Theresa Lang Community and Student Center (55 West 13th Street)
No registration necessary

The New School invites you to No Longer in Exile: The Legacy and Future of Gender Studies at the New School, Friday, March 26, from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and all day Saturday, March 27 at the Theresa Lang Center, 55 West 13th Street.  This exciting event is a celebration of the return of Gender Studies to The New School and an exploration of what the community wishes from this new undertaking. 

Leading scholars in the field, along with the New School faculty and students, explore the rich institutional and intellectual history of the interdisciplinary field of Gender Studies and speculate about the directions this study might take us in the future.

Panelists include:

* Nancy Fraser, Professor of Political Science and Social Science at The New School for Social Research
* Mary Hawkesworth, Editor of SIGNS and Chair of Women’s Studies at Rutgers University
* Susan Faludi, Author of Backlash and The Terror Dream
* Bonnie Thornton Dill, Professor and Chair of the Women’s Studies Department and Program and Director of the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity at the University of Maryland
* Valerie Smith, Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and Director of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University
* Judith Halberstam, Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity and Gender Studies at University of Southern California
* Ann Cvetkovich, Author of Mixed Feelings/Professor and Co-chair of the LGBTQ/Sexualities Research Cluster at the University of Texas

Inspiring Women, an exhibit, will be on display during the conference in the suite adjacent to the Theresa Lang Center. The exhibit will then move to Adam & Sophie Gimbel Design Library (2 West 13th Street, 2nd floor) from March 29-May 31, 2010.

Conference participants include:

Elaine Abelson , Neil Gordon, Marianna Assis, Judith Halberstam, Carolyn Berman, Mary Hawkesworth, Cheryl Buckley, Joseph Heathcott, Ximena Bustamante, Randi Irwin, Julie Chaparro, Ferentz LaFargue, Hazel Clark, Maria Pia Lara, Ann Cvetkovich, Michelle Leve, Katie Detwiler, LM Ling, Bonnie Thornton Dill, Laura Liu , Jon Dimond, Bonnie McEwan, Kate Eichhorn, Layli Phillips, Elizabeth Ellsworth, Lisa Rubin, Suzanne Esposito, Ann Louise Shapiro, Valerie Smith, Susan Faludi , Ann Snitow, Silvia Fernandez, Ann Stoler, Nikol Alexander Floyd, Zhou Suiming, Nancy Fraser, Alexandra Wagner, Dina Georgis, Howell Williams, Chelsea Estep-Armstrong

Dear Friends:

You know how sometimes in life you go through a bad moment, and when your friends hear about it later, they say, “Why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you ask? We would have helped.” That’s where Idealist is now, and I am writing to ask for your help.

Very briefly, here’s what happened. Over the past ten years, most of our funding has come from the small fees we charge organizations for posting their jobs on Idealist. By September 2008, after years of steady growth, these little drops were covering 70% of our budget.

Then, in October of that year, the financial crisis exploded, many organizations understandably froze their hiring, and from one week to the next our earned income was cut almost in half, leaving us with a hole of more than $100,000 each month.

That was 16 months ago, and since then we’ve survived on faith and fumes, by cutting expenses, and by getting a few large gifts from new and old friends. But now we are about to hit a wall, and this is why I am reaching out to you.

If over the past 15 years Idealist has helped you or a friend find a job, an internship or a volunteer opportunity; connect with a person, an idea or a resource; or just feel inspired for a moment, now we need your help. I wouldn’t be asking, and not like this, if this were not a critical time.

There are two ways you can help. First, if you can, please make a donation at:

http://www.idealist.org/donate

Some people in this community are not in a position to contribute right now, so if you are, please give as generously as you can. Thank you!

Second, please spread the word about this appeal by sharing this message with friends and colleagues who may have benefited from Idealist over the years. Since 1995 Idealist has touched hundreds of thousands of lives. If in the next week or two we can reach everyone who’d give us a hand if they knew we are in trouble, I believe we’ll come out of this crisis even stronger than before.

I believe this because while this has been a tough stretch, I’ve never been more optimistic about the future. The content on Idealist has never been richer, our traffic is surging, we are building a whole new Idealist.org that will be released later this year, and the potential for connecting people, ideas, and resources around the world has never
been more urgent or more exciting.

Your contribution will allow us to maintain all our services, and it will also give us some time to diversify our funding. Being able to breathe, recover, and plan ahead for a few months will be an incredible blessing.

Thanks so much for your support. Idealist has always been a
community-driven site, and we can’t do this work without you.

Thank you!

