Fall 2005 Alumnae Quarterly Web Extra

“Superwomen: Activist Alumnae Are Changing Our World”

For more information about the causes championed by alumnae quoted in this article, please check the Web sites below. [Annotations are by Avice A. Meehan ’77, who wrote the Quarterly article.]

• Community Technology Centers Network (Amy R. Lesser ’94)
www.ctcnet.org
For information about how to get involved as a volunteer, through Americorps/VISTA, etc., visit www.ctcnet.org/get_involved/index.htm

• Global Fund for Women (Kavita N. Ramdas ’85)
www.globalfundforwomen.org
The site has white papers on a number of important issues—the impact of social change philanthropy on girls, for example. You can download the annual report, read essays by Kavita, and also read profiles of her that have appeared elsewhere. And you can sign up to give a house party on behalf of the global fund.

• Interplast (Kristin Stueber ’65)
http://interplast.org

• MFY Legal Services, Inc. (Lynn M. Kelly ’78 )
www.mfy.org
The site has case studies about the work they do, as well as information about fellowships and pro bono opportunities.

• Peace Corps (Meghan (“M.E.”) Housewright ’01 and others)
www.peacecorps.gov
For information on M.E.’s work, visit www.cee.mtu.edu/peacecorps

• Physicians for Human Rights (Susannah M. Sirkin ’76)
www.phrusa.org
The site has a trove of information and you can sign up for a newsletter, etc.

• Rainforest Alliance (Diane Jukofsky ’75)
www.rainforest-alliance.org
This is a terrific site that has lots of information about sustainable agriculture. The group is also working on a sustainable tourism initiative as a way of engaging Americans. There are also a number of electronic newsletters, etc.

• Roe v. Wade (Virginia Bulkley Whitehill ’50)
Two books on this landmark legal case:
Roe v. Wade: Marking the 20th Anniversary of the Landmark Supreme Court Decision that Made Abortion Legal, by Marian Faux. [Note: The writer worked very closely with Ginny on this book and even camped out with a neighbor in order to dig through her voluminous trove of clippings and other documents.]
A Question of Choice, by Sarah Weddington

• U.S. Agency for International Development (Tracey Hebert ’92)
www.usaid.gov
The most detailed information about what’s going on in Liberia can be found by going to www.reliefweb.int and searching on Liberia; or go to the CIA factbook Web site: www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/li.html

SPLURGE YR LIFE BY DOING SOMETHING YOU LOVE. My husband Paul is a musician. He says that the concept of talent is overrated because ‘talent’ is really the gift of love. ‘Talent’ happens when yr in love with something and you devote yr life to it and its yr love of it that makes you want to keep doing it, its yr love of it which helps you overcome the obstacles along the way, and its yr love of it that begets a talent for it. — Suzan-Lori Parks ’85, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, commencement address, 2001