What is Jazz?

Jazz is a way for me to connect with freedom, in more than one way. This is a great short documentary by Garland McLaurin about Jazz, featuring DC's own Saltman Knowles ensemble and renowned trumpeter Alvin Trask:

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African music and art in DC for Obama: tomorrow at Bloombars

African Diaspora for Obama

presents:

Saturday November 1, 2008
8:00 PM

BLOOMBARS
3222 11th. Street NW
Washington, DC
www.bloombars.com


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Anna Mwalagho




Vicky Leyva




Suuna




Kuku

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Afro Colombian films in DC at the OAS: Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Manuel Zapata Olivella

The lives of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Manuel Zapata Olivella, two great Afro Colombians that have influenced the culture, arts and history of Colombia and the rest of the Indigenous American continent are featured in a film series presented next week by the the Art Museum of the Americas at the OAS - Organization of the American States. The movies are in Spanish with English subtitles.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, known as "Gabo" is one of the most famous writers in the world and the best Colombian writer ever, awarded with the Nobel literature, and also a teacher and a political activist, great supporter of Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution. Unfortunately most of Gabo's biographies do not mention his African roots and I am not sure if he has acknowledged it himself.


Manuel Zapata Olivella is perhaps the most influential civil rights Afro Colombian leader, and also a writer, anthropologist, scholar and a sociologist. His life is an example of sacrifice and struggle to help his community to overcome centuries of oppression and abuse. See the movie's website here (in Spanish).

VIDEOS

Manuel Zapata Olivella: Abridor de caminos




Buscando a Gabo

Cine Americas - Colombia

Wednesday November 5
6:30 PM

GSB Building, Terrace Level
1889 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20006

View Larger Map

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What about the children?

Think about the children. They are the true future, and they will inherit this world when our time will be over. This video has a message from young girls that you should listen to:



And this video shows how your children can turn out if you don't educate them well, if you let phobias, fears and lies take over their minds. This is what happens when people don't get a good education, when they get infested by hate and ignorance:



Now, go and do the right thing this Tuesday. Do it for you, for your children, for your loved ones and for the children of America and the world. The future depends on your vote my friend.

Photo via LGBT for Obama

Thank you Sheri, Phill and Lucia for sending these.

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Cuba: I was there and this is what I know

A conversation with Netfa Freeman, an African born in the US who has been to Cuba. Netfa talks about Cuban people, culture, politics, education, religion, discrimination, racism, economy, government, labor, society, customs, prostitution, international influence, leadership, Fidel Castro, civil freedoms, rights, democracy, US embargo, Cuban Americans, and what Americans can do to help Cubans.


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A refreshing face in politics: Jonas Brothers need to watch out

Do you think you are too young for politics? Do you think politics won't affect you? Do you stay away from politics because is boring and none of your business?

Rather you like it or not. Watch this video and think again.

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After all is true Obama is bringing change...





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Callao Cartel: art and lyrics for life

In Callao, the biggest seaport of Peru, a group of young men got together attracted by their common love for the arts and their desire to survive, in an environment where social injustice, poverty and discrimination had pushed them into jail, drugs and violence.

Callao is the biggest Peruvian seaport, located aside Lima the capitol city of Peru, a very contrasting country in South America. Callao is also where Peru’s biggest international airport is located, and one of the country’s biggest industrial areas as well.

But this city, destroyed several times by earthquakes and tsunamis, has been rebuilt as the exit door for the vast natural resources of Peru - sold cheaply to rich countries- and is becoming a sign of the times when the Peruvian “economic bonanza” is praised by free-market economists as a model for Latin America, even if most Peruvians are getting little benefits from it.



For centuries, the rich profits of Callao were sent to Spain or remained for the small Peruvian elites. In post-colonial Peru, such unfair model is repeated by the controlling elites. Now it's called the neo liberal economy where the rich gets richer, and the rest, oh well.

Most of the people of Callao, known as Chalacos -from the indigenous Quechua word Chala, meaning seashore region people- are used to live in extreme poverty with little hope for that to change. Just like most industrial urban areas of developing countries, its streets are infested with guns and cheap drugs, becoming a very violent place.

Still, Chalacos are very happy and friendly people, they have their own culture, and they carry the famous expression “Chimpun Callao” everywhere they migrate –ask any Peruvian. They have made Callao a city where Afro Caribbean music is overwhelmingly popular: Salsa, Reggaeton, Boleros and Merengue are what you'd hear the most in local bars and households.

Callao overview
I made this with photos by David Baggings

Callao is also a very segregated city: in one side is located the tiny but rich Italian Peruvian community of La Punta, where its Navy Academy and home of Admiral Luis Giampietri, the racist and corrupted Peruvian Vice President, accused of human rights violations, by the way.

In old Callao antiguo, the houses remind of those days when seaports were important ways of connection for people, before the planes took over the tourists money. Narrow streets, beautiful buildings with well crafted iron fences and wooden carved balconies. Signs of times that are gone and will never come back.



In the other side if town is the industrial and poor Callao, with its mostly Afro descendants and Indigenous people. There you have working-class families living in old and deteriorated houses from El Callao antiguo, and in callejones –narrow alleys surrounded by tiny houses that share one common bathroom/laundry area.

And there also you have the shanty towns behind the factories and cargo ship terminals, where the rule of the brave imposes code conducts, and where only the street wise could survive –until now. Puerto Nuevo is one of those neighborhoods, where people can smell the poisoning chemichal residues of the minerals extracted from the Andes mountains, ready to be shipped to the developed world.

In Puerto Nuevo -new port in Spanish- a group of young men got together, attracted by their common love for the arts and their desire to survive in an environment where social injustice, poverty and discrimination had pushed them into jail, drugs and violence. They decided it was time to speak up.

The voice of Callao's forgotten people

Callao Cartel, is a Hip-Hop and Reggaeton music group from Callao. They have filled up this city with its empowering lyrics, aggressive rhythms, but also with their amazing graffiti walls. Created by Nesio, Kasike, Salsa and 2Jota as the original members of Callao Cartel, and joined recently by Desertor and Dj Rencs.

Through their art, Callao Cartel tells the stories of their young but eventful lives, filled with frustration and anger towards a very unjust society -where the poor has nothing while the rich has everything- and with common stories of love, sex and adictions. They also like honoring their music idols: Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe, Tego Calderon, Tito Puente among other Afro Caribbean musicians. But most importantly, they respect their loved ones, killed or incarcerated by a system that find them to be suspicious of the crime of being young and dark-skinned.

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The music of Callao Cartel has been a success among Peruvians, and radio stations around the country play their songs -some people think they are too violent as the lives they live. Their first production –recorded by themselves in their own homes- became rapidly popular nationwide and internationally. World famous Reggaeton idol Tego Calderon –Puerto Rico’s best Hip Hop singer and composer- has visited Callao Cartel personally, and a mural honoring Tego is one of the urban icons of Puerto Nuevo today.



