Past Events
February 18th— Tlazolteotl-What?
Leaning about an ancient Aztec goddess. Pete Sigal, Professor of History at Duke University shared with us his knowledge on Tlazolteotl the Aztec goddess on fertility, who was a powerful goddess in Aztec society. It was an interesting window into the role and status of women in Aztec society, where women’s work was valued and divorce was allowed but noble men could be polygamous, and it sparked a lively discussion.
January 24th- YWTF Miami had a fantastic regular WMN- YWTF Meeting!
Jillian Hernandez, a young feminist activist, who is the creator of the Women on the Rise Program at the Museum of Contemporary Art of North Miami educated us about the feminist art of Wangechi Mutu. Mutu, who is African, uses multi media collage and watercolor to explore cultural obsessions with physical appearance, she explores themes of femininity and race as well as our Western tendencies to "historicise' Africa, to relegate it to a world of tribes and ancient peoples. At the workshop we each were asked to listen to a part of our body that spoke to us and to write from it's voice. Afterwards we used watercolors and cut outs from fashion magazines to explore our own ideas about body and beauty. The workshop was amazing! http://www.miamiartmuseum.org/exhibitions-current-mutu.asp
September 24th- WMN meets Patricia Ireland!
On September 24th close to 30 younger women gathered at the home of Jen Gregory to hear from and discuss issues with Patricia Ireland, former President of the National Organization of Women and renowned feminist leader. Patricia was inspiring and was so happy to hear that we were organizing not only in Miami but across the country. She spoke with us about her amazing experiences and we had an opportunity to ask her some tough questions about the current state of feminism and what we perceived as the greatest challenges to achieving equality. We left the meeting feeling inspired and motivated to create change in our community.
Vagina Monologues
Despite postponement due to Hurricane Wilma the Vagina Monologues which was co-sponsored by WMN the Miami Metro Chapter of the Younger Women’s Task Force was a fantastic success and raised a huge amount of money to create supportive housing for girls aging out of Florida’s foster care system. WMN was proud to co-sponsor The production featured local celebrities as well as some well known folks including Tracy Mourning, Patricia Ireland, Marleine Bastien and Eve Ensler herself ! Of course the biggest celebrity of the night was our very own Jen Gregory, a very active member of the Steering Committee who gave a saucy performance of the My Short Skirt monologue. Go Jen!
The Doctor is in- Everything you ever wanted to know about Fertility!
At the November 26th monthly meeting, WMN was visited by endocrinologist and reproductive infertility specialist Neil F. Goodman, MD FACE. Dr. Goodman spoke to the group about Women’s Health and Fertility-related issues. We were grateful for Dr. Goodman’s professionalism, sensitivity and depth of knowledge. He can be contacted at ngoodman@neilgoodmanmd.tv
December 8th- SPIN Project- Strategic Communications Training.
On December 8th 5 members of wmn attended a daylong SPIN Project Strategic Communications Training, the training which was put on by the Miami Workers Center featured workshops where we learned strategies to frame our messages and get media coverage- Scholarships for our members to attend and represent wmn as well as other organizations with which they are affiliated were provided by Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade.
December 10th- Don’t think of an Elephant!
Saturday December 10th- WMN held a discussion group on George Lakoff’s book, Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives . After a very lively discussion of the themes in the book which focused on the framing of issues and compared strategies of the conservative and progressive movements to win the battle of ideas, WMN took some of the lessons learned from the book to discuss why the ERA floundered and explored strategies for how to reinvigorate the discussion utilizing the concept of framing.