Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association
Since its inception in 1989, OPALGA has become one of the largest community based, multipurpose lesbian and gay membership organizations in Illinois.
Steppenwolf Theatre to Host OPALGA Benefit
On Friday, February 1, 2008, Chicago’s world-famous Steppenwolf Theatre is hosting an event to benefit OPALGA. Members and their guests will arrive at Steppenwolf at 6:00 p.m. for a private reception with appetizers and cocktails. At 7:30 p.m., they will be treated to a performance of the world premiere play “Good Boys and True,” in which the excesses of privilege are exposed in a prep school sex scandal. After the show, David New, Associate Artistic Director of Steppenwolf, will lead a post-performance discussion of the play, a very popular Steppenwolf tradition. Tickets for the benefit are $55 per person, which includes entrance to the pre-show reception (two drinks are included), the performance, and a donation to OPALGA.
OPALGA Co-Chair Mike Cochran got the idea for the benefit while talking with David, a friend of his. “As a subscriber to Steppenwolf, Rick and I have enjoyed many outstanding nights watching this acclaimed company perform. After seeing “August: Osage County” (twice), I was blown away by the production—quite possibly the most amazing play I have ever seen performed. We were talking about this season, and David suggested a benefit, which seemed to be a perfect fit for our members; this is the quality of production that they would appreciate and embrace.”
Steppenwolf had already achieved national recognition for the strength of its ensemble and the quality of its productions, but “August: Osage County” has recently thrust the national spotlight on the theatre in a very big way. Currently playing on Broadway to rave reviews and strong ticket sales, this play has again demonstrated the strength and vitality of Chicago theatre.
“This year’s theme at Steppenwolf is ‘What Does It Mean to Be an American,’” added Cochran. “We all knew the kind of student this play deals with: brilliant, athletic, popular, and charming. But when a videotape is discovered and the scandal takes unexpected turns, the student’s mother must deal with fact, fiction, and family. I am really looking forward to a great evening of theatre with good friends.”
In order to attend the February 1 performance, members should call Steppenwolf directly at 312-335-1650 and be sure to mention code 3815 when ordering. OPALGA members are urged to order tickets right away. Although 100 tickets have been set aside, members of the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce are also being invited to attend.
“This will be an exciting evening, but seating is obviously quite limited,” Cochran concluded. “I would like as many of our members as possible to be able to attend, so I encourage everyone to call and get their seats right away. This promises to be a great event, and I appreciate Steppenwolf making it possible for OPALGA to benefit from it.”
Anyone needing additional information should call Jan at The OPALGA Center at 708-848-0273.
Message from the Co-Chair (January, 2008)
As I sit down to write my first column as Co-Chair of OPALGA, I am acutely aware of the huge responsibility that I have agreed to assume, and it is both humbling and gratifying. Although I am faced with a great deal of hard work, I am genuinely looking forward to the coming months. These are very exciting times for OPALGA, and we are on the verge of some significant accomplishments.
First, however, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my predecessor, Brad Bartels. His devotion to the organization was nothing short of amazing, and his generosity with his time and talent serves as an example for us all. Brad has left a legacy that touches virtually every aspect of OPALGA, and we are all better for it.
In addition, Brad’s Co-Chair, Cheryl Haugh, recently decided to step down as of January 1 for personal reasons. Cheryl originally stepped up when Ethel Cotovsky passed away, and OPALGA will always be grateful for her willingness to help. The time involved in serving as Co-Chair is enormous, and I salute Cheryl for helping OPALGA as she did.
The Board of Directors chose extraordinarily wisely in selecting Liz Stallone to serve out the remaining year of Cheryl’s term. I had the privilege of serving as Co-Chair of the 2006 Gala with Liz, and we had a great time working together. Liz brings a combination of enthusiasm and energy that combines with her work ethic to make her an absolute pleasure to work with. I am very happy and excited that we have the opportunity to serve together as Co-Chairs.
So, what exactly are some of the “significant accomplishments” that I mentioned earlier? For starters, consider that OPALGA is presently involved in the following:
• The Board of Directors is nearing the end of its four-month strategic planning process with Dr. Carol Goldbaum, which will better position us for future growth;
• The Board is in the midst of creating its first-ever Policy Manual, which will be an invaluable aid for the Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers; and,
• The Gala moves to Saturday, April 5, 2008, at the Hyatt Lodge in Oak Brook and promises to be a Gala unlike any other before it.
In addition, we are planning our holiday brunch for Sunday, January 27, 2008, at Trattoria 225 in Oak Park, and then on Friday, February 1, 2008, we have a spectacular evening of theatre as we join the Steppenwolf Theatre Company for a benefit production of “Good Boys and True.” (Both of these events are described in detail elsewhere in this issue of Empower.)
