GTW’s NEWSLETTER, Spring 2009

 DEAR WOMEN OF THE WORLD,
We are delighted to be sending out our first GTW Newsletter of 2009 just as Spring is unfolding in the northern hemisphere. Like many of you, we have been in transition to a new leadership, a new web presence, and a new wave of invitation and collaboration.

In these challenging times, we are more deeply committed than ever to gathering women’s wisdom, leadership, and new ideas for collaborative action, and to fostering global unity in whatever way we can. Please join us through our website www.gatherthewomen.org , and watch for our new launch there, inviting you into yet a deeper wave of unfolding women’s yearning, passion and leadership together, for change at every level of society.

Please forward our letter to anyone you feel is feeling the call to gather…

Blessings on us all,
Marilyn, Joy, Clare, Beth, Barbara, and Anne

HIGHLIGHTS
Below you will find:
1. An appreciation for Jeanie DeRousseau, who is moving from the leadership at GTW to her initiative LightPages (www.LightPages.net), offering support systems for women and their organizations to collaborate online.
2. Reports of gathering in-person from GTW’s International Women’s Day gatherings across the country, including Alaska, California, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York / Florida… developing relationships locally that make a difference.
3. Our excitement about stretching into gathering through different online networking systems with our vision of women moving forward together, small local groups becoming a visible global presence on the Internet!

A BOUQUET OF APPRECIATION FOR JEANIE DeROUSSEAU
Jeanie has served tirelessly on the leadership core of Gather the Women Global Matrix for somewhere around 5 years….feels like 10…….and we only started 7 years ago!! She has been unofficially our communications~technoAngel. Having prepared our newsletter, updated our web site, wove us into her LightPages, networked us across the country and served as inspiration, songstress and “whatdoyaneed” person. …more

CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY, MARCH 8
Well, March has come and gone!! And some of us are still recovering from our Gather the Women celebrations of International Women’s Day.

GTW North Bay Region, CA celebrated International Women’s Day with the theme “Leadership: Nurturing Change in a Shifting Paradigm.” More than 75 women gathered on Saturday, March 7 (10 am to 3 pm) in Petaluma, California to enjoy presenters, singing, laughing, African drumming, body movement, circle conversations, and a potluck lunch.
The gathering was hosted by regional coordinator Beth Blevins, …more

Juneau, Alaska:  The Juneau Gather the Women March event focused on women taking the lead to save the planet. This worked well with the National Women's History Month theme of "Women Working to Save the Planet". We used the dyad technique, having two women talk to each other, to share what we're doing now and what concrete things we'd like to do in the future. In circle, we shared those conversations.

We took turns reading the CASTLE Principles of Courage, Authenticity, Service, Truthfulness, Love, and Effectiveness (Lance Secretan, "One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership"). Each principle fit into environmental leadership …more

Florida and the United Nations: Ann Smith, Regional Coordinator from Florida, along with others hosted a Sophia 2010 UN Commission on the Status of Women Meeting workshop titled Engaging Men in Sharing Responsibility in Caregiving. This was co-facilitated by Peggy Sebera, Millionth Circle and Jane Gignoux, World Café. The workshop space was too small to contain all who wanted to participate …more

In Rapid City, South Dakota, women gathered from all over the Black Hills area on Mar. 7, 2009, to be together in circle for uncommon conversation. Women are so hungry for this type of gathering that we had over 50 women of all ages, color, and orientations come together for what was for many a first in a circle of this kind. We called the directions, read a poem by Nelson Mandela and each woman put a stone in the circle as she introduced herself; on the stone, she wrote a quality of a leader that either she possessed or that she admired in another person. Our circle was completed as we closed it with the words, "Woman to Woman, I give you my hand, Woman to Woman, I take your hand."
We watched Meg Wheatley's DVD on Women and Leadership and then broke into smaller circles to discuss 4 questions:
1. Who is a leader to you and what attributes does a leader have? …more

