| THIS IS WHAT A JEWISH FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE |
| It all started at Panera Bread Company in Princeton N.J. We were four Senior Fellows, running a little low on Staff Conference enthusiasm, and decided to make a run for it.... Over coffee, I told them about the March for Women's Lives, and how one of our students had expressed interest in organizing around it. Liz, Judy, Emily and I started talking... first about attending the march as JCSC's, then about trying to bring our students, then, to the idea of planning a whole weekend for the students. "Strong Voices, Strong Choices: A Weekend for the Next Generation of Jewish Women" was a collaborative effort between myself and four Senior JCSC Fellows, Liz Rutzick (Maryland), Joey Loewenstein (NYU), Judy Bacharach (American), and Emily Ackman (Georgia). We had weekly conference calls to plan the event; it turns out that planning a conference is probably one of the most complicated things you can do. But we divided up each element of the planning process as a committee. The bulk of the work for me was figuring out a way to transport and fund students from UW to go! After a couple of months of working on the Shabbaton, it became clear that I had some real work cut out for me in raising the money and recruiting the students to go on the bus. Having Lisa, the Jewish Women's Initiative Intern, make this event the centerpiece of her internship was incredibly helpful to me. As a team, we were able to strategize, and as the JCSC Fellow, I was able to help her expand her vision in terms of recruiting people to attend. After months of tireless work, 36 people loaded a coach bus at 11:45pm on Thursday, April 22nd. At midnight, the bus pulled away from 611 Langdon St. and made it's way to College Park, MD. Our ride there was 16 hours, and was absolutely painless. The students were just so excited to be there! "Strong Voices, Strong Choices" was a success. We had over 100 students there from a diverse group of campuses- men and women. Students celebrated Shabbat together at the Hillel @ Maryland, which was a very interesting experience for UW students! Maryland has a much more traditional community, and for many UW students, this was the first time they had seen Shabbat celebrated so formally. The weekend included a keynote address from Susan Weidman Schneider, editor-in-chief of Lilith Magazine, and workshops led by incredible Jewish women such as Jennifer Bleyer, founding editor of Heeb magazine. On Sunday morning, April 25th, our delegation gathered at the motel in our neon green shirts and set off for the march. The energy was electric, and the students were so enthused by the excitement of what they were about to do.... Many of the pictures speak for themselves.... but read on for a first-hand account from Lisa Bodziner, Jewish Women's Inititiave Intern. |
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| UW students Miriam, Jen and Rebecca at the March for Women's Lives |
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| Strong Voices Strong Choices: A delegation of Jewish college students! |
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| Me and Lisa B at the March! |
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| the Madison delegation gets ready to depart at midnight! |