Moreover, we are mindful that gay and lesbian rights are at the forefront of the upcoming election, and issues such as marriage equality, civil unions, and domestic partner benefits are in the news daily. These issues affect all of us, and we must make certain that we do whatever possible to advocate for these rights on behalf of our members in as effective a manner as possible.
If this seems like a lot of activity to you, it is. While the Board is in great shape with the addition of new members Bruce Broerman, Kim Hefner, and David Rappaport, the Board simply cannot do it alone. We need your help. Pick out an activity that appeals to you, and get involved. While you are at it, talk to some non-member friends and get them involved; tell them what a great organization we have, and invite them to join you as members. Our monthly potlucks are a great opportunity to bring prospective members to a free event where they can see for themselves what OPALGA has to offer. In short, whatever your interest(s), we welcome your participation. If there is an activity that you feel we should be offering that we are not at present, please give me a call or drop me a note at . I again thank you for the opportunity to serve as Co-Chair, and pledge to each of you that I will do the best job possible. Please join me for some exciting times ahead!
BUNGALO and OPALGA to Co-Host Post-Holiday Brunch
BUNGALO and OPALGA invite you to the “Aren’t You Glad the Holidays Are Over” Brunch, which will be held on Sunday, January 27, 2008, at Trattoria 225 (225 Harrison St., Oak Park) from 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
Celebrate the end of the holiday season by relaxing with friends over a delicious brunch, which will include pastries, oatmeal, breakfast meats, oven-roasted potatoes, salad, pizza, roasted pepper and goat cheese strata, manicotti, and an omelette station. Coffee, juice, and soft drinks will also be included, and there will be a cash bar for stronger beverages.
Tickets are $25 per person and are available in advance by calling The OPALGA Center (708-848-0273) or at the door. We hope to see many of you there!
“Twelfth Night” Gala Planning Continues
With the busy holiday season behind them, members of the 2008 Gala Planning Committee are now returning their attention to an enormous undertaking—accomplishing all of the tasks necessary to ensure that the 2008 Gala, “Twelfth Night,” is in fact the best Gala yet.
The Planning Committee first needed to secure a date and place for the event, which was not an easy task because of the large number of competing events on everyone’s calendars. The committee stepped up to the plate and hit a home run right away, securing the Hyatt Lodge on the McDonald’s campus in Oak Brook for the evening of Saturday, April 5, 2008. Having established those two key parameters, the committee is now working on all of the other details necessary to put on this tremendous event. Wanting to see exactly what they were dealing with, the planning committee held its December meeting at the Hyatt so that all members could inspect the space and offer suggestions for the night.
Gala Co-Chairs J. Lee Latham and Rick Whitehead could not be more pleased with the progress to date. “This year’s Gala should be exceptional,” said Latham, “and I can’t wait to see the faces of our guests when they walk into the Gala. They will be amazed because the location is lovely.” This sentiment was echoed strongly by Whitehead, who added, “We have an exceptional committee this year. A dozen people showed up in Oak Brook, which gives us a lot of different perspectives and energies for planning the event. Suggestions were bouncing around the meeting, which is what you need to put on a great Gala.”
With the dog days of winter now surrounding us, if you want to look ahead to warmer times, why not join the Gala Planning Committee? Call Jan at The OPALGA Center at 708-848-0273 for planning meeting times and for more information. See you on April 5 at the Gala!
Public Policy Update
Remember to Vote!
On Tuesday, February 5, 2008, Illinois will hold its Presidential Primary. See your January, 2008, issue of Empower for a table that shows the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates’ positions on key GLBT national issues. If you would like to know the responses of all candidates to these issues, contact Alan Amato at .
Illinois HB 1826 “Religious Freedom & Civil Unions Act”
The Bill has passed from the Illinois House Human Services Committee and is currently awaiting action by the full House. Please contact your State Representative and ask him or her to support HB 1826:
Rep. Karen Yarbrough (7)
708-615-1747
Rep. LaShawn Ford (8)
773-378-5902
Rep. Deborah Graham (78)
708-445-9520
Oak Park Village Board Supports HB 1826
At the July 6, 2007, meeting of the Oak Park Village Board, the Trustees voted unanimously to support HB 1826. The Resolution urged our State Legislators to support the measure.
Board Awaits Final Strategic Planning Report
Now that the holiday season has come and gone, the Board of Directors is about to turn its attention to a huge task awaiting it in 2008—acting upon the information that will be contained in the final report from its strategic planning consultant, Dr. Carol Goldbaum. The process has gone very smoothly. The last major step was an all-day working session held on December 1, 2007, during which the Board discussed the priorities of our goals and the action steps needed to achieve each of these goals.
