Hosted by The Annual “Who’s Your Mama?” EARTH DAY & Environmental Film Fest Events.
Alta Earth Day
- April 14, 2018
- Presented By: Alta Ski Area
- Venue: Alta Ski Area
East State Highway 210/Little Cottonwood Canyon
Alta, UT 84092 - Time: See official website for schedule: https://www.alta.com/the-mountain/events/earth-day
- Start Time:10:00 AM
- End Time:11:59 PM
- Category: Festivals & Special Events
- Add to Trip Planner
Join Alta for its 9th annual community Alta Earth Day on Saturday, April 14, 2018. We aim to encourage environmental stewardship, responsible recreation and awareness of the relationship between climate change and the future of the ski industry in Little Cottonwood Canyon and beyond. The day will feature: Eco-Friendly Vendors, Naturalist Tours, Birding in Alta, Après Earth Day & Film!
“The World Sends Us Garbage, We Send Back Music”
– Favio Chávez, The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura
Mon, April 23, 2018 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM AEST
Lendlease, Tower Three, International Towers Sydney
300 Barangaroo Avenue
Barangaroo, NSW 2000 Australia
Get creative at our recycled art and sculpture workshop, hear from local environmental groups and see this year’s Sculptures @ Bayside exhibition.
DATE AND TIME
Tue. 24 April 2018
11:00 am – 2:00 pm AE
LOCATION
Cook Park, Kyeemagh
Cnr Bestic St and The Grand Parade
Sydney, New South Wales 2216
Australia
A great soul /funk concert. Come and be uplifted by great music and let’s raise as much money as possible to help re-unite children who have been separated from their families at the U.S. border. Tickets are $10. Please click on the link below to buy tickets, bring friends! You may make an extra donation on the night if you so wish. All proceeds will go to this great cause. Rob Duncan has played music all over the world, is a father of 3 and writes music about his experience of being human, man and father.
Here’s what he says about his music and this concert:
My music draws from my life experience; spiritually, soulfully, intellectually, and emotionally. All of my songs represent my musical influences like soul music, blues, jazz, and rock. Deeply soulful, funky, melancholy music with ultimately a message of hope. That’s how I write my music. That’s how I sing my music. I lay my heart on the table and reach you in places that you feel.
I have decided to donate the cover charge from my upcoming show at Rockwood Music Hall 3 to RAICES. RAICES primarily provides two very very important things.
It provides lawyers for the children who have been torn from their parents by ICES, and it pays the Immigration Bond which releases the parent from detention allowing their children to rejoin them. This is where your $10 cover charge for my upcoming show will go. If you wish to donate extra you may do so on the night of the show.
ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL PRESENTS
ROB DUNCAN LIVE with his Funkin Soul Band
Date: Saturday, July 7
Time: 7 PM – 8 PM (Arrive by 6:30. Show starts at 7:00! )
Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3
185 Orchard St, New York, NY
Hosted by North Corner Music
$10 Cover Charge
For Tickets, Click Here: https://bit.ly/2LB0QPM
STAND UP FOR HUMANITY! 2019
1225 R Street NW | Washington, DC, 20009 | 202-543-1414
Stand Up For Humanity! is a movement promoting and supporting a world that works for all. It is about embracing those qualities that serve the Highest and Best of our Humanity. We are here to help each other connect and act from our universal and common good; and to raise the consciousness and vibrations on the planet, and within our nation, to one of inclusion, peace, and harmony. And to demonstrate that even one small act taken by an individual can make a difference and contribute to the positive uplifting of humanity.
THE EVENT
On Saturday, August 10, 2019 at 6pm, let’s gather, millions strong at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, to “Stand Up For Humanity”. Featuring dynamic speakers and fantastic music! We are calling all people willing to raise the consciousness within our nation and the world!
