Interviewing Hillary. Kate Millett memorial. Film fund. Roosters. Birthright Israel. Guns & abortion. It's Mueller time! Jews & Muslims.
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER #57 MON, NOV 6, 2017
This Newsletter doesn't usually list my personal or professional events but this one merits an exception.
Seated l-r: Bert Pogrebin, Hillary Clinton, Letty Cottin Pogrebin;
Standing, Ethan Klaris, Molly Shapiro
Highlight of the week (and maybe my entire year). On Nov 1st, I interviewed Hillary Clinton about her new book, WHAT HAPPENED, before an audience of about 2500 people who rose to their feet at the sight of her and and burst into applause several times during her remarks. I asked her why she lost, how she feels about the current political situation, including prospectives for peace in Israel/Palestine,as well as questions about her personal life to which she responded with endearing candor. (Among other things, she revealed a never-before heard story about an incident in which she was roughly manhandled.) I've known her for 30 years and always find her to be not just super-smart but warm, relaxed, self-mocking, and funny. That's the woman the audience saw and heard last Wednesday night at the Streicker Center in NYC. Prior to the two of us going on stage, she posed for the above photo with my husband Bert, me, and two of our grandkids, Ethan, 20, and Molly, 18, (above) who came down from their respective colleges to hear her. (Our four other grandchildren are currently too far away to attend a midweek event but the rest of our immediate family --son, David, daughters, Abigail and Robin, and sons-in-law, Edward Klaris and Dave Shapiro, though not in the photo, were there to cheer me on and take me out for a late dinner.)
ISRAEL-PALESTINE
* What were they thinking?! "Birthright, the organization that brings young Jews on free 10-day visits to Israel, has instructed its trip providers to stop including meetings with Israeli Arabs on their itineraries." Have they lost their collective minds? Arab citizens of Israel make up 20 percent of the country's population yet Birthright won't let young Jews meet or hear from any of them?! What's next for Jews -- blindfolds and ear plugs? What's next for Israeli Arabs-- yellow armbands?
* If you agree that film is a powerful means of illuminating human reality & communicating ideas and if you care about Israel & her relations with her neighbors, I strongly encourage you to click this link & learn about The NFCT (The New Fund for Cinema & TV. In the past, NFCT has supported such remarkable films as Waltz With Bashir, and 5 Broken Cameras, both Academy Award documentary nominees. Now NFCT is raising money for a unique film, Wall, by a woman director whose marriage is breaking up while she's filming a documentary about daily life at the Western Wall as seen from the women's section. I encourage you to make a donation, however small, to this wonderful fund & help bring fresh perspectives to the public.
WOMEN
* I recently reread Karen Lindsay's piece on sexual harassment published in Ms. in Nov '77 and found it absolutely uncanny how UNdated this 40 year old report is: Women's experiences, men's excuses, legal issues, all could be written today. Feminist Majority's "Sexual Harassment Fact Sheet" is must reading now!
" Are sexual predators in the workplace finally going to face justice? Katha Pollitt, the always trenchant columnist for The Nation says we can't count our chlckens as long as the roosters still rule the coop.
* David Leonhardt on "The Conspiracy of Inaction on Sexual Abuse. & Harassment" A powerful indictment of bystanders, ignorers, deniers, and avoiders. "Everyone knew...and nobody did anything."
* Linda Nochlin (1931–2017) |is known for her groundbreaking contributions to feminist art history, most famously in her 1971 essay "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’"Until 2013 Nochlin taught at the NYU Institute of Fine Arts. Artnews obituary here."
One hundred years ago today (Nov 6), the women of New York State won the right to vote -- three years before passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed the vote to women nationwide. This beautifully designed website gives thumbnail bios of major figures of the suffrage movement-- women and their male supporters, white and black, unionists and members of high society -- who have some connection with New York. It includes maps showing where they lived and the locations of their organizations and meeting places, describing the history of each building, its architects and landmark status. Great resource!
VIDEOS
* Someone sent me this gorgeous posthumous letter to Leonard Cohen and video of Cohen singing, "Dance Me To The End of Love," a love song inspired by the Holocaust.” It blew me away.
* Mini-maestro. Thanks to my friend Larry Russell, a wonderful sax player, for forwarding this incredible candid video of a tiny little Kyrgyzstan girl conducting a church choir in which her dad is a singer.
DEPT OF GUN VIOLENCE
[Sutherland Springs, TX Nov 5th. At least 26 dead, more than half of them children]
[ Las Vegas massacre, Oct 1 - 58 killed, 540 injured]
* Is the new norm one massacre per month? I read the following message (author unknown) years ago but I'm reprinting it now in response to the latest mass shootings both of which, it bears noting, were committed by white Americans..
"How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion — mandatory 48-hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from his doctor proving he understands what he's about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, an ultrasound wand up the ass (just because). Let's close down all but one gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun. It makes more sense to do this with young men and guns than with women and health care, right? I mean, no woman getting an abortion has killed a room full of people [or dozens in a church or concert crowd] in seconds, right?" LET JUSTICE BE DONE
Order your IT'S MUELLER TIME stickers here.
JEWS & MUSLIMS
Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom. Yesterday I attended SoSS's amazing Muslim-Jewish Women's Conference held at Drew University where nearly 700 women gathered to model intergroup dialogue and discuss their shared concerns. I could't attend any of the workshops because I was a workshop presenter myself but I thoroughly enjoyed the plenary sessions, the surprise keynote speaker, Sen. Cory Booker, and the utterly remarkable simultaneous side-by-side Jewish and Muslim prayer services held in the gym at the end of the day, Jews on the left, Muslims on the right (above). More on SoSS here.
COMING EVENTS, NYC
Reminder: Screening at the DocNYC Festival this coming Sat.
NYC premiere of ZERO WEEKS, a compelling documentary about America's family leave crisis and the cost of doing nothing. France gives 42 weeks of paid leave so workers can care for a new baby, sick child or spouse, or elderly relative. Russia gives 28 weeks, Iran 26 weeks, Syria 17. Only two nations offer exactly zero weeks: Papua New Guinea and the United States. Why should U.S. workers be forced to choose between keeping their job or taking care of their family's health? In the film, moving human stories demonstrate the urgent need to address this issue. Trailer here. Sat, Nov 11, @ 11: AM, @ SVA Theatre, 333 W 23, NYC
* Reminder: Memorial service for Kate Millett will feature Gloria Steinem, Yoko Ono, Kathleen Turner, Holly Near and other close personal friends of Kate's. Veteran Feminists of America is sponsor. Thurs, Nov 9, 2-4pm @Universalist Society,160 Central Park West (@76 St) Contact Eleanorpam@aol.com
* Meet two representatives from Combatants for Peace, a 2017 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, who will speak in NYC at a house party on the Upper East Side. Speakers are Israeli Nathan Landau. and Palestinian Osama Elewat. Combatants for Peace is an egalitarian, bi-national, grassroots organization founded on the principle that the cycle of violence can only be broken when Israelis and Palestinians join forces. Combatants for Peace is the only organization, worldwide, in which former fighters on both sides of an active conflict have laid down their weapons and chosen to work side by side for peace and justice. Osama and Nathan will share their personal stories of transformation from fighters into Peace activists. Space limited. Thurs, Nov 30, 6-8pm RSVP by 11/20 and location will be provided. BethPSchuman@gmail.com
Tomorrow is election day. Please remember to vote. If you've forgotten your polling place, Google it! Residents of NYC can get election info here. HAVE A GREAT WEEK.