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Ruth Rosen wrote in The Chronicle of Higher Education that not only are the day and month relatively uncommercialized holidays, but "they also reveal a great deal about the role women have played in history 4 as well as about how women have struggled to pre-serve their history." Rosen writes, "International Woman's Day was first proposed by the German socialist and feminist leader Clara Zetkin, but it was first celebrated in the U.S. Feb. 23, 1909, when socialist working women declared it a holiday. Their goal, according to their slogan, was to win bread and roses: As labor activists, they wanted to improve the conditions under which women worked; as women, they wanted respect. "International Woman's Day vanished for decades into obscurity, honored by only a handful of activists and labor organizers who remained dedicated to gaining social and economic justice for women workers." The holiday was resurrected in the late '60s by American feminists and continues to be celebrated in towns across the U.S. and in countries throughout the world. In Eugene, Mother Kali's bookstore kicks off two months of fun on March 11 with several speakers from community organizations, music by Soromundi; a panel of international students from Mexico/Australia, Germany, Ubakistan, and Indonesia and an open house, from 2 to 5:30 pm. Other events include: * March 17 4 bi-lingual (Japanese/ English) storytime for children; * March 25 4 award-winning author Elana Dykewoman reads from Beyond the Pale; * March 31 4 Morgan Ahearn, a Romani (gypsy) woman discusses the situation of Romani women; * April 6 4 Juanita Rodriguez discusses her recent experiences in Columbia with Witness to Peace; * April 10 4 Marion Malcolm and Joyce Thomas will show slides about women in Kerala, India and their recent trip to India; * April 11 4 Guadulupe Quinn speaks; * April 14 4 A night of Women with Disabilities, including Danceability, Raising Cane (music and comedy), Bonnie Dunn (performance piece), Bijou Ashwell (comedy) and more; * April 18 4 Young and Old Women Together panels; * April 28 4 Report and photos of the International Women's March on the U.N.; * April 30 4 The Changing Face of Labor: Women's Place in Unions, panel with Lucy Lahr, Patt Riggs Hensen, and others; * May 1 4 Closing event including the film The Way Home, with eight councils of women 4 African-American, Latina, Native, Jewish, Arab, Mixed race, Asian, and Caucasian 4 talking about their lives, their cultures, their oppression, and their power.
Joe Mosley of the Eugene Newspaper Guild executive committee says the reward notice was posted on the main employee bulletin board of the newspaper. The one-page wrap had a banner headline, "Local Newspaper Gets Greedy, Register-Guard Owner Tony Baker Refuses to Bargain in Good Faith." The lead article charges that owners of the paper have "run roughshod" over workers rights during two years of stalled contract talks at the paper. Guild officials have denied involvement in producing the flier. Mosley says the Guild does have many friends in the community. "We can't control everything they do," he says. As far as the content, Mosley says, "What I read appeared to be, for the most part, accurate." R-G publisher Tony Baker did not return a call requesting comment. Guild members think the reward notice is an "absurd overreaction," Mosley says. "I have a hard time imagining what crime this may have committed." "It's an overreaction by a company that ought to be in the business of promoting free and open public debate," Mosley says. He says the reward will only provide the public an example of the owner attitude the Guild has faced at the negotiating table. Last week, Mosley says another round of negotiations broke off early after the owners offered the union nothing new and rejected several Guild proposals for a settlement (see Letters). -- AP
* The March 1 Clubs grid mistakenly listed the Ronnie James Dio show at the Hollywood Taxi as "butt-rock." Apparently, Dio's music does not fall into the butt-rock genre, and would have been better classified as "'80s heavy metal." We offer apologies to butt-rockers and metal-heads alike.
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