Happening

HEALTH

Get Your Prescription Contraceptive Covered. This practical guide tells employees how to take action to see that employer health plans comply with recent federal rulings declaring that it is illegal sex discrimination to exclude this coverage from an otherwise comprehensive health benefits plan. Free from National Women s Law Center, 11 Dupont Circle NW. #800, Washington, DC 20036; (866)PILL4US: www.nwlc.org/pill4ns

Early detection is critical in the fight against Cancer. Free confidential reminders to make yearly cancer screening appointments are available from a website launched by the College of American Pathologists: www.MyHealthTestReminder.com

“Some days Mom is just too tired or Hurts too much to snuggle. I made a ‘love phone’ to send my hugs and kisses to my mom when I have to be careful of her owies.” The Hope Tree: Kids Talk About Breast Cancer written by Laura Numeroff and Wendy S. Harpham, illustrated by David McPhail, (Simon & Schuster $12) benefits the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Making Homes Livable for the elderly, preventing falls, brightening dark and depressing spaces, and making environments more habitable are the agenda of Project GEM (Gerontologic Environmental Modification), at New York’s Weill Cornell Medical Center. Led by Rosemary Bakker, author of Elderdesign: Designing and Furnishing a Home for Your Later Years (1997), who was an interior designer until her mother’s hip fracture awakened her to a pressing need. GEM also identifies legal and practical problems and makes referrals to agencies, such as the Metropolitan New York Coordinating Council on Jewish Poverty, which will install grab bars for free in your bathroom, do minor repairs, install deadbolt locks, and put up window gates, where possible. Find out what elders need in their environment from http://cornellaging.com/gem

A Vegetarian Starter Kit contains information, recipes and bibliography free from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; (888)vegfood; www.petaonline.org; www.GoVeg.com

EXHIBITS

Encountering the Second Commandment: You shall not make for yourself a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above or in the waters under the earth,” (Exodus 20-3-4). A juried exhibit explores how this prohibition may have hampered—but has not precluded—the creation of Jewish art. September 4-December 10 at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh and travel later to JCC museums in Boca Raton, FL and Newton, MA. A catalog is available as well as a curriculum and interactive website for middle school students exploring Jewish history through Jewish arts and artifacts. American Jewish Museum of the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill, 5738 Forbes Ave, Box 8190, Pittsburgh, PA 15217; (412)521-8010; fax (412)521-7044; www.jccpgh.org

What Does a Female Athlete Look Like? “Game Face,” a collection of photographs and personal stories, documents the impact that sports have on the daily lives of girls and women. Curated by Jane Gottesman, the exhibit shows at the Smithsonian Institution Arts and Industries Building in Washington DC through January 2, 2002 and then on to a five year national tour. A book by the same name has been published by Random House. Gottesman notes the exhibit includes Jewish athletes as well the work of a handful of Jewish women photographers who told her that having their photographs included makes up for the opportunities they missed because Tide IX (1972), guaranteeing equal access to athletic programs for females, hadn’t been enacted— or wasn’t enforced— when they were in school.

OPPORTUNITIES

Learn to Teach Jewish Meditation. A certification program that combines individual and group coursework, retreats, practicums and internships is available worldwide via a distance learning program. A new class starts in January 2002. Chochmat Halev, 2215 Prince St., Berkeley, CA 94705; (510)704-9687; teachers@chochmat.org

Scholars, scientists, artists and writers: fellowships may support your independent work, part of Racliffe’s continuing commitment to the study of women, gender and society. Applications due October 15, 2001 for fellowships from September 2002 to June 2003. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Application Office, 34 Concord Ave, Cambridge MA 02138; (617)496-1324; fax (617)495-8136; fellowships@radcliffe.edu