text:
Prevention of breast cancer
Ali M Al-Amri
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Department of Internal Medicine, King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar 31952
The best therapy for cancer is prevention. Primary prevention involves health promotion and risk reduction in the general population so that invasive cancers do not develop. These primary preventive measures include the cessation of smoking, lifestyle and diet modification, vitamins and micronutrients supplementation. Identification of genetic risk, understanding of carcinogenesis, development of effective screening tools, avoiding risk factors and effective chemoprevention can lead to decreased morbidity and mortality of cancers in general and more importantly breast cancer. Secondary prevention is the identification and treatment of premalignant or subclinical cancers. Screening by means of mammography is a typical example of secondary prevention. Tertiary prevention is defined as symptoms control and rehabilitation. These definitions may become less useful in the future as they do not account for the new incoming data such as molecular data.
Keywords: Prevention, Cancer, Breast.
Al-Amri AM. Prevention of breast cancer. J Fam Community Med 2005;12:71-4
Al-Amri AM. Prevention of breast cancer. J Fam Community Med [serial online] 2005 [cited 2022 Jan 17];12:71-4. Available from: https://www.jfcmonline.com/text.asp?2005/12/2/71/97587
Breast cancer is the most common lethal neoplasm in women. In the United States of America, breast cancer is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer mortality in women. In the kingdom of Saudia Arabia, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women accounting for 20.6% of cancer diseases (Cancer Incidence Report Saudi Arabia 1999-2000) as shown on [Table 1]. The frequency of treatment failure and cause specific-death is directly related to the stage of the cancer at the time of presentation. More than 90% of patients with stage I disease remain without evidence of breast cancer 10 years after appropriate treatment, while patients with stage VI disease are incurable and require only palliative therapy. It is therefore imperative to diagnose breast cancer in the early stages, to reduce toxicity and improve the efficacy of treatment. In addition to that, there has been growing interests in the development of preventive measures. Among these are diet, lifestyle, selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) and hormonal interventions.
Table 1: The most frequent cancers in the KSA and USA24 in 1999-2000*
Dietary Prevention
The role of a low fat diet in prevention of breast cancer needs to be verified; however, there are
indications that breast cancer risk is increased with consumption of food rich in fat and low fiber. A low-fat diet might decrease the risk of breast cancers through hormonal mechanism. It has been reported that dietary fat and postmenopausal estrogen levels are directly related. [1] Low-fat and high carbohydrate diet lead to a significant reduction in mamographic breast density and serum estradiol levels in the intervention group as compared to control after 2 years of follow up. [2] A long follow-up may determine if there is a decrease in the incidence of breast cancer in either arm of the study. [2],[3] However, there is no evidence today for an association between total dietary fat intake and breast cancer risk. [4] A prospective randomized study is the only study designed to settle this issue. Dietary modification to increase vegetables and fruits did not show a significant association between any of the specific fruits and vegetables and the reduction in the breast cancer risk. However, many case-control studies suggest that fruit and vegetable consumption may be associated with reduced breast cancer risk. [5] Micronutrient and vitamin intake may play a role in reducing the risk for breast cancer. [6] Some clinical studies have found an inverse association of dietary intake of vitamin E and breast cancer incidence . [7] In the USA, a prospective study of over 80,000 nurses did not find an association between breast cancer risk and dietary intake of vitamin C, vitamin E, or B-carotene. A high intake of folate, Beta-carotene, Vitamin A and vitamin C may reverse the increased risk associated with alcohol consumption. [6],[8] Soya beans contain isoflavones, which are converted in the bowel to antioxidative and antiestrogenic compounds and there are epidemiologic data suggest that the consumption of soya products is associated with reduced risk of breast cancer. [9] The data available today about the preventive effect of fiber-rich and low-fat diet, vitamins and soya are inclusive and information gained from an ongoing large scale randomized clinical trials may help to clarify these issues.
Lifestyle Factors
Lifestyle factors which may affect breast cancer risk include sexual behavior pattern, alcohol intake, physical activity and obesity. Women who do heavy manual labor or strenous exercise have a low breast cancer risk. [10],[11] The protective mechanism of physical activity is not known but physical activity may have an effect on the endogenous hormone. Epidemiologic data indicate that obesity (body mass index ≥30kg/m2) increases the risk of breast cancer. The risk for breast cancer in a postmenopausal woman who gained more than 20 kg after age 18 and had never had hormone therapy is approximately twice the risk for women who did not gain weight. [12]
Serms as Preventive Measures of Breast Cancer
The term SERM is an abbreviation for selective estrogen receptor modulators. These agents include tamoxifen, raloxifene and tormifene. The mechanisms of action of these agents are either estrogenic or antiestrogenic effects depending on the specific end organ. The main finding of the breast cancer prevention trial (BCPT) was a 49% reduction in the incidence of breast cancer among the participants who were randomly assigned to receive tamoxifen. Tamoxifen was the first agent for primary cancer prevention to be approved by food and drug administration (FDA) of USA in 1998. [13] Adverse effects of tamoxifen include 2.53 times greater risk of developing invasive endometrial cancer, the risk for pulmonary embolism is three times more and stroke is nearly twice as common in patients taking tamoxifen. The number of events in the national surgical adjuvant breast project are shown in [Table 2] (NSABP Trial). [14] Other side effects include cataracts, vaginal discharge, hot flushes, dry vagina, weight loss and vaginal bleeding. The net benefit versus risk depends on age, presence or absence of uterus and the baseline risk of breast cancer. FDA approved raloxifene for the prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in 1997. Generally, the side effects of raloxifene are similar to tamoxifen except that raloxifene did not increase the risk of endometrial hyperplasia. [15] The favorable influence of tamoxifen and raloxifene on lipid metabolism to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease is not yet established. STAR trial will provide a direct comparison between tamoxifen and raloxifene on vascular events such as pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis as well as compare the efficacy of these two drugs as breast cancer preventives. Breast cancer incidence is the primary end point of this study. Study designs, follow up and results of breast cancer prevention trial, international breast cancer intervention study, multiple outcomes of raloxifene evaluation and study of raloxifene and tamoxifen are summarized in [Table 3]. Taken together, these studies demonstrated a significant reduction in the risk of breast cancers in women on tamoxifen and raloxifene. The drugs, tamoxifen and raloxifene reduce the risk of only breast cancer positive for estrogen receptor (ER) but the risk of breast cancer negative for ER is not affected. [16],[17]
Table 2 : Numbers of events in NSABP study15
Table 3 : Breast cancer prevention trials25
Exogenous Estrogen (Oc And Hrt)
Epidemiologic evidence strongly suggests a role for estrogen, whether endogenous or exogenous, as a proliferative factor contributing to breast carcinogenesis. It appears there is increased risk of breast cancer in young women (younger than 35 years) with current prolonged use of oral contraceptives (OC) more than 5 years. This risk appears to level off after the use of OC has stopped. [18] We therefore advice women not to use oral contraceptive pills more than 5 years unless it is medically indicated. In relation to menopausal replacement therapy, there are data to suggest that hormone replacement therapy with estrogen is associated with increased risk of breast cancer among recent estrogen users, and this risk is proportional to the duration of use. [19] It appears that combined estrogen and progestin HRT induces higher risk of breast cancer than estrogen replacement therapy alone and this risk is proportional to duration of HRT use. Before considering the use of HRT, patients should weigh the risk of breast cancer against the evidence from observational studies that it may reduce the overall mortality. [19],[20],[21],[22]
Prophylactic Mastectomy
The risk of women developing breast cancer is influenced by a range of factors and it is difficult to find a formal definition of high risk women. Women who carry mutation in BRCA1 and BRCA2, family histories of genetically transmitted breast cancer, women who have received mantle irradiation, women with lobular carcinoma in situ are considered high risk. In a retrospective cohort study, the reduction in risk of death from breast cancer ranged from 100% among moderate risk women to 80% among high risk women. [23] This study provides the best available evidence that prophylactic mastectomy prevents the development of breast cancer in women with moderate and high risk. Women considering bilateral mastectomy as an optional preventive measure need information about both the effectiveness and morbidities of this procedure. This should be done in association with cancer risk assessment and other preventive strategies including tamoxifen.[25]
1. Prentice R, Thompson D, Clifford C, et al. Dietary fat reduction and plasma estradiol concentration in healthy postmenopausal women. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1990; 82:129-34.
2. Boyd NF, Greenberg C, Lockwood GA, et al. Effect of a low -fat, high carbohydrate diet on radiologic features of the breast. J Natl Cancer Inst 1997; 89:488-96.
3. Boyd NF, Lockwood GA, Greenbert CV, et al. Effect of a low-fat high carbohydrate diet on plasma sex hormones in premenopausal women. Br J Cancer 1997;76:127-35.
4. Hunter DJ, Spiegelman D, Adami HO, et al. Cohort studies of fat intake and the risk of breast cancer- A pooled analysis. N Engl J Med 1996; 334:356-61.
5. Smith-Warner SA, Spiegelman D, Yaun S, et al. Intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of breast cancer. A pooled analysis of cohort studies. JAMA 2001;285:769-76.
6. Kimmick GG, Bell RA, Bostick RM. Vitamin E and breast cancer. Nutr Cancer 1997;27:109-17.
7. Zhang S, Hunter DJ, Forman MR, et al. Dietary carotenoids and vitamins A, C and E and risk of breast cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1999;91:547-56.
8. Zhang S, Hunter DJ, Hankinson SE, et al. Study of folate intake and the risk of breast cancer. JAMA 1999;281:1632-7.
9. Stoll BA. Potential role for soy supplements. Ann Oncol 1997;8:223-5.
10. Thune I, Brenn T, Lund E, et al. Physical activity and the risk of breast cancer. N Engl J Med 1997;336:1269-75.
11. Ferraroni M, Decarli A, Franceschi S, et al. Alcohol consumption and breast cancer. European Journal of Cancer 1998;34:1403-9.
12. Huang Z, Hankinson SE, Colditz GA, et al: Dual effects of weight and weight gain on breast cancer risk. JAMA 1997;278:1407-11.
13. Brown BH, Lippman SM. Chemoprevention of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2000;62:1-17.
14. Cummings SR, Eckert S, Krueger KA, et al. The effect of raloxifene on the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: result from the MORE randomized trial. JAMA 1999;281:2189-97.
15. Paul E, Goss, Strasser K. Chemoprevention of breast cancer. In: Ismail J, editor. Manual of breast disease, Philadilphia, PA:Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002.p.484-9,
16. Fisher B, Costantino JP, Wickerham DL, et al: Tamoxifen for prevention for breast cancer: Report of p-1 study. J Natl Cancer Inst 1998;90:1371-88.
17. Cauley JA, Norton L, Lippman ME, et al: Continued breast cancer risk reduction in postmenopausal women treated with raloxifene. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2001;65:125-34.
18. Ursin G, Ross PK, Sullivan-Halley J, et al. Use of oral contraceptives and risk of breast cancer in young women. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 1998;50:175-84.
19. Ross RK, Paganini-Hill A, Wan PC, et al. Effect of hormone replacement therapy on breast cancer risk. Estrogen versus estrogen plus progestins. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2000; 92:328-32.
20. Coldiz GA, Hankinson SE, Hunter DJ, et al. The use of estrogen and progestin and the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. N Engl J Med 1995;332:1589-93.
21. Schairer C, Lubin J, Troisi R, et al. Menopausal estrogen and estrogen-progestin replacement therapy and breast cancer risk. JAMA 2000;283:485-91.
22. Sellers TA, Mink PJ, Cerhan JR, et al. The role of hormone replacement therapy in the risk for breast cancer. Annals of Internal Medicine 1997;127:973-80.
23. Hartman LC, Schaid DJ, Woods JE, et al. Efficacy of bilateral prophylactic mastectomy in women with a family history of breast cancer. N Engl J Med 1999;340:77-84.
24. Murray T, Bolden S, Wingo PA. Cancer Statistics 2000. CA Cancer J Clin 2000; 50:7-33
25. Peter Greenwald. Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials. J Clin Oncol 2002;20:14-22.
[Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3]
Al-Amri AM
Breast.
Serms as Prevent...
Exogenous Estrog...
Prophylactic Mas...


