Conference
- Society for Menstrual Cycle Research June 2-4, 2005
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|
Based on Rely Tampon logo, late 1970s |
TSOA 25 Toxic Shock: A Look
Back...and a Look Forward Boulder, Colorado - June 2, 3 &
4, 2005 |
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Thinking
of submitting a piece of writing to the MOLT anthology:
“TSOA 25: It’s been 25 years – what have we learned?”
You
can email MOLT with questions; a few ideas
that have come to you; or a fully-developed abstract, by clicking on the link
below:
MOLT
is especially interested in:
1)
Addressing the likelihood of, and obstacles to, development of a
“zero-fatality” tampon, regardless of absorbancy level and length of use.
2)
Pieces by and/or interviews with women who’ve had tampon-related toxic shock,
and/or their friends and family members.
3)
Explorations more generally of the relationship between toxicity and shock. For
example, in terms of politics, history, the environment: how do toxicity and
shock “uncouple and recouple,” depending on context?
4)
What should a museum exhibit about toxic shock try to communicate to the
viewer?
But
MOLT welcomes your ideas as well – poetry and fiction, artwork too – just click
on the above link to email.
Wondering what to expect
in Boulder, Colorado?
The conference will be held at the Millennium Harvest House Hotel
at 1345 28th Street, Boulder, CO 80302. Room charges are $129 + tax for a
single, double, triple or quadruple occupancy and reservations can be made in
advance at 303-443-3850 or toll-free 866-866-8066. Information about the hotel
can be accessed at www.millenniumhotels.com. Be sure to state that you are
attending the SMCR conference. Each room rate includes express breakfast buffet
each morning in the Thyme on the Creek Restaurant. Rooms will be held for SMCR
attendees until May 1 to secure this rate. Check in time is 3 pm and checkout
time is 11am. Rooms will also be available at this rate for Wednesday and
Saturday night. The Millennium Harvest House hotel is located in downtown
Boulder near the Crossroads Mall and the famous Pearl Street Mall. The hotel is
also minutes away from the University of Colorado. Parking is free for guests
Hopefully it will be more than white
tablecloths, pitchers of water and podiums – presentations of papers – but that
will depend on who comes, and what it is they wish to present – if and how they
wish to speak – I myself, Geneva Kachman, hope I will not be the only woman who
had toxic shock in attendance (as has been the case at two previous Society for
Menstrual Cycle Research Conferences – it’s a bit strange, considering how many
of us there are...)
It
would be wonderful if the Boulder Conference could function as a kind
of “Le
Salon des Refuses Menstruel,” modeled on the Impressionist art
exhibit of 1863. Here’s how Suzanne Tswei describes that 1863 art exhibit, in a
Honolulu Star
Bulletin article:
“The first
Salon des Refuses exhibition was held in 1863 in Paris. It was a revolt against
the "academic system," the French Academy of art.
An artist's professional
reputation, and therefore his financial survival, depended on his acceptance
for showing in the academy's biennial salons. The juried system worked against
artists whose style did not fit into the accepted academic norm, and the
rejected artists finally got fed up and banded together for a revolt.
The exhibit of rejects paved the
way for modern art, and in the process added a roster of pioneering artists to
the history of art, artists like Paul Cezanne, James Whistler, Vincent van Gogh
and Paul Gauguin. Over time, Salon des Refuses took on a quasi-official status
and became a French tradition itself.”
Perhaps the most telling failure of the current
“accepted academic norm” around menstruation, is that the book which “captured
the imaginations” of press and public alike, was one which argued for the
“uselessness” of menstruation. Can SMCR members even begin to believe a book
they’d write, taking a less extreme stance, could have the same impact? Perhaps
those of us in the “Salon des Refuses Menstruel” can.
Come
to Boulder, Colorardo, this June 2, 3 & 4, and help create a new “accepted
menstrual norm” – academic and otherwise.
teach – mourn – learn – celebrate
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