October Program Meeting - Wednesday, October 24

               

We are excited to hear from our member Joan Totman at our October program meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, October 24th at 6:30 p.m. Joan's presentation is titled "My Year in Moscow - or How I learned to like vodka and caviar!"

In 2011, AAUPW member Joan Totman flew back and forth to Moscow every week. At the October meeting she will share stories and photos of her year in Moscow. If you thought you had culture shock when you moved to Munich, image the double shock of coming from California/Munich then heading to Russia.

September 26: September Program Meeting

To kick off our regular program meetings, we are pleased to announce Dr. phil. Gabi Sabo of the KlinikClowns e.V.  The KlinikClowns have been active in Bavaria since 1998 and visit many different hospitals and institutions.  But while doing so they also adhere to a strict ethics code to guarantee that the clowns work professionally and show respect for the patients and people they visit.

The clowns' work is based on the scientific evidence that laughter and humor can have a positive effect on people's health.   We will learn more about the KinikClowns' work and what sort of support they are looking for at the meeting from Dr. Sabo in person.

Amerika House Debate on Sept. 20

Mark your calendars!  The AAUPW sponsored presidential debate is taking place on Thursday, September 20, at 7:00pm.  Please spread the word.

Please note:

We do not meet in August. Starting in September, our monthly program meetings will take place on the FOURTH Wednesday evening of the month. The book club will resume its activities once a new organizer is found.

July Program Meeting

Given the AAUPW emphasis on women, education and empowerment, you will not want to miss the July meeting! Come hear our members Betty Camacho & Wendi Boxx tell about their involvement and recent trip to India to see first hand the work being done at the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society, an NGO that runs a girls school in Anupshahar, Uttar Pradesh.

Here, deep in provincial India, a world away from rapid modernization, you will be inspired by the story of “Sam” Singh, the industrialist turned idealist who returned to his hometown village with the task of educating the rural Indian girl child. Through this mission to educate girls in the countryside, Pardada Pardadi started a movement that is literally transforming one of the poorest areas of India.   You will be moved by the story of the 1,118 girls currently getting an education in an environment where once there was no chance to dream.  This school is giving these amazing young girls the opportunity to shine.  More importantly these gifted young women are being given a voice to declare defiantly: “I AM NOT A BURDEN.”

Please come and learn more about how you can aid in the education of the most marginalized girl children and about current volunteer opportunities!

When:    Wednesday evening, July 18th, 2012

Girls' Night Out

To wrap up this year, we are going to the Kocherlball at the Chinese Tower in the English Gardens on Sunday, 15 July, from 6 am to 10 am. That’s right: this is not a late-night event, it is a Greet-the-Sun-with-Fun one!

The tradition of the Kocherlball started around 1880 when house servants (cooks, nannies, butlers, etc.) met on Sunday – their free day or at least free morning – to dance and generally enjoy themselves. And enjoy themselves they did for the Kocherlball was banned in 1904 for “Mangel an Sittlichkeit” (lack of morality). It was re-instated in 1989 as part of the 200th anniversary of the English Gardens.

Nowadays people still come to dance – waltz, polka, Zwiefacher and Münchner Francaise, many dressed up in Tracht or 19th century dress. But most (up to 10,000 when the weather is good) come just to enjoy the morning atmosphere in the Gardens, listen to the music, and watch the dancers and other festivities. Yes, and have a beer or two.

May Program Meeting

The May meeting is primarily devoted to electing officers for the coming year.

After the elections, Christine Rudolf-Jilg of AMYNA will speak briefly about the Security Point at Oktoberfest. Christine will provide details on the fascinating history of the Security Point and will as well explain how best the AAUPW can help moving forward.

She will detail the latest outreach and education efforts of the Sichere Wiesn, which started as just an idea 10 years ago and first served women at the Oktoberfest in 2003. Much has been accomplished and it will be a great opportunity for us to learn more.

When:  Wednesday evening, May 16th, at 18:30

April 2012 - Program Meeting

Our topic for the month is IT security with speaker Kim Gaddy. Kim is an American who has been working in Munich for 1.5 yrs. She is the Group Information Security Manager at Allianz SE.

She will address security for business and personal data. You won't want to miss this eye-opening session.

When: Weds. evening, April 18th, at 6:30 PM

Girls' Night Out

There once were ladies with clout
Lively lasses who sure got about
They ate in good cheer
Drank wine, sekt and beer
And they called it Girls’ Night Out
On March 15 – yes, a Thursday
The ladies again want to play...

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, we'll meet at our favorite Irish bar. Come wearing at least a spot of green and (please) with a limerick to share.

When:     Thursday evening, March 15

March Program Meeting

Carolyn Morrow will speak on the topic of Expressive Arts for our March Meeting.

Carolyn currently teaches classes and workshops in acting and writing in Munich. She has an MA in Theater with a focus on Directing and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In the last 10 years, she has become increasingly involved in other arts such as dance, painting, and sculpting with clay. For most of her life, she has recognized and personally experienced the healing effects of the arts. She has just completed pre-doctoral course work in the field of Expressive Arts at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, where she was taught by Paolo Knill, the founder of Expressive Arts. Because Carolyn has found her work in the Expressive Arts both moving and transformative, she would like to give us a taste of what it’s all about:

Expressive Arts places arts at the center of its theory and practice, and Expressive Arts trainers are specialists in the intermodal use of arts as a means to helping individuals or communities to increase their imaginative play-range and to help them identify their own resources. Trainers are specialists in the intermodal use of arts as a means to helping individuals or communities.

The field is beginning to flourish within coaching, qualitative academic research, as well as within socio/political agencies worldwide. It works with individual clients and small group workshops as well as team building and problem solving for businesses and countries that have experienced acute trauma.

