September 21, 2009
Winants Auditorium, 4pm

Admission: Free

The Frankenstein of 1790 and Other Missing Links from Revolutionary France

Professor Julia Douthwaite from the University of Notre Dame will deliver a lecture on "The Frankenstein of 1790 and Other Missing Links from Revolutionary France." The paper will address Professor Douthwaite's recent discovery of a French novel that centers on a scientist called Frankenstein who create artificial life--published almost threee decades before MaryShelley's novel.

This event will be sponsored by the Programs of Women's Studies, the Modern Languages Department, the English Department, and the Cultural Heritage Program.

Call + Response Documentary Film
Saturday, September 26

Engedi Church
Doors open at 6pm, film starts at 7am; free admission

Call + Response

The film discusses how human trafficking is a thriving international industry. It exposes the injustice and inspires action.

http://callandresponse.com/about.html

Film is presented by:

Women's Service Day 2009
Tuesday, October 1
8:30am; Hope Church

Women's Service Day began in 2002 when a few women--passionate about servie their community--volunteered to work on a Habitat house for a single mother. The group blossomed into a team of 50 women--more than one Habitat House could accommodate. Every year since, we've organized a day of volunteering specifically for women, reaching a record 149 participants!

This year, Women's ServiceDay will be on Thursday, October 1. The day begins at 8:30a.m. with breakfast at Hope Church in Holland, where you'll be assigned a task for the day. Participting on work crews and sharing a meal as a gropu are fun ways to meet new people and make connections. You will start your colunteer assignments around 10a.m., working for 4-6 hours and having lunch on your own a a crew. Participants will be limited to first-registered, first-serviced, and you must be present at breakfast to get your assignment.

Questions? Email the Women's Service Day Planning Committee or visit our blog or Facebook page for more information.

October 8, 2009
Mass Conference Room
4pm

Admission: Free

Water Ethics in a Time of Climate Change An Ecofeminist Perspective
by Sara E. Leeland, PhD

Health, survival and environmental concerns have driven human concern about water for centuries, even millenia. Today humans face a new challenge: understanding how water will fare in an age of climate change and beginning early responses to those issues. In this era, we need a new water ethics that is relevant both to everyday use and global in its concern. This talk will explore how ecofeminst ethical insights can help us move toward such new ethic.

October 14, 9pm
Pine Grove

Take Back the Night

At 9 PM, we will gather in the Pine Grove to collect candles.

The march will commence shortly afterwards and we will visit 9 spots on campus where an incident of violence has occured. Speakers will offer a few moments of reflection at each site.

Please come and encourage others to share in this important expression of our opposition to all forms of violence on Hope's campus.

Sponsored by:Women's Issue's Organization

November 30, 4pm
Winants Auditorium,
Graves Hall

Free and open to the public

This event is cosponsored by the Departments of English, History, and Political Science and the Program of Women's Studies,

Since the end of the Cold War, Central Africa has been the scene of one bloody conflict after another. The period from 1996 to 2006 has been called “the Great African War” because it involved at least seven African nations and claimed millions of lives.

Dr. Filip Reyntjens, noted Africanist and Professor of Law and Politics at the University of Antwerp, will discuss his new book, The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996–2006 (Cambridge University Press), which analyzes the developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda during this violent decade. He takes a non-chronological approach that sheds light on the causes of the war, shows the interrelationships among local, regional, and international actors, and offers a toolkit for understanding Central Africa’s past and future.

January 29, 7pm
DeWitt Main Theatre

Free admission
General admission seating

SEVEN PASSAGES

The departments of English, Religion, and Theatre are sponsoring a free screening of the film, SEVEN PASSAGES on Friday, January 29 at 7pm in the DeWitt Main Theatre.

Following the film there will be a panel discussion with director/playwright Stephanie Sandberg; Jean Bahle, an actor in the film and Hope Theatre Department member; David Myers, Hope Psychology Department; and Steve Hoogerwerf, Hope Religion Department.

Seven Passages was originally commissioned as a play by Actors’ Theare in Grand Rapids, written and directed by Stephanie Sandberg and performed in the fall of 2007. The play has also been produced locally at Western Michigan University and Grand Valley State University. In an effort to extend the reach of the production, a film adaptation of the work was created by Sandberg and the actors of the original production which has been screened extensively including at Lambeth, the international gathering of the Episcopal Church in the summer of 2008.
The text of the play and the film includes the seven biblical passages that address same-sex relations, and a script drawn from interviews with 127 Christians in West Michigan.
The Actors Theatre website, http://actorstheatregrandrapids.com/actorsoriginalworks.html describes the intent of the production, “The goal of Actors' Theatre's production of Seven Passages: The Stories of Gay Christians was to get beyond the current rant and impasse of our cultural climate in the ideological relationship between homosexuality and Christianity. By presenting the authentic stories of local gay and lesbian Christians, Seven Passages moved audiences into the realm of true empathy and understanding.”
Tickets are not needed for this event. The house will open at 6:30 for general admission seating. The DeWitt Theatre is located in the DeWitt Cultural Center at 141 E. 12th St., on Columbia Avenue at 12th Street.

February 4, 4pm
Otte Room

The first visitor in the Philosophy Department Speakers Series is Judy Whipps of the Department of Philosophy at Grand Valley State University. Her talk is entitled “Philosophy as Activism: Jane Addams, American Pragmatist.”

Jane Addams (1860-1935), founder of Hull House, is known as a pioneer in the fields of social work, sociology and peace activism. Her radical influence on the development of American pragmatist philosophy is now being recovered by pragmatist feminists. Examining her work illustrates the way that pragmatist and feminist philosophies develop out of activism and deep interactive experience with the world. For pragmatists, truth is not external – it develops in the spaces between us in our relationships and in our engagement with the problems of humanity. Using Addams as a model, this talk will illustrate how activism becomes philosophy.

Refreshments will be served. Please join us on Thursday to hear Professor Whipps.
Please share the information about this visit with any faculty members and students who you think would be interested. I also hope you will want to attend and look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

"CAN I KISS YOU?"

We have a VERY exciting opportunity coming up for the residents of Hope College. Mike Domitrz is bringing the "CAN I KISS YOU?" program onto Hope's campus Wednesday February 10th from 8-9:30 in Dimnent Chapel. We are hoping to pack the chapel like we did five years ago when he came to campus. His program is funny and engaging, yet has some important points regarding responsible dating behaviors. This is are really easy activity for you to do with your students and I would be very grateful if there was a class incentive (aka extra credit or a participation grade) when possible. We would REALLY like to see as many students as possible attend this program. It is also open to the community so if you have a friend or relative etc that would be appropriate for this speaker- please bring them along.

One other thing...first 50 people in the door get a free "Can I Kiss You?" t-shirt!!!

If you want further information please check out Mike's website at www.datesafeproject.org.
Can't wait to see you there!!

April 15, 8pm
Park Theater
Tickets - $10 in advance or $12 at the door

Vagina Monologues

Students and faculty present the annual production of Eve Ensler's play based on hundreds of interviews with women. She confronts issues of domestic violence, body image, violence against women and ultimately women's empowerment.