The busy month of....March, April & May!

We are entering our less active time of the year for New Orleans NOW, but not for all of you, of course. Everyone is finishing classes, going to festivals and getting ready for the humidity. That's why we take a break for a few months while everyone gets their "ya yas" out.

Last month was Women's History Month and New Orleans was lucky to have national NOW president Kim Gandy in town to give this year's D'Orlando Lecture at the First Unitarian Church on Claiborne. This is her final few months in office and we have been lucky to have her visit us many times in the past 4 years.

She spoke about the new administration and how we have about a year, realistically, to get as much progressive stuff done for women's issues before that will be set aside for the 2010 mid-term elections. Sobering, but we have accomplished so much thus far: passage of the Lily Ledbetter Law for pay equity and dismissing the Global Gag Rule to name a few wins. Gandy reminded us that we still have a long way to go , but this is encouraging. President Obama seems willing to give women's rights a huge boost after 8 years of horrible setbacks.

Our feminist potlucks this year have been enjoyable and we're lucky that both Mary Griggs (February) and, most recently, Beth Deitch (April) opened their lovely homes to host us. We had good feminist energy, excellent conversations and great food. We also had several new people each time and we hope that they become part of our regular crew. You are always welcomed to join us and to meet interesting women for women-centric conversations...it may not fit your calendar every month, but when it does, don't be shy!

In March, we joined forces with Wine & Women on Wednesdays at Ralph's On The Park for a lively happy hour and we hope to be part of their social networking efforts for women in the year to come.

Stay tuned for our summer ideas and let us know if we can add you to our email list for monthly events. If you are interested in serving a more active role as a chapter officer or would like to involve our members in an event of interest to NOW women, please let us know.