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SOCIAL CAUSE CALENDAR TEXANS WITH DISABILITIES CONVENTION The Coalition of Texans with Disabilities will hold its Eleventh Annual Convention October 21-23 in El Paso at the Paso del Norte Hotel. Among the issues the convention will address are: Registering Disabled Voters and Getting the Vote Out and Increasing the Minority Involvement in Disability Rights Advocacy. Featured speakers at the gathering are David Capozzi, Jim Dixon, and Mary Jane Owen. In addition, there will be a free, half-day, preconference workshop, Technology Awareness and Access: What Professionals and Communities Can Do, on October 21. Conference registration cost is $30, annual membership dues, $12. Reduced fares are available on American Airlines for those attending the conference, as well as special rates at the Paso del Norte for a limited time. For more information, contact the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, P.O. Box 4709, Austin, BEDS FOR THE HOMELESS IN AUSTIN “64 Beds,” a community based artproject/auction and entertainment event will be held on Saturday, November 19 from 7 to 10 p.m at Mexic-Arte in Austin. The event will feature an auction of 64 beds designed by 64 Texas artists. State, local, and community leaders will participate as “sleepers” in the 64 beds. Proceeds from the event, which is sponsored by Dance Umbrella with support of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, will go to two Austin organizations who serve the city’s OBSERVANCES October 14, 1964 Martin Luther King, Jr.,. receives the Nobel Peace Prize. October 16, 1973 Henry Kissinger wins Nobel Peace Prize. October 18, 1648 First labor organization in the U.S. authorized in Massachusetts Bay Colony. October 19, 1987 Stock market crashes 500 points in one day. October 20, 1973 “Saturday Night Massacre,” President Nixon fires Archibald Cox and William Ruckelshaus. October 22, 1951 5,000 U.S. soldiers intentionally exposed to radiation by nuclear weapons test in Nevada. October 22, 1962 President Kennedy orders blockade of Cuba. October 23, 1983 241 U.S. servicemen killed by suicide bomber in Beirut. October 25, 1983 5,000 U.S. Marines and Army Rangers invade Grenada. October 26, 1749 Black slavery legalized in Georgia. October 27, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis begins. homeless population. For information, OLLIE NORTH BENEFIT Col. Oliver North, USMC-Ret., finally does something for the legitimate public interest as proceeds from a film preview documenting his part in the Iran-Contra affair go to Austin artist-activist group, La Pena. Coverup: Behind the IranContra Affair will open at the Dobie Mall Theater on October 12, with profits from the October 12 screening going to 6007. WOMEN & THEIR WORK SOLICIT TOYS AND ART FOR SALE Women & Their Work, a statewide cultural arts organization, is preparing for their Christmas Toys. and ‘Sinall 4 Works sale at their Austin gallery, 1501 West 5th in Austin. Area artists are t encouraged to submit handmade toys, small works, and jewelry to be sold on a consignment basis with the artist earning 80 percent of the sale price. Deadline for participation in the sale is November 1. The sale will be held from November 28 to December 23. For WOMAN & THEIR WORK EXHIBITS Nancy Zimmerman Kotch, a Dallas fiber artist, will display handwoven kimonos of cotton, linen, silk, wool, and rayon through October 24 at Women & Their Work Gallery in Austin. October 27 through November 28 Houston artist Dianne Reeves will present a one-person exhibit of her artist’s books and sculpture at the gallery. For more information, call KEEP UP ON SANCTUARY NEWS For $5 you can keep up on sanctuary movement news nationally subscribe to National Sanctuary Newsletter by sending $5 to Terri English, 8419 Highway 973, Austin, 78719. Continued from page 21 a woman’s right to abortion is the Supreme Court’s decision on a “woman’s right to privacy.” In a broader sense the question presented to the court was: “Who owns the democracy?” The answer supplied by the court was: women themselves. A decision [Christopher] Hitchens regrets \(TO, his stand, therefore, would be, in principle, the mandatory carrying to term of a pregnancy. While Hitchens manages to find “something appalling” in this, it rather strikes this writer as being the high point of impertinence to arrogate to oneself the right not only to tell women how to live but to be willing to use the power of the state to see one’s partisan views imposed on them. And is not Hitchens opening thereby Pandora’s Box of socio-ideological mischief? All that in the defense of the next generation? The juxtaposition of abortion rights and “reverence” for life is a specious one and so is the concept of “potentiality” in this context. Essentially two attributes have to be present to allow us to speak of human life: independent existence and consciousness. The embryo or the fetus must be considered as having no existence separate from the mother’s. Until birth, or at least until the sixth month of pregnancy, when the fetus becomes viable, the uterine contents must be regarded as part of the mother’s body. And why not carrying “potentiality” to its ab absurdo extreme: After all, the non-fertilized egg, too, has “potentiality.” While better sex education and the ready availability of contraceptives are highly desirable, a more extensive adoption system \(run by the states or the Federal to solve the problem of unwanted pregnancies. While Hitchens’ scheme of adoption may have a chance in a country of ethnic homogeneity, it seems unlikely to work in the United States: there are lots of children right now looking for adoptive parents. Alas, they are the “wrong color.” Henry Darcy Austin Write “Dialogue” The Texas Observer 307 W. 7th St. Austin, TX 78701 22 OCTOBER 14, 1988