Callao Cartel has recently created a clothing line for young men, and their story has been featured in independent documentaries and TV series of Lima’s television scene. They are planning on recording more music, and to fill their hometown streets with their message of strength and unity –even when some people find their lyrics to be hard to understand- they are honest about their stories.

Theose stories are about the rude reality of the streets of Callao, that have seeing better days, but are always filled with people, children playing football, and youngsters hanging out in the corners. That is Callao, with its humid air smelling of the Plancton-rich green sea, its cloudy sky, its shy cityscape of small old buildings that are overshadowed by those big cargo ships, navy carriers and sometimes luxury cruises.


And there, lays Callao Cartel's main legacy: the stories and the voices of that forgotten people are finally out there. Perhaps otherwise nobody would even care to listen. The poor Chalacos are now heard and their lyrics have traveled a long way. With that, there is hope that the communities of Callao might get a fair attention from the Peru’s government soon, and that for once, the rich city of Callao will invest its huge profits on its most needed people.

It's not just about money, it's about hope for a better future: a better education, health care, housing, a future -if it ever existed for them. It's about converting a lifestyle of survival into a lifestyle of opportunities. This is a whole generation of young Peruvians who still have hope in life, even if they never got access to real opportunities in life - they believe there is a better tomorrow for them. This is a community that is still struggling fiercely against their worst problems, claiming for their own cultural identity and more visibility, a community that has been neglected for too long already.

Cancion de todos

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Tego Calderon in Callao

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www.myspace.com/callaocartel

All the photos and videos are from Callao Cartel members unless noted







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George Lopez rally for Obama

George Lopez was at a local school in Fairfax, VA last October 4, 2008.

In his speech Lopez said that he is darker than Obama who "looks Dominican".

Lopez said will run for President after Obama gets two terms, that Latinos will be a majority one day soon, that we need better health care system and better education.

Finally Lopez said that he is campaiging for Obama because the Senator from Illinois called him directly to ask for his support.

He ended his speech shouting "VIVA OBAMA"

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Latinos for Obama

They call us Latinos, Hispanics - the US government since Nixon. But are we really a unified, singular and homogeneous community? I don't think so, and that's not a bad thing -it's just what it is.

We "Latinos" are a diverse group of different cultural and racial communities. But we got something in common: our ties from this continent - called America by most, and Abya Yala for some of us. The continent of our Indigenous ancestors.

We speak different languages, we have several cultural heritages, point of views, lifestyles, we are diverse.

And yes, we will unite this year finally on something:

On November 4, 2008, most of us called "Latinos" will support Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States:

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Obama lost because of my lazy ***! but Donna is not going to the back of the bus

Move On sent me this video and made me realize how stupid I was, waiting for others to vote! and hoping that the neighbor next door would go and vote for me -or instead of me- while I found any excuse to sit my brown ass at home doing nothing on election day.

Right, this is what happened: McCain won because of me! I am sorry America!

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Well, it was kinda like a really bad joke, but it can happen. Move On has created a website where you can personalize videos and send it out to your friends -especially those lazy people who think politics are none of their business. So go to this link and send them out!

But first, please watch this video: this is Donna Brazile, an oustanding woman who you should pay attention to, one day she might be in a high level public office. I hope so.

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You got that right sister.





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Congo week: cell phones really can kill

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From the Congo Week website:

The Congo is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today where nearly 6 million people have died since 1996, half of them children 5 yrs old or younger and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped all as a result of the scramble for Congo's wealth.

The United Nations said it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War Two. However, hardly anything is said about it in the media. Can you imagine 45,000 people dying each month and hardly a peep from anyone in the age of the Internet? This is literally what has happened and continue to happen in the Congo. There is a media white-out about Congo and no worldwide resolution to end the conflict and carnage there.

Click on the image to learn more about Congo week:

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Sarah Palin president

If for some damn reason, John McCain gets elected -let's just imagine that nightmare for a horrible second- and the Senator for Arizona gets so excited that his 72 years old heart can't take it, and he ends in a better place. Here is what'd happen then:

Click in the photo:

www.palinaspresident.us

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The US economy is already in recession

These two maps suggest that the US economy is already going through a recession. The first map has been published by ABC News today October 21, based on a report by Moody's Economy.




Says ABC News:

What started out as a housing problem in a few states has now exploded into a full-fledged recession with a majority of states now in or dangerously close to recession.
Just this weekend, President Bush's top economic advisor used the much-avoided word "recession" to describe the economies in some states.

"We are seeing what I think anyone would characterize as a recession in certain parts of the country," Edward P. Lazear, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said on CNN's "Late Edition."

The second map shows a March 2008 report of the same company Moody's Economy published by USAToday. Only five states were in recession back then: Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan y Nevada.



What is recession?

According to the neolibeal magazine The Economist - the British bankers' favorite media:

Recession: Broadly speaking, a period of slow or negative economic GROWTH, usually accompanied by rising UNEMPLOYMENT. Economists have two more precise definitions of a recession. The first, which can be hard to prove, is when an economy is growing at less than its long-term trend rate of growth and has spare CAPACITY. The second is two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.

According to Wikipedia:

A recession is a contraction phase of the business cycle. The U.S. based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines a recession more broadly as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales."[1] A sustained recession may become a depression.

Finally, The Economist says that a recession and economic growth are part of the economic cycle, and since the end of the World War II there is an average time of 50 months grow and 11 months recession. If that is correct, the US economy could recover by 2009.


World summit

But if things get worse, we might see a worldwide depression. The danger is real, and that is why Bush and France's Sarkozy have decided to call for an international summit in order to plan common actions to find a solution to this crisis.




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Another way to say "I'm sorry that I messed up promoting an unjustified war"

I used to have a lot of respect for Collin Powell, his life achievements and his background as a military leader and role model for many. I thought he was going to be the first African American president of the United States.

Until that day in February 2003, when I saw him at the United Nations giving a speech showing fake photographs and maps to convince the world that Sadam Hussein had WMD: weapons of mass destruction, in pre-war Iraq. It's been five years since then, and his lies have produced 1.2 million Iraqi and 3 thousand Americans tortured, assesinated and disappeared. But until today Collin Powell hasn’t come out and apologized by his wrong doing. Now he has the nerve -waiting until the last minute when we already know Obama is winning the elections - to "endorse" the Senator for Illinois.

Gimme a break Powell, I won’t believe a word from you, until the day when you admit you are a vile liar and apologize to all Americans and the rest of the world, for you shameless support of the invasion of Iraq. You are not trustworthy; you don’t deserve my respect, not until you tell the whole truth.

Now, if anyone has forgotten, I am posting what Col. Wilkerson said about Powell’s presentation at the UN:

A former top aide to Colin Powell says his involvement in the former secretary of state's presentation to the United Nations on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was "the lowest point" in his life. "I wish I had not been involved in it," says Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a longtime Powell adviser who served as his chief of staff from 2002 through 2005. "I look back on it, and I still say it was the lowest point in my life."

