Thursday, April 24, 2008

Prior Lake Public Library, 16210 Eagle Creek Ave. SE

7:00 p.m. - Business Meeting - all Minnesota Valley NOW members are welcome to attend.

7:30 p.m. - Speaker - Rev. Dr. Nadean Bishop, Minnesota NOW’s Affirmative Action Task Delegate will speak to the group about how the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) community is contributing to the 2008 elections. Rev. Bishop is a lesbian pastor in the American Baptist Church. She worked at the University Baptist Church in Minneapolis for 8 years. Rev. Bishop is also a member of Christian Lesbians Out Together (CLOUT) who “tend to be a bit political” in their discussions. Rev. Bishop will also discuss legislation in Minnesota that affects the GLBT community. Bring your questions and join us for a lively discussion.

Rev. Bishop’s presentation is free and open to the public.

Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 23, at the Prior Lake Public Library, located at 16210 Eagle Creek Avenue South. A general business meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. and all MN Valley NOW members are welcome to attend. Please note that this is on Wednesday, instead of our usual 4th Thursday of the month.

At 7:30 p.m., the public is welcome to attend a free screening of “Until the Violence Stops”. “Until the Violence Stops” chronicles how Eve Ensler’s hit Off-Broadway solo show The Vagina Monologues grew into V-Day, an international movement to stop violence against women and girls. “Until the Violence Stops” features emotionally charged interviews and readings by everyday and celebrity women (including Rosie Perez, Selma Hayek, Rosario Dawson, and Jane Fonda), all of whom courageously reveal their intimate experiences and bond together to break the silence that surrounds abuse. “Until the Violence Stops” has been described as “extraordinarily empowering” and “heartbreakingly funny” and is a moving celebration of community awareness that leaves us with the hope that change can happen.

MN Valley NOW has partnered with The Chameleon Theatre Circle to bring V-Day to Prior Lake on February 14 and 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church. Proceeds from this event will go to the Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women.

Join us on January 23 to learn more about this historic event.

For more information, please visit our V-Day Prior Lake web site at www.vdaypriorlake.org or email info@vdaypriorlake.org.

Our next Minnesota Valley NOW meeting will be held on October 25, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.  We will meet in the Prior Lake Public Library, Meeting Room 2.  (We must be out by 9:00 p.m. as the library is hanging an exhibit in the room after we leave.)  

PROGRAM:   

• Member Lee Janisch will be our featured speaker.  She is attending the Love Your Body Conference in St. Paul next weekend and will give us an update on the seminars and speakers.
• Several of our members also attended the Spirituality Conference in Mankato last weekend.  Time permitting we will ask them to give a summary of the most interesting thing they learned at the conference.

AGENDA:

Minutes
Treasurer’s Report
Old Business:

• Spirituality Conference Update
• V-Day Update

New Business:

• Officer and State Delegate Elections - Do you want to run?  Self-nominate from the floor.
• November Meeting
• Holiday Party - Do you want to hostess?

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Chameleon Theatre Circle is holding auditions for The Vagina Monologues on November 8, 2007 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Arts at River Ridge in Burnsville.  Please contact the director, Lysa Clayburn to schedule an audition.  lclayburn@seetheatre.org.

We took the summer off and now it’s time to get back to meeting to discuss feminist issues in the area!

The September MN Valley NOW chapter meeting will take place on Thursday, September 27, 2007, at the Prior Lake Public Library located at 16210 Eagle Creek Avenue South in Prior Lake.

A general business meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and all MN Valley NOW members are welcome to attend.

Our presentation, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Shelley Madore, Minnesota House Representative from District 37A will address the group regarding the status of the 35W bridge collapse, transportation funding, and the special session. She will also discuss her current legislation regarding regulating misleading “pregnancy clinics”.

Bring your political questions for an open discussion on feminism in the Legislature!

Hi, Everyone, from Sue Crosbie, Secretary of the MN Valley NOW Chapter.