Anormal priority encoder encodes only the highest-order data line. But in many situations, not only the highest but the second-highest priority information is also needed. The circuit presented here encodes both the highest-priority information as well as the second-highest priority information of an 8-line incoming data. The circuit uses the standard octal priority encoder 74148 that is an 8-line-to-3-line (4-2-1) binary encoder with active-"low" data inputs and outputs.
The first encoder (IC1) generates the highest-priority value, say, F. The active "low" output (A0, A1, A2) of IC1 is inverted by gates N9 through N11 and fed to a 3-line-to-8-line decoder (74138) that requires active-"high" inputs. The decoded outputs are active-"low". The decoder identifies the highest-priority data line and that data value is cancelled using XNOR gates (N1 through N8) to retain the second-highest priority value that is generated by the second encoder.
Priority encoder IC1 generates binary output F2, F1, F0, which represents the value of p in active-"low" format. The complemented F2, F1, and F0 are applied to 3-line-to-8-line (one out of eight outputs is active-"low") decoder 74138. Let the output lines of 74138 be denoted as M0 through M7. Now only one line is active-"low" among M0 through M7, and that is Mp (where the value of p is explained as above). Therefore the logic level of line Mp is "0" and that of all other M lines "1".
The highest-priority line is cancelled using eight XNOR gates as shown in the figure. Let the output lines from XNOR gates be N0 through N7. Consider inputs Lp and Mp of the corresponding XNOR gate. Since Mp = 0 and also Lp = 0, the output of this XNOR gate is Np = complement of Lp = 1. All other L"s are not changed because the corresponding M"s are all 1″s. Thus data lines N0 through N7 are same as L0 through L7, except that the highest-priority level in L0 through L7 is cancelled in N0 through N7.
The highest-priority level in N0 through N7 is the second-highest priority leftover from L0 through L7, i.e. Nq=0 and Nj=1 for q to priority encoder 2 (IC3) to generate S2, S1, S0, which represent q. Thus the second-highest priority value is extracted. Through cascading one can recover the third-highest priority, and so on.
For example, let L0 through L7 = X X X 0 1 1 0 1. Here the highest "0" line is L6 and the next highest is L3 (X denotes "don"t care"). Thus p=6 and q=3. Now the active-"low" output of the first priority encoder will be F2 F1 F0 = 0 0 1. The input to 74138 is 1 1 0 and it outputs M0 through M7 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1. Since M6=0, only L6 is complemented by XNOR gates.
Thus the outputs of XNORs are N0 through N7 = X X X 0 1 1 1 1. Now N3=0 and the highest priority for "N" is 3. This value is recovered by priority encoder 2 (IC3) as S2 S1 S0 = 1 0 0.


Late last year I wrote about my love of front matter using John Hersey's inestimable Hiroshima as an example of why the first pages of a book matter. To mark the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima's publication, BBC News published last week a fantastic article on the history of John Hersey's masterpiece, detailing both the 1946 New Yorker article he penned as well as its reception when published in book form.
On the voyage out he fell ill and was given a copy of Thornton Wilders's The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Inspired by Wilder's narrative of the five people who crossed the bridge as it collapsed he decided he would write about people not buildings. And it was that simple decision that marks Hiroshima out from other pieces of the time.
Wilders' novel is an unapologetically Christian story scrabbling for meaning in the remains of a supposedly senseless tragedy. It's an apt book to prepare one's soul for writing about the tragedy at Hiroshima.
A war correspondent, Hersey would've had practical experience writing of attacks and military maneuvers as well as the journalist's skill for getting the four W's down on the page in economical, readable prose. Yet Hersey chose to write about civilians, each detached from the war, rather than the larger geopolitical context. This is why Hiroshima is sometimes seen as an early form of New Journalism, although unlike its later practitioners, Hersey maintains the traditional journalist's distance from his subjects.
The BBC retrospective also has a nice gallery of Hiroshima's covers over the years, including the one I mentioned in my earlier post (and displayed above). Each complement Hersey's writing in their own ways, although I remain partial to Wendell Minor's cover for the reasons I explored before.
Hersey gratefullest invitation and BBC interest and coverage Hiroshima but has throughout maintained policy let story speak for itself without additional words from himself or anybody.
Here's to a time when authors believed their work should speak for itself, rather than the modern inclination to itch and claw for more book tours, more time in front of a microphone, and more publicity to burnish one's credentials and sell more copies.
Published 30 August 2016 by Jim Nelson.


PLEASE fill out your information below, then press SUBMIT. I will answer you shortly. You are welcome to call if it is easier for you.
2) We have found that many of our returning guests are allergic to pets, so we regrettably have concluded that we can not accommodate pets.
Please come and enjoy our cottages whether you need a lovely private honeymoon cottage or just a peaceful, quiet vacation home. You will find our rates competitive and the setting incomparable.


