Moore, who belonged to the Chicago Women's Liberation Union (CWLU) and Rising Up Angry.

Paula Kamen's bio of writer Iris Chang is due in the bookstores on October 22. Iris Chang committed suicide in November 2004 after a long battle with depression.

Iris Chang's best known book was The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. The book tells the story of the infamous 1937-1938 Nanking massacre which took place during the Sino-Japanese War.

Melissa Silverstein takes a feminist microscope to the over glamourized world of women in Hollywood. Hollywood is so male oriented that women and their stories and expertise get shunted to the side.

Her Women in Hollywood blog will focus on what's going on for women in Hollywood - what movies are being made; what directors are getting jobs; what actors are working; and anything else that will help tip the balance.

Take a look at her Women in Hollywood blog HERE .

As the terrible repression continues in the nation of Burma, here is a video of Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi talking about the importance of non-violence in the struggle for democracy.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest by orders of the corrupt Burmese military regime for most of the past 17 years. If the people of Burma could realize their dreams, she would be leading the country instead.

Aung San Suu Kyi in a 1999 interview

For the past 17 years, students at the University of Maryland have participated in a rape awareness program where victims and advocates against sexual violence hang T-shirts along a huge clothesline on campus. Some victims also write the names of their assailants on their shirts.

Here is the text of the press release we received at 5:56 PM:

What: Press Conference
Where: Aurora Planned Parenthood Health Center, 3051 E. New York Street, Aurora, IL When: Tuesday, October 2, at 10 am

Finally! Just minutes ago we received our occupancy permit from city of Aurora Mayor, Tom Weisner and we will be OPEN FOR BUSINESS TOMORROW!

*We encourage anyone who is interested to attend the Aurora city council meeting on their own to monitor the discussion, but we will not be rallying outside city hall.

While it's a travesty that the opening of our health center became such a politicized issue, we never could have won this battle without the incredible support of pro-choice residents in Aurora, Naperville, and other local communities, as well as our supporters throughout the state and the nation. Thank you to every person that stood up for us at City Council, that rallied at City Hall, that gave a donation, that signed a petition, and that supported us in so many ways during this fight.

Thank you for all you've done!