EqualityQuilt

We're Hiring Interns!

The Minnesota Women's Consortium is accepting resumes for our Winter/Spring Internship position. See the full job description below.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The MN Women's Consortium is looking for an upbeat individual who can assist the organization 10 - 12 hours a week in its work during the fall months. Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Coordinating the College Feminist Connect program which connects and informs campus feminist groups, Women's Resource Centers, and individual women across the state
• Tracking federal and state legislation
• Assisting Consortium staff with special projects
• Assist staff in event and meeting planning including Celebration 30, Girls Rock! the Capitol, Women Come to the Capitol, and Presidents on President's Day
• Weekly blogging for Equalityquilt.org
• Management of our Twitter and Facebook accounts
• Research topics and issues the Consortium is highlighting for things such as the Women's Action Plan, special newsletter inserts, or events
• Assist in the development of an in-house email list serve including database management and compiling a bi-weekly calendar for the E-Consortium Notes
• Assist Consortium staff with answering telephones and general office work as well as any special projects that should arise

QUALIFICATIONS:

Applicants must show a strong commitment to equality for all women and girls. An applicant must be flexible, responsible, and willing to take on new projects. Proficiency in Spanish is desirable but not required. Strong writing skills are a must. Women of color are strongly encourage to apply.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Minnesota Women's Consortium is willing to work with students and their school to provide the supervision needed for students obtaining credits for the work. The position is not stipend.

HOW TO APPLY:

A resume, cover letter, and writing sample are required for consideration. Send these documents by December 1 to Erin Parrish.

Life in the real whirl’d.

You should know that before I begin my update about life in the “real world” (whatever that means), that I've been working on this blog post for quite some time, writing and re-writing several drafts. There's a lot of pressure when you're writing about yourself. What wisdom can I impart? What do I envision myself doing in 10 years? Why is there fuzz on a tennis ball?

Yes, I find myself drifting off in my work station ('cubicle' is pre-recession speak), contemplating the possibilities to the answers of Monster.com's Top 100 interview questions. After seven interviews and completing countless job applications, this exhaustive, sometimes invasive, list has been so etched into my mind that I can almost recite it in my sleep.

Job searching during the recession has not been totally futile, however. I'm currently doing a paid internship at USAction, a fantastic progressive organization that does advocacy work through grassroots and grass-tops organizing and has many state affiliates, including Take Action Minnesota. Currently, our campaign has centered around (what else?) health care.

National Comprehensive Sex Education Call-In TODAY!

The Feminist Majority Foundation says we must stop the Hatch Amendment, which was added onto a Senate health care reform bill and would restore abstinence-only federal funding.  FMF asks you to:

• Call 1-888-423-5983.
• Tell them your state.
• Ask to speak to your US Senator.  (You can ask to leave a message for either or both Senator Franken and Senator Klobuchar.) 
  
• Tell them reinstating $50 million to failed abstinence-only programs is unacceptable!

Sarah Haskins in Target Women: Beauty Contraptions

A little bit of humor from Sarah Haskins.

Cecelia in Slovenia

(Hey that almost rhymes) This is a shameless insomniacal missing-you-dear-girl post from Cecelia's mother - but honest, she was a Consortium intern this summer so there IS a connection.   Cecelia Peace took the Capitol Bulletin with her to Slovenia last month.  Here she is with her dad John, who was born in a refugee camp not far from here.  In the background is one of the many famous churches - Cece says there is one on every hilltop.  Yes, I also have footage of her and John twirling around "Sound of Music" style.   Now the Mister is back home but Cecelia has moved on to her fall semester in Jordan, where she did manage to fast for Ramadan and is enjoying her Jordanian family, practicing Arabic, and visiting bedouins and ancient sites that look like Greek ruins.  - Bonnie

Annual Meeting Pics

The annual meeting in July was an extra pleasure because of the beautiful room at Wilder, galvanizing presentation by Suzanne Koepplinger of the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center on prostitution and trafficking, and extra great attendees.  Shown here:  the room, intern Alanna Storey with communications director Erin Parrish.  For more pics check the photo album on our sidebar.

