Monthly Archives: January 2024

Speech Trek Contest – Feb. 10th

Speech Trek Contest By Ann Arneill

The 17^th Annual Speech Trek contest will be held on Feb. 10, 2024 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Circumstances have arisen that result in the Speech Trek Committee deciding to have a virtual contest instead of an in-person one. Thus, we will hold the contest via Zoom. The link will be sent a few days before the event to those who have registered through EventBrite by clicking <here>.

Students from the Elk Grove Unified High School District will participate. The topic this year is, “If an educated population is essential to a nation’s prosperity, then how can we ensure a robust public school curriculum that is accessible to all and teaches historically accurate information?” Students will deliver 5- to 6-minute speeches for cash prizes. The contest will be judged by two of our long-standing members: Liz Jordan and Linda Paterson in addition to a professor emeritus in communication studies from CSUS.

The Speech Trek Committee just hosted the Speech Trek Challenge where AAUW members had stimulating discussions about the topic in small groups after hearing a background presentation orienting them to the subject. We encourage members to attend this event every year as a lead-up to the contest.

Since the contest is being held via Zoom, it will be very convenient for members to attend. We look forward to a robust turnout!

The Speech Trek Committee would like to expand its membership. Working on Speech Trek is very gratifying. You are helping high school students develop a skill that is no longer taught in public high schools. Public speaking will help them in their future schooling and their careers. There are a variety of tasks that committee members can do with varying degrees of responsibility. Please consider volunteering for this committee. Contact Sheri Beck or Ann Arneill – their contact information can be found in the Membership Directory.

President’s Message

President’s Message By Nancy McCabe

AAUW members are very generous people as witnessed by the food donated at our Holiday Luncheon in December. Several members donated later, and I had the opportunity to visit the food closet at CSUS in January, before classes began.

I was given the tour of the room where students come to get needed food. They have a refrigerator and have received a generous grant to buy a larger one. Food is organized by type, such as cereal and canned soup that appeared to come from bulk purchases, probably facilitated by monthly donations. They also have a large rack of bread products, which concerned me as school was on break. The coordinator of the facility said that they go through this really large rack of bread in two hours during school, and there are students who are local who also come in during the break. There were bins of carrots and potatoes, probably donated by a farmer.

This brings me to a way we can further be involved. Soil Born Farms has volunteers who come out on Saturdays to pick and donate fruit from your backyard trees if you would like to donate it. They then distribute the fruit to local food banks, one of which is at CSUS. To donate in this way: Go to Soil Born.org, click ‘volunteer’, next ‘Join the Harvest Sacramento team’, then ‘Donate — donate your fruit’ options are 1. “We harvest and donate the fruit from your tree,” complete the form shown there, or 2. “You harvest and donate fruit from your tree,” Locate a donation site near you. Click on that to enter your location and enter how many miles you are willing to travel to donate.

As a further way to help: They also give students cookbooks with recipes that are quick and easy, like having only a few ingredients. Who doesn’t have way too many cookbooks? I live near CSUS and can deliver if you would like to give them to me when you see me — perhaps at a book group meeting!

Interest Groups and Sojourner Truth Museum Tour

Interest Group Happenings By Vicki Nicholson

Art & Architecture: Friday, February 2, 10:30 a.m., Tour of a local artist’s studio. Contact Deborah Dunn
Great Decisions I: Saturday, February 10, 2024, 1 p.m. In-person organizational meeting at an area restaurant. Regular meetings, March-October, third Monday, 7 p.m. on Zoom. . Contact Cathy Locke
Great Decisions II: Thursday, February 8, 6-8 p.m. on Zoom. Contact Lynn Wood
Great Decisions III: Monday, February 19, 1 p.m. Topic-Mideast Realignment (U.S. and the Middle East); home of Kathy Schrumpf. Contact Margaret McCarthy
Healthy Heart: Friday, February 16, 11:30 a.m., Danielle’s Creperie, 3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. (corner of Fair Oaks and Watt). Contact Jane Cooley
Reader’s Theater: Tuesday, February 13, 1 p.m., “Plaza Suite” by Neil Simon at Mary Williams’ home. Contact Diane Peterson
Scrabble Just for Fun: Friday, February 26, 1 p.m., game room at Eskaton Village on Walnut. Contact Vivian Counts
Singles Dining: Sunday, February 4, 6 p.m.. Chaat Bistro, 8128 Delta Shores Circle, Sacramento. Contact Nancy McCabe

