
*WOMEN’S WORK : The Vice President, and Cabinet Picks of top-level appointees
Vice President of the United States
Kamala Harris, in full Kamala Devi Harris, (born October 20, 1964, Oakland, California, U.S.), American politician who was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 2016 and began her first term representing California in that body the following year. She was the first Indian American to serve as a U.S. senator as well as the second African American woman. Harris previously was the state’s attorney general (2011–17). In November 2020 she was elected vice president of the United States on a ticket with Joe Biden.

IN HONOR OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS 13)
Honoring the legacy of a civil rights icon, groups across the mountains began celebrating the birthday of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Saturday morning, the MLK Association of Asheville and Buncombe County hosted a virtual prayer breakfast.
It had been recorded at New Mt Olive Baptist Church in Asheville and featured gospel singers, sermons and testimonials.
ASHEVILLE’S 40TH DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CELEBRATION MOVES ONLINE

*EVENTS to CHECK OUT & WHO’S DOING WHAT: YOUTH OUTright – JOIN US VIRTUALLY!
Please, join us as we continue this tradition and come together and support one another during this hour of need.

AMI WORTHEN: Community Care During Coronavirus
This information from Asheville Blade was originally published in March 14, 2020 by Leigh Cowart.
With a pandemic upon us, here are some links and notes that I hope will be of use. Much love as we take care of ourselves and those around us.
The reality
Thanks to the Asheville Blade for this informative article, Preparing for COVID-19 – definitely worth reading and sharing widely.

SAVE THE DATE for Our VOICE Major Fundraiser – Speaker CHANEL MILLER – March 11, 2021 at 6:30 pm
Before the world knew her name, Chanel Miller was inspiring millions and changing the landscape of how we talk about sexual assault.

ASAP: Winter Farmers’ Markets
Bundle up! With pandemic precaution still critical, winter farmers tailgate markets are mostly staying outdoors (or partially indoors with ample airflow). Though there are fewer of these markets, you can still find a solid mix of seasonal fruits and veggies. Expect to see plenty of storage crops, like sweet potatoes, potatoes, apples, winter squash, turnips, beets, and carrots. Some farms make use of greenhouses or high tunnels to continue producing salad mixes, lettuces, and dark, leafy greens throughout the colder months. Meats, eggs, cheeses, bread, and artisan foods are also widely available.

A NOTE FROM ELIZABETH MCCAIN: A Lesbian Belle Tells Southern Stories of Family, Loss and Love


ASHEVILLE TRAVEL BLOG

*VISUAL ART, FILM & EXHIBITIONS
THE TOP TEN ONLINE EXHIBITIONS OF 2020
By Nora McGreevy
From a Smithsonian show on first ladies to Mexican muralists, Rembrandt and the making of the Met, these were some of our favorite virtual experiences.

PIONEERS of the Modern-Day Women’s Movement
We remember those who have made a significant contribution to gender equality and women’s lives and well-being, and thus to human rights and well-being. With honor and respect for their work and effort, we will not forget.

*UPCOMING EVENTS: Women’s History
For the last twenty years, the National Women’s History Museum has served as the largest online cultural institution dedicated to US women’s history.
As an institution, it has galvanized support for preserving, illuminating, and sharing the powerful history of women in America.

*PERFORMING ART: DANCING BEYOND THE GENDER BINARY – A Three-Part Series
DANCING BEYOND THE GENDER BINARY
Posted by Nancy Dobbs Owen
In this three-part series for LA Dance Chronicle, I am studying the various ways that bullying and gender interact, affecting leadership, individual success and failure, mental health, and representation in dance. If you are coming to this series fresh, you can read the introductory article here. The second piece looks at bullying and the gender gap in leadership. This final piece addresses gay, lesbian, gender fluid and queer representation in dance, both how dancers who don’t fit into the binary have been quashed and how the dance community is finally expanding and starting to include all voices and stories, both in and out of mainstream companies. CLICK FOR MORE

*QUESTIONS, IDEAS & HEADSCRATCHERS How the Smithsonian and Other Museums Are Responding to the U.S. Capital Riot
Leading institutions have started collecting artifacts and working to contextualize last week’s violent attack

STATEMENT FROM THE POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN: A National Call for Moral Revival on the Events of January 6th
The Poor People’s Campaign witnessed with heavy hearts the events of January 6th, when a mob emboldened by hate, lies, and racism laid siege to the US Capitol and other state capitols across the country in an attempt to subvert our democracy.

