building alliances and working to educate others. This past summer more than 140 women from throughout the Pacific THE CHALLENGE I FACED WAS TO UNTHINK THE CULTURAL ARMOR AND TO BEGIN TAKING ACTION BY BUILDING ALLIANCES AND WORKING TO EDUCATE OTHERS. Northwest attended the Women and Technology conference in Portland that I organized. Workshops ranged from discussions on how technology affects the workplace and how to start a technologybased business to learning about career planning and office automation issues. The audience was diverse and at times the dialogue was tense or downright confrontational, especially where labor and management issues were concerned. Many discussions resulted in more questions than answers. But the event was an exciting one where women from many diverse backgrounds explored how technology affected their lives. There was one moment during this fast-paced day of making speeches and attending to details when I looked over my shoulder and saw an executive dressed in a tailored suit, high heels and a bow tie, a Hispanic secretary who had just been denied a promotion, a software engineer, and a black union organizer engaged in a heated discussion. They definitely had something to say to each other; I was thrilled. With a broad community-based understanding of the issues, I sensed that collective action could make a difference. As consumers we can boycott technologies that we feel are unconstructive and demand from manufacturers what we want, rather than have corporate entities dictate how a technology is used. My role as a feminist technologist continues to be one of making connections with people and ideas, and learning about the inter-relationships between our social, political, and economic choices and the applications of technology. This path continues to be a meandering one, on which I attempt to integrate the complexities and ambiguities inherent in a rapidly changing world. My home is now an “electronic cottage” where I write about software, electronic communication, and the connections between humanism and technology. Using my computer and modem, I am now exchanging ideas with people nationwide who are organizing similar actions and sharing humanistic values about technology. The bottomline has been my discovery that technology is political. Mimi Maduro is a technical writer living in Portland. She has long been involved with RAIN magazine. Artist-gardener Susan Gustavson lives in Portland. FILM SCHEDULE Sunday Films 8:30 PM 11/17 Mickey One 11/24 Night of the Living'Dead 12/1 And Then There Were None 12/8 Dinner at the Ritz . 12/15 Golden Boy 12/22 Waltz of the Toreadors 12/29 The Night My Number Came Up 1/5 Only Angels Have Wings 1/12 Stand In 1/19 Dr. Faustus 1/26 Man’s Castle 2/2 Penny Serenade 2/9 Farewell to Arms 2/16. Rancho Notorious ' Hamburgers featured on Sundays Light Meals Evenings 2601 Northwest Vaughn Street Portland, Oregon 97210 223-3302 z Express kinds of pencils, pens, brushes, and markers are included in our large selection of materials for the fine and graphic arts, all available to help you express yourself. ART MEDIA 820 S.W. 10th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97205. (503) 223-3724 TOWN/NORTH BEACH • BASQUE CUISINE • ROOMS FROM $30 • 1208 STOCKTON ST. • SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94133 • (415)989-3960 • PHANTASY is H AI IP OBRERO HOTEL & RESTAURANT IN THE BASQUE TRADITION Petro-Voeue Emporium • Select Period Garments Classic Eormalwear Pental • Unique Jewelry-Accessories Antique Applied Arts 213S.W. 6th 224-3683 (Cortland Mail) Monday-Saturday 11:66-6:66 Clinton St. Quarterly 11
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