coloring outside the lines

Provocative Perspectives Series 2007-08

All programs are held in Vista Grande Cafe, Thursdays, 7:30-9:00 a.m.
Reservations are required. To make a reservation, email Liz Cofer or call 756-0327.
Free Breakfast is served.

"A New American Identity for the Millennium"
Talk by Winona LaDuke, February 7
Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe) is an internationally respected Native American and environmental activist. She began speaking about these issues at an early age, addressing the United Nations at the age of 18, and continues to devote herself to Native and environmental concerns, as well as political and women's issues. The Harvard-educated activist is the founding director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, the co-chair of the Indigenous Women's Network, and the program director of Honor the Earth where she provides vision and leadership for the organization's Regranting Program and its Strategic Initiatives. In 1994, Time magazine named her one of America's fifty most promising leaders under forty years of age, and in 1997 she was named a Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year. LaDuke also served as Ralph Nader's vice-presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. In addition to numerous articles, LaDuke is the author of Last Standing Woman (fiction), All Our Relations (non-fiction), In the Sugarbush (children's non-fiction), and The Winona LaDuke Reader. Her most recent book is Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming (South End Press). An enrolled member of the Mississippi band of Anishinaabe, LaDuke lives with her family on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota.

"Femicide in Juarez: The Real Story Of 'Bordertown'"
Talk by Barbara Martinez Jitner, March 6
Writer / Director Barbara Martinez Jitner began her career as an award-winning director of commercials and documentaries, and produced the Showtime millennium documentary, "An American Tapestry." She is the inspiration behind the upcoming Jennifer Lopez film, "Bordertown," based on her research of the Mexican town of Juarez, which is notorious for the murders of over 400 women. Martinez Jitner is an executive producer of "American Family," the series that made history as the first Latino family drama on broadcast television when it debuted on PBS in January 2002. She wrote the PBS premiere episode that garnered unanimous critical acclaim and was soon promoted to Executive Producer. She wrote nine and directed seven of the show's first 22 episodes. As President of El Norte Productions, Martinez Jitner is currently developing several feature films for series creator and Academy Award nominee Gregory Nava including Nava's "Bordertown," "Zapata" for Disney, and "Tattooed Soldier" for HBO.

"The Art of Leadership"
Talk by Bill Strickland, April 3
In the Manchester neighborhood of Pittsburgh's North Side, Bill Strickland forged a series of programs to bring new life to the community. At one end of the lifeline is the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild which aims to rescue at-risk school kids by using the arts to teach them life skills. At the other end is the Bidwell Training Center Inc., an innovative partnership with local companies to train displaced adults for real work in real jobs. Since their inception, the two programs have each grown into more than $3 million-a-year operations. Strickland serves as president and CEO, the linchpin that holds all of the parts together. Building on that success, new centers have been built in Cincinnati, San Francisco, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, and more are planned across the country. In the course of his remarkable journey he has won a MacArthur Genius grant, lectured at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, served on the Board of the National Endowment for the Arts, and received the "Coming Up Taller" Award, presented to him at the White House by former first lady Hillary Clinton. Strickland also founded the MCG Jazz series, the longest running and most successful jazz subscription series in America, which has produced over 1,200 concerts and garnered three Grammys.

"Sustaining Movement: Generational Cycles in the Gay Community"
Talk by Glenda Russell, May 8
Glenda Russell, Ph.D. is a psychologist, an educator, a researcher, a therapist, and an activist. She was a member and chair of the American Psychological Association's Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns. She is currently the co-chair of the Public Policy Committee of Society for the Study of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues of the American Psychological Association. She is the author of two books, Voted Out: The Psychological Consequences of Anti-gay Politics and Conversations about Psychology and Sexual Orientation, as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the recipient of the Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions from the Society for the Study of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues of the American Psychological Association. She currently works as an independent researcher and as a psychotherapist in Boulder, Colorado where she also teaches adjunctively at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

For more information on any of these events, email Joy Pedersen Harkins or call her at 756-6749.

Persons with disabilities may request accommodations in advance by contacting the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs at 756-1521.

Program sponsors and supporters: Division of Student Affairs, Cal Poly Corporation, University Advancement, Student Life and Leadership, Dean of Students Office, University Diversity Enhancement Committee, Multicultural Center and Career Services. Special thanks to Days Inn of San Luis Obispo for providing accommodations for our speakers.