Opening Event

Gail Collins Takes NCJW on "Amazing Journey"

The NCJW Opening Event on October 27, 2011 was a very successful kick-off to the upcoming year of exciting events. With nearly 500 people in attendance, the event featured New York Times op-ed columnist and first female head of the Times editorial board Gail Collins, who recounted stories from her latest book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present. She provided an overview of the historical events in the 1960s and ‘70s that led to what she says was a nearly overnight change in the roles women play at work, at home, and in relationships. She credits the civil rights movement and the availability of the birth control pill for contributing to the complete turnaround in women's place in society, happening in the span of about 20 years—when there had been no changes in women's roles throughout all of previous history. Her comments were especially meaningful as NCJW looks toward 2012, our centennial year. After the presentation, Ms. Collins took questions and autographed books.

Every fall we kick off the new year of events with our Opening Event. All paid-up members are invited, free-of-charge, to attend this gathering, where a prominent keynote speaker is invited to talk about issues that touch our community. We endeavor to host a wide variety of speakers that represent various viewpoints.
Opening Event is made possible through a generous donation from Ellen and Donald Legow.

Photos from the 2011 Opening Event

Recent speakers at our Opening Event:

	2011: Gail Collins, New York Times columnist, first female editor of the Times editorial page, and author of several books, including, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women From 1960 To The Present.
	2010: Jean Chatzky, Financial Editor of "Today" on NBC
	2009: Lee Woodruff, author of the book Life Changes in An Instant and wife of newscaster Bob Woodruff
	2008: Dee Dee Meyers, former Press Secretary to President Bill Clinton
	2007: Immaculee Ilibagiza, survivor of the Rwandan genocide and author of the book Left to Tell