And if anyone have doubts, here is the whole transcript of Powell’s speech at the UN -which by the way, was used by CNN to produce some documentary to excuse themselves from their own guilt - CNN was one of the strongest Bush supporters in the media.

"My second purpose today is to provide you with additional information, to share with you what the United States knows about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as well as Iraq's involvement in terrorism, which is also the subject of Resolution 1441 and other earlier resolutions. I might add at this point that we are providing all relevant information we can to the inspection teams for them to do their work. The material I will present to you comes from a variety of sources. Some are U.S. sources. And some are those of other countries. Some of the sources are technical, such as intercepted telephone conversations and photos taken by satellites. Other sources are people who have risked their lives to let the world know what Saddam Hussein is really up to. I cannot tell you everything that we know…”

Of course you can’t tell everything you know Powell, you don’t have the guts nor the decency.





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I am still laughing - Obama at the Alfred E. Smith Foundation dinner

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Barack Obama was very convincing at last debate and he seems ready to lead this country

Free trade policies, education and health care were debated.

Tonight's debate has confirmed several things. First, that Senator Barack Obama is ready to lead this country as he has the wisdom, vision and ability to hold that position, he's got what it takes. He looked presidential, but in his very own way; very charming and direct to the point.

This country is facing a deep crisis in many ways, and it needs a leader that will inspire its recuperation, and that is what I see on Barack Obama.

Senator McCain on the other hand, looked aggressive, desperate, very negative and nervous. The veteran from the Korean War, was devoted to attacking Obama during most of the debate, even lying and exaggerating facts and data. He was obviously decided to bring Obama's image down but he didn't succeed.

Health care and education were very important issues tonight and Obama provided with detailed information about the kind of actions he will take as President, to make both of them affordable for everyone. He said the government must invest and reform education, praising early start education programs, and stating that the youth of America is not an interest group, so everyone who wants to attend college should be able to afford it.

Obama gave tonight a lesson of knowledge and he was very confident when responding to McCain's attacks -calmly but firmly- and with much class. In the last segment Obama gave a touching speech, very honest, compelling where he mentioned the need to solver American's problems.

Even McCain had to applaud and commend him, and he was making ridiculous faces - perhaps without realizing that his microphone and the TV cameras were still on.

Obama at the end of debate

Free trade

Failed economic policies of “free trade” were mentioned in the debate, using the cases of Peru and Colombia as examples. Obama repealed an attack from McCain assuring that the Colombia FTA should not be approved until that country clears its history of murdering union leaders and other human rights abuses.

Then McCain showed an expression of anguish and rage almost comical, and he used Venezuela's Hugo Chávez as a reason for the need of "free trade" in Colombia, calling for the approval of the agreement. But McCain lied saying that the fight against illegal drugs in Colombia has produced good results, when in reality the production of cocaine has increased. By saying that, the Republican candidate was trying to defend his good friend, the abusive and corrupt Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

Obama is doing right by opposing the FTA with Colombia.


The Peru FTA

Obama was naive and wrong when he said that the Peru FTA has been "a well-structured" deal with protections for labor rights and the environment. In the document, it is true: it contains norms that could protect Peruvian workers and the environment.

But what Obama doesn’t know -or is ignoring- is that the corrupt government of Alan García is not interested in respecting the human rights of its citizens, let alone the labor practices in a country where 75% of workers are not allowed to unionize, because they are in the informal market.

Even worse, President Garcia has received special legislative powers from the Peruvian Congress so he can pass laws that will implement the FTA. These decrets are making it harder for the regulations that Obama mentioned, to be respected.

Peru is a very corrupted society and right now, continuous social protests against neoliberal policies, this "free trade" deal and its consequences, have caused deaths and abusive arrests already. The Peru FTA should be revoked or renegotiated.

Candidates talk about "free trade"

Obama won the debate as the world watches

Perhaps a presidential elections in the United States has never aroused so much interest in the world like the current. It’s not just the historical fact that an Afro descendant might get elected as the President of the most powerful country in the world.

This is also a test of the absolute influence and hegemony of the US in the world - their domestic policies have now become an international issue. It also addresses the need and hope that the US will eventually improve its damaged relations with the world community, after the disastrous Bush doctrine and its vice president Richard Cheney - "a very dangerous man" according to Joe Biden, the potential future US Vice President.

Most American news channels, radio stations, newspapers and blogs are in agreement that Obama was very convincing, and that McCain lost the debate - some even say he looked miserable. I agree.

CNN poll at the end of debate

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We have only 26 days

Senator Obama needs an advantage of more than ten percentage points to win the elections, because many believe the racial factor could take votes away at the last minute, at least some five to six points.

Also, Obama needs to win in those states with the highest electoral college’s number. The state of Virginia is one of them, and polls say that Obama is a favorite there since a week ago.

The following three weeks before the elections are going to be very tense. The dirty and aggressive tactics of the McCain campaign against the African American candidate will get worse. There have been already racist and xenophobic expressions in public demonstrations of McCain, and emails of false rumors about the Muslim origin of Obama are still flooding the Internet.

All of that seems pointless right now: many political commentators are talking about what could be a surprising and overwhelming victory for Obama this November 4.




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Native American films in Washington DC: Film Indians Now! showcased at the NMAI and NGA

The National Museum of the American Indian and The National Gallery of Art present:


FILM INDIANS NOW!

A four-weekend season of Native Indigenous films in Washington, DC

Oct 4-5, Nov 1-2, Nov 22-23, Dec 6-7, 2008

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the National Gallery of Art are presenting the eight-part film and discussion series “Film Indians Now!” The programs offer visitors a fresh perspective on how contemporary Native Americans present themselves through the media.

Inspired by the National Gallery of Art’s (NGA) George de Forest Brush and the National Museum of the American Indian’s (NMAI) Fritz Scholder exhibitions, FILM INDIANS NOW! provides a unique opportunity to examine how two very different artists’ representations of Native Americans have influenced the ways Native artists today portray themselves and their people.

To introduce our audience to the artistry and influence of Native cinema, we have selected more than two dozen works by Native filmmakers. We hope you join us for all eight days of the series FILM INDIANS NOW!, and we invite you to view the works of both George de Forest Brush and Fritz Scholder.

Programs are free of charge but seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis. Doors open approximately thirty minutes before each show. Programs are subject to change. For current information, visit:

http://www.nmai.si.edu/fin/2008/
http://www.nga.gov/programs/film/indiansnow.shtm

SCHEDULE OF FILMS

Saturday, October 4, 2008, 2:00 PM
PRETTY PICTURES
East Building Auditorium, National Gallery of Art

Conversion
(2006, 8 min.) Director: Nanobah Becker (Navajo)
In a remote corner of the Navajo Nation, circa 1950, a visit by Christian missionaries has catastrophic consequences for a family. In Navajo with English subtitles.

