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Thank you Everyone Everywhere for your tireless work nationwide on behalf of the #EqualRightsAmendment and #women ​ for this week’s victory in Illinois in Ratifying the ERA.

The Call - To Pass the Equal Rights Amendment
A Non-Partisan Weekly National Program

Join The Call: Sunday, June 3, 2018 4:00 pm ET

Guest Speaker: Erica Jong, Author of Fear of Flying

Your Host: Helene de Boissiere – Swanson

(563) 999-2090   access code: 898879#   Click for Call Wall

4:00:  Welcome and weekly meditation

“Women are the only exploited group in history to have been idealized into powerlessness”  Erica Jong

4:05:  Introductions – those who wish will introduce themselves and give one word describing their state of mind (examples: invigorated, focused, hopeful)

4:10: Featured Speaker:  Erica Jong

Fear of Flying, Erica Jong’s first and most famous novel published in 1973, blew conventional thinking about women, marriage and sexuality out of the water, selling over 37 million copies and being translated into over 45 languages including Chinese and Arabic. Her novel articulated what women thought but which, through decades of silent complicity with the status quo, was never voiced. In Isadora Wing, her fictional doppelganger, Erica created every woman – not as she existed in public life in the 70s, but inside a woman’s own mind. Sex and sexuality, while being at the core of most of Jong’s writing, is almost incidental to what makes her one of the world’s most iconic writers. It’s not the sex itself but the fact that she quietly flouted the unspoken norms of the day to talk about it unblinkingly – neither voyeur, nor prude – that made her a pillar of the sexual revolution and a hero to millions, as well as gaining her the admiration of writers like John Updike, Henry Miller, Anthony Burgess and Jennifer Weiner.

In the four decades since FEAR OF FLYING, she’s published over 25 books in 45 languages, including 9 works of fiction as well as celebrated non-fiction volumes such as WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?, SEDUCING THE DEMON: WRITING FOR MY LIFE, an anthology on – well, sex – called SUGAR IN MY BOWL: REAL WOMEN WRITE ABOUT REAL SEX that she edited, and in 2012, a Kindle Single, A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT, which bravely takes on the issues facing American women today. Comfortable and eloquent in various genres, she has switched between fiction, non-fiction and poetry almost effortlessly, becoming one of the most evocative poets of her generation with 7 published volumes, and winning Poetry magazine’s Bess Hokin Prize.

Erica has won many awards for poetry and fiction all over the world. These awards include: The Fernanda Pivano award in Italy, The Sigmund Freud Award in Italy, the Deauville Award in France and The United Nations Award for excellence in literature.

The true star of Erica’s writing is courage. She’s spoken openly of her demons with writing and her chronic self-doubt. She’s dared to examine under a public microscope her most intimate relationships – with her fiery mother who raged with anger at having to sacrifice a painting career to look after family; with her four husbands who included a writer, a psychiatrist and her current husband of 29 years, a divorce lawyer; and with her beloved daughter, writer and satirist Molly Jong-Fast who is also shared with her three wonderful grandchildren.

4:20   Q&A with Erica Jong, Author of “Fear of Flying” (http://www.ericajong.com)

4:30   Reports and Announcements

4:55   Closing Thoughts

5:00:  The Call Concludes and …

Salon Time Begins:  Together we will build friendships and networks, support wanderings, share wisdom, identify complexities, listen to frustrations, and celebrate successes.  The line will remain open for those wishing to continue the conversation.