OLOC Gathering 2008: It was a Blast: 260 attended the banquet: 200 the whole Gathering

I am back from the OLD LESBIAN ORGANIZING FOR CHANGE GATHERING OF 2008. WHAT A BLAST IT WAS!!! Of course, I am biased as I helped to make it happen though I am not a steering committee member. My partner Mina is. All the input so far has been positive except for some minor glitches with room reservations and food for the vegetarians in our midst was not the greatest but surprisingly the Vegans were happy with what they got. We got a lot of positive feedback about the keynoters and the workshops and the fishbowls, although I heard some constructive feedback about plenaries and how the plenary panelist need to pose questions in the future for the small group discussion which I thought was a great idea.

The LA Women's Community Chorus was marvelous. This was a 30th reunion time for them. They sang as well as I remember them singing which was always very much appreciated as they do true feminist music renditions we rarely hear anymore and the performances were marvelouos including the solo parts and the piano playing. Alix Dobkin was true to form, fantastic, when she performed too. The keynoters were all brilliant. I heard really positive feedback on Jackie Goldberg's speech which surprised me as she was so right and so very to the left and got right to the point about where the problems stem from concerning health issues and economic struggles with capitalism and a neglectful system that pits one minority against another. Ivy Bottini, LGBT activist from LA, although not featured who did a panel on housing alternative (GLEH-Traingle Square Housing in LA) was a stitch at the talent show. Suzanne Bellamy's (from Sydney Australia) presentation, a satire titled Lost Culture and Women's Liberation which takes place from the view of a fictional archeologist looking back 500 years is really very funny and so insightful. Loved it. Gaye Adegbalola gave us a woman's perspective on the "Blues" some of us probably don't know much about. Gaye was marvelous and has a great personality. She also is a great motivator. Jewelle Gomez, the author, has a great mind and I could see the cogs moving along and into the OLOC philosophy as she spoke. She was right on. I also loved Terry Baum (SF) who presented a one woman excerpt from her show about the OLd Lesbian whose lover was in a coma. She did a quite brilliant performance. I was blown away when she suggested doing a similar kind of piece ( I am assuming) about a piece of my history and my lover's history when we were part of an early group of just "coming out" Lesbians at the Gay Women's Service Center in the early 70's in Los Angeles. I hope this can happen but we will see.

The highlight of the experience part was just being with all the Lesbians who came and interacting with individual women as we came together informally and in discussion groups. The bus tour to West Hollywood and Hollywood was a treat. I had never seen the Ed Gould Social and Educational Center which is part of the LA Lesbian and Gay Center of LA. It is a beautiful facility with two theaters, an art exhibition center, and recreational services. Ivy gave us a great tour of the facility she helped to found, Triangle Square which provides housing for low income elder LGBT people. That was also a highlight of the experience of visiting LGBT places in the already named areas. I love the atmosphere at the Hacienda, the fact that you can be outdoors under beautiful naturelike surroundings. The staff was helpful too and I loved the bilingual nature of the place and all the tourists from other countries who find their way to the Hacienda. Of course, some of the staff were a bit inexperienced and that caused an occasional problem or two.

The fact there are still sections in the hotel for smokers was something we didn't know in advance. I think this is terrible but my understanding is that the hotel needs the diverse group of tourists from other countries and so many of them smoke that the Hotel is not ready to ban smoking altogether in the outdoor areas and in rooms set aside for smoking. I thought this was outlawed but I guess not. Of course, there were a few OLD Lesbians still smoking so they took it all for granted. I know the Environmentally savvy must have hated all that. Fortunately, I only noticed 2 people who smoked only outdoors and not in any inside areas that we frequented. As an organization we cannot ban smoking in a public place.

All in all it was a great experience. The next major steps will be important. What actions will we take and decisions about where OLOC will be in terms of focus in the next few years should prove interesting. It is in OLOC's hands. Internal change is good but now there is so much energy we may need to move outward and that kind of change is always very hard. What coalitions will we join? How will that change us?

As I get good pics processed I will post a few of them here. As more thoughts come together I will also add to this post. If you have any pics from the Gathering and are willing to let me post them I would love that. Send them to smraphael@aol.com. I was too busy to take pics and the few I have are of the tour. Let me know what I left out. Send your comments.

Maggie Walks Down to the Lake

actually this is not a pic of Maggie> it is Mara) but gives you the idea of the video version of Maggie walking toward the Lake ----------------^

Lulu, Ruby, 71, Mara and Maggie. All African Elephants at PAWS: they have Asians in another habitat
^-----------
Remember Maggie the lone elephant from the Alaskan Zoo who was flown to a animal preservation park in Northern California.
She is settled in her new home at PAWS. Go to http://www.pawsweb.org/video_updates.html to see Pat Derby, The President and Founder of PAWS narrate as the viewer watches Maggie exploring her environs this week. Maggie leaves her group for an extended walk and finds to her joy a lake. She will be ready soon to go swimming in her Lake. What a transformation from an elephant that had to be lifted from the ground by a crane becasue of a fall to the curious healthy animal she is today. Maggie is an older elephant. I forget how old but I think in her thirties. I know she spent 25 years in the Alaskan Zoo. Ruby is the oldest of the elephants at PAWS. She is in her forties. Check out the video on Ruby's 1st Anniversary at PAWS. Ruby was from the LA Zoo.