Sojourner Truth Museum Tour By Lisa Howard

African American History Month is upon us with the start of February and AAUW offers some opportunities for branch members to learn on February 3rd – Field trip to Black Owned Businesses in Oak Park and The Sojourner Truth Museum Tour.

Bring a friend and make it a date. Join one half of the day or join both.

Member Field Trip of Black Owned Businesses
Start your day at 10:30 with a snack from Faria Bakery, 3417 Broadway.
Enjoy a 2-minute walk to Underground Books, 2814 35th St – opens at 11 a.m.
Walk another couple of minutes to join Jean Bonar at Fixins, 3428 3rd Ave. Let Jean know if you can join for lunch so she can reserve the table. Jean’s contact information can be found in the Membership Directory.
If you have already visited the Sojourner Museum and are not interested in the market, consider walking over to the Brickhouse Gallery and Art Complex at 2837 36th St after lunch.

Sojourner Truth Museum and African Market
Members that joined the trip last year really enjoyed both the museum and the market which is stood up in the building on the first and third Saturday each month
If you are joining the 1:30 p.m. Sojourner Truth Museum Tour, plan to leave Fixins by 1:15 p.m. and drive to 2251 Florin Rd. #126, Sacramento and head down the right hallway to the museum. Take some time to shop with the African American Market merchants.
Please RSVP to Lisa Howard if you are attending by Jan. 31 if possible. Lisa can be reached at the contact information listed in the Membership Directory.

Book Groups for February

Book Groups Update By Sharon Anderson

Reminder there is a “books” page under “Activities” on our branch website (https://sacramento-ca.aauw.net/bookgroups/). If you wish to see what others are reading, or get ideas for your book group or yourself, please find the books page and take a look.

Each book group has its own tab, by book group number. (These book group numbers correlate with page 6 of the branch Membership Directory.) On each list, the meeting days, times and coordinator are listed. Feel free to call me if you have trouble locating it.

January Book Groups

Book Group 1:
The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, on Feb. 8; coordinator is Joy Clous

Book Group 2:
Horse, by Geraldine Brooks, on Feb. 6; coordinator is Carol Hayes

Book Group 3:
The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes, on Feb. 28; coordinator is Carolyn Meeker

Book Group 4:
The Adventures of Herbie Cohen, by Rich Cohen on Feb. 14; coordinator is Pat Morehead

Book Group 6:
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk on JaFeb. 19; coordinator is Susana Mullen

Book Group 8:
Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard, on Feb. 26; coordinator is Diana Squire

Book Group 10:
Because Our Fathers Lied, by Craig McNamara, on Feb. 15; coordinator is Sandi Schoenman

Book Group 12:
Fifty Words for Rain, by Asha Lemmie, on Feb. 1; coordinator is Linda Cook

Favorite Books from Book Group 4 in 2023

By ranking, most favorite first, followed by a one line description of the book:

Horse, by Geraldine Brooks. A famous racehorse is re-discovered.
Beautiful Country, by Julie Wang Quan. A Chinese family emigrates to the U.S.
(tie) The Promise, by Damon Galgut. One family’s life on a farm in So. Africa.
(tie) Night, by Elie Wiesel. The story of a man who survived the Holocaust.
(tie) My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oykinian Braithwaite. One good sister, one bad, in Nairobi.
(tie) The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Michele Kim Richardson. Blue-skinned people of Kentucky.

