TONIGHT Feb 28 and NEXT WED March 7

Tue Feb 27 22:55:22 PST 2007

Hi friends,
our Fall/Winter Talks schedule concludes over the next two Wednesday nights
at CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission at 9th, at 8 p.m.

First, TONIGHT (I assume you're reading this Wednesday morning) is our Green
City panel:

February 28: The Green City

Integrating urban life with local nature, biodiversity, and resources is the
challenge of our time. New and veteran activists share visions, strategies,
and how they are laying the foundation for a truly Green City. (Peter Berg —
Green City Project/Planet Drum, Peter Brastow—Nature in the City, Bonnie
Sherk — A Living Library, Brian Holland--Bay Localize).

Then, next week, March 7, is
March 7: Learnin' + Teachin' — The Future of Education

In decaying and resource-starved public schools, teachers and staffers with
incredible vision and energy are trying to make education work. But what do
we want from education now? Should it be organized around children spending
mandatory time in classrooms or should we take a hint from the burgeoning
homeschooling movement and look toward other models? Let's challenge our
assumptions in this open-ended discussion. (Lisa Schiff, Will Grant, Karen
Allen, Ken Tray)
Due to a 3-week run of Jess Curtis/Gravity's US Premiere of "Under the
Radar" at CounterPULSE the Talks will be on a short hiatus until April 11.
Then we have an abbreviated schedule of Spring Talks, two each in April and
May:

Wednesday, April 11
When the Mission was Low and Slow

Join a special screening and talk by members of the Mission Archives on
April 11, 8 pm, at CounterPULSE. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s
Mission Street was famously the home to a wild scene of lowriders every
weekend. Bouncing, shimmying, and gleaming cars full of excited kids and
long-time Missionistas would sometimes stretch along Mission from 16th all
the way out to Geneva and back again. A unique public space erupted every
week for several years in the face of police harassment, created and
maintained by the ever resourceful youth of Latino San Francisco. Join
original participants, filmmakers and today's young activists with rarely
seen footage, a trailer from a new documentary, "Why We Ride: From Low to
Show," shares the stories about the unique culture of the lowrider movement
in San Francisco Mission District and the silencing of that culture by the
police. We'll also discuss the changing nature of youth culture, street
life, public space, and life in San Francisco's Mission District.

The event is free, but donations $5-$50 are requested to help both
CounterPULSE, the evening's host, and the Mission Archives/Conscious Youth
Media Crew, who are providing facilities and video training for local youth.

Wednesday, April 25
The National Park Where We Live

Amy Meyer is essentially the "godmother" of the Golden Gate National
Recreation Area (GGNRA). If not for the heroic efforts of Amy and other
environmental activists, we might not have a GGNRA today. Amy has written a
book entitled, "New Guardians for  the Golden Gate: How America Got a Great
National Park," in which she and her co-author, Randy Delehanty, provide
exquisite details of the social and political context for the creation of
our local urban ecological jewel, which is internationally important. Join
us for a typical Counterpulse evening, during which Amy reveals the politics
of national park conservation.

Wednesday, May 2
>From Enclosures to Industrial Fast-Food:
Immigration and Work and Agriculture....

Immigration is as old as history, but major population shifts don't begin
until common lands become enclosed in the late feudal period. Today the
process continues with the replacement of subsistence agriculture in the
global south with agribusiness export crops. Loss of land starts the
movement of populations into cities, eventually leading to migration across
borders too...
When people leave home they take their favorite foods with them. Over the
past century waves of immigrants have brought with them many different kinds
of foods to California, which slowly have merged into components of
"California Cuisine"... Ironically--perhaps tragically--the folks who are
immigrants these days very often find themselves working in the fields for
agribusiness (even the newly organic businesses) OR in the restaurants and
hotels of SF, often in kitchens and food service sector...
We will also have a couple of remarkable video clips: 1) occupation strike
in Paris at a McDonalds by largely African immigrant workers; 2) scene from
Peter Watkins' movie "La Commune" wherein a group of Algerians sits around a
table talking about immigration and capital--in 1871! Speaking will be Grey
Kolevzon, Chris Carlsson and others TBA...

Wednesday, May 30
Butterflies in the City

Despite the revolutionary ecological changes on the San Francisco peninsula
over the last 240 years, the city abounds with spectacular native
biodiversity, including a couple of dozen species of butterflies. Like many
insects, butterfly species have co-evolved with specific plants in an
ecological co-evolutionary dance over millions of years. The Franciscan
bioregion is home to several locally endemic species, such as the mission
blue, which only lives on coastal bedrock ridgetops. A subset of our native
butterflies have adapted to some non-native plants, including some weeds.
Join us for an exhilarating and beautiful ride through this fascinating
subject. Barbara Deutsch, Deirdre Elmansoumi, Mia Monroe, Liam O'Brien.

Our half-hour radio shows continue on KUSF, 90.3 FM, every Thursday night at
10:30, thanks to Independent Arts & Media.

We are starting to plan the next Fall/Winter series of Talks and I'm happy
to report that thanks to City Lights Foundation support we are going to add
two new series to our Wednesday nights: on First Wednesdays will be "Words
First" featuring storytellers and their tales, and Third Wednesdays will
feature Art & Politics, each Wed. in the fall showcasing an individual
artist and their work.

If you have suggestions for topics, speakers, or films to be part of the
Fall/Winter 07-08 series, NOW IS THE TIME TO SEND THEM IN!... thanks!

--Chris

-- 
All my mail is going through this gmail account now.
www.chriscarlsson.com
My blog:  www.lipmagazine.org/ccarlsson
Fall/Winter Talks: http://www.counterpulse.org/fall-winter-talks.shtml
www.shapingsf.org
www.processedworld.com
www.fullenjoymentbooks.com
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