The Art of Gender in Everyday Life VIII Conference

*The Art of Gender in Everyday Life VIII Conference
Thursday, March 10, 2011, 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Friday, March 11, 9:30am – 5:00pm
Rendezvous Suite, Rendezvous Building

Conference sessions are free and open to the public.
Registration is required, but will be available on-site.

The full conference schedule is accessible at the Anderson Center website, www.isu.edu/andersoncenter.

All conference papers will in some way explore the various ways in which gender is crafted, celebrated, endured, deciphered, expressed or, in short, the art of how it is lived on a daily basis. Sessions will cover a wide range of topics including the arts, literature, gender in media, the performance of gender and more.

For more information about The Art of Gender in Everyday Life VIII, please contact the Anderson Center at 282-2805.

*Texting, Tattling, Leadership and Lies – A Workshop with Dr. Candace Rosovsky

Thursday, March 10

1:00pm – 2:45pm

Rendezvous Suite, Rendezvous Building

FREE and open to the public

This workshop is sponsored by ISUPW, WeLEAD and the Anderson Center.

Myths and fairy tales have long woven a tapestry of gender-specific stories where girls and women manipulate their power base through gossip and tattling while boys and men engage in aggressive combat on their way to the top. And while research and reality present a more complex understanding of social interactions – humans gossip, tattle, and shape their truths, and physical conflict is no longer the prerogative of men, still, we continue to be media-captivated by representations of our old gender myths, “Gossip Girls”, highly comedic or overly dramatic portrayals of gay men, and heterosexual male heroes with power, prowess and prestige. With more women than men in higher education, completing degrees, moving forward in management and the professions, why would girls and women still engage in relational aggression, find power through disempowering other women, and sabotage themselves by engaging in strategies that are ultimately disempowering? In what ways are men participants (even as observers)? And, how can any of us support interventions that create safer, more honest and constructive social and professional environments?

This workshop will explore the ways in which we engage in conflict, navigate power, and manipulate our social or professional status, particularly in same-sex or identity-based groups. Through interactive and creative small group projects, participants will look at the ways in which relational aggression can sabotage even the most well-intentioned and enjoyable event and, given a bit of wit and luck, provide us with moments of mediation, leadership and, perhaps, new insights for success.

Dr. Candace Rosovsky has been involved in issues of women and gender studies since the 1970s, when a small group of community college students asked her help in starting the first women’s organization on their campus. Since then, she has taught women’s studies at the University of Washington, University of Cincinnati and Vanderbilt University and directed two university Women’s Centers: Middle Tennessee State University’s June Anderson Women’s Center and the Women’s Center at the University of Hawai`i at Hilo (UHH). While at UHH, Dr. Rosovsky also taught that campus’s first LGBT Studies class. Dr. Rosovsky earned her B.A. in English, an M.A.T. from Brown University, and her Ph.D. in Education, with an emphasis on women in higher education. She also completed the HERS/Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration. Balancing her belief that we are best served by an equal appreciation for the arts and a commitment to social justice and systemic change, she is both a published poet and a tireless advocate for women and under-represented groups, developing programs and workshops on race and gender, Safe Zone, the advancement of women in higher education, women working with women, and women’s leadership. Dr. Rosovsky has served on state and national advisory boards and commissions and, from 2008-2010, served as co-chair of the National Women’s Studies Association Women’s Centers Committee and on the NWSA Governing Council. Honored by local and national organizations for her work, Dr. Rosovsky continues to serve as a committee advocate for the homeless and continues as a mentor for men and women aspiring to attend college and graduate school.

For additional information, please contact the Anderson Center at 282-2805.

*LUNAFEST, a Festival of Short Films in Pocatello & Idaho Falls

The Anderson Center is pleased to announce screenings of LUNAFEST:
Thursday, March 10: Pocatello Screening
7:00 pm, Rendezvous Suite, Rendezvous Building
Free and open to all. Donations cheerfully accepted.
For additional information on the Pocatello screening, please call 282-2805.

Tuesday, March 15: Idaho Falls Screening
12, Noon, Multipurpose Room, Bennion Student Union
Free and open to all. Donations cheerfully accepted.
For additional information on the Idaho Falls screening, please call 282-7866.

Join us for a screening of fun and thought-provoking short films, by, for, and about women, from the U.S. and around the world!

The Translator – A foreign film translator finds her story on a subway line.
Getting a Grip - Meet Fannie Barnes who became the first woman cable car operator in January 1998 – at age 52.
Touch - Two women make an unusual connection while waiting for a train.
Tightly Knit - A new generation of yarn bombers and social knitters discover that the ties that bind are sometimes made of wool.
Top Spin - With hard work and family sacrifice, a young table tennis champion works towards becoming one of the top players in the world.
Thembi’s Diary - Nineteen-year-old Thembi records an audio diary of her struggle to live with AIDS.
Mother of Many - The most dangerous journey sometimes needs a helping hand -- a midwife. Irene - Ninety-two-year-old Irene suffers from Alzheimer’s, but struggles to keep her independence.
Miracle Lady - A tale of two old women who spend their days waiting.
Love on the Line - Follow the dots and dashes when star-crossed lovers curbed their raging hormones via the quickest form of communication available: the telegraph.

LUNAFEST was established in 2000 by LUNA, the makers of the Whole Nutrition Bar for Women, to simultaneously promote women filmmakers, raise awareness for women’s issues, and support worthy women’s nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Proceeds will benefit The Breast Cancer Fund. Additional information about LUNAFEST is available at www.lunafest.org.

For additional information, please contact the Anderson Center at 282-2805.

*Women’s History Month Keynote: Andi Zeisler, co-founder of Bitch Media

Friday, March 11
7 pm

Rendezvous Suite, Rendezvous Building
FREE and open to the public

Ms. Zeisler’s Keynote will address the intersections of popular culture, feminism, and activism, particularly in the context of new technology.

Andi Zeisler is the co-founder and editorial/creative director of Bitch Media, the nonprofit best known for publishing the quarterly magazine Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture. The magazine began in 1996 as an all-volunteer ‘zine with a circulation of 300 and is now an internationally distributed quarterly magazine with a circulation of 50,000. Bitch Media itself is a reader-supported multimedia organization devoted to education and media literacy.

A longtime freelance writer, editor, and illustrator, Andi’s work has appeared in numerous periodicals and newspapers, including Ms., Mother Jones, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, Utne, BUST, the Women’s Review of Books, Skirt!, The Bark, and Hues. She is a former pop-music columnist for the SF Weekly and the East Bay Express, and has contributed to the anthologies Young Wives’ Tales and Secrets and Confidences: The Complicated Truth About Women’s Friendships (both from Seal Press). She is the coeditor of BitchFest: 10 Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and the author of Feminism and Pop Culture (Seal Press). She now lives in Portland, Oregon with her family and speaks frequently on the subject of feminism and the media at various colleges and universities.

This talk is co-sponsored by the Faculty Senate Cultural Affairs Council.

For additional information on other upcoming Women’s History Month events, please consult the calendar found on the Anderson Center website: www.isu.edu/andersoncenter.


Rebecca Morrow, Ph.D.
Director, Anderson Gender Resource Center
Idaho State University
208-282-2805
www.isu.edu/andersoncenter