Zontalines

ZONTALINES

February 2004

In this issue:

Page

1	A Venetian Carnival
2	Meeting Information Pink M & M’s Old Cell Phones Needed
3	President’s Corner Convention 2004 Update Black History Month – Sojourner Truth
4	Calendar of Events Celebrating Amelia Earhart’s Life Sojourner Truth (continued)
5	Proposals for Membership: Laura Zeff Eva Kirchlechner Angela Kravetz Little Bits of News
6	Club Officers February Birthdays

Text Box:

"A Venetian Carnival"
Tuesday, February 3rd

Join us for an exciting evening of Carnival fun -- Italian style! We have an action-packed program from the minute you enter our Carnival (complete with masks!), experience a dynamic speaker and special meal, to a hands on service project at the end of the evening.
This program is a tribute to our clubs in Italy, especially our newest Zonta International club in Saluzzo, Italy. You will be learning a lot that evening

the exciting story behind the creation of Carnival in Venice, Italy
the latest about our sister clubs in Italy and what they do for service and fund raising projects
the exciting news about our newest club in Saluzzo

To further add to the festivities of the evening, we will be signing and sending a birthday card for the Saluzzo club to share our best wishes for their future success. A photo op of us all in our Carnival masks will also be included in our card to them -- what fun! And, yes, they will be coming to Convention so we will be getting an early start in forging a friendship across the miles with this new club!

A special meal (and dessert!) is planned so come join us for a very festive evening. Our guest speaker is hidden behind a mask for now and the identify will not be revealed until the night of the event -- in true Carnival style!

Ciao, Sister Zontians! (Jo Manson)

ZONTALINES provides information to members of the Zonta Club of Fairfax County on Club Activities.

Articles may be sent to the editor, Laura Sims at 8608 Pappas Way, Annandale, VA 22003 or via email to lnsims@cox.net

The deadline for submissions is the Friday following the board meeting, held on the third Tuesday of the month.

Meeting Information

Social time begins at 6:00 pm,and dinner is served at 6:30 pm. The address of the meeting location is :

     Marco Polo Restaurant
    245 Maple Ave
    Vienna, VA

Call (703)281-3922 for directions

Please call the Zonta Club of Fairfax County Information line at (703) 866-7167 to ensure a reservation for guests.

Consistent with club policy, members must call either Bobbee Cardillo or the reservation line by 12:00 noon on the Monday before the meeting to cancel their standing reservation or be charged for the meal.

The Zonta club of Fairfax County meets on the first Tuesday of each month except for July and August.

Old Cell Phones Needed

In support of our domestic violence initiative, we are collecting old cell phones to be re-issued and used at local shelters. Forward your old cell phones to Cindi Dimetros. Cindi can be reached at 703-255-1248 or you may turn them in to her at the next meeting. Please include your charger.

Text Box: Support the Fairfax County Women’s Shelter

Please contact Bobbee Cardillo if you’re interested in hands-on support. The shelter has an extensive training program: Volunteers are need for handling crisis calls, for providing support to children involved in domestic violence, and for other related programs.
A one year commitment is required because of the time the shelter invests in training volunteers.
Bobbee can be reached via e-mail at bcardillo@coldwellbankermove.com or Bobbeecardillo@hotmail.com.

Text Box:

New Pink & White M&M's

Pass this on to all of your friends. There are many women out there who have breast cancer. Lets do all we can to support them.
The makers of M&M candies has teamed up with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to raise funds through the sale of their new "pink & white " M&M candies.
For each 8-ounce bag of the special candies sold, the makers of M&M (Masterfoods) will donate 50 cents to the foundation.
The next time you want a treat, please pick up a bag (now sold in stores nationwide) - you will be donating to a great cause and satisfying your sweet tooth.

Please pass on to all your family and friends! –
Thank you.
pport the Fairfax County Women’s Shelter
or Bobbeecardillo@hotmail.com.

The weather wasn’t ideal …but it is January. The program was excellent and inspiring. And it was wonderful to see the other Zontians from the area clubs. What am I talking about?? The Amelia Earhart event held at the Woman’s Military History Museum at Arlington Cemetery. We will have other opportunities to work and visit with area clubs. The Area Workshop will be held in April and, of course, the International Convention in New York City in July. And since we are gearing up for the Convention, we want to give you an international flavor this month with our Italian theme at the regular meeting. So brave the elements and come share in the wide world that is Zonta International.

- - - - Connie

---

Convention 2004 in New York City

There is so much going on in the convention planning business these days that I don’t know where to start. Online registration seems to be going well, after initial, minor difficulty . I have heard a lot of positive feedback about the convention schedule and optional events. People seem excited about going to a convention right down the street from Times Square.

