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AAUW MARIN OCTOBER 2022 NEWSLETTER
edited by Dottie Burk and Cherie Sorokin
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JOIN AAUW MARIN ON SOCIAL MEDIA! | |
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Pay Gap Worsens for Women | |
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Yikes! It's worse that we thought! AAUW CEO Gloria Blackwell pointed out last week that women were paid just 77% of what men earned in 2021. This new, unfortunately lower percentage, was based on AAUW's analysis of recently released census data covering all wage earners, including seasonal and part-time workers, not just full-time year-round workers. The gaps for black women and Latinas were even worse. 64% and 54% respectively.
You can check out Gloria's full statement in the AAUW national newsletter Mission and Action which as a member you should have received from her on 9-23-2022. Didn't receive it? First check your spam folder. If not there, check your AAUW profile by logging into AAUW's "Community Hub" data base. You may have inadvertently unsubscribed or not updated your email. Log in page
AAUW CA 2022 Fund Virtual Events with
AAUW Fellowship and Grant Recipients
Register Here
Wow! So Many Inspiring Women! Each fall AAUW CA hosts programs featuring the AAUW fellowship and grant winners studying or working in CA. This year we have 39 of them! These are truly amazing and inspiring women who we are helping with significant financial support from the AAUW Fellowship and Grants Program. They will share their stories in four different virtual (Zoom) events this month. Register for one or all four! October 15 (10-Noon), October 22, (10 to Noon), October 23 (1-3) and November 12 (10-Noon). Registration is required, so be sure to sign up.
AAUW CA Supports November Ballot
Propositions 1 and 28
Proposition 1 Protects Reproductive Freedom. AAUW CA encourages all members to support Proposition 1 and to help educate other voters about the importance of voting YES on this Proposition in November. The CA Legislature put Proposition 1, the Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom, on the ballot. Passage of Prop 1 will amend the California Constitution, stating “Section 1.1 is added to Article I thereof, to read: SEC. 1.1. The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives. This section is intended to further the constitutional right to privacy guaranteed by Section 1, and the constitutional right to not be denied equal protection guaranteed by Section 7. Nothing herein narrows or limits the right to privacy or equal protection.”
AAUW CA has begun a Social Media campaign to educate and encourage voters to support Prop 1. Look for weekly messages from AAUW CA and post them to your own Facebook or Instagram accounts. If you don't post on social media, we urge you to email the messages to others who do!
If you attended our Wednesday September 28 program with AAUW CA Public Policy Chair Kathi Harper, you know how important this proposition is to us all!
Proposition 28 Supports Art and Music in Public Schools. AAUW CA also supports Proposition 28, The Arts and Music in Schools – Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act, in light of AAUW CA's public policy priorities in support of Education. Studies have shown that music and arts education improve student learning, cognitive development and spatial reasoning, reading comprehension school attendance and individual self-esteem and self-confidence, particularly among poor and other at-risk students. Yet these programs are usually the first cut when school budgets are reduced. Prop 28 would provide a minimum source of annual funding coming from the state General Fund to K-12 public schools to supplement arts education programs.
What about the other Propositions? AAUW CA limits its recommendations to propositions that are AAUW mission related. But you can find reliable information on the other propositions from programs hosted by the League of Women Voters. Check the LWV website
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In Person Branch Program
October 22, 2022 at 10:00 am
Features Inspiring COM and Dominican Women
Meet our Local Scholarship Winners! Every year in the fall we fundraise to help provide financial assistance to women at College of Marin and Dominican. Our October branch meeting will feature some of the women we have recognized with financial assistance that helps defray their expenses of attending College of Marin or Dominican University, or the cost of attending NCCWSL, our national leadership program for college women leaders. A portion of our assistance also provides a financial award to recognize achievements in STEM fields for a woman attending COM. It's always great to hear the perspectives of these college students, especially now when the world is changing so fast!
Come share a cup of coffee or tea with these women at the Creekside Room at Dominican University on October 22, 2022 at 10:00 am.
The cost is $5 by check in advance to Sue Torres at 251 Marinda Dr., Fairfax, 94930, or exact change at the door, or $6 if paid in advance via PayPal using this LINK. A separate invitation will also be sent later in October. Please RSVP on the invite.
