Category Archives: Conference

Our Schedule is Live!

Conference,

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!

Grants Are Available!

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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!

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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?

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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

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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.

Managing Online Spaces

Conference

with Miri Mogilevsky
Workshop Track 2
Set 3

Online groups are great, in part, because the barriers to participation are lower. However, letting these spaces be overrun by any kind of behavior becomes its own barrier to participation for many people. Let’s talk about how to set boundaries for behavior that keep our spaces accessible to the people we want participating.

Miri_Mogilevsky_smMiri Mogilevsky recently graduated from Columbia University with a Masters in Social Work. Her blog, Brute Reason, covers topics such as social justice, psychology, mental health, and whatever else keeps her up thinking till 3 AM. When not writing, Miri devours books and talks to anyone who’s willing to listen about how amazing New York City is.

Activism for Newbies

Conference,

with Lauren Lane
Workshop Set 2
Track 2

“But what can a nobody like me do?” This is one of the heartbreaking questions we hear in activism, especially since the answer is “Nobody is a nobody” and “So very, very much”. Come to this workshop and come away with ideas on how you–yes, you–can make a difference.

Lauren_Lane_smLauren Lane is the Founder and Executive Director of Skepticon, a national conference located annually in Springfield, MO that promotes skepticism, science education and community building. During her tenure as an undergraduate, Lauren held various leadership positions in the Missouri State University Chapter of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a secular student group that revolutionized student activism. She has been a contributor to The Friendly Atheist, MadArtLabs, and has previously spoken at conventions such as the Secular Student Alliance Convention, FTBCon, and Reason in the Rock.

Avoiding Burnout

Conference,

with Hiba Krisht
Sunday – 11:15 AM
Workshop Set 4
Track 1

We all know self-care is necessary for activists by now, right? Good. That still leaves us figuring out the how and when. Come learn how to recognize when you need to put yourself first and develop strategies for coping with the everyday stresses and the big events.

Hiba_KrishtHiba Krisht is a writer, lecturer, and professional translator from Beirut. Her stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Blackbird, and Mizna, among others. She is a recipient of the 2012 Jane Foulkes Malone Fellowship from Indiana University and the 2013 JoAnn Athanas Memorial Award in literature from the National Society of Arts and Letters. An apostate from Islam, she grew up between an international expatriate community in Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah guerrilla warfare culture in Lebanon. She has been interviewed about her life and work by VICE News, BBC Radio, and Grazia Daily, among others. She is working on a memoir expansion of her retired blog, Between A Veil and a Dark Place.

Assertiveness Training

Conference,

with Heather Rosa
Saturday – 11:00 AM
Workshop Set 2
Track 1

One of the hardest parts of movement activism is navigating competing needs. Assertive communication is a tool to help us stay both focused and respectful while dealing with those needs. Come find out what assertive communication is and practice being assertive in some common activist situations.

 

Heather RosaHeather was a trained support group facilitator for the non-profit Fellowship for Renewed Living, an organization that served people dealing with divorce or other broken relationships. She served on the FRL board for many years, including three as the organization’s President. She has a long history in small-town politics, serving on her city council and as mayor for eight years. As her city’s representative on the library joint powers task force, she managed to expand her local library system in a time when many systems were shrinking.