Barack Obama Visits Strategic Sites in The Iraq- Afghan War Zone and the Middle East

Everything I have been reading or seeing concerning our Democratic Presidential Candidate continuing travel abroad shows Barack Obama is doing exceedingly better than any expectations anyone might have had. McCain set himself up for this one by calling on Obama at one point to visit Iraq and the War zone because of his supposed lack of experience in foreign affairs especially in regard to Iraq which McCainites think is McCain's strong suit. Instead of just taking the bait and falling flat on his face, Obama is exceeding everyone's wildest dreams. Obama looks good towering over the soldiers he greets and making speeches that are succinct and that make sense as sound bites via the media.* Jewish Israelis greeted him with some skepticism but as he soon leaves for his European tour, the Israeli news media and politicans are saying nice things about him especially since he took a strong stand on Iran and the nuke question making the point that he will not allow them to have nukes but he will work energetically diplomatically-wise to keep this from happening keeping a military deterrent approach on the table. I am paraphrasing what he said.

In Israel, Obama laid a wreath at a site memorializing The Holocaust. He looked appropriately serious as all Presidents do on similar occasions; however, there was something special about it. Everything he says along the way makes good sense. He also expressed concern about the missile attacks and other violent incidents that have maimed or killed Israelis. I gather that the Palestinians do not like what he is saying so I doubt he gained any points from them. On the other hand, some on the Palestinian side might gain hope from the fact that Obama seems very serious about making peace and his peace noises sound convincing. In the Jordan Times, ( "Obama said "“I will not wait until a few years into my term or my second term if I am elected in order to get the process moving,” Obama said in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, which has been hard-hit by Palestinian rocket and mortar fire. “I think we have a window right now that needs to be taken advantage of.” )

I am struck by Obama's sense of self possession and confidence as he moves into the realm of foreign affairs. It is as if this
man has come from nowhere as others have mentioned and as if he is already our President in spite of the warning he better not act as if he is and yet I can suddenly see him clearly as if he is. I am not completely in his camp as I am left of Obama on many fronts; but given all that has come to pass, I am hopeful that this man will move us away from the Bush years and more and am already thinking that we may awake as if it all was a horrible dream that went on and on and kept getting worse all the way back since Ronald Reagan. I hate to be negative about Bill Clinton as he was surrounded by Republican power everywhere he moved but Obama does seem to be his own man not somebody's else. Perhaps, Obama senses the direction the country wants to go- up, out and away from a past filled with decisions based on arrogant power driven ambition driven types and just plain ignorance of the lowest common denominator. There is definitely something "Blowin in the Wind" and it appears he is Obama.

* i like the way Obama was strong with Gen. Petraeus saying his piece so well. The point Obama made or what I heard him saying though I am reading between the lines is that you (Petraeus) may be right we should have more troops staying longer, perhaps, if you are looking only at the needs of Iraq (even their own President is with Obama on this one) but as President I have to look at the needs of the whole nation and whole foreign national picture and basically he was saying we need the money we spend for these troops at home to help us get back on our feet in the USA. It was like You are doing a good job within your job capacity. When I am President I will do my job and your job will be over. Up to now, all we heard was "Generals know best" . Obama never donned a military outfit or put on a stupid looking helmet. It was as if he was saying I am a civilian and will be a Civilian Commander in Chief not one cowed by the military. I thought it was a profoundly reassuring message.

COUNTER

Radovan Karadzic Captured after 13 years: FINALLY

On the Capture of Radovan Karadzic from the Telegraph, UK

"Radovan Karadzic, the ultranationalist leader of the Bosnian Serbs in the 1992-1995 civil war in the former Yugoslavia, is widely regarded by diplomats as the chief architect of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia — crimes that were Europe’s worst atrocities since World War II. One of the world’s most wanted men, he was arrested on July 21, 2008.

Dr. Karadzic, a psychiatrist by profession and a published poet and writer, was twice indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. The charges say he authorized the shooting of civilians during the siege of Sarajevo and for directing the slaughter of an estimated 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men in Srebenica, in eastern Bosnia.

