Purdue News

February 26, 1999 Women's History Month activities slated at Purdue WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Eleven events focusing on Women's History Month will be held in March at Purdue University. All are free and open to the public. Margaret Simons, director of women's studies and professor of philosophical studies at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, will give two presentations Tuesday, March 2. The first will be a noon "brown-bag" discussion in Room 112 of the Purdue Memorial Union. Those attending should bring their own lunches. At 4 p.m., she will give a lecture on "The Origins of the Second Sex: New Evidence About Beauvoir's Early Philosophy and the Influence of Richard Wright" in Room 210/214A of Stewart Center. A reception will follow her talk. Simons earned her master's and doctoral degrees in philosophy at Purdue. She is author of "Beauvoir and the Second Sex: Feminism, Race and the Origins of Existentialism." Wednesday, March 3, there will be a motivational lecture by Jewel Diamond Taylor starting at 7 p.m. in the North Ballroom of the Purdue Memorial Union. Taylor, known as the "self-esteem doctor" from Chicago, has written articles about self-empowerment for Essence, Heart and Soul and Upscale magazines. On Tuesday, March 9, filmmaker Yvonne Welbon will show her award-winning documentary "Remembering Wei Yi-Fang, Remembering Myself..." The film explores her experiences as an African-American woman living in Taiwan. She will also show "Sister in Cinema," a documentary about three pioneering African-American women filmmakers. The showings start at 7:30 p.m. in the Krannert Building Auditorium. On Wednesday, March 10, Welbon will present a workshop on black lesbian video artists and will screen her documentary-in-progress, "Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis@100." That will run from 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. in Room B248 of the Liberal Arts and Education Building. Also on Wednesday, March 10, there will be an open discussion on diversity and multiculturalism incorporating students, staff and faculty from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Room 112 of the Purdue Memorial Union. Those attending should bring their own lunches. On Monday, March 22, Maria Eugenia Choque Quispe, an Aymara Indian from La Paz, Bolivia, will lead a discussion on gender and the movement for self-determination for indigenous peoples in Bolivia. The presentation will be conducted in Spanish only. Quispe is a fellow in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of California-Davis. The event will be from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room 114 of Stanley Coulter Hall. The discussion is in conjunction with a seminar on Latin American Feminisms. On Tuesday, March 23, there will be an open discussion on feminist pedagogy incorporating students, staff and faculty from noon to 1 p.m. in Room 112 of the Purdue Memorial Union. Those attending should bring their own lunches. On Wednesday, March 24, Susan Ressler, Purdue professor of visual and performing arts, will give a brown-bag lunch presentation about her project on American women artists. "Women Artists of the American West: An Internet Course and Online Visual Art Archive" will be the topic from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Stone Cellar (Room B2) of Stone Hall. Those attending should bring their own lunches. Playwright and director Joanne Pottlitzer will make a presentation at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 24, in the Krannert Auditorium. She will use slides, videos and music during her talk "Turning -'s into +'s: Women and Change, Metaphor and Democracy in Chile: 1973-1990." Pottlitzer earned a bachelor's degree in theater at Purdue and is founder and artistic director of the Theatre of Latin America, based in New York City. The final event of the month will be an illustrated talk by Sharra Vostral of the Department of History at Washington University about "Confidence Means Kotex: Learning to Be a Woman Through Menstrual Hygiene Advertisements." The presentation begins at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, in Room 112 of the Purdue Memorial Union. The Women's History events are co-sponsored by the Women's Studies Program, School of Liberal Arts Dean's Office, Black Cultural Center, Office of Human Relations, Women's Resource Office, the Flora Roberts Bequest, African-American Studies and Research Center, and the Departments of Philosophy, Visual and Performing Arts, and Foreign Languages and Literatures. CONTACT: Siobhan Somerville, Women's Studies office, (765) 496-2811. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page