NEW YORK—There are signs that the federal stimulus might be pumping a little life into the alternative-energy industry.
Prior to the financial crash felt in the second half of 2008, most alternative energy projects owed their life to federal investment tax credits and production tax credits that allowed banks backing projects to offset tax liabilities against their investments in wind farms and solar plants.
The structure worked as long as the banks pulled profits, but with most financial institutions expected to post steep losses for 2009, tax credit finance has become all but obsolete.
According to figures from the private equity firm Hudson Clean Energy Partners, about 25 of the largest financial firms were active in tax equity financing for alternatives in 2007, the year most analysts see as the historic height of the clean-tech market.
At least 16 of those firms left the field last year, including the permanent departures of Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, Merrill Lynch and American International Group (AIG). For 2009, Hudson Clean Energy counts six bank investors, although 12 could return if the tough financial climate stabilizes.
Signs of life in clean-tech are mostly due to Congress allowing companies to opt for Treasury grants in lieu of investment tax credits, experts say.
Biomass, geothermal, solar and wind power project developers can now elect to use the investment tax credit to get a federal rebate for the amount of the tax equity money that would have backed their projects.
The advantage, Hudson Clean Energy managing partner Neil Auerbach says, is that the new structure is much simpler and more affordable than the old periodic tax credit schemes favored by Congress in the past. The Treasury grants significantly lower the cost of financing, an important component given the high cost of capital in today's economy.
"Instead of accessing the currency traders in the financial institutional community that charge tremendous transaction costs to access their tax capacity, instead you go to the federal government, specifically the Department of Treasury, and you hand in your tax credit and you get 100 cents on the dollar supposedly within 60 days of a satisfactory application," Auerbach explained in a conference call hosted by the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) on Wednesday.
Aside from the tax credit fix, new and better federal loan guarantees have considerably reduced the cost and risk of financing projects and are helping to lure jittery investors back into renewable energy.
Analysts expect that some of the $6 billion appropriated for loan guarantees will provide the foundation for at least $60 billion in new lending for clean energy projects over the next two years. The financial community is taking notice.
"I'm not saying they've jumped in, but we've gotten more phone calls, and there seems to be a greater degree of interest on the part of nontraditional equity investors, in which I would include things like hedge funds, private equity money, etc.," said Phillip Spector, an attorney specializing in energy and renewables at Troutman Sanders.
A possible stabilization of the fossil-fuel energy markets could also boost optimism and encourage even more firms to take advantage of the new government carrots.
Crude oil prices are now hovering around $50 a barrel. While the market may still see some price swings, many energy analysts theorize that oil prices have probably found a floor and will either stabilize at the $40 to $50 range or steadily rise over that mark in the coming months.
"There may be a perception that oil has bottomed out, and I think that will help if people get confident that they're not going to be competing in a $20 a barrel oil market but one that's $40 to $50 or $60," Gulliver said. "That changes the economics quite a bit."
Clean-tech watchers are also crediting the stimulus for funding several previously authorized measures to lift renewable energy in the United States, in particular programs managed under the U.S. Department of Energy that have existed for years but never received funding when Republicans dominated Washington.
But most DoE projects have yet to take effect as stimulus money gets pumped into the economy in pulses. Analysts say it is too soon to tell what impact those appropriations will have on the now stirring alternative energy and clean technology industries.
Insiders also report that, while signs of fresh activity are promising, investors with the most money to spend on clean-tech are holding out for indications that forthcoming energy and transportation bills will provide more solid regulatory support for the industry.
While the stimulus is helping to prime the marketplace, there is much hope and anticipation that the federal government will establish a national renewable portfolio standard, or RPS, a mandate that the country generate a specific proportion of its energy needs from wind, solar, geothermal and other such sources. That, along with rules that place a price on a ton of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, will do far more to stimulate clean-tech than the law passed last month.
"Everybody is waiting for the next piece, which is the national RPS," said Peter Fusaro, founder of Global Change Associates and organizer of the upcoming Wall Street Green Trading Summit. "The market is going to track legislation. And we're going to get all that next month, hopefully."
Fusaro also expects the industry to get another big lift should Washington adopt a national utility earnings "decoupling" program along the lines of a successful California initiative. Decoupling eliminates the paradox whereby utilities that promote greater energy efficiency see profits fall as demand for their power decreases, establishing structures that guarantee that energy generators can retain their expected earnings.
But experts say the renewable energy industry will only return to its heyday once the major banks final loosen up credit and reenter the fray.
While an important part of the picture, venture capital and private equity investors have nowhere near the amount of capital needed to fuel the industry on the scale that the new leadership in Washington is hoping.
For the Obama administration to meet its goal of doubling renewable energy generation by 2011, Hudson Clean Energy estimates that about $134 billion in new capital investments will be required by then. To reach a 10 percent penetration of renewables in the nation's energy mix by 2012, as President Obama has proposed, about $217 billion will be needed.
The most important remaining impediment to clean-tech investing "is the banks not lending," Fusaro said. "We need the capital markets moving again."
The large-scale wind and solar projects of the sort that moved along before the economic crash can get a lift from nontraditional sources of finance, but they almost all still need heavy debt financing to help see them to completion.
While the renewed interest in renewables is promising, the industry won't experience a real breath of life until the banks relax and open up their tight wallets again.
"It's too early to call it spring with the daffodils and tulips up," finance specialist Gulliver said, "but I think you can see signs of green poking up underneath the Earth, so that's good."


Spicy Hawaiian Calzones have become a favorite lately in this household! This is a easy calzone recipe just like your favorite Hawaiian Pizza! Pineapple, ham and jalapeños make these rock!
Our local pizzeria serves a Spicy Hawaiian Pizza that I am obsessed with. I love it! It has the perfect ratios of cheese, meat, sweet and spicy. Like many of the items on my site, I tried to recreate it.
I used jalapeños, but was a little disappointed with the initial heat. If your family doesn't enjoy heat as much as mine, you can use only 1jalapeño or bottled, pickled jalapeños, which are generally less spicy.
If you crave more heat, substitute habanero peppers for jalapeños or do not discard the jalapeños seeds. Clearly we like things hot, hot, hot.
This Hawaiian food recipe is truly amazing. Made up of delicious ham, sweet pineapple, red onion, tomato sauce, jalapeños, and lastly gooey mozzarella, will make up the perfect savory calzone.
Authentic Hawaiian food would include SPAM, a canned pork product popular in Hawaii. Since Hawaii is a fairly isolated island, getting goods there is challenging, especially perishables. SPAM is popular because it has a long shelf life and can be easily transported.
While SPAM is a common joke in many continental state households, it is the norm on Hawaiian islands. They have found ways to make SPAM gourmet in many things, such as Hawaiian pizza.
One challenge to this dish is canned pineapples because they are so juicy. Too much liquid can inhibit the pizza crust from cooking or cooking evenly. To prevent this from happening, drain pineapple well and pat dry with a paper towel. To take it even one step further, allow them to air dry for a period of time in the refrigerator.
– Pizza stones are great for more than just pizza and can be used with homemade dough or a pre-baked crust. Also use for calzones, baking bread, reheating pizza and more to keep crisper crusts.
Spicy Hawaiian Calzones are an easy calzone recipe that will help you make the perfect calzone from the comfort of your own home. Pineapple, ham and jalapeños make these rock!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If using a pizza stone, place into the oven while preheating.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine ham, pineapple, red onion, jalapeños and mozzarella cheese. Mix well.
Roll out pizza crust to about 16×12 inches, or as close as you can get it without tearing. Slice into quarters.
Equally spoon tomato sauce on each quarter. Top with ham mixture. Fold and seal edges. Cut 3 slits through the top to allow steam to release.
Spread cornmeal onto heated pizza stone or lightly greased baking sheet. Place calzones onto pizza stone/baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until tops are light brown. Remove and allow to cool slightly before serving with a side of additional tomato sauce.
If you've tried this recipe, we would love for you to come back and leave us a comment or let us know of any modifications!


Endorsed by the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, this four-day show will put motorhomes, caravans and camping products, systems and services in front of serious campers and more than 500,000 visitors to the Balloon Fiesta.
Held over four days in August at Ashton Court Estate, both the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta and Bristol Motorhome & Caravan Show will have free entry with the only charges being made for on-site parking. The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta already has a large and established audience of campers at Kingscott Farm which will be extended with two new fields in 2018 attracting over 1,000 units camped on-site. Whatever type of motorhome, caravan or camping product or service you are looking for, the Bristol Motorhome & Caravan Show is the perfect place to start your search.


My apologies - On rereading it I guess I misinterpreted what it said.
9.4.1-P1" meant BIND 9.3 due to the mentions before and after.
"allow-recursion" were set to "localnets; localhost;".
would be set the same value.
than "localhost; localnets;" unless configuration changes are made."