“This has been an incredibly thorough process, and each Board member has benefited from the opportunity to participate throughout,” said OPALGA Co-Chair Mike Cochran. “Thanks to Carol and her dedication to OPALGA, however, the Board is getting more than it originally asked for. We thought we would get a document showing us how to proceed toward the eventual hiring of an Executive Director, but we are actually going to receive that as part of an overall three-year strategic plan. I cannot emphasize enough how much this means to our Board as we work to deliver the best services and events possible.”
The Board of Directors, upon receiving the final report, will most likely spend a portion of its annual retreat (usually held in February of each year) in discussing the strategic plan and how best to implement it. According to Cochran, this timing couldn’t be better for the organization. “The new Board took effect on January 1, and we now have the benefit of additional input from our three new directors—Bruce Broerman, Kim Hefner, and David Rappaport. These individuals bring an impressive array of experience to the Board, and I am very excited about their addition to the mix. When you add these three to the incredibly strong Directors that we already have, it can’t help but produce great results.”
“Dr. Goldbaum has given us an incredible foundation on which to build,” Cochran concluded. “It is now up to each of us to move forward in an effective and efficient manner as we help OPALGA transition itself to the next level. People will be hearing great things from OPALGA in the future!”
Book Club Announces First Four Titles for 2008
Book club members have decided upon their first four selections for 2008:
• January 20—Blood Sisters by Mary Jacobsen, a novel of the generosity of spirit and friendship that goes beyond sexuality.
• February 17—In keeping with the recently announced theme for the 12th Annual Gala (“Twelfth Night”
, the book club has decided to read Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, in which Duchess Olivia falls in love with Viola, who has disguised herself as a boy to find her missing twin brother. Festive songs and holiday spirit figure into the mood of this comic Shakespearean play of mistaken identity.
• March 16—Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran, in which the three Aminpour sisters escape the Iranian Revolution and make their way to an Irish village where they open a small café.
• April 20—Three Junes by Julia Glass, which tells the tale of several central characters during three separate Junes spanning 10 years. Paul, a newly widowed father of three grown sons on a group tour of the Greek islands; Fenno, his eldest son, a gay man in New York City; and Fern, an artist and book designer whom Paul met on his trip to Greece several years earlier, now a young widow, pregnant, and also living in New York City.
The book club meets every third Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at The OPALGA Center, 947 Garfield, Oak Park, unless otherwise specified. All books are available through http://www.amazon.com. In addition, copies will be available at the Oak Park Public Library (834 Lake St., Oak Park) as well as at The Book Table (1045 Lake St.), when possible. Remember, OPALGA receives a charitable donation from The Book Table for each book purchased there (regardless of whether it is a book club selection). Please let them know that you are purchasing your book as a member of OPALGA.
Latino Men’s Retreat a Great Success!
On Friday, November 16, OPALGA, in conjunction with Project VIDA in Chicago, took 17 young men between the ages of 18–24 to Watervliet, Michigan, for a three-day retreat with no cell phones, no iPods, and no contact with home. Over three days, the rigorous itinerary included structured activities such as creating their own life maps, writing a letter to themselves describing their most challenging life event, sharing it and burning it, exercise, group dining, and one-on-one counseling sessions for those who requested them.
According to Hector Salgado, OPALGA’s Latino men’s group coordinator and planner of this event, it was powerful to take these young men out of the clubs, where they are always trying to compete with one another, and bring them to a place where they really began to understand each other as people. Hector said that recurring themes included working through challenges with family, culture, and coming out and a need to let go of internalized anger. Hector felt that through this weekend, the young men were able to let go of a lot of self-imposed pressure and to learn to have more genuine relationships with each other. Evaluations completed by the attendees were overwhelmingly positive—comments included a desire to have another retreat that was longer but to improve the cooking!
We will give Hector some time to recover from this three-day event, but we would like to make this an annual event. We would like to thank the hard work and dedication of Hector Salgado, who hatched this plan earlier this year—his diligence paid off—and Celso Cardenas, our former ALAS coordinator, who volunteered his time for this event. Thanks to Carlos Samaniego and Project VIDA for their participation and fundraising and to Dr. Gary Harper from DePaul University. Also, a big thank-you to our donors for this event—Jan Grillos, Lori Hannigan, Ray Johnson, Donald Woolf, and JoAnn Ziebarth. All OPALGA members help to support multiple programs such as this. Your contributions and continued support of the organization make programs like this possible, and we thank you for contributing to the success of this event.
Message from the Co-Chairs (December)
Sooner than we may want, the new year will be upon us. Next year, 2008, will bring new challenges for OPALGA with new and renewed enthusiasm to meet them. Several Directors will return for new terms. Lisa Pearson, Davida Williams, and JoAnn Ziebarth will continue serving as Directors. Kim Hefner and Bruce Broerman will join the Board as new Directors. Anita Csuk will become Treasurer, and Mike Cochran will become Male Co-Chair. Brad Bartels will complete a four-year stretch as Male Co-Chair at the end of December and will serve as “past Co-Chair” for the next year.
