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Things keep moving. Here are a few of them:
First, more on Upcoming Events.
We now have more details in place about the weekend workshop/retreat for male survivors to be held in Los Angeles October 7-9, 2006. You can get the information at the Events page.
The events keep developing for my Australia trip in 2007. We now have male survivor workshops and professional trainings planned for Perth (Western Australia), Melbourne (Victoria), and Darwin (Northern Territory). Although it is still early days, there might be more in other locations, as we have had enquiries from individuals and organizations in New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania. Again, check the Events page for more details and contact information.
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Thom Harrigan participated in the development of a recent
conference held on March 25th. Called “In
Our Backyards: Modern Day Slavery and Trafficking”, the
event was co-sponsored by Simmons College, Trafficking Victims
and Outreach Services (TVOS) Network, the Safety/Net Project, Project
RIGHT, El Encuentro: Voices of Afro Latinos, and the
South Asia Solidarity Network. The conference focus was on the
highly secretive, illegal trade of humans for involuntary servitude that
occurs daily in Boston and Massachusetts. Speakers included survivors
and a wide range of social service, governmental, and educational leaders.
You can read more about this event at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/03/26/forum_stresses_growing_problem_of_human_trafficking/
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In April, I attended a reading and discussion by Carolyn Lehman, author of the excellent new book Strong at the Heart: How it Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse. The event was sponsored by the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Women’s Center. Carolyn is a smart and engaging presenter. She read from several statements by the courageous young survivors whose stories make up the book.
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Also last month actor/playwright/author Martin Moran took a short break from his featured role in the Broadway production of Monty Python’s Spamalot (this update is beginning to sound a bit like a celebrity column) to do a well-received single performance of his play The Tricky Part in London, England. You can find information about future performances of this important play and the book (now in paper back) at http://www.thetrickypartbook.com/index_content.html
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Jane Doe Inc. Voices for Change is the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. Their Web site is: http://www.janedoe.org/
The Men's Initiative for Jane Doe Inc (MIJD) is a collaboration of men's outreach projects throughout the state of Massachusetts organizing support from men in their communities for Jane Doe Inc. statewide and its member organizations locally.
Purposes:
- To encourage men and boys to speak up in ending sexual assault, domestic abuse and oppression
- To connect and support male leaders of all ages and backgrounds with projects to end violence and oppression
- To build men's partnership with women in the work to end violence against women, men and children.
Learn more about them at http://www.mijd.org/pn/index.php
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Ken Clearwater and the men at Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust (MSSAT) in Christchurch, New Zealand continue to make waves and change attitudes about male sexual victimization. They are also making sure that important issues of abuse and recovery are not ignored. Learn more at http://www.survivor.org.nz/
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I received the following information in an e-mail from Steve
Wineman, author of Power-Under: Trauma and Nonviolent
Social Change:
"I wanted to follow up and give you a little more information about
the book. It explores relationships between oppression, trauma, the internalization
of powerlessness, cycles of violence, and building movements for nonviolent
social change. You might particularly be interested in a chapter on gender
in which, among other things, I discuss ways in which boys and men are
traumatized by male stereotyping and scripting in the dominant culture.
The book is posted on my website, http://www.TraumaAndNonviolence.com
and there is also a free download of the entire book in PDF from the website.
I sell print copies for $10 plus shipping."
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Finally, I found this quote in a mystery novel by John Shannon:
“Whatever is unnamed, undepicted, in images … whatever is misnamed as something else, made difficult to come by, whatever is buried in the memory by the collapse of meaning under inadequate or lying language, this will become, not merely unspoken, but unspeakable.”
Adrienne Rich
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More next time. Please take good care of yourself. Speak your truth.
Mike
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