Bits & Peaces

EVENTS

Cyberseduction (film), 6/26; Women's Center, 46 Pleasant St, Cambridge MA; Follow-up discussion of the film on 6/26, 7-8:30 pm; Based on true events, this film is a dramatization of a descent into internet pornography addiction; Women's Center, 617/345-8807; www.cambridgewomenscenter.org

Cultural Survival Bazaars, 6/21, 10 am-6 pm, Boston Common, Boston MA, rain or shine, shop a variety of fairly traded products homemade by indigenous artisans in Africa, Asia, & the Americas & enjoy live music, live presentations, & ethnic foods; proceeds support Cultural Survival, 215 Prospect St, Cambridge MA 02139; 617/441-5410; www.culturalsurvival.org/events/bazaar

Cambridge Peace Commission Reception for Brian Corr, 6/24, 4:30-6:30 pm; Ackerman Room, City Hall, Cambridge; an event to welcome new Peace Commission Director Brian Corr; Please come meet & welcome Brian, introduce yourselves, & share your ideas about the Peace Commission; please RSVP to the Peace Commission, 617/349-4694; peace@cambridgema.gov

GATHERINGS

Black New England Stories: Literature, Art, & Oratory, 6/13-14; Durham, NH; Join scholars, teachers, researchers, community members, & members of local organizations as they share their work and insights on the Black experience past & present in New England; with keynote by Patricia Smith; sponsored by Center for New England Culture, Huddleston Hall, 73 Main St, Durham NH 03824; 603/862-0353; www.neculture.org

National Catholic Worker Gathering, 7/9-12; Worcester MA; hosted by the Sts. Francis & Thérese & the Mustard Seed communities; for more information contact Mike Boover, 508/753-8974

United Students Against Sweatshops Summer Conference, 2008; 8/8-10, Boulder, CO. Travel scholarships available for those in need; 202/667-9328; www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org.

The Way That Leads To Peace, 7/14-19; Quebec, Canada; A conference for everyone who longs for the spirituality, inspiration, skills, knowledge, & community to support a life of peace rooted in justice. Keynote address by Jim Loney, a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams who, along with three others, was held hostage in Iraq. Sponsored by Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, 4800 Wedgewood Dr, Charlotte NC 28210; 704/521-6051; www.bpfna.org

CAMPAIGNS

Sign the Petition for a National Cesar E. Chavez Holiday! A grassroots effort to ensure all Americans learns about Cesar's life & work. Cesar E. Chavez led the historic nonviolent movement for farm worker rights & dedicated himself to building a movement of poor working people. Help ensure this legacy is recognized & celebrated with a federal paid holiday & day of service and learning in our public schools. To learn more & sign the online petition visit www.ufwaction.org/campaign/chavezholiday

Soldiers of Misfortune: Abusive US Military Recruitment and Failure to Protect Child Soldiers, a report by the American Civil Liberties Union detailing US failure to uphold its commitments to safeguard the rights of youth under 18 from military recruitment & to guarantee basic protections to foreign child soldiers. Read the report online at www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights under "Publications."

The East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) is gathering support urging the US administration to take a leadership role in bringing to justice those responsible for human rights violations perpetrated against the people of Timor-Leste during and immediately following the Indonesian occupation. For more information about what you can do as an activist, visit www.etan.org

Is Coke's Dasani Full of Hot Air? "Coke is working very hard to avoid addressing reasonable questions about product quality testing & disclosure, all the while talking about its rigorous safety and quality requirements," said Gigi Kellett, national director of Corporate Accountability International's Think Outside the Bottle campaign. Coke has also refused to inform consumers of the source of its Dasani bottled water, & continues to drain water in drought prone areas from the southeast US to India.Through initiatives around the world, shareholders & activists are challenging Coke's "green" image. For more information on Think Outside the Bottle, community struggles, & for facts about bottled water, visit www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/page1624.cfm

OPPORTUNITIES

American Friends Service Committee seeks Gulf Coast Community Social Advocate; Program activities include community organizing, empowerment, & networking in the Gulf Coast area and rebuilding and recovery efforts; for full description see jobs page of www.afsc.org; resume & cover letter by 6/16 to Aletha Strong at astrong@afsc.org

VOICE (Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Consciousness Empowerment) seeks Country Director for regional office in Cambodia working on anti-trafficking; contact Lisa Nguyen, VOICE,1802 "S" St NW, Washington DC 20009, lisa@vietnamvoice.org; www.vietnamvoice.org

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evaluation Fellowship Program awards recently graduated students in various fields of expertise to a receive a year-long, full-time, paid placement in an organization where they will work on projects in evaluation & research; application due 6/30; for application & information contact Rosemary Rynn, School of Education, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15282; 412/396-5568; rynn@duq.edu

War Resisters League seeks half-time Editor/Publisher for its quarterly publication, WIN Magazine; send cover letter & resume to wrl@warresisters.org by 6/21 with WIN Job Search in subject line or fax to 212/228-6193

Beyond Diversity 101, 7/7-11; Wallingford, PA; an intensive workshop with facilitator Niyonu Spann & assistant Lisa Graustein. Diversity trainings have tended to have one thing in common: a driving force of guilt and blame. We believe that if the goal is to become a more whole society, such trainings are highly ineffective. Beyond Diversity 101 is grounded in the belief that we can, in fact, abolish systematic discrimination within and without. It requires recognizing, taking responsibility, shifting mind-sets while continually building and utilizing effective skills. It requires heartwork! Contact Pendle Hill, 800/742-3150; registrar@pendlehill.org; www.pendlehill.org

Researcher seeks Quaker conscientious objectors from the Vietnam Era currently living in New England; As a Quaker & doctoral candidate in educational leadership, I am interested in what can be learned from the experience of choosing peace in a time of war. If you were a Quaker CO during the Vietnam War, currently live in New England, & may be interested in participating in this project, please contact Muriel Farrar at mfarrar@gearroad.com or 603/332-1097. Two-hour, tape-recorded interviews are planned for the summer of 2008.

Writers' Workshop, 6/16-27; UMass Boston, Dorchester MA; Instruction in poetry, fiction, prose nonfiction, memoir. Themes: war, social consequences, political coercion, social justice. Two weeks $400; one week $220; William Joiner Center for the Study of War & Social Consequences; Call Michael Sullivan, 617/287-5850; michael.sullivan@umb.edu; www.joinercenter.umb.edu

RESOURCES

Undoing the Silence: Six Tools for Social Change Writing, Louise Dunlap; A book for citizen activists, scholars & professionals who want to use writing for social change. Empowering tools include freewriting and audience analysis along with ways to organize ideas & the writing process itself; published by New Village Press; order from www.undoingsilence.org or www.newvillagepress.org

The Civil Rights in the Middle East Report, is a bi-weekly e-newsletter published by the HAMSA initiative of the American Islamic Congress supporting the struggle for individual rights in the Middle East and aims to connect activists around the world; visit HAMSA online to sign up for the e-newsletter & to read up on its other programs, including education materials, training workshops on nonviolence & civil rights for young activist; www.hamsaweb.org

Iraq: the Human Cost website explores the human cost of war for Iraqis. Convention wisdom in American politics focuses only on American casualties & military losses & discounts or ignores the scale of suffering of the Iraqi people. This site offers resources & studies of human insecurity in Iraq; http://web.mit.edu/humancostiraq

Digital Library on Child Trafficking, a South Asia-based website supported by many activists around the globe offers information on all forms of trafficking & includes information on strategies for trafficking prevention, as well as the rehabilitation & reintegration of victims of trafficking; www.childtraffiicking.com

Murder Victims Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) Blog, a web log advocating for victims, against the death penalty; MVFHR is an international organization of family members of victims of criminal murder & state execution who oppose the death penalty in all cases; www.mvfhr.blogspot.com

War News Radio from Swarthmore College, a weekly 29-minute, student-run news program carried on numerous radio stations worldwide, covers new perspectives, both personal & historical, of the war in Iraq; www.warnewsradio.com