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What's New



2010

 

May 30:

If you want to think for yourself, you have to know who you are. Who is the self- separate and different from all other selves? You need to know what you believe and why before you can know whether you’re thinking for yourself or simply parroting what others have told you, whether you’re acting on the basis of your own beliefs and values, or simply going along with the way you’ve been told to behave by your parents, your friends or your culture. We have posted a short discussion and list of values and how to assess what your values are. This is the Values List suggested in Dr. Presley's new book. Click here to see it.

 

May 18: The new book Standing Up to Experts and Authorities by Dr. Presley is now available. Click here to learn about it or order it.

 

April 20: There is now a Facebook page and a website for Dr. Presley's book, Standing Up to Experts and Authorities. Click here for the website; click here for the Facebook page. The book is scheduled for release May 1.

The Links page has been updated


 

2009

September 7:
Dr. Presley now has a Facebook page. Click here.


Click here for the Table Of Contents for Sharon's forthcoming book on standing up to experts and authorities.



September 5:
Sharon's Presley's new book, Standing Up to Experts and Authorities: How to Avoid Being Intimidated, Manipulated and Abused, will be published February 14, 2010. A web site for the book is forthcoming. In the meantime, there is a blog for the book at  Sharon's MySpace page: www.myspace.com/sharonlpresley.  Sharon invites all those wo have a MySpace page to join in on the blog and become a "MySpace friend."

2008


August 30: 
Joel  Kramer and Diana Alstad have revised and updated their essay "A Winning Strategy for Progressives:  Securing the Vote & Church/State Separationto reflect current events.   You can find it by clicking here


Sharon Presley's book on standing up to experts and authorities is due to go to the publisher next month and should be out early next year.




2007


January 14:
It is with great sorrow that I note the passing of RIT advisory board member Robert Anton Wilson who left us on Jan. 11.  Bob was a friend of mine as well. No one I know was ever more independent in his thinking. A true maverick in his writing and his thought, he was also one of the funniest, kindest and warmest human beings I ever knew. He and his late wife Arlen, a former RIT Director, were, each in their own way, one-of-a-kind and dear to me.  Their memory will inspire us.

--Sharon Presley

For more about Robert Anton Wilson, see
http://robertantonwilson.blogspot.com/
http://rawilson.com



2006

March 29:
RIT, along with the Civil Society Institute of SCU and the Association of Libertarian Feminists, are sponsoring a One-Day Conference entitled "Authority and Autonomy in the Family" on August 19 at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA. Speakers lined up so far include Nathaniel Branden, Peter Breggin (by live video), Susan Love Brown, Marshall Fritz, and Sharon Presley.  For information about the conference, see its new web site: www.autonomyinthefamily.org   This is a one-of-a-kind conference and we are proud to be a part of it!

Check out the ACLU "Freedom Files" at the link below. The series now includes "Religious Freedom," Dissent, " "Women's Rights," "Gay/Lesbian Rights, " "Beyond the Patriot Act" and more.  The web site tells you where you can see them on TV (including Link TV on satellite systems) and how you can obtain copies.  Support the ACLU's fight for civil liberties!


2005

November 8:
The ACLU has launched a TV series on free speech in America entitled "Freedom Files."  The next episode is "Dissent" which airs Nov. 10 and 24 on Link TV (available on Direct and Dish satellite stations) at 8pm EST. Court TV will begin running epidodes in January.  The ACLU has a big push to get people involved and watching. For more information, go to www.aclu.tv  People need to know what's going on and it's not pretty!!

ACLU


We are sad to report that Joan Kennedy Taylor, one of our advisors, passed away on Oct. 29. She was a great defender of critical thinking and free speech and a wonderful person. A memorial can be found at 
http://joankennedytaylorblog.blogspot.com/

September 8: For a first hand account of the tragic devastation in New Orleans, see one person's account on the voltairine.org web site. Kate tells us how government agencies not only failed to help but prevented private organizations from helping. A tragic situation made worse by those who are supposed to serve.

July 14:
Perhaps it is ironic that on Bastille Day, hardly a nonviolent event, we post a link to an excellent site archiving materials about nonviolence as a political strategy. It includes materials by Gene Sharp, one of the leading scholars of nonviolence.  It is the web site of Fragments, a publication that has been around for a long time off and on.  As violent events increasingly capture the news, it becomes even more important for us to contemplate the power of nonviolence.  Click here.

July 13:
Emma Goldman was one of America's greatest resisters to authority. Her words on patriotism are, alas, as relevant now as when she first said them.  Ths timely quote can be found at www.voltairine.org

July 12

A second guest editorial by Kramer and Alstad on the importance of separation of Church and State entitled "A Winning Strategy for Progressives: Securing Church/State Separation, Religious Freedom & the Vote" has been posted in Editorials.  Click here.

Sharon Presley is currently working on an anthology of American Women Resisters to Authority. For a outline, see www.voltairine.org/womenresistoutline.html


For pictures to accompany this outline, see www.voltairine.org/womenresisters.html

Dr. Presley will be giving a talk on this  topic at Santa Clara University on October 6. For further info, click here.

March 13

Newly posted: A guest editorial by RIT "fellow travelers" Diana Alstad and Joel Kramer (see our review of their Guru Papers as well as their tapes that we carry) speaks to the crucial importance of separation of Church and State and why democracy in the US is in danger because the lines are increasingly being blurred.

February 16


    Sharon Presley will be speaking at the New Hampshire Freedom Summit in June.

 
January 23

   A guest editorial by long-time activist Art Smith has been posted under Editorials.  Entitled "Not Again!", it
        challenges Americans not  to remain silent about the abuses of power and abrogation of human rights
        going on right now in the US by drawing parallels to what happened in Nazi Germany.  A thought-provoking
        editorial. We welcome comments.

    The new book co-edited by RIT Executive Director Sharon Presley, entitled Exquisite Rebel, has just been
        released. For more information, see  voltairine.org


    Sharon Presley will be speaking several times this spring on the new Voltairine book as well as on the topic
        "American Women Resisters to Authority."   For more information on these speaking engagements, see the
         Events section of the Voltairine web site.

December 31, 2004

   
Sharon Presley's "Sez Who?" column is now online at ISIL.org. Dr. Presley answers questions about
        how to stand up to authority and experts. Send your questions to her at presley@rit.org



September 22, 2004



    
Exquisite Rebel: Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre edited by Sharon Presley
          and Crispin Sartwell will be published in December 2004
          by SUNY Press.  For further info, see www.voltairine.org

     Sharon Presley has a new web site at www.sharonpresley.com.

             Dr. Presley's
articles from The Truth Seeker, Liberty and other sources are posted there.