GTW St. Cloud, Minnesota: The 7th annual Gather The Women in celebration of International Women’s Day was held on Saturday, March 21, 2009 at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN (near St. Cloud, MN). Our event included about 200 women of all cultures living in this Central Minnesota area (Ethiopian, Sudanese, Somalian and other African countries, Mexico, African Americans, Native Americans, European and Oriental Americans). An exhibit of photographs entitled “Remarkable Women of Central Minnesota” were displayed in the assembly hall. …more

GTW Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A group of eight women gathered in my apartment on Saturday, March 7th to celebrate International Women's Day. As we lit the candle in the center of our circle we remembered and invoked the presence of women from various parts of the world. After getting acquainted and sharing our experiences of gathering with women, we viewed the Jean Houston segment from the Seeding Circles DVD which prompted more conversation. As we closed the circle and blessed each other I felt I had witnessed again the self-empowerment that happens when women gather in circles. …more

Santa Barbara, California. It was a small but dynamic gathering. Two friends and I set out in my Titanium Mazda Minivan to travel from Santa Barbara to Ojai, CA, very aware that we were traveling on International Women's Day. There was a metaphorical intention... women in motion, going deep into the heart of mother earth (Ojai is a very sacred space), grounding their inner calls to express their full potential and to serve humanity-in-transition. …more

GTW Nevada County, California gathered with 200 women on March 8th at our local Veteran’s Hall. Our theme: Women Leading the Way: Generation-to-Generation. In an effort to experiment with a new format, we had a platform build in the middle of the room, and we had 3 rows in concentric circles. And rather than speakers at a podium our speakers moved around the stage and it felt very intimate and connecting. We also moved away from panels that sit in a row and speak to the audience and instead created a “fishbowl” in which 8 women leaders from ages 29~78 sat in conversation while the audience listened in. That was followed by a meditation in which women imagined their leader-self, her qualities and appearance. She then stood up and stepped into HER. Many reported powerful experiences of alignment and insight. Breaking into about 20 circles around the room, the participants responded to the same questions heard earlier in the fishbowl. …more

GTW in CYBERSPACE
Seven years ago, at the birth of Gather the Women, we once described ourselves as “Internet driven “. And without a doubt, the Internet has given us access and connection with women around the world. Through email conversations, forums and newsletters we have connected electronically. BUT no less through the heart as through cyberspace.

Thanks to Jeanie and Beth Blevins we have an Internet presence that will grow and serve to keep the golden thread of women’s wisdom and support connected. Very soon we will launch our new web site, so please keep your eye on our site: www.Gatherthewomen.org, and join us through the connection there to GTW’s LightPages.

LEST we forget: I encourage all of you to visit www.gtw-archive.org/index.html. Carol Hansen Grey has kept our archives and past achievements maintained here, AND I found it very energizing to look back at our beginnings, and all of the wisdom and guidance we gained from our founders and those who joined us along the way.

From our first steps online with Carol’s web work and then through GTW’s LightPages, we are stretching our reach and influence into other areas of the Internet, including Facebook. If you’re a Facebook devotee, be sure to get involved at www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=54166786273&topic=9331. We also have a You Tube Channel youtube.com/gatherthewomen full of many inspiring gatherings, and a new social network at www.gatherthewomen.ning.com

NING is an easy way to gather online for even the most technology-challenged computer beginners. We encourage our Regional Coordinators and others to check it out. Gather the Women of Nevada County (Grass Valley/Nevada City area of Northern California) has just launched their site: www.gatherthewomennc.ning.com.
[NOTE: the nc (for Nevada County) We could see many more like: Gatherthewomenla.ning.com (Los Angeles) or Gatherthewomenstc.ning.com (St Cloud MN.) SO use your imaginations! And gear them into your local community.]

And don’t forget to let us all know about your online gathering… just as though you were meeting in person… and be sure to tell us about yourself and any new projects that are arising as well. Enter GTW's LightPages through our website www.gatherthewomen.org, create your LightPage, and post your messages to our Bulletin Board! We’ll do our best to reflect back the big picture of women's wisdom activated around the world!