The CIVIL CONVERSATION PROJECT & THE PAUSE – Krista Tippett & John Paul Lederach
THE PAUSE
Given the events of recent days, we asked our friend and teacher John Paul Lederach to offer a reflection for this week’s Pause. He’s spent his life walking with people in many cultures through violent conflict towards transformative change. I’m so grateful for the perspective he opens here, and the fierce/gentle way he invites us into the truth of our time and ourselves.
— Krista
From John Paul:
The images of this week remain seared in our minds. While painful, they will not and should not be unseen, precisely because they help us look more carefully at what peers back at us from our national mirror.
We are not looking at a fringe few. We are gazing upon ourselves. CLICK FOR MORE
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking together differently in order to live together differently. The Civil Conversations Project seeks to renew common life in a fractured and tender world. We are a conversation-based, virtues-based resource towards hospitable, trustworthy relationship with and across difference.
We honor the power of asking better questions, model reframed approaches to entrenched debates, and insist that the ruptures above the radar do not tell the whole story of our time. We aspire to amplify and cross-pollinate the generative new realities that are also being woven, one word and one life at a time.
Civil Conversations Project – Listen
How do we speak the questions we don’t know how to ask each other? How to engage our neighbors who have become strangers? Can we do that even while we continue to hold passionate disagreements on deep convictions? How is technology playing into all this, and how can we shape it to human purposes?
The Civil Conversations Project (CCP) is an open, ongoing conversation offering tools and resources for renewing civic discourse at every level and nourishing common life. It includes audio, video, writing, and guides to help ground and animate new conversation and relationship across the differences of our age.
Photo Credit: Mae Mu

*ASHEVILLE NEWS from Our City – Arts, Energy, Racial Equity excetera
Look ahead: City of Asheville projects and initiatives for the new year, 2021
Asheville residents can look upon the new year with optimism. Together, we’ve weathered a pandemic and a vaccine will be available this year. Even so, the City of Asheville’s response to COVID-19 will continue in the new year, in coordination with the state of North Carolina and Buncombe County.
Residents can look forward to advances in social change in 2021 as well, as City staff incorporate Advancing Racial Equity in Asheville into the budget, reimagining public safety and all the other work that will go into serving this community in the coming year. CLICK FOR MORE

*WOMEN & MONEY: Yes, we really have to keep talking about this
5 Ways to Be a Financial Feminist in 2021
BY THE ELLEVEST TEAM
The pandemic and “she-cession” of 2020 brought a lot of things to light … and not all of them were great, to be totally honest. With 865,000 women leaving the workforce in just one month in 2020, it became very clear that, as sociologist Jessica Calarco says: Instead of a social safety net, the US has women. That the gender pay gap will likely widen because of the women who needed to leave the workforce. That so many of us were hit hard, especially BIPOC women and trans people.

*LET’S KEEP LIFTING EACH OTHER UP
HOW ARE YOU TODAY?
This interactive book is a game-changer for educators, counselors and parents to use in their efforts to teach kids to name their feelings. It is filled with multicultural images of children showing a variety of emotions from A to Z.

*CHECKING IN: about Perception, Perspective, and Patience
THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF SMALL WINS
By The Ellevest Team 31, 2020
At Ellevest, we love to celebrate our community’s wins, big and small. We’re definitely here for the big milestones — if you just paid off all your debt, bought a house, started that business, got the promotion, we’re going to be right there celebrating with you, because that’s amazing.

JOIN OUR PROGRAMS at MOUNTAIN TRUE for Action and Advocacy
Programs
Through a focus on sensible land use, forest health, and water quality, MountainTrue advocates for policies that allow people and the environment to thrive. MountainTrue unleashes the power of people’s voices to protect the natural heritage of our region through knowledge, action and collaboration. We convene key partners — nonprofit and community groups, government, and private industry — to devise the best strategies to improve the quality of development and preserve the unique rural character of our region.