Women and Gender Studies Spring 2006 Calendar
In Celebration of Black History Month …
African American Women Directors' Film Series
Wednesday, February 15, 7 p.m., Twilight Auditorium
"Eve's Bayou" (1997)
Set in 1962 Louisiana, director Kasi Lemmon's movie explores the life of the Batiste family. Charming Dr. Louis Batiste is married to beautiful Roz, but also has a weakness for some of his women patients. One day, Louis is flirting with married and sexy Metty Mereaux, not knowing that his young idealistic daughter Eve is watching him. A tale of guilt, consequences, and voodoo starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, and Lynn Whitfield.
Thursday, February 16, 7 p.m., Library 201
"Daughters of the Dust" (1991)
Director Julie Dash provides a visually lush and poetic portrayal of a little-known Gullah subculture on a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina. Because the small colony is isolated from the mainland and the dominant culture, the extended family exhibits unfamiliar behaviors and patterns of speech associated with their African heritage. Actors include Cora Lee Day, Alva Rogers, and Barbara O. Jones. Friday, Feb 17, 12 p.m., Palana Center
Lunch with filmmaker Yvonne Welbon
Welbon has made it her mission to promote a stronger media presence for African American women. She has created over a dozen award-winning works that have been screened on public television, cable and in film festivals around the world. She will show her 12-minute documentary The Taste of Dirt, which depicts how 7 year-old black girls learn self-hatred on the playground. Friday, February 17, 4:30 p.m., Twilight Auditorium
"Sisters in Cinema" (2003)
Screening of Yvonne Welbon's documentary followed by Q&A with the director. Sisters in Cinema is a 62-minute documentary which offers an overview of the lives and the films of African American women feature film directors from the early part of the century to today.
All events sponsored by the Office for Institutional Diversity and the Women's and Gender Studies Program/Chellis House
Saturday, Feb 18, 7 and 9:30 p.m., McCullough Social Space "The Vagina Monologues"
Performance of Eve Ensler's famous play, directed by seniors Retta Leaphart and Meghan Nesmith
Tuesday, Feb 21, 7 p.m., Chellis House
AAUW meeting
Middlebury students meet members of the local branch of the American Association of University Women.
Wednesday, Feb 22, 7 p.m., McCullough
"Dreadful Sorry Guys"
Performance artist Claudia Steven draws on her background as concert pianist, actress and classical vocalist to create one-person musical theater. Through a combination of performance modes she produces riveting theater and memorable stories. Stevens, a professor of piano at the College of Wiliam and Mary was motivated by the murder of her gay friend, Gary Matson, and his partner Winfield Mowder near Redding, California in 1999 to create this performance. The hate crime was perpetrated by members of the World Church of the Creator. In addition to exploring this event, the performance looks at the universal human impulse to destroy those who are different and the attempt to make amends afterwards, expressing collective guilt when it is too late. It speaks also to the emptiness and loneliness of a world without diversity.
Sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program/Chellis House, the Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life, the Chaplain's Office, Hillel, the Office for Institutional Diversity, the Sociology/Anthropology Department, Cook Commons, and MOQA.
Monday, Feb 27, 4:30 p.m., Dana Auditorium
"The Black Female Body"
Lecture and slide presentation by award-winning photographer Deborah Willis, a professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and curator for exhibitions at the Smithsonian Center for African-American History and Culture.
Sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program and the Office for Institutional Diversity
Saturday, March 4, 7 pm, Twilight Auditorium
"Algérie Libre" (2006)
Screening of a film on Algerian women by Women's and Gender Studies major Lauren Curatolo ('06) and Mathematics/Philosophy major Assia Elgouacem ('06)
Monday, March 6, Château Grand Salon, 4:30 p.m.
Cassarino & Collier poetry reading
Poetry reading by WAGS minor Stacie Cassarino ('97), Visiting Instructor in English, and Michael Collier, Visiting Professor in English and Creative Writing and the Director of the Bread Loaf Writers Conference.
Tuesday, March 7, 5 p.m. location TBD
Exhibition opening: "The Dialogue Project - Vermont Lesbian and Gay Elders Oral History"
This exhibit was created by Burlington's R.U.1.2? GLBT center and celebrates gay and lesbian experiences past and present in Vermont. It includes interviews with gay elders, artifacts from the Vermont Queer Archive collection as well as interpretive artwork.