Hosted by Unity of Washington, DC – Rev. Sylvia E. Sumter, Senior Minister
1225 R Street NW – Washington, DC 20009 – 202-543-1414
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The Nature of Unity
Unity is a religious movement that began over a century ago. In the 1880’s Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, co-founders of Unity, began to work with some new ideas that they had found about life. Charles had a withered leg; Myrtle had tuberculosis. But in a short time, Myrtle was healed and Charles’ health was so much improved that other people, seeing the changes in them, were drawn to them to find out how they, too, could change.
The Fillmores had no thought of starting a new religion; they just wanted to help themselves and others who turned to them for help. In 1889 they began to publish a little magazine called Modern Thought, which a few years later they renamed Unity. In this magazine, they presented the ideas that had helped them heal themselves and find peace and strength. These ideas are simple. They are centered around two basic propositions:
One ~ God is Good.
Two ~ God is available, in fact, God is in you.
If God is good, God’s will is good. It is impossible to believe that a good God — a God who is love and intelligence — could have made you in any other way except to be healthy, happy, prosperous, loved and loving, courageous and strong. If you are not healthy and happy, it can only be because you have separated yourself from God in mind — the only place you can separate yourself from God and God’s good. You have only to reunite in mind with God, and your life is certain to be full and fulfilling. You do this best by getting still and realizing your oneness with God. Every thought, negative or positive, comes one at time to the door of your conscious mind; there you let it in or turn it away. To have a good life, you have to learn to say no to the negative thoughts which deny your oneness with god’s good and say yes to the positive thoughts which affirm your oneness with God’s good.
Perhaps this is an oversimplification of Unity teachings, but these are the essential elements.
Unity is not a proselytizing religion. We are happy to have you call yourself a Unity student and join a Unity group. But we are also happy when we can help you be a better Methodist, a better Catholic, a better whatever you are.
Unity began as an open-ended religion, and we pray it always will be. May we always be seekers after Truth rather than people who feel that they have found all the Truth and must form an exclusive little circle to preserve it.
Unity is the religion of the written word, and Unity School of Christianity is the organization that has carried that written word around the world. Unity has grown almost entirely because individuals who have been helped by its ideas have told others who need help about it. Unity has always been a warm and loving way of life, sensitive to people’s needs, God-centered but human-hearted. This is Unity.
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Calling All Volunteers – “Stand Up for Humanity”
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
In November of 2017, Unity of Washington, DC kicked-off our Stand Up for Humanity Movement on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. We are excited to share that we have planned another gathering at the Memorial on Saturday, August 10, 2019. Additional information will be forthcoming, however in the interim we are seeking volunteers to assist with the execution of the event. There will be a variety of opportunities to serve on sub-committees prior to the event, as well as onsite. If you are interested in volunteering sign-up TODAY!
AKRON PRIDE FESTIVAL
2019
The mission of Akron Pride is to unify and affirm the LGBTQ community and allies in celebrating our diversity and recognizing our likeness.
We will promote acceptance of all individuals by defending human equity.
“We came together, strong, unified, for the purpose of uniting the LGBTQ community for one day of celebration. With many obstacles and challenges ahead of us, we are willing to take risks and ask questions. With allies in tow, every person in this endeavor is helping to write history in this small city of Akron, Ohio. Every city in every state, no matter how big or small, should own their pride-strong, united, untethered! When there are many that say ‘no’ there is one to say ‘yes’-‘yes we can!’ Small city, big heart!”
-D. Lottman Cruise, President & Founder
FOR SAMA
TUESDAY, September 10, 2019
4:00pm – 6:30pm
Konover Auditorium
Dodd Center
University of Connecticut
FREE ADMISSION
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Sponsored by
Department of Digital Media and Design
Human Rights Institute
Huskies for Human Rights
Middle East Studies
&
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center
Art Exhibition – Christie Sheele: Atlas /Forms of Water
- WHEN:
- September 14, 2019: 5:00PM to November 17, 2019: 5:00PM
- WHERE:
- Albert Shahinian Fine Art – 22 E Market St, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 map
- TO ATTEND:
- Learn More
Join Albert Shahinian Fine Art for an exhibition of Christie Scheele’s Atlas/Forms of Water, running from September 14 – November 17, 2019. Scheele’s work in this exhibition focuses on water, and its environmental, political, and personal meanings.