Living Our Mission of Equity By Charmen Goehring

We hope you will join us in a monthly equity conversation where we look at our own biases, seek actions we can take to attract diversity to our branch and become better people in the process. Each month, we read a section of our selected book then meet to discuss what we have learned, along with exploring other issues related to race and equity. We meet the first Wednesday of each month from 7 to 8 p.m. on Zoom.

The Zoom meeting code is 737 420 3780 or you can join using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7374203780 We will discuss our current book, Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under The Color Of Law by Richard and Leah Rothstein, on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. We will discuss Part Three (through page 167). If you have questions and to RSVP, please email Charmen at charminme@yahoo.com.

Membership Happenings

Membership Happenings By Gloria Yost and Vicky Lovell

Strengthening our AAUW Sacramento connections and friendships

Fellow active members, WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Do you know that only about half of our members read Capital Ideas?
Even fewer read the e-Blasts!
How can they participate when they are so uninformed?

Please help us increase member participation by checking on your AAUW friends. Help them add AAUW Sacramento to their contact lists so it doesn’t end up in spam or worse

Our newsletter, Capital Ideas, arrives near the end of each month. Did your fellow members open and read it?
Look for Eblasts, usually sent out on Monday or Wednesday, that provide details about our upcoming branch events and how to sign up to attend. Do your friends read them?
Finally, if they accidentally unsubscribed to AAUW Sacramento, or are having computer troubles, PLEASE LET US KNOW SO WE CAN HELP.

Meet our New AAUW Sacramento Members!

We now have 18 new members who have joined this year so far. If you meet them at an event or a book group or interest group, let them know what you enjoy and appreciate most about our branch — after telling them how glad you are they joined. Our three newest members are:

Paola Mendez
Rebecca Peebles
Jeannie London

Welcome all to AAUW Sacramento!

Celebrating February Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to All!

Anna Storey 2/1
Kathleen Deaver 2/2
Margaret Steinberg 2/3
Arlene Cullum 2/4
Kathie Huff 2/4
Susan Whetstone 2/9
Jane Cooley 2/14
Nancy Fox 2/16
Jean Brown 2/24
Carol Finney 2/25
Inger Lindholm 2/26
Karen W. Smith 2/26

Scholarship Committee Update

Scholarship Committee Update By Cherril Peabody

Many of you heard most of our 2023-24 scholarship recipients speak at the branch holiday luncheon last month. Weren’t they inspiring? I have been involved with our scholarship program for many years, and I think it is one of the best things our branch does. This year I am proud to say we have 19 members on the Scholarship Committee as we embark on another recruitment season for 2024-25, and I am asking for your help as well.

Our 2024-25 application is now posted on the branch website: http://sacramento-ca.aauw.net/programs/scholarships or just Google AAUW Sacramento. After reading the qualifications requirements, if you know a woman who might be eligible to receive it, please contact her and let her know about this opportunity. This year we will give the same amount as last year: $3,000 to each recipient. The number of awards will depend on the quality of the applications we receive and the amount of funds that are available. This leads me to the second way you can help. Our funds have been somewhat depleted because we had five exceptionally worthy recipients this year. If you can, please contribute to our scholarship fund before our application deadline, March 31, so we will know as we make our decisions how much we have to give. I will really appreciate your help!

April Program

April Program by Hedda Smithson

Sacramento Branch of AAUW Presents
“The Rights Stuff” Episode Eight
Banned Books and the Right to Read Anything!
Lights, Camera, Action!!
Coming Attraction! Save the date! Saturday, April 20, 2024
North Ridge Country Club, 7600 Madison Ave, Fair Oaks

**A joint meeting and luncheon with *CHAR**

Some history from Hedda’s memory bank: In September or October of 1956, or maybe it was 1957, the big deal between classes and/or lunch was passing around Val Jean S’s well-worn copy of Grace Metalious’ “Peyton Place”. Several pages were marked: passages that blew our little minds. My friend Sonja and I remember! In a recent conversation she called it a “dirty” book. And Canada did ban it from 1956 to 1958!! So that was Hedda’s first experience with Banned Books –“Peyton Place” was banned? It did become the basis for a TV series that ran from 1964 to 1969.