I want to share some thoughts about the topic of our April meeting’s speaker, the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine, GARDASIL. We invited Jerri Johnson, a homeopath and health freedom activist, to give her perspective on the vaccine. To our pleasant surprise, Dr. Lesley Atwood, scheduled speaker for the May 19 State Conference (next weekend!) decided to come hear Jerri’s perspective. And so, we were treated to a sort of friendly informal debate on the topic.I have a 21 year old daughter who is a potential candidate for this vaccine, so I was curious to hear Jerri’s opinions. Since the meeting, I had my yearly physical, including of course the dreaded pap smear, and so I had a brief conversation with my nurse practitioner about the vaccine. I came away with a CDC information sheet about the vaccine. According to the CDC info sheet, “HPV vaccine can prevent most genital warts and most cases of cervical cancer.” Other facts on the sheet include: the HPV vaccine protects against four major types of HPV, and women will still need cervical cancer screening because the vaccine does not protect against all HPV types.
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Join us on Thursday, May 24, 2007 for our next chapter meeting. Our general membership business meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. and all members are welcome to attend.

Our presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Our speaker, Taylor Kristoffe-Jones, ran for the Minnesota House of Representatives for District 35B during the recent 2006 elections. She was endorsed by the House DFL Caucus and ran in a historically Republican district. She will speak about her campaign experience, her background, and her plans to run again in 2008. A question and answer session will follow.

You can read a candidate profile from 2006 about Ms. Kristoffe-Jones from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune here.

The meeting will be held at the Prior Lake Public Library, located at 16210 Eagle Creek Ave. SE, Prior Lake, MN.

April 26, 2007 - Prior Lake Public Library
7:00 p.m. General Membership Meeting

7:30 p.m. Topic: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and the new vaccine. Jerri Johnson will talk about some of the strengths and weaknesses of the vaccine and the clinical research on the safety of the vaccine. A question and answer period will follow.

Jerri Johnson is a homeopath and a health freedom activist. A founding member of the Minnesota Natural Health Coalition and the Minnesota Natural Health Legal Reform Project, she was a co-lobbyist for the passage of the Complementary and Alternative Health Care Freedom of Access Act in the Minnesota legislature. Jerri Johnson is a founding member and chair of the board of the National Health Freedom Coalition.

As a founding member of Vaccine Awareness Minnesota, Jerri holds a strong interest in vaccine safety issues. She actively lobbied for legislation which assured that parents will be informed of their option to decide not to vaccinate their child, and that parents who decide to vaccinate their child will first receive information about potential side effects of the vaccine.

March 22, 2007 - Prior Lake Public Library, 16210 Eagle Creek Ave. S.
7:00 pm General Membership Meeting
7:30 pm Women’s History Month—Feminist Forum
This is your opportunity to speak out on an issue that you are passionate about. What keeps you involved with NOW and working for the equality of women? What motivates you to action? What do you want to learn more about?

Several MN Valley members have already signed up to participate in the forum to give us an update on the state of feminism in their lives. Some of the topics include health freedom, history of women’s suffrage, and theocracy. Each member can use 5 to 15 minutes to share their thoughts. A lively discussion is sure to follow!

If you would like to participate in the forum, please send an email and include a description of your topic. If you are unable to attend but would like to submit something in writing, please email it to us by March 19 and we will make copies and distribute them at the meeting.

February 22, 2007
7:00 p.m. General Membership Meeting
7:30 p.m. Please join us for a presentation of the fascinating documentary on the life and work of archeologist Marija Gimbutas, Signs Out of Time. Gimbutas found that Europe’s origins lay in a cooperative, peaceful, Neolithic Goddess culture. Her theories challenge conventional archaeology, spirituality, theology, and religious studies, while inspiring artists, feminists, environmentalists and activists. The documentary is a joint project by author/activist Starhawk and filmmaker Donna Read, and is narrated by Olympia Dukakis. Discussion to follow presentation.
For more information, go to http://www.belili.org/marija/aboutSIGNS.html. Preview available at http://www.belili.org.