Secular Women Work at Skepticon 11

New city. New venue. Same great community and pool of expertise.

Once again, Secular Women Work is running a track of programming led by female and genderqueer experts at Skepticon. We have an awesome schedule for you, and we hope you’ll check us out. Participate in our workshops, and come visit us at the Secular Woman table.

Do be warned, though. We’ve been known to recruit workshop presenters for future events in the middle of otherwise low-key, friendly discussions.

Meet Our Podcasters

For reasons that are almost certainly our fault, two of our advertisers for this summer’s conference didn’t receive our request for their ads. As a result, they didn’t make it into our program book. However, these are both podcasts that we’d be happy to recommend even if they hadn’t supported our work. Since we don’t want you to miss them, we’re advertising them here and on our social media.

Feeling nostalgic for a skepticism that doesn’t throw away social sciences as ideologically inconvenient? Brainstorm is a family of skeptical podcasts out of Canada.

Brainstorm logo: top-down drawing of brain with lightning sparking off it. Additional text: Woo free since 2013.

 

The Brainstorm podcast originated as a singular show produced with the intent to spread critical thinking, skepticism towards fringe ideas, acceptance of scientific consensus, and fact based information. Over the years it has grown into multiple shows covering a broad range of topics and a conference that brings speakers from across the spectrum of skeptical activism to Saskatchewan.

Meet the Feminist Coffee Hour. They’re a fun and informative podcast out of New York with a broad range of interests.

Feminist Coffee Hour text logo in purple on black with clip-art coffee cup.

Thanks to both Brainstorm and Feminist Coffee Hour for their support of Secular Women Work.

Our Schedule is Live!

We’ve had all of our hamsters working hard behind the scenes to bring you this HUGE UPDATE!

First, our Schedule is live and ready for your perusal! Check out all the fabulous programming we have for you this weekend.

Second, we have been updating our Presenters page a little bit at a time. Don’t forget to peak at the bios of some of the folks who will be helping us all this weekend.

Third, we’re sorry to announce that Greta Christina won’t be able to make the conference due to an unanticipated personal obligation. We wish all the best to her and hers.

Instead, Amanda Knief will be joining us for Friday night’s keynote speech. We’re tickled. Amanda was one of the first people we reached out to when planning Secular Women Work, and we’re very happy that her recent move makes it possible for her to be here!

Just a few more days, folks, and we’ll see you all  in person!

Speakers Updated

We have been very busy working behind the scenes to get all of our details in order.

You can see some of our progress on our speakers page.

We will continue to update so as we get closer. Keep checking back for details!

 

Get Your Tickets!

Want to go to Secular Women Work 2 but missed the kickstarter? We got you covered!

It’s not too late to get a ticket.

Includes
  • Conference registration is available online until July 22 at 11:59 PM US Central Time.
  • We will welcome walk-in conference attendees on August 24-26.
  • General tickets: $110.
  • Tickets for members of Minnesota Atheists, Secular Woman, and Black Nonbelievers: $95.
  • Student tickets: $25.

Don’t forget, you can always apply for a grant.

 

Grants Are Available!

Secular Women Work is committed to making the conference an accessible space, particularly for those from resource-limited settings. Grants include paid conference registration and a travel stipend, where available. Despite being a small conference, we have a selection of grants available. Members of underrepresented groups within the secular movement are encouraged to apply.With the goal of creating future community organizers and activists, grant candidates will be selected based on the following criteria:

  • The conference’s potential impact on the growth of the candidate.
  • Membership in an underrepresented group or groups within the secular movement.
  • Our ability to make sure you can attend and make use of the grant.

We recognize that conferences are often the gateway into organizing, and that experience levels vary widely among those starting out. For us, a commitment and passion for activism are paramount. Everybody starts somewhere! If you’ve blogged but never done “meatspace” organizing, that’s fine. If you just want to increase your civil activism and don’t know where to begin, that’s great too—Secular Women Work will encompass a variety of approaches and starting points. The most important thing is that you apply!

Deadlines

The initial deadline for applications is end of day July 6. After that date, we will award the grants we have available then. If you’ve missed the July 6 deadline but still want a grants, please fill out the form. We can’t promise we will have more garnts available, but we may. Candidates will be admitted on a rolling basis.

In order to apply, fill out the following form with your full name, email address, whether or not you require travel assistance, and what you hope to take away from the conference.

Secular Women Work Grant Form

Best of luck and we hope to see you in August!

-The Organizers

You Did It!

Yes, you!

You made the Kickstarter a success! Thank you for supporting this project. Thank you for helping make this conference come to life.

We are super excited about how much interest there is in making sure other people get to benefit from this conference. We had lots backers for the Endow a Scholarship level! We will have a form up for people to apply for these by the end of April. So, we need you to tell those who might be interested to watch this page.

We will start making announcements about the schedule once we get the Kickstarter surveys back.

Again, this is being done because each one of you believed it could and worked to make it happen.

Thank you.

 

 

 

What is an activist?

When we think of activist, we tend to picture some hardcore, kick ass people at protests, on picket lines, sitting at lunch counters, risking arrest or worse, to fight for their civil rights.

 

It’s an intimidating and daunting enough image to make some of us feel we could never fit such a title. Yeah, those people are activists doing activism. But, so are you.

 

An activist is someone working for change.

 

And creating change needs bunches of different pieces to make it happen, not all of which require facing down the police.

Basically, activism is a whole mess of different parts and actions.

It is writing letters.

 

It is standing by your principles.

 

It is phone calls.

 

It is taking a stand.

 

It is signing petitions.

 

Sometimes, it’s as simple as making a declaration.

 

Chances are, you have engaged in activism before today. Well, done!

 

All of these are pieces of activism which fit together into a movement. And that’s what we are building, a movement to make the world a better place for as many people as possible. For that, we need all the activists to do their parts, no matter how big or small, how physical, mental and/or emotional.

 

So, what is an activist? In short, you are.

 

Help us make our conference happen. Donate to our kickstarter.

Promote Secular Women Work

Our friends in the media are excited about Secular Women Work. For those who would like to promote the conference, we’ve prepared a one-minute spot you can use. Thank you for helping us get the word out!

Download the file.