It occurred to me last night that not everyone will be hip to what the Women & Power Conference at the Omega Institute is and why it’s such a big flippin’ deal that I received full funding.
The Omega Institute is a holistic center in upstate New York. Their mission statement: Through innovative educational experiences that awaken the best in the human spirit, Omega provides hope and healing for individuals and society.
Once a year, partnering with a number of feminist organizations, the host a conference with the broad theme “Women & Power.” Under that auspice, this year’s theme is “Connecting Across the Generations” and the workshops will cover topics on intergenerational feminism. Additionally, because of Omega’s dedication to working with the whole person, there will be a variety of workshops on how to juggle your personal and professional lives and creating a meditative space in your work. While I’m certainly interested in all of these, the real catalyst for applying for funding was the realization that Jessica Valenti (author of The Purity Myth and co-founder of feministing.com) will be presenting along with the other editors of feministing. I doubt it will come as a surprise to anyone that I would give my left arm to write for feministing, so this will be as much an opportunity to network as anything else. Oh. And have I mentioned that Gloria Steinam and Isabelle Allende regularly lecture there?
My application stressed heavily the fact that I’m one of two women in the systematics Master’s program and my work with domestic violence in an organization where I’m one of the youngest women and communicate differently than my coworkers. Apparently all of that worked, because Omega agreed to fund my travel from NYC to Rhinebeck, pay my conference fees, meals, and accommodations for the weekend. I’m so incredibly pleased I can barely stand it. This is a huge opportunity to network with astoundingly well-connected women, reconnect with other idealists, and take a good long breath before the semester really starts to get crazy.
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