Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990 TAG: 9003290285
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELAINE VIEL SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACK LENGTH: Medium
But she and many others in the New River Valley are happy that Women's Week, Sunday through April 7, is a reality.
As Goette puts it, "Women's Week has been hoppin'" ever since its inception nearly a decade ago.
Mariann Caine, coordinator of Women's Week 1990, said the event began when women at Virginia Tech and around the New River Valley "decided that there was no forum for the feminist perspective."
The Tech Women's Program Office calls the event "a time to celebrate the achievements, concerns and diversity of women."
Volunteers originally planned Women's Week. Now Caine is its paid coordinator. Since October, Caine and volunteers have been putting Women's Week 1990 together. Along with the workshops and discussions, a film festival has been added.
Caine speaks enthusiastically about this year's keynote speaker, Sonia Sanchez. Sanchez is a poet and author of 12 books, including "Blues Book for the Blue Black Magical Women," "Homegirls Hand Grenades" and "I've Been a Woman: New and Selected Poems."
Sanchez will receive the Paul Robeson Award in Philadelphia April 14. This award, Caine said, is for "artistic excellence, political conscience and integrity."
Sanchez will deliver the keynote address Monday at 8 p.m. at Donaldson Brown Center on "Women in the Liberation Struggle"
The week's events, which begin Sunday with a 5-kilometer run at Tech's Duck Pond, are open to the public.
The Women's Week art exhibit will open Sunday with a reception at Armory Art Gallery.
Local artist Kathy Pinkerton said the first time she showed her work was in a Women's Week show. "It was a real thrill to be in a real gallery." The exhibit shows the wide range of work done locally by women, Pinkerton added.
Women artists, she said, "are very, very supportive of each other" and this exhibit is "a place we get together and hang out work."
Another event is a book exhibit, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. daily at Donaldson Brown. Books and periodicals concerning women will be available, as well as information about publishers and information about Tech's Women's Studies program.
International Women's Showcase, which will feature Chinese folk art and a "Women of the Caribbean" photo show, also will be set up at Donaldson Brown.
Caine said one of the most exciting of the week's events should be Thursday's the "Take Back the Night" march. Beginning at 7:15 p.m. at Burruss Hall, the event will start with songs by Margaret Branch and Elizabeth McCommon.
A statement from the Women's Program Office describes the rally and march as a statement by women that they are not to blame for such violence against them as pornography, sexual harassment and violence. But women, in an effort to ensure their safety, often pay for it with their freedom. "We march to reclaim our freedom," the statement said.
The candlelight march will cross the drillfield to College Avenue and continue down Main Street. It will end back at Burruss Hall.
A Tuesday event is "Junkie: Women and Addictive Behavior," with the film "Junkie." Participant Cheryl Champion said was the program resulted from a search for a new play by a community theater she was involved with in Minnesota.
Champion said the thrust of the film is the "story of women who act out a number of scenarios" dealing with addictive behavior.
Every addiction, from food to drugs to bad relationships, is explored, Champion said.
The play, she said, was so successful and the group received so many requests to perform the play that a film was eventually made. A discussion will be held after the film.
A complete schedule of Women's Week events is included in today's Arts & Entertainment calendar.
by CNB