Disney’s Pocahontas
(1995, 84 min.) Directors: Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg
Free-spirited Pocahontas lives a carefree life with her animal friends Meeko and Flit and the companionship of her loving Grandmother Willow. When English settlers arrive on the shores of Pocahontas's village, a chance encounter with Captain John Smith begins a friendship that changes both cultures forever.

Moderated discussion led by Pat Aufderheide with filmmaker Nanobah Becker and National Museum of the American Indian research historian Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway) to follow the screening.

Sunday, October 5, 2008, 2:00 PM
STRANGE LOVE
Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Theater
National Museum of the American Indian, First Level

Club Native
(2008, 78 min.) Director: Tracey Deer (Mohawk)
On the Mohawk Kahnawake Reserve there are two very firm but unwritten rules: don’t marry a white man and don’t have a child with a white man. Doing so means losing all standing as a Native person, for you and your children. Documentarian Tracey Deer follows four women from Kahnawake as they battle the pressures of life, love, and community to protect their status as tribal members, as well as the rights of their spouses and children to live on tribal lands.

Moderated discussion led by Gabrielle Tayac with filmmaker Tracey Deer to follow the screening.

Saturday, November 1, 2008, 2:00 PM
UNITE URBAINE
East Building Auditorium, National Gallery of Art

Tkaronto
(2007, 102 min.) Director: Shane Belcourt (Métis)
Amidst the cityscape of Tkaronto (the original Mohawk word for Toronto), Ray and Jolene, two Native thirty-somethings, make an unexpected, life-changing connection. As they wander through bittersweet experiences of contemporary Native life, they find solace in each other’s struggle for a sense of cultural self.

Moderated discussion led by producer Christine Vachon with filmmaker Shane Belcourt to follow the screening.

Sunday, November 2, 2008, 2:00 PM
Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Theater
National Museum of the American Indian, First Level

IT'S NOT TV, IT'S INDIANS! A high-energy explosion of television magic that will make you think about Native Americans in a new way! Three Native artists—Ben-Alex Dupris (Colville), Terrance Houle (Blackfoot/Saulteaux), and Skeena Reece (Métis/Cree/ Tsimshian/Gitksan)—perform spoken word, song, and dance pieces inspired by their favorite “Indian” episodes of television. Many American TV shows have featured a special episode with an American Indian guest star or Native-inspired theme. Many of these shows are embraced by Native communities, despite their lack of accuracy or sensitivity toward Native culture. Reception with the artists to follow.

Proposed episodes for this program are:


• Challenge of the SuperFriends: “The History of Doom” and “Doomsday” featuring Apache Chief. Director: Ray Patterson, presented by Ben-Alex Dupris
• Seinfeld: “Cigar Store Indian” Director: Tom Cherones, presented by Terrance Houle
• Moesha: “Road Trip” Director: Henry Chan, presented by Skeena Reece

Saturday, November 22, 2008, 2:00 PM
East Building Auditorium, National Gallery of Art

A FUTURE REALIZED: We are proud to present the newest films from some of the best Native American filmmakers working today.

The Colony
(2007, 23 min.) Director: Jeff Barnaby (Mi’gMaq)
Maytag, a Mi’gMaq man displaced from the reserve, latches onto and falls in love with the only aboriginal woman he has met in the city. His descent into madness is exacerbated by his drug dealer and friend. In English and Mi’gMaq with English subtitles.

Nikamowin
(2007, 11 min.) Director: Kevin Lee Burton (Swampy Cree)
This experimental film ponders our indelible connection to language, transforming a Cree narrative into a landscape of sound and song. In English and Cree with English subtitles.

Sikumi (On the Ice)
(2007,15 min.) Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (Iñupiaq)
An Inuit hunter inadvertently becomes a witness to murder, forcing him to navigate the frayed morality between honoring the memory of one friend and destroying the life of another. In Iñupiaq with English subtitles.

A Return Home
(2008, 31 min.) Director: Ramona Emerson (Navajo)
A powerful documentary about B. Emerson Kitsman, a contemporary painter who has returned to her childhood home in the Navajo Nation. As she begins a monumental project, Kitsman must also adjust to life on her reservation, spurring questions about what it means to be a Native artist.
4-Wheel War Pony
(2007, 5 min.) Director: Dustinn Craig (White Mountain Apache/Navajo)
The Apaches of the 1880s absorbed modernity, yet they managed to continue refining and retaining their way of life; so, too, do today’s White Mountain Apache skateboarders. 4-Wheel War Pony is a short film using skateboarding footage captured by members of the White Mountain Apache in an effort to document a culture in motion.

Moderated discussion led by curator Gerald McMaster (Plains Cree and member of the Siksika Nation) with the filmmakers to follow the films.

Sunday, November 23, 2008, 2:00 PM
Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Theater
National Museum of the American Indian, First Level

THE DOUBLE ENTENDRE OF RE-ENACTMENT: Curator Gerald McMaster takes a subversive and often humorous look at historical re-enactment. This presentation offers new insight into re-enactment—from its roots in American artist George Catlin’s European tour of Native performers and the famous Wild West shows to today’s young Native artists currently reinterpreting re-enactment as a means of artistic defiance.

Works discussed include:

Shooting Geronimo
(2007, 11 min.) Director: Kent Monkman (Cree)
Set in a ghost town in the old west, two buff young Cree men derail the contrivances of 19th-century filmmaker Frederick Curtis.

The Last Great Hunt
(2006, 6 min.) Director: Shonie De La Rosa (Navajo)
This comedic short presents a series of stereotypes culled from cinematic depictions of Native North Americans. “Mr. Indigenous” stalks all manner of prey, from bunny rabbits to “cowboys,” parodying tropes of the Native as noble-warrior-at-one-with-nature.

Nanook of the North
(1922, 5-min. excerpt) Director: Robert Joseph Flaherty
Cited as the first film of the documentary genre, Nanook of the North “documents” a year in the life of an Inuit hunter Nanook and his family. Using text panels and lively music (the film is silent), Flaherty presents a glimpse into daily “pre-contact” life in the Arctic: trading, hunting, fishing, sledding, and igloo building.

In the Land of the War Canoes
(1972, 5-min. excerpt) Director: Edward Sheriff Curtis
Originally titled In the Land of the Head-Hunters, Edward Curtis’s film strives to recreate the way of life of the Kwakiutl peoples of Vancouver Island prior to contact. Massive war canoes, totem poles, and elaborate costumes animate a story that contains all of the elements of a Hollywood movie: unrequited love, betrayal, revenge, and battle.

The Shadow Catcher
(1974, 5-min. excerpt) Director: Teri C. McLuhan
The Shadow Catcher retraces photographer Edward Curtis’s journeys from the pueblo regions of the Southwest, north to British Columbia and Alaska, using re-creations of events from his source materials: unpublished journals, field notes, private letters, and all of Curtis’s recoverable film footage of the trip.