Ami Dar
Executive Director
Idealist.org

Here’s an excerpt from the Chronicle piece:

“Philanthropy as we know it now is based on a strange assumption: Let’s develop a hugely costly and divisive system for creating wealth and then hope that those who benefit most will give some back to solve problems that they have helped to cause.  That’s probably the least efficient way possible to tackle social problems--and the reason why it’s time to replace noblesse oblige with citizen-centered philanthropy that helps to revive activism across our society.” Read the full article here.

--Bonnie McEwan

We wonder: What does it say about our society when the top three news stories of 2009 are Obama’s inauguration, Michael Jackson’s death and Tiger Woods’s infidelity? 

In full disclosure, Make Waves’ media strategist Joan Grangenois-Thomas is related to the writer by marriage

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121433788

For instance, when you buy moisturizer, check the label to ensure that it is made with plant-based ingredients rather than petroleum products.  Turn down your thermostat just one degree and save 320 pounds of greenhouse gases from going into the atmosphere.  Better yet, throw on an extra blanket while you sleep and turn the heat down another degree or two.  And you can increase your positive impact even more by making sure that blanket is made from breathable, natural fibers like cotton or wool, rather than polyester.

Remember that plastics are made from petroleum products, so cut down on them whenever possible.  One good way to do that is to avoid bottled water and drink good, old tap water instead.  In fact, up to 40% of bottled water started out as tap water anyway!  And while you’re saving the planet you’ll be saving money too. 

National Geographic has an excellent website called The Green Guide for Everyday Living.  Check it out for more tips on how to make 2010 a greener year.

MAKE WAVES’ media strategist Joan Grangenois-Thomas recently sat down with Wendy L. Wilson, news editor for Essence.com.  Wendy wanted to know about women who had lost their health insurance due to the loss of their husband’s job and what effects it was having.  As we come down to the wire in the debate over public options and other aspects of the healthcare reform bill in Congress, this interview demonstrates where the rubber meets the road. 

As the health care reform debate continues to heat up down partisan lines in Congress, more women are starting to see exactly how much we have at stake in this issue. According to a recent Joint Economic Committee report, “Comprehensive Health Care Reform: An Essential Prescription for Women,” an estimated 64 million women currently do not have health insurance in this country, a factor that is setting many of us up to fail as women have more pervasive and chronic health needs than men and tend to suffer higher economic fallout from bankruptcies brought on by medical bills.

Read the rest of Joan’s interview at Essence.com.

Political analyst Larry Sabato of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia estimates that in New Jersey alone over 20,000 political ads ran on local TV stations during this election season.  And that’s only through October 17.  Advertising volume was expected to peak in the final two weeks before Election Day.  The three candidates in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race have spent over $33 million on local television advertising, with some individual spots running up to 1,000 times.

In addition to being ubiquitous, these ads are negative in the extreme.  They are designed to create dissatisfaction and fear. Some contain falsehoods. Others highlight one candidate’s weight.  All feature jarring typography and ominous audio effects.  None adds to constructive dialogue or informed debate.  Apparently, the benefits of the campaign ad industry accrue to an elite few.  These include the hired guns who create these dark messages, the corporate broadcasters who own the stations and the lobbyists whose contributions pay for the ads – and for the influence that they buy.

The July 2009 Battleground Poll from George Washington University found that the majority of Americans (57%) disapprove of the job that Congress is doing.  Is it any wonder why, given that TV repeatedly tells us our candidates are cavalier, craven and corrupt?  And if indeed they are, the current campaign financing system must bear a large share of the blame.  Not only does it force candidates to spend most of their time courting donors, it limits who is able to run for office in the first place.  Any plausible candidate must be a demon fundraiser or independently wealthy, a status that brings with it a different host of concerns. How sad when the only way to ensure an independent public servant is to elect a billionaire.

Free enterprise and free speech are cornerstones of American democracy, not to be curtailed in the style of France, which restricts political ads on television, or Norway, which bans them altogether. Fortunately, there is a more palatable way to address the problem of vampire political ads – publicly funded election campaigns.  A sensible system funded with public dollars would put natural limits on the number of ads that run and also level the playing field for candidates who are not able to fund their own campaigns.  And it would give television watchers a break.  It might even encourage civility in advertising, since candidates would have adequate funding to promote their ideas, but not excess cash with which to vilify their opponents.

We’ve talked about it for years, but lacked the will to make it happen.  Now it’s time to take action, while the enthusiasm generated by last year’s presidential election lingers and our political process retains some shreds of credibility.  Public funding may not be a silver bullet, but it could make television safe for democracy.