By design, one Co-Chair remains, while the other is replaced. Last month, the Board of Directors reluctantly accepted the resignation of Cheryl Haugh as Female Co-Chair. Cheryl is saddened to leave the Board but feels that she will best serve the organization in other capacities. She finishes having served two years as Co-Chair—one year in finishing Ethel Cotovsky’s term and one year in which she was re-elected. At the November Board of Directors meeting, Liz Stallone was unanimously appointed by the Board to complete Cheryl’s term.
The re-elected and new Board members will be joining Secretary Sherrie Wolfe and Members-at-Large Lee Latham and Rick McVey. The Board will appoint a Member-at-Large replacement for Liz Stallone to serve out her Board term.
We leave our posts as Co-Chairs in good hands. Liz has been a part of the Board for three years and served as the OPAL Gala Co-Chair in 2005 and 2006. She received the Brian Findlay Award for outstanding and long-term commitment last May. She also provides many of the printed materials for OPALGA, including Empower each month. Mike Cochran served with Liz as the OPAL Gala Co-Chair in 2006. He received the Carol Zientek Award for distinguished service last May and has served as Treasurer for the past two years. Mike was instrumental in establishing the Board working committees this year, which have continued to be productive avenues for accomplishing our goals. He has also largely been responsible for organizing the work being done with our consultant, Dr. Carol Goldbaum, who is currently guiding us through a strategic planning process that will yield dividends for years to come.
Now, we both reflect on our time served together on the OPALGA Board as very positive for the organization. It has been a time of growth, expansion, and many great memories. We came together to say goodbye to Ethel Cotovsky and Rob Ward, whose leadership and sage advice we miss. In collaboration with the Board of Directors, we moved from an inside office space to a visible storefront. We continued to conduct, modify, and support our youth programs. We identified and honed goals and continually worked toward specificity and reproducibility of policies and procedures. Two things that are always talked about among OPALGA stalwarts are the purchase of our own building and the hiring of an executive director. We have not realized these goals yet, but with hard work and a little luck, our leadership will direct us toward these aspirations.
We all choose to be part of OPALGA for different reasons, but we hope that we share the belief that, as a community, we are better off because of our existence. Some have compared us to that little train, chugging up that long hill, trying to reach the top, while gravity tries to force us backward. Yet, each year, we get a little stronger—our fire is stoked, and our resolve becomes tougher. As an organization, we will get to the top of that hill and the mountains beyond. We will because we believe that we can. We know that it’s too important not to succeed. We owe it to ourselves, to our families and friends, to those who haven’t been able to make the full journey with us, and to those who have yet to join us.
As for both of us, we are richer for having had the opportunity to serve as your Co-Chairs. We look forward to what the future brings, and we take comfort in knowing that success is the only track that the organization is running on—now and for years to come. We may have climbed aboard many years ago, but our tickets are punched for the final destination, and we are looking forward to the trip.
Much love,
Brad and Cheryl
Book Club Selects Titles for 2008, Including Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”
On December 16, book club members will discuss Side by Side by Isabel Miller, author of Patience and Sarah. In this novel, two girls fall in love and are separated by their families only to be reunited in New York City during the time of Stonewall.
Book club members have also decided upon their first four selections for 2008:
• January 20—Blood Sisters by Mary Jacobsen, a novel of the generosity of spirit and friendship that goes beyond sexuality.
• February 17—In keeping with the recently announced theme for the 12th Annual OPAL Gala ("Twelfth Night"), the book club has decided to read Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, in which Duchess Olivia falls in love with Viola, who has disguised herself as a boy to find her missing twin brother. Festive songs and holiday spirit figure into the mood of this comic Shakespearean play of mistaken identity.
• March 16—Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran, in which the three Aminpour sisters escape the Iranian Revolution and make their way to an Irish village where they open a small café.
• April 20—Three Junes by Julia Glass, which tells the tale of several central characters during three separate Junes spanning 10 years. Paul, a newly widowed father of three grown sons on a group tour of the Greek islands; Fenno, his eldest son, a gay man in New York City; and Fern, an artist and book designer whom Paul met on his trip to Greece several years earlier, now a young widow, pregnant, and also living in New York City.
The book club meets every third Sunday from 2:00 p. m. to 4:00 p. m. at The OPALGA Center, 947 Garfield, Oak Park, unless otherwise specified. All books are available through www.amazon.com. In addition, copies will be available at the Oak Park Public Library (834 Lake St., Oak Park) as well as at The Book Table (1045 Lake St.), when possible. Remember, OPALGA receives a charitable donation from The Book Table for each book purchased there (regardless of whether it is a book club selection). Please let them know that you are purchasing your book as a member of OPALGA.