Wednesday, March 8, 7 p.m., Dana Auditorium
"Women in Love" (Great Britain, 1969)
Larry Kramer adapted the D.H. Lawrence novel for the screen and produced the movie, for which actress Glenda Jackson won an Academy Award. Opening commentaries by Larry Kramer, a writer and one of America's prime AIDS activist. In 1981, with five friends, he founded Gay Men's Health Crisis, still the world's largest provider or services to those with AIDS. In 1987, he founded ACT UP, the AIDS advocacy and protest organization. In 1998, he founded Treatment Data Project (TDP), bringing in as partners IBM, Lotus, Empire Blue Cross-Blue Shield, the Harvard AIDS institute, the American Association of Health Plans, and the New England Medical Center, to collect treatment data via the Internet from several hundred thousand people with HIV disease around the world. Thursday, March 9, 12:15 p.m.
Lunch discussion of Larry Kramer's book "Tragedy of Today's Gays"
7:30 p.m.
Scenes from Larry Kramer's play Normal Heart performed by Middlebury Theater students, panel discussion/question & answer with the author. Sponsored by the Office for Institutional Diversity
In celebration of Women's History Month
Women in the Arts and Sciences
Monday, March 13, 7 p.m., CFA 110
"Seven Graces"
Dance performance by Anita Ratnam, one of India's leading dancers trained in the classical forms of Bharatanatyam and other South Indian dance traditions. As a dancer and choreographer Ratnam has performed in over fifteen countries in a career that now spans four decades. Since the 1990s, Ratnam has adapted her classical training to express contemporary concerns, especially urgent social issues that have emerged in postcolonial India. Ratnam's Middlebury visit is part of a tour of North America where she will be showcasing her new solo show, Seven Graces. This performance builds on Ratnam's signature perspectives on Goddess worship and Indian feminism. Seven Graces explores manifestations of the Tibetan Buddhist goddess Tara. Working in collaboration with choreographer Hari Krishnan, Ratnam uses an eclectic array of movement including Bharatanatyam, Chinese Wu-Shu martial arts, Modern Dance, Tibetan Buddhist liturgical dance and Zen Buddhism in this hour-long minimalistic work.
Sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program/Chellis House, the Office for Institutional Diversity, the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs, and the Religion and Dance Departments. 
Tuesday, March 14, 3:15 p.m., Warner Hemicycle
"Change is Possible: Stories of Women and Minorities in Mathematics"
Lecture by Patricia Clark Kenschaft, Professor of Mathematics, Montclair University. Trained as a functional analyst, Pat Kenschaft found her true calling, not only in teaching university-level mathematics, but also in writing about, speaking about, and working for mathematics and mathematics education in the areas of K-12 education, the environment, affirmative action and equity, and public awareness of the importance of mathematics in society.
Sponsored by the Department of Mathematics and the Women's and Gender Studies Program.
Wednesday, March 15, 7 p.m., Chellis House
Alison Fraker Prize Ceremony
Every year, the Women's and Gender Studies Program awards the Alison Fraker Prize for the best paper in the field of women's and gender studies produced for any Middlebury College course during the preceding calendar year.
Tuesday, March 28, 4:30 p.m., Robert A. Jones Lecture Room
"Benefits of the Oral Transmission of Cultural Tradition in the Arab World"
Lecture by Moroccan artist Fatima Chebchoub, a doctoral candidate in the Asian and Middle East Department at the University of Pennsylvania. With degrees in comparative literature and theater, her professional experience has included teaching, acting, screenwriting and film directing for television and cinema.
Sponsored by the Department of Geography, Cook Commons, Arabesque, Arabic and the Women's and Gender Studies Program
Wednesday, March 29, 4:30 p.m., Twilight Auditorium
Julia Alvarez reads from her new novel "Saving the World"
This novel probes the depths of politics, medicine, activism, and love. "The seed of my new novel sprouted in a footnote about an 1803 expedition to save the world with the smallpox vaccine. The vaccine carriers were twenty-two orphan boys, all under the age of nine. I could not stop thinking of those boys. Must civilization always ride on the backs of those least able to defend themselves?"
Sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program
Friday, March 31, 12:15 p.m., Chellis House
"Understanding Men's Violence"
Lunchtime talk by John Beattie
John Beattie (Counseling and Human Relations Office, Middlebury College) is a graduate of Middlebury College. He received his MA in Counseling Psychology from Antioch New England. He worked for the Counseling Service of Addison County as an outpatient clinical therapist for 15 years and has had a private practice in Middlebury and Brandon for 5 years. John presently coordinates the Domestic Abuse Education Project in Addison County, a program for men who have been convicted of domestic assault.
