Thursday, August 23, 2012

Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 1

Baltimore Activist Alert Aug. 24 – Aug. 30, 2012


"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.

The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center. Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com. If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

Tune into the Maryland Progressive Blog at http://mdprogblog.org.

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists

4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA

5] Help out the Green Party

6] Plan with United Workers – Aug. 23

7] Support arrestees – Aug. 24

8] Visit Evergreen Museum/see exhibit – through Sept. 30

9] White House vigil – Aug. 24

10] WIB Inner Harbor vigil – Aug. 24

11] WIB Roland Park vigil – Aug. 24

12] Justice for Palestine/Israel vigil – Aug. 24

13] Columbia Canvass for Marriage Equality – Aug. 24

14] unWIREd "Unconference" – Aug. 24

15] Silent peace vigil – Aug. 24

16] Baltimore phone bank for Marriage Equality – Aug. 24

17] Silver Spring phone bank for Marriage Equality – Aug. 24

18] Book PANTHER BABY – Aug. 24

19] Book SEEDS OF DISCENT t peace vigil – Aug. 24

20] Film "The Story of Lovers Rock" – Aug. 24

21] “Lysistrata 1969” – through Sept. 2

22] Play THE LAST SHOULD BE FIRST – through Sept. 1

23] Ballroom dancing – Aug. 24

24] Count the crickets – Aug. 24

25] Annual Clean Up – Aug. 25 & 26

26] Freedom Fighter Awards – Aug. 25

27] Alternatives to Violence – Aug. 25 & 26

28] Salisbury phone bank for Marriage Equality – Aug. 25

29] Marriage Equality Day of Action – Aug. 25

30] Olney peace vigil – Aug. 25

31] West Chester, PA demo – Aug. 25

32] Silent vigil at Capitol – Aug. 25

33] Easton phone bank for Marriage Equality – Aug. 25

34] Silver Spring Canvass for Marriage Equality – Aug. 25

35] Frederick Canvass for Marriage Equality – Aug. 25

36] MUPJ planning meeting – Aug. 25

37] Film AGAINST THE WALL – Aug. 25

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1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him at 410-366-1637.



2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/. Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.



3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR]. It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed. It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.



To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to donmuller@msn.com. Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.



THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe. It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing. To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed. If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.



4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags.



Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month. Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered. Send it to Adela Hirsch, 5358 Eliots Oak Rd., Columbia, MD 21044. Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Adela at 410-997-5662 or via e-mail at adela4peace@verizon.net.



5] – Bill Barry [wbarrymd@hotmail.com] is asking for your help in keeping the Maryland Green Party on the ballot line. The Maryland Green Party still needs signatures on petitions. Can you help out? He has the petitions, and would like to know if you can get ten signatures from registered voters. He will get you the petitions.

6] – The United Workers are continuing to build the Campaign for Fair Development. They plan to celebrate their 10th year anniversary this fall. There will be a planning session on Thurs., Aug. 23 from 6 to 7:30 PM. RSVP at info@unitedworkers.org.



7] – Support Rev. Witherspoon & Sharon Black on Fri., Aug. 24 at 8 AM in front of the Eastern District Court House, Harford & North Aves.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in Courtroom 7 at 8:30 AM. On August 10, they were for trespassing at City Hall when they tried to deliver a letter to the mayor seeking a meeting with the mayor on behalf of the Baltimore Peoples Assembly. Issues raised in the letter were community control of the police, an end to police killings, the need for jobs and open rec centers and fire stations. Call the Baltimore Peoples Assembly at 410-500-2168.



8] – Consider taking a tour of the Evergreen Museum and Library, 4545 N. Charles St. It is an amazing building filled with books and works of art, including many, many objects from Tiffany’s. The tour is $7.

Separate from the tour is an exhibit: Alix Aymé: European Perception and Asian Poeticism, never-before-exhibited work of the French artist Alix Aymé, an influential participant in the promotion of modernism. It is $3 to see the exhibit through Sun., Sept. 30. But if you take the tour, see the exhibit for free. Call 410-516-0341 or go to http://museums.jhu.edu/evergreen.





9] – A peace vigil takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at Lafayette Park facing the White House. Join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and friends. Contact Art Laffin: artlaffin@hotmail.com.



10] – Every Friday from noon to 1 PM, Women in Black, Baltimore, host a vigil at Pratt and Light Sts. in the Inner Harbor. Peace signs will be available. See http://www.peacepath911.com/ or write wibbaltimore@hotmail.com or call 410-467-9114.

11] – There is also a noon vigil on Aug. 24 at Roland Park Place at 830 W. 40th St. Call 410-467-9114.

12] – A vigil for Justice in Palestine/Israel (now in its 8th year) takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at 19th & JFK Blvd., Philadelphia (across from Israeli Consulate. It is sponsored by Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East. Email cswartz@pil.net. Go to http://phillyjewishpeace.org/.

13] – Human Rights Campaign has a Columbia Canvass on Fridays from 1 to 4 PM at the Food Lion, 5851 Robert Oliver Place. RSVP to amy.adler@mdfme.org.



14] – The unWIREd "Unconference" is happening on Fri., Aug. 24 from 2 to 6 PM and on Sat., Aug. 25 from 9 AM to 6 PM. Leaders in the nonprofit, business, government and technology communities will put their heads together to build a better Baltimore at Johns Hopkins U., Homewood Campus. The price is $10. Call 410-625-0403 or http://baltimoreunwired.eventbrite.com.

15] – There is a silent vigil on Fri., Aug. 24 from 5 to 6 PM outside of Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St., in opposition to war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Placards say: "War Is Not the Answer." The silent vigil is sponsored by AFSC, Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings.



16] – There is a Baltimore phone bank for Marriage Equality on week nights from 5:30 to 8:30 PM at 400 Boston St., Suite 101D. RSVP at malachi.hammonds@mdfme.org.



17] – There is a Silver Spring phone bank for Marriage Equality on week nights from 5:30 to 8:30 PM at 8720 Georgia Ave., Suite 900. RSVP at andrew.deiner@mdfme.org.



18] – The 5th Annual Black August book signing at Sankofa Video & Books, 2714 Georgia Ave., WDC, takes place on Fri., Aug. 24 from 6 to 8 PM and features former political prisoner Jamal Joseph and his new autobiography PANTHER BABY: A Life of Rebellion & Reinvention. In the 1960s he exhorted students at Columbia U. to burn their college to the ground. Today he’s chair of their School of the Arts film division. Jamal Joseph’s personal odyssey—from the streets of Harlem to Riker’s Island and Leavenworth to the halls of Columbia—is as gripping as it is inspiring. Eddie Joseph was a high school honor student, slated to graduate early and begin college. But this was the late 1960s in Bronx’s black ghetto, and fifteen-year-old Eddie was introduced to the tenets of the Black Panther Party, which was just gaining a national foothold. By sixteen, his devotion to the cause landed him in prison on the infamous Rikers Island—charged with conspiracy as one of the Panther 21 in one of the most emblematic criminal cases of the sixties. When exonerated, Eddie—now called Jamal—became the youngest spokesperson and leader of the Panthers’ New York chapter.



19] – On Fri.., Aug. 24 at 7 PM @ Red Emma's, 800 St. Paul St., Nic Esposito will discuss SEEDS OF DISCENT, his first novel which tells the story of a group of farmers in Philadelphia attempting to rebuild the city greenward. Call 410-230-0450, go to http://www.redemmas.org or email info@redemmas.org.

20] – The 6th African Diaspora International Film Festival begins with "The Story of Lovers Rock" on Fri., Aug. 24 at 7 PM at the Goethe Institute, 812 7th St. NW. The opening night reception starts at 6 PM. Opening night tickets are $15. Visit http://transafrica.org/events/2012/8/24/6th-african-diaspora-international-film-festival-washington.html. For tickets, go to http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/265232.

21] – The Rude Mechanicals present this trip back to 1969, where the Sock Puppet Guerilla Theater is working on their interpretation of Aristophanes' Lysistrata. See “Lysistrata 1969” on Fridays and Saturdays, through Sept. 1 at 8 PM at the Greenbelt Arts Center, 123 Centerway. The admission price is $17, but students and seniors get in for $14. Call 301-441-8770 or go to http://www.greenbeltartscenter.org.

22] – “The Last Shall Be First” is being performed by Heralds of Hope Theater in Residence at Sojourner-Douglass College, 200 N. Central Ave., on weekends through Sun., Sept. 2. See the performance for $10 at 8 PM on Fridays and Saturdays and at 3 PM on Sundays. Percy Thomas, the playwright, will direct the play, which is the final entry in the Baltimore Playwrights Festival. It shares the cruelties of slavery as experienced by Monroe, a self-proclaimed preacher. Call 410-997-5779 or go to http://www.baltplayfest.org.



23] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM. Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St. Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Aug. 10. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

24] – On the evening of Fri., Aug. 24 after 8:15 PM when it becomes completely dark. If it looks like it will be too rainy or cold it will be moved to Sat., Aug. 25. The end of the counting time period will be midnight. Nature enthusiasts from Baltimore and D.C. will go outside for a few minutes (or longer), to listen to the singing insects, and report what they hear to curious scientists. The information will be collected and mapped online in real time so that everyone will learn where these insects live.



You can listen in your own backyard, or you can join others listening together that evening at Clyburn Arboretum (http://www.meetup.com/marylandnature/events/75193412/), Robert E. Lee Park (http://www.meetup.com/marylandnature/events/76449052/), Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary (http://www.meetup.com/marylandnature/events/75848842/), and at the Maryland Naturalist Center in Overlea (http://www.meetup.com/marylandnature/events/61420862/).



Go somewhere at night, listen for 1 minute and write down the kinds of crickets and katydids you heard. You will hear many different insects calling in the evening but you only need to listen for eight species (http://pick14.pick.uga.edu/cricket/DC/specieslist.html). Send in your data from your cell phone outside immediately after you do your count. You can call this number 707-820-7732 and leave a voice message. You can text your observations to this number 707-820-7732. You can email your results, photos, etc. to speciesobs@gmail.com. Send a tweet of your observations @DevDemoHi. This is the preferred did method. Send the following: your name, location, list of species, start time. Bring along a copy of the field sheet (http://pick14.pick.uga.edu/cricket/DC/CricketDataform2012.rtf) which has an abbreviated list of the instructions presented here, and a list of the species, cell phone, watch, and pencil.



25] – The Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4661, will do its Annual Clean-Up Day on Sat., Aug. 25 from 9 AM to 3 PM. On Sun., Aug. 26 the BES will complete anything left undone from Saturday’s official annual clean-up and contemplate the year to come. Call 410-581-2322.



26] – The Third Annual Freedom Fighter Awards Annual Breakfast at the Darker Than Blue Café, 3034 Greenmount Ave., will honor local members in fields of politics and media on Sat., Aug. 25 from 9 to 11 AM. The breakfast celebrates the 49th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and honors those who have benefited from 'the Dream.' The cost is $30. Go to http://www.freedomfund.eventbrite.com.



27] – On Sat., Aug. 25 and Sun., Aug. 26, from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM, attend basic training in Alternatives to Violence (designed by AFSC) - The Help Increase the Peace Program (HIPP) is a hands-on, user friendly model for building leadership, cooperation, peace, relationships and conflict resolution skills that has inspired and equipped people around the world in the last twenty years. There is a sliding scale from $20 to $60, but scholarships are available. The training will be at the Center of Concern, 1225 Otis St. NE, WDC 20017, which is two blocks from the Brookland-CUA Metro Station. Email matthew.price.pvi@gmail.com to RSVP. The training will be facilitated by Tarek Maassarani and Cortez McDaniel. Go to http://washingtonpeacecenter.net/node/691.



28] – There is a Salisbury phone bank for Marriage Equality on Saturdays from 10 AM to noon at 1222 Old Ocean City Road. RSVP at Toney.Schloss@mdfme.org.



29] – The Day of Action for Marriage Equality takes place on Sat., Aug. 25 at 10 AM. RSVP at http://action.mdfme.org/page/s/volunteer-aug-25 and come to one of these locations: Baltimore City--2400 Boston St., Suite 101D; Baltimore County, 301 Allegheny Ave., Towson; Montgomery County: 8720 Georgia Ave. Suite 900, Silver Spring & Prince George's County, 7541 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt. Go to http://marylandersformarriageequality.org/#get-involved. Do knocking on doors, phone calling and strategizing to bring out the people to vote.



30] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. [Route 97] in Olney, MD. The next vigil is Aug. 25. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167.



31] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com.



32] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sat., Aug. 18. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com.



33] – There is an Easton phone bank for Marriage Equality on Saturdays from noon to 4 PM at 7 E. Dover St. RSVP at Toney.Schloss@mdfme.org



34] – There is a Silver Spring Canvass for Marriage Equality on weekends from noon to 4 PM at 8720 Georgia Ave., Suite 900. RSVP to andrew.deiner@mdfme.org.



35] – There is a Frederick Canvass for Marriage Equality on Saturdays from noon to 2 PM & 2 to 4 PM at W. Patrick St. & S. Market St. RSVP to amy.adler@mdfme.org.



36] – There is a planning meeting for the 28th Annual Maryland Peace, Justice and the Environment Conference [Friday and Saturday, April 12 and 13] on Sat., Aug. 25 from 5 to 7 PM at the Turner Memorial AME Church, 7201 16th Place, Hyattsville, MD. Dinner will follow at Busboys and Poets, Hyattsville. Email paulette.d.hammond@questdiagnostics.com or call 410-747-3811.

37] – The Black August film series outdoors features the film AGAINST THE WALL on Sat., Aug. 25 at 7:30 PM at Outdoor Theater, 8th & Taylor Sts. NW. The film starts at 9 PM. Bring your own food for the grill or to share. Some food will be available for purchase. Bring your own chair.



AGAINST THE WALL is an HBO docudrama about the notorious 1971 prison revolt at the Attica State Penitentiary in upstate New York. One can sense the mastery of veteran theatrical feature director John Frankenheimer in the movie’s gripping suspense and gritty, hard-hitting realism. The semi-fictionalized narrative is told from the point of view of young Michael Smith (Kyle MacLachlan), a newly recruited prison guard. (The real Smith worked as a consultant on the film.) When Smith arrives at Attica, the place is a revolt waiting to happen. When riots break out and the inmates take command of the prison, Smith and several other guards are held hostage. In this powder-keg climate, a relationship develops between Smith and the rebellion’s wise, cool-headed leader, Jamaal (the superb Samuel L. Jackson), a political prisoner representing the African Liberation Movement. Call 202-718-8323.

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

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