If you want to make sure you participate in the dinner cruise on the Fourth of July, register early. I think that will be the first event to sell out.. For you baseball fans, we have obtained a block of tickets to a great New York rivalry game, the Yankees and the Mets in Shea Stadium at 7:10 on Friday, July 2^nd. Make sure you get to the hotel early if you want to go to the game. The traffic can be dismal on Friday night in New York City. We have arranged for buses, so no one has to suffer behind the wheel.

The UN tour also seems to be one of the most popular events. The tour will be held twice, on Wed., July 30 and Fri. July 2. There was a date discrepancy in the Call to Convention concerning the UN Luncheon. It will be held on Wed., Jul 7. There are also some calorie-busters for the convention. Between the Dine-Arounds and the restaurants around Times Square, we more “seasoned” Zontians must ensure our waists are not strangled by our shrinking waistbands. We have incorporated a “Walk New York”, which will consist of a series of very early morning walking tours around the area, led by an enthusiastic New York Zontian

For those, like Barbara Lippa, who hate to see the sun come up, we are entitled to free use of a new state-of-the-art health club on the top floor of the hotel with terrific views. Hope to see all of you in New York City! (Judy Johnston)

Black History Month – 1851:

Sojourner Truth Addresses a Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio

Over the protests or participants, presiding officers of a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851, allowed African –American preacher Sojourner Truth to address the audience. The speech she gave provide to her most famous and enduring one.

Born a slave with the name Isabella Baumfree, this African American woman became a preacher and changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843, at the age of forty-six.

For the next forty years, he fought against slavery and segregation and for women’s rights.

This resolute crusader was born into slavery in Ulster County, New York, in 1797. At the age of nine, she was sold for the first time, along with a flock of sheep. Ultimately she was sold to the Dumont family and remained there for twenty years.

Although the Dumonts were relatively benign for slave owners, her surviving children were eventually sold.

In 1827 Truth ran away. She was taken in by a Quaker family, the Van Wagners, who supported her petition to get her son Peter back from the Alabama plantation owner who had bought him from the Dumonts.

(continued on page 4)

Calendar of Events

for

February and March

February
3	“Venetian Carnival,” 6PM, Marco Polo Restaurant, Vienna, VA
17	Board Meeting, 6:30PM, 4084 University Drive, Suite 202, Fairfax, VA
March
2	Regular Business Meeting, 6PM, Marco Polo Restaurant, Vienna, VA
16	Board Meeting, 6:30PM, 4084 University Drive, Suite 202, Fairfax, VA

Celebrating the Life of Amelia Earhart

The annual DC area Amelia Earhart event was held on Sunday afternoon, July 18, 2004. The event included a program, a tea, a raffle, and an opportunity to see a wonderful exhibit of quilts (pictured above), which were created by people of all ages in towns and cities all over the United States, inspired by the events of September 11, 2001. Thanks to the generosity of Zontians, $640 will be contributed to the AE Fellowship Fund.

The program included the film “Above and Beyond, 100 years of Women in Aviation”. The film “spans the contributions of women in aviation from 1903 to the present. It introduces viewers to such personalities as Katharine Wright, sister of the Wright Brothers, and Col. Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle commander.

One of the film's highlights is the contribution

of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, or WASPs.

The second part of the program, was entitled “Post War Iraq: A Women’s Perspective”. Col Kim Olson, USAF, told us about her experiences during a four month Iraq deployment last spring.

Sojourner Truth

(continued)

In 1843 Truth began a forty year career as a public speaker. Her first crusade was the struggle against slavery. But even at this point when abolition was still a dream, she insisted on the importance of emancipating black women not only from their status as slaves but from their unequal status as women.

Tall and majestic in appearance, she repeatedly took the podium at abolitionist meetings to argue that, for all the concern about the rights of the black men, there seemed to be little interest in the rights of black women.

If women were emancipated without reform of women’s status, they would simply be exchanging white master for black ones. Truth’s words stood as a double challenge to abolitionist who ignored women’s rights and to feminists who overlooked black women.

In 1851 Truth attended her second women’s rights convention and asked to be allowed to speak to the audience. Although many delegates object and the presiding officers were leery, they nevertheless agreed to allow her to address the convention. Her demeanor, her words, and her delivery mesmerized the audience and moved them to tear and roars of applause.

After the Civil War, Sojourner Truth protested the exclusion of women from the Fourteenth Amendment which secured the vote for black men only. Like other women’s ‘rights activists, Truth tested the amendment by attempting to vote in the presidential election of 1872 –without success.

In the post-war years until her death in 1883, Truth became more and more an advocate for women’s rights. (Excerpted from What Every American Should Know about Women’s History by Christine Lunardini, PhD)