April 2 – 7: Symposium
"Looking Towards the Future of Afghanistan"
Sunday, April 2, 7:30 p.m. Sunderland 110
"Baran"
This wonderfully romantic and uplifting film about the struggles of Afghan refugees, who numbered one fourth of the country's population by the year 2000, comes from the acclaimed director and the Academy Award nominee Majid Majidi. The film delivers a moving image of Afghan refugees in the neighboring countries – Iran in particular. Since the US engagement in late 2001 and the overthrow of the Taliban regime, the majority of these refugees have returned to their homes. However, the issue of refugees in Afghanistan – as in any other post-conflict country – still remains of critical importance to the country's transition towards stability and prosperity. Tuesday, April 4, 7:00 p.m., Robert A. Jones Lecture Room
Keynote Address, Ashraf Haidari, First Secretary, Afghan Embassy, Washington, D.C.
Mr. M. Ashraf Haidari, a dynamic young diplomat, symbolizes hope for the future of Afghanistan. Haidari was a Fellow in Foreign Service and studied International Diplomacy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He completed his graduate education in Security Studies at Georgetown University. Haidari has co-authored a strategy paper on "Reconstruction, Commerce, and Trade in Afghanistan" published in Afghanistan: Looking Forward the Future. After working for a year as the press secretary at the Afghan Embassy in Washington, he was recently promoted to the post of First Secretary of Political/Security & Development Affairs. Wednesday, April 5, 7 p.m., Dana Auditorium
"Taliban Country"
Carmela Baranowska's movie Taliban Country is a rare and damning insight into what U.S. forces are doing in remote Afghanistan. For three weeks, the award-winning filmmaker was embedded with the U.S. Marines in their remote forward operating base. Carmela obtained disturbing testimony from local villagers, some of which echo the sexual abuse documented at Abu Ghraib and Quantanamo Naval Base. Thursday, April 6, 7:00 p.m., Robert A. Jones Lecture Room
Panel discussion: "Socio-political perspectives on life in Afghanistan with Fatima Gailani and Paula Nirschel"
Fatima Gailani (Chairperson, Afghan Red Crescent Society) participated as a delegate in the Emergency Loya Jirga of June 2002. She served a constitution drafting and ratifying commissioner in the Constitutional Loya Jirga of December 2003. She is the author of two ibooks Mosques of London, and Biography of Mohammed Mosa Shafiq. Paula Nirschel founded the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women (IEAW) in order to help transform the lives of women in Afghanistan through quality education. Nirschel travels frequently to Afghanistan and enjoys rare insights into the family life of Afghan women through visiting homes of potential and active beneficiaries of the IEAW. Friday, April 7, 4:30 p.m., Robert A. Jones Lecture Room
"Breaking from the Past, and Eyeing the Future"
Lecture by John Sifton, former Afghanistan Research Director, Human Rights Watch. John Sifton served as the Human Rights Watch's Afghanistan research director from 1999 to 2004. Sifton has traveled the country extensively during the past 10 years, and has authored highly publicized and thought provoking reports on Afghanistan – on issues ranging from war crimes since the Soviet occupation to threats to democratic politics in current Afghanistan. He is currently serving in HRW's Asia research division. All events co-sponsored by the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs, the Women's and Gender Studies Department, the Political Science Department, International Students Organization, South Asian Club, Islamic Society, and Arabesque.
Thursday, April 6, 4:30 p.m., Robert A. Jones Lecture Room "Women, Politics, and Islam: Rereading Islamic Sources"
Lecture by Asma Barlas, Professor, Department of Politics, Ithaca College.
Professor Barlas is an expert in comparative and international politics (South Asia, Middle East, Third World), women's and gender studies, Islam (religion and politics), and Qur'anic hermeneutics.
Sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program, the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs and the History Department.
Saturday, April 8, location TBD
Symposium: "The 'Summers Question:' Women and Higher Education in the US"
This day-long interdisciplinary symposium evaluates current controversies and questions surrounding women in academia. Preeminent scholars in philosophy, history, education, psychology, and economics will discuss issues pertaining to inclusion, the production of knowledge, and women's ability to gain an authoritative voice in higher education.