Your Consortium Staff

We don't often say enough about the Consortium staff who are here for you every day.  Here are just a couple of photos to prove it.  First is L-R Marie, Lorraine, Erin, and Silvia's knee at our staff retreat last fall at Bonnie's house - good colors on those sticky notes, eh? 

AND, we noticed the other day that both Lorraine and I just happened to match our coffee cups (which sort of makes up for my bad hair day?)!  Thanks to Erin for capturing the moment.  -Bonnie    

Celebration 29 photos, part I

Whew, I am all worn out from a day of launching our Elder Economic Security Initiative!  More on that later, but meanwhile I just have to post a few of the wonderful photos from Celebration 29 - more to come soon!  Many thanks to volunteer photographer Camila Davila. - Bonnie

Come back tomorrow & we will tell you who all these beautiful people are!
 

The Silent Witness National Initiative

In 1990, a group of women artists joined together with several women's organizations to form Arts Action Against Domestic Violence. The women felt a call to action to speak out against the escalating domestic violence in Minnesota and commemorate the lives of twenty-six women who had been murdered in 1990 as a result of domestic violence. The group created 26 freestanding, life-sized red wooden figures, each bearing the name of a woman whose life ended violently at the hands of a husband, ex-husband, partner, or acquaintance. A twenty-seventh figure was also created to represent those uncounted women whose murders went unsolved or were wrongly ruled accidental. The figures were named the Silent Witnesses.

The Silent Witness Initiative was launched on February 18, 1991 when more than 500 women met at a church across the street from the Minnesota State Capitol with the Witnesses lined up at the front of the church. The women formed a silent procession escorting the figures single file across the street, up the steps, and into the State Capitol Rotunda for public statements and a press conference. According to the Initiative, “The sheer volume of space the figures occupied spoke of their power... and the loss.”

In mid-1994, a few Silent Witness Exhibit supporters formed a national initiative dedicated to the elimination of domestic murder, starting with the creation of Silent Witnesses Exhibits in all 50 states. By September of 1995, the Initiative had grown to a total of 800 Silent Witnesses with seventeen states involved. By February of 1996 the Initiative grew to twenty-four states and as of March of 1997 forty-six states had joined the initiative. The goal of the Silent Witness National Initiative became zero domestic murders by the year 2010. Now all the states are involved as well as twenty other countries. The stories of the original twenty-seven witnesses, whose murders began the initiative, have prevailed.

Today, the Minnesota Women’s Consortium coordinates displays of the original 27 Silent Witnesses in Minnesota. This past October, Fillmore Family Resources, a nonprofit agency providing services to residents of Fillmore County and surrounding communities by helping those who have been affected by domestic violence or other types of crime, contacted the Consortium to organize a display of Silent Witnesses in Fillmore County. The Silent Witnesses were displayed in banks, libraries, and other county buildings. Fillmore Family Resources reported that the Silent Witnesses were well received in Fillmore County and many people were moved by the displays. If you would like to arrange your own Silent Witness display call 651-228-0338 or to support programs such as this one visit our website and click on “Make a Gift Today.”

Our Volunteers Are Big Stars

The Minnesota Women's Consortium helped connect college student Matrika to an exciting job.  Matrika Bailey-Turner was one of the Hamline University service learning students at the Consortium last spring, before she graduated.  As a volunteer, she helped manage our Girls Rock the Capitol event, undertook some less than thrilling data entry work, and participated in Brown Bag discussions  of legislative issues.  AND, one day as she was working at Erin's desk, she was introduced to Cindy Reuther, founder of the innovative Laura Jeffrey Academy - a public charter school with girl-focused curriculum for grades 5-8.  

Now Matrika coordinates the intersession program at LJA.  Last month, for example, she worked with the TVbyGirls organization which showed the girls learned to make their own movies.  Several of the fifth graders made movies about homelessness and child abuse, reflecting the consciousness that girls and women can, and must, help each other across all those boundaries.  Brava to Matrika, LJA, and TVbyGirls.   And stay tuned for more inspiring stories about past volunteers and interns.

Click here to read recent great article (by Kim Ode) about Laura Jeffrey Academy in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.