image description
Women and a few men packed the seats at Simon's Rock for the 10th annual Women's Day Conference.

Women's Conference Encourages Justice Through Writing

By Nichole DupontiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

Journalist Christina Asquith talks about women's rights in a 'new' Iraq.
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Women's History Month kicked off with a bang and a lot of introspection in the Berkshires.

The 10th annual International Women's Day Conference held at Bard College at Simon's Rock on Saturday hosted a packed house of students, teachers, business owners, writers and artists from across the county.

The conference theme "Women Write the World" drew presenters from literary genres including American Indian poet Deborah A. Miranda, journalist Christina Asquith, novelist and essayist Nathalie Etoke, and biologist, author and keynote speaker Sandra Steingraber, to name a few. According to conference founder and Simon's Rock professor Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez, this wide selection of writers do share the common thread of activism in their work and their public voices.

"We have women here from every walk imaginable, so we have a lot to talk about this afternoon," she said on Saturday. "When I first started this conference, I was struck by the fact that International Women's Day was celebrated all over the globe but rarely was it celebrated in the U.S. Yet here in the Berkshires, we have been supported by many local businesses and individuals. This conference contains a double-entendre of 'write' and 'rights' and how women use writing to make the world a better place."

Browdy outlined the many contributions of women's storytelling and writing, beginning with "Sheherezade's 1001" tales to Emma Goldman's unabashed support of socialism and body rights.

"The connection is that a woman, in any time period, was using a pen and her voice to demonstrate that the very personal is political," she said.

For most of the presenters, the personal experience, be it heritage, war, menopause or disease, is often what inspired the call to political action via words and writing. Asquith, a 15-year veteran journalist who spent 18 months as a correspondent in Baghdad, chronicled the her observations of the effects of war on Iraqi women in her book, "Sisters in War: Love, Survival and Family in the New Iraq."


Omotayo Jolaosha and Pauline Dongala address the state of women in Africa.
"I was in my 20s in a bar in New York City watching the TV in the corner of the room," she said. "[President] Bush was on talking about how our goal in Iraq was, of course, to run out its terrorists and liberate its women. That really struck me and for weeks I thought about how I didn't know anything about women's rights in Iraq or even in this country. How were we going to bring women's rights to Iraq and would they even want these rights? I bought a ticket to Kuwait and hitchhiked to Baghdad. I stayed there for nearly two years."

Once in Iraq, Asquith discovered that the women there were strongly divided when it came to issues of "liberation."

"Women's rights did not spring forth once the Americans arrived," she said. "In fact, many women I spoke with were afraid to leave their homes because the streets became extremely unsafe. Many also rejected the way that Americans lived and they did not see these choices as expressions of freedom. There were conferences around the country as women discussed what to do in the 'new Iraq.' Some women would be shouting at each other, things got nasty and personal. There was a strong debate amongst Iraqi women."

The outspoken political arena of war presented a stark contrast to the voices of women of Congo-Brazzaville and other parts of Africa, who for years have been silenced by war and a social structure that favors silence over empowerment.  Pauline Dongala, a bachelor's degree student at Simon's Rock who fled her native Congo in 2000, said her mission is to break the silence by using her voice and the voice of her 74-year-old mother.

"I am giving voice to those who have not had the chance to be heard," Dongala said. "The last time my mother visited me in Great Barrington, I interviewed her. My purpose was to let my mother speak her own words as a wife and then a widow who raised and supported 14 children on her own in a place where widows have no protection. She said her purpose became to 'see my children focus on their studies. This gave me strength.' She lives in France now, she is 74 years old and she is going to school to learn to read and write."

Overcoming obstacles of gender, race and culture can be, according to Steingraber, an insurmountable task fraught with fear, especially when we ruminate on the future of the environment.


Keynote speaker Sandra Steingraber
"We are in the middle of an ecological holocaust," she said. "People are closing their eyes and acting like good Germans. We are as dependent on fossil fuels now as we were on slave labor. These issues tend to create a feeling of paralyzing fear where the only way to console yourself is to turn away."

She said that this "well-informed futility syndrome" can only be overcome by "reaching out to the hearts" of people, not with overwhelming numbers and data, but with images and metaphors.

"I rely on story and narrative. It can do things that data can't," she said. "For Halloween, my son at age 4 wanted to be a polar bear. I made him the costume with the knowledge that the costume would outlast the species. And what about all the butterfly, bee and penguin costumes hanging in the closets? Behind every data point is a life."

In fact, according to Steingraber, life even in its beginning stages, is in danger of contamination.

"Women's bodies are the first environment for all of us," she said. "With that knowledge we have a responsibility to action. As parents we have two duties, to keep our kids safe from harm and to protect their future. Climate change and other disasters are robbing us as parents of our sacred duties."
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
View Full Story

More Great Barrington Stories