Nunavut
(1995, 28-min. excerpt) Director: Zacharias Kunuk (Inuit); Producer: Isuma Productions
Igloolik, Summer 1946. The distant sound of the atookatookatook, the first gas engine to arrive in Igloolik, brings a surprise visitor to Qaisut, island of the walrus hunters. The priest arrives to study Inuit life, to dig in the ancient ruins, and to see the hunt.

Winnetou
(1965, 5-min. excerpt) Director: Harald Reini
This is the first of sixteen film adaptations of Karl May’s popular German “wild west” novels. German survey engineer Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker) is saved from certain death by Apache warrior Winnetou (played by French film star Pierre Brice), and the two become blood brothers. While May often intimated that his life was the inspiration for his books, he never actually traveled to the American West. May has been immortalized in annual Karl May festivals held across Europe.

4-Wheel War Pony
(2007, 5 min.) Director: Dustinn Craig (White Mountain Apache/Navajo)
The Apaches of the 1880s absorbed modernity, yet they managed to continue refining and retaining their way of life; so, too, are today’s White Mountain Apache. 4-Wheel War Pony is a short film utilizing skateboarding footage captured by core members of the White Mountain Apache in an effort to document culture in motion.

Film descriptions courtesy of imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.




Ladies and Gentlemen
Welcome to the show!

You will not see a single buffalo in any of the films you are about to watch. There will be no little big men dancing with wolves, no vision quests or sweat lodges. But please hold back your single tear, because the works presented in FILM INDIANS NOW! are light years beyond those worn-out, clichéd tales of earth-loving, change-shunning American Indians you were weaned on. The films, performances, and television shows you will watch throughout the course of this series are only the smallest sample of work signaling a creative convergence taking place right now in the bustling world of Native American cinema.

Native Americans have been making movies since the turn of the 20th century—two of the first filmmakers being the Ho-Chunk actors/writers/directors/power couple James Young Deer and Lillian St. Cyr. Today’s technology offers mediamakers unprecedented access to film and video equipment. Native people from all over the world, with cameras in hand, are creating films from their own, unique perspectives. These works give us first-person views of reservation worlds and urban lives, past and present, individual experiences in which iPods and seal hunting can be part of the same story. For these mediamakers, this is the next logical step in the Native American oral tradition. Like Bob Dylan going electric, it is an evolution of the art form. And these filmmakers love movies! Not that the medium is suddenly without pitfalls.

Native filmmakers are often asked to speak for not only themselves, not only for their people, but for every one of the thousands of different Native communities. The films you will see here turn these expectations around by telling personal stories that reflect the many facets of the Native American experience. The excitement of this cultural regeneration is palpable in each one of the works presented in FILM INDIANS NOW!

They show Native people walking in one world, a complex place that reveals its richness with each new film. So sit back and don’t relax. We hope you enjoy the show!

Melissa Bisagni
Sierra Ornelas
Film and Video Center, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of the American Indian



LOCATIONS

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian

Located on the National Mall at 4th Street and Independence Avenue SW, between the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum and the U.S. Capitol Building, NMAI is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The museum is closed on December 25. All films are presented in the Rasmuson Theater on the first level.

Metro: L’Enfant Plaza Station (all lines except Red); exit Maryland Avenue/ Smithsonian Museums.

http://www.nga.gov/programs/film/indiansnow.shtm
The National Gallery of Art

Located on the National Mall between 3rd and 7th streets at Constitution Avenue NW, is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. All films are screened at the National Gallery’s East Building Auditorium, at 4th Street at Constitution Avenue NW.

Metro: Judiciary Square (Red line); Archives (Yellow/Green lines), and Smithsonian (Blue/Orange lines)

http://www.nmai.si.edu/fin/2008/



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What I want to celebrate today

Christopher Columbus didn't discover shit. For hundreds of years, people from Africa, Europe, Asia, Polynesia and Mesopotamia have been migrating to this continent of my ancestors, that today we like to call Abya Yala.

Colon was simply a mercenary and adventurer sent by the Hispanic kingdom and the Catholic church, in order to take over the land and resources of my people – in times when Europe was starving, after hundreds of years of non-sense wars, barbaric genocide, robbery, diseases and all the things their savage civilizations had done to themselves, and that later they spread around the rest of the world.

My red brown people welcomed them, provided them with a home and food, and helped their hungry mobs to settle. But Columbus and his descendants took advantage of my people cowardly, leading the biggest genocide of human history that continues until today – but of course, they blame it on the epidemics.

Ever since then my people was slaved, assassinated, abused, dressed up, exploited, underfed and poisoned; and that hasn’t stopped yet.


..


But WE survived Columbus.

WE are still here. And that is what I want to celebrate today.







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ABC refused to air this ad but you can have your say

According to the WE campaign, ABC channel recently refused to run this Repower America ad "even though they run ads from oil companies that mislead the American people about the role fossil fuels play in the climate crisis."

But you can ask ABC to reconsider their decision so they can air this ad by Friday:

The We Can Solve It website says:

The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. The goal of the Alliance is to build a movement that creates the political will to solve the climate crisis -- in part through repowering America with 100 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources within 10 years.

Very nice, just wondering why no one did all of this fuzz about clean energy long time ago. Like when I wasn't even born or before the Bush family got into the White House. The 1.2 Iraqi people wouldn't be dead right now after the invasion. The planet wouldn't be fucked up as right now. Better now than never.




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October 12: honoring Native peoples: National Day against Immigration Raids and Deportations

516 years ago the Europeans arrived to the continent Abya Yala with the intention of killing, invading, looting and stealing a territory that indigenous civilizations had shared in harmony for thousands of years.

The invasion and genocide have not finished. The Bush administration keeps imposing its failed free trade policies over the Western hemisphere countries, and recently it has begun an economic war against Bolivia, by removing tariffs that benefit Bolivian products for exportation, with the intention of promoting the failure of the Indigenous government of President Evo Morales, and to promote pro-separatist hate groups in Santa Cruz.

Multinational corporations from Europe and the US continue plundering the natural resources of our continent and exploiting our people with unfair labor practices. Poor post-colonial countries of the hemisphere remain submissive and dependent on the economic standards that are issued by colonial countries.

Every October 12 we remember the start of the European invasion of the land of our ancestors. For us indigenous people, this is a time of reflection and meditation on the current status of our peoples and the future of our mother earth.

These are events in DC that you might want to attend:
______________________________________

TODAY FRIDAY, Oct. 10

And an event of great symbolic significance at the Organization of American States, where there will be a tribute to native peoples and the encounter of two worlds.

Usually indigenous peoples have been excluded from this annual event at the OAS, as the Ambassador of Spain and other countries placed flowers at the statue of Queen Isabella the Catholic Hispanic. This time there will be also a tribute to the indigenous leaders of our continent.

Invitation

The chairman of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, Ambassador Jorge Reynaldo Cuadros Anaya, Permanent Representative of Bolivia, is pleased to invite you to the event "Encuentro de Dos Mundos," by Friday October 10 2008.

The event will begin at 10:30 AM with a wreath, and then carry out a protocol meeting from 11:00 to 12:00 noon at the headquarters of the Organization of American States.

Organization of American States
Main Building
17th Street & Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

______________________________________

SUNDAY October 12

October 12: National Day of Action
against Immigration Raids and Deportations.

National coalitions and organizations responsible for the massive immigration rallies in 2006 are calling for a "National Day of Action" on October 12, 2008, to demand the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end raids and deportations.

In the last few months, ICE and DHS have been carrying out mass incarcerations and deportations of undocumented workers. The recent raids in Postville, IA and Laurel, MS had a very specific purpose: to target basic workers' rights and unionization efforts, and to terrorize the immigrant community. ICE is taking on the role of law maker and enforcer at the same time.

ICE’s 2007 Annual Report states: "ICE removed a record 276,912 illegal aliens, including voluntary removals, from the United States ...” In addition, ICE obtained more than $30 million dollars on penalties against employers, made 863 criminal arrests and 4,077 administrative arrests, holding an average of 29,786 undocumented immigrants per day within its facilities nationwide.

These raids are conducted, even when Immigration represents only 3 percent the list of most important concerns for likely voters, this election year. While the economy and jobs at 48 percent, or terrorism and national security at 14 percent. (CBS News/New York Times Poll, 9-12-08).

Meanwhile both presidential candidates McCain and Obama have remained silent after the tragedies of Mississippi and Iowa, avoiding attacks from anti-immigrant groups, and sending the wrong message to ICE which continues attacking immigrant workers, disrupting factories, tearing families apart and terrorizing neighborhoods.

STOP DEPORTATIONS IMMEDIATELY
¡Basta YA!

This action is needed to address this humanitarian crisis in the US, and to call the public attention on the abuses and persecution that millions of immigrants are facing every day.

Among the cities calling participating are: Detroit (MI), Madison (WI), Chicago (IL), San Francisco (CA), New York City (NY), Minneapolis (MN), Boston (NJ), Rochester (NY), and many others.

October 12 was chosen "for its significance in the history of this continent. Over 500 years ago, European imperialism arrived to this continent and established a flourishing empire on the bones and ruins of the peoples and societies who had lived in this land for thousands of years," said an organizer.

The main demands of the broad and growing national coalition are: to end ICE raids and deportations, a call on all presidential candidates to announce an immediate and unconditional moratorium on the raids and deportations, and for an Immigration Reform to be enacted within the first 100 days of the new federal government, including legalization for all 15 million immigrant workers and their families.

Five hundred years after Europeans arrived undocumented and illegally to this continent, we see how both the US and Europe are closing their borders and deporting thousands of immigrant workers and their families. They are people who left impoverished regions that used to be European colonies, and that still depend today on US-European economic policies.

Precisely, the consequences of those failed foreign and economic policies are promoting undocumented immigration, human exploitation and abuse. Undocumented immigrants are denied by rich countries of basic human rights, decent wages, working and living conditions, access to good education and health care and other basic services.

These greedy policies that have created a deep financial crisis in the US and the world, protect the interests of the rich, and promote disgraces like the genocide of over 1.2 million Iraqi people, the AIDS epidemic, the worsening of poverty in the US –never seeing since the 1929 crisis- with 4 million Americans losing their homes, and 47 million Americans without health insurance.

On October 12th, we will demand peace, and human, civil, and workers' rights, as well as extending a fraternal salute of solidarity and equality to the global immigrants rights movement in the planet.

Call your Congress member, participate helping immigrants rights advocacy groups, get involved!

(*) This article has been written with information provided by Alex Gillis and the Oct12-NAD.

______________________________________


CASA de Maryland
Community Fair 2008

Every year CASA de Maryland with the support of Montgomery County's Department of Housing and Community Affairs organizes a Long Branch Community Fair. The fair traditionally draws over 300 attendees most of them residents of Long Branch, as well as Langley Park and Takoma Park. The fair brings services and information to the community, while providing entertainment and fostering a sense of community.

Sunday, October 12, 2008
1:00pm - 5:00pm

CASA Community Center at Pine Ridge
8615 Piney Branch Road
City/Town:
Silver Spring, MD

This year, CASA's annual fair will recognize the generosity of our donors and volunteers. In addition, CASA de Maryland will be offering health referrals and information sessions, information on crating small business, resources and referrals for legal inquiries, and voter registration. CASA will be joined by partner organizations such as Mary's Center, Equal Rights Center, CentroNia, Montgomery College and more.

We also have a great array of performers and musicians that will provide entertainment. You can't miss it! We hope to see you there!

______________________________________

MONDAY October 13

IPS' Social Action & Leadership School for Activist, invites to a free screening of the documentary film:

Alcatraz Is Not an Island

Monday, October 13, 2008
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
FREE!

This screening is in honor of Indigenous People's Solidarity Week and will be followed by a discussion. A guest speaker TBA.

IPS - SALSA
1112 16th Street NW, Suite 600
Washington DC 20036

In 1969, a small group of Native American students claimed Alcatraz Island. Thousands of Native Americans eventually joined them, retaking Indian land for the first time since the 1880s. This historic event altered the U.S. government's policy, and forever changed the way Native Americans view themselves, their culture and their rights. This is a passionate, award-winning documentary narrated by Peruvian American actor Benjamin Bratt, follows this monumental expression of Indigenous solidarity and its impact on future Native generations.

This event is open to the public but space is limited please call 202-787-5229 to confirm.




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That'll be me one day...

Dcist posted this as its October 9 Photo of the Day, with the description:

"That'll be me one day...I just know it will!" Flickr user Sanjay Suchak's capture of performers taking the stage at Fiesta DC brings back old memories when we wistfully decided about what we wanted to be when we grew up. One day, you decide you'll be a first baseman at your first Mets game. The next day, a drummer while attending your first Air Supply concert.

I loved the photo! not just because it's really cute, but also because the dancers are my friends. The ladies walking up the stage are part of the Afro Peruvian ensemble "Mamauca" who are based in Virginia.

And the two girls in blue are part of "Ritmos de Peru" dance school, based in MD and VA. Most of them are Peruvian American youth who learn through dance to keep our multiracial Peruvian heritage.

More photos from the same photographer:

Photography by Sanjay Suchak




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Peruvian American film Soy Andina premiere in DC: video with reactions

The documentary film "Soy Andina" was finally premiered in Washington, DC last weekend, as part of the XIX Latin American Film Festival, at the AFI-Silver theater in Maryland.

The program included the film and an open Q&A with Director and Producer Mitch Teplisky, as well as a dance performance by Cynthia Paniagua after the film.

These are some of the reactions about the film.



Previous reactions to the film, from the Soy Andina blog:

"What an inspirational, moving film! I was on the verge of tears throughout the entire screening (happy, proud tears). I was born in Peru and grew up in NY. Your film made me miss my country and reignited the desire to share my culture with my son…" - Seanna (Peruvian-American) 

"I have been following Soy Andina for some time. I found it by accident by surfing the web. It immediately hit a cord since I am also half-Peruvian and I have had a desire to discover my roots. My brother went to the premiere and loved it. I think it was part of the reason he decided to go to Peru for the first time." - Tania (Peruvian-American) "I lived and worked in Peru from 2005-2007; your film brought back lots of memories, and tears to my eyes." - Laura (American)

"The film is life affirming, entertaining and beautiful to watch. You succeeded in telling an authentic story from an honest point of view that is not only respectful of Peruvian culture but is imbued in its spirit..." - Marcela Goglio, Curator - Film Society of Lincoln Center 

 "I emigrated from Peru in 1989 at the age of 15 and lived in [California] with my parents ever since. I'm the first generation in my family born in Lima-Peru with parents from the Andes. My parents took me to the Andes every year since I was 2 years old so I got to love it and appreciated but in Lima I had to behave and talk different so my friends can accept me. This is a reality that not only in Peru occurs but in every other country in one way or another. Now, I'm an Electrical Engineer [...] with masters [...]. This movie was so real for me and touched me very much. It's the first Peruvian movie that I ever seen around here that brought out the beauty and the reality of people from the Andes and other parts of Peru using the dance and the music as a form of communication to the big screen. Peru is a rich country in many ways and can be a great source for learning about unity and love of many different cultures. Learning about a country's culture can help us all appreciate it better regardless where we're from…." - [...] (Peruvian-American)

It was a great evening, and I am looking forward to see this movie again in DC!

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5 friends - until this weekend

Featuring:

Amy Adams, will.i.am, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Bacon, Halle Berry, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Connolly, Courteney Cox, Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Jonah Hill, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Kiedis, Ashton Kutcher, Adam Levine, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria, Tobey Maguire, Demi Moore, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi, Ethan Suplee, Kyra Sedgwick, Michelle Trachtenberg, Usher, and Forest Whitaker.





WWW.MAPS.GOOGLE.COM/VOTE

The deadline -in most states- for vote registration is this Saturday October 4th!



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What latino vote? Rosario Dawson at Jimmy Kimmel with Guillermo the puppet - and the VP debate

I had hoped that Rosario Dawson (one of the founders of Voto Latino) was going to tell Jimmy Kimmel -that annoying dude who was a TV show on ABC- to stop the racist character 'Guillermo' for once.

Guillermo, the stupid Mexican. Photo Metro.co.uk

Guillermo portraits a Mexican man following stereotypes that are very offensive. The guy is forced by a racist script to exaggerate his accent and to behave like an idiot, reinforcing the false concept that Mexicans are dumb.

Such a tasteless, demeaning, disrespectful, and not-funny-at-all character is very disrespectful to Mexicans and therefore to all the people of Latin American origins, especially those of us with Native American heritage, like Guillermo.

Rosario Dawson should have spoke up against it. But instead, she talked to 'Guillermo' the way one talks to a child or a retarded person, with some kind of pity or compassion. What a shame.

Look, as I have wrote before, this whole "Latino" identity is really fake to me. We -the so called Hispanics- are not one race, nor one identity, and we don't think alike. Neither we vote in mass like most African Americans or Caucasians do.

There are Americans of Cuban origin who vote mostly Republican -a tendency changing rapidly towards the Democratic party- and there are some Colombians or Peruvians who wouldn't vote for Obama because he is black, or Mexicans who loved Hillary Clinton but now will support Obama. There are conservative Chicanos or Puerto Ricans who dislike undocumented immigrants, and Dominicans or Salvadorans who care less about gay rights, or Democrats of Honduran heritage who care less about abortion, etc. Others won't even bother to vote, etc.

My point is this: we don't even like to participate actively in politics in mass, we don't have leaders, role models to look up to, we don't feel we are part of the system sometimes.

For example, a friend of mine sent me an email-invite for an open discussion with NPR's Talk to the Nation radio show --which was going to talk about the "Latino vote". So I forwarded it to most of my contacts, right. When I got to the station, only my "white" friends were there. (!)

And tonight, I was at a VP-debate watching party at a Salvadorean restaurant in DC (Sarah Palin was a joke again) and the only "latino" people there were the Central Americans of Native heritage who were either waiting tables or drinking heavily. The rest of the attendees -mostly black and white people- were the only ones engaged in the debate. What the fuck?

As long as we -Native or African people who speak Spanish- don't participate in American politics directly and not only in election times; and if we don't stop this US mainstream media with their racist portrait of our people as retarded 'Guillermos' and 'Ugly Betties' -- then we won't be ever taken seriously by the rest of Americans, not even by our own people.

By the way, Rosario Dawson is not a Latina, she is a beautiful and talented Black woman, an Afro descendant who also speaks Spanish. Doesn't she? Because Latino means southern European, like the French, Spaniards and southern Italians for example.




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Come meet George Lopez and help register 89,000 new voters in Virginia - find an Obama event in your area!

From the Obama website and emails from friends. A series of trainings and canvassing events all over Northern Virginia to register over 89.000 new voters in Virginia, a state that might decide this presidential elections.

Tonight: free (and last) training: How to Run a Voter Registration Drive

October 6 is the deadline! No excuses. If you want to help register voters this is the last training. We will teach you how to obey Virginia law; How to run an effective registration event; and, How to train others to do the same. We have registered 211,000 new voters this year. We need to hit 300,000 by October 6 to make a difference and turn Virginia blue! Bring your friends. We will be finished in time to watch the Vice Presidential debate. Link up with friends at the training and watch.

Time: Thursday, October 2 at 7:00 PM
Duration: 2 hours

Host: Wesley Weidemann

Location: Fairfax County Library - Oakton (Oakton, VA)
10304 Lynnhaven Place
Oakton, VA 22124

More info here



Come meet Mexican American TV celebrity George Lopez:

Saturday at Bailey's Elementary School in Falls Church, VA, the is a Canvass and Rally Kick-Off featuring Superstar George Lopez, who will be in DC for two sold-out shows at Warner Theater.

There will be a voter registration drive there as well.

"This is the last weekend available to get VA voters registered. Let's work together and invest in our futures this weekend as we help Virginians register, inform, and empower."

What: Canvass and Rally Kick-Off with George Lopez

Where: Bailey’s Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences

6111 Knollwood Drive
Falls Church, VA 22041

View map here

When: Saturday October 4, 2008
11:30 AM

(Volunteers needed at 10:00 AM)Everyone is welcome to come, training and supplies provided.

Other opportunities to volunteer all over Northern Virginia:

Volunteers are needed for voter registration at Alexandria metro stations

Weekdays until October 6. Morning shifts from approximately 6:30--9:30 a.m. Evening shifts from approximately 4:30--7:30 pm. Contact Laura, plaze@comcast.net if you can help at:

-- King Street

-- Eisenhower Avenue

-- Braddock Road



Volunteers are needed at the Northern Virginia Community College

Every day of the week! Contact Frank Anderson, Campus Coordinator, Northern Virginia Community College for Obama, fanderson@studentsforbarackobama.com to coordinate a voter registration drive.


METRO REGISTRATION

We have just started a new registration project working inside METRO tunnels. We continue to pick up young voters who have recently moved to the area. These are likely to be our people. We will be working the evening rush from 5:00-7:00 PM every weekday until Oct 6 at as many locations as we can staff. These locations have been very productive, so try to pick up a couple of shifts if you can. Contact Bob Platt bob@racepacket.com


Virginia Square Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Virginia Square Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Clarendon Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Clarendon Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Courthouse Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Courthouse Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Rosslyn Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Rosslyn Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Crystal City Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Crystal City Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Pentagon City Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Pentagon City Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Northern Virginia Community College @ Manassas Voter Registration Blitz

Please join the Campaign for Change as we get as many people registered to vote at one of our two local college campuses in Manassas. We are able to be on campus from 9am-2pm and 5pm-8pm in the Atrium clipboarding or in the cafeteria with a registration table. Please stop by the office if you need voter registration forms and receipts to help out. If not head on over to the campus where, and a parking permit will be available in the counseling center for you. Please contact Lyzz Ogunwo at (757)560-1650 or eogunwo@vaobamaforchange.com. YES WE CAN!


Knock on Doors for Barack Obama and Mark Warner!

Knock on doors for Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Mark Warner in Bucknell with VA Democrats! Gillian Morris, Field Organizer VA Democratic Coordinated Campaign 1029 N Royal Street Alexandria, VA 22314 414-975-0586


Lee District Canvassing

Identify Obama supporters in Lee District. Register voters. Talk to undecided voters. Find new volunteers. Make the change happen! No experience needed. Training provided. Please arrive promptly at 1:00 so that you will have enough time to train and finish the walk pack ** You do not need to stay the entire shift. Do what you have time for. **


METRO VOTER REGISTRATION

We have just started a new registration project working inside METRO tunnels. We continue to pick up young voters who have recently moved to the area. These are likely to be our people. We will be working the evening rush from 5:00-7:00 PM every weekday until Oct 6 at as many locations as we can staff. These locations have been very productive, so try to pick up a couple of shifts if you can. Contact Bob Platt bob@racepacket.com


Ballston Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Ballston Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Virginia Square Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Virginia Square Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Clarendon Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Calrendon Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Courthouse Metro Stop Voter Registration Drive

Join teams doing voter reg inside Metro where visibility is terrific. Last week for voter reg before Oct 6 deadline! This drive is at Courthouse Metro 5pm - 7pm MON through FRI nightly. Materials, table, posters provided. Contact: Marge Epstein: mcoxepstein@yahoo.com for assignment. Nonpartisan requirement to be inside Metro tunnel. Also needed: drivers with SUV, van, truck to drop off tables, chairs, packets to each Metro Stop MON - FRI around 4-4:45pm and pick up around 7-7:45pm.


Vienna Canvassing October 4

One month till Election Day, join us in Vienna to walk for change and Turn Virginia Blue. When: 10am or 2pm Saturday October 4; and Sunday October 5 at 1pm.


East Braddock Canvass and Voter Registration

Voter Registration and Canvass. Help register voters and ID supporters in the Springfield area (East Braddock).


Burke Center Farmers Market (Oct 4th, 10-Noon)

Volunteers are needed to staff a Voter Registration and Obama Campaign table at the Burke Center Farmers Market (Roberts Road VRE Station Parking Lot) on Saturday morning, Oct 4th from 10-Noon. I will be glad to provide training as necessary. Thanks!


Alexandria - SouthPort Precinct Canvas

Be part of the BIG push for Obama and Biden: Join other volunteers this Saturday or Sunday to canvas in the Southport precinct in the west end of Alexandria. Canvas shifts: 10 a.m & 2 p.m. both Saturday & Sunday.


PWC -Campaign for Change Woodbridge Area Canvass

We will be going door to door, talking to and registering voters or dropping off literature. We could use some help! Canvassing will take 3-4 hours, and we will provide all necessary materials and training. We ask that you wear your Obama gear if you have it, and please dress comfortably and wear comfy shoes. This is THE BEST way to make a difference for November 4! If you're fired up, let's go!!!


Canvassing for Dems

We'll be going door-to-door in support of Obama, Warner, and Moran this weekend. Come on out, talk to your neighbors, and make a difference!


Register Voters: Giant Store: S. Glebe Road, Shirley Park

Register voters in a Democratically friendly but under-served area of Arlington. Training provided! SPANISH SPEAKERS especially welcome - please note when signing up if you speak Spanish. Location Manager: Ellen


30 Days Countdown Canvass: South Riding

This Saturday marks the start of Get Out the Vote. With only 30 days until the election, we need everyone out in the field! Going door to door is the most effective way to talk to voters about Senator Obama. We always sent people out in pairs, so canvassing is also a whole lot of fun! Most importantly, it yields some incredibly meaningful conversations. You have the power to change this election; the race in Loudoun is close - will you be the one that helps turn it blue? RSVP to Sophia Chitlik, your local field organizer, if you have any questions at 703-786-0837 or by emailing SChitlik@vaobamaforchange.com. OUT OF STATE VOLUNTEERS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!


Centerville 31 Day Countdown Canvass!!!

There are only 31 - 31!!!!! - days left until election day this Saturday. We need your help to win Virginia and win this election. Give us a few hours of your time at the Campaign for Change office in Centreville so we can bring the change this country needs. Our office is located across from the Centreville Library, and next to the Moscow Market and In & Out Market. 14260 Centreville Sq Unit N Centreville, VA 20121


Fair Lakes, Greenbriar East and West Canvasses

Go Door to Door with fellow Obama supporters and try to persuade undecided voters to vote for Barack!


N. Springfield Canvass

Go Door to Door with fellow Obama supporters and persuade undecided voters to vote for Barack!


Agudas Achim Neighborhood Canvass

Come out and knock on doors for Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Mark Warner this Saturday at either 10AM or 2PM! We will be talking to our undecided neighbors in the Agudas Achim precinct and your help is critical to our success! Help ensure we turn out and win every possible vote!


Obama Campaign for Change - Alexandria Canvass

Come canvass with the Campaign for Change this Saturday as we knock on doors and talk to undecided voters. With only 31 days remaining until election day, we will need all the help we can get. We have also added a NEW evening shift at 5:00pm to provide greater scheduling flexibility.

More Obama events in your area, find them here by entering your zip code.




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