Expressive Arts facilitators begin with the assumption that their clients are the experts of their own problems...so let's start there. Please join us!

When:     Wednesday evening, March 21st

Feb. 2012 Program Meeting - Update

In February we are happy to welcome Jane Scheiring, Program Manager, Election Services, of Overseas Vote Foundation.  (Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, originally scheduled to speak, has been unexpectedly called away on business.)

Jane is from Minnesota, has lived in Munich for nearly 20 years, and has been with OVF for about two years now. The Overseas Vote Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps overseas and military voters participate in federal elections by providing public access to interactive web services.

We're looking forward to hearing how we overseas voters can register, and why we should be passionate about the presidential election coming up this year!

For more information about Jane and her organization, go to:
https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org

Potential members are welcome to visit. For info about meeting time and location, please contact Claudia at http://aaupw@yahoo.de

When:     Wednesday evening, February 15

February Book Club

This month's reading is Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto, originally scheduled for last October. It is a very interesting take on the American education system and its impact on our kids. Gatto’s storytelling skill shines as he relates tales of real people who fled the school system and succeeded in spite of the popular wisdom that insists on diplomas, degrees and credentials. He focuses on mechanisms of familiar schooling that cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a by-product of rote-memorization drills.

John Taylor Gatto taught for thirty years in public schools. He climaxed his teaching career as New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. That same year, he resigned from school-teaching in the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to bring about school reform.

Come for what is sure to be an interesting discussion on what could be a hot topic!

When: Monday evening, Feb. 6th

Girls' Night Out

How often have we heard the line: “Oh, I know this great little Italian place…..“? And lucky for us, there are quite a few out there. This time, we visit one of our favorite Italian restaurants near the university.

When: Friday evening, Feb. 17th

January Program Meeting

Our January speaker will be Sonia Allinson-Penny.  She will cover the topic 'The Female Antidote to Corporate Greed' at this month's AAUPW meeting.

Sonia will take us through important shifts in the business world, where governing bodies have learnt valuable lessons from high profile and widespread corporate failures that, in part, can be attributed to a homogeneous group being in positions of power. She will draw linkages between the move by Stock Exchanges to impose gender quotas for board membership, to the increase in emotional intelligence being applied in the business world, to a shift in our understanding of what drives and motivates us and wider societal changes -- a current and controversial topic that promises to generate good debate.

For more information, please contact aaupw@yahoo.de

When:   Wednesday evening, January 18, at 18:30

January 2012 Book Club

Come join us for the January Book Club where we will be discussing:
In Defence of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan.

His bracing and eloquent manifesto on food shows us how we might start making thoughtful choices that will enrich our lives and our palates and enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy. Food is the one thing that Americans hate to love and, as it turns out, love to hate. What we want to eat has been ousted by the notion of what we should eat, and it's at this nexus of hunger and hang-up that Michael Pollan poses his most salient question: where is the food in our food? What follows in In Defense of Food is a series of wonderfully clear and thoughtful answers that help us omnivores navigate the nutritional minefield that's come to typify our food culture.

When: Monday, 09. January 2012 at 18:30

Coming Up:
Feb: Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto (originally from October)

November Program Meeting

Please join us for our November program meeting. Our guest speaker is Courtenay Smith, design expert from the Neumeister Auction House. There is always a lot to discuss and tons of fun to be had.

Be aware that we have a new meeting location near Viktualienmarkt. For more info, please contact aaupw@yahoo.de

When: Wednesday evening, 16 November, 6:30 PM

Girls' Night Out

In November, we are continuing our Around The World in Munich Tour by going to Mexico – at least for an evening. So, if you are up for tacos, burritos, tortas, ensaladas salsas, tamales, fajitas, and margaritas, come join us at a great Mexican restaurant!

When: Friday evening, 11 November, 7:00 PM

November Book Club

In November, we will be discussing The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. This is a fictional account of the 5 year marriage between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson. They had a whirlwind romance and wedding then set sail to live in Paris in the glittering 1920's. A heartbreaking portrayal of love and broken loyalty. As we now know, Hemingway once said he wished he had died before loving anyone else other than Hadley. From the Washington Times Review, "That his first wife should have spent her adolescence in a home shadowed by depression and suicide before being married to the famed bad boy who later took his own life is intriguing. It immediately establishes one of the strengths of this book, which is its willingness to grapple with emotional complexity."

When: Monday, 14.November at 6:30 PM.

October Meeting 2011

Our October meeting speaker is Barbara Gottstein-Schramm, a teacher with the KIKUS language program since its start-up in 1989. KIKUS offers a fully-integrated language learning method designed to encourage and promote early multilingualism. KIKUS (pronounced “keekooz”) stands for „Kinder in Kulturen und Sprachen" (which can be loosely translated as “Children of Many Cultures and Languages").

Originally developed to support the German language skills of young children from immigrant families in Munich kindergartens, the concept has since been expanded and applied to other languages, including English, Spanish, and Turkish. Gottstein-Schramm serves as a trainer and seminar leader for KIKUS, as well as the head of the foreign language department of the association. She will not only detail how the program has helped more than 20,000 students since its founding, but also explore the benefits of early multilingualism and development. Please join us to learn more about this important topic!

Date: Weds. evening, Oct. 19, 2011
Time: 6:30 PM

October Book Club

This month's reading, Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto, is a very interesting take on the American education system and its impact on our kids. Gatto’s storytelling skill shines as he relates tales of real people who fled the school system and succeeded in spite of the popular wisdom that insists on diplomas, degrees, and credentials. He focuses on mechanisms of familiar schooling that cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a by-product of rote-memorization drills.

John Taylor Gatto taught for thirty years in public schools. He climaxed his teaching career as New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. That same year, he resigned from school-teaching in the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to bring about school reform.

Come for what is sure to be an interesting discussion on what could be a hot topic!

