by Suzanne Kirkpatrick
This year’s opening meeting of the Bennington Branch of AAUW started out, as usual, with a potluck, and what a wonderful day it was. The sun was shining brightly, an oddity for this summer, and put all who attended into a good mood. Together, we created a spectacular spread with desserts being in the majority. No one complained. As usual, there was much conversation, so much so that the games that some people brought were pretty much ignored. What an excellent start to a new year.
We did run into a few problems with our October program. We were supposed to have a program on immigrants living in Bennington and in other towns in Vermont, but our source for a speaker for the program was very slow in responding. It finally got so close to the date that the program committee had to scramble to find a different program. We had planned a program for spring, one in which Kathy Wagenknecht and Marianne DeKoven, both of whom have written and published memoirs, would share information about their processes and read selections from their books. When asked if they could possibly get their presentation ready for October, the two graciously agreed. Then, there was a further complication. Marianne became ill, so Kathy had to do Marianne‘s part of the presentation as well as her own. There was not as big a crowd as there might have been if we had had more time to advertise, but the presentation was well-received by all who attended. We are a flexible bunch! Thank you, Kathy.
Our November program is coming up very soon—November 1 at 7:00 PM on Zoom. We will get to talk with the co-author of the book The Good Life, which is a compilation of the learning from the Harvard Study of Adult Development that began during the Depression. Member Julie Mackaman will be interviewing longtime friend and co-author of the book, Robert Waldinger. Some of the questions she will ask came from the AAUW Book Club, which chose to read Dr. Waldinger’s book as its October selection. Be ready with any questions you have for him. The conclusion of the book that can be found on its cover, reads, “good relationships make us happier.” Remember to use this Zoom link: https://bit.ly/AAUWTheGoodLife
The November program tells us what makes us happy, but now I’m going to suggest another book that I think we all need to read—but it surely won’t make you happy. It tells a truth, one that is very hard to hear, one that confronts many of the myths that we have been taught since our country began. The book is The Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. I read it with the UU Reading Group, and I urge you to read it, too. Below is a summary from “Goodreads” that tells the story more clearly and succinctly than I can:
The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire. . . . In An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them.
To bring us back to a cheerier note, please be sure to put on your calendar Saturday, December 9, at 1:00 pm, the date of our holiday party when we will be together with friends, and we will all be happy! Note that the time is earlier than in the past, not to turn the event into a into a luncheon, but so we can all get home before dark. Eat before you come, then be prepared for delicious treats for dessert, camaraderie, music by Rosin the Beaux, and dancing if you choose.
I can’t believe that December is right around the corner! I’m looking forward to seeing everyone.
—Suzanne