Women’s Freedom Means Social Freedom | Newsletter
“International Women’s Day is not for celebrating. It is for protesting against and raising awareness about the fact that people are still being oppressed or treated differently because of their gender.” Greta Thunberg.
March is a big month for me, and for many other people who celebrate women and feminism.Today I use my voice because I believe education, diversity, equality and representation matters.I’m a creative business of one who also believe teachers are leaders.This month, and every month, respect women by listening to their needs and act accordingly. Support women by creating safe environments for them to thrive. Recruit women and compensate them equally. Celebrate women and their achievements. Promote women to leadership positions. Invest in women and in their businesses. Champion women by giving them a platform to be heard.For Women’s History Month I am compiling an ongoing list of resources under the motto: Support, share and contribute which can be found in the link above.
Below, you’ll find the announcement of my first pre-recorded self-paced course called “Pump Up your Copperplate Calligraphy”; my latest Youtube lecture on pointed nibs, and my upcoming Intro to Copperplate calligraphy course starting on April 26.
On the last section of this newsletter, you’ll find a website called Woman Life Liberty by designer Dena Taiebat documenting the artwork of the Iranian revolution. You’ll also find an article on the current situation of girls and women in Afghanistan; and a website called The New Historia with much food for thought.
Supporting, sharing and contributing by a very proud multilingual, multicultural, independent female voice.Maria xx
Pump Up Your Copperplate Calligraphy | New Pre-recorded Self-paced Course
Refine, up-skill and fine tune your existing Copperplate calligraphy skills.
This course has been designed to offer beginner and intermediate students with exisiting knowledge of Copperplate calligraphy an on-going 12-week support in their learning journey.Basically, it is a bridge between my live online Level 1 and Level 2 Copperplate courses.This calligraphy course features 16 modules with videos and handouts to support you and your Copperplate calligraphy journey. I strongly recommend studying 1 hands-on lesson per week —from Module 4 to Module 16. In this way, you’ll focus on a specific topic for 7 days, making this course an on-going learning support for 3 months!Book your spot here.
Youtube Series | Copperplate FAQs
This is the third video of a new Youtube Series called Copperplate FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) where I am answering questions many of my students have previously enquired about. This short video is focused on a few different types of pointed nibs.
Intro to Copperplate Calligraphy Course (L1)
April 26 & May 3, 17 & 24, 2023Level 1: Beginner and intermediate2 hours x 4 Wednesdays6 to 8pm AEST / 10 to 12am CEST
For the second time in nine years, this course will run on a school night from 6 to 8pm (MEL time), or from 10am to 12pm (BCN time). Book your spot.
Woman.Life.Liberty | By Dena Taiebat
Documenting the artwork of the Iranian revolution by UX/UI Sydney-based Iranian-Australian designer Dena Taiebat features stunning artworks by incredibly brave women in Iran. Contribute, support, share and help the Iranian voices reach the world.
“This may seem obvious but after all these years, I feel for the first time that my body has a presence out in the city, and it matters. The way I walk, the way I sit in public spaces is so full of courage that I sometimes shed tears for not having had permission to feel this way until this age.Now I pay attention to every single part of my body while in the street and I can feel their presence; my hands, my nose, my eyes, and most importantly, my hair, which I run my fingers through knowing that there’s no headscarf covering it.The headscarf may have only been removed from the head but the impact of removing it has spread through the entire body, down to every single part.To exist everyday without the headscarf in a small and heavily-surveilled town like Tabriz scares me but the reward of living courageously is so much greater.”
— Minoo, Tabriz, Nov 3, 2022
© 2021 AP Photo/Ahmad Halabisaz
Let Girls & Women in Afghanistan Learn!
“I want to go to school and become an independent woman who chooses and decides for her life,” 16-year-old Nasiba.Everyone has the right to education. Everybody. But in Afghanistan, girls and women have been deprived of this fundamental right: They are no longer allowed to attend secondary school and higher education.This devastating decision threatens to wipe out huge gains made in education over the past 20 years despite major challenges. It also makes Afghanistan the only country in world today to suspend girls’ and women’s access to education. Support, contribute, share.
The New Historia | Support, Contribute, Share
“And where the words of women are crying to be heard, we must each of us recognize our responsibility to seek those words out, to read them and share them and examine them in their pertinence to our lives. That we not hide behind the mockeries of separations that have been imposed upon us and which so often we accept as our own.”
—Audre Lorde, The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action (1980)Support, contribute, share.
This is my ongoing bi-monthly newsletter called “Women’s freedoms means social freedom”. Subscribe here.