Date: Monday evening, Oct. 17th, 2011

Here the line up for the next few months:
Nov: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Dec: No Book Club - Christmas Break
Jan: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Feb: We pick our reading for the next 6 months!

Girls’ Night Out

In October, we begin our Around The World in Munich Tour, by dining at a different ethnic restaurant each month. This month features Afghan cuisine.

September Meeting 2011

September marks the beginning of a new academic year - and the beginning of a new year in our club calendar. As is our custom, we have no formal speaker this month.

The evening will feature a meet-and-greet exercise, special surprise, regular announcements, and plenty of time to meet new members and catch up with old members we haven't seen all summer. We will have a catered salad-and-pizza dinner featuring several options of each (both vegetarian and non-vegetarian) for approximately 10 euros per person. We will also have several delectable desserts.

This informal evening is a good time for potential new members to get to know us. For more details, please contact Claudia Ziersch at aaupw@yahoo.de.

When: Weds. evening, Sept. 21st, at 18:30 (6:30 PM)

September 2011 Book Club

This month we'll be discussing The Summer without Men by Siri Hustved. Our protagonist, Mia Fredrickson, is a prize-winning poet in her 50s, a university lecturer, and a mother. For 30 years she has also been wife to Boris, an established neuroscientist, who one fine day announces that he wants a pause in their marriage. The "pause" is French and has significant breasts and an excellent mind. Mia tumbles into a brief nervous breakdown. She spends the summer surrounded by women of all ages, in all phases of life, and re-discovers herself.

When: Monday, 12.September at 18:30 (6:30 PM).

Here the line-up for the next few months:
Oct: Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto
Nov: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Jan: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

August Excursion to Regensburg

Our August excursion to Regensburg was a great success! Ten AAUPW members participated in a day of culture and fun in this medieval city. The day started with a lovely lunch at the famous Haus Heuport and was followed by an informative city tour. To end the day, we took advantage of the city's great shopping opportunities (TK Maxx, in particular). We are so lucky to live just a short train ride away from such a beautiful city

New Monthly Event - Girls' Night Out

Because there are many times when girls just like to have fun, we are encouraging everyone to get out and enjoy all the wonderful eateries Munich has to offer – in great company, of course!

When: Tuesday evening, July 19, at 7:30 PM

Prospective members are welcome to visit. For further details, contact Club President Claudia Ziersch at aaupw@yahoo.de

No Program Meeting in July

Because of our Independence Day Party on Sunday, July 3rd, there will be no program meeting this month.

July Book Club

Hope you all are enjoying your summer reading. For July's Book Club we will be discussing:
Just Kids by Patti Smith

Here a review from the internet: Patti Smith, the godmother of punk, has written a memoir of the early years she shared with the Artist, Robert Mapplethorpe. The passion for their art is a major theme throughout the story, along with the hard work and devotion to each other. It's a story of love and friendship that Smith describes as aesthetically as anyone I've read. Both Smith and Mapplethorpe achieve their dreams together, becoming celebrities and fulfilled artists. Their ambition, hard work and mutual love for each other carry the day. The characters are perfectly developed with all the necessary complexity.

Join us as Erin Sull moderates this fascinating look into the lives of these artists before they were famous in NYC in the late 60's.

When: Monday, July 18th, at 6:30 PM

Prospective members are welcome to visit. For further details, contact Club President Claudia Ziersch at aaupw@yahoo.de

Here is the line up for the rest of the season:
Month: Title, Author
Sep: The Summer Without Men, Siri Hustvedt
Oct: Weapons of Mass Instruction, John Taylor Gatto
Nov: The Paris Wife, Paula McLain
Jan: In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan

June Program Meeting is the Annual Walking Tour

Our June meeting features a special "walking tour" of the Museum Villa Stuck - which includes a look at the historical rooms of Franz von Stuck and at the exhibition currently on display in the extension.

Afterwards we will go out to dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Members may bring a guest.

When: Wednesday evening, June 22

June Book Club

For June we will be reading the German comedian, Hape Kerkeling's entertaining account of his pilgrimage across the Pyrannes to the St. James shrine. A self confessed "pudgy couch potatoe", he was an unlikely candidate to complete this rigorous journey. His travels and his spiritual journey on the tough Camino de Santiago struck a cord in many and his travelogue was a best seller in Germany. The book has now been translated in 11 languages and since the book was published, the number of Pilgrims along the Camino has increased by 20%. By the way, two of our very own members are planning on doing part of the trail this year...I won't tell you who... come to book club and find out!

When: Monday, June 6th at 18:30

May Program Meeting

After much cajoling, our intrepid member, Elyse Shustak, has agreed to tell us about her recent trip to Israel and Palestine at the May meeting. Elyse traveled with the Abraham Path management team from the village of Beit Sahour in the West Bank to Be'er Sheva in the Negev Desert of southern Israel, and was deeply moved by what she saw and heard; the people she met, Israelis, Palestinians, Bedouins, and American peace pioneers. The Abraham Path (http://www.abrahampath.org/about.php) is a cultural tourism initiative - a pilgrimage which traces the footsteps of Abraham through the Middle East. We look forward to hearing about Elyse's experiences and to find out just what she has taken away from a most unusual vacation.

When: 6:30 PM on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

April 2011 Program Meeting

(NOTE: Meeting date is one week earlier than usual this month -- April 13)

The featured speaker will be Dr. Katharina Bernau-Seiguer, founder of the San Francisco Coffee Company, a German company rooted in an American idea and customer service model. Dr. Bernau-Seiguer, who studied law in Bayreuth, Lausanne, and Munich and has a Phd. in IP and copyright law fron Max Planck Institute, worked at a California law firm in Silicon Valley before returning to Germany and starting her company as sole founder of SFCC in 1999. Her husband followed her into the business about six months later. Dr. Bernau-Seiguer is on the forefront of business trends and will speak about this topic as well as about improving customer service and women in business. She no doubt will inspire us!

