Bucks County Community College’s 24th annual ‘Day for All Women’ promises to empower feminine fulfillment.
By: Jessica Loughery
Women, females, ladies, girls; they come in all different shapes and sizes with a vast array of interests, hobbies, strengths and aspirations. That’s why the Day for All Women conference, to be held Nov. 4 at Bucks County Community College, hosts quite an assortment of workshops to cover as much ground as possible, for everyone from the potential interior designer to the fledgling poet. The conference aims to create a supportive environment where women of all backgrounds come together to share knowledge and develop talent.
Denny Daikeler, a local interior designer, returns to the conference for her 10th year to speak about home decorating for women. In 2004, she published What Color is Your Slipcover?: How Discovering Your Design Personality Can Help You Discover the Home of Your Dreams (Rodale Press, $18.95), in which she asserts that women should design homes that fit their own needs and desires.
"(The book) helps a person go through a process where they find out who they are before they design or decorate a home," she says. "After years and years of decorating with people who didn’t know what they love, I found if I could develop exercises to help them discover their own tastes, they could more confidently partner with me as designers."
Perhaps Gayle Crist’s workshop might go hand in hand with Ms. Daikeler’s, as the former will teach techniques designed to help women avoid procrastination and move forward with projects like redecoration and renovation. "I was doing these de-cluttering workshops," Ms. Crist says, "and I realized procrastination was the main reason people were getting cluttered."
A life coach, volunteer and seminar presenter, Ms. Crist will present nine common things people procrastinate about, 13 reasons why they procrastinate, 21 strategies for getting over procrastination and five ways to make dreaded tasks more enjoyable. "At the end, I have everyone write down an action step for when they go home," she says. "Life coaching is really about action and helping people become more proactive."
On the definitively creative side, former Bucks County Poet Laureates Luray Gross and Pamela Perkins-Frederick will team up for a poetry workshop titled "Making Poetry from the Inside Out." Each will read one of their poems, and then open it up for participants to read some of their own work. Ms. Gross says the main part of the activities will be independent, exploratory writing exercises designed to get everyone thinking creatively. Toward the end, everyone will come together to collectively work on one group poem.
On the medical end, Dr. Wendy Warner will present two workshops: "Environmental Issues and Our Health" and "Menopause, Schmenopause: Take Back Your Body!" As a holistic gynecologist, Dr. Warner provides natural solutions like dietary changes to menopause over prescription drugs. Her environmental workshop will similarly focus on ways to avoid illnesses before their onset and subsequent prescription-based treatment. "Most creams or lotions contain parabans which are hormone disrupters that can increase chances of growing a tumor," she says. "They’re what make the cream creamy." During the workshop, Dr. Warner will draw attention to substances like these that are worth avoiding.
The keynote speaker for this year’s conference, Tamala Edwards, anchor of Action News on ABC affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia, sympathizes with the issues women face as they establish careers and balance families. She says it’s important for women to talk about how to make time for themselves as they transition into the middle and latter sections of their lives.
An accomplished writer, reporter and speaker, Ms. Edwards will add a unique perspective to a day designed to promote and develop the interests and accomplishments of women.
"So much of our lives are spent in the meantime," she says. "’I really want to do x, y, z, but in the meantime…’ The time people spend planning for the future ends up being the majority of their lives. If you look at a gravestone in a cemetery you see the date the person was born and the date the person died and everything else is packed into the dash. It’s about making as much as you can out of that dash."
The 24th annual Day for Alsl Women Conference will be held at Bucks County Community
College, 275 Swamp Road, Newtown, Pa., Nov. 4, 8:15 a.m.-5 p.m. Registration costs
$30. For information, call (215) 968-8187. On the Web: www.bucks.edu/dfaw/index.html

