Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 2

35] Hamilton Arts Gallery benefit – Dec. 10

36] Laramie Project – Dec. 10 & 11

37] Holiday Gift Market – Dec. 11

38] Membership/Film THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED -- Dec. 11

39] Get on Bridge for Peace – Dec. 11

40] Corporations Are Not People – Dec. 11

41] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – Dec. 11

42] Protect Safety Net -- Dec. 11

43] Red Emma's meeting – Dec. 11

44] Film RARE EXPORTS – Dec. 11

45] Pentagon Vigil – Dec. 12

46] No to Maliki – Dec. 12

47] Wall Street Reform – Dec. 12

48] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Dec. 12 – Dec. 15

49] Protest the death penalty – Dec. 12

50] Save Our State Town Hall – Dec. 12

51] Database Management Workshop -- Dec. 12

52] Bird-dog legislator – Dec. 12 

53] Pledge/Fund Our Communities meeting – Dec. 12

54] Ana Masry performs – Dec. 12

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35] – Gimmie Shelter Productions and the Hamilton Arts Gallery are pleased to announce a special Christmas benefit for the Hamilton Arts Gallery. On Sat., Dec. 10 at 7:30 PM at the Arts Gallery, 5502 Harford Rd., Alan Barysh leads an all star line up of some of Baltimore¹s best poets and musicians. The event will feature some Welsh music by In the Clear and a dramatic reading of the Dylan Thomas classic A Child¹s Christmas in Wales by Barysh, and poetry and songs by Lawrence Leaf, Suzanne X and georgie@georgiejessup.com.  A $5 donation is requested.  Bring a flashlight or candle.  Call 410 532-0193.

 

36] – The UMBC Theatre continues with its performances of "The Laramie Project" by Moises Kaufman and the Members Tectonic Theatre Project.  Directed by Nyalls Hartman, there will be shows through Sun., Dec. 11. 

 

On Oct. 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young gay man, was beaten and left to die tied to a fence in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died 6 days later. His torture and murder became a national news event that highlighted the nation's deep-seated cultural bias against homosexuality. A month after the murder, members of the Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews came the play "The Laramie Project." Poignant, moving, and theatrically enticing, it is one of the most celebrated plays of the last decade.

 

The performance schedule is as follows: Dec. 10 at 8 PM and Dec. 11 at 2 PM.  Call 410-455-2917 or go to www.umbc.edu.

 

37] – The Second Presbyterian Church Holiday Gift Market featuring Afghan Women's Fund goods takes place on Sun., Dec. 11 from 10 AM to 3 PM at 4200 Saint Paul St., Baltimore 21218-1019.

 

38] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore, MD 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 to 11:30 AM.  On Sun., Dec. 11, the topic is "The Meaning of Membership," and it will be Hugh Taft-Morales, leader, Baltimore Ethical Society who will address the issue.  What does it mean to join an organization? What does it mean to join an Ethical Society? Membership means different things to different people. Some will join just about anything! Others, as Groucho Marx said "I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member."

 

Hugh Taft-Morales serves as Leader for both the Baltimore Ethical Society and the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia and also works with the Ethical Society Without Walls (ESWoW). He taught philosophy and history in high school for twenty-five years, graduated from Yale College in 1979, and earned a Masters in Philosophy in 1986 from University of Kent in England. He received a certificate in Humanist Leadership from the Humanist Institute in 2009.

 

From 4 to 6 PM, see THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED and then participate in a discussion. The video by James Burke explores with wit and wisdom links between knowledge and daily life through stories about the history of western civilization. Taft-Morales will lead the discussion: "A Matter of Fact: Printing Transforms Knowledge. Call 410-547-7798 or visit the website to be sure at www.baltimoreethicalsociety.org.

 

39] – Maryland Bridges for Peace welcomes you to stand for peace Sundays from noon (or thereabouts) to 1 PM on the Spa Creek Bridge in Annapolis.  Contact Lucy at 410-263-7271 or mdbridgesforpeace@toadmail.com. Signs are not allowed to be on a stick or pole.   If there is interest, people will be standing on the Stoney Creek Bridge on Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena [410-437-5379 or magicalgodmom@aol.com]. Go to http://BridgePeace.blogspot.com/

 

40] – See the nine-minute film "The Story of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" on Sun., Dec. 11 from 12:30 to 2 PM at the board room, UUCA, 4444 Arlington Blvd., Arlington, VA.  The Global Peace through Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington invites you to then participate in a discussion led by Public Citizen's Aquene Freechild on ways to pass an Amendment to the Constitution.  Lunch will be provided.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on January 21, 2010 in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as people, and that they can spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.  Corporations aren't people and should not be able to trample democracy. One key way to overturn this decision is through a constitutional amendment, which Public Citizen will pursue. Call Moya Atkinson at 703-941-3707.

 

41] – Every Sunday, 4 to 5 PM, there is a Quaker Peace Vigil at Independence Mall, N. side of Market between 5th and 6th Sts., Philadelphia. Call 215-421-5811.