Fast forward to now. When a book is banned, can a publisher acquire the rights to the content? Yes! Parisian Obelisk Press published Henry Miller’s sexually frank novel “Tropic of Cancer” and Olympia Press published William Burroughs’s “Naked Lunch”. Does making a book forbidden make it more desirable? Could this be a marketing ploy? Here is a quiz for you to help you think about the April meeting. Answers appear elsewhere in this newsletter issue:

Which book is banned by fourteen countries?
1. “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by D H Lawrence (1928)
2. “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
3. “Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie (1988)
Which country has the largest number of banned books?

a) Australia
b) China
c) Indonesia
d) Singapore
e) US

3. What reasons for banning are given?

a) Sexually explicit
b) Blasphemy against Islam
c) Positive depiction of Jews
d) All of the above

4. Which country banned all works from Johannes Kepler, Voltaire and Federico Garcia Lorca?

a) Germany
b) Italy
c) Spain

*CHAR – Citrus Heights American River Branch of AAUW

CSUS Internship

Branch Undertakes Exciting New Internship Project with CSUS By Liz Jordan

In November 2023, the board for our Sacramento Branch voted to create a new outreach program in cooperation with CSUS Sociology Professor Lina Rincon. The program is a semester-long internship in which students research and learn about AAUW, how to establish a new affiliate club on the CSUS campus, etc.

Professor Rincon, sociologist and faculty developer for settings in higher education, has been meeting with Gloria Yost and Liz Jordan of our branch, working out funding for three internship positions. Dr. Rincon, who teaches and conducts research on race and ethnic relations along with migration of Latinx professionals and DEI in higher education, is also a member of our branch and the representative to National for CSUS. She recently served as director of faculty diversity and inclusion at CSUS.

The paid internships, funded by both the Sacramento Branch of AAUW and the university, will begin in early February. Several applicants have expressed their desire to take advantage of this opportunity. This is an exciting new pilot program for the branch; we are excited to meet and help guide students through this project in cooperation with Dr. Rincon.

Did You Know?

CA Public Policy News By Amy Hom and Melissa Maceyko

Co-chairs, AAUW California Public Policy Committee

Please click <here> for the January issue of Public Policy News. It includes

Information on the next Branch Public Policy meeting
Information on Lobby Days
Key links to public policy resources
An article about Parents’ Rights

From the IBC Fund Luncheon

One of our AAUW Fund recipients, Krystal Lau, is a published author. She wrote a book for children, “My Elastical Fantastical Bubble” and shared a link to her story here: https://literacycloud.org/stories/3093-my-elastical-fantastical- bubble/

April Program Quiz Answers

Banned Books and the Right to Read Anything!

Quiz answers

c) Satanic Verses was banned in 14 countries = blasphemy against Islam. There are a lot of Islamic countries.
b) China has banned 33; Singapore, 32; Indonesia, 24; Australia, 22, and the US, 20.
d) All of the above.
c) Spain

It’s AAUW’s Art Contest Time!

AAUW’s annual art contest is officially under way, and we invite members to submit a high-res image of their original painting, photography, sculpture, collage or other artwork. We will be accepting submissions through January 31, 2024. Your work could be among the winning entries!

Starting in February, AAUW members will select their favorite entries via ranked-choice voting. The winners will be featured on a collection of notecards sent to all members this spring. The back of each card will include the winning artist’s biography, a fact about AAUW and a highlight of the artist’s local branch affiliation when applicable.

For more information on submitting artwork, or to peruse last year’s art gallery, please visit the AAUW Art Contest page <here>.

Sunshine Chair

Pat Winkle is our Sunshine Chair and needs to hear from you if you know members who might appreciate a get well, sympathy or “thinking of you” card. As she doesn’t know everyone, she needs your help in remembering our friends. Her contact information is in the directory.

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