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Bryn Mawr Club of New York City


May 2005 E-Letter


Bryn Mawr Club of New York City Events
  • Bryn Mawr Club of New York City Annual Meeting (May 23)
  • Proxy Vote Form for Members Unable to Attend Annual Meeting
  • Dues Form
BMC Connections
  • Bryn Mawr Book Club discusses ”Train” by Pete Dexter (May 19)
Personals
  • Alumna seeking to rent room in Manhattan or Brooklyn.
Career Network
  • Notice: Moms and Mature Employees Career Expo (June 8)
  • Career Network Special Feature: “Laid Off? Don’t Panic,” by Robin Beckhard James '79, Wilson Learning Corporation

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Bryn Mawr Club of New York City Events

Annual Meeting

WHERE:  The Culture Center
410 Columbus Ave, between 79th & 80th Street
WHEN:  Monday, May 23, 2005
6:00 p.m. Refreshments
6:30 p.m. Club Business

All New York City alumnae/i are cordially invited to the Annual Meeting of the Bryn Mawr Club of the City of New York. Lisa Tomeny ’91, Club President, will summarize the year’s activities and present for confirmation the slate of nominees for various board positions.

Following the business meeting, Lisa Tomeny will introduce our keynote speaker, Beth Leibson-Hawkins, Class of 1986. Beth is the author of “I’m Too Young to Have Breast Cancer,” which shares the stories of 16 women who were diagnosed with the disease at or before age 40. Beth will speak about her “fairly circuitous route” to book writing and publishing as well as share excerpts from the book. She is a freelance magazine writer and writes on public policy issues.

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Proxy Vote Form for Members Unable to Attend Annual Meeting

PROXY for the Bryn Mawr Club of New York
Submitted by the Present Officers

The undersigned, whose name is (please print) ____________________________________________ residing at ______________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________, being a voting member of the Bryn Mawr Club of the City of New York, hereby appoints Lisa Tomeny, Jessica Vasquez, and Susannah Prough with full power of substitution, as her proxies to appear and vote in her name as instructed below at the Annual Meeting of the Bryn mawr Club to be held on May 23, 2005, or any continuation or adjournment thereof.

1. The election of the following persons to the indicated offices (length of term in parentheses)
Secretary: Susannah Prough ’99 (2 year)
Membership Representative: Meera Ratnesar ’01 (2 year)
Membership Representative: Virginia Kassel ’54 (2 year)
Membership Representative: Emily Bardack Folpe ’65 (1 year)
Membership Representative: Tatyana Olyphant ’70 (1 year)
Membership Representative: Susan Chun ’84 (2 year)
Membership Representative: Aparna Mukherjee ’95 (1 year)

These Board members will join, in continuing positions,
President: Lisa Kim Tomeny ‘91
Vice President: Jessica F. Vasquez ‘96
Treasurer: Elizabeth Chang ‘91
Communications: Kristen Steiner (filling incomplete term)
Fundraising: Ann Schack ‘49
Fundraising: Susan Bixby Barron ‘60
Career Representative: Nancy Kirk ’59 (College appoints and determines term)
Member-at-Large: Magda Pecsenye ‘94
Bookshop Relocation Chair: Roberta Paula Books ‘64
Forties Representative Emerita: Nadine Zamichow ‘47

2. At the proxies’ discretion, the undersigned instructs them to vote on any other business that may properly come before the meeting or any continuation or adjournment thereof.

This proxy may be revoked by the undersigned’s attendance at the Annual Meeting or by a later written proxy.

Signature ________________________________________________________
Class ______________ Date ________________________________________

PRINT OUT, COMPLETE YOUR PROXY AND SEND TO:
The Bryn Mawr Club of New York City
P.O. Box 7153
FDR Station
New York, NY 10150-7153

Please write PROXY on the envelope.

