March - April 2025 Bulletin Issue 51
| March is Women's History Month
The things represented in these photos represent Progress. The literal wheeling away and the un-corseting of restrictions. As women took up bicycling in the late 1800s, they ushered in changes that led to progress for women. An April 2024 article from Saturday Evening Post summed up those changes: "The bicycle opened doors for women, inextricably linking function, fashion, and freedom."
"Let me tell you", Susan B Anthony said, "What I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It was a picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton is quoted to have approved of the fashions associated with bicycles, saying that "finally, the world would recognize that women too have two functional legs and are willing to use them." . . . .
| THINK LOCAL: A Citizen’s Guide to Municipal Government
An educational event covering all of New York State. Open to the public.
Preregister Here
Join us to better understand your municipality’s functions and how this level of government most directly affects you. Learn how to find out what is going on in your town or city, as well as how to become engaged and potentially affect positive change. Speakers include Patricia Sibilia, League of Women Voters of Albany County, Patricia Strach, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, and Paul Wolf, New York Coalition for Open Government. Please feel free to share this flyer with others. You must register to receive the zoom link. | | | LWVAC Opportunities: Respond Before This May
Seeking LWV Albany County Board Candidates. LWVAC’s Nominations Committee is hard at work reaching out to members about positions on the Board for the term beginning in 2025 and ending in 2027. Please contact Chairperson Amy Vastola to suggest a possible candidate for the upcoming slate. Reach her at nomin.lwvac@gmail.com.
Call for Volunteers for the Annual Meeting Committee. The organizing committee for the Annual Membership Meeting, to be held at the end of June, is seeking volunteers to help plan and run the meeting. There are different facets to arranging the meeting, so we need a variety of people with differing skills. Contact Christine Florez, chrisgflorezlwvac@gmail.com. | LWVAC Members: Prepare for the Consensus Meeting on the Federal Judiciary Study
April 7, 2025, 7:00- 8:30 pm, Bethlehem Public Library
At the 2024 National LWVUS Convention, the delegates voted to proceed with a study to develop a League position on the Federal Judiciary, an essential component of US democracy. The position, to be added to the Impact on Issues document. will be the basis for evaluating and taking action on proposed changes to policies, laws, and regulations about the federal judiciary. Learn about the study and consensus in our brief.Members also are invited to learn more about the study at the LWV Saratoga County online meeting, March 27. Register for that session here. | Message from the President
“Is our sky falling?”
I have felt overwhelmed by news and actions from the federal government, which can seem destined to destroy democracy and humanity. So I turn to local events and local needs, where it seems we have more leverage. I am not alone, I know. Many of us, League members and followers, are working on local issues and ideas: Municipal Government, Observer Corp, Voter Registration, local meetings on standards for the Federal Judiciary System and on rank choice voting- open primaries- election processes, and of course, rallies, marches and actions to express our objections and demands.
Marggie Skinner, a life member of LWVAC, sent me a Substack link which encouraged me and may lift your spirits. One Rock a Day is from The Optimistic Activist by Anita Sanchez, who tells us, “Don’t disengage. Do one thing a day. It matters.”
I recommend that you look at One Rock a Day and that you find people and events that give you hope, even as these days seem difficult or impossible. When you find something that helps - send me a note!
In League,
| Thank you to LWVAC volunteers Margo Singer, Donna Dixon, Colleen Maloney-Luck, Julie Elson, Janet Reilly, Marianne Purcell, and Rosemary Harrigan who welcomed 30 new citizens and helped them register to vote at a February 14 - Valentine's Day - ceremony.
High School Voter Registration Team
Our team has begun connecting with High Schools to determine options for registering students this semester prior to the May 20 School Budget/Library Vote and the NYS Primary on June 24, 2025. We are looking to conduct voter registration drives, celebrate students as “First Time Voters”, and, possibly, assist a High School in serving as a site for a Naturalization ceremony. Come join us! We are seeking members who would like to “back up” our team, and help us provide meaningful civics experiences to students and faculty. Email Marggie Skinner or Maureen Bernstein.
Students Inside Albany
Congratulations to Suhana Kira from Shaker High School and Angelina Mantoo from Guilderland High School who are our two winners of the SIA competition. Other schools represented this year were Albany, Colonie Central and Clayton Bouton High Schools. We are also celebrating all of the students who, over the last 2 years, have competed to attend the “SIA” conference. Working with the Albany County Legislature, we are inviting these students and faculty to Legislative meeting to observe our local government in action. | | DEI Bookshelf
Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino"
by Héctor Tobar
2023, 244 pages, paperback, e-book, and audiobook
In this well-written and moving book, writer and educator Tobar explores the promises and contradictions within the Latino “people” and the role race has played in American history and culture. The book combines a description of his personal experiences with the personal accounts from his Latino students and those of Hispanic people, documented and undocumented, he met while traveling around the United States. Read the entire recommendation.
| | | | Donna Dixon,Albany
Jessica Mlyniec, Albany
Jacqueline Blass,Rensselaer
Sarah Stern, Albany
Michelle & Benjamin Bucinell, Albany
Pam Clements, Albany
Anne Bailey, Guilderland
|
| Betsy Dollard, Guilderland
Emily Avis, Albany
Art and Joan Johnson, Albany
Meredith Gorman-Smith, Loudonville
Kathleen Delaney, Albany
Diane Delmonico, Albany
Theresa Cleary, Glenmont |
|
| Jenessa Seymour, Albany
Omarra Hannibal-Williams, Voorheesville
Lisa Stoller, Loudonville
Shannon Sutorius, Albany
Linda Bernardi, Altamont
Carol Dillon, Delmar
Kelly Mateja, Loudonville
|
|
In Memoriam
We honor Jack Rothstein who passed February 2025, widower of Marilyn Rothstein (2020). Both Jack and Marilyn were strong supporters of the League. Marilyn was co-chair of the Citizens for a County Executive in Albany; Jack’s obituary requested donations on their behalf to the LWVAC, a generous gesture. May their memories be a blessing. | Coming Up
Mark your calendar for May 4! LWVAC will be hosting a tour of the Albany Institute for History and Art's special exhibit, Americans Who Tell the Truth. Keep an eye out for details and the full program in future newsletters. Read about the exhibit.
May 6, 2025 LWVNYS Lobby Day Join the State League to let your voice be heard up at the Capitol this spring for Advocacy Day! This will be a full day event. We will hear from speakers in the morning and then head up to the Capitol to lobby our representatives in the afternoon. Register for Lobby Day here.
| The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan grassroots organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
| |