Celebrating the 36th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

I just got back from the 36th Annual Planned Parenthood Pro-Choice Luncheon at the Westin Hotel in the Galleria. There were over 900 people in attendance. It was truly awesome. The guest speaker was Naomi Wolf. She is a New York Times bestselling author, feminist, social critic, and political activist. Her landmark international bestseller, The Beauty Myth, challenged the cosmetics industry and the marketing of unrealistic standards of beauty, launching a new wave of feminism in the early 1990s. The New York Times called it one of the most important books of the 20th century. She is the author of, among other books, Fire With Fire: The New Female Power and Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle For Womanhood. She is also co-founder of the Woolhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, an organization that teaches young women how to become leaders and agents of change in the 21st century. This has become my passion. Women – young women – leadership.

There were many dignitaries present. One in particular that I was able to chat up a bit with in the VIP lounge was our newly elected Harris County District Clerk Loren Jackson. He was very inspiring. He was telling me and a few others of how hard he is working and that he and his staff are “fixing” a lot of the problems the last administration left behind. He also was telling us how they are streamlining the office – online, and getting badly needed raises for his staff, to put them at the same level as other staffs of other judges.

Planned Parenthood also announced the completion of their $16.5 million Capital Campaign. The Capital Campaign is for a new flagship health center and administrative headquarters. It was the largest fundraising effort Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas has ever undertaken. It is a dream come true for a larger, safer health care home and will soon become a reality for the families in our community.

Dates to put on your calendar:

Planned Parenthood National Conference
March 25-28, 2009
Awards Ceremony & Gala March 27, 2009
Purchase tickets at: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/nationalconferencegala

Cocktails for a Cause with a Latin Flair
Join us for an evening of mingling, Empanadas and Margaritas/Cervezas 6-8 p.m.
Wednesday, February 8th @ Pravada
2815 S. Shepherd ($15 donation at the door) RSVP events@002mag.com

View pictures here:
“To achieve your best, get in over your head and rise to the top.” – Dr. Richard Tapia Professor of Computational Mathematics, Rice University

cross posted on Texas Kaos here.