FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383
September 12, 2005
NOTE: Powell is available for interviews.
Chicago, IL --The first Intersections presentation of the fall season will focus on the nexus between two topics that are still taboo in many 'politically correct' circles. Are we still embarrassed to recognize the politics of domestic power? Can we admit that race plays a role? Sharon Powell, a teacher at Columbia College Chicago, has assembled gifted presenters from several fields to look at some of the gender and race components of domestic abuse. The program, entitled Domestic Power: Lovers and Perpetrators, will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, October 5, in the First Floor West Meeting Room of the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. Admission is free. For more information, call 312-744-6630.
The panel discussion and performance will venture into the usually hidden territories of domestic abuse. Starting with short performance pieces that explore intimate partner violence, the session will pursue the larger issues of private gender politics, with special attention to the relationships between race and domestic abuse. The panel of artists, scholars and activists will struggle with this complex topic, ultimately searching for creative pathways to domestic peace.
Sharon Powell is an artist, educator and consultant in the field of sexual health. Her poetry and performance have been showcased and adapted for the stage at numerous area venues. She has worked with the Chicago Women's Health Center, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, and African Women Evolving. She teaches Women's Health Care Issues and a Human Sexuality Seminar at Columbia College Chicago.
Powell points out that women, particularly African American women, have historically had their sexuality externally defined. "It keeps us outside ourselves." Working with a broader emotional and spiritual concept of sexuality, she emphasizes the need to keep the power of sex "an integral part of the self."
Domestic Power: Lovers and Perpetrators is part of the adult education series, Intersections: A Meeting Place for Diverse Ideas on Contemporary Culture and the Arts. Intersections, a collaboration between the Cultural Studies Program of Columbia College Chicago and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, presents lectures and discussions that investigate and celebrate the complexity of contemporary culture and the arts in which scholars and educators from Columbia College Chicago explore a broad range of compelling topics in a format designed to be informative, invigorating and accessible. The second presentation of this season, From Visionary Experience to Spiritual Life: Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals, will take place on Wednesday, November 2, to be followed on Wednesday, December 7 by The Simpsons: Cultural Criticism and America's Favorite TV Family. All Intersections events take place in the First Floor West Meeting Room of the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. Admission is free.