International Women's Day Just Got Better

As you know, Women for Peace will be celebrating our second birthday at the International Women's Day event next Sunday, March 6, from 2 to 4 pm at the Pres House (731 State St, off UW Library Mall; $5 donation requested at the door).

You also know that the impressive Elaine Alexie will be our featured speaker. She's an environmentalist, filmmaker, community organizer and indigenous rights activist. For Elaine, who was raised in the tradition of the Tetlit Gwichin First Nation, there is no question that human communities and natural ecosystems are intertwined. The Gwichin are already experiencing the effects of global warming - caribou herds are shifting their migration patterns, fish are changing their spawning habits, sea ice is thinning and forest fires are becoming more commonplace. Global warming is not an issue to be debated in the abstract, but a threat to their traditions and livelihood that must be overcome.

Thanks to the hard work of Shelly and Arlene, we'll also be celebrating International Women's Day with:

• Nydia Rohas, a local poet and author of Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest;
  
• Jammie Davis, a young local poet and one of the recipients of this year's City of Madison Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Awards; and
  
• Girl Neighborhood Power, a local girls' group that will perform African drumming and dance.

For more information on the event, see our press release.

We (and our co-organizers, the WI Coordinating Council on Nicaragua) hope to see you there!

International Women's Day: "First Nation, Second Sex"

Want to celebrate International Women's Day and Madison Women for Peace's second birthday?

By all means, join us on Sunday, March 6, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm at the Pres House (at 731 State St, just off UW Library Mall; $5 donation requested at the door).

The event will feature Native American environmental activist and filmmaker Elaine Alexie, who will speak on "First Nation, Second Sex: Indigenous Women Build Community and Protect the Earth." Alexie's impressive bio includes co-founding the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance, a group she continues to do community organizing with; working to oppose the oil exploitation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; producing a short documentary titled "Vadzaih: Gwichin Youth on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge"; and winning the Northern Conservation Award in 2001 for her work to save caribou herds. Raised according to the traditions of the Tetlit Gwichin First Nation, Alexie is also an outspoken proponent of indigenous rights.

But that's not all! Local women poets and musicians will share their art, and there will be refreshments. Plus information about Women for Peace and our event co-organizers, the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua.

More details will follow. We hope to see you there...