March 30, 1994 was the first EBSC book club meeting. In honor of the anniversary, Sherrill
collected a list of all the books we've ever read, and orchestrated having a copy of all but one present for our books-and-people
photo-shoot at Ruth Ganong's. Sherrill will send the picture to the SAQ along with an article about the book club.
Ruth Ganong generously hosted our anniversary book club meeting
to discuss Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi on Thursday, March 25, 2004. A crowd of 15 alumnae looked at books arranged in the kitchen, toasted with champagne,
ate chocolate cake, and filled Ruth's living room for an energetic discussion about the book, English literature, history
and politics, what life was like in Iran, and Muslim culture in the USA.
Book: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir
in Books by Azar Nafisi, in paperback 384 pages. One review: http://www.powells.com/review/2003_05_27.html
Other books about the Middle East the club has read
over the years include Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks and Islam:
A Short History by Karen Armstrong.
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From Kathy: During our discussion of Reading Lolita in Tehran,
I asked a trivia question about which state first granted women the right to vote. My Garden State pride was shining, but
actually there is no one correct response. New Jersey was the first jurisdiction worldwide to
do this, but it was conditional & it was revoked 30 years later.
-
1776 - 1807 New Jersey: granted only to propertied women
& was revoked in 1807.
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1839 Pitcairn Islands
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1839 Wyoming Territory (and thus, Maggie is correct
in that the Wyoming Territory was the first where the right was unconditional & continuous until federal law was enacted
in 1920.)
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1881 Isle of Man
-
Etc.
SOURCE: Chronology of Worldwide Woman Suffrage, International
Museum of Women, 101 Howard St., San Francisco http://www.imow.org
