The Women’s Workshop
By Polly Westlie
On Wednesday, May 6, I attended a great event. I went to the Women’s Workshop, sponsored by Minnetonka High School. The turnout wasn’t as large as I had expected. There were approximately 25 high school girls there.
The day began as we boarded the bus and headed toward All Saints Lutheran Church. We got there about 8:00. The first speaker was Dr. Elizabeth Jerome, Medical Director of Teenage Medical Service, who spoke on Self-understanding and Human Sexuality. Listening to Dr. Jerome was a great start for the day. She was very open-minded and every so often she would stop talking and break into a giggling fit. She had us all very interested and ready for the rest of the day.
Next we all broke up into two workshop groups dealing with Women In Society and Esteem and Relationships. I went to the Esteem and Relationships group which was led by Jeri Pratt. It dealt with behavior and role models for males and females.
At 10:30 we had a munchie break, and then got right back into everything with a great speaker named Michael Obsatz who talked to us on the subject of “Macho to Mellow” which dealt with relationships from a man’s point of view and how men are changing. Michael opened up a lot about men’s feelings on the subject of changing roles, like how even though men quite often will feel the same emotions women do, men are conditioned through society to not show any emotion, especially fears and inadequacies. He really helped us understand men a lot better which is an important part of understanding both sides.
We saw a movie entitled “We Are Women” which dealt with interviews with many women about male dominance and was narrated by Helen Reddy.
We then had lunch which consisted of a huge “make your own salad”. After lunch, we listened to the final speaker of the day, Janie Jasin, who spoke on “The Gift of Affirmation” and stressed communication, confidence building, and affirmation through music, words and involvement. She is a fantastic lady who knows how to make you feel better about yourself.
The whole day was a great success in my opinion and was well worth the sacrifice of a sunny, warm afternoon.