Back To School

When my friend Judy called me in July and asked if I would like to come to a luncheon in August and learn about the Brandeis National Committee San Dieguito chapter, I said yes right away. Since I've been in North County I've been involved in Newcomers, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm still very involved in Newcomers, but I decided I wanted to branch out and get involved in a few things that were mentally stimulating. The luncheon told me all I needed to know. Brandeis was for me. I met a great group of people, and the variety of study groups offered each year is amazing. The hardest part was deciding which study groups to sign up for. Each study group meets once a month, for about 2 hours. I decided to try Deis Flicks (movies with a Jewish theme) and Turning Points in Modern History. So far, I have found the study groups interesting and stimulating. The last one I went to was on turning points in modern history. We learned that in 1893, New Zealand women, the first in the world, were given the right to vote. This was one of the turning points in modern history. Why it happened first in New Zealand is unknown, because women were organized in America and Europe, trying to get the right to vote many years before New Zealand women became voters. Few enlightened men in early American history championed women's rights. Abigail Adams warned her husband John Adams to remember the rights of women or there would be dire consequences. There were enlightenment salons in France, and the leader of the women's movement there was Olympia de Gouges. She was eventually sent to the guillotine for her actions. In America, an 1848 convention in Seneca Falls revealed that women desired the right to vote, but it would take another 75 years for women to gain that right. In 1890 Wyoming (the equality state) entered the union with equality for women. Frontier states led the way in women's rights, perhaps because frontier women were seen as vital to their survival. New Zealand women got the vote in 1893, followed in the next 13 years by Australia, Finland and Norway. Interestingly French women did not get the right to vote until 1944, Switzerland 1971, and Kuwait 1995. There are still many Arab nations where women are denied the right to vote. All in all, the Brandeis group is inspiring and thought provoking, just what I was looking for. It's a nice balance to my more physical activites, like boogie boarding, walking, exercising, and going on outings (most including lunch) with my friends. I'm glad I added Brandeis to my list of activities.