TMC Administration Notes - December 2003 / January 2004

Letter from the Chair

Many events are upcoming in the next few months for the Men's Center including our Holiday Party, Annual General Membership meeting, Annual Planning Meeting, and Facilitator Training. I hope to see you there.

At the Annual Meeting, we will be holding elections for new board members and alternates. If you are interested in being a board member/alternate, please give me (763-295-2446) or another board member a call (612-822-5892). I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks to everyone who has served on the board through the years. I have been a board member/alternate since 1993 and served with many great people during that time. It is time for new leadership to take the reins. For me, 2004 will probably be pure politics (my favorite hobby).

I will still be around helping out here and there. I like the MENTALK mailing parties and doing most outreach booth events.

Thanks everyone for your donations of time, talent and treasures. It is our dedicated staff, volunteers and everyone letting others know about us that makes the Men's Center what it is. Keep up the great work.

For Men, For All,

Tom Perrault
Board Chair
Library Corner

–– Randy Genrich, Librarian

Using the library is a membership privilege. To check out a book, all you have to do is write your name. phone number, and the date on a checkout card and leave it in the box. Or just come in and browse – you will be surprised at how stimulating it can be to expose yourself to the books in our collection. So come on in and take a look.

We also have many periodicals available for your use, such as:

  • Men's Health
  • Voice Male (Jane Fonda writes
    "Poisoned Privilege: The Price Men
    Pay for Patriarchy")
  • Everyman (Feature in the Oct/Dec
    issue, "What is a Good Man?")
  • Lavender
  • Men's Journal
  • Transitions
  • Rainbow Families
  • Bi All Means
  • Wellness Journal
  • The Edge
  • and others

In recent weeks, some of the books on display have been removed without being checked out. Please be sure you use the library check-out system. And if you have overdue books, please return them so others can benefit from them.

Enjoy your library!

Letter to the Editor

I disagree that men are the "weaker sex" that John Driggs refers to in his article regarding men going to the doctor. I don't think we are necessarily the stronger sex, but to label either sex one or the other is harmful and useless. Just because we die younger -- how does one logically conclude we are weaker? When I read that, I sense that maybe Mr. Driggs has internalized what women have been saying about men for the past 20 years in the media in America-that really we are "clueless" and weaker. There may be psychological reasons or physical reasons why we die younger -- I don't know of any "definitive" study on the subject. But to suggest we are weaker internalizes that we are less than women, which is what women have been fighting in America for decades. So do we now want to internalize what women suffered? No! Mr. Driggs does a great psychological disservice in this article to men's self esteem.

Michael Ofjord