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
STATENENT 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
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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
ASHEVILLE TRAVEL BLOG
*WOMEN’S WORK
By Andrew Carter in The News & Observer
Cohen is The News & Observer’s 2020 Tar Heel of the Year, an honor that recognizes a North Carolina resident who has made lasting and significant contributions in the state and beyond. In the longest of years, one defined by the pandemic and by how world leaders and common citizens have responded to it, Cohen has become the figurative and literal face of North Carolina’s ongoing fight against COVID-19.
*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.
REMEMBER THIS: The Ancient Metaphor that Created Modern Sexism
By Robert S. McElvaine in the Washington Post
Where does sexism come from? Why do evangelicals ignore the president’s serial mistreatment of women? Why does the U.S. Constitution still not guarantee equality for women? Why do women earn less than men? Why didn’t most conservatives care whether the accusations of sexual assault brought against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh were true?
AMI WORTHEN: Writing for Social Justice Action
Ami Worthen aims to illuminate, amplify, and fortify transformative community action.
Her writing and collaborative projects center social justice. Based in what is now known as Asheville, NC, a region that is the ancestral homeland of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, Ami follows the call of collective liberation.
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.
*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.
*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.
*CHANGEMAKERS
Remembering the Life’s Work of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
By Peggy Clark and Anne Mosle
The legacy of the inimitable Ruth Bader Ginsburg is powerful and far-reaching beyond measure. A tiny giant amongst us, her life’s work reached every individual in our society and moved us closer to the kind of equality we dream of for America.
GWEN IFILL’S Profound Impact on African-American Women Journalists
By Yanick Rice Lamb in Women’s Media Center
Gwen Ifill made it easier for Sonya Ross to cover the White House. She set a great example, provided pointers, and boosted her confidence.
“She blazed a trail,” said Ross, a White House reporter at the Associated Press for nearly seven years who is now AP’s race and ethnicity editor. “She didn’t just teach me how to do it; she showed the world how to do it.”
Indeed, people around the world were stunned by reports of the 61-year-old Ifill’s death from cancer in mid-November—two days before she was to receive the 2016 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism at Columbia University. Everyone from President Obama to people on the street praised the way in which she protected “the public’s right to know” throughout her career, most recently as moderator and managing editor of Washington Week as well as co-anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour. Continue reading
VANCE ELEMENTARY RENAMING TASK FORCE MAKES FINAL RECOMMENDATION TO BOARD OF EDUCATION
ASHEVILLE CITY SCHOOLS ANNOUNCEMENT
December 7, 2020
The Vance Elementary School Renaming Task Force presented its final name recommendation to the Asheville City Board of Education during their December 7th meeting.
After conducting their own research, meeting with local historians and hearing the thoughts and feelings of our students, staff, families and greater school community, they suggested Vance Elementary School be renamed Lucy S. Herring Elementary School.