Riverkeeper is pleased to join for the opening reception (9/14) and Benefit Gala for Regional Conservation Organizations (10/12).
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The First People of the River
People have lived along the shores of the Hudson River since the last ice age, bathing in its waters, living off its bounty, caring for its future. The Lenape tribe balanced the needs of man and the needs of fish and fowl, plant and animal.
Henry Hudson ‘discovered’ what the Lenape called Muhheakunnuk, The River that Runs Both Ways.
There were six to twelve thousand widely dispersed people — both Lenape and Algonquin — living in small bands on the lower estuary. The river connected them and was a major source of food. Travelling in dug-out canoes that held forty people, they’d visit and trade with each other. In smaller dug-outs, they’d set and pull fishing nets, harpoon the whales and seals that often came upriver, and shoot duck with bow and arrow.
Knowledge of and respect for the river was essential for survival. The Lenape believed in a single creator and a series of gods who looked after both people and animals. While women planted maize along the shore, and men hunted deer, Lenape children were taught to take only what they needed from the environment.
If the thousands of years of Lenape history seems to have been erased from the Hudson Valley, that’s partly due to the disease and intolerance that European settlers brought with them. But it’s also a result of how lightly the Lenape lived on the soil: generations of river dwellers left little more environmental change than some ancient oyster middens, rock drawings, and scattered arrowheads.V
Before European contact, whales swam where the Manhattoes tribe lived, the Sinsink band fed off huge oyster beds that grew in the bays, and the upriver shallows provided shad, sturgeon, smelt, and crab for the Iroquois nation.
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Peace Lanterns Festival 2019
September 21, 2019
2:00-8:30pm
Gantry Plaza State Park
Long Island City 11011
Our next peace event that Heiwa Peace & Reconciliation Foundation is co-sponsoring will be annual Peace Lanterns Festival on Saturday, September 21 (UN International Day of Peace!!!) from 2pm – 8:30pm. It will be held at Gantry Plaza State Park in LIC, NY (along with East River, across the River from the United Nations) – Center Blvd & 49th Ave., LIC.
Schedule of Peace Lanterns Festival:
-Free Public Event. Donations are welcome. –
2:00 – 6:00pm Lantern Decorating, Origami, Face Painting, Henna Tattoos, Seedball Making, and African Dance.
2:30 – 5:30pm “Meditate NYC” – Public Meditation Day
Practice mindfulness and calming under the guidance of revered teachers from Buddhist and other traditions from across the globe.
3:00 – 6:00pm Public Paddling, organized by HarborLAB
6:15pm – 7:30pm Speakers and Interfaith Prayers for Peace
Music by Heiwa Peace Band
7:30 – 8:30pm Floating Peace Lanterns
108 lanterns with your words and images of peace and set them afloat with the setting sun.
Peace Lanterns Festival is co-sponsored by the HaborLAB, the Heiwa Peace Reconciliation Foundation of New York and the Buddhist Council of New York, in partnership with the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace, the Interfaith Center of New York, the Interfaith Center of USA, the Newtown Creek Group, the NY de Volunteers, the Origami Therapy Association, the Sikh Cultural Society, the TF Cornerstone, and the World Yoga Community.
PRESS RELEASE: ‘CELEBRATING AMBASSADORS OF PEACE’ (AOP) EVENT SET FOR SEPTEMBER 26 IN LOS ANGELES
“Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), an organization made up of prominent members of the entertainment industry that’s dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace, will honor several music business executives at its second annual Celebrating Ambassadors of Peace gala. More than 200 top entertainment industry leaders are expected to attend the event, which will be held Sep. 26 at the Holmby Hills home of CCFP board advisor and noted entertainment attorney Gary Stiffelman, whose clientele has included Justin Timberlake, Eminem and Yo-Yo Ma.”
