Click on the pic for a great John Stewart report on the Marines and Code Pink in San Francisco. A must see…
Hi, the National Coalition For Men once had an active northern California chapter. It’s being resurrected under the banner NCFM San Francisco and we would love for you to join us.
I am the longest continually serving NCFM board member; having joined in 1996, around the time is when we started the Northern California chapter. We were pretty active from 1997 through about 2001, holding monthly brunches that everyone seemed to enjoy, holding a number of rallies and regular meetings. In 2000 and 2001, several of our most active members moved away, including me, as I moved to Guam, where my now wife was then living. I am now NCFM’s Public Relations Director and have written about 200 published book reviews about books relating to men, masculinity, and gender relations.
That’s all in the past, merely by way of introducing myself. Right now we have two other folks who are working closely with me to build a Bay Area Chapter of NCFM. Jeanne Falla is located in Walnut Creek, I am in Berkeley, and Marty Weiler (root@normalsociety.org) is in Sacramento but able and willing to travel to the Bay Area for events.
Jeanne says this to introduce herself to all of you: My name is Jeanne Falla and I’m a federal employee. My passionate involvement in men’s issues came out of my dating experiences with beaten-up divorced fathers. Only until we create a fairer playing field for men in the courts, the media and the family home, will we truly see the degree of father and male involvement we all desire. And as we women need and want a plentiful supply of men to date, marry and raise children with, it’s really in our own selfish best interests to support any and all efforts designed to help men achieve, succeed and be the best they can be.
Martin (Marty) Weiler lives in Sacramento and runs an information technology business. He has been interested in men’s issues for a number of years, ever since a divorce that was resolved in a way that was unfair to him (as we know so many divorces are).
Marty, Jeanne and I have two events we are planning for January. Neither is an exclusive NCFM event but rather is organized in collaboration with Jeanne Falla’s other organization, the Bay Area Fathers’ Rights Support Group (BAFRSG). BAFRSG is an affiliate of the National Parents Organization (NPO), a non-custodial parent advocacy organization. NPO, formerly known as Fathers & Families, has existed since 1998.
(As a point of historical reference, back in the day, the Northern California NCFM Chapter used to co-organize meetings, rallies, and other events with another organization for non-custodial parents (now defunct), the Coalition of Parental Support (COPS), and we had great results with this joint approach.)
The first event is a meeting and educational rally (for those who want to rally) on Friday, January 10 at a time to be determined later (once the movie showing times are scheduled) at the AMC Bay Street 16 Movie Theater (5614 Bay St, Emeryville, CA 94608) to see the movie Divorce Corp that’s scheduled to open then. Jeanne is taking the lead on putting flyers together for the rally. While this movie aims to be gender neutral, a majority of non-custodial divorced parents (who can be either men or women but are usually –but not always–men) unjustly treated by the winner-take-all family court system are fathers.
The second event is taking place on Sunday, January 26. From 1:15-2:45, any interested NCFM-affiliated folks (anyone receiving this email) can meet at the Bay Leaf Cafe (2123 Pacheco St, Concord, CA ‎(925)363-3983 ; http://www.thebayleaf.net/) for a smoothie, coffee, lunch, and a chat. Then we will go over and join the BAFRSG meeting at 3 PM at the Concord library. If you want to just come to the Bay Leaf Cafe meeting of NCFM members from 1:15 to 2:45 without attending the BAFRSG meeting, that is fine. Also, if you want to just come to the BAFRSG meeting at 3 PM without coming to the Bay Leaf Cafe, that is also fine. Both locations are within walking distance of the Concord BART station. (The library is about a mile from BART and the Bay Leaf Cafe is about 0.6 miles from BART. Pacheco Street and Salvio Street run parallel to and next to each other (one block away in parallel).
• Bay Area Fathers’ Rights Support Group (BAFRSG), an affiliate of the National Parents Organization, will hold its first East Bay area monthly meeting at the Concord library.
• DATE/TIME: Sunday, January 26th from 3:00 – 4:30pm
• ADDRESS: 2900 Salvio Street, Concord, CA  94519
• While this group focuses on father advocacy (most members are fathers), it has some non-custodial mother members. BAFRSG seeks family court reform, a cause supported by non-custodial parents of both genders.
• BAFRSG is an affiliate of the National Parents Organization.
Feel free to call me (510-827-5771) or email me (arc@post.harvard.edu) if you have any questions.
We look forward to seeing you on January 10 in Emeryville and on January 26 in Concord
Also, if everyone can please confirm it’s OK to share your email addresses and phone numbers with this small group, that would help us a lot. Thank you
Steven Svoboda, Jeanne Falla, and Marty Weiler
