Notre Dame High School marks its centennial
It might have seemed odd for Notre Dame High School to dedicate its new Center for Women’s Leadership on Tuesday. Students aren’t currently taking in-person classes at the downtown San Jose Catholic girls school because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the three-story building isn’t even finished yet.
But as Principal Mary Beth Riley explained, there was a greater significance to the Aug. 18 date.
“Long ago, we chose this day to dedicate this building this year because this is today the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment that gave women access to the vote,” she said, adding that it was important to also point out that access was not granted to all women — especially African American women and Indigenous women. “It took another 40 years until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and a lot of battled moments about poll taxes and literacy tests and outright violence and intimidation before all these women were included.”
Riley, who spoke to a small, socially distanced group at the school while also being
livestreamed, was followed by Mad di Wong, Notre Dame’s associated student body presi- dent; Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Cindy Chavez; and Notre Dame board Chair Katie Zazueta. The group cut the ribbon of the new classroom building, which will include open-lab areas, a career and life success center and spaces for campus ministry.
“What this building represents is confidence in the future that women will play in the world,” Chavez said. “The young women coming out of here today are going to be addressing climate change, racial inequity, economic inequity, frankly challenges that we can’t even imagine.”
NEED HELP? NO PROBLEM >> Like many other long-running
events, the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival is going online, collaborating with Film Festival Flix to bring movies to patrons’
homes beginning Sunday and running through Sept. 7.
The festival kicks off with a timely film, “Shared Legacies:
The African American-Jewish Civil Rights Alliance,” a documentary that views the 1960s civil rights battles through the eyes of two cultures. After the screening, Rabbi Dana Magat will lead a panel discussion with director Shari Rogers, executive producer Lisa Weitzman and Dr. Clarence Jones, a former adviser and friend of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
For many patrons, however, “attending” a virtual film festival is a really new thing — and a bit more complicated than buying a ticket and showing up at a theater.
So the SVJFF is offering an online tutorial to help anyone who needs help to virtually attend movies. You can watch “how to” videos, as well as take a look at the whole schedule and purchase tickets at svjff.org.
HEALTHY TRANSLATION >> A lot of our talk for the entire year has centered on COVID-19, but other health threats like strokes have not gone away and you can bet they’ll still be around after we’ve — hopefully — beaten back this pandemic. That’s why groups like the Stroke Awareness Foundation aren’t pulling back right now and actually have been innovating.
Recognizing that stroke education is one of the keys to saving someone’s life, the Campbell-based foundation has been busy making lifesaving information available in languages other than English — namely Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese.
Go to strokeinfo.org for a link to more multilingual information.
And don’t forget the ninth annual Fight Stroke Walk is currently scheduled for Oct. 18 at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden.
You can register and check for updates on the website.