A limited number of tickets for this exclusive event are available for purchase at the following site, along with sponsorship opportunities: https://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/gala/honorees/
Web: http://CreativeCommunityForPeace.com
Contact: Alexandra Greenberg
Direct: 213-216-1755
Email: agreenberg@falconpublicity.com
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On Thursday, September 26, Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) will hold its second annual “Celebrating Ambassadors Of Peace” (AOP) event at the Holmby Hills home of noted entertainment attorney and CCFP Advisory Board member, Gary Stiffelman, Esq. (whose clients have included Justin Timberlake, Eminem, Yo-Yo Ma, Trent Reznor, Maroon 5).
In 2018, CCFP honored Scooter Braun, Geffen Records President Neil Jacobson and Warner Music Group executive Aton Ben-Horin. This year’s honorees are: Aaron Bay-Schuck (CEO/Co-Chairman Warner Records); Jacqueline Saturn (President, Caroline Music/CMG); Troy Carter (Founder of Q&A and Atom Factory); Walter Kolm (former President of Universal Music Latino and now manages Maluma, Carlos Vives, and Wisin amongst others); and special artist honoree, Ziggy Marley (GRAMMY Award-winning artist).
The honorees were chosen for their commitment to championing artistic freedom and advancing the idea that music and the arts are a powerful force for building cultural bridges. Through their work and influence, they have advanced coexistence to create a better future for all.
As stated by CCFP Co-Founder David Renzer, and Director Ari Ingel, “Creative Community for Peace was founded by entertainment industry executives on the principal that music and the arts can be a unifying force to bring people of different backgrounds together. We also believe that a cultural boycott of Israel does not further the prospects for peace.”
The honorees shared their excitement to be recognized as Ambassadors of Peace and the importance of CCFP’s work, stating the following:
Aaron Bay-Schuck: “I am honored to be recognized as an ‘Ambassador of Peace’ by Creative Community for Peace and humbled to be receiving it alongside such accomplished industry executives and friends. The cultural boycott movement is detrimental to prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as to artistic freedom around the world, and I will continue to stand with my friends and colleagues who are dedicated to using music and the arts to bring people together.”
Jacqueline Saturn: “I’m honored to receive the Ambassadors of Peace award from Creative Community for Peace. Music and all creative art forms have the unique ability to pierce through cultural barriers, reshape perspectives, and create common ground. CCFP bridges divergent communities, enabling them to find a common voice. Now more than ever, the creative community must take a courageous stance against those that seek to divide rather than unite. I am proud to be in a position to empower artists from many different backgrounds to help us get to “higher ground.”
Walter Kolm: “It’s an honor for me to receive an Ambassadors of Peace award this year. I’ve always been a firm believer in the power of music to bring people together, which is why I support CCFP and their mission. The fact that so many incredible Latin artists I’ve worked with over the years, like Maluma, Carlos Vives and Wisin, have performed in Israel is a testament to this. Our artists are always embraced with enthusiasm and love in such a way that truly shows that music crosses all cultural and national boundaries to unite us.”
Troy Carter: “There is no better way to bring people of different backgrounds together than through the arts. This is why I share the vision of Creative Community for Peace and am proud to receive their Ambassador of Peace award.”
Ziggy Marley: “It is an honor to be one of CCFP’s 2019 Ambassadors of Peace. We all should use our voices, music, and art in the struggle for justice, love, and peace for all human beings of all races, religions, and ethnicities. I am thankful to be a part of this year’s ceremony. One Love”
More than two-hundred top entertainment industry leaders are expected to attend the event, which will feature special musical performances. Sponsors include Sony/ATV, EA Music, BMI, Epic Records, Atlantic Records and Warner Records among many others. Variety, which recently included CCFP honoree Jacqueline Saturn on their “Women’s Impact Report,” is the event’s official media sponsor.