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text:
170: EO Equals
Bret Keisling is joined by Diane Ives of The Kendeda Fund and Alison Lingane of Project Equity who discuss EO Equals, an exciting new campaign targeting business owners to promote all forms of employee ownership. More information can be found at www.employeeownershipequals.org.
[00:00:00] Bitsy McCann: Welcome to The EO Podcast with Bret Keisling, part of the EO Podcast Network.
[00:00:12] Bret Keisling: Hello, my friends. Thanks for listening. My name is Bret Keisling, and as it says on my business cards, I'm a passionate advocate for employee ownership. There is an exciting new campaign that has been launched primarily on social media right now. It's called EO Equals. It is designed to bring all of the benefits of employee ownership to business owners, primarily, who are looking and contemplating at selling their businesses.
I think it's an exciting and important new campaign and I'm very happy to welcome back two previous guests to the podcast to tell us about it. I'm joined by Diane Ives of The Kendeda Fund.
Diane, thanks for coming back.
[00:00:50] Diane Ives: Thank you so much for having me, Bret.
[00:00:51] Bret Keisling: And I'm also joined by Alison Lingane of Project Equity.
Alison, thank you for coming back.
[00:00:56] Alison Lingane: Wonderful to be here, Bret.
[00:00:58] Bret Keisling: Diane, we're going to start with you and you're going to tell us an overview of how the campaign came about and who the sponsoring partners are. So, with that, Diane, take it away. Tell us about EO Equals.
[00:01:09] Diane Ives: Thank you so much, Bret. The idea for this campaign started as long ago as 2018. The Kendeda Fund was interested in supporting employee ownership and we were looking to make some investments in leaders in the field to help bring about more transitions to employee ownership. And we identified four partners that we wanted to work with: the ICA Group, Project Equity, Nexus Community Partners and the Fund for Employee Ownership at Evergreen Cooperatives.
What we wanted to do with those four was to support them with our grants, to help them do the work that they did. And in the process of making those grants, we asked each of them individually. In addition to the funding that we're giving you for your own organization, what are the barriers or stumbling blocks to achieving your goals?
And all four organizations indicated that communications and media was a big challenge for them and that it was something that was beyond each of their organization's capacity to do and do well. So, we came up with this idea of bringing the four partners together with Kendeda and hiring a communications firm and working together on a media campaign.
And that's how it all got started. It actually launched the process, the research, and all of the background gathering that we were doing launched right when the pandemic started last spring of 2020. And so, we've been working pretty much virtually the whole time, trying to figure out how to pull this campaign together. And we are pleased to say that it's launched as of October of 2021.
[00:02:35] Bret Keisling: You were kind enough to invite me to a preview meeting where the campaign was laid out and it is so exciting and so well done and targeted to a great group.
And with that, Alison, tell us what is EO Equals? Tell us about the campaign itself.
[00:02:51] Alison Lingane: Sure thing. Yeah. So, we started off this project with some research. It was qualitative research, really talking to business owners of all stripes, some of them knew about employee ownership and have done a transition to employee ownership of a company they founded, all the way to people who've never heard of employee ownership, including folks who looked at it and decided not to pursue it. And that combined with really looking at the communications that the organizations in our space are putting forth to share information about employee ownership. We found that this real gap, which I think of, I always think of gaps as opportunities. We found this real opportunity for us from a communications perspective to be targeting businesses owners who otherwise would not have stumbled across or heard about employee ownership.
So, in marketing speak, the communications firm talked about this as people in the pre-consideration phase. We, as organizations in our space, I think are very, very good at communicating to people who've already heard about employee ownership and come looking for it. So, if I'm Googling employee ownership I can find all sorts of great information. But really the opportunity for us is how do we reach all of those business owners who would not have otherwise considered it? And so, we're really are trying to target that group of business owners, and we know it's vast and broad, and influence their positive association, really, employee ownership as a concept.
And I've been talking for years about the need for there to be a brand campaign for employee ownership and folks who know me have heard me talk about the "pork, the other white meat" campaign which was really aiming to influence grocery shoppers when they walk into the grocery store to consider pork in addition to, or instead of, chicken.
And so that's really what we're trying to do with this campaign is influence business owners when they're thinking about, a business structure or an exit opportunity. We want them to consider employee ownership and really take a look alongside other options. Because we know that once people take a look at employee ownership and really take the time to understand its many benefits, it has a lot to offer.
[00:04:57] Bret Keisling: I love your analogy, Alison, to the "pork, the other white meat" as a marketing and an awareness campaign. Frank Luntz, the pollster and researcher, was the keynote speaker at The ESOP Association national conference in DC in 2019 and was a big part of the reason why weeks later, I sold my trustee business and launched the podcast full time.
I had never realized that owning your home as the American dream did not exist until it became a marketing campaign for the realtors, essentially in the 1950s, and suddenly the American dream was own your own home, which we all support ownership. We've had conversations, offline, ownership is ownership, whether it's employee ownership or not, but it's that same kind of thing of with your marketing campaign and targeting the business owners who are going to sell and Project Equity has led the way in, we all talk about the silver tsunami, but the targeting them is, I'd love for employee ownership to be the next American dream.
So, Alison, what is the campaign? Like, if they're on social media, what will they see? I understand that EO Equals there's a number of things that I'll call wordplay, but associations of the benefits of employee ownership. Can you talk about that a little bit?
[00:06:16] Alison Lingane: Sure, yeah. So, for folks who want to take a look at the campaign, so it has a website and the website is employee ownership equals spelled out E-Q-U-A-L-S dot org, employeeownershipequals.org. And really what we're trying to do with this is to lift up that employee ownership is all of these things.
So, EO equals employee ownership, of course. It also equals extraordinary outcomes. It equals excellent operations. For business owners, it can also mean end overwhelm and, of course, exit opportunity. So, this play on words of all of the different E's and O's, but really trying to frame up that employee ownership, it's not just an exit opportunity. It's also a way to strengthen the business. It's a way to engage your employees. So, all of these benefits of employee ownership.
And if you go to the website, we do have an overview video that walks through some of the main EOs and talks about them and is, sort of, the teaser content to be able to get people interested in learning a bit more.
Some of the other things that are available on the site include a workbook for business owners to take the time to really think through in a bit more detail how, what this is, what employee ownership is. How it could apply to their situation. How it could help them with their business needs.
And then we also have a quiz on the site, similarly, as an engagement tool to help people learn a bit more about what employee ownership is, pique their interest. Get them thinking, oh gosh, when I entered the grocery store, I am going to look at pork (laughter) alongside chicken next time.
So, the website is where you can take a look at the different campaign elements and then the campaign itself has a lot of different ways that we are really getting the word out. So, we did, as Diane mentioned, we've launched on October 4th, of course, timed with Employee Ownership Month. And as part of the launch, one of the, one of the -- anytime you're running a campaign, you always want to figure out how do I get this message in front of the people I'm trying to get the message in front of?
And one of the strategies that we are using to try and get this message out to business owners is we have engaged with Gene Marks, who is an expert really in small businesses, to be a campaign spokesperson. And so, we kicked off the campaign, he actually had 14 interviews the very first day of the campaign to be able to spread the word get it out to his network, but also to be able to have some content about him, somebody who has a strong following among small business owners, to be talking about employee ownership and its benefits.
We'll also be doing the kinds of things that you might expect. Earned media: in other words PR, engaging with reporters, doing op-eds. Paid media: so, paying for ads on Google ads and on some social media sites. And then as we are getting this up and going, we're going to be measuring everything. So, what's working, what's not, to be able to refine. And our goal really is over the course of Q4 to start to get a sense of what's working and what's not and be engaging more closely with employee ownership organizations in the space to figure out how they can be involved in the campaign, what organizations are interested in, how folks want to take part how it can be most effective, because ultimately this is all about the brand of employee ownership, growing the pie for the whole space. And is, it's EO Equals. It's not Project Equity equals or Nexus Community Partners equals, right? It's the brand it's really about employee ownership and growing the pie and lifting up the whole space.
[00:09:49] Bret Keisling: Since we're at this point, there is a topic that's very important to me and both of you are aware of it and it's important to you folks as well. I did a series last fall "Is EO a Movement" and the context that I feel is, oh, we should be, and we could be. We are not. And with the collaboration among the organizations and there is, I know firsthand, there is interest and support and enthusiasm among a variety of organizations, which is really refreshing to see in the space. How mindful were each of you in your roles that beyond the goal of attracting business owners -- and if business owners are listening to this seriously, go to the website, we'll have a link in our show notes, take a look and employee ownership-- but on the one hand you're marketing employee ownership to businesses, but it seems that you've done this in as collaborative a way as possible within, I want to call it the EO movement. How mindful of that was each of you that this is something that could bring a lot of folks together?
[00:10:55] Diane Ives: That's an excellent question, Bret. I would say that it was mindful from the very beginning. What we were looking for, as Alison described, was like the gap or the opportunity. We were not looking to replicate other people's work, or somehow get out in front of people who were already doing good work and doing it ahead of them.
It was really saying like, where is it in this movement where everybody can benefit and how do we create an opportunity where everybody does benefit and that people feel like there's enough goodwill, that they will benefit. And so that was the goal is we intentionally started creating this opportunity.
We did not specifically create a come one, come all opportunity to build the whole campaign because we decided that we wanted to do was focus on these four organizations and their specific needs. But each of these organizations is very well networked and very well connected with the kind of the larger ecosystem of groups. And so, it was important for us all along the way to make sure that we were informing folks of the kinds of work that we were doing and where we were landing with this opportunity.
And I do want to point out one of the things that I found so interesting about the communications firms research in looking at the larger communications work across all of these different organizations, not just our partners, but across the larger kind of set of groups is that everybody was really good talking to workers, talking to employees, helping them understand the benefits and opportunities for them of employee ownership. But there wasn't this kind of like universal understanding of why it would be a value to business owners. And what we have found as we've moved through this process and gotten to the campaign launch, is that in a lot of places, we don't even know how to reach business owners. That we have some ideas, they're not well tested, they're not well-worn paths where everybody knows everybody in the exit planning community, for instance. And so, part of what we're trying to do is really lift up that opportunity to actually speak to business owners directly about the benefits to them, not just to their employees, and to build that understanding and awareness in a way that gets the business owners excited.
[00:13:05] Bret Keisling: I've been to the website, and I've seen the presentation and reviewed the workbook and solved the quiz and it's really cool. And it's really cool because you're presenting information in an exciting new format specifically targeted, and I find that cool. The reality is none of the research that you did ramping up this project released new information about the benefits of employee ownership. Alison, when you were on the podcast, I think May of 2019, if I'm right, even then this fits in with how do we get the message to more business people?
So, Alison is this another component of the information is there and the information is solid. Let's repackage it a little bit, but also take it where we haven't taken it before?
[00:13:54] Alison Lingane: Yeah. I think that's well said and I think it's a couple of things. I think it's; the campaign really does emphasize a broad set of benefits to that business owner. So, we're not just focused on exit planning, right? It's a whole set of benefits to the enterprise, to them personally, and in terms of their exit opportunity, the EO exit opportunity.
So, that's one piece of it. And another piece of it is, exactly as Diane was saying, that specific strategies and tactics and having a communications firm that is set up to be able to execute on those and measure them and refine them so that we can gain a lot of insight and get better about what really does work, how do we reach these business owners? So, I mentioned that we did an initial survey that was qualitative of business owners, but we also did before we really refined the messaging of the campaign and designed the strategies of it, we also did a larger quantitative survey of 400 small business owners. And so, the results of that survey also helped to inform how we specifically talked about employee ownership, the word choices, the benefit choices that are really lifted up within the campaign.
And then as a piece of that, we will be doing an annual survey of attitudes and understanding. Think of it like a tracking survey. So, if our ultimate goal is to lift up the brand of employee ownership and increase the positive association with employee ownership, this yearly tracking survey is going to help us measure how we're doing on that front. Are we moving the needle broadly year over year? And are we being effective in terms of having people stop and say, oh yeah, I do want to take a look at this thing, employee ownership, that maybe a year ago I didn't know anything about.
[00:15:35] Bret Keisling: Alison, I love that answer and mainly because I realized I hadn't asked the right question, or I hadn't made the right statement. It is true that what we know about employee ownership and the benefit of. 4.5 times less likely for layoffs during the pandemic, just the latest stuff and less salary cuts, et cetera, the benefits to the communities. That isn't new information. But the value to the research was really what do you-- and forgive me, I do take the community view -- what do we do with the research? Where do we take it out? And that is actually new and important and drives the mechanics of the campaign.
[00:16:13] Alison Lingane: Yeah.
[00:16:14] Diane Ives: Yeah, I was just going to say somebody shared this image with me a bunch of years ago, which I have used numerous times, which I think is relevant here, which is that we oftentimes, as we do our deep work in our organizations, and for this case, it is an employee ownership, we tend to be doing a lot of work in the basement. We're doing a lot of, using the different systems and mechanics and trying to get everything going. And when you welcome somebody to your house, you don't really want them to walk into the basement. You want them to walk in through the front door. And if you've been spending a lot of time in the basement, we have a hard time answering the front door and knowing exactly what to say and how to excite people and how to engage them.
And so, this campaign is really about opening that front door and all of this stuff in the basement is all that research, Bret, that you're talking about, that we know the statistics, we know the opportunities and we know the challenges and we can't just start there with people.
We really have to welcome them in a different kind of a way.
[00:17:08] Bret Keisling: I like that, Diane, and I talk to a lot of people in a lot of contexts about employee ownership and pretty regularly a professional advisor new to the field will reach out to me. And I love the enthusiasm and I try to be encouraging as much as I can because we need new professionals. But there's often a breathless moment where they say, Bret, do you know how many business owners are set to retire? And I'm like, yes, it's come up quite a bit in the last number of years. And that is the target. And we have all said, and this goes back to the, we want more talking about employee ownership. All of us have said, that's who we need to be talking about, but this collaboration has come up with a great way to drive the conversation.