When: 6:30 PM on Wednesday, April 13, 2011

April Book Club

Come join us to discuss Marilynne Robinson's much anticipated Novel, Gilead. The 77 year old Reverend Ames is told he only has a few months to live and starts to pen a letter to his young son. What unfolds is a wonderful memoir of his life in which he shares his views on family, love, religion. The result is a testimony of struggle and faith over three generations that's more intimate and revealing than most parents can articulate in decades. According to reviewer Ron Charles, of the Christian Science Monitor, "There are passages here of such profound, hard-won wisdom and spiritual insight that they make your own life seem richer."

When: Monday, 04.April at 6:30 PM

March Program Meeting

The topic for our March meeting is Intercultural Awareness and Communication

Our speaker is
Professor Dr. Gertrud Kalb-Krause
Hochschule München
(University of Applied Sciences)

Gertrud Kalb-Krause teaches business languages and intercultural communication classes in the business faculty and thus prepares students for their international careers. She will talk to us about differences between cultures, how to deal with them, and the challenges of diversity in a global world.

Gertrud studied English and French language and literature and worked at the University of Manchester in the U.K. before working at various German Universities. She has published numerous articles; among them are articles on the American writer Joyce Carol Oates, but also on the American political system.

Don’t miss the opportunity to boost your intercultural skills and come and join us for this stimulating and enlightening evening.

When: March 16 at 18:30

March Book Club

After reading The Happiness Project in February, we thought we would explore the other end of the spectrum with Bright Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking is Undermining America by Barbara Eherenreich. She really is not grumpy, but she has an interesting take on the whole movement of "The Secret" and being only cheerful and upbeat. She even proposes that this, on a national level, brought us to an irrational optimism which might have even been a root cause of the financial crisis. Should be a very interesting book and discussion.

When: Monday, 07.March at 18:30.

Here is the line up for the next 2 months:
April: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
May: We pick our books for the next season!

February Program Meeting (change of speakers)

One of Munich's experts on subculture and the underground cultural scene, Patrick Gruban, talks about "How We Turned a Department Store into a Temporary Cultural Space," referring to one of many sub-culture events he has helped organize over the last 10 years in Munich.

Patrick Gruban's professional work is in the field of conceiving and developing internet applications. There, his main focus is on social media and online communities. But he is equally involved in non-mainstream cultural projects and will point out to you sides and sites of Munich which you will like to get to know.

Further information can be found at www.gruban.de

February Book Club

This month we are reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. She had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," Gretchen realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. In this lively and compelling account of that year, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Are you ready to start your Happiness Project? Come join us for the February Book Club on Monday, 07.Feb at 18:30.

Prospective club members are welcome - for more information, please e-mail aaupw@yahoo.de

January 2011 Program Meeting

On January 19th, we will kick off 2011 with a look at one group working to ensure Munich remains a wonderful city in which to live!

Benjy Barnhart will speak about Green City, a 20-year-old Munich-focused environmental group that has helped make Munich one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world. As a Green City board member and an American, Benjy can provide unique insight into the nonprofit and its programs.

Green City funds, sponsors, or organizes many projects, such as the successful Streetlife-Festival, Blade Nights, Bicycle Film Festival, educational programs for Munich public school children, tree-planting, and gorilla gardening.

The group prides itself on not only "talking" about protecting the environment and reducing greenhouse gases, but taking concrete steps to do it and raising awareness all along the way. Join us as Barnhart, an artist who has lived in Germany since 1999, paints a future Munich we will all want to live in!

January Book Club

The book for January is Thomas Hardy's classic Jude the Obscure. Called "Jude the Obscene" by at least one reviewer, Jude the Obscure received a harsh reception from scandalised critics. It is thought largely for this reason that Hardy made the decision to produce only poetry and drama for his remaining 32 years. The book was burned publicly by the Bishop of Wakefield in the year it came out. Now if that doesn't entice you to read the book and find out what the fuss is all about, what will?

Next Book Club: Monday evening, January 10th, 2011

AAUPW Holiday Party - Dec. 15th

Our annual holiday party takes place on Wednesday, December 15th. Please note that this is a members-only event (no visitors, please).

Each member brings a holiday food item for the potluck dinner and a wrapped present -- something humorous, inexpensive, and/or used -- for our White Elephant gift exchange. Holiday entertainment will be provided by some of our talented members in the AAUPW Seasonal Choir.

November Program Meeting

Our speaker for November will be Diana Graham.

Diana Graham founded the New York based design firm of Diagram Design and Marketing Communications, Inc., which was chosen as one of the top marketing and design firms in the United States in the early 90’s. She was the first recipient of the "Women In Design International Award" and has been creative director and marketing consultant in the real estate, corporate and entertainment fields for numerous Fortune 500 corporations. She has won awards and judged competitions of the Type Directors Club, Art Directors Club, Communication Arts, American Institute of Graphic Arts, and Society of Typographic Arts, Chicago.

A graduate of New York's School of Visual Arts, Diana Graham began her career in 1965. She founded Diana Graham/Graphic Design in 1973, which merged six years later with Frankfurt Balkind Partners.

Ms. Graham is much in demand as a lecturer and has addressed design and marketing organizations and college groups around the world. She lives in Munich and New York.

www.DianaGraham.de

Program Meeting Schedule for the 2010-2011 Year

These are the dates scheduled for our monthly meetings this year.

November 17
November 25 - Thanksgiving Dinner!
December 15 - Holiday Party!
January 19
February 16
March 16
April 13 - Not the third Wednesday!
May 18
June 15 - Walking Tour (tentative date)

AAUPW Book Club - November

This month’s book club pick is “Audition” by Barbara Walters. She gives us an entertaining look at a full life lived and recounted with humor and honesty. Read about her personal struggles, professional achievements and get an insider's look at some of the interesting people she has interviewed. There will be lively discussion – hope to see you there!

