Feminism's next big step: Finding one's own definition of success

As a freelance writer focusing on social justice movements, my daily wardrobe includes only four items: jeans, underwear and a T-shirt for the days I leave the house, and my pajamas for the days I sequester myself and my coffee maker in the closet to write.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Teaching Feminism: Bedtime stories

As a kid, I would relish in picking out just the right book for bedtime. My parents would read me a story before I went to bed each night, and it was always something I looked forward to. In retrospect, I probably enjoyed these bedtime stories partially because they put off bedtime for just a litte bit longer, and partially because they allowed me to escape to a different world for a little bit, allowing me to clear my mind before sleep. Even now, though, I find it difficult to fall asleep if I don’t spend some time reading before bed. This absolutely fostered a love of literature and reading in me from a very young age, and had I not had this experience, I might not have become an English major in undergrad and gone on to teach high school English.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Social Justice Advocate learns to use business for change

Van Jones is being inducted into Social Venture Network’s (SVN) Hall of Fame as an Economic Justice Maverick, but the green economy champion says he owes much to the network for helping him understand the role business plays in creating positive change.

Jones was in his 20s when he first attended a SVN meeting at the invite of the network’s co-founder Josh Mailman. The Yale-trained lawyer and founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights remembers at the time thinking only nonprofit and government activities could advance social change.

Attending the SVN meeting, where he recalls sitting at the back and “feeling completely intimidated by the level of genius, passion and accomplishment in the room,” Jones began to shift his perspective on entrepreneurship.

“I had never heard of triple-bottom line businesses,” recalls Jones.

“Being in the conversation with SVN showed me that we had a much bigger toolkit to make change, and that some of our most effective change-makers are actually in the private sector.”

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Social Jutice Campaigner Lin Hatfield Dodds gets new role

The National Director of Australia's largest non-government provider of community services, UnitingCare Australia has been appointed to the position of Chair of the Australian Social Inclusion Board.

Announcing the appointment, Minister for Social Inclusion, Mark Butler, said Ms Lin Hatfield Dodds was one of Australia's leading social justice advocates and a recognised expert on community services and social policy and he looked forward to working with her to improve the lot of the most disadvantaged Australians.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Rules for Child Labor on farms affected by House Act

WASHINGTON —

The House on Tuesday barred the labor secretary from imposing new safety rules for children working on farms, putting a legal stamp on a Labor Department decision to put off action on the rules.

The Labor Department announced last April that it would not go ahead with the proposed rules, saying the decision was made "in response to thousands of comments" expressing concerns about their effect on small family-owned farms.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Dwayne Crenshaw: Walking with Pride

As a black gay man and the son of a Baptist minister, I have not always been connected to my own sexual orientation, let alone the LGBT community. While I have always had a strong sense for social justice, I did not live in the gay community during the times when funerals for AIDS victims were nearly a daily occurrence, and, therefore, did not have the deep emotional connection to our community’s struggle with HIV and AIDS.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

UB Society of Feminists: Women Transcending the Trivial

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- If you know when doctors claimed education dangerous to women's health or the name of Harriot Blatch's mom, you're in luck.

Because most pub trivia questions tend to overlook people of color, women and LGBT folks, the University at Buffalo graduate group Society of Feminists (UBSoFem) has partnered with Merge restaurant and bar to present what they call "an affirming night of historical, current and pop-culture trivia that honors on-going struggles for social justice."

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Art is in Coffee focusing on direct trade with a side of social justice

You may not have social justice and creating fairer global economies on the brain as you guzzle down your morning cup of coffee — but Oakland residents Sara Hoda and Lazzuly Mello sure do.

In May, Hoda and Mello co-founded Art Is In Coffee: a (somewhat) mobile coffee cart which uses 100 percent direct trade coffee and aims to reclaim and recreate sidewalks all over Oakland as art and community spaces.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

SURGE FILM FESTIVAL in SANTA FE, NM August 2nd, 2012! Please Forward. Six cities Strong and Growing! Everything is Free!

Dear friends,

Good News!

Many awesome films will screen at on August 2nd, 2012! Please forward this and share with others!

Admission is still free! The way everything in the world should be! As you can see here, this is our record breaking sixth city this year! Seventh different city in two years!

Get in touch with us if you want to host the SURGE Film Festival! If you want to know what SURGE is about, this music video intro explains it best.

This is yet another achievement of love, people united and a desire for a better world made real!

Thanks for all you do everyone!

