Hi Friends - Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Here's a quick reminder of what's coming up this week and next for the League.
Wednesday, January 22, 7 pm via Zoom
A Behind the Scenes Look at the Texas Legislature
League member Belinda Pustka worked for the Texas legislature in her past life and will give us a behind-the-scenes look via Zoom on Wednesday, January 22. The Texas Legislature convened on January 14 and will meet through June 2. While LWVTX, our state League, leads advocacy at the state level, we will have opportunities to meet with TX Representatives and Senators during Lobby Days (Feb 24-25) and respond to LWVTX action alerts throughout the session with emails, calls, and letters. Belinda will give us pointers on how to be effective with our outreach so that our voices are heard. All League members are welcome.
Here's the Zoom info for this opportunity:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87474085335?pwd=k446JQGfybG89hKd8uUwdoIb0IRxua.1
Meeting ID: 874 7408 5335
Passcode: 058498
January 31, 2025
DEADLINE: Nominations for Women Making History & Student Writing Showcase Entries
We're accepting nominations until midnight on Friday, January 31, for the courageous, steadfast, visionary, persistent, determined, patient, and heroic women we'll recognize on March 9 at our 2025 Women Making History celebration. That deadline is right around the corner!
If you have someone in mind - and we're sure you know someone whose story deserves to be told - now is the time to complete the very simple nomination form (only 300 words) and submit it on paper or via an online form. You can download the paper form and find the link for the online submittal on our website here - https://tinyurl.com/5n84zb2j
And, if you know an area high student (grades 9-12), ask them if they know about the opportunity to win $500 and present their poem or essay at our celebration - and encourage them to get in the running! Here's info about the Student Writing Showcase to share - https://tinyurl.com/3xvhbpz8
You can purchase tickets ($20/each) or donate here - https://tinyurl.com/2xud9u8n. Thank you in advance for supporting this signature League event with your presence and donation.
Sunday, February 2, 3:00 pm
For the Record Documentary Film Screening & Panel Discussion
The Lyric Theater, 120 E South Main St in Flatonia
Free admission
Come to our free screening of For the Record, a 35-minute documentary film that tells the story of publisher Laurie Ezzell Brown's efforts to keep her family-owned weekly newspaper alive in Canadian, a small town about the size of Schulenburg in the Texas Panhandle. More than 2,500 local newspapers have closed since 2005, leaving one in five Americans living in "news deserts" without access to local reporting. We don't want that to happen here, and are hoping this screening will grow awareness about this trend and its consequences. A panel discussion with editors and publishers from many of our area newspapers will follow the screening. Please plan to attend and bring some friends.
Wednesday, February 5, 10 am to 2 pm
Houston's African-American History: A Learning Journey
We have four seats left in the van for the February 5 African-American History tour of Houston led by member Naomi Carrier, Founder and CEO of the Texas Center for African American Living History. If you want to go, please reserve your seat now - https://tinyurl.com/7ccwbm65
We'll begin at 10 am at the El Dorado Ballroom parking lot and visit Texas Southern University, the Gregory Library in the 4th Ward, the Buffalo Soldier's Museum, and the Columbia Tapp Rail Trail. The $40/person cost includes venue admissions and lunch. This will be a memorable day. Many thanks to Naomi for offering to do this!
Feb 24-25 (Monday noon through Tuesday noon-ish)
LWVTX's Lobby Days in Austin
Lobby Days is the two-day event our state League hosts for members of Texas' local Leagues each time the Texas Legislature is in session. Lobby Days this year will be February 24-25. Day one features a series of briefing presentations on priority issues and actions the Legislature is considering, along with LWVTX's Making Democracy Work dinner. Day two is dedicated to visits with legislators at the capitol. A number of our League members have attended Lobby Days in past years and found it to be a great experience. We hope to have a good team there this year.
Please indicate your interest in going to Lobby Days here - https://forms.gle/6FMHzrykcjiFnmt2A. We will be in touch with more information as it becomes available.
Get in touch if you have questions, suggestions, or ideas to share - I'd love to hear from you! The best way to reach me is to text or call 361-772-3228.
Thanks for being part of our League. Stay warm!
Janis Richardson, League President |