And with the targeting, to be clear, you're not targeting the employee ownership community for the marketing. You're targeting the business owners.
[00:18:05] Alison Lingane: Yeah, that's exactly right. And one of the other things about the campaign is that this is not ESOPs equals, or co-ops equals, or perpetual trusts or EOTs equals. And we actually worked very hard in designing the materials to not go into the basement, to use that analogy, too quickly with business owners on that. Because we're, really, the goal is to keep it high level and to get people excited and whet their appetite for learning more.
So, we really, I think we mention, we maybe list the three main forms of broad-based employee ownership in the workbook, or maybe on the site, we've got a quick overview of what they are, but we don't go into that rabbit hole very deep on purpose because we really want to focus on getting people excited. Focus on the benefits and the opportunity that employee ownership presents and then we can have, get them to talk nuts and bolts and get into the details to the right point. But that was, that's a really important part of the campaign design as well.
[00:19:02] Bret Keisling: Alison, you mentioned that there was a survey. Can you just give us kind of the highlights of that survey?
[00:19:08] Alison Lingane: Sure, absolutely. So, we fielded a survey. Hattaway Communications, our communication firm who helped us throughout this entire campaign research and design process, fielded a survey of 400 small business owners over this past summer 2021. And did really help shape how we talked about the benefits of employee ownership and which benefits we lifted up and gave the most priority to in the communication.
So, some of the key insights that shaped our thinking about that campaign is of course targeting owners who are thinking about retirement, that's one of the key audiences. And I think we knew this going in, but the survey really underscored that owner's ideas about retirement often don't align with the reality. Meaning most business owners have a very rosy picture of what their retirement is going to look like. High levels of confidence that they will retire comfortably. They've highly optimistic about the value of their business. And those of us who work with business owners know that we often need to realign some explanation around the value of the business or how easy or difficult it will be to sell the business. We also know that one of the benefits of employee ownership is that it, in many ways, it makes it easier to be able to sell your business because you don't need to go out and find a buyer. As I often say, you've got a buyer right under your nose. So, that was one sort of key bucket of insight.
Another is that, of course, business owners are business people first. Day in and day out, this is what business owners are doing is running a business. They want to run a good business. One that rewards employees and delivers goods and services that matter, and they want their legacy to live on after they retire. So, we found that beyond their optimism for their personal fortunes when they do retire that more than three quarters of business owners want their businesses to continue to grow and thrive rather than close up shop.
They also want to make sure that their team is taken care of and rewarded for their hard work. We had over 70% of businesses said that it's equally important that I, as the selling business owner, am fairly compensated and that my employees are taken care of. Over 70%. That shouldn't be surprising because we know how important teams are for businesses and business success. But that just speaks volumes about how the benefits of employee ownership can really speak to business owners broadly, not just a small portion of the business owners.
And then I would say, in addition to that, they also really want to strengthen the operations of their business. Lifting up the benefits of employee ownership, the excellent operations, EO excellent operations, is an important message to be able to send to business owners.
So yes, it is about retirement, but it's not only about retirement. It's about doing well by your employees. It's about strengthening your business. All of these benefits that we know employee ownership is so good at delivering on.
[00:21:55] Bret Keisling: That's very important. And one of the things that came to mind as you were talking, Alison, was the difficulty in selling the business and boy, the mistaken expectations of value I've seen a lot as an ESOP trustee. We know that 80% of businesses don't sell. They close down, they're not sold. We also know of the 20% that sell, generally it's five times on the market to sell. It is a very difficult process.
When you talked about legacy, and that's a huge part of employee ownership, I don't care what industry you're in, if you're a business owner and you're listening to this podcast call me up if you don't know how it could happen, but any competitor could buy you and strip your parts, and by that I mean your people, and send your operations to wherever. And you will, as the business owner, put something in your pocket. But everything you've built has gotten to the wind. It's been absorbed and that's the legacy. That's a huge point for the business owners to keep in mind, I would think.
[00:22:56] Alison Lingane: Absolutely. And that's a part of where the storytelling around employee ownership can really bring this to life for business owners. The opportunity to be able to see businesses that are like mine, whether it's similar size or similar geography or similar industry, and be able to look at that and say, oh gosh, my business could be like that. That can be my legacy. So, that's an important piece of what we're doing with the campaign as well, is lifting up those stories and really helping people feel that's the opportunity of legacy that employee ownership can bring.
[00:23:26] Bret Keisling: We've had a number of business owners or employee owners at companies on the podcast. And we always ask for the company history. And this, again, I'm saying this to the business owners thinking about selling their business. And inevitably in every case, the business was founded by X in this year. It became employee ownership this year. And then there are other high points. But in every case, it has started with honoring the founder's legacy in the timeline and the company continues. And I just love that in the timeline since that in all of these businesses, Davey Tree [Expert] Company, 28,000 employee owners. Mr. Davey, the founder, died in 1890 and I'm making that up. There hasn't been a Davey family member involved in the company since the 1970s, that is accurate. But now when they talk the story, they're still talking about the Davey family. It's not just the name on the business. So, I just love the, I love the legacy part of it. And I hope the business owners will consider that.
Diane does this fit in generally with the broader -- and folks, I will recommend you were kind enough to be on the podcast and you kicked off our season five in September. This fits in very nicely with the broader goals of The Kendeda Fund, building communities and good jobs, et cetera.
[00:24:38] Diane Ives: Absolutely, this is a core part of the work that we're doing to increase community wealth and it's a wonderful example of how we are not just building a larger ecosystem for the opportunity to happen, but we're really helping individual business owners make these important decisions.
There's a huge need to share this idea more broadly and get people excited about it, but there also needs to be an easy way to take action and to take the next step. And if I can, I'd like to just emphasize a few things about this campaign that we feel make it a little bit easier for business owners to take the next step.
First of all, our main kind of social media channel is on LinkedIn, which is where a lot of business owners go for information and to network and connect. So EO Equals on LinkedIn is a great place to come and explore the work and see the dialogue that's happening.
Also, just to say it, this campaign is not a fly by night thing. It's going to go on for 18 months. So, as we learn about behavior change and greater awareness and questions and confusions and whatever in the campaign, we're going to have time to adapt, reach out to different business owners in different ways. So, I'm super excited about that. Our communications firm has talked with us about kind of tent pole activities every quarter to really encourage and engage potential business owners.
So, we're going to be doing, it does not say this on the website, but it really should, we have a button you can push to get a consultation with an EO expert. It's free. The button doesn't say that it's free, but you can push that button, you can enter your information, and an EO expert will call you. So, there are people who are ready to be helpful in the process.
And I also just want to emphasize, and I think Bret, we talked about this when I was last on your podcast about what are we ready for? What do we have the capacity for? And what is exciting to me is that we have all kinds of capacity with our founding partners and with the larger group of organizations working on employee ownership. There are investment funds standing by looking for investment opportunities. A sense of kind of technical knowledge and legal expertise and accounting help, all of these things that are finding their way to reach a scale that we haven't reached before. And for me, that is part of what The Kendeda Fund's mission is to help figure out how to make these things aligned for bigger scale.
[00:27:03] Bret Keisling: And Diane, not that I've got particular expertise on The Kendeda Fund, but you and I spend a decent amount of time talking this summer for the podcast. And The Kendeda Fund, just to its longer term and robustness of this campaign, The Kendeda Fund's path is not to drop a couple of dollars and say, hey, see how it works. You folks just, without getting into details, look at how you can be effective, how you can put together appropriate resources to drive the message, and to the point that you both made analyzing it all along the way. But in other words, this is a major effort by major players in the space.
[00:27:40] Diane Ives: Yeah, there's a phrase that's bouncing around philanthropy right now. That's fund us like you want us to win. And I would say that's what we're upholding with this campaign.
[00:27:47] Bret Keisling: I love that. That, I love the attitude.
[00:27:49] Diane Ives: It's like so basic.
[00:27:50] Bret Keisling: Because there are so many different efforts where really is here's 10 bucks, metaphorically speaking, let me know how it works out or whatever, and fine, but this is different. And this is very cool.
Diane, I love the way you just said that. And quite frankly, I said this on the podcast where you were my guest, and I want to say this to you, and I'm going to switch over to Alison Lingane. The Kendeda Fund has not been messing around in employee ownership. You have worked with [The] Democracy Collaborative. You worked with Project Equity. You've worked with other folks that we've talked about on your podcast, but you are positioning EO to win it. And I want to thank you as just the observer role that I have, because the role that you folks have played for an organization that was focused on the environment and then like green jobs, and then got into employee ownership, you have just made a tremendous difference.
Alison, and we'll work towards wrapping up with you. And I've got a question, but before I do, I want to pay Project Equity a compliment. And we talked about in employee ownership we say agnostic for whatever it's worth between ESOPs, co-ops, and employee ownership trusts, perpetual trusts, et cetera, et cetera. But it's also true among the organizations. And up until the last couple of years, maybe everybody in employee ownership was very careful to say that there was no favoritism among any of the organizations, or we work with all of them, or we only work with whoever we work with. And I want to compliment Project Equity because I am a cheerleader for the collaborative process. That is how we become a movement. And you folks in the last year or two have collaborated with The ESOP Association in an important project that sent information to members of Congress. You have collaborated with EOX and on things on the statewide level. I know that you're working with the organizations and the organizations that you have brought together so far to, make aware of this campaign and you've signed off on it. I want to thank you on behalf of all of us, because that collaboration is so important and Project Equity, I don't quite know how you did it in a relatively short time, but you're leading the way on just the vibe we should all have.
So, with that, Alison how could people in the space who want to be involved? We know that the business owners that should go to the website are those who are interested at the website and we'll include links to everything we've talked about in our show notes. But for people in the community who want to support and become part of the collaborative process, how do they do that?
[00:30:18] Alison Lingane: Yeah, thank you so much. Bret that is very kind of you. And employee ownership organizations that are interested in getting involved, I would recommend that they reach out to one of the four organizations that is involved in the campaign. So, it's of course, our organization, Project Equity, also the ICA Group, Nexus Community Partners, and the Evergreen Fund for Employee Ownership. And any of the four of us can make the connection back into the conversations we'll be having with folks in the space to talk more about what could it look like to be an allied partner in this effort? How can we together grow the pie and leverage the value of the campaign that has been developed over the last 18 months really to try and do that. So, welcome employee-ownership organizations or small business organizations that are interested in helping to spread the word about employee ownership to reach out to any of the four of us and we can pull you into the fold that way.
[00:31:10] Bret Keisling: And Alison, if I may let me just add one other group that I've talked about over the last three or four months, and it's what I call the adjacent spaces.
And it's all the folks in the community space that want to make their communities better. Guess what? Employee ownership saves jobs. It's all of the people in the best practices in the workplace who want to know how to make the workplace better. Guess what employee ownership does it. So, there's all kinds of different spaces. We want to hear from the people. And you notice what I just did, I get so enthusiastic, we want to hear! You want to hear from all of the folks. You want to hear from the business owners, they've got the button on the website. You'll want to hear from potential collaborators. But folks, if you happen to be listening to this and you're not a business owner, you just care about jobs. You care about your communities. You care about wealth inequality. You care about pay inequality, et cetera, et cetera. You'd also love to hear from those folks in the adjacent spaces. Am I right?
[00:31:58] Alison Lingane: Absolutely. To the extent that there are folks who are champions of employee ownership, whether or not they are themselves EO organizations or practitioners, that's what we're trying to do is we're trying to have a bit of a megaphone out to business owners. And so, if you're interested in being a megaphone one of the ways that I often will talk about the need in our spaces for those of you who have watched the movie or read the book When the Grinch Stole Christmas. If you remember a scene towards the end where try as he might the Grinch wasn't successful in destroying Christmas. And out come all the tiny Whos from Whoville on Christmas morning with their songbooks and you can see the look on the Grinch's face as he's like probably rudely awakened or something by the sound of the Whos singing together, lifting their voices together. That can be really powerful.
And, yeah, that's what I like in this opportunity too, which is that we in the employee ownership space we can come together and lift our voices together to help other people learn about this thing that we are all so enamored with, employee ownership. And whether you want to think of it as a megaphone or us all singing from the same song sheet, the more people who we can get lifting our voices together, the more success we will have in spreading the word.
[00:33:10] Bret Keisling: Diane wrapped up with fund it like you want to win it. And I was like, wow. And Alison, you just matched in terms of a summation. I think that's great.
By way of megaphone and by way of taking the opportunity to do a little self-promotion, if I may. As you're both aware of the last week of September, the EO Podcast Network launched. And we now have, in addition to my two podcasts, we have the Why Worker Co-ops podcast that's hosted by Rodney North and the Owner to Owner podcast that's hosted by Jesse Tyler. We have actual megaphones and actual microphones and I want to promise both of you that whatever we can do to support this effort, we lead the way on cheerleading the work of others and collaborations. And you've come up with something very important, very fresh, and anything at all that we can do in our little neck of the woods. You're just, you have my promise. We want to support you.
Alison, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I appreciate it.
[00:34:08] Alison Lingane: Thank you, Bret. Really appreciate being on and chatting with you today.
[00:34:12] Bret Keisling: Diane, it's been a pleasure. You are, you're in a group that is, has been a guest for the second time, but both of them within five weeks. So, you kicked off season five and you're now back with this. I said earlier, thank you for being in the employee ownership space, but thank you for spending time on my podcast. I really appreciate it.
[00:34:28] Diane Ives: It's an honor. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Okay, five weeks, right?
[00:34:33] Bret Keisling: I look forward to it! Folks, we'll have links to everything we've talked about in our show notes. Check out the website for EO Equals, employee ownership equals all spelled out in words, dot org. Everything is there that we've talked about.
With that, thank you so much for listening. This is Bret Keisling. Be well.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


