Co-Presidents’ Message for April 2024

Advice from a GARDEN by Ilan Shamir, author of Advice from Nature Series

Cultivate lasting friendships
Sow seeds of kindness
Listen to sage advice
Don’t let the little things bug you
Be outstanding in your field
Take thyme for yourself!

Happy April, dear AAUW-SCCB members! The first quarter of 2024 is history; now we have 9 more months in 2024 to further our mission to advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education and advocacy.

I often find inspiration in music; I am listening to an Australian bassist and singer named Nicki Parrot as I write this message. In 2012 she released an album titled Sakura Sakura (cherry blossoms in Japanese). The entire album has songs with a spring theme. Very pleasant listening as we leave Women’s History Month and head into Earth Month, designated as such since 1970. I’ve seen chyrons in the past week about cutting down 150 cherry trees in Washington, DC. They are being removed because the water level in the Tidal Basin is rising due to climate change, damaging the trees and the retaining wall built on land fill (link: https://www.npr.org/2024/03/19/1238896379/cherry-blossom-trees-remove-stumpy-climate-change-washington-dc). I’ve included this link to an NPR article (a trusted source). Our International Interest Group had a vigorous discussion of “Climate Technology – Global Trade and Green Energy” at the March meeting.

Speaking of “trusted source,” a big thanks to Sandy and Suzi for the great speaker at the March General Meeting – Dr. Kathleen Montgomery from The League of Women Voters. I hope you’ve all printed out the list of the various websites available to check our information sources. Constant Contact will continue to provide the link; please print out and use the resources.

There are only 3 more monthly meetings until our year ends. I hope to see many of you in attendance – IF YOU NEED A RIDE OR ASSISTANCE PLEASE LET US KNOW. Our May and June meetings will showcase our scholarship recipients, always uplifting occasions. This seems like a great place to remind you to send in your donation checks if you haven’t already done so. You will find all the donation details on pages 68-69 in our current Membership Directory.

Many studies have shown that socialization is very important as we age. Please consider joining an Interest Group or two or three if you haven’t, because in the words of Auntie Mame “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death.”

Robbin and Toby