Archived Radio Show

May 16, 2022

Original Radio Show  ID:
WSA220516

Listen to the Show on the Mp3 Player below

Duration 57 minutes

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Featuring

Click the Name to access the Segment below

1. Commentary by Elaine B. Holtz, Host of Women's Spaces

2a. Marie Ramirez Downing, Director of the Stage Play Real Women Have Curves, 6th Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa, CA

2b. Reilly Milton, Actor in the Stage Play Real Women Have Curves, 6th Street Playhouse

Women's Spaces Host Elaine B. Holtz with guests Marie Ramirez Downing and Milton Reilly.                     2022 Photo by Ken Norton

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1. Commentary by Elaine B. Holtz:  Happy Belated Mother’s Day. On May  8th we celebrated Mother’s Day and because due to Ken hurting his back which is on the mend, we had to cancel the show on May 9th and play a repeat. To continue the acknowledgement and importance that Mother’s Day plays in history for this show to honor that day I will be playing the Mother’s Day Proclamation written by Julia Ward Howell. You know motherhood to me is a sacred obligation and because of that Women who are the ones who give birth and have full responsibility for the care and nurturing of that life. In my mind it is a lifetime commitment, and we must have continued to have the constitutional right to make that decision and control our own lives.

While countries around the world celebrate their own Mother’s Day at various times throughout the year, several countries, including the United States, Italy, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, and Turkey celebrate it on the second Sunday of May, this year it was May 8.

A little history about Mother’s Day:
In the United States, the origins of the official holiday go back to 1870, when Julia Ward Howe – an abolitionist best remembered as the poet who wrote “Battle Hymn of the Republic” – worked to establish a Mother’s Peace Day. Howe dedicated the celebration to the eradication of war, and organized festivities in Boston for years. She authored the piece you heard during the musical break. It is called, The Mother’s Day Proclamation. It grew out of the experience that Howe had when after the Civil War ended, she and a group of mothers went to the battlefield and saw baskets of young soldiers’ arms and legs. This motivated her to organize an annual Mothers Peace Day.

This phrase in the proclamation speaks to me. “Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.” If only!

In 1907, Anna Jarvis, of Philadelphia, began the campaign to have Mother’s Day officially recognized, and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson did this, proclaiming it a national holiday and a “public expression of our love and reverence for all mothers.” Politicians work hard to stop Peace.

Today’s commercialized celebration of candy, flowers, gift certificates, and lavish meals at restaurants bears little resemblance to Howe’s original idea. There is nothing wrong with that, however, we need to pay attention to those words. If you believe our children are the future well, we all must put some effort into making it better and solving some of the overwhelming problems we are facing. We cannot put our faces in the sad. As women we must speak out of Justice and Peace and above all the right to have choice over our own bodies.

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Regarding Current Events:

Over the weekend we had two notable mass killings: One was in the supermarket of Buffalo, NY, in a predominately Black neighborhood resulting in multiple victims including 10 people killed due to the color of their skin with a military style gun by an 18-year-old gunman subscribing to the Replacement of Whites by colored people and Immigrants conspiracy. He posted on social media his manifesto and streamed live video on social media to millions.  The second mass killing was of people in the church in Orange County, CA, with a Taiwanese American congregation by a Chinese American political opponent, also with a military style gun.  These mass killings are another indication of how the priorities of the anti-abortion so called Pro-Life movement lack concern for the humans out of the womb, as they generally go with the right-wing agenda of abhotring gun regulations and social programs, while supporting theories like that of Replacement.

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For our show today:

I have two special guests this morning, joining me in the studio, Marie Ramirez Downing who is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, Performance and the Director of The Acting Program at Sonoma State University and Reilly Milton one of the actors in the production. Marie Ramirez Downing and Reilly Milton who is one of the performers in the play.

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2.  Our guests are Marie Ramirez Downing, the Director of the stage play Real Women Have Curves, and Reilly Milton, an actor in the play and a student of Marie at Sonoma State University's acting program. Marie recounts her journey into theater arts coming from a family with low income. Her grandmother who took her to sing in churches around Fresno and then later studying for her Master of Fine Arts in Chicago's DePaul University all inspired Marie.  Marie has met the writer of Real Women Have Curves, Josefina López. The 6th Street Playhouse production includes an all-Latina cast, including Reilly, who is bi-racial and plays the character Anna.  This is Reilly's debut performance.  Marie and Reilly describe the preparation for the play and the many rehearsals. Of course, the hesitancy at first stepping on the stage is felt, but it is turned into energy of acting, because, as Reilly says, "it must be done." It is a testimony to their commitment and to the self-esteem they have gained. The play Real Women Have Curves is presented at the 6th Street Playhouse now through May 29, 2022.

About our Guest: Marie Ramirez Downing is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, Performance and the Director of The Acting Program at Sonoma State University. She has an M.F.A. in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University, a B.A. in Theatre Arts, Acting from California State University, Fresno, and is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher via the Linklater Center for Voice and Language in NYC.

