For more information on any of these events, go to http://calendar.diygr.org.
Class War Kitchen #1
December 27th 2011, 6:00 pm at Bartertown Diner
Since the start of Bartertown Diner one of the main goals has been doing cooking classes. We did one and it was a huge success, but when we opened, things got crazy and the idea took a back seat. So now we feel it’s a good time to begin this project. The idea is to discuss, teach and learn from each other on how to make good food at a reasonable price, and in a responsible fashion. The smartest thing you can do is arm yourself with the knowledge of food.
The first class will be addressing the local food movement along with the slow food movement. For a lot of us these new trends seem to be targeted towards the upper class. If you can afford it then you can be a part of it. Also what is local? Do you really know what you are buying? Many don’t and get fooled everyday. We will be preparing a meal and having an open discussion.
Cost is free, but we will have a tip jar set up for those who feel inclined to donate.
IGE Talks: Winning the Future
January 5th 2012, 7:00 pm at Institute for Global Education
We’ve occupied the moral high ground. Now it’s time to occupy tomorrow. The 1% can take us where we’re going if we just have the confidence that they will win in the end anyway. It’s 2012 on the Mayan calendar of doom, or maybe just Thursday. Please join us for a public forum to be videotaped for viewing anytime on the internet and on GR metro cable access TV channel 24 at 7 pm Thurs. and 10 am Sat. Who knows, it might be good.
A People’s History of the LGBTQ Community in Grand Rapids
January 8th 2012, 6:00 pm at Plymouth UCC
Following the model of radical historian Howard Zinn, this project involves the documentation of the history of the LGBTQ movement in West Michigan. By doing interviews and collecting archival material, this project has produced a documentary film and an online archive of material about the struggle for equality and justice by the LGBTQ community in West Michigan. The screenings of “A People’s History of the LGBTQ Community in Grand Rapids” will allow for continuing dialogue about the LGBTQ movement and provide a forum for current and future organizing. This is a project of the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy. The LGBT Resource Center is proud to be a co-sponsor along with GVSU’s Kutsche Office of Local History.
If A Tree Falls
January 12th 2012, 6:30 pm at The Bloom Collective
The Bloom will serve soup and we’ll all write letters of support to Marie Mason. Soup and letter writing: 6:30 p.m., film @ 7 p.m.
On December 7th, 2005, federal agents conducted a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front — an organization the FBI has called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.”
IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT is the remarkable story of the group’s rise and fall, told through the transformation and radicalization of one of its members, Daniel McGowan. Part coming-of-age tale, part cops-and-robbers thriller, the film interweaves a chronicle of McGowan facing life in prison with a dramatic investigation of the events that led to his involvement with the ELF.
Ending Corporate Control of Government
January 12th 2012, 7:00 pm at Fountain Street Church
Fountain Street Church and Occupy Grand Rapids present:
ENDING CORPORATE CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT WITH A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
with DAVID COBB
*National spokesman for MoveToAmend.org;
*2004 Green Party presidential candidate;
*Constitutional lawyer.
Compassion in Fashion – Second Annual!
January 14th 2012, 8:00 pm at GVSU – Kirkhof Center
Humane Society of Grand Valley and GV Fashion Club are excited to announce the second annual Compassion in Fashion show!
This year’s show will once again feature a cat walk of clothing and accessories made exclusively from non-animal sources (no fur, leather, wool, silk) as offered by local businesses and original pieces from the GV Fashion Club.
Info tables abound!
Our speaker this year is Jill Fritz, Michigan State Director for Humane Society of the United States. She will be speaking about the practice of using animals for cosmetic testing purposes, and what this means for us as consumers. There will also be time to ask questions, and speak with her one-on-one.
We will once again have a raffle of wonderful items from local businesses, and we have added a silent auction as well! All proceeds will benefit West Michigan Critter Haven and Kent County Animal Shelter.
MLK Program featuring Speaker Bakari Kitwana
January 16th 2012, 12:30 pm at GVSU – Kirkhof Center
The GVSU campus community is invited to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week by attending the MLK Program, featuring speaker Bakari Kitwana.
Bakari Kitwana, journalist and author, will be a keynote speaker during the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Grand Valley.
Kitwana will lead the silent march on campus on January 16 and give an afternoon presentation in the Kirkhof Center. He will also be the evening speaker that day at the community event hosted by Grand Rapids Community College.
The author of four books, Kitwana is a senior media fellow at the Jamestown Project, a Harvard Law think-tank; and CEO of Rap Sessions, a company that conducts townhall meetings around the country on difficult topics facing the hip-hop generation. Kitwana’s latest book is 2010Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era.
KINSHIP – An Art Exhibition Of and For Animals Like Us
January 21st 2012, 6:00 pm at Calvin College – 106 Gallery
OPENING RECEPTION: 6-9pm SATURDAY, JANUARY 21st. Curated in conjunction with Calvin’s Wake Up Weekend 2011 (an annual animal advocacy event), KINSHIP features the works of 15 concerned, compassionate artists, including: Sue Coe, Jenny Pope, Adam Wolpa, Mike Guyette, Christina Mrozik, Shanna Shearer, Emily Gray Koehler, Kirsten Strom, Brett Colley, Ryan Hill, Tim Oliphant, Margaret Reed, Jenny Schneider, Richard Gibson and Linsey Tankersley.