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Dues Form

The Bryn Mawr Club of New York City receives no financial support from the College or the Alumnae Association. We are entirely self-supporting and in fact exist to support the College. Please support the Club with your tax-deduction donation to support this e-letter, the newsletter, the many Club events with our goal of keeping the Bryn Mawr community in New York active and in touch and supporting Bryn Mawr College.

Please copy this section into a clean document, print it out, fill it in and return it to the address below:

Name: _________________________________________________Class:______

Address: _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Contribution: ____$25 ____ $50 ____ $75 ____ $100 ____Other

Please mail your contribution with this coupon to:

The Bryn Mawr Club of New York City
P.O. Box 7153
FDR Station
New York, NY 10150-7153

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BMC Connections

Bryn Mawr Book Club

The Bryn Mawr Book club will meet on Thursday May 19th to discuss “Train” by Peter Dexter.

Excerpts from a review by John Freeman, ThePortlandPhoenix.com, November 21-27, 2003:

"Train" by Peter Dexter is a novel told from the point of a view of a black golf caddy who gets caught up in a murder mystery, set in 1953 Los Angeles. The novel’s eponymous young African-American hero works as a caddy at a country club where fat men wager three-inch thick bankrolls and like their caddies to be invisible. Dexter combines the highest skills of journalist and novelist: sure narrative technique and a keen eye for both physical detail and social strata; here his angle is the tense coexistence of two societies. There are the black caddies and course employees, who scramble over one another for work and bragging rights. And there are the gangsters and the dissipated rich who come to the course to sublimate their violent real-life competition.

WHAT:  Discussion of “Train” by Peter Dexter
WHEN:  Thursday May 19th, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE:  Apartment of Elizabeth Holloway
115 West 86th Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus)
Apt 3F
212 787 7746

The June selection is “Riding the Bus with My Sister” by Rachel Simon, BMC '81.

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Personals

Alumna looking to rent room or stay as paying guest in Manhattan or Brooklyn. I am non-smoking, 33 years old, quiet, with no pets and am currently a full-time student. Please contact Sara Ehlers on 646 414 3759.

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Career Network

Notice

Women for Hire
Save the date for Women For Hire's Moms and Mature Employees Career Expo!
Women For Hire's Moms and Mature Employees Career Expo will feature our traditional career fair model, along with exceptional seminars and engaging speakers throughout the day, geared exclusively for moms and mature employees. Women will have the opportunity to meet with recruiters from more than 50 top employers, as well as the option to attend seminars to learn about programs designed to meet the lifestyle demands of working mothers and mature employees.

New York City
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Manhattan Center
311 West 34th Street

Advance registration is required! There are two registration options for this event:

Breakfast Seminar and Expo Admittance: For $35, you'll attend the early-morning session from 8:30 to 10am with Women For Hire CEO Tory Johnson, who'll offer advice and insight on issues and obstacles facing working moms and mature professionals. Immediately following this presentation, you'll receive priority admittance to the main expo to meet with employers from more than 50 leading companies. You'll also have the opportunity to attend breakout sessions at your leisure throughout the day. Space is strictly limited for this program, so register today at www.womenforhire.com.

Expo-Only Admittance: To ensure a targeted audience of working moms and mature professionals, this event -- unlike other Women For Hire expos -- requires advance registration. For a fee of $25, you may enter the main event any time between 10:00 a.m.and 3:00 p.m. and stay as long as you wish, as well as attend the optional breakout sessions throughout this period. SPECIAL EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION RATE: Sign up today for the discounted rate of ONLY $10.

To receive the discounted rate, you MUST register through this link:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=84856.

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Career Network Special Feature

from Robin Beckhard James '79, Wilson Learning Corporation

Laid Off? Don’t Panic

Although the economy is arguably in better shape than it was two years ago, companies continue to reorganize and downsize… and people find themselves out of a job, sometimes for the first time, sometimes the second or even third time. What should you do if you find yourself in this situation?