A limited number of tickets for this exclusive event are available for purchase at the following site, along with sponsorship opportunities: https://www.creativecommunityforpeace.com/gala/honorees/
Web: http://CreativeCommunityForPeace.com
Video: https://vimeo.com/332545709
Contact: Alexandra Greenberg
Direct: 213-216-1755
Email: agreenberg@falconpublicity.com
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A BEAUTIFUL OPPORTUNITY…
You are invited to gather with GOOD of the WHOLE Mentoring Stewards and friends as we deepen into the embodiment of wholeness, co-mentoring strategic, sacred action for the earth and all her inhabitants. Given that we are on the evolutionary edge, living in times of great change, we share a vision of a world where every individual feels valued, connected, and whole. During this time together, we will joyfully cultivate an ethos of wholeness, nurturing our innate capacity to live for the good of the whole.
Each morning in Heart Resonance, tuning into the Unified Field and listening to the collective consciousness, we experience an expanded sense of vision and purpose. Aligning with our true nature and inherent wisdom, we step forward as co-mentors and leaders.
With the exciting news of GOOD of the WHOLE’s non-profit status, we are grounding in sacred action, contributing our gifts and co-creating the education, community and media opportunities that are in front of us. We invite you into this generative experience. Join with us as we expand the newly-merged Global Heart Team, catalyze new media and communications, access our shared-resource repository, and lift up your unique gifts and vision!
“Wholeness is the medicine of our times.” ~ Julie Krull
MORE DETAILS…
Who? GOOD of the WHOLE Mentoring Stewards & Friends
What? Private Lakeside Retreat and Intimate Gathering
When? 5:00 pm Thursday September 26th through Sunday evening, September 29th
(Come join us pre OR post retreat from September 25 – 30)
Where? Julie Krull’s Lake Houses, 146 and 147 Lakeview Acres, Johnson Lake, Nebraska 68937
(Nice bunkhouse accommodations for the first confirmed 24 people)
Why? Gather in a coherent field of love, resonance and creativity, as we experience the emergence and realize our collective potential. We are the embodiment of consciousness for the GOOD of the WHOLE. We will open to the impulse of creation expressing through us and offer our greater gifts for the good of the whole.
COST? $222 plus $30/per day food (Limited to 24 – First come first serve)
For More Information Contact:
Julie Krull 308.830.0296 Julie@GoodoftheWhole.com
OR Shelley Darling 415.516.3555 Shelley@GoodoftheWhole.com
TRAVEL INFORMATION…
BEST FLIGHT: Omaha Eppley Airfield: 231 miles, 3 hour drive (Rental car, car pool, shuttle to Kearney, NE & bus available to Lexington, NE – super easy drive!)
Shuttle from Omaha to Kearney: Eppley Express — website for reservations and schedule HERE
FLY to Kearney, NE: 30 minutes drive (Pay a little extra for flight; Rent car or we will pick you up!)
FLY to Grand Island, NE: 1½ hour drive (A little extra for flight; Rent car or we will pick you up!)
FLY AND/OR DRIVE FROM COLORADO: Estimated drive time from the front-range of Colorado is 4-5 hours. You can fly to Denver and rent a car. This option includes a 4 hour drive.
REGISTER NOW…
Make a $100 Donation as a down payment to hold your spot HERE
Please email Shelley@goodofthewhole.com your travel itinerary so she can help organize your commute with cars and shuttles. Thank you.
Standing in Love,
GOOD of the WHOLE Stewards
A $30 donation per guest is highly appreciated.
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising!
We must do M.O.R.E!
Manifesting the DREAM of MLK Jr.!
Sneak Peek Showing of “We Cried Power: A documentary of the PPC”
Dayton: January 19th at 12:00PM
College Hill Community Church
1547 Philadelphia Drive
Dayton, Ohio 45406
Looking forward to hearing your voices and making a change with you to mobilize,organize, register and educate Ohioans around poverty, racism,ecological devastation and the war economy!
Check out the newly designed website! Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Here is a link to a video that describes the tour during the 2nd stop in North Carolina.
PPC in NC, We Must Do M.O.R.E!
For those of you wanting to join us in DC for the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, June 20, 2020, please visit the site below and book your ride! The PPC Rally will also make stops along the way to fill the bus, so if you don’t see your city listed let us know and we can find a way to connect you. We will also need to do a tremendous amount of fundraising to send those that are impacted.
Here is the link to book your ride to DC, Click HERE
Register for the March on Washington Click HERE
Here is the donation link for those who would like to support those going to DC.
https://actionnetwork.org/ fundraising/ohio-poor-peoples- campaign/
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EXCITING NEWS FOR APRIL: The National Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering and Educating (M.O.R.E.) Tour, will be coming to Dayton, Ohio, with Campaign co-chairs Rev. Theoharis, and Rev. Barber on April 23, 2020—details will be coming in a few weeks!
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising!
We must do M.O.R.E!
Manifesting the DREAM of MLK Jr.!
Cincinnati: January 20th
A special collaboration with Public Allies from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Sneak Peek of “We Cried Power”, followed by an economic and panel discussion.
Cincinnati Public Library in the Tower Room
800 Vine St, Cincinnati, OH 45202
Looking forward to hearing your voices and making a change with you to mobilize,organize, register and educate Ohioans around poverty, racism,ecological devastation and the war economy!
Check out the newly designed website! Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Here is a link to a video that describes the tour during the 2nd stop in North Carolina.
PPC in NC, We Must Do M.O.R.E!
For those of you wanting to join us in DC for the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, June 20, 2020, please visit the site below and book your ride! The PPC Rally will also make stops along the way to fill the bus, so if you don’t see your city listed let us know and we can find a way to connect you. We will also need to do a tremendous amount of fundraising to send those that are impacted.
Here is the link to book your ride to DC, Click HERE
Register for the March on Washington Click HERE
Here is the donation link for those who would like to support those going to DC.
https://actionnetwork.org/ fundraising/ohio-poor-peoples- campaign/
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EXCITING NEWS FOR APRIL: The National Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering and Educating (M.O.R.E.) Tour, will be coming to Dayton, Ohio, with Campaign co-chairs Rev. Theoharis, and Rev. Barber on April 23, 2020—details will be coming in a few weeks!
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising!
We must do M.O.R.E!
Manifesting the DREAM of MLK Jr.!
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THE POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN AND WE THE WORLD ARE COLLABORATING
Visit OUR Facebook page to watch a virtual screening of “We Cried Power”.
There will be a panel discussion afterwards.
Visit the facebook page here – We, the World
to watch the live screening
of the PPC documentary on January 26th, at 6:00 pm.
Looking forward to hearing your voices and making a change with you to mobilize,organize, register and educate Ohioans around poverty, racism,ecological devastation and the war economy!
Check out the newly designed website! Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Here is a link to a video that describes the tour during the 2nd stop in North Carolina.
PPC in NC, We Must Do M.O.R.E!
For those of you wanting to join us in DC for the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, June 20, 2020, please visit the site below and book your ride! The PPC Rally will also make stops along the way to fill the bus, so if you don’t see your city listed let us know and we can find a way to connect you. We will also need to do a tremendous amount of fundraising to send those that are impacted.
Here is the link to book your ride to DC, Click HERE
Register for the March on Washington Click HERE
Here is the donation link for those who would like to support those going to DC.
https://actionnetwork.org/ fundraising/ohio-poor-peoples- campaign/
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EXCITING NEWS FOR APRIL: The National Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering and Educating (M.O.R.E.) Tour, will be coming to Dayton, Ohio, with Campaign co-chairs Rev. Theoharis, and Rev. Barber on April 23, 2020—details will be coming in a few weeks!