--Bonnie McEwan

Vampire image is courtesy of

This time around, students will be working in teams of four to develop marketing strategies for five different nonprofit clients, all of which focus on the arts.  Clients include Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, Cool Culture, Heart of Brooklyn, Jenny Rocha Dance Theater and the national organization of Young Audiences: Arts for Learning. 

Over the next few weeks, Ripples and Wipeouts will feature a description of the marketing challenge of each client organization, along with periodic progress reports on the students’ consulting work.  Taken together, the blog posts will constitute brief case studies of the five nonprofit arts groups.  To subscribe to the series, click on “Get Blog Updates” in the upper right corner of this page and you will receive the students’ reports via email. 

The first client to be featured is Rocha Dance Theater.

Client:  Jenny Rocha Dance Theater

As the Creative Art Director of the Rocha Dance Theater and resident artist at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, Jenny Rocha has achieved notoriety and critical acclaim for her nine-piece production of “Painted Ladies.” Her work has been described as passionate, exuberant and empowering. Although the press has managed to generate a positive buzz about Jenny’s work, media approval has failed to translate into ticket sales and has had little to no effect on donor contributions. Compounding these issues is the additional burden of having her production classified as burlesque. To Jenny, “burlesque” does not adequately describe her work and additionally limits both her artistic merit as well as audience range. 

Through dialogue and various forms of research, our team, The Milano Ladies, has discovered the depth of this multi-layered marketing challenge. At its core, Jenny’s marketing dilemma stems from the absence of a solid identity. Without a concrete image, it becomes extremely difficult for Jenny to serve the dance community, and the broader arts community.  In general, organizations must not only appeal to their stakeholders, they also need to build an emotional tie with their members. Unfortunately, our client’s image is often scattered and disjointed. This lack of cohesiveness in her image is evidenced by inconsistencies in on-line profiles and printed materials where style, language and imagery fall short of likeness. Inconsistencies in her public persona may deter new audiences and weaken the commitment of her existing audience. Our goal this semester is to streamline the image of Rocha Dance Theater and create a distinguishable brand that reaches a more diverse audience.

Jenny’s second problem is that she lacks the resources to adequately promote the work of the Rocha Dance Theater.  In an effort to attract a wider audience, how can this vaudevillian, cabaret-style production be modified without losing its core supporters? One idea is to introduce the current audience to Jenny’s other works by inserting pieces of her modern repertory into her “Painted Ladies” production. Another option, which could perhaps be undertaken at the same time as the first, is for Jenny to consider collaboration with other artists in an effort to increase market share. It is also advised that Jenny do more to optimize on a variety of perks available to her as a resident artist at Galapagos. Resources include: a unique venue at a prime location, an extensive mailing list, opportunity to hold monthly performances and freedom to showcase new projects. Galapagos even provides marketing support and guidance to those interested. Our plan will encourage the use or optimization of all available resources. 

Lastly is the all too common issue of funding or the lack thereof. Business professionals often say “it takes money to make money”.  How can we develop a successful plan that can be implemented without breaking the bank? The answer: viral marketing and free labor.  In addition to launching popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, word of mouth continues to be the most effective marketing tool. Peer recommendations weigh heavily on our perceptions. For that reason, we will work to target the needs of Jenny’s core audience (which we have identified as primarily a Generation X audience) and get the message across to diverse ethnic groups. Volunteers are a valuable asset that can be used for this sole purpose. They can also take on day-to-day administrative duties to allow Jenny to focus more on concept and creative expressions.

-- Melkis Alvarez, Kim Canfield, Judith Delmas & Amarillis Salcedo

Hosted by NBC’s Al Roker and ABC’s Deborah Roberts, the event featured commentary from actress Cicely Tyson, activist Eleanor Smeal and celebrity sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.  Among the guests were former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, journalists Paula Zahn and Lesley Stahl and Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger. 

The audience was treated to a musical performance by the pop/rock trio BETTY, who will be singing songs from their newest album, Bright & Dark, at the Highline Ballroom in New York City this Thursday, September 24.  (Click here for tickets.) For the finale, BETTY sang backup for 60’s icon Lesley Gore, who delivered a scorching new arrangement of her feminist anthem, “You Don’t Own Me” and received thunderous applause.  The event was covered by various media, including Peachy Deegan at Whom You Know, who especially loved Lesley’s performance. 

More about Lesley Gore.  More about BETTY.  More about Faye Wattleton.

--Bonnie McEwan