Disaster, Auryn, Ox-Eye @ 110 N. Maple. 9p. $3.

May 3 Show Flyer

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.

Published
Categorized as Lets Go

MED on Obama, Rev. Jeremiah Write

I’ve been interested in Michael Eric Dyson since seeing him speak at IU over the winter.  An NPR news blog wrote this about a recent interview where MED linked Obama and his pastor with the different phases of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life:

Obama is the pre-1965 King. The one the holiday is named for, said Dyson. The King who spoke of brotherhood and non-violence. The one who doesn’t scare white people, who they could incorporate into their world view.

Wright is the post-’65 King. The one Americans know little about. The King who spoke out against the war in Vietnam. The King who said that most whites in America were racists. The King who spoke out against social and economic injustice in America. People remember that King was murdered in Memphis, Dyson says. But they often forget why he was there – not to promote equality, but to help lead a strike of garbage workers in the city.

Dyson said that people forget that when King gave his “seminal” anti-Vietnam speech on April 4, 1967 at New York’s Riverside Church, he was condemned by many white – and even black – pundits and church leaders for “going too far.”

Healthy Indiana Plan Update – Accepted!

I’ve been blogging about my experience applying for Indiana’s state subsidized health insurance for low-income folks.

Last week, I received a very formal letter that I had been accepted and  a bill for the first month’s payment into my POWER (a medical expense) account.

Here are the letters so others know what to expect. Click on the images to see full size.

Approval Letter:

Healthy Indiana Plan Approval Letter p. 1Healthy Indiana Plan Approval Letter p. 2

Bill

My First Healthy Indiana Plan Bill

A New Jail?!: Exploring Alternatives to Incarceration in Monroe County

May 3 Jail Education Banner
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

Home

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)

balancing beam

I was responding to a friend who asked me about balancing my work life and my involvement in community activism.  As I wrote my response, I realized that it was something that I wanted to save as a reminder to myself:

Although I only work 20 hours a week or so, having a job that now requires more mental energy and has projects, responsibilities and deadlines makes it seem much bigger than 20 hours worth of space.  Also, I have a flexible schedule, which is good because it means that I can make it to most things I want, but also a problem because it means I spend a lot of time and energy scheduling and rescheduling.  I think I need to strike a better balance so that I have a more regular schedule and spend less time scheduling, even if it means having to say, “no, I can’t make it to that” more often.

Ultimately, I think that I really need to stop having such a schizophrenic existence and try to find a way to pay the bills by doing technology work to support grassroots community projects instead of trying to pay the bills and do technology work + activism.  I also need to find a way to balance my role (which I enjoy) as a technology implementer so I’m also involved in the communication, thinking, and essential work of the groups I work with and not just the IT person.  I’m not sure how to do this quite yet.

books on community informatics and radical mathematics teaching that I want to read

CI

  • Researching with Communities: Grounded perspectives on engaging communities in research Edited by Andy Williamson and Ruth DeSouza
  • Networked neighbourhoods : the connected community in context / Patrick Purcell (ed.).
  • Community informatics : shaping computer-mediated social relations / edited by Leigh Keeble and Brian D.
    Loader.
  • Social and community informatics : humans on the Net / Gunilla Bradley.

Math

  • Rethinking mathematics : teaching social justice by the numbers / edited by Eric Gutstein and Bob Peterson.