When: Monday, November 8th at 18:30

AAUPW Book Club: Fall/Winter Reading List

We have an interesting line up for fall/winter 2010-2011 with a good mix of fiction, non-fiction and classics. Here is the list by month:

Oct 2010 ... Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

Nov 2010 ... Audition, by Barbara Walters

Dec 2010 ... NO MEETING

Jan 2011 ... Jude The Obscure, by Thomas Hardy

Feb 2011 ... The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin

Mar 2011 ... Bright Sided, by Barbara Ehrenreich

Apr 2011 ... Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson

October Program Meeting (change of speaker)

Please note that we have had a change of speaker. We're excited to be able to introduce Yan Lavallee, volcanoligist, who had been unable to attend last spring.

Yan Lavallee received his undergraduate degree in Earth and Planetary Science at McGill University in Montreal, a Master in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, and a PhD in Volcanology (2008) at the LMU-Munich. After graduation, he was offered a position of assistant professor in Mineralogy. His current work mainly revolves around the deformation of magma and understanding transition between effusive and explosive eruptions.

In his presentation, he will introduce the Earth and its volcanoes as well as their eruptive styles and discuss some of its effects on human activity. He will then present the different methods used to play with magma in his lab.

We will also be hearing about the Munich Ausländerbeirat (foreign nationals' advisory council) and meeting our Junior Year in Munich scholarship recipient.

AAUPW Book Club - October

This month’s book club pick is “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggars. A harrowing account of one family’s ordeal through Hurricane Katrina. As if losing your house to the devastation wasn’t enough, imagine being suddenly and inexplicably arrested in the aftermath of the hurricane. The book is sweet in its simplicity and the heartfelt story will keep you turning pages and drawing your own conclusions. Come and discuss the book with us on Monday, October 11th 18:30.

September Program Meeting

Not only does school start back in September, but it is the beginning of the AAUPW operating year. September is traditionally our get-to-know-you meeting, with lots of time for chatting and catching up on everything. Plus a couple of fun games to break the ice.

We also will have a brief presentation from IMMA (Initiative Münchner Mädchen e.V. - our adopted charity) to let our members know more about what IMMA is, what it does and how we have been and can continue to help.

September Book Club

Our Book Club starts their new year on September 6th, when we will be picking the Fall/Winter line-up for 2010/2011. Bring your favorite books that you have either read, or would like to read, and tell us what made them fun for you and how they would make good fodder for discussion. At the ends of the session, all participants vote and we select the next six months of books to read.

Prospective AAUPW members are also welcome to visit the book club.

July Meeting - 4th of July Event

Instead of our usual potluck picnic, we celebrated the Fourth of July this year with other Americans and friends of America on the Amerika Haus lawn.

We brought our families. There was live music, as well as games for the kids, barbequed steaks, and other traditional American picnic fare. The AAUPW Seasonal Choir was a big hit, providing a lively medley of songs from the musical, Music Man.

June Tour

On Wednesday, June 16, 2010, we enjoyed a wonderful walking (and climbing) tour in English at the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek (Bavarian State Library). We were very interested to visit one of the most important European general libraries which also ranks among the best research libraries on an international scale.

We greatly enjoyed walking through this impressive building with 9,530,000 volumes (total holdings) and 856 reader desks. It was interesting to see two different reading rooms with contrasting characters: the quiet Aventinus Reading Room for scholars to read old books and the more crowded General Reading Room for students and scholars. We saw a facsimile of the world map from 1507, which was the first map to use the name America.

Our tour was not only a “walking tour,” but also a “climbing tour,” since we climbed 7 flights of stairs to better visualize the stacks of books in the library. It was worthwhile to see the books damaged by fire and water that were stored on the 7^th floor of the stacks, as well as the damaged books (e.g. a book with acid-containing paper) in the display cases located near the InduPrint copy services company. After seeing these damaged books, we can understand why it is important to digitize the library’s old and new collections to promote long-term preservation. The closing presentation about digitization included innovative robotic scanning technology. The presentation provided insight into the digital and Internet-based services, for example in the areas of electronic journals and the mass digitization of the collections.

With almost 10 million books, about 55,000 current periodicals in printed or electronic form, and more than 93,000 manuscripts, the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek is one of the most important knowledge centers of the world.

For more information about the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, please see the following website: http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/. If you have questions, please write to the following e-mail address: fuehrungen@bsb-muenchen.de

May Program Meeting

In addition to our all-important AAUPW Board Elections, we are excited to have a speaker who will be talking to us about VOLCANOES! Please plan to come via ground transportation (no airplanes :) please).

Yan Lavallee received his undergraduate degree in Earth and Planetary Science (2001) at McGill University in Montreal and went on to the University of North Dakota for a Master in Space Studies (2003). He crossed the ocean in 2004 and did a PhD in Volcanology (2008) at the LMU-Munich. After graduation, he was offered a position of assistant professor in Mineralogy. His current work mainly revolves around the deformation of magma and understanding transition between effusive and explosive eruptions. In his presentation, he will introduce the Earth and its volcanoes as well as their eruptive styles and discuss some of its effects on human activity. He will then present the different methods used to play with magma in his lab.

Please join us for this informative and timely presentation.

Special April Program Meeting!

April isn't always the cruelest month - just look what's in store for you at our April meeting: We welcome to center stage Rita Loving, opera coach and pianist at the Bavarian State Opera for 20+ years.

Loving brings along varied experience including: intermittent guest contracts at the New York City Opera, faculty work in seminars and opera courses in Bayreuth and Tel Aviv, teaching master classes at the Manhattan School of Music, and performing Gerschwin concerts in Munich and Salzburg. Loving, who has also been an occasional guest at our meetings, will discuss her wonderfully checkered career, and give us a bit of Gerschwin to top it off. So don't miss this very special opportunity to meet this wonderfully talented and versatile life artist and performer!

March Program Meeting

AAUPW was pleased to welcome as March guest speaker Paul R. Houston, Supervisory Special Agent within the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the US Consulate General in Munich.

Houston earned his BA in Political Science and International Business at the University of Iowa and an MA in National Security Policy from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy. He has done Foreign Service work all over the globe, from Washington, DC to Geneva, Belgrade and Port-au-Prince.Houston will discuss the multifaceted nature of Diplomatic Security, which has provided the Department of State with security and law enforcement for more than 80 years. His work assists the Secretary of State and Foreign Service colleagues to safely implement foreign policy of the United States worldwide. Security programs provide the first line of defense for US diplomatic missions against the threats of terrorist, criminal and technical attacks.The work of Diplomatic Security agents is difficult yet critically important: the threats US diplomatic missions face, particularly from transnational terrorists, are real and growing. Houston and his colleagues work to ensure that the State Department’s missions and responsibilities are carried out successfully and securely. We look forward to what promises to be a very interesting and educational evening.

February Program Meeting

The February meeting was held on February 24th (rather than the usual week before) due to the "Fasching" holidays.

Now that German Reunification is celebrating its 20th Anniversary, it is a good time to take a look back and consider the transition over the past two decades. AAUPW was pleased to welcome Colinne S. Bartel from AC Innovation GmbH to speak about German reunification from an East German perspective based on her experience building a cable company in Sachsen from 1993-1998.

Colinne's aim is to get people to look at history from a different perspective, mixing an academic view with personal experiences. No finger pointing but rather, "consider this..." looking at both the positives and the negatives. She will take a look at some of the factors that made reunification difficult, not only from a financial perspective but also psychological.Her company at that time, Kabelmedia, was the fastest growing telecommunications company in Germany in 1995. They acquired 29 companies combined from both East and West Germany in 24 months and it was the first continental European cable IPO. Colinne was responsible for the operational budget of the company.Colinne now owns her own company, AC Innovations, an international investment company that assists small to medium sized companies with expansion and marketing between German-speaking Europe and the US.

January Program Meeting

On Wednesday, January 20, 2010, Elisa Moolecherry spoke to our group about BeMeTheatre, Munich’s English Language Theatre.

Elisa is the Artistic Director and co-founder of this organization. Born and raised in Toronto, Elisa has been acting professionally for over 15 years in film, in television series and on international stages. On the screen in Germany she has acted with Til Schweiger in the films “Pastewka” and “One Way.”

We appreciated hearing the history of BeMeTheatre – how Elisa co-founded the theatre in Barcelona and eventually moved it to Munich. Elisa co-founded BeMeTheatre with an economist from Holland whom Elisa met in Spanish class. BeMeTheatre faced many obstacles, for example, during the opening night performance of “I, Claudia, (in Barcelona)” someone’s cell phone played “La Bamba,” the curtain fell down prematurely, and a cat walked across the stage. Due to the lack of interest in English language theatre in Barcelona, Elisa relocated the theatre company. She selected Munich, “because of a boy,” who became her husband. BeMeTheatre now performs at the Einstein Kulturzentrum at Max-Weber-Platz in an old beer cellar that was a bomb shelter in WWII.

Our AAUPW members would certainly agree that there is a need for professional English language theatre in Munich. We look forward to seeing future shows performed at BeMeTheatre!

In March 2010 BeMeTheatre will present the critically acclaimed play “My Zinc Bed” by David Hare. For more information about BeMeTheatre, please see the following website: www.BeMeTheatre.com.

At the end of her presentation, Elisa gave a “call to action”, which hopefully will inspire some of our AAUPW members to become involved in BeMeTheatre. Elisa asked our members to contact her if we have any ideas about publicity, housing space for performing artists, or places to distribute posters or postcards advertising the plays. Elisa’s e-mail address is elisa@BeMeTheatre.com.

Holiday Party

What a Party! Once again, the AAUPW Holiday Party proved to be a highlight of the year. We enjoyed an excellent buffet, the choir’s wonderful singing, a lively “speed” White Elephant gift exchange, and collected and wrapped the gifts for residents of IMMA, our sister chartiy.

And most of us will spend 2010 remembering the heavenly deserts – the (still warm) pumpkin pie with whipped cream, the peanut butter cookies, everything chocolate as well as the main dishes – the gorgonzola risotto, the fragrant lentils, the many chicken dishes, including the now traditional Kentucky Fried! Our annual holiday party is just one member benefit that highlights the comaraderie, community and friendship shared by AAUPW members throughout the year.
JOIN US!

AAUPW Annual Thanksgiving Celebration

The Next Best Thing to Being Home
For the second year in a row, AAUPW members and their families celebrated Thanksgiving at a Bavarian restaurant transformed for the occasion. The culinary team did us proud, with a buffet feast boasting American traditionals, some with a Bavarian twist.
The turkey was moist and flavorful, the bread stuffing was delicious, the pureed sweet potatoes were light and fluffy, the broccoli and green beans were tasty, the apple and pumpkin pies were yummy and even the cranberry sauce was almost right this time!
And this year we continued a couple of "instant AAUPW Thanksgiving traditions" established last year. First the teens entertained us with an amusing skit - courtesy of Dave Barry.
Its a tradition you won't want to miss next year!

