CWLU Herstory Blog

Writer and reproductive justice activist Judith Arcana will be in town on August 5 reading at the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum. Her appearence is part of the Chicago Public Library's Read Green-Live Green series.

Judith will be joined by Alison Swan, Susan Firer, Donna Seaman, Gail Louise Siegal and Judith Strasser for a lively reading that celebrates the richness of life on and around the Great Lakes.

Judith Arcana has been a teacher and writer for many years. In the 1970's, she was a member of the Abortion Counseling Service for Women's Liberation, better known as Jane. Jane performed over 11,000 low costs safe abortions in the dark days before Roe v. Wade. She is still a reprodutive rights activist and speaks at colleges and at feminist gatherings. You may visit her site at www.juditharcana.com

The Center for the Study of Political Graphics has a new traveling poster show entitled "Reclaiming the 'F' Word: Posters on International Feminisms". The exhibition explores feminist movements since the 1970s by looking at domestic and international posters that address many approaches, goals, and issues.

Among the posters are the Women's Graphics Collective posters, "Closets are for Clothes - Color Yourself Out!," "Women Are Not Chicks," "Imperialist War and Male Chauvanism," and "Mountain Moving Day. Reclaiming the "F" Word is at California State University, Northridge Art Galleries until July 3, 2008, and will also be made available for travel. Please let us know if you can suggest any venues.

The CSUN Art Galleries are located at:

18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330 (818) 677-2226 www.csun.edu/artgalleries Summer Gallery Hours: Mon-Fri 12-4pm.

This year the Chicago Dyke March will take place on Saturday June 28th, 2008. Gathering begins at 1:00 PM at 1800 South Halsted (Chicago Community Bank Park), and step off is at 2:30 PM. Attendees will then march down 18th street to rally at Harrison Park (1824 S. Wood).

All people, including allies to the community, are encouraged to attend.

The Chicago Dyke March (CDM) is looking for talented spoken word artists, musicians, comedians, dancers, drummers, and performers for the rally after the march. In the past, some performances have been theater, burlesque, and poetry. Anything that is queer, EMPOWERING, and entertaining can find a place at the rally.

The WE-ACTx Girls Exchange Chicago↔Kigali is an exciting program to link a group of six young women from our WE-ACTx HIV clinics in Kigali, Rwanda with six young women from Chicago. The group will include HIV infected and uninfected youth from both cities who have demonstrated the capacity for leadership.

You are invited to a unique fundraiser and potluck to support this exciting project. You may download the announcement here.

The Chicago Feminists Meetup Group is sponsoring a book discussion on Ellen Bravo's Taking on the Big Boys on May 19 at Argo Tea 16 W. Randolph in downtown Chicago. A fee of $1 is charged to cover expenses. An RSVP is requested. You may sign up and RSVP at the Chicago Feminist Meetup site.

For people unfamiliar with Meetups, the idea is to sign up at the Meetup website where you will be able to see who is in the group, get the latest news, contact other Meetup participants, and register for events. It's a form of online organizing that can work suprisingly well.

The Chicago Feminist Meetup Group currently has 113 members and has sponsored 12 meetings so far. Check them out here.