Northwest Alliance for Responsible Media Teams upwith The Women’ Leadership Conference of the Inland Northwest for a Great Conference with Dr. Jean Kilbourne!

The NW-ARM joined with the Women’s Leadership Conference for their 9th Annual Meeting on Wednesday April 18 at Spokane Community College. The Conference was preceded by a reception on Tuesday evening sponsored by the NW-ARM and the School of Professional Studies at Gonzaga University.Nearly three hundred participants attended the conference. The theme was “Surviving and Thriving” and featured Dr. Jean Kilbourne as the keynote speaker where she talked about “Deadly Persuasion: Advertising and Addiction.” Dr Kilbourne who is known for her award winning documentaries such as “Killing Us Softly” and her book Can’t Buy Me Love, gave a great talk on the impact of media images in the lives of women. Known for her work in media literacy, she set the tone for the entire day and preceded the various breakout sessions. Two particular breakout sessions on media literacy were conducted by NW-ARM Board members, Dean Wells of the Prevention Center and John Caputo of the Master’s Program in Communication and Leadership at Gonzaga. The sessions were well attended and the audiences were very enthusiastic.

One of the highlights of the day was the Awards luncheon. Each year the WLC gives a number of awards to Women who have exemplified the goals of the organization here in the Inland Northwest. This year the NW-ARM was encouraged to do the same. Nominations were solicited, a committee reviewed the nominations and the Awards were given during the ceremony. An honorable mention was given to Lupito Flores the founder of KYRS-FM’s Thin Air Community Radio. The Award winners were Barbara Bock and Jo Hendricks. Barbara Brock is a professor at Eastern Washington University and has done pioneering work on alternatives to television watching. Jo Hendricks is a writer for The Fig Tree who began her writing in her 70’s and writes from her heart about American culture and the media, justice and peacemaking. When the various awards were given out, there was hardly a dry eye in the auditorium as Jo Hendricks, the final award winner of the day was given a standing ovation.

Nearly six months of planning and meeting paid-off with a great conference for all of the participants. Thanks to Jill Royston, Angela Ruff, Melissa Lowden, Don Kinsey and Denise Canfield of Gonzaga University and to all the members of the WLC planning committee for such a great gift to the community and great shared opportunity with the NW-ARM.