April 2012 Volume XXXVIII Women, Music, Fun Our biggest event of the year is coming up at the end of April. WCC is hosting Big Bad Gina and doing a fundraiser for the National Women’s Music Festival (NWMF). We haven’t sold too many online tickets yet so please, please, please encourage your friends, neighbors and anyone who loves good music to join us for a rocking, funky, fun evening of music with a purpose. Get your tickets for a discounted price before the event ($15) or pay $20 at the door. How do you get a ticket? (1) give your money to Jan B. or Sandy G. and we’ll get your name on the list; (2) go online and order your tickets through Brown Paper Tickets. The URL is; http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/226242 Please get your silent auction items to Jan B. as soon as possible. You can reach her at 515 -267-9065. We need your items for auction. Remember, you could offer to auction off some of your special skills...like making a dessert a month or offering a photography lesson.

It Still Takes a Village The third meeting of the “Village” group will be on April 15th at 2:00 pm at the West Des Moines library. We will be reviewing the form Chris B. has been developing with help from the group. Also, Shad will be bringing some materials she and Sandy K have gathered about existing retirement communities in the Des Moines area. Sunday, April 15th 2:00-4:00 p.m. West Des Moines Public Library Community Room Questions? Contact Sue D. at 515-267-9065

The Women’s Cultural Collective is an Iowa women’s organization which seeks to promote community building and to provide a safe atmosphere for lesbians. We invite all women to attend our

Other Upcoming Events As usual, we have a full summer of activities…. Next up is our May “coffeehouse” where we’ll be talking about photography! Nancy B. and other photography experts in our community will be sharing their tips and tricks for taking great photos and learning the ins and outs of your cameras. Be watching your email (if we have your email address) for a short survey coming out soon to find out what topics you want our photography experts to focus on (pun intended)! That event will take place on the usual 4th Saturday of May (May 26th) at our usual meeting place, The Friend’s (Quaker) Meeting House at 4211 Grand Ave. at 7 p.m. Bring some refreshments to share and bring your camera!! The next weekend, June 1st, 2nd and 3rd, bring your cameras and your tents and join us for the annual WCC potluck and campout. Amy S. and Marguerite D. have reserved spots for us at our usual location at the Prairie Flower campground at Saylorville Lake. They need to know if you plan to camp so call or text Marguerite at 641-530-1166 or Amy at 515-6897750. They really need to know if you plan to camp! Some of us will be camping both Friday and Saturday evenings. If you’re NOT a camper, you are still welcome to join us on Saturday evening, June 2nd, for a potluck. Come on out to the campground about 5 p.m. (or earlier if you want!) and bring a dish to share. If you just want to enjoy a campfire, come on out Friday evening for a few hours of good conversation, maybe some guitar playing, and smores! Pets are welcome, too. Mark your calendars and drop a note or call Amy or Margarite with you plans….and be sure to bring your cameras to catch the action or take some fine nature shots and practice your new photography skills. Don’t forget, June is also PRIDE month. The Des Moines Pride weekend is June 9th and 10th. You can sign up for Pride volleyball, parade entries, or the Pride guide at their website: http://www.capitalcitypride.org/

Future WCC Events: From our Planning Meeting April 28th: WCC concert and fundraiser featuring the band Big Bad Gina. May 26th: Photography workshop! June 1st-3rd— camping weekend the first weekend in June. June 9th-11th— PRIDE weekend.

Events sometimes change but we’ll let you know if they do!

Mark Your Calendars!

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April 2012

2011 Review of the Festival

WCC will be heading to Madison in June! Please join us!!

Infused with positive women’s energy for four days—the 2011 National Women’s Music Festival again gathered women for a unique blend of music and sharing. From the absolute rockin’ of Big Bad Gina’s band to the reflective ballads of Nancy Beaudette, you could be charged up, inspired or both. Each main stage event (Thursday to Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon) had three acts, and usually at least two sent me over the top. (I have to admit there was often a younger musician in each set who was good musically, but I didn’t “get.” But hey, you need diversity.) In addition to music, there were comedians—(I laughed so hard at Karen Williams my side hurt)—and a spoken-word artist—(CC Carter’s sensuous poetry could melt a polar bear). There were also workshops during the day ranging from sessions with the performers to crafts to crop circles to mood food. You could also nap or go to a local park or check out the day stage, vendors or “living room” gathering area. Unlike Michigan, this festival is held in a Marriott near Madison, Wisconsin. Although this event is fully clothed, you can ask Jan C about the woman who whipped off her shirt (bare-chested) to try on a T-shirt in the vendor area.