Occupy Wall Street: Lessons From the Front Lines
January 23rd 2012, 7:00 pm at GVSU – Kirkhof Center
Author, activist and native New Yorker, Sherry Wolf will provide an eyewitness account of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement to discuss how we are living through a period of profound social, political and economic transformation. OWS has become a touchstone for a vast array of grievances. As an active participant in the OWS movement with many years’ experience as an organized leftist, Wolf will challenge students to think through their own preconceived notions of how our society operates and can change. Wolf will explore how this movement came about and is evolving to challenge corporate power and inequality in ways not seen for 40 years.
OGR vs Big Banks
January 27th 2012, 3:00 pm at Trust Building
Occupy Grand Rapids will protest the big banks starting with Bank of America on FRIDAY January 27th. JOIN US in solidarity against these evil corporations that lobby, control, and run our country.
More information soon!
Youth Occupation
January 27th 2012, 7:00 pm at Cook Arts Center
Spoken Word Performances by noted local artists:
Keegan “Seoul” Loye
Azizi Jasper
Cayanne
Duke Greene
BREAKDANCE BATTLE!
Featuring awesome talented youth and mentors from the Cook Arts Center and the Street Dance Academy
Performances start at 7pm, don’t be late!
$5 donation
Up From the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream
February 1st 2012, 6:00 pm at GVSU – Cook DeWitt Center
he Community Reading Project Contextual Presentation will feature a showing of the film, “Up From the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream.” It will contextualize the main topics of the 2012 CRP selection “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson.
“Up From the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream” tells the story of the massive migration of African Americans from the rural south to the prosperous north during the World War II years and beyond. More information about the film can be found here: http://www.upfromthebottoms.com/
Not Just a Game: Politics and Power in American Sports
February 2nd 2012, 4:00 pm at GVSU – Kirkhof Center
At this inaugural “Intersections” event, John Carlos, winner of the bronze medal in the men’s 200-meter race at the 1968 Summer Olympics, will tell us his story.
Carlos entered the Olympic Games with one thing in mind – to reach the platform in order to send a message. And, along with Tommie Smith, his teammate and winner of the gold medal, the message was sent, reverberating throughout the world. Smith and Carlos raised black-gloved fists crowning bowed heads to humbly reflect the strength of the black power and human rights salutes.
In addition to Carlos, renowned American sportswriter Dave Zirin, will be a part of the program and will show segments of his documentary movie, Not Just a Game: Politics and Power in American Sports. The two will also discuss their recently completed book, The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World.
WMEAC Film Series – Blue Gold: World Water Wars
February 8th 2012, 6:30 pm at Wealthy Theatre
Water is perhaps our most precious, abused resource and is one of WMEAC’s driving issues. Join us as we explore “the rampant overdevelopment of agriculture, housing and industry” that is slowly increasing the demand for fresh water “well beyond the finite supply”. What can we do to protect our water resources for the future?
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikb4WG8UJRw&feature=channel
Doors at 6:30, film starts at 7pm. Admission is FREE, with a suggested donation of $5. This event will also include a discussion on our local water system and Fifteen to the River, WMEAC’s stormwater runoff initiative.
That Takes Ovaries: Bold Women, Brazen Acts Performance
February 10th 2012, 7:00 pm at Wealthy Theatre
That Takes Ovaries!: Bold Women, Brazen Acts is a play co-written by Rivka Solomon and Bobbi Ausubel. The play offers an exciting collection of real-life stories from women and girls about the gutsy, outrageous, courageous things they have done. The stories are multicultural, funny, sassy, and touching true tales of estrogen-powered deeds. The play also includes true stories submitted by our own GVSU campus and community!
8-Week Institute for Racial Healing
February 28th 2012, 3:30 pm at GVSU Meijer Campus
About Through facilitated dialogues and activities, individuals are immersed in a cognitive and affective program of learning, sharing, and processing within a multi-cultural group. Participants examine the inheritance of our history, institutionalized racism, contemporary bias, and ways to be an ally in healing racial divides. This model has been proven to establish profound insights and valuable relationships while providing a support network for continued understanding and resources. The cost is $100 per participant. Financial hardship scholarships are available upon request; please call (616) 846-9074.
Download flier:
www.ethnicdiversity.org/files-2/2012-02-28CommunityInstituteFlier.pdf
Learn more:
www.ethnicdiversity.org/what-we-do/diversityeducation
Naomi Wolf
March 14th 2012, 7:00 pm at Fountain Street Church
Author of seven books, including the New York Times best seller The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf focuses on gender equality, pervasive inequities in
society and politics, the defense of liberty in America and internationally, and body image. She is the cofounder of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical
Leadership, which teaches ethics and empowerment to young women leaders. In Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries, Wolf argues that
breathtaking changes take place when ordinary citizens engage in the democratic system the way the founders intended, through civic engagement.
Lakeshore Region Summit on Race & Inclusion
June 5th 2012, 7:30 am at Hope College
The Lakeshore Region Summit on Race & Inclusion gathers hundreds of individuals to a day-long conference focused on the effects of racism and designed to stimulate a year of action. Join us to learn from nationally-recognized experts in the field and best practices that contribute to creating a vibrant, inclusive region.