AAUPW November Program Meeting

On Wednesday, November 18, 2009, Hildegard Denninger spoke energetically and enthusiastically to our group about BISS e.V. Frau Denninger is the managing director of the non-profit association BISS e.V. which she transformed into a successful social business. Last year she was awarded the National German service medal (“Bundesverdienstkreuz”) for these efforts.
The mission of BISS is to help people help themselves. BISS is the German abbreviation of “Bürger in sozialen Schwierigkeiten” which means “Citizens in social problems”. BISS gives the homeless and the poor the chance to earn money, and thus find their place in society. It envisions a participatory society in which marginalized groups, such as the unemployed, under-qualified, or younger people without vocational training, are given access to societal resources, such as work, money, education, communication and social networks.
BISS magazine was launched in 1993 and is the oldest street paper in Germany. With BISS, the homeless and the poor have the chance to earn money by selling the magazine of the same name. The buyers can help a homeless person directly. Furthermore, by providing a quality magazine which the vendors are proud to sell, the financial transaction exceeds a charitable donation. For additional information about the BISS magazine, please see the following website: http://www.biss-magazin.de/.
Now Frau Denninger is working on a second BISS project: “Hotel BISS”. This will be a 4-star hotel with 72 rooms in a building that was formerly a women’s prison. (It is located near the Auer Dult grounds.) There, the non-profit organisation BISS will offer vocational training in the hotel business for up to 40 young men and women who would hardly find training elsewhere. We hope that Frau Denninger can raise enough funding to make the Hotel BISS a reality! For more information about Hotel BISS, please see the following website: http://www.hotelbiss.de/.

October Program Meeting

Milena Thaller, an Augsburg resident who holds a degree in political science, joined us as the October meeting speaker to discuss her Police Academy training in Fürstenfeldbruck. The police officer candidate shared her insights on the opportunites and challenges of policing and serving as a female officer.
Thaller, a vibrant and inspiring woman (who also is a ballet dancer!), serves as the Chairwoman of the Augsburg chapter of the 'Young Europeans,' a political group supporting a strong democracy in Europe. She is joining an ever-increasing number of women who use their higher education not only to have an increased income, but also to contribute to the well-being of society.

AAUPW September 2009 meeting

As our first meeting of the year, the AAUPW September meeting featured "getting-to-know you" exercises and some mind-bending quizzes. We're looking forward to seeing everyone again in October, when we will return to our speaker program, networking and social time and dinner.

September Book Club Meeting

BOOK CLUB UPDATE!

On July 13th, the book club met in the Hirschgarten to vote on the books for the upcoming months. Below you will find the list of the new and interesting books decided on!

September: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
October: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
November: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
January: Collapse: How Societies Decide to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
February: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

The book club is open to all members and is just one of many member benefits!

Socializing and Singing...

...that's what the AAUPW Seasonal Choir is all about - making music and having fun. We are already planning our repertoire for the Christmas season, and may even put in an appearance at the AAUPW Thanksgiving Celebration. So if you want to take your singing out of the shower and bring it to a wider audience, sign up to join the choir as we put together our autumn rehearsal schedule. The time commitment is not extensive and the fun is plentiful.
Like the Book Club, the choir is a member benefit open to all paid members.

Janice Perry show at Amerika Haus

On Thursday, June 18th at 7 pm, AAUPW will present Janice Perry in performance at Amerika Haus (Karolinenplatz 3, 80333 München). Ms. Perry will be performing her retrospective of 25 years of touring, "Not Just Another Pretty Face." You won't want to miss the woman The Village Voice calls "bizarre and brainy," and whom BBC Radio considers "one of the world's most-respected performance artists." And you won't want to pass up the opportunity to help raise money for the group's adopted charity IMMA. Tickets for the show are only 8 Euros (concessions: 5 Euros) and will be available at the door the night of the performance.

http://www.amerikahaus.de/programm.html

July Book Club Meeting

The AAUPW book club members have selected an amazing assortment of books to read and discuss in the last 6 months. They have included: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama.

In July members will meet at a beer garden to nominate and vote on the next exciting round of books. If you'd like to be a part of this dynamic group, become an AAUPW member today!

May Program Meeting & Elections

On May 20, 2009, the AAUPW held its yearly election meeting.
We started the evening’s program by viewing the AAUPW Slide Show that member Annie J. originally created for our 20th anniversary Gala in April 2008. The Slide Show featured the history of AAUPW from its origins as a satellite chapter of AAUW (American Association of University Women) in the U.S. The presentation included photos of past speakers at our program meetings, as well as pictures of our special events, such as the walking tours, the Winter Holiday Parties, and the Fourth of July picnics. As the music "Hail to the Chief" played in the background, photos of our past and current AAUPW Presidents appeared onscreen.

After club announcements, we held our AAUPW Board elections. The current Board members briefly described their roles, which were summarized on a flipchart and then members present voted unanimously to approve the slate of Board members for next year.

April Program Meeting

At our last meeting, Susanne Böller spoke to our group on the topic of American art students at the Munich Academy of Art from around 1860 to WWI. Susanne studied Art History, American Studies, and English Literature in Stuttgart and Washington, D.C. She presently works at the Lenbachhaus as an exhibition organizer/coordinator and editor. Susanne is writing her Ph.D. thesis on American Art Students in Munich in the last quarter of the 19th century at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU).

March Program Meeting

Alwyn Thomson, a Northern Ireland native spoke on the topic "Making It Up as We Go Along - Conflict Resolution in Theory and Reality." Alwyn studied theology at Queens University and got his masters in Philosophy of Religion. After being involved in groups that were working toward resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland, he went back to get a second masters degree in Conflict Resolution. Alwyn spoke to a gathering of nearly 30 women. His talk and answer-packed Q&A time afterward provided a thought-provoking view into a world seemingly far from everyday Munich life...yet with lessons to be applied both to other political and personal challenges.