Marie is also on the Voice Faculty at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA where she teaches in their Summer Shakespeare Intensive. Marie has presented identity and heritage voice and acting workshops and presentations at The Association for Theatre in Higher Education, The Voice and Speech Trainers Association, The Southern Theatre Conference, and The Western Academy of Management. She is an elected member of the Board of Directors for VASTA, The Voice and Speech Trainers Association. She is originally from Fresno, CA, spent many years in Chicago working on her craft as an actor and teacher and now resides in Santa Rosa CA.

Guest Link:

http://theatreartsanddance.sonoma.edu/faculty-staff/marie-ramirez-downing

About our Guest: Reilly Milton is a recent graduate of Sonoma State University’s Theatre Arts Acting Program. While at SSU, Reilly took part in the CSU Student Research Competition in 2020 and with her presentation, “Biracially on the American Stage: The Dramatic Performance of the Role of Margaret in Origin Story by Nathan Alan Davis”. She hails from Southern California and is making her professional debut with Real Women Have Curves.

Guest Event:

May 12- May 29, 2022. Real Women Have Curves, 6th Street Playhouse, Monroe Stage, by Josefina López, directed by Marie Ramirez Downing,
Starring Alexa Jimenez, Reilly Milton, Bethany Regan, Rosa Reynoza and Anakarina Swanson. https://6thstreetplayhouse.com/show/real-women-have-curves-2/

Director Marie Ramirez Downing, cast of Real Women Have Curves: Anakarina Swanson, Rosa Reynoza, Reilly Milton, Alexa Jimenez, and in front Bethany Regan. - 2022 Photo thanks to Michelle Moralles.

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 Herstory

Our history is our strength. Check out important dates to remember in herstory at the National Women's History Alliance

Herstory Events:

May 12, 1968 – A 12-block Mother’s Day march of “welfare mothers” is held in Washington, D.C., led by Coretta Scott King accompanied by Ethel Kennedy.

May 15, 1938 – Diane Nash, civil rights activist, and a leader and strategist of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement, her efforts included the first successful civil rights campaign to integrate lunch counters, the Freedom Riders, co-founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and co-initiating the Alabama Voting Rights Project and working on the Selma Voting Rights Movement.

Herstory Birthdays:

May 16, 1902 (1986) – Elizabeth Nord, labor organizer, one of the leaders of the great textile strike of 1934 and the first woman to serve on the executive board of the Textile Workers Union of America.

May 17, 1912 (2006) – Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, African American inventor most noted for her development of the sanitary belt.

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Announcements 

May 12- May 29, 2022. Real Women Have Curves, 6th Street Playhouse, Monroe Stage, by Josefina López, directed by Marie Ramirez Downing,
Starring Alexa Jimenez, Reilly Milton, Bethany Regan, Rosa Reynoza and Anakarina Swanson. https://6thstreetplayhouse.com/show/real-women-have-curves-2/

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Friday, May 20, 7:00 pm, Solidarity Rally for Buffalo, NY, Victims of Racist Mass Shooting, Old Courthouse Square @ 4th Street, Santa Rosa, Sponsored by Love and Light Movement for Change.

One can visit the other rally across the square.

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Friday, May 20, 2022, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Bans Off Our Bodies! Basta De Controlarnos!, Old Courthouse Sq,, @ 3rd Street, Santa Rosa.

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Monday, May 23, 11am # repeats 11pm, the show will be a featuring guest Carol Kilbey, author of Evolutionary Dancer - Out, In, and On the Fringe of the Church .   Radio KBBF 89.1 FM, North SF Bay or live streaming at https://kbbf.org/live/

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Wednesday May 25, 11am, repeat of Monday's show, will will be featuring guest Carol Kilbey, author of  Evolutionary Dancer - Out, In, and On the Fringe of the Church. Radio KPCA 103.3 FM, Petaluma, CA. https://petalumacommunityaccess.org/kpca/

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Ongoing Events:

Meet our candidates for Superintendent of Sonoma County Schools, Amie Carter, Brad Coscarelli, and Ron Calloway!
For details of this past event of April 18, 2022 see http://nowsonoma.org/Events.html 
Post Event Viewing: For video of event https://youtu.be/VAjoQDwgoBI

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January 22 - June 5, 2022, Exhibition, Agency: Feminist Art and Power, Sonoma County Museum, for more information visit: https://museumsc.org/exhibitions/

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Music Selections

The Opening and Closing Theme song The Woman in Your Life is You is done with permission of the Composer and Singer Alix Dobkin ((August 16, 1940 – May 19, 2021) Alix Dobkin death was just announced - Thank you for all you did for Lesbians to be recognized and Women to be honored. May you rest in peace. See our Interview with Alix Dobkin on 12/1/2014 at    and our Memorial to Alix Dobkin on 11/24/2021  at .

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For music purchasing opportunity, supporting the artists: 

Link:  Spinitron.com Playlist for Women's Spaces Show