Upcoming Programs
November 19 we will be at Book Passage to hear Elaine Petrocelli hold forth on the latest "Elaine's Picks" and December 3 is our Holiday Lunch and our annual auction up at the Club at McInnis Park.
The list of our planned programs for the year can be found on our website! Note that, like everything else these days, dates, times and speakers are subject to change! Take a look Here
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Coming Soon
Our Fall 2022 Fundraising for Local Scholarships, Tech Trek, and NCCWSL
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Autumn is here! Time to plan for the silent auction.
Help us raise money for local college women and Trek sponsorships for Marin teen girls. In addition to a direct appeal letter, our major fundraiser is the Silent Auction which will be online once again (along with some fun homemade items at the December 3 Holiday Lunch). The auction committee is ready to start collecting items, so put on your thinking caps. Popular auction items include gift certificates, tickets, gift baskets, wine, and “experiences.”
Be on the lookout for an email announcement next week with details on how you can help.
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Busy Month for AAUW Marin at COM | |
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The Marin branch participated in three events at COM in September!
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Nancy Major "tabled" at the ASCOM "Clubs, Events, and Causes" gathering to share information about AAUW with College of Marin students, Sept 12-13.
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Nancy Lubamersky met up with Josie Martinez, one of our two STEM awardees from last Spring. Josie started classes at UC Irvine this week. Dr. Paul Daubenmire, who leads the COM STEM Learning Community, joined them.
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Sarah Pruden joined the 2 Nancys at the Scholarship Award Ceremony for donors and recipients on September 12. AAUW Marin is one of the largest donors of scholarships at COM!
TTAG Is Off to a Good Start
What is TTAG you ask? Why It's our Tech Trek Alumnae Group.
In September TTAG girls attended two Marin Science Seminars presentations: "Cutting Edge Research on Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo Reserve" by Allison Payne, PhD student at UC Santa Cruz, and “Video Games, the Metaverse and the Future of Science Education” by Dane Lancaster of XRMarin and the Marin County Office of Education.
Marin Science Seminars (MSS) offers free science events at Terra Linda High School’s Innovation Hub. It was founded in 2008 by Marin branch member Alfia Wallace and her husband Art Wallace. Marin Science Seminars.
Congratulations to Trinity Chancellor (2019 Tech Trek) who was named the 2022-2023 MSS science journalism intern!
Interested in serving on the TTAG committee? Contact Melanie Chancellor or Angela Nuckles.
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Tech Trekkers Say Thank You! | |
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Did you hear dorm food is now a highlight of the college experience at Tech Trek!
At the September 10th AAUW Branch meeting held at Homeward Bound, four of our Tech Trek girls were interviewed and said "Yes" they enjoyed dorm food! That got a laugh from the audience. Their answers to other questions highlighted the array of science activities in which they participated during their week at Tech Trek. Some of the offerings were a trip to a water treatment facility, astronomy night and a women in STEM careers panel discussion. All of the girls felt Tech Trek was an inspiring week of scientific learning. Read their thank you letters on our Tech Trek webpage HERE.
Amy Anderson, Tech Trek Coordinator, says: "Please consider sponsoring a girl to attend Tech Trek." You can make that designation when you respond to the AAUW Marin scholarship fundraising letter coming later this Fall.
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Kathleen Clark
Kathleen had heard of AAUW and its reputation and decided it was time to check us out. Kathleen is a retired Tiburon middle school math and science teacher. She is very active in the health community. She helped create the breast cancer research center at MGH and the To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation. She also helped manage the first capital campaign for the Marin Community Clinics and is working on the capital campaign for the Marin Shakespeare Co. She is happily engaged in the lives of her two children’s families, spending lots of grandma time with her five grandchildren. She and her husband love to travel and as you read this they are traveling in France and Italy.
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Katie Wickes
Katie is the daughter of member Nancy Lubamersky. A Cal, NYU and UCLA alum, Katie is a Nurse Leader at Kaiser San Rafael. When not busy working, she is very involved in musical theater. She is a founding member of Marin Musical Theater and has acted and choreographed for it and the Mountain Play. She is currently on the Board of Marin Musical Theater and the Novato Theater Company. She is an avid traveler, loves to take walks with her dogs and raises chickens and honeybees. She’s a woman of many talents. We hope Katie might start a theater interest group for us.