My Queer Valentine Reception
Hosted by Torpedo Factory Art Center and Target Gallery
Friday, February 14, 2020 at 7 PM – 10 PM
Next Week18–32°F Sunny
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105 N. Union St, Alexandria, Virginia 22314
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Art in Person and in Progress. Located in Old Town Alexandria, the Torpedo Factory Art Center is home to 165 working artists, seven galleries, The Art League, and the Alexandria Archaeology Museum. Free admission.
My Queer Valentine Shows the Richness of LGBTQ Life
The warmth of recognition is strong inside the exhibition.
I took my girlfriend to see My Queer Valentine on a Monday morning; it was a date, I told her. We took the Metro down to King Street and walked to the Alexandria waterfront. Once we got there, we strolled into The Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Target Gallery, hands interlocked.
For My Queer Valentine, the contemporary gallery’s spring show, the small space is filled with large-scale photographic prints, paintings on both large and small canvases, and sculpture. Visually, the pieces cover a broad range of styles, including a digitally influenced take on Abstract Expressionism, geometric interpretations of fire, Basquiat-esque mark-making and writing over photographs, sculpture with few references to recognizable forms, canvases made three-dimensional by the attachment of glittery found objects, and small silkscreen prints. Thematically, they may at first seem to not cohere, but that’s only because My Queer Valentine’s juried works cover a diverse and rich swath of queer life.
As for taking my girlfriend, I had another motive that I didn’t say aloud, though she may have picked up on it. I wanted to enter that exhibition as a visibly gay person, and I wanted to see how that affected my experience of the art. It was the right choice. My Queer Valentine does more than curate work that examines what it means to be LGBTQ in the 21st century: It creates a queer space warm with the joy of recognition.
Some works speak directly to that joy, like artist Cat Gunn’s abstract canvases. Their dramatic patterns represent the harmony of being in a relationship where their partner sees them as their authentic, nonbinary self, they write in the wall text. There are glittering squares and wobbling lines moving back and forth across the plane, but things seem to be coming together the longer you look—parts that once made no sense have an internal logic that reveals itself with sustained attention and open mindedness. Recognition can be dangerous, and the closet offers safety, but it also means hiding behind a mask. The relief of dropping the charade and being seen is transcendent.
My Queer Valentine isn’t camp, not as a whole, but it’s full of artworks made by people who understand the humor and the wondrous pompousness of queer glamor. (That glamor and its high drama are knowingly self-important because there are still so many people who wish we didn’t have it.) The first pieces the viewer encounters play with the feminine trappings of artificial jewelry, glitter, plastic, and resin, all in bright, loud colors; one piece dripping with sequins invites viewers to “lick me until ice cream.” That kind of playful sexuality thrives in many of the works, even the more subdued ones. A beige canvas on the opposing wall asks the onlooker to “come (cum on my) back.” The half-joking, half-serious attitude toward sex is one of My Queer Valentine’s greatest strengths, highlighting the laughter and joy inherent in queer life and queer sex.
Linda Hesh’s “Kissing Booth” is another joyful artwork. It’s not a stunning feat of technique and construction; it’s just a wood and steel booth, like one you might see at a county fair in the ’50s. It advertises itself as, unsurprisingly, “KISSING BOOTH.” It’s not anchored to a wall. Instead, it stands out from a corner and beckons viewers to come in, where they might notice that its gingham pattern is made up of pictures of kissing same-sex couples. I’ll admit my biases here: I’ve always had a love for participatory art. But the booth’s standing invitation to come inside, to take a picture kissing underneath it, and to share that picture with the world is a brave act, even in 2020 in Alexandria—brave for the artist and the piece inviting those kisses, brave for the people who choose to do so. Even though queer desire is hypervisible in contemporary life, it’s not always recognized as a loving, human affect. By asking people to kiss, Hesh affirms the romance of the gesture and the genuine safety of the space around it.