February Program Meeting

"Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Living in Munich as an Ex-Pat But Were Afraid to Ask" was the topic of the February 2009 meeting. One of our "newbie" members to Munich gave a short and humorous presentation and then the evening was turned over to the "long-timers" to answer the most-oft questions.

Much valuable information was shared during the evening. Information sheets on some of these topics were handed out to our members. These sheets are available to members through the blog newsletter links.

January Program Meeting

Starting 2009 with thoughts of keeping healthy, the AAUPW monthly meeting topic was "Breast Cancer: Epidemiology, Early Detection and Breast Self Examination," presented by Prof. Dr. Harbeck, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Technical University Hospital in Munich.

The ob/gyn department at Technical University is a leading clinical trials centre for breast cancer. Dr. Harbeck is an internationally-renowned expert in this field and a well-published clinician and researcher. She presented her topic with her colleague, Dr. Artmann of the MammaCare Center.

January Book Club

Members of the book club met to discuss "Personal History" by Katharine Graham.

We've got a wonderful list of books planned for 2009. They include:

February: The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
March: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
April: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
May: Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama
June: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

December Program Meeting & Winter Holiday Party

The AAUPW Winter Holiday Party, which took place on Wednesday, December 17th, was a very merry occasion that included several AAUPW traditions as well as some innovations.

Members enjoyed the usual sumptuous potluck buffet, marvelling yet again at what good cooks we all are! The AAUPW Seasonal Choir performed and the jolly atmosphere was made even more festive by the opportunity to wrap the various gifts which we had brought along for our adopted charity, IMMA. Of course the "white elephant" re-gifting swap is always a highlight of the evening. The event continues to be one of the focal points of the year.

November Program Meeting

Our program speaker, Sue Morris, provided details on the English-Speaking Prisoners’ Support Group (ESPSG). The ESPSG gives assistance to English-speaking prisoners in Bavarian prisons and builds bridges between prisoners and the outside world. Its members come from various English-speaking Christian communities and elsewhere. An eye-opening evening.

Thanksgiving Celebration A Big Success!

Seventeen AAUPW members and 20 of their friends and family members gathered at a local restaurant for a memorable and highly enjoyable Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday, November 27, 2008. Real whole turkey! Several cranberry sauces from which to choose! Pumpkin and apple pies! Even a pilgrim play performed by the kids! A great event for giving thanks!

September Program Meeting

In keeping with tradition, our first meeting of the new academic year was a chance to get to know each other better. We played a few games and had a lot of laughs, plus we heard about what to expect from our club in the year ahead - guest speakers, special events, cooperation with our adopted charity IMMA, holiday parties, etc.

September Book Club Meeting

Book Selection: Plainsong by Kent Haruf

American Consulate Open Day

In honor of the 50th Birthday of the American Consulate building, Consul General Eric Nelson invited all American citizens in Bavaria and their families to an Open House on the lawn of the American Consulate General. AAUPW was represented there, among other services and organizations such as Social Security, the IRS, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service, Voter Registration and the Ausländeramt. Consulate staff grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for sale along with other American treats to raise funds for community projects. The curator of the Sep Ruf exhibition at the Pinakothek der Moderne spoke about the Consulate building and its famous architect. There was also an exhibit covering fifty years of Bavarian-American relations and a video of the celebrations of the new American Embassy in Berlin.

Letter from the President

We've had a very exciting start to our AAUPW year these past few weeks -- the Information Day at the Consulate was quite successful in recruiting women interested in our group and the debate at Amerika Haus between representatives from Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad was very well-received.

Many thanks to all who helped on these events. It was great to see so many of you at our "Getting Re-Aquainted" meeting in September and I am looking forward to a year of interesting programs, great books, and wonderful get-togethers.

Elizabeth

Political Debate

This was the 3rd presidential-election-year debate between members of Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad which has been co-sponsored by AAUPW and Amerika Haus.

John McQueen, longtime activist of Democrats Abroad faced Michael Ricks, Co-Chairman of Republicans Abroad Germany. The debate was moderated by Dr. Britta Waldschmidt-Nelson, Associate Professor of American History and Culture at LMU. Opening remarks were made by Mr. Kit Traub, Political Officer of the Consulate General, Munich.

July Program Meeting

Our annual 4th of July party for AAUPW members and their families.

July Book Club Meeting

Book Selection: Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong

June Program Meeting

Our annual walking tour: AAUPW favorite Gerhard Meighörner shared insights on Munich architecture and history as he guided us around the town center. The tour was followed by dinner at Kater Mikesch, near Isartor.

June Book Club Meeting

Book Selection: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

May Program Meeting

Speaker: Lucinda Schwaiger, practicing Whirling Dervish and local teacher for the Mevlevi Order of America

May Book Club

Selection: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossenini

April Program Meeting

Our fabulous Anniversary Gala, a celebration of 20 years of AAUPW Munich, included:

• a delicious and elegant finger food buffet provided by Patricio Zimbron, a talented young chef soon to open his own restaurant in Munich;
• an entertaining quiz featuring a guest appearance by the AAUPW choir; the selection of a winner in our club logo contest;
• a silent auction to benefit our adopted charity IMMA;
• a brief address by Ingrid Reich of IMMA, who updated us on the charity's worthwhile activities;
• a tribute to the club's founding members;
• a slide show recounting highlights of the club's history;
• and a chance to socialize, giggle, and strut our stuff in our favorite fancy outfits.

April Stammtisch

Piazza Linda

April Book Club Meeting

Book Selection: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

March Program Meeting

Speakers: Christa Ortmann and Erika Brown will tell us about Women in Black (WiB)

March Stammtisch

A sporty dinner at Bavaria Bowling

March Book Club Meeting

Book Selection: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngoyi Adichie

February Program Meeting

Speaker: International Success Coach Roxey Lau

February Stammtisch

Casa de Tapas

February Book Club Meeting

Book Selection: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen