A WAKE UP CALL - the feature film in development by VFA member Barbara Masry and Adam Nadler explores the after-effects of cancer on two families and the evolution of a couple's self-awareness, growth and renewal and vividly dramatizes the racial and political aspects of cancer in our society. It serves viewers a big message with universal themes in a humorous, identifiable style. Go to:
www.awakeupcallfilm.com, and “friend” A Wake-up Call movie on Facebook.
A MATTER OF SIMPLE JUSTICE, THE UNTOLD STORY OF BARBARA HACKMAN FRANKLIN, by Lee Stout. The late Catherine East, whom Betty Friedan called "The midwife of the feminist movement," and VFA's first honoree in 1993, with her cohort, Mary Eastwood, helped me organize VFA in the early years. Catherine, who knew everyone in D.C., once told me that the Nixon administration did more for women's rights than any other president. In 1971 President Nixon appointed Barbara Hackman Frances to recruit women for high-level government jobs, an effort which resulted in tripling the number of women in government. Her story is told in this book. Yes, there were once many Republicans, women and men, who were pro feminist. A MUST READ! P.S. Barbara Hackman Franklin has always been a member of VFA .
JOSEPHINE BUTLER, A COLLECTION OF POETRY by Susan H. Maurer got rave reviews. Susan has been nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize and her works have been published in fifteen countries. Among her anthology appearances are the Unbearables Help Yourself, Autonomedia, and Soft Skull's Off the Cuffs. Magazine credits include "Virginia Quarterly Review", "Confrontation", "Gargoyle", and "Volt". She has read at venues such as Poets House, St. Mark's Poetry Project, The National Arts Club, New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Susan was born in California and moved to New York at age 15. On reading "A Feminine Mystique" she decided to have a career. After a divorce she started a consciousness raising group in NYC, and another in St. Louis, where she went to finish her social work Master's. Back in New York she was one of the planners of the N.O.W. Sexuality Conference and became a liaison vice president of NYC N.O.W. She also chaired the psychology committee, the reproduction and its control committee, and with Enid Keljik started the committee dealing with battered wives. She did a lot of public speaking, including speaking out against street sweeps before a Democratic Convention to free the streets from single woman standing on the corners, which resulted in non-prostitutes being hauled in. She says that her friendship with Florynce Kennedy changed her life.
As a child she won a vote for the best short story in her class and her teacher accused her of copying it, so, when she wrote her first poetry she kept it secret. Her first two poems were published in Junior High School when a teacher found out her secret, but back she went to closet writing until at age 55 when poet Bill Kushner, who did not know she was writing, encouraged her to write. She is a publication junkie and loves to give readings.
To reach Susan: sumaurer@hotmail.com
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