Media Notice
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Lisa Proctor/Utne Marketing Director
612-338-5040, ext. 338/lproctor@utne.com
or Martin Keller/Media Savant Communications Co.
612-729-8585/mkeller@mediasavantcom.com
A TRANSFORMATIONAL RETREAT INVITES GUESTS TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THEIR "INNER ACTIVIST" TO EFFECT CHANGE AND EXPERIENCE PERSONAL GROWTH: UTNE MAGAZINE PRESENTS ITS FIRST "rEVOLUTIONary WOMEN" EVENT NOV. 10-13 AT THE CROSSINGS SPA IN AUSTIN, TEXAS
MINNEAPOLIS -- October 4, 2005 -- Utne magazine is looking for a few good women. The cause? A transformational retreat and eco spa, hosted by the iconic magazine's Editor in Chief Nina Utne and a variety of visionaries and practitioners who most inspire her for the ultimate Utne tea party-a weekend of exploration and friendship, movement and massage (http://www.utne.com/spa)* Call it just one way to get in touch with one's "inner activist." The long weekend will take place at The Crossings Wellness Spa in Austin. Texas, November 10-13.
This intimate gathering offers valuable face time with contemporary women leaders as well as nourishment for body, mind and spirit. Whole-hearted, wise and inspiring, the event will challenge participants to ask, "What do I stand for?" Event-goers will leave more prepared to express the fullness and passion of their convictions.
"After publishing a magazine for more than 20 years that has covered everything from the environment to politics to activism, feminism, spirituality, leisure and more, we decided we'd offer the women who read Utne an event that speaks to their minds, bodies and hearts," says Utne. "Lots of publications offer readers events like cruises or exotic tours, but 'rEVOLUTIONary Women' is more practical, more intimate and more environmentally sustainable. Attendees will leave feeling refreshed, re-energized and ready to be a force for good, both to themselves and the world."
Led by the magazine's Editor in Chief, the event promises to be loaded with inspired conversation and insights into how to respond to the social problems that beset us. Nina Utne expresses her convictions through the magazine and through her personal actions, including her recent arrest in Washington DC while protesting the war in Iraq. (Utne is one of the cofounders of the women's peace group Code Pink.) A personal account of the DC ordeal -- including her friendly and empathetic conversation with her arresting police officer and later her jailor -- are posted at the Utne website -- including these samples below.
I have never considered myself an activist, but, increasingly, I find that I can't not act. So I felt compelled to show up in Washington D.C., to contribute whatever I could and to experience the power that comes of knowing that we are not alone. I figured I'd do whatever CodePink needed me for, whether tying balloons or running errands or tracking down details. As it turned out, I ended up spending a lot of the weekend at the epicenter of the action -- with Cindy Sheehan -- doing whatever needed doing.
At one moment, I was grabbing likely looking women in a hotel lobby, trying to find someone who had decent looking black shoes in Cindy's shoe size -- and was willing to loan them on the spot (I found someone) and the next taking notes on precisely what a high level politician had said to Cindy so that he could be held accountable and then rubbing her shoulders in the car. I learned a lot about her -- her shoe size, the sound of her voice when she's talking to her children, her eating habits, her deep connection with her sister Dede, her stamina and her vulnerability, as well as about her adaptability, her common sense and quick mind and her salty and almost omnipresent sense of humor.
*Austin Participants to Explore Variety of Topics, Techniques Participants at the Austin event will explore teaching modalities that include voice, movement and individual/group exercises -- from dynamic and inspired women from a variety of backgrounds, including:
- Frances Moore Lappé, Author, Visionary: Frances Moore Lappé has authored 14 books, including the bestseller Diet for a Small Planet. In 2002, Lappé released the 30th anniversary sequel to Diet, written with her daughter, Anna Lappé: Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet. In it, the two Lappés pick up where the original Diet leaves off. Together, they set out on a round-the-world journey to explore the greatest challenges we face at the new millennium.
- Anna Lappé, Author, Thought Leader: Anna is also a regular public speaker and commentator on food politics, globalization, and the media. Her articles have been widely published in the US and Canada, appearing in The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and the Globe and Mail, among others.
- Jodie Evans, Activist, Code Pink Co-Founder: Jodie Evans has worked on behalf of community, social justice, environmental and political causes for more than 30 years. She cofounded Code Pink with Medea Benjamin in October 2002. She has most recently been instrumental in creating Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas and is a key strategist and supporter of Cindy Sheehan.
- Nina Simons, Social Entrepreneur, Communicator, Producer: Nina is co-executive director of Bioneers/Collective Heritage Institute and has co-produced the Bioneers Conference since 1990. Named an Utne Reader "Visionary" in 1996, Nina has developed a sequence of innovative communications strategies to increase public awareness about key social and environmental issues.
- Rachel Bagby, Author, Activist and Celebrated Vocal Artist: Rachel Bagby, JD (Stanford) is an internationally recognized vocal artist and writer who is committed to empowering others to also develop the extraordinary potential of our ordinary capacities for listening, reading nonverbal cues, scanning the environment, and giving voice to life-with what she has aptly dubbed "vibralingual" wisdom.
- Marcela Lorca, Acclaimed Guthrie, Theatre Movement Director: Marcela Lorca became Movement Director for the Guthrie Theater in 1991, and has since coached more than 70 plays. She is also Head of Movement for the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training program.
- Zhena Muzyka, Environmental/Social change-agent, Mistress of Tea Ceremonies: Zhena Muzyka founded Zhena's Gypsy Tea in 2000.
- Host Nina Rothschild Utne, Chair and Editor in Chief of Utne magazine: Nina is also a writer, political activist, mother, and community-builder. A vegetarian at three (a meateater at 48) and a yoga practitioner from age 15, Nina holds a BA in English and American Literature from Harvard University and a masters degree in Human Development from St. Mary's University.
About Utne
Utne is a national progressive lifestyle magazine with an audience of nearly 600,000, now celebrating more than 20 years of publication. Since 1984, Utne has been a leading voice for the alternative and independent press, bringing readers the "other side of the story" on issues ranging from the environment to the economy and from politics to pop culture. Utne provokes thought and inspires action by offering the best of the independent press as well as original writing. Read more at www.utne.com.
For more information, please contact Lisa Proctor at 612-338-5040, ext.338, or online at lproctor@utne.com, or contact Martin Keller at Media Savant Communications Co., 612-729-8585/mkeller@mediasavantcom.com.