NetWorks

________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Newsletter of the Northern Monmouth County (NJ) Branch, American Association of University Women

Volume 65, Number 4 February 2021

AAUW Branch Program Unladylike2020: The Changemakers

From the PBS series on American Masters “Unladylike2020” includes 26 digital short films featuring courageous, little known and diverse female trailblazers from the turn of the 20th century. The series, produced and directed by Charlotte Mangin, brings these incredible stories back to life through original artwork and animation, rare historical archival footage, and interviews with descendants, historians and accomplished modern women who reflect upon the influence of these pioneers. Barbara Withers has selected two for presentation and discussion at our meeting: Charlotta Spears Bass (1874–1969): newspaper publisher and first African American vice- presidential candidate

Meta Warrick Fuller (1877-1968), trailblazing African-American sculptor and poet

After each video (11–12 min.) there will be opportunity for response and discussion. Other African Americans in the series are: • Maggie Lena Walker, entrepreneur and bank

president • Bessie Coleman, aviator • Mary Church Terrell, educator, civil rights

activist and cofounder of the NAACP • Sissieretta Jones, trailblazing opera singer • Gladys Bentley, gender-bending performer and

musician • Nicole Hannah Jones, Pulitzer Prize winning

journalist, founder NYT 1619 project “Unladylike2020” won the 2020 Women Transforming Media award and was premiered on PBS’s American Masters in honor of the centennial of women's suffrage. For more information and links to the digital short videos (9–12 minutes) go to this website: unladylike2020.com.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Greetings after a long holiday hiatus for NetWorks. I have decided to devote my message this month to an issue that has gotten a lot of press lately from AAUW National, as well as AAUW-NJ: the proposal to open AAUW membership to anyone who supports our mission. I strongly support this change and have since the first time I heard about it, for this simple reason: Why would we want to exclude anyone who supports our mission and is willing to join us in this fight to advance equity for women and girls?

This is our mission: advancing equity for all women and girls, not just college graduates or those on the college track. AAUW does this through “research, education and advocacy.” Practically, this means we fund research into why and how women’s access to equal pay and equal opportunities in education, jobs, healthcare and so many other areas are thwarted, and why so many women and children live in poverty. We fund scholarships and grants, and programs such as WorkSmart. And we lobby on Capitol Hill and in the courts for justice. If we exclude from membership people who have work-, personal- or volunteer-related accomplishments, but not college degrees, we preclude the potential contributions of such people.

Society is changing to explicitly value diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our experiences of the last four years (marches and protests) have shined a light on many systemic injustices, not only against women, but racial, immigrants, religious, criminal, environmental, and many other injustices. Not only do potential AAUW members look negatively at any organization with exclusionary practices, but

also AAUW is cut off from a huge source of funding in grants that explicitly require inclusivity. (And grants and donations account for 85% of AAUW’s income.)

The several webinars and discussions I have had with National and state representatives have been in more concrete dollars and cents terms. We know membership has been dropping recently; one reason is because many people, especially younger people, value inclusivity. Another reason is just our demographics. With our median age of 72, AAUW will soon lose members at a faster rate than it can replace them (us). We need to appeal both to a larger, younger population and to organizations providing grants to non-profits. This is crucial to the viability of the organization and the work AAUW does.

If you would like to see AAUW’s arguments directly, this is a good link: https://www.aauw.org/resources/member/governance-tools/national-election/open-membership-toolkit/. Voting will be primarily online between April 7 and May 17. We will receive an email with a link to vote. I implore everyone to cast a vote for opening the membership. A two-thirds majority is required to change this by-law. Remember, a vote for inclusion is a vote for equity, and equity of opportunity leads to a legacy of a better world for all our children and grandchildren.

Pat Miller, President

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Membership Matters

Membership is Everyone’s Responsibility

Please add these new members and changes to your directory:

New Members

Colicchio, Heather

Dorn, Sonia

Finamore, Ashley

Gering, Sandra

Guzmich, Eileen

Correction: Change Maureen Kachinski email

Membership Co-directors : Deb Blood

Mary Lea Burden

Over 400 entries for the 2021 AAUW Art Contest have been received. Now

it’s time to choose our winners!

Our own Marilyn Baldi has submitted two entries for your consideration: Clouds on

the Water and Encouragement.

Encouragement by Marilyn Baldi

Don’t miss out on your chance to vote in this year’s contest! Through March 3, AAUW members can vote for their ten favorite entries. The six winning entries will be featured on a collection of AAUW note cards mailed to members this spring.

Vote today!

