Jeff Reifman

The Canada Holiday Initiative

Canada Wants Another Holiday

Cabaret for Change - Benefit Show at the Columbia City Theatre

Cabaret for Change is only 2 weeks away! Seating is limited so get your tickets today. CfC is a show put on by my most excellent housemate/yogini Karissa.

Come to the Columbia City Theatre for a story-and-song-filled evening to raise money for Bellefonte Community College in Shillong, India. More on the college and Karissa's time there below...

The cabaret includes a smorgasbord of songs, running the gamut from Aida to Mary Poppins, sung by some of Seattle’s best talent: Jeff Church (ArtsWest’s Plaid Tidings), Molli Corcoran (Lyric Light Opera's South Pacific), Jadd Davis (5th Avenue’s A Christmas Story, Inverse Opera), Christian Duhamel (SCT’s Frog and Toad), Jessica Low (Village Theatre’s Annie Get Your Gun) and Vanessa Miller (Second Story Rep’s Spelling Bee, Wooden O's A Comedy of Errors). Local desserts, fantastic raffle prizes, including massages and a sailing trip, and a visit from an Indian nun complete this evening of entertainment, all while contributing to an excellent cause.

Cabaret for Change is Wednesday, February 8th at 8pm at the Columbia City Theater.

My housemate Karissa is putting on this fun-filled, entertaining show to benefit a school she spent time teaching at in India in 2010 in Shillong, Meghalaya in northeast India. These are not “ordinary students” by American educational standards. These are students aged 15 to 40. They are students who have either failed out or dropped out of high school. And they are all being given a rare and precious second chance at education. Thanks to the efforts of a few devoted nuns and a village training center, these students are able to learn enough English to pass the 10th-grade level of a high school equivalency test. The current center helps students reach for a better future for themselves and for their families. But it’s not enough. In 2010, 70% of high school students in the state of Meghalaya dropped out. Of the students who took the final high school exam, 50% failed. There are already many more students than the sisters can hold in their makeshift, bare classroom. They want to offer more training opportunities in basic literacy, business, and relevant vocations. Your help can make a difference.

If you are unable to attend the event but would like to make a contribution to Bellefonte Community College please send checks made out to Daughters of Mary Help of Christians to Karissa Bryant at PO Box 12629, Seattle WA 98111-4629. Or consider buying a ticket for a friend instead. Donations and tickets are tax-deductible. See you February 8th! 

Jeff Harris' Self Portrait Project - Time

I hope everyone watches this video of my friend Jeff Harris' ongoing (currently 13 year) self-portrait project.

Occupy Whistler! #ows

Robert Jensen on Thanksgiving and Holocaust Denial

Good essay by Robert Jensen on Thanksgiving culture via Yoga Modern:

I am afraid of Thanksgiving. More accurately, I am afraid of what Thanksgiving tells us about both the dominant culture and much of the alleged counterculture.

Here’s what I think it tells us: As a society, the United States is intellectually dishonest, politically irresponsible, and morally bankrupt. This is a society in which even progressive people routinely allow national and family traditions to trump fundamental human decency. It’s a society in which, in the privileged sectors, getting along and not causing trouble are often valued above honesty and accountability. Though it’s painful to consider, it’s possible that such a society is beyond redemption. Such a consideration becomes frightening when we recognize that all this goes on in the most affluent and militarily powerful country in the history of the world, but a country that is falling apart — an empire in decline.

 

Shepard Fairey's "Occupy Hope"

Nice. Via BoingBoing:

The Shame Project - Burning Man

Update: Here is a link to the website for The Shame Project which includes a broad-based team with inspirations beyond just Brown.

So proud of my friend's Grace & Eric ... this is an amazing video of their Shame Project from Burning Man inspired by Brene Brown's I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power.

I can't wait for Grace to post more video, including the closing ceremony when they burned the shame wall.

Ani Difranco's New Album: Which Side Are You On?

"¿Which Side Are You On? marks DiFranco's first studio album in more than three years. The collection features 11 new songs alongside a radically reworked rendition of the classic title song, famously popularized by the one and only Pete Seeger nearly five decades ago, but no less relevant today. Backing DiFranco is a remarkably diverse line-up of stellar musicians, including members of her own crack touring band as well as such guest players as Ivan and Cyril Neville (of New Orleans' first family of funk and R&B, The Neville Brothers), avant-saxophonist Skerik (Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bonnie Raitt, The Meters), acclaimed singer/songwriter and Righteous Babe Anaïs Mitchell, guitarist Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Amos Lee), and a host of New Orleans-based horn players known for their work in such outfits as Galactic, Bonerama, and The Rebirth Brass Band." Read more and listen now

This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement

Turning Occupation into Lasting Change is included in the Yes Magazine's new compendium on the Occupy movement ... check it out...

This Changes Everything shows how the Occupy movement is shifting the way people view themselves and the world, the kind of society they believe is possible, and their own involvement in creating a society that works for the 99% rather than just the 1%.

Attempts to pigeonhole this decentralized, fast-evolving movement have led to confusion and misperception. In this volume, the editors of YES! Magazine bring together voices from inside and outside the protests to convey the issues, possibilities, and personalities associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

This book features contributions from Naomi Klein, David Korten, Rebecca Solnit, Ralph Nader, and others, as well as Occupy activists who were there from the beginning, such as David Graeber, Marina Sitrin and Hena Ashraf. It offers insights for those actively protesting or expressing support for the movement—and for the millions more who sympathize with the goal of a more equitable and democratic future.

Fun Threadless Haiku

Purchase this on a tee at Threadless