This Summer If you want to share fun, vitality and great music with hundreds of women-loving-women, sign up for this summer’s festival at http:// www.wiaonline.org/. It will be held June 28-July 1 (Thursday through Sunday), and you can get a break on the price if you sign up by May 14. Several central Iowans have already signed up to go, with most doing the five-hour drive on Thursday afternoon. I have to admit I was considering putting my travel dollars towards somewhere new this year, but then I heard that the iconic Holly Near will be back. So I went to the website to check out this year’s lineup, and let the wonderful music wash over me, and thought, “I just can’t miss this.”

Don’t you miss it either. Let the harmonies weave through you and the rhythms connect you to that deep place where women commune. Be a part of the Festival! Submitted by Gail G Main Stage Schedule 2012 Thursday One Fine Day Sistah Ngoma ‘B-Group’ dance team Lynette Margulies Ann Christoffer Nervous But Excited Ladies Must Swing Friday Melanie DeMore Emma's Revolution Holly Near Sugarbeach Saturday A Rainbow Path Big Bad Gina Toshi Reagon All Festival Jam Sunday Festival Choruses WIA's Got Talent Dana Goldberg Julie Goldman Day Stage Friday Leela and Ellie Grace Chris Collier Summer Osborne Saturday Mary Watkins Jamie Anderson Sharon Katz & the Peace Train

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April 2012

Tributes to our Community, Near and Far We have a number of good people to remember and celebrate at this time. First, our condolences go out to Sandy V. and Terri G. on the death of Sandy’s father. She submitted his obituary as follows: Charles “Chuck” L. Vopalka Sr.,67, passed away in his home Thursday, March 15, 2012 after a lengthy illness. A Memorial Service will be Saturday, April 7th at 3 p.m. at Brosh Chapel in Cedar Rapids, located at 2121 Bowling Street SW. Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until service time at the Chapel. Chuck was born April 11, 1944 in Cedar Rapids to Wencil and Mary (Kolarik) Vopalka. He spent his early years in Cedar Rapids. In 1961, he graduated from Jefferson High School and married Sandy Kokoska. Chuck worked for Mid-Continent Bottling, Kuba Distributing and several other sales positions before opening the Frontier Inn in Cedar Rapids. Later he opened the Angle Inn in Walford. Chuck and Sandy had three children. After the marriage ended he married Jean Uthoff and then later Connie Greene. Chuck leaves behind his three children Sandy Vopalka (Terri Gideon) of Indianola, Charlie Vopalka Jr. (Leah Boetger) of Albuquerque, New Mexico and Deb (Rod) Wachter of Adams, Tennessee; four grandchildren Calvron, Clayton, Colton, and Anne; 1 great-grandchild; his brother Jimmy Vopalka of Hiawatha and many other family members. He was preceded in death by his parents. Memorials may be given to the family at P.O. Box 18, Indianola, Iowa 50125.