John Bryson, Obama's new pick for commerce secretary, is a dyed-green-in-the-wool environmentalist (he co-founded NRDC), who's taken a swing through the corporate world.
The Keystone pipeline is spilling Canadian oil all over states like North Dakota and Kansas. Okay, this time, you CAN blame Canada.
More bad weather news: As the Missouri River floods in South Dakota, evacuating residents are being told they be out of their homes for two months, or longer.
New York's attorney general is suing the federal government for failing to regulate proposed hydrofracking in the Delaware River Basin. And Texas did something right for a change: Its legislature passed a bill requiring the disclosure of fracking chemicals.
No Impact Man was right: being green means being a geek and carrying around a cup and fork at all times (or, our preference, just eating everything with your hands). According to a new study, biodegradable cups and utensils are releasing methane as they break down in landfills. Of course this news comes out AFTER all the Memorial Day picnics.


The Bird Paradise Tour package is a collection of thrilling experiences at various popular wildlife destinations in India. From Corbett National Park in Garhwal Himalayas to Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur to Keoladeo Ghana National Park in Bharatpur, the 12 days wildlife tour package will let you glimpse the exotic wildlife species housed in the premises of these wildlife sanctuaries.
Beginning from Delhi, the meticulously crafted Bird Paradise tour package will take you to the hilly terrains of Corbett National Park, former Mughal kingdom Agra, avian paradise Bharatpur; tiger abode Ranthambore National Park and Pink City 'Jaipur', before culminating the tour back in Delhi. The fact that the wildlife tour package covers the golden triangle circuit too will let you feast upon the rich cultural heritage of India.
After arriving at the Delhi Airport, you will be greeted by our representatives and transported to the Hotel. Take rest , enjoy dinner and stay overnight at the hotel itself on the first day of the Bird paradise Tour-2.
After having a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, the full day will be spent touring the different historical places in Old and new Delhi. These places include the 17th century Red Fort, the Jama Masjid and take an exciting rickshaw ride from Jama Masjid to Chandni Chowk. The second part of the day is spent visiting the famous tourist spots of New Delhi like Jantar Mantar, India gate, Raj Ghat, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Qutub Minar and the Lotus temple. Dinner and over night stay will be at the Hotel.
Drive to the famous Corbett National park in the morning after breakfast. Located on the Himalayas, this is one of the most beautiful national parka s well as tiger reserve in India, noted for its rich flora and fauna. there is an amazing variety of bird population there with more than 600 different species of birds, At the end of the tour, come back and relax at the Forest Lodge in Corbett national park where you will have dinner and an overnight stay.
This is day for the exciting jungle safari at the Corbett National park. The mornings and evenings are spent on exciting jeep and elephant safaris, exploring the beauty of the park and enjoying watching tigers and the birds in their own habitats. Dinner and overnight stay will be at the Lodge in Corbett.
You can never cease to explore the Corbett national park. The second day at the park is spent on safaris, exploring the rich flora and fauna of the place.There are amazing different species of colorful birds gracing the whole park.
After finishing off breakfast at the Corbett Lodge, we drive to Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal and check into the hotel. After freshening up, we go for a visit to the Taj Mahal.Dinner and Overnight stay woukld be at the hotel.
After enjoying another short visit to the beautiful Taj Mahal at sunrise, we drive to the world famous bird sanctuary at Bharatpur, which takes about an hour. After arrival and check in at the forest lodge there, there is an exciting afternoon bird safari waiting for you. Dinner and over night stay will be at the Lodge.
We enjoy an early morning bird watching walk at the park and a boat ride through the marshes, exploring the rich and wide variety of birds. There is also an exciting rickshaw or bicycle ride to the spot in the sanctuary, noted for its rich variety of colorful birds. Dinner and stay overnight would be at the hotel.
After an early morning walk to the Bharatpur Bird sanctuary, we arrive at Sawai Modhopur, which is famous for the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, famous for its rich tiger population. Check into the Forest Lodge where there will be dinner and overnight stay.
The day starts off with an exciting full day jungle safari in the Ranthambore National Park. Enjoy breathtaking morning and evening jeep safaris in the park to discover its rich and varied wildlife, including its incredible avifauna. Dinner and overnight stay will be at the Forest Lodge/Resort in Ranthambore.
After an early morning breakfast, we drive to Jaipur- the capital of Rajasthan ,the pink city of India. You can enjoy a sightseeing tour of the city visiting Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar and City Palace and drown in it's rich history . Later we go on to Delhi by surface. After arriving in Delhi, our representatives will again transfer you to the airport to board a flight for your onward destination , with pleasant memories of a Bird Paradise Tour.