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Study, Action, Interest Groups

Study Group News There’s good news to report from the Study Groups. Five groups are functioning with regular meetings on Zoom. Two groups are waiting to resume when social distancing ends. If you’d like to have contact with interesting AAUW members, broaden your knowledge of the world, and add something special to your life, consider joining. Check with the Chairs listed below. Those attending are required to be members in good standing. Guests may attend three meetings before being required to join AAUW. Contact Membership Co-Director, Mary Lea Burden. Meetings are scheduled on Zoom. Chairs may use the recently created AAUWNMC Zoom account which does not have a 40-minute time limit. Meeting times are based on Chairs consulting the Zoom calendar. Some dates are fixed. Some are adjusted to preferences. Here are your possibilities.

Art History Join us on February 25, at 2 p.m., via Zoom for a discussion of Forever Seeing New Beauties: The Forgotten Impressionist Mary Rogers Williams, 1857-1907 by Eve M. Kahn. We welcome new members. Contact the Chairs for more info.

Chairs: Susan Buccellato Barbara Iwanski

French Conversation Contact the chair for more information. Chair: Jeannine Maloney Our group enables women with a good knowledge of the French language to maintain their fluency through some language structure reviews and conversation with other members. (The group is made up of native-born speakers, those educated in France, French majors in an American university and those who have studied the language for several years.) Grammatical notes and practice sheets are e-mailed to the participants before each meeting and one half hour of the two hours is spent reviewing a grammatical point and listening to the paragraphs written by the participants. New members are always welcome. German Conversation Sally Gordon will restart German Conversation when in-person meetings are possible. Insights

Insights, our non-fiction literature group, will hold a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, March 9, at 7:30 p.m. to discuss, Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.

Contact chair, Kathy Olsen for further information. New members are always welcome.

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Literature Upcoming meetings will be held on ZOOM. Scheduled dates and book titles are: March 18: The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami. Regina Sieben, leader April 15: The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel. Muriel Thompson, leader May 20: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Joann McWilliams, leader June 17: Traitor and the Spy by Ben MacIntyre. Frances Foden, leader

Please contact the chair for more information. Chair: Regina Sieben We select literary fiction or an occasional memoir to read during the year. A different member acts as leader each month and presents background and critical appraisal of the month’s selection. Russian Short Stories Contact Study Group Chair: Stephanie Rose Russia is a continental power of vast proportions, with distinctive traditions, character, national myths and forms of political organization. After a brief survey of Russian geography and culture, this study group will deal with nine short stories, and conclude by examining popular themes within Russian literature.

Presentations are in English. All materials for the study group are available through https://www.gutenberg.org/. Writing Please contact chair for meeting information. Chair: Patricia Chapman Members of this group are resolute in their belief in the power of the written word to inform, delight, amuse and transform the reader. With this aim, members present their writings from various genres - poetry, fiction, essays, memoir, non-fiction, opinion. The meetings begin with a timed journal exercise. When members again meet in person, after the journaling exercise they will take time out to enjoy light refreshments and conversation.

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SUPPORT OUR BOOK SALE

All proceeds go to college scholarships for local

women.

Open 9 am to 1 pm, Saturdays

Current bestsellers fiction and nonfiction Special at [$4] Hardcover editions: for example:

The Pioneers by David McCullough, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Nearly new and gently used:

Most hardcovers $3, most paperbacks $2 fiction and non-fiction,

histories, biographies, CDs, DVDs, cookbooks, decorating, gardening,

art books, crafts, and activities Coffee table books:

art, travel, photography, etc.

Children’s Books A bargain at 10 to 50 cents each!!!

Picture books, early readers, middle grade, tween novels, and young adult. Variably Priced Classics

A few beautiful editions of classics including Anne of Green Gables, Gulliver's Travels, Little Women.

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Location: Old First Church

69 Kings Highway, Middletown 732-275-2237 [voice message]

Donations accepted Thursdays (10 am to 11:30am); Saturdays (9 am to 12:30 pm)

See our website for acceptable donations: www.aauw-nj-nmcb.org.

Photo: Barbara Withers

NetWorks is published by the Northern Monmouth County Branch of AAUW. No date has been scheduled for the next issue. Karen Topham, Editor kptopham@gmail.com Send address changes, names of prospective members, membership applications and checks, and questions about non-receipt of the newsletter to: Deb Blood and Mary Lea Burden, Membership Co-Directors P.O. Box 398, Red Bank, NJ 07701 aauw.nmcb@gmail.com Our electronic mailing list enables us to inform you about opportunities for AAUW members that arise too late for publication in NetWorks. You can be sure that we carefully evaluate each notice before we send it out. Please note that use of the branch email list is for branch activities only. Members wishing to share other information with branch members are invited to submit a notice to the “Networking” column in NetWorks.