A member of our community who we didn’t see at very many events but who was a longtime subscriber and advertiser to our WCC newsletter, Mary Ann Walker, 69, passed away peacefully Monday, March 26, 2012 at home surrounded by her family following a courageous battle with cancer. Mary Ann held various positions with the Department of Human Services (DHS) until her retirement in 2000. Following her retirement from DHS Mary Ann went to work for H&R Block as an Administrative Assistant and Tax Preparer where she worked until she became ill. Mary Ann is survived by her wife, Ruth Schlesinger. Mary Ann and Ruth were together for over 30 years and were very happy to be able to join in marriage following the change in Iowa law. Memorial services were held at St. Stephen Lutheran Church on Saturday, March 31. Burial will be at a later date in Clear Lake Memorial Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Hospice of Central Iowa or Animal Lifeline. Adrienne Rich, a poet of towering reputation and towering rage, whose work — distinguished by an unswerving progressive vision and a dazzling, empathic ferocity — brought the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse and kept it there for nearly a half-century, died on Tuesday, March 27, at her home in Santa Cruz, Calif. She was 82. The cause was complications of rheumatoid arthritis, with which she had lived for most of her adult life, her family said. Widely read, widely anthologized, widely interviewed and widely taught, Ms. Rich was for decades among the most influential writers of the feminist movement and one of the best-known American public intellectuals. She wrote two dozen volumes of poetry and more than a half-dozen of prose; the poetry alone has sold nearly 800,000 copies, according to W. W. Norton & Company, her publisher since the mid-1960s. Here is one of her poems that seems rather fitting: For the Dead I dreamed I called you on the telephone to say: Be kinder to yourself but you were sick and would not answer The waste of my love goes on this way trying to save you from yourself I have always wondered about the left-over energy, the way water goes rushing down a hill long after the rains have stopped or the fire you want to go to bed from but cannot leave, burning-down but not burnt-down the red coals more extreme, more curious in their flashing and dying than you wish they were sitting long after midnight

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Special Events of Interest The WCC book group decided to change the book and the date they meet this month. Last month I reported that the April book was going to be “11/22/63” by Stephen King. The book is now changed to Teresa Wier's novel "The Orchard". The date for book group is SATURDAY, April 7th at 10:30 a.m.. The Stephen King book 11/22/63 will be discussed on the 1st Thursday in May. UNI Pride Week 2012: Trans*Parency Apr 2 – 6, 2012 University of Northern Iowa campus, Cedar Falls, IA For details, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/172094872907185 9th Annual Iowa Pride Conference, Iowa State University, April 28, 2012, 9am to 4pm. Iowa State University Memorial Union. This event is free but you can register online: http://www.iowapridenetwork.org/ Friday, April 27 at 7:30pm Bitch concert at Ritual Café Monday, August 6th, 2012 7:00PM - 9:00PM (Doors Open 6:00PM) John Edwards, (the medium, not the candidate) is on a two-year tour. Coming to Des Moines, Omaha, Chicago. He will be at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown, for more info go to: http://johnedward.net/event/431/des-moines-ia Satuday, June 16th, Gay Men's Chorus Pride Concert at Sheslow Auditorium on the Drake campus, 285 University Ave. Des Moines, Iowa. Advance tickets are $12. At the door price is $15. We stand with you, we sing for you, and we represent with PRIDE! Be the first to experience the concert to be sung at GALA 2012, the international festival of glbt choruses. This is a "one-night-only" performance. Saturday, April 28 at 7:30pm Big Bad Gina concert at the 1st Unitarian Church of Des Moines FAIRFIELD AREA LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL WOMEN'S GROUP Lesbian and Bisexual Women's Pride Group of all ages that gathers in person in Fairfield, Iowa at least once a month during the fall, winter and spring to provide community, have fun and create support. The website is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lbp_fairfield/ IOWA WOMEN'S MUSIC LISTSERVE If you are interested in women's music/cultural events state-wide, subscribe to Lisa's amazing list serve. This is a list of Iowa's live music, arts, social events and culture for, by, featuring, and of interest to women and friends. To sign up a friend to receive this list by e-mail, e-mail [email protected]. This list will be posted on-line soon at www.myspace.com/iowalisa & http://iowalisa.blogster.com. 2012 PrideFest: Get involved - just attend one of the meetings! Meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month! Our next meeting will Thursday, May3rd at 6 pm at The Project, 711 East 2nd Street, Des Moines - ALL are welcome! ACCESSLINE: Iowa's GLBT newspaper comes out after the first of each month. http://accesslineiowa.com/ Lez Talk Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. Kirkwood Building on 4th and Walnut. Talk show hosted by lesbians and made for ALL people. AMES Residents: FOURTH FRIDAY : Pot-luck and movie. Doors open around 6 with meal starting around 6:30. No charge. All LGBTQ and allies welcome. Unitarian Fellowship of Ames, 1015 North Hyland Ave. Ames, IA

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April 2012

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Dining with WCC The next retiree's lunch will be Tuesday, April 17th at 11:30 a.m. at John and Nick’s Prime Rib and Steak at 15970 Hickman Road in Clive.. If you need transportation assistance, contact Chris B. at [email protected] or call 515-278-2483. Friday evenings there are often WCCers gathering at Barnes and Noble Bookstore in West Des Moines around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. It’s not a formal thing, just come if you want to shoot the breeze, browse books, or sometimes play games. Look for us in the coffee shop area.