"My first taste of a computer sim was a game called TIME-GATE. It was early eighties and the computer, a ZX81 was my brothers. Basically, you were piloting some kind of non-descript spaceship around the galaxy, destroying all the invaders.
There were no real complex controls ( not compared to the sims available now ), but you could have a good dogfight in it. Most of the enemy ships were just copies of those in the StarWars films. Once you cleared one system you could then jump-space into the next system and so the game went on. However, with my young imagination, I pretended that I was in a Hurricane and the space ships I was shooting were various German fighters and bombers. I guess I was about 12 at the time. Sadly, for me, my brother was married and living in his own house, so flying time was very precious as I had no computer of my own.
A.C.E. (Air Combat Emulator) and Strike Force Harrier by Microsoft."


About Us :: McMillan and Quinn Inc.
McMillan and Quinn Inc. employees have over 25 years of combined experience representing land surveying and land development firms. We hold the interest of the public in the highest regard with respect to their real estate interest and holdings in the State of Texas. We have a personal connection with the historical aspects of the population of the State of Texas dating back to the dawn of the Republic of Texas and thrive on the responsibility to show the great work of Texas land surveyors that have come before us. We hope to boost your pride as a Texas land owner knowing that McMillan and Quinn Inc. completely researches properties to insure continutity of ownership. As Registered Professional Land Surveyors in the State of Texas we are oath bound to protect the public and the public interest to the land of the State of Texas. We have extensive knowledge and the ability of working with title companies and estate law firms to achieve the needs of the indiviual or family.


Twinkle twinkle little star... this bedding is the sweetest by far!
Featuring hundreds of tiny hand-drawn golden stars, this bedding design by British brand Hibou Home is available in 3 beautiful colours - soft grey, pale rose or indigo. And it's so hard to choose between them! The set includes a duvet cover and a pillow case and comes in 2 sizes - Cot Bed or Single (see 'Sizes' below for more info, and select the option you require from the dropdown menu).
UK Junior / Cot Bed: duvet cover 120 x 150cm and pillowcase 60 x 40cm.


Lots of cousins in town!
I am fortunate and blessed to have three sisters that have children who are close in ages to my kids. My sisters and I are very close and our children who are the best of friends as well as cousins enjoy each other so very much. The little tots are happy getting to know each other as well. We have spent quite a lot of our time over at my parents house, and I am certain my folks are pretty nervous about have five children ages three and under wreaking havoc on their home.
Stains, rumpled furniture and Grandma's pretty things are a commmon happening when this many tots are running around. Us mamas are always on our toes chasing the babes around, but then we cannot chat and giggle as much as we'd like to do.
My parents, brother, two sisters, and eight children went to the zoo today. I had to stay home becaue two of my kids still had school, which gets out tomorrow. Personally, I was glad not having to go to the zoo, because I've gone on about a dozen field trips there with my children over the past few years and I literally hate going to the zoo. It is so very BORING. Plus, I am certain Braxton would have thrown horrific tantrums because he would have refused to sit in a stroller. I am not up for his tantrums, as he threw one today in my daughter's school when I went to pick her up. I was even thinking I'd take Braxton to the school playground for a bit after school let out, but he started running down a hallway and when I went to grab him, he promptly threw himself onto the ground in front of several school staff members and I had to grab him from the floor as he was screaming bloody murder and then he started slapping and hitting me and pulling my hair like a possessed demon and saying, 'f-you!' to me.
I was really embarrassed and was reminded quickly of why I usually do not take Braxton very many places unless I wish to be humiliated. People ask me why I do not spank the kid, but in public? People would probably report me for 'beating' my kid.
Excuse me now, I must go an dcheck on my boy, as he is probably beating up one of his baby cousins or eating dog poop.


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Poetry Broadsides to Support #BlackLivesMatter
by Peter LaBerge
The Adroit Journal stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and protests against police brutality across the nation. We remain outraged at the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery: the latest victims in the United States's culture of white supremacy. Silence is not an option, but speaking up and merely saying "black lives matter" is not nearly enough either. In an effort to provide continued financial support to organizations seeking to combat oppression of Black people in the United States, 100% of proceeds from all purchased Adroit broadsides will now be donated to your choice of one of the following organizations:
Black Lives Matter Global Network
Equal Justice Initiative
Black Visions Collective
To donate, click here, add broadsides to your cart, and add the following item from the list to your cart with the charity of your choice selected:
We also want to encourage taking action in other forms, whether it's engaging in protest, putting together (and reading) an anti-racist reading list, joining our friends on The Offing's list of literary magazines standing in solidarity with #BLM, signing petitions targeted at advancing racial justice, or supporting local Black-owned businesses.
All of us, we hope, will use this moment to accelerate the long journey to justice. We thank you for your readership, continued support, and your efforts in confronting anti-Blackness in the United States.
Peter LaBerge
Peter LaBerge founded The Adroit Journal in 2010, as a high school sophomore. His work appears in Crazyhorse, Harvard Review, Indiana Review, Iowa Review, Kenyon Review Online, Pleiades, and Tin House, among others. He is the recipient of a 2020 Pushcart Prize.
Peter LaBerge June 7, 2020