Sponsored by the Christian A. Johnson Economics Enrichment Fund and the Women's and Gender Studies program.
Tuesday, April 11, 7 pm, Warner 207,
"Circus Amok: Power, Politics and Fun!"
Lecture and performance by Jennifer Miller, a woman with a beard, who has made a reputation for herself in the performing arts world as founder and director of "Circus Amok." This one-ring circus creates spectacles influenced by agit-prop politics and queer identity while demonstrating outstanding technical precision and craft. Sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program/Chellis House.
For more information contact Karin Hanta (443-5937 or khanta@middlebury.edu) 
Wednesday, April 12, 4:30 p.m., Warner Hemicycle
"Have Justice, Will Travel"
Lecture by Wynona Ward of "Have Justice, Will Travel" Inc.
While still doing her undergraduate studies, Wynona and her husband started a trucking business that they were to run for 15 years. She eventually finished her BA courses from Dartmouth Extended School in the cab of her 18-wheeler. When the history of abuse she grew up with surfaced again in her family, Wynona gave up trucking for Dartmouth Law School. Wynona started "Have Justice-Will Travel" when she learned that most battered women did not have the material means to escape from abusive situations. The organization provides legal services to victims of domestic violence in Vermont, victims trapped by abuse and pastoral isolation. 6:00 p.m., Chellis House
Healing Fireto End Cycle of Sexual and Domestic Violence in collaboration with the Addison County Domestic Violence Task Force.
7:00 p.m., Mead Lawn:"Love Fest"
This event will honor the women who have suffered at the hands of sexual violence. Members of the college community will speak out against sexual abuse and light candles for a vigil. This event will kick off the:
"Global Feminism Symposium"
Thursday, April 13, 4:30 p.m., McCullough
"Keep It Movin':" Performance by Una Aya Osato
"Keep It Movin'" is a play about women of color in the U.S. and how they come into a consciousness of who they are. The play begins with the main character UNA. She finds herself disempowered, lost and overwhelmed by the current state of the world. Ten important women from her life then visit her. The show looks at Una's journey towards becoming re-inspired and towards finding a place in the world. This one-woman show uses the mediums of theater, poetry, dance and video to explore the lives of women of color. 7:00 p.m, Grille Stage
Performance by Slam Poet Staceyann Chin
Jamaican national Staceyann Chin has been an "out poet and political activist" since 1998. From the rousing cheers of the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe to one-woman shows Off- Broadway to co-writer and performer in the Tony nominated "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam" on Broadway, Chin credits the long list of "things she has done" to her grandmother's hard-working history and the pain of her mother's absence.
Friday, April 14, 4:30 p.m.., Library
Student Panel Discussion: Creating Sustainable Dialogue Panelists: Htar Htar from Burma; Gorretti Namuli from Uganda; Zohra Safi from Afghanistan; Assia Elgouacem from Algeria; Darcel Williams from Alaska. This panel will bring students from different countries together to discuss the ways in which they experience life as a woman in their respective countries and discuss the intersection of politics, economics and women's status. Friday, April 14, 7:30 p.m., McCullough
Slam Poetry Performance by Alix Olson
Alix Olson is an internationally touring folk poet and progressive queer artist-activist. One part peace vigil, one part protest rally, and one part joyful raucous concert, Alix ignites audiences everywhere she performs. Olson's innumerable stage, broadcast, radio and print appearances include, most recently, twice headlining HBO's "Def Poetry Jam." Saturday, April 15, 4:30 p.m., Robert A. Jones Lecture Room
Lecture by Jennifer Gaboury, Former Assistant Executive of Human Rights Watch and Adjunct Political Science Professor, Hunter College
Jennifer Gaboury serves on the Committee for the LGBT Division at HRW and has been featured in numerous newspaper articles for her decision to abstain from marriage in reaction to the laws surrounding same-sex marriage. 7:30 p.m., McCullough Social Space
ALC Cultural Show: Focus on Latinas
Sunday, April 16, 7:30 p.m., Dana Auditorium
"Holy Sh*t! Stories from Heaven and Hell Out From Underground"
Performance by Janice Perry. Working in the kabarett tradition, she seeks out both the highest and the lowest cross-cultural common denominators and asks audiences to think while they laugh. Satirical, theatrical, critical and comedic analyses of global social, political and personal affairs - from ancient Greece to contemporary America - are couched in text, costume and physical theater.
