Recent Events

Upcoming events:

We will be speaking at East of Eden Writers Conference, making two presentations to the Rotary Club, giving a teleseminar with Linda Joy Myers for her National Association of Memoir Writers, and others. Please come back often to see what we’ve been doing to help women learn more about women’s memoirs.

Recently we made presentations at:

American Association of University Women, South Bay Writers Club, and East-West Bookstore. Below are notes and photos showing these events.

American Association of University Women

“Rosie’s Daughters Program a Hit“ read the headline of AAUW’s March newsletter, celebrating Women’s History Month.

Kendra Bonnett and I presented “The Tipping Point in Women’s History,” an overview of changes that began with Rosie the Riveter and was then moved forward by Rosie’s Daughters, the focus of our collective memoir: Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story.

More than 65 women and men came to the event. Six women read stories from the book, giving voice to their lives — a moving experience for everyone.

Our presentation included music from World War II period, brief videos, World War II posters conveying the changed image of women, information on legislation from the 1960s that opened opportunities for women, famous women born during World War II such as Billie Jean King, Nancy Pelosi, Joan Baez, Isabel Allende, Maxine Hong Kingston, Alice Waters, Leslie Stahl, Cokie Roberts, and so many more — women who became leaders in this generation of women who achieved more “firsts” in education, employment, and politics than any previous generation.

Afterwards, Kendra and I signed copies of our book and sold our Rosie the Riveter bandanas that we had designed with the special message — Share Rosie the Riveter’s Legacy: We Can Do It…Pass It On.

Proceeds from the sales were donated to AAUW’s Education Fund to assist other women achieve their education goals.

If you would like to see more images from the meeting:www.gilroyaauw.org/html/programs_2008_-_march.html

South Bay Writers Club

Kendra Bonnett spoke to an enthusiastic crowd as South Bay Writers Club about writing your way to success using the Internet. She showed how effective use of Web 2.0 lets you build on existing writing skills while improving your visibility and enhancing book sales.

As Kendra says, “this results in marketing on steroids.”

Matilda Butler spoke about collective memoirs and used Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story as her example. In his introduction to her talk, vice-president Alexander Leon said: “Rosie’s Daughters is essential reading not just for women, but perhaps even more so for men–so that we might together grow out of centuries-old prejudices about roles and genders.”

East-West Bookstore

Matilda Butler was invited by the East-West Bookstore in Mountain View, CA to give a presentation about her book, Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells its Story. There was a great audience. At the end of the presentation, I asked for questions and comments. I heard lots of wonderful stories about mothers who were Rosies during World War II. At the other end of the continuum, I heard stories of young women today who are claiming their roles in fields not dreamt of by Rosie’s Daughters.

Great program today. Your stories and visuals were outstanding. And the testimonials of your supporting speakers were remarkable. - Jack H.