 

42] – On Sun., Dec. 11 at 4:30 PM, enjoy the Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Potluck Supper & Program @ University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut St., Phila., PA. (Bring main dish, salad, or dessert to share). At 5:30 PM the program will ask What (WAS!) So Super About the Budget Deficit 'Super Committee': Keeping Up The Fight to Stop Cuts to the Social Safety Net, a presentation by Pedro Rodriguez, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. He is a Commissioner, Phila. Civil Service Commission and a long-time community organizer.  Call 610-544-1818 or go to www.brandywinepeace.com. 

 

43] – Red Emma's needs volunteers.  Stop in to the weekly Sunday meeting at 7 PM at 800 St. Paul St. or email info@redemmas.org.  The next meeting is Dec. 11. There is no meeting on the first Sunday of the month.  Call 410-230-0450. If you would be interested in volunteering or becoming a collective member of 2640, send an email to 2640@redemmas.org.

44] – Focus-In! Screening of "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale" on Sun., Dec. 11 from 8 to 10 PM at Busboys & Poets, 14th & V Sts. NW, WDC. It's the eve of Christmas in northern Finland, and an 'archeological' dig has just unearthed the real Santa Claus. But this particular Santa isn't the one you want coming to town. When the local children begin mysteriously disappearing, young Pietari and his father Rauno capture the mythological being and attempt to sell Santa to the misguided leader of the multinational corporation sponsoring the dig. What ensues is a wildly humorous nightmare – a fantastically bizarre polemic on modern day morality. This is part of the December 2011 Film of the Month presented by Focus-In, a Busboys and Poets monthly film series.  

45] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop.  The next vigil is Mon., Dec. 12, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker.  Call 202-882-9649.

46] – Say No to Iraqi Prime Minister on Mon., Dec. 12 from 10 AM to noon at the White House.  March to avert an impending massacre of Iranian dissidents in Camp Ashraf by Iraqi PM Nuri Al-Maliki who has already murdered 47 residents at the camp. Iraq's deadline to close down Ashraf
is a prelude to forced relocation and slaughter of residents.

47] – The Institute for Policy Studies' Global Economy Project is a proud member of Americans for Financial Reform, and will be participating in their upcoming conference about Wall Street reform. Americans for Financial Reform is an unprecedented group of national and state organizations that have joined together to fix our financial sector and make sure it's working for all Americans. The gathering, entitled Executive Pay, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, and Consumer Protection Act, takes place on Mon., Dec. 12 from 1:30 to 5:30 PM at the AFL-CIO, 815 16th St. NW, WDC.  Speakers include AFL_CIO President Richard Trumka, Robert J. Jackson Jr., associate professor, Columbia Law School, and former senior advisor to Treasury Department on Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance, William K. Black, associate professor of Economics and Law, the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and former Litigation Director, Federal Home Loan Bank Board and several others.  RSVP at http://act.aflcio.org/c/968/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=6447.

 

48] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Thursday from 5 to 7 PM on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org.   The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org.   

 

49] – There is usually a vigil to abolish the death penalty every Monday from 5 to 6 PM, outside the prison complex and across the street from Maryland's Super Max Prison, at the corner of Madison Ave. and Fallsway in Baltimore.  Recently death row was moved out of Baltimore, but it was decided to continue the vigil. The next one is scheduled for Mon., Dec. 12. Call 410-366-1637.

 

50] – Progressive Maryland indicates that there is a Save Our State: Baltimore Town Hall on Mon., Dec. 12 from 6 to 8 PM at Baltimore City Community College auditorium. Proposed cuts to the state and federal budgets could mean an economic crisis in Maryland in 2012. There have been nearly $7 billion in state budget cuts made over the last five years and some elected officials will push for even deeper cuts in 2012, despite the negative impact it would have on our communities. Go to www.saveourstatemd.org. Call 301-494-4998. 

 

51] – On Mon., Dec. 12 from 7 to 9 PM, there will be a Database Management Workshop for the coalition to Fund Our Communities, Bring the War Dollars Home. It will take place at Jean Athey's home, 2305 Gold Mine Road, Brookeville, MD.  RSVP to Jean Athey at jeanathey@verizon.net.  Go to www.PeaceActionMC.org.

 

52] – On Mon., Dec. 12 at 7 PM, Montgomery County Council member Hans Riemer is having an open meeting at Richard Montgomery High School. He has refused to endorse the Council resolution on peace, despite running as a progressive candidate. Can you go to this meeting and tell him, publicly, that you are disappointed in his position and that you want him to change it? Go to www.PeaceActionMC.org.  

 

53] – The Pledge of Resistance/Fund Our Communities Baltimore usually meets on Mondays at 7:30 PM, and the meetings now take place at Max's residence.  The next meeting takes place on Dec. 12.  The proposed agenda will include a report on protesting drones, Greg Palast, continuing reports on Occupation Baltimore & the Freedom Square occupation, and the upcoming Bradley Manning hearing and protest.  Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net for directions.

54] – The Ana Masry (Arabic for "I'm Egyptian") Foundation is proud to present the performance: Ana Masry: Still living in the Square! This is an evening celebrating Egypt's multi-layered identity through music, Arabic (& English) poetry, singing and more.  The performance is set in a symbolic square, where Egyptians have come together for thousands of years, and showcases a diverse and complex cultural mosaic, and will beheld at Busboys & Poets, 5th & K Sts. NW, WDC on Mon., Dec. 12 from 8:30 to 10:30 PM.  Tickets are $20.  Call 202-789-2227.

To be continued.

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs