the reality tunnel

• GENDERING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

• Digital Divide for Women Persists at Work, According to Nielsen

• Understanding the Digital Divide

• The Digital Divide: A Resource List

Joanne (who has been working at the polls) says:

You can vote in your polling place on Tuesday from 6am-6pm or you can vote in the Curry Bldg. downtown (7th and Morton) Saturday from 8am-6pm, Sunday 12-4pm, Monday 8am-12pm.  Bring an Indiana ID (driver’s license, state issued id from DMV or an IU id) or a Federal ID (military or passport.) And bring a book, lines are long now. Don’t complain about the long lines, early voting happens for 30 days prior to an election. You could have voted weeks ago and chatted
with me.

On a side note, if you’re interested in issues around the jail, some folks have published a voting guide showing the positions of various county candidates:

• Monroe County Jail Voters Guide Page 1
• Monroe County Jail Voters Guide Page 2
• Monroe County Jail Voters Guide Page 3
• Monroe County Jail Voters Guide Page 4

Here are two new instances of technology (both via boingboing) that seem to really aid social justice movements.

Cause Caller is a VOIP tool that lets you define a cause and contacts related to that cause (for instance, congressional representatives on a panel investigating a particular issue).  Users can then enter their phone number and the application will call them back and connect them with the different contacts.

ICED (I Can End Deportation) is a video game made by the human rights group Breakthrough that, according to Breakthrough’s website:

puts you in the shoes of an immigrant to illustrate how unfair immigration laws deny due process and violate human rights. These laws affect all immigrants: legal residents, those fleeing persecution, students and undocumented people.

Saturday, May 17

Stop I-69 Music Festival

for more information:

www.myspace.com/stopi69musicfestival

DIY Punk Show with Disaster, Auryn, and Ox-Eye
Saturday, May 3
110 N. Maple (near intersection of Kirkwood and Maple)
$3
All-ages

Disaster

Bloomington hardcore punk with songs about skateboarding and social justice.  Songs for download at http://disaster.terrorware.com/audio/demo

Auryn

Playing songs that are pretty and heavy, Auryn comes on tour from Pittsburgh, PA and features members of many well-known Pennsylvania-based hardcore bands.  They have songs you can listen to at http://www.myspace.com/aurynpgh

Ox-Eye

Donovan and Joel’s newly named bass and drum band.   They play music that is at times, thick, technical, rocking, and idiosyncratic.  This is what happens when you combine someone who likes Limp Wrist with someone who likes Mike Patton-style metal.

Saturday, May 3, 2008
Free
A New Jail?!: Exploring Alternatives to Incarceration in Monroe County

Events At:

Boxcar Books
310A S. Washington St.
Bloomington, IN 47401
(812) 339-8710
http://www.boxcarbooks.org

The Cinemat
123 S. Walnut St.
(812) 333-4700
Bloomington, IN 47401
http://www.thecinemat.com

A day of popular education that will explore alternatives to the current proposal of building new adult and youth jails in Bloomington. Through interactive workshops featuring community members, non-profits, experienced activists, and YOU, we will explore: What is the history of incarceration in Monroe County? What are some existing community alternatives to incarceration in Bloomington and other parts of the country? What have successful campaigns to challenge other jail constructions looked like? Several workshops will offer education, training, and networking opportunities for local folks questioning the need for new jails. The day’s events will culminate with special guest speaker Kai Barrow from Critical Resistance. This is an open event, with people from all backgrounds and political beliefs encouraged to attend.

Workshop One- 11:00 am, Boxcar Books
A discussion and Presentation on the History of the Monroe County Jail System

This workshop will begin with an interview from Indiana University Criminal Justice Department faculty member, Hal Pepinsky. Following the interview will be a facilitated discussion on the history of the jail, encouraging input from community members in piecing together the jail’s history and the sharing of personal and familial experiences with the jail.

Workshop Two- 2:00 pm, Boxcar Books
A Panel Discussion on Alternatives to Incarceration

This workshop will explore community alternatives to incarceration in Bloomington, as well as highlight successful initiatives from around the country. Representatives from different organizations will speak briefly about how their work keeps people out of jail by offering positive responses to poverty, homelessness, hunger, and conflict that enrich and restore community. Workshop attendees will be able to offer their own perspectives on what makes a community safe and whole.

Film Screening- 4:00 pm, The Cinemat
Yes, In My Backyard, A documentary by Tracy Huling

Financially-strapped communities are now begging for prisons to be built in their backyards. With plundering agribusiness, military-base closings and major industry relocation, incarceration is seen as the salvation of rural communities. Through the eyes of one farming-community-turned-prison-town, this hour documentary explores the increasing and multi-layered dependence of rural America on prison industries and subtly probes the profound implications of this dependence for both the keepers and the kept, and for our society’s understanding of and response to crime.

Workshop Three- 6:00 pm, Boxcar Books
Potluck Dinner and Discussion with Kai Barrow from Critical Resistance

Kai Barrow, one of five paid staff persons for Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization committed to ending society’s use of prisons and policing as an answer to social problems, will lead a discussion

For more press, interview, or further contact information, please use information below:

Judah Schept
(812) 219-3611
jschept@indiana.edu

Download a flyer for this event (PDF)

JOE LALLY (of Fugazi), with a full band featuring members of Capillary Action and the DC Improvisers Collective.

More info/tickets at http://spiritof68.ducatking.com/

From a press-release:

Egdewood High School’s Masqued Crafters have selected the melodrama “Only An
Orphan Girl” for the May 1-4 spring play.

In this soul-stirring drama of human trails and tribulations, Nellie is a long-
suffering orphan who seems destined not only to lose her lover but her life as
well. When the smooth-talking Arthur Rutherford starts hanging around the farm
house he buys Nellie’s adopted family’s mortgage and swears the only way he’ll
return it is if Nellie will give him her hand in marriage. When she refuses,
because of the secret love she has for another, he continues to pursue her in
ways that put her life and the lives of her loved ones at risk. No one knows
the reason Arthur is so persistent in his proposal to Nellie. What will become
of the poor orphan Nellie, the evil villain and the equally evil villainous or
little Lucy, what will be her fate and the fate of her poor, poor old mother?
And our handsome hero, Dick, what of him? Only time will tell!

When: May 1-3 at 7:00 PM
May 4 at 2:00 PM
Where: Edgewood High School’s Auditorium

Ticket Cost: $5.00

From a press-release:

Egdewood High School’s Masqued Crafters have selected the melodrama “Only An
Orphan Girl” for the May 1-4 spring play.

In this soul-stirring drama of human trails and tribulations, Nellie is a long-
suffering orphan who seems destined not only to lose her lover but her life as
well. When the smooth-talking Arthur Rutherford starts hanging around the farm
house he buys Nellie’s adopted family’s mortgage and swears the only way he’ll
return it is if Nellie will give him her hand in marriage. When she refuses,
because of the secret love she has for another, he continues to pursue her in
ways that put her life and the lives of her loved ones at risk. No one knows
the reason Arthur is so persistent in his proposal to Nellie. What will become
of the poor orphan Nellie, the evil villain and the equally evil villainous or
little Lucy, what will be her fate and the fate of her poor, poor old mother?
And our handsome hero, Dick, what of him? Only time will tell!

When: May 1-3 at 7:00 PM
May 4 at 2:00 PM
Where: Edgewood High School’s Auditorium

Ticket Cost: $5.00

From a press-release:

Egdewood High School’s Masqued Crafters have selected the melodrama “Only An
Orphan Girl” for the May 1-4 spring play.

In this soul-stirring drama of human trails and tribulations, Nellie is a long-
suffering orphan who seems destined not only to lose her lover but her life as
well. When the smooth-talking Arthur Rutherford starts hanging around the farm
house he buys Nellie’s adopted family’s mortgage and swears the only way he’ll
return it is if Nellie will give him her hand in marriage. When she refuses,
because of the secret love she has for another, he continues to pursue her in
ways that put her life and the lives of her loved ones at risk. No one knows
the reason Arthur is so persistent in his proposal to Nellie. What will become
of the poor orphan Nellie, the evil villain and the equally evil villainous or
little Lucy, what will be her fate and the fate of her poor, poor old mother?
And our handsome hero, Dick, what of him? Only time will tell!

When: May 1-3 at 7:00 PM
May 4 at 2:00 PM
Where: Edgewood High School’s Auditorium

Ticket Cost: $5.00