Love for the people,

~SURGE

NEW MEXICO. Santa Fe.
August 2, 2012.(detailed schedule here, click here and add to over 300 types of social media or email to share!
The Screen Theater, 1600 St.Michael's Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505 .
Access: Free of charge.
Wheelchair access

Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Date: August 2, 2012
Time: 12noon until it ends
Location: The Screen Theater, 1600 St.Michael's Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Access: Wheelchair access
Admission: Free of Charge

S.U.R.G.E. films screen in six cities nationwide; Santa Fe will be the sixth this year! Three of the directors will be there for Q&A; Director Dutch Merrick of 'One Minute', Director Patrick Shannahan of 'Soleil' and Director Bradd Hopkins with Producer Valerie Moore of 'Debt to Society.' It’s a drop in and see what you want to see kind of thing, and it’s FREE – FREE – FREE.


ALL ADMISSIONS FREE

S.U.R.G.E. (Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement) is dedicated to international and unparalleled outreach in order to promote creating a better world through Film, Scripts, Stageplays, Teleplays, Music Videos, Multimedia, Visual Arts and Music. Our mission is to strengthen the voice of people on the quest for a better world - while encouraging everyone to continue working for a better world!

SURGE is the first international film festival which is not only an annual film, script, music video and multimedia festival but it is also a film festival network which enables people worldwide to bring the festival into their area of the world through the SURGE film festival network! Now in our seventh year our film festival promises to be more amazing than ever!

THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS – 12:00 pm See Information
Reveals how globalization is accelerating climate change, destroying jobs, and fraying the fabric of our communities. With stunning footage and thought-provoking commentary from thinkers and activists on every continent, this film shows that a better world is still within our reach. 65 minutes.

VEGGIE PROPAGANDA – 1:15 pm. See Trailer and other information below schedule on site.
A delightful educational animation from the American University of Rome targeted at changing diets and the implications of carnivorous behavior in the current age. 6 minutes.

LEFT BY THE SHIP – 1:30 pm. See Trailer
Amerasians—the children of Filipino sex workers and American servicemen in Subic Bay—are grown up now. Never recognized by the U.S. Government, they struggle with discrimination, family problems, and identity issues trying to overcome a past not of their own making. 80 minutes.

PROJECT HAPPINESS – 3:00 pm See Trailer,
What do George Lucas, Richard Gere, and the Dalai Lama have in common? They are part of an extraordinary journey undertaken by four contemporary teens to confront the personal obstacles to happiness. In the quest for a happier and more meaningful life, Project Happiness offers life-changing insights for all ages and cultures. 61 minutes.

CULTURES OF RESISTANCE – 4:45 pm. See Trailer and other information below schedule on site.
Can music and dance be weapons of peace? Spanning a scope of five continents, Cultures of Resistance is a colorful cross-cultural look at the growing number of people worldwide who commit their lives to promoting change. The film celebrates them as they stand up to exploitation and violence with artistic expression and creative activism. A visual treat! 73 minutes.

A LITTLE REVOLUTION – 6:45 pm. See Trailer and other information below schedule on site.
The suicide rate among Panjabi farmers in India is extremely high, especially in a culture that so honors life. Harpreet Kaur’s film documents the agents, agencies and attitudes behind this appalling truth. 60 minutes.

ONE MINUTE – 8:00 pm. See One Minute Information here - runtime: 1 minute
Take ONE MINUTE to see the shortest film about our longest war. Q&A after with Director Dutch Merrick. 2 minutes.

SOLEIL – 8:30 pm - See info on website.
Patrick Shannahan’s 10th film about a young man living in the Land of Conformists, where everyone wears a white mask to hide their true selves, reaches beyond and behind the mask to reveal the true existence of himself and all the other Conformists. In French with English subtitles. Q&A after with Director Patrick Shannahan. 18 minutes.

DEBT TO SOCIETY – 9:15 pm. See information below schedule on site.
The dramatic short film is both poignant and disturbing. The film touches the psychological horror of a correctional system gone mad that compromises human values and ethics while maintaining a façade of political correctness. Filmed entirely in Santa Fe with local cast and crew. Original score by Rene Reyes. Q&A after with Director Bradd Hopkins and Producer Valerie Moore. 18 minutes.

[Video] Intro to SURGE Film Fest!

from

KONY 2012 - Articles both for and against the KONY2012 Video. Danah Boyd: "the rise of attention philanthropy... a new type of attention colonialism?"