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Other Member News
Renee Rymer, long-tenured Board Member of the Marin Symphony, is a recipient of the 2022 Most Valuable Player (MVP) Volunteer Award from the Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO). Brava, Renee!
We regret to in form you of the passing of Merle Ongaro. Merle was a long time resident of Sleepy Hollow and a valued member of the "Meet Me at the Movies" interest group.
An updated branch roster was emailed to you on September 16th. If you have any questions or edits, contact Membership Chair, Chris O'Neill.
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Ready to join a new interest group? All groups welcome new members. Just contact the group leader for information or to be added to the group email list. For a list of all Marin branch interest groups with leader contact information, click HERE.
Note: Interest Groups are just for members of AAUW Marin, but guests who may be thinking of joining are welcome to visit an interest group twice before being asked join. For general info or to suggest a new group, contact Interest Group Chair, Vicki Samo.
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Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs
The Art Tours interest group will visit the Ramses exhibit at the de Young museum on Thursday, October 27. This exhibition is the greatest collection of Ramses II objects ever to travel to the United States, including more than 180 dazzling objects: sarcophagi, royal masks, sculpture, amulets, magnificent jewelry, and more.
Tickets should be purchased IMMEDIATELY. Ask for a timed ticket for 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, October 27.
Carpooling at 9 am from the commuter lot at Strawberry Village. Lunch at the museum cafe at 11:45.
To RSVP or for questions, contact Marilyn South
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Nonfiction Reading Group
The Nonfiction Reading Group will meet on October 24 (4th Monday) at 1:00 on Zoom to discuss Leonardo Da Vinci, a wonderful and wonderfully illustrated biography by Walter Isaacson. If you would like to be on the group’s email list, email either co-leader for the Zoom link: Phyllis Kuehn or Olivia Ruel .
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New Yorker Reading Group
This group will meet October 10 (2nd Monday) at 1 pm via Zoom to discuss selected articles covering topics including Queen Elizabeth, Salman Rushdie, Justice Alito, invasive fish species, El Salvador’s new president, indigenous cuisine, and Johnson & Johnson. You can read the New Yorker online free through the library or you can listen to the articles if you prefer. Contact Phyllis Kuehn or Olivia Ruel for links to the articles.
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Additional Interest Group Notes
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The LitWits Reading Group meets October 19 at 10 AM to discuss "Anything is Possible," the second in a series of three books by Elizabeth Strout.
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The Happy Hour Group meets Thursday, October 6th, 4:30-6:00 pm at The Cantina in Mill Valley.
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Play Mah Jongg? Join our Mah Jongg Group. We play every Wednesday, 1:00-3:00 PM, in members’ homes or online using Myjongg.net. Contact Chris O’Neill for more information or if you don’t know how to play and would like to learn.
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Did you know AAUW Marin was a cofounder of the Marin Women's Hall of Fame and several of our members have been inducted in the past?
If you would like to nominate a Marin woman this year visit bit.ly/MWHFNominate by November 1. Nominees must reside primarily in Marin County to qualify, although past honorees have done work across the world. Five women will be selected for induction in 2023.
Save the date to join us in recognizing the Class of 2023 at the annual Induction Dinner and Celebration scheduled for Thursday, March 23, 2023 at the Peacock Gap in San Rafael.
YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley is proud to steward the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame, a celebration of women of all backgrounds as agents of progressive change and active forces for good in their community.
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Know Someone Who'd Like to Join AAUW? | |
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AAUW women make an impact for women and girls.
Spread the news amongst your friends about what AAUW is doing. Word of mouth is the best way to recruit new members!
Why Join? AAUW offers you multiple ways to stay engaged with our mission of advancing equity for women and girls, as well as to develop friendship with others who understand that the fight for equality is still critical! Excellent national webinars! Engaging monthly branch programs! A wide variety of interest group meetings! Energetic, intellectually curious friends! A mission that is more important than ever!
CONTACT Chris O'Neill for membership information.
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