WCC Tattoo Corner We’re featuring your tattoos! Can you guess who is sporting this tat???? Yes, she’s packing heat! Last month’s featured tattoo was Susan J’s daisy. Many more to come!!

Wednesday Eat Out group meets at Jason’s Deli, 3910 University Ave., West Des Moines starting at 6 p.m. but you can join us at any time between 6-8 p.m. Upcoming Eat Out dates: April 4, 2012 April 18, 2012 May 2, 2012 May 16, 2012 Special birthday celebration for April birthday celebrations. See on page 7 how many extraordinary birthdays we have in April.

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April 2012

Tidbits as an instrument of social harmony: It reinforces bonds and keeps the peace. For instance, when a female bonobo migrates into a new group, she often ingratiates herself to the clan’s other ladies by having a lot of sex with them. Far from being shunned, this homosexual behavior is welcomed. And former Stanford researcher Joan Roughgarden has argued that among male bighorn sheep bisexuality may be the norm; those that don’t participate end up as outcasts.

From an article called, “Can Animals Be Homophobic?” Homosexual behavior has been documented in hundreds of animal species, but the same does not hold for gay-bashing. For starters, few animals are exclusively gay. Two female Japanese macaques might have playful sex with each other on Tuesday, then mate with males on Wednesday. Pairs of male elephants sometimes form years-long companion

Please support our advertisers. I’ll make a personal plug for Maryellen who did a great job with the photos for our wedding. — your editor

ships that include sexual activity, while their heterosexual couplings tend to be one-night stands. For these and many other species, sexual preferences seem to be fluid rather than binary: Gay sex doesn’t make them gay, and straight sex doesn’t make them straight. In these cases, the concept of homophobia simply doesn’t apply. Researchers believe that gay sex is even rewarded in certain species. For bonobos, sexual activity serves

A handwritten letter by singersongwriter-pianist Fiona Apple that was written in 2000 to a then 16year-old high school student, who had asked her to write a note for his school's gay-straight-alliance has gone viral. It's difficult to imagine an artist other than Apple, then 22 and fresh off the release of her second album, "When The Pawn...," writing with such sincerity. "If a good boy loves a good girl, good," she notes. "If a good boy loves another good boy, good. And if a good girl loves the goodness in good boys and good girls, then all you have is more goodness, and goodness has nothing to do with sexual orientation."

Page 7 SUBMISSIONS

Women’s Cultural Collective

We encourage women to submit articles, event notices, reviews, editorials, poetry and art work. Material must be received by the 20th of the month. We must have your full name, email address and phone number on any submissions, but only your first name and last initial will

WCC P.O. Box 22063 Des Moines, Iowa 50325

appear unless otherwise instructed. We reserve the right to edit or refuse any materials deemed inappropriate and may edit and clarify. Materials should be sent to: [email protected] or mailed to: WCC, P.O. Box 22063, Des Moines, IA, 50325.

Email: [email protected] Listserv: iowawcc-subscribe @yahoogroups.com

EDITORIAL POLICY Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of WCC. WCC accepts advertising in our newsletter as well as on our website and in other publications. Send an email to [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.

W E’ RE ON THE WEB: IOWAWCC. ORG April Birthdays: 2: Mary G. 7: Anita S. 8: Kate R. 8: Judy J. 11. Sandy G. 17: Barb G. 18: Gail G. 22: Sue D. Early May Bdays: 3: Diane D.

We’re on Facebook, too! Just search for WCC or Women’s Cultural Collective.

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We really need your donations of items or talent for the Big Bad Gina concert and fundraiser!!