An article speaking in favor of the KONY 2012 video "

The Kony 2012 "Controversy

by

DAN PALLOTTA

Dan Pallotta is an expert in nonprofit sector innovation and a pioneering social entrepreneur. He is the founder of Pallotta TeamWorks, which invented the multiday AIDSRides and Breast Cancer 3-Days. He is the president of Advertising for Humanity and the author of Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential.

An Article speaking against the KONY 2012 video. "How Invisible Children's Kony 2012 Will Hurt - And How You Can Help - Central Africa"

Michael Deibert

Author, Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair

KONY 2012 Social Media Analysis

"KONY2012: See How Invisible Networks Helped a Campaign Capture the World’s" Attention

The Power of Youth: How Invisible Children Orchestrated Kony 2012 - by Danah Boyd - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danah_boyd

Danah boyd also known as Danah Michele Boyd, is an American social media researcher known for her public commentary on the use of social networking sites by youth. A 2009 article in Fast Company named boyd one of the most influential women in technology.^[3]

danah boyd
At the Web 2.0 Conference in 2005 Born November 24, 1977

Excerpt:

"I'm really bothered by how Kony 2012 is all about white people -- and primarily white Americans -- talking about what should be done in a foreign country to help "poor black people." I'm glad that NPR and a few other news organizations have sought out Ugandan perspectives, but none of those perspectives have broken through the tornado of chaos that has followed this event. So I can't help but wonder... with the rise of attention philanthropy, are we going to see a new type of attention colonialism?"

------------------------------------------------------------

'Stop Kony' screening tour cancelled after Ugandans react with outrage

GEOFFREY YORK

Globe and Mail Update

Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 11:13AM EDT

it was planned as a tour of Uganda’s poorest towns and villages: the first chance for Joseph Kony’s victims to see the viral video sensation that has excited so many millions of people in North America.

But after a furious reaction, the tour has been cancelled. Too many Ugandans were outraged by the “Stop Kony” video when they saw it. Some even threw stones and shouted abuse, forcing the organizers to flee.

The video by a California-based activist group had already been strongly criticized by many African writers and Western aid experts, who called it simplistic, patronizing and inaccurate. They are worried that the publicity will distract attention from more deserving African needs.

But the video, calling for the arrest of the indicted war criminal who leads the Lord’s Resistance Army militia, has been viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide since its release last week. And it has stirred up a huge amount of curiosity in northern Uganda, where the LRA was born in the late 1980s – even though the vast majority of people could not see the video because they lack electricity, television, and Internet access.

So a Ugandan group, the African Youth Initiative Network, decided to organize a community tour for the video, bringing it to towns across northern Uganda for the rest of this month, so that impoverished people could see the 30-minute video for the first time.

The first screening was held this week in the northern Uganda town of Lira, once an epicentre of the battles between the LRA and the Ugandan military. The video was projected onto a white sheet, held up by crude metal rods, in a dusty town park. An estimated 5,000 people flocked to the show.

Curiosity soon turned to bafflement, and then to anger. The screening was hastily abandoned when people jeered and threw stones, forcing the crowd to scatter.

Many Ugandans at the screening were upset that the video focused on the U.S. filmmaker, Jason Russell, and his young blond son. Some were offended by its call to “make Kony famous” by putting his image on T-shirts and posters, since they saw this as giving celebrity status to a killer. Some said the video was reviving their painful memories of a war that had ended in Uganda in 2006 when the LRA was chased out of the country.

“There was chaos, we had to run away,” tweeted Rosebell Kagumire, a Ugandan blogger who attended the screening this week.

Most people were peaceful, but many were disappointed and angry, she said. “They have had enough of money makers!”

After the screening, Ugandans called local radio stations in Lira to demand that no T-shirts of Joseph Kony should be allowed into the region.

Victor Ochen, director of the youth network that organized the screening of the Kony video this week, says he is worried that the video will waste money that could be better spent on helping the victims of the LRA.

“Why spent millions on Kony alone while thousands of survivors are dying of repairable physical and psychosocial pain?” he asked in a message on his website.

Mr. Ochen is worried that the video will promote a military assault on the LRA, perhaps leading to the death of innocent children who were kidnapped by the LRA – including his own brother and cousin.

“Raising potentially false expectations such as arresting Kony in 2012 will not rebuild the lives of the people in northern Uganda,” he said. “Restoration of communities devastated by Kony is a greater priority than catching or killing him.”

For Your Consideration: Women Directors Missing From the Oscars