All events sponsored by Feminist Action at Middlebury, Women of Color, and Amnesty International
Wednesday, April 19, MBH 216, 4 p.m.
"Geography, Gender, and Entrepreneurship"
Lecture by Susan Hanson ('64), Professor of Geography, Clark University, who will receive this year's Alumni Achievement Award.
Thursday, April 20, 7 pm
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 219
Soldier's Girl
Directed by Frank Pierson in 2003, "Soldier's Girl" is the story of Barry Winchell, a soldier in the 101st Airborne Division, who was brutally murdered by a fellow GI on July 4th, 1999, shortly after the installment of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. On an outing with his buddies, Barry is captivated by the beautiful Calpernia Adams, a transgendered entertainer in a local Nashville nightclub, and the story focuses on the love that develops between them.
Saturday, April 22, 3 p.m., Dana Auditorium
"Yes" (UK, 2004, 100')
Written and directed by Sally Potter, the movie "Yes" portrays a passionate love affair between an American woman (Joan Allen), and a Middle-Eastern man (Simon Abkarian) who confront some of the greatest conflicts of our generation -- religious, political and sexual. Allen plays an Irish-American scientist who is being strangled by her marriage. She begins an affair with a Lebanese surgeon exiled in London. Their passion is the start of a personal journey through several countries, but also forces them to evaluate their beliefs and each other, as well as the heartbreak the lovers leave behind them, as they embark on a journey that takes them from London and Belfast to Beirut and Havana. Co-Sponsored by the Film and Media Culture
Program.
Tuesday, April 25, 6:30 pm, Sunderland 110
Screening of "Blue Yonder Ranch". Q&A with filmmaker Vanessa Harris after the screening.
"Blue Yonder Ranch" is a love story about two damaged young people: Ross, a documentary filmmaker with a devastating secret; and Holly, a high class call girl who works in a cathouse on the border of Arizona and Nevada. During the course of one intense weekend, these two lovers experience more joy, pain, love, betrayal and brutality than most couples experience in a whole lifetime of marriage. The 18-minute drama, which involves an accomplished cast and award-winning crew, was shot on the latest in digital technology, 24P—a format that makes video look like it was shot on film. The film was part of the OsCene art exhibit at the Laguna Beach Art Museum in the spring of 2005.
Wednesday, April 26, 12:15 p.m., Chellis House
"25 Years of the Women's Law Group at Vermont Law School"
Lunchtime talk with Pam Lundquist and Ashley Carson from the Vermont Law School. Reservations essential. Please call Karin Hanta at 443-5937 or email khanta@middlebury.edu Pam Lundquist came to law school from a freelance career as a journalist, specializing in environmental health issues in New York City. A lifelong feminist, Pam brings that perspective into whatever she does. Ashley Carson is a 3rd year law student. After graduating from the University of Oregon, she worked in Portland, Oregon as an HR assistant at a Continuing Care Retirement Community. She has an interest in representing women, children and the elderly in abusive situations.
Thursday, April 27th, 4:30 Chellis House
Middlebury's Location in the World of Scholar-Activism
A panel of professors and students, featuring guest speaker Ms. Sarah Thompson of Spelman College will lead discussion on Middlebury's location in the world of Scholar-Activism. Understanding our classroom connection to transformation and how we as students can become the most powerful change agents possible.
Guest Speaker Info: Sarah Thompson is a scholar-activist in her senior year at Spelman College. She co-founded the Atlanta University Center Peace Coalition, which has lead hundreds of students in protest of the war in Iraq since early 2003; and currently serves as president of the Student Government Association. The recipient of Glamour Magazine's Top Ten College Women of 2005 and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Mortarboard and Golden Key Honor Societies, Sarah double majors in Comparative Women's Studies and International Studies and holds a minor in Spanish. Sarah is also active in many school and citywide organizations such as the Spelman Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, SisterFire, the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition, Atlanta Mennonite Fellowship.
Thursday May 4, at 12:30 p.m. in McCardell Bicentennial Hall 219.
Alexandra Halkin, co-founder of the Chiapas Media Project will present "Organizing and the Indigenous Lens: Zapatista Automonous Media" 
Co-sponsored by Women's and Gender Studies, International Studies and Film/Media Culture.
Sunday, May 14, 2 to 4 p.m.
End of the Year Picnic at Chellis House
We will award the Feminist of the Year Award to one student, staff and faculty member.