6/24/08: Annual meeting and picnic

Tuesday, June 24
4 PM to 7 PM
Rotary Park at Kingston Point
Delaware Avenue (end), Kingston

The park has a pavilion, gazebos, and a scenic view of the Hudson River. Parking is ample and convenient.

What to bring:
- A salad or dessert to share
- Your choice of beverage (no glass containers, please)
- Your checkbook to pay your dues ($67 to AAUW Kingston)
- Your appetite!

The annual meeting will be brief. We'll be electing officers. Here's the slate:

President: Garnette Arledge
Program Vice President: Bette Nitzky
Corresponding Secretary: Denise Springer

Thank you to our outgoing officers! —
Anne Gordon (Program VP) and Kathy Pauker (Corr. Sec'y)

Reminder to go on AAUW Trips; New Trip Coordinator Needed ASAP

Please click on the link to the right for Trip Reservations and information. Some delightful opportunities ahead.

However, I have just accepted a demanding position and will be unable to continue as Trip Coordinator. The detail work has been streamlined as part of my commitment to fill in. So thanks to our high-technology mentors, now passengers are able to register directly on-line into a nifty tally sheet, actually a Goggle spreadsheet. No more hand entering or excel speadsheet. It's really become so efficient, there's little fuss any longer. Also you get to work very, very closely with Vivi, which could be a joy for you. And go on these great trips as well as the honorarium stipend. Please consider carefully, talk with Vivi. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity for this position in this past year and find I cannot do both new job and trips.

Branch awards and recognition!...

....received at the 2008 AAUW-NYS Convention in Cooperstown

President's Award: Honorable Mention
for our Communication Upgrade Project (CUP)

Bina Roy Blue Ribbon Award
First Place in NYS in fundraising for the Bina Roy Partners in Development Program

Educational Foundation
Tenth Place in NYS in total contributions
2007 contribution: $1,377.01 (per capita: $12.29)

Legal Advocacy Fund
- 5% increase in giving for 2007
- Kingston is a Star Branch (we raised $5 or more per member)
- LAF Major Donors 2007, NYS LAF Giving Circle , $50 to $99
Susan Holland

Membership recognition
Keys to the Future: Every Member Get a Member
Kingston is one of the NYS branches in the Association Hall of Fame with credit for members who have recruited new members (7/06 to 4/08)
Bette Nitzky recruited 12 new members during this time frame.

From: Eileen Hartmann, AAUW-NYS Membership VP (now AAUW-NYS President)
To: Bette Nitzky -- "Congratulations! You are an Association Hall of Fame Member! Thank you for your membership recruitment efforts for AAUW-NYS 2007-2008!"

Emerging Leaders 2008
Ruth Wahtera served as newsletter editor and created the Communication Committee. A former hospital administrator, she used her leadership skills and technological expertise to become the Web consultant. The branch Web site / blog includes community enrichment features, personal essays, and an event calendar. It has had more than 700 unique visitors from 160 different countries.

Newsletter of Excellence Award
For the Kingston Branch Focus (congrats again, Ruth!).

The Clean Money, Clean Elections resolution proposed by Irene Miller was passed!

AAUW BOOK CLUB Reading List for Sept. ’08 to June 2009

From Marjorie Regan:

1.Sept. 16, 2008 The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid . Changez, a Princeton educated Pakistani has a wonderful job in NYC until 9-11 changes everything.

2.Oct. 21, 2008 Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. A Baptist Missionary from Georgia, brings his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo. He doesn’t understand the culture or the events as the country becomes Zaire. “ The women tell the tale.”

3 Nov. 18, 2008 Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Carl G. Jung. This is Jung’s partly autobiographical exploration into the psyche. He works to create balance and harmony and to “integrate spirituality and unconscious realms.”

4.Dec. 16, 2008 Vivi Hlvasa will help us explore the poems in Section 2 of the looseleaf binder that she has assembled. The binder can be purchased or borrowed from the library.

5.January 20,2009 The Grave Diggers Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates. NYT book review says this is the story of “a woman whose family fled Hitler, and she, in turn flees the dangerous men in her life.”

6. Feb. 17,2009 The Known World by E. P. Jones. Before the Civil War, a black slave buys his freedom and then buys black men to work for him.

7. March 17, 2009 The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. This heroine in early 20^th century New York has no fortune and is unable to find her place in the upper .level of society. Fictional depiction of the rigid class system of the time.

8. April 21, 2009 Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles- (BCB) Adair Colley, an 18 year old girl in Missouri at the time of the Civil War is arrested by the Union Army as an Enemy Woman. She is interrogated by a Union Major and they fall in love.

9. May 19, 2009 Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. A hurt Mt. climber builds schools in Afganistan. This is a true story.

10. June 16, 2009 Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Henry Fleming is a teenager who joins the Union Army during the Civil War. He is fearful of killing and dying and friends betray his fears. His wound is the red badge of courage. This is a coming of age story that does NOT glorify war. It has been called the first modern American novel.

Photo by Diamond Geyser

Transitions - Claire Knickmeyer

Our best wishes go to Claire Knickmeyer and her husband as they begin a new phase in their lives. We'll miss you and wish you well.

Our move is planned for June 20 and I am really sorry to miss the picnic - always a highlight for AAUW members, but since I won't be there to say "Goodbye" to all of you, I'll take this opportunity to say that knowing and working with you - and you - and you too, was a real blessing to me.

The Kingston Branch is a wonderful group of women (you didn't need me to tell you that!) and it's been a privilege to serve with you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll send our new address and phone # (when we have both - soon, I hope) so that you can let me know when you want to visit us at Ann's Choice in Warminster, PA.

Fondly, Claire Knickmeyer

Claire contributed to our branch in too many ways to list. She was president from 2002-2004 and, with her husband Ken, published our directory.

Branch Voter Registration & Education Drive

From Janine Mower:

The AAUW Branch voter registration and education drive will begin in July with a TV show on Woodstock public access channel 23 - date and time to be announced.

Volunteers are welcome to come to Mower's Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday Markets to staff a card table

for voter registration and education beginning Wednesday, July 2. I will provide the card table; volunteers need to bring their own folding chairs. I will obtain the voter registration forms from the board of elections.

More details to follow in the next week or so; watch the KAAUW blog.