Regarded as a war hero by many Serbs, he went into hiding in 1997 and escaped capture for years. Officials at the war crimes tribunal say a well-financed support network that included police officers and members of the intelligence services in Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as members of the Serbian Orthodox Church, enabled Dr. Karadzic to remain on the run." (Telegraph, UK)

"Ratko Mladic,, the General who carried out war crimes against Bosnians is still on the loose although his arrest is reported to be imminent. Mladic carried out Milosevic (president of Serbia) Karadzic's genocidal policies against the Bosnians in Bosnia-Herzogovina and also against the Croatians in that territory." pieced from various news reports SRaphael."I don't plan on putting the horrible faces of either Mladic or Karadzic on my blog."

OLOC Gathering Coming to Hacienda Hotel (Los Angeles) (near LAX) July 30- Aug. 3

TIME IS TICKING
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Old Lesbians Organizing for Change

contact info@OLOC.org. or 888-706-7506 go to www.oloc.org

The Play: Of Equal Measure: Highlights

Michole Briana White depicted above playing Jade the stenographer in the Wilson White House

"Of Equal Measure, Tanya Barfield's new civil rights-minded play set in Woodrow Wilson's White House," Center Theater Group

I just came back from seeing the new play titled Of Equal Measure written by Tanya Barfield*. The play focuses on a fictional stenographer named Jade who works for a Presidential Advisor of President Woodrow Wilson and specifically covers Wilson's second term in office when he prepares the country for WWI despite his earlier reservations. Although Wilson runs a progressive campaign while seeking office and promises to make the country a democracy for all including "Negroes". The play shows his hypocrisy as he supposedly becomes enamored with DW Griffith's technologically groundbreaking movie Birth of a Nation. . He also buys the message on some level and becomes convinced, according to the playwright, to support its allies by going to war enlisting both white and Black troops, the latter of which he neglects to the point, some of these soldiers freeze to death for lack of blankets and boots.(I need to check authenticity of this account as I suspect both white and Black froze to death in that awful War, although I am sure the Black soldiers were more neglected.) Going to war is also premised on the spectacular accusation that Germany plans to arm Mexican troops who will suppposedly enlist Negro men into its ranks to fight their own countrymen. This is a time when lynchings are occuring at an increasing rate which Wilson says he deplores but ends up doing nothing about it.

The historical accuracy and "facts" of some of these pronouncements are obvously made up but the basic ideas (& historical context) and parallels to G.W. Bush's reason for going into Iraq are clearly evident. Early on Wilson claims he likes Pancho Villa, becaue he want to free Mexico; however, by the end he is saying "he is a terrorist" Kill him". When confronted with the news that hundreds of wounded veterans with arms, legs, and eyes missing are camped outside the White House, he "freezes up" and can hardly get himself together until an aid says meeting with these men will do him some good. They will spin the story in Wilson's favor, make him look good by the fact he will greet the men. He wants to call the name of each one but is told there are just too many.

Jade, the stenographer, with much agonizing and remorse, "allows" her white boss, the one who works for Wilson, to seduce her in return for a job at the White House for her brother who is in danger of being hurt or killed at his other job. She also is forced to type a list of "Negroes" who work for the White House who the administration plans to force into "segregated" sections in the White House and later to be laid off. It is not clear she knows what she is doing. It all becomes clear in the end. There is also a white Catholic Irish man in The Play's White House who turns out to be an important character. I guess he represents "white conscience" and paralells in some ways Jade's experience.

I enjoyed Michole Briana White who played the stenographer. She is a naturally good actor and you don't notice she is acting. The actor, Lawrence Pressman plays Woodrow Wilson. Pressman is a familiar face who conveys Wilson as a person with strength, an effete nature, and much egomania. He would also make a great Franklin Rooselvelt as he looks like him. It wouldn't take much to extend the personality to FDR though FDR was a much more effective President but not necessarily brighter than Wilson. It all goes to show, brains don't alway make much difference, the heart matters too.

Kirk Douglas Theatre 
downtown Culver City
9820 Washington Blvd. 
Culver City, CA 90232 
Directions and Parking
description below taken from Center Theater Group Ad

With the nation on the brink of World War I, one woman's personal battle begins. A riveting new play from one of the theatre's rising stars. Europe is close to social and political crisis. Woodrow Wilson’s cabinet debates going to war and which side to take. At home, the administration’s segregationist policies contrast American democratic values—a fact not lost on Jade Kingston, an ambitious African-American stenographer employed in the White House, and her brother, Eugene, an aspiring artist with big dreams. As World War I rapidly approaches, Jade faces difficult choices that could compromise her career, challenge her spirit and threaten her own ideals of America’s duty to its citizens and its place as a world power.

*Tanya Barfield, playwright, go to http://www.playscripts.com/author.php3?authorid=196

CREDITS
Written By
 Tanya Barfield

Directed by Leigh Silverman

JD Cullum
Dennis Cockrum
Scott Dawson
Michael Hyland
Joseph C. Phillips
Lawrence Pressman
T. Ryder Smith
Christopher O'neal Warren
Michael T. Weiss
Michole Briana White