Sunday,  October  5  at  1:00 pm
Bay Area Spark Collective Workshops and Chanting Circle
Presented by   James Bianchi	415-824-4220
Come enjoy the FireDance community and find another home in the Bay Area for your heart songs, your dance, your poetry, your music. You do not have to be a good singer.  You do not have to know a single chant.  Just bring your enthusiasm and your spark.  The Bay Area Spark Collective is a new flame, kindled from embers carried home from fire circles around the country -- an intentional community group that meets monthly to celebrate spirit, community, and each other.  Workshops begin at 1:00 pm.  Pot luck supper begins at 4:00 pm.  The sacred circle opens at 6:00 pm.  Participants introduce themselves and share their magic;  the four directions are called in;  a chant is sung;  and a sacred play begins.  From here on out, anything can happen:  drumming, a song, a poem, dancing, magic, drawing, writing, massage, deep trance.  As participants take their turns around the circle, they stir the container and mix in their magic to create a synergistic miracle in the space.  Everyone listens to what the moment needs.  Around 9:30 pm the energy of the circle rises to a fever pitch and then sweetly winds down.  The circle is closed with a chant, an "Om," that releases the four directions -- and plenty of hugs.
http://www.sparkcollective.org
$5 Donations Accepted

 

 

 

Tuesday,  October  7  at  7:00 pm
Unlock the Box
Presented by   Jay Summers	518-304-5625
Here is the Bay Area premier of a new documentary, presented to us by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons, that chronicles the struggle to put an end to long-term isolation in U.S. prisons.  Isolation, completely inhumane and intolerable, has been a point of contention raised by prisoners and activists for decades.  Starting from the premise that long-term isolation in a small space, a SHU (security housing unit), is a form of torture serving no purpose other than the state's oppressive aims at social control, the documentary illustrates the many forms of struggle that this movement has taken over the years.  Each narrative is highlighted by the voices and artwork of current and former prisoners who have done time in SHUs.  New research on the growth and extent of the use of long-term isolation in U.S. prisons is featured in this film.  It focuses on lessons from struggle and lays out an analysis of the relationship between the prison movement and the global effort to put an end to imperialism in all its forms.  This poignant film brings the realities of the torture going on in these prisons to a broader audience and helps create greater clarity on what needs to be done to replace a system of torture with a system that works in the interests of all humanity.
http://www.abolishcontrolunits.org/movie
$5 Donations Accepted

 

 

 

Thursday,  October  9  at  7:00 pm
Unnatural Causes:  Is Inequality Making us Sick?
Presented by   Gloria Lightfoot	510-655-5552
Part II of this important documentary illuminates root causes of bad health in half hour segments addressing seven major health issues:  extra stress among Blacks, the Americanization of immigrants, the agribusiness diets of Native Americans, the hazardous neighborhoods where poor people live, the calamities accruing from specially bad environments, and chronic suffering brought on by misfortune.  The point of all these film segments is: to increase awareness of our alarming socioeconomic and ethnic inequities in health;  to promote understanding of ways that class, racism, and disempowerment can get under our skin and influence health;  to illustrate that well-being is not just a matter of making good choices and having access to quality care -- our health is inextricably linked, for better and worse, to the social conditions that surround and shape our lives;  to demonstrate that health inequities affect all of us;  to move health discussions beyond the individual's "repair shop" model of disease to a preventive approach that looks to change the underlying conditions that shape whole group outcomes;  to link health discussions to social and economic policies;  and to communicate hopeful solutions that draw public and policy-maker attention to innovative and community-based initiatives for health equity.   Anthony Iton, Director of the Alameda County Department of Public Health, will be here in person to present this film and explain the ground breaking research that prompted its production.
http://www.unnaturalcauses.org
$5 Donations Accepted

 

 

 

Sunday,  October  19  at  2:00 pm
Middle Eastern Treasures Concert
Presented by   Mary Ellen Donald	510-654-3786
This will be an afternoon of exciting, delightful, and incredible Middle Eastern drumming, music, and belly dancing.  Mary Ellen Donald is a nationally acclaimed Middle Eastern percussionist for over thirty years.  She is the prime mover of the gorgeous and exotic Middle Eastern Treasures concerts.  She shines not only as an expert and thrilling player of Persian drums and cymbals, but she is also an amazing jazz singer.  Today she will perform exquisitely on her doumbec, riqq, and tar (come see and experience these instruments).  This afternoon's beautiful concert will also feature:  Nazir Latouf of Syria playing the oud and singing;  the Quartz Crystals playing jazz surprises;  a tar and cymbal ensemble and a doumbec and tambourine ensemble performing Persian pieces; the Medjool of Anatolia with musicians Kevin Cloud, Uzbeki Doyra, and Salokhiddin Fakhriev performing Near Eastern music to Rasa's dancing;  belly dancing will be performed this afternoon by Mandanah and the Danceversity Youth Performance Company.  It is impossible to have a more enjoyable afternoon at Humanist Hall!  Come and help Mary Ellen raise the rafters of Humanist Hall as high as the sky today!
http://www.maryellendonald.com
$16 Donations Accepted

 

 

 

 

Thursday,  October  23  at  6:00 pm
Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Monthly Meeting
Presented by   Jack Kurzweil	510-549-2696
This is the monthly meeting of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club (WDRC).  The Club works to renew and reform the Democratic Party.  The evening begins with a social hour and pot luck supper at 6:00 pm -- bring your favorite healthy dish to share!  At 7:00 pm the Club begins its program and all guests of the evening, members and non-members alike, are invited to participate in the discussions.   This evening's program concerns the global financial crisis:  what caused it, whether it's serious, and what should be done about it.  How can we keep Washington from bailing out the bankers at the expense of the rest of us?  Two renown speakers will talk about these issues:  Karl Beitel and Joshua Holland.  Karl, a policy analyst at the Institute for Food and Development, has written extensively about the growing American debt crisis.  One of his articles contains the best explanations for the current financial melt down.  Joshua writes on economics and politics for the Alternet.  He will talk about the interests and politics behind the current Treasury proposal.   This evening we hope to have an in-depth discussion of the global financial debacle.
http://www.wellstoneclub.org
Donations are Accepted