On Saturday, February 22, Middlebury College’s student organization Sister-to-Sister is bringing renowned author Tanya Lee Stone from 2-4 p.m. at Hillcrest 103. A professor in the Professional Writing Program at Champlain College, Stone is the author of Girl Rising, a book that accompanies and expands upon the widely popular 2013 documentary of the same name. This documentary has spawned a whole movement. Around the world, the Girl Rising organization works with local partners. It provides customized tools and curricula to build confidence and agency in girls and to change attitudes and social norms so that entire communities stand up for girls and against gender discrimination. To illustrate her talk, Stone will screen one chapter of the movie, which includes narrators such as Alicia Keys, Meryl Streep, and Kerry Washington.
Around the globe, there are 130 million girls who are not being educated. What can we do about it? According to Stone, educating girls is the single most powerful tool we have to make our world a safer, healthier, more functional place. In her talk, she will unpack the major obstacles to education, including where and why they happen and how we can easily be activists.
Sister-to-Sister’s activities are normally only targeted towards female-identified 6th graders and middle schoolers. In a first in its 15-year history, the organization is opening this event to the entire community. The group hopes that this will stimulate an intergenerational dialogue about what it means to be a girl in Addison County. In an early celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, the group will provide snacks from around the world. The event is co-sponsored by MCAB, the Center for Community Engagement, and the Feminist Resource Center at Chellis House.
For further information, please contact Karin Hanta by email at khanta@middlebury.edu or by phone at (802)443-5937.