Don’t panic. It has happened to many people – so many, in fact, that there is no longer a stigma attached to losing one’s job; on the contrary, it has become almost a rite of passage. This doesn’t mean that you will not feel a host of negative emotions, including (perhaps) anger, disbelief, anxiety, fear and resentment. You may also feel relieved – the other shoe finally dropped, and now you can go forward. Consider these first steps:

  • Ask your employer if they will provide outplacement. If they have not considered it, ask them to do so.
  • Begin to compile a networking list – all the people you know who may be helpful to you in your search. Start with current and former colleagues, clients, suppliers and other business contacts. Then add former classmates, friends and family. You’ll add other people to your list over time, as you begin to refine your job search parameters and think “outside the box” of others who might be helpful to you.
  • Resist the urge to badmouth your (former) employer -- it makes you sound bitter, keeps you from moving forward emotionally, and may cause people to hesitate to refer you to a networking contact.
  • Resist the urge to call everyone you know in those first few hours and tell them you’ve lost your job. There’s time to reach out to them after you’ve had a chance to vent -- privately -- about what has happened, and can focus on looking ahead, positively, to your next opportunity.

At the risk of sounding Pollyanna-ish, I’ll say something that I strongly believe, based on 25 years in business, six of those in career counseling, not to mention the additional learning experiences of going through a messy divorce and having two teenagers: every problem is an opportunity, and this is no exception. How many people do you know who are completely pleased with, and fulfilled by, their jobs? They are, unfortunately, the happy few. For the rest of the world, the job, and sometimes the profession one has chosen (or fallen into) is very imperfect. But for practical reasons (the need for continuing income, the lure of the familiar and/or fear of the unknown, and inertia, to name a few), most of us don’t voluntarily take the risk of leaving our existing jobs.

You have just been offered a clean slate, the opportunity to assess what you really want to do, like to do, are good at doing. Take a deep breath. Take out a clean sheet of paper and jot down some notes: what are some of the accomplishments you have been proudest of in your personal and/or professional life (including college or even before; volunteer activities; artistic endeavors; your children, etc.)? Which aspects of your work have you found most fulfilling – and what do you never want to have to do again? Do you find yourself invigorated or enervated by other people? Do you thrive on rhythm and structure, or on improvisation and the unexpected?

There are many such questions to ask yourself about your preferences, your personal style, your comfort zone. Remember that there are no right answers, just honest ones. The more insight you have into your own strengths and weaknesses (excuse me, we now call them challenges or “development areas”), and the things that make you happy – yes, happy – the better you will be able to determine what field you want to be in, what kind of job to seek within that field, and what kind of company and/or work environment is best for you.

I didn’t say it would be easy, and it may be time-consuming. These questions may sound very self-indulgent in the face of rent or mortgage payments and school loans or college tuition. But please consider: we get to go through our lives just once. We owe it to ourselves, and to those around us, to try to find something fulfilling and meaningful to do. Remember, too, that just as it is unreasonable to expect one person to be our “everything” – thank goodness for friends, family, colleagues etc.! – our job can’t be expected to meet all our intellectual, social or other needs. As you embark on this path of exploration, you may find things that are important to you that don’t “fit” an otherwise clear-cut job profile. Don’t abandon them; find another way to keep them in your life.

That’s how I became a cabaret singer – it certainly isn’t the “day job” (which I love), but is an alternative universe I have discovered and revel in. Take courses, join discussion groups, do volunteer work, and talk to lots and lots of people about what they do, why they like it, how they got where they are. Don’t forget to take good care of yourself – exercise, sleep, eat well, let the people who love you nurture you, because you’ll need it. And take heart – you WILL come out the other end of this stronger, knowing more about yourself, and be the better for it. Good luck.

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THE BMC OF NYC E-LETTER
The Bryn Mawr Club of New York City E-letter is submitted to the Alumnae Association for distribution on the first business day of each month. Submissions for the e-letter should be sent to the e-mail address below by the 27th of the prior month. If you have news to share with the New York City BMC alumnae community, if you’d like to have information on an upcoming event included, or if you just have a question for the Club, please contact us at  bmc_club_of_nyc@hotmail.com.