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Opinion & AnalysisGender and Sexuality
Feminist Struggles in Venezuela: An Interview With Comadres Púrpuras (Part II)
Feminist collective Comadres Purpuras takes stock of the evolution of women's rights under Chavismo and looks at the feminist struggles ahead.
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Comadres Púrpuras organized a public debate on abortion on September 25. (La Clase)
By La Clase
Nov 1st 2018 at 3.57pm
Women's rightsFeminism
This is the second installment of a two-part interview with the feminist collective Las Comadres Púrpuras (Purple Comrades or Purple Sorority), conducted by leftist news outlet La Clase (Class). The first part was dedicated to concepts such as patriarchy, machismo, feminism and sorority, as well as taking a look at the causes of patriarchy in Venezuela. In this second part, the focus is on the struggles of Venezuelan women during the Chavista period since 1999, the "institutionalization" of feminism, and the challenges ahead.
What is your assessment of the situation of women in the Chavista period of Venezuela?
Well, going back to the beginning of Chavismo [with the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998], the constituent process of 1999 [which re-wrote the constitution] in particular was a very important moment in the history of Venezuela because it managed to involve all of the country's sectors and a plurality of visions in the draft of a new constitution. This new constitution included the protagonist participation of the people as one of the fundamental rights. At this point, different female collectives, independently of their political tendency, took part in the process. This was very important because it was a point of unity among feminist groups.
I would not go as far as saying that there exists a feminist movement in Venezuela. These different experiences of Venezuelan women who contributed to the drafting of the magna carta to express women's rights was a tremendous opportunity to bring us together because everyone's goal was the same: the struggle for women's rights.
During the period of Chavismo, an interesting situation has arisen. Since women as a social force were not organized in a movement, Hugo Chavez ended up calling for women's marches.
Now, years later, we ask ourselves: how is it that a leader, a man, is the one calling for women's marches, how is it that women are not doing this themselves. At the time, the youngest among us realized it, but this is an important discussion point regarding the experience of women's groups.
During the Chavista period, with the emergence of new ministries and the extension of labor rights to young people, we at the Comadres Púrpuras believe that a significant number of young women ended up being co-opted [into the State apparatus]. This ended up creating an institutional feminism, feminism was institutionalized. Then, instead of an organized struggle for women's rights, what happened was an organization of young women in different posts that worked only for the mobilizations called by Chavez. We are of the opinion that these young women brought on-board by the government simply march and applaud, but in reality there is no coming together of women to fight for their rights.
Nevertheless, with the creation of the Ministry for Women's Affairs, which had María León as its first minister, and then of the Institute for Women, a number of important policies were developed, such as care for women with breast cancer. This was a health issue that received little attention in Venezuela. Other issues included care for women with disabilities and the creation of courts for violence against women, which was a historic feat since not all countries have special courts dedicated to this issue. Finally there is the Organic Law on the Rights of Women to a Life Free From Violence, a document with a lot of advances since it now contains definitions of 21 types of violence against women, something which, again, is not found in most countries.
There were advances in matters of women's protection, but as the current political process went on there was decline in these policies. Furthermore, there was initial enthusiasm in the juridical and political spheres [concerning these advances] but then no follow up, and the enthusiasm was lost along the way. Additionally, I want to point out that there was a destruction of the Women's' Bank, which was a policy headed by professor Nora Castañeda, an important Venezuelan economist. This bank developed policies of socio-productive support for women, and is now in tatters, nobody even talks about it.
From this institutionalized and bureaucratic feminism there have been no policies or attempts to deconstruct the patriarchy that exists in day-to-day relations between men and women, as well as between the state and women.
I think our Chavismo had important moments and challenges, but also many shortcomings, among them the organization of marches that followed media interest and did not develop a deep reflection about the situation of women. In many marches on March 8, International Working Women's Day, we saw no time dedicated for reflection on the labor rights of Venezuelan women, just slogans and music. There were never spaces to analyze if it was worth celebrating International Working Women's Day when there were still so many labor rights to fight for, and we are in the same situation now.
I believe that, from institutionalized feminism, what took place was an entrenchment of patriarchy, and of the relations of power of men over women, and of women in positions of power of over other women. Patriarchy is more entrenched than ever, and the institutionalized women's groups have only followed the directions from the government and the ruling party. In Venezuela there is a significant fusion between the government and the [ruling] party, and many of the women in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) have not reflected about that.
What is the current reality and what are the demands of the feminist movement in Venezuela?
I cannot point to a specific moment in time, but we know that there was a breakdown of Chavismo as a movement, and people that previously identified with it no longer do so.
Therefore, there are three realities when it comes to women's collectives: firstly those that remains tied to government interests and follows these interests all the time, with no right to question them. These groups are capable of going on delaying the feminist agenda on sexual and reproductive rights, including our decision over our own bodies, the voluntary termination of unwanted or unplanned pregnancies, that is to say, abortion. These women do not even recognize the work of comrades such as Nora Castañeda in the Women's' Bank, nor are they organizing younger women for the struggles ahead.
Secondly, there are other women's groups who sympathize with the right wing, either the MUD or the Broad Front [re-named opposition coalition].
And finally, there is another kind of women's groups, with pretty autonomous experiences and which are organizing in this space of constant denunciation and reflection on the situation of Venezuelan women. The Comadres Púrpuras are one of these autonomous, alternative groupings.
For the concerns of Venezuelan feminists, we have been fighting to open up the debate on the de-criminalization of abortion for many years. We know this cannot happen overnight, but at the same time the government is hardly opening up the possibility of debate at an institutional level. Now, in the bases, we certainly have the responsibility to open the discussion in society, and we are doing it little by little. It is not easy with the current economic and transportation problems which stop us from articulating among different regions, but technology has allowed for communication through social media.
We know that the grassroots have responsibilities, but state policies should also be enforced. We are in a twenty year-old political process with plenty of announcements but very little fruition of policies. That is why we insist that, with the de-criminalization of abortion, women will become citizens on a par with men, because as long as others decide over our bodies and maternity, we are supervised citizens.
Another demand is the access to different contraceptive methods, in which men should also take part so that they take responsibility for their sexuality and the responsibility does not fall squarely on women's bodies. There should also be a variety of methods made available, because not all women work with the same methods, we are all equal in the struggle but not biologically.
Furthermore, we demand an awareness campaign on women's rights in all state institutions, especially courts and the Prosecutor's office, which currently have their backs turned towards women which suffer from violence. Not even complaints are being received, they are not doing their job and this is what we demand. The government should develop, promptly, an awareness plan for these institutions that tend to women that are victims of violence, because in truth what they are doing is doubly victimizing and blaming the women who suffer from violence.
Two years ago the sexual and reproductive rights plan was created, so let this plan be put into practice, ensuring better access to healthcare for women. Currently, we have absolute precariousness in the healthcare system, worse still in the places dedicated to women's healthcare, like gynecology or obstetrics. We could also have a more extremist demand and ask that all those that do not fulfil their duty resign from their posts.
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"Abortion is not a crime. It is a right," reads a banner held by Comadres Púrpuras in a demonstration. (La Clase)
Can the state guarantee a life free from violence against women or is it an actor that inflicts violence on women?
This is a contradiction and it speaks of the precariousness that Venezuelan society, and women in particular, find themselves in.
The state should certainly guarantee women's rights and generate policies to protect women. But since these policies are not effectively implemented and there is no follow up or updating of the policies to adapt them to current needs, then the state is not doing its job and securing our right to life, to maternity (for those who wish it), and for those who are mothers, their children are not assured the right to education, healthcare, and food. This is a violation of human rights that is taking place in Venezuela.
As such, the state emerges as a violator of women's rights, and the women inside the government are not fighting or demanding that protectory policies be applied. This makes them accomplices of the patriarchal violence inflicted by the state upon women. Silvia Federici and Rita Segato claim that the state is the main controller of men's and women's bodies. Michel Foucault also says describes it as the disciplining of bodies by repressive apparatuses. We believe that women's bodies are really the place where violence is felt, not just the mind, even though psychological violence is very destructive.
Moreover, there are other kinds of violence, such as obstetric, which takes place in a public or private healthcare facility with the state as the executor or an accomplice due to a lack of supervision. Obstetric violence is realized by healthcare personnel against women who are pregnant, in post-birth, during an abortion or gynecological consultation. This is on the rise in Venezuela. Also, if the state does not guarantee the right to food, which is as basic as it gets, that is also a violation of the human rights of women.
It is clear that the state is guaranteeing less and less of the rights of Venezuelans. There is a weakening, a demobilization of popular power. In the experiences with more autonomy, such as the El Maizal Commune [in Lara state], you can see what they have gone through. They chose a leader to run for mayor, and weeks later, out of the blue, part of their crop was burned. There is an important demobilization of popular power, and consequently of women as well.
Women know that they were incorporated under the government of Hugo Chavez. It is not that they were totally absent before, as women took part in urban guerrillas, for example, but certainly Chavismo's heyday allowed women to get involved in everything that had to do with communal councils. I think this is no longer so much the case, and this is because the current government is demobilizing us through bonuses and the [Local Supply and Production Committee] CLAP box. This is what is determining our life, alongside factors like transport problems which also stops us from articulating better.
There is also a process of militarization of the state, not just in military institutions but also civil ones. On the streets we see more security forces than ever, not just regular ones but also Sebin [intelligence services] and Faes [special forces] with hoods. We had never seen this as a society. The worst we had seen were the "pantaneros" of the Metropolitan Police [special group that used raids to kill social leaders], who nevertheless did not wear hoods. What we have now are intimidating figures which look to demobilize us through fear and terror, with those horrible masks.
This comes alongside the government's policy of generating dependency through handouts. While it is true that the Madres del Barrio program [Neighborhood Mothers] was initially a policy to try and generate development for the worst off women, the poorest ones, and help them in their emancipation, we know how it turned out, generating greater dependence on state handouts. I do not want to disregard some of the experiences of Madres del Barrio, which have generated small socio-productive companies, but these projects have had no long term support. This means the policy was not effective, and the handout-policy was consolidated. These handouts are ever more present to generate dependence and demobilize, ultimately forcing us to lose autonomy. From handout to handout, the overall policy is of appeasement through projects such as the [massive and contentious mining project] the Orinoco Mining Arc.
Which currents of thought, or feminist authors, guide your actions as a collective?
We have several authors and feminist currents as references. It is true that there are different feminisms, whose main logic is to eradicate, overthrow and deconstruct patriarchy and machismo. This as an ultimate goal.
But there are different fronts in this struggle. There is the indigenous feminism, black feminism, trans feminism, which connects to the struggles of sexually diverse people, academic feminism and popular feminism. We try to give a voice to all these feminisms, but our pulpit is the city, and furthermore we are university educated.
Therefore there are many comrades that we study: Amelia Varcárcel is important to understand patriarchy, as are Marcela Lagarde, Silvia Federici and Rita Segato, who is kind of our guide at the moment. Martha Lamas, Francesca Gargallo, Andrea D'Atri from Pan y Rosas (Bread and Roses) in Argentina, are other references. But also in Venezuela there are feminists that have made important contributions, such as Gioconda Espina, Nora Castañeda, Alba Carosio, Argelia Laya, and all the comrades from the Center for Women's Studies in the Central University of Venezuela (UCV).
Translated by Ricardo Vaz for Venezuelanalysis.com
Source: La Clase
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Patriarchy and Machismo in Venezuela: An Interview with Comadres Purpuras (Part I)
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