Save the Date

Thursday, April 29, 2021 Due to current pandemic guidelines, the branch cannot offer you a mouth-watering luncheon or stunning views of Sandy Hook Bay on this date but we can offer you the opportunity to become better acquainted with three distinguished New Jersey women: Author Francine Garson and AAUW-NMCB Women of Achievement honorees Anna Diaz-White and Gwendolyn Love. Anna and Gwen are the executive directors of two outstanding and especially crucial Monmouth County nonprofits in these unpredictable times – 180 Turning Lives Around and Lunch Break respectively. This will be an interactive Zoom event of no more than 90 minutes taking place in early afternoon. Final details are still being worked out and will be shared with you via email just as soon as possible. We’re hoping you will put this on your calendar today and stay tuned! Lauren Nicosia and Vickie Snoy, Scholarship Luncheon Co-Chairs

Member Mary Gatta and co-author Molly Makris have had an article published in The Progressive. It is based on their research from their new book Gentrification Down the Shore, focused on Asbury Park, NJ. In the article, the authors call for President Biden to increase federal support in cities like Asbury Park and across the country to be sure that residents and small businesses can survive and thrive in a COVID-19 (and post-COVID) world.

Link to the complete article: https://progressive.org/op-eds/rescue-cities-towns-gatta-vollman-makris-210212/

News of Member Photographers

Virtual “EyeSights 2021”

Juried Photography Show

Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ

Marilyn Baldi and Barbara Withers each

have photographs accepted for this virtual

exhibit opening March 6 at the Guild. Marilyn

received Bronze Achievement Awards for all

three of her images. You can view all images

on the Guild website:

www.guildofcreativeart.org.

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Stories about Slavery to Be Topic in Late March

by Connie Goddard

A Zoom discussion, Wednesday, March 31, 7 p.m.

through Red Bank Public Library’s Let’s Talk about Race series

As New Jerseyans, we regard ourselves as residents of a multicultural, tolerant, and inclusive community; therefore, many of us are surprised to learn that ours was the last among northern states to abolish slavery. Further, New Jersey did so only slowly and reluctantly, plus its voters failed to support Abraham Lincoln in either 1860 or 1864 and only ratified the 13th Amendment that banned slavery after it had already been adopted by the required number of other states.

Facts such as these are among those local author Rick Geffken has been sharing in presentations about his new book, Stories of Slavery in New Jersey (History Press, 2021). On Wednesday, March 31, members of our AAUW branch can join one of those – and have an opportunity to continue discussion of Rick’s book later if they choose. On that day, Rick will be appearing as part of the Red Bank Public Library’s Let’s Talk about Race series, which will begin via Zoom at 7 p.m. Check on the library’s website https://www.redbanklibrary.org/ for information on how to register – it’s done through the monthly calendar; just go to the March calendar and follow directions.

Rick’s book includes several stories about Monmouth County history – as one of the first parts of the state to be settled by Europeans, our area played a role in the expansion of slavery in the state. Many of us know about the iron mill at Tinton Falls – but do we realize that this mill, important to the area’s colonial development and its later use during the Revolutionary War, was manned by slaves brought here from Barbados by Lewis Morris? Slaves were also owned by prominent Quaker and Anglican families who were part of the congregations that met at our Four Corners, where Broad Street meets Sycamore Avenue. In an intriguing “oversight,” both property-owning women and Black people were able to cast ballots in the state until the “error” was corrected in the early 19th century. On the other hand, other New Jerseyans established and maintained stations on the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people make their ways north in the decades before the Civil War.

Stories of slavery intersect with other aspects of local history; these Rick will discuss in his talk, which will be followed by a Q and A. AAUW members who would like to discuss related issues further – such as the role Fair Haven played in an 1881 act of the state assembly that “banned” school segregation (it was not enforced) and the career of Red Bank’s noted agitator T. Thomas Fortune -- are invited to do so in a session another local historian (yours truly) will hold the following afternoon, Thursday, April 1.

Members wanting to purchase Rick’s Stories of Slavery may do so through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the author; contact him at richg0817@yahoo.com.

If you’d like to join the follow-up discussion – also virtual – write to me.

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American Association of University Women Northern Monmouth County Branch P.O. Box 398 Red Bank, NJ 07701 AAUW advances equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy. 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. Membership is open to any graduate holding an associate degree or equivalent, baccalaureate, or higher degree from a regionally accredited college or university. AAUW-NMCB is designated as a 501(c)(3) organization. All donations to the branch, as well as to the national organization, are fully tax-deductible. AAUW is a highly rated charity.

AAUW Used Book Sale

The store is located at: Old First Church 69 Kings Highway Middletown To volunteer: Annabelle Boehm

Stay Connected!

AAUW www.aauw.org AAUW-NJ aauw-nj.aauw.net AAUW-NMCB www.aauw-nj-nmcb.org Branch phone 732-275-2237 AAUW Action Network www.aauw.org/what-we-do/public-policy/two-minute-activist/

Join AAUW-NMCB on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/AAUW.NMCB/

Have you been missing AAUW's Outlook magazine that used to arrive in the mail? It's online at https://www.aauw.org/who-we-are/outlookmag/