The most striking pieces were by D.C.-based photographer Matt Storm, a transgender man. His work is challenging, cheeky, and hard to look away from. The two images on display come from his Act of Looking series, where he returns to the same studio in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the famous gay vacation spot, to photograph his body “to create an expanded lexicon of ways to see a body, inclusive of ways to see my body,” he writes in his artist’s statement. In the first image, we see him standing naked, in a pose that looks relaxed but requires him to hold himself in place with his own strength. His muscles are tense but not flexed. His face isn’t overly expressive, but there’s a spark of playfulness in his eyes and a hint of a smile on his mouth. And his arm drapes behind his back, coming to rest between his legs, where he holds his fingers playfully—an obvious commentary on how, as he says, “my body is incongruous with how we are taught to see bodies.” In another, he clasps his hands in front of his crotch, fingers crossed. We can’t see his face, but we can feel the humor. The piece is titled “Crossing my Fingers, Getting Away with Something.”
But a different series of works stopped me in my tracks. Aurele Gould’s photographs pulled my gaze from the moment I entered the gallery. When I saw her triptych of an athlete putting pre-wrap around another girl’s thigh, I felt a lump in my throat. “A moment of transference is constructed, a care and an intimacy among women,” she writes in the wall text. Immediately I thought of Barbara Kruger’s 1981 piece “Untitled (You Construct Intricate Rituals),” which famously says “You construct intricate rituals that allow you to touch the skin of other men” over an image of men roughhousing. But I thought of it less because of its artistic impact and more because, for years, queer kids on Tumblr have been using it as a memetic reference point for jokes about the forbidden, magnetic pull of another person’s skin. In the three images of the piece, we see hands grab the inner thigh, let go to wrap the tape around, and return to place both hands on the partner’s leg.
Likewise, I’d been primed to see Gould’s piece “Acrylic” before I walked in—it represents My Queer Valentine online—but I stopped myself from making a beeline to it. When I did make my way over and allowed myself to look, I noticed for the first time the two models’ sharp, long, matching acrylic nails gently cradling each other’s faces. That striking image is made more striking by those glittery nails. Gould knows this: “I like how thought processes can fold unto each other, like thinking about when stereotypes can be used and who they can be used by,” she wrote in the wall text. I felt a pang of recognition. I smiled. The two lovers in the photograph stared at me, nails shining, and I took my girlfriend’s manicured hand and stared back.
105 N. Union St., Alexandria. (703) 746-4587. torpedofactory.org.
Do you have old clothes you’ve been wanting to get rid of?
Been wanting some new pieces for your wardrobe but don’t want to pay the price?
Bring a friend and get ready to spice up your look (;
WHERE: MGC 245
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Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at 6 PMNext Week46–55°F Rain Showers
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4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington D.C. 20016
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Take Action on National Refugee Shabbat
National Refugee Shabbat 5780, which will take place on March 20-21, 2020, is a moment for congregations, organizations, and individuals around the country to dedicate a Shabbat experience to refugees and asylum seekers.
Register: Learn more about how your community or group can participate at hias.org/nrs – it’s not too late!
There are also many ways individuals can take action for refugees and asylum seekers in the week leading up to National Refugee Shabbat, as well as on the actual Shabbat itself (in accordance with individual Shabbat practice). Feel free to share the list below widely with family and friends.
12 WAYS TO TAKE ACTION THIS NATIONAL REFUGEE SHABBAT
1. Advocate – Call your Member of Congress to ask them to stand for the rights, safety and dignity of refugees and asylum seekers.
2. Get Involved in the Election – Research the candidates running in local elections in your area, and let them know that the rights of refugees and asylum seekers are among your top priority issues this year.
3. Update Your Facebook Photo Frame – Show your support for refugees by updating your Facebook profile picture with the HIAS #JewsforRefugees frame. Click here for directions.
4. Join the “Jews for Refugees” Facebook Group – Joining this group is a great way to connect with thousands of other committed individuals across the country, access up-to-the-minute information about the Jewish response to the refugee crisis, and share the actions that you are taking. Click here to join.
5. Donate Your Miles to Asylum Seekers – HIAS has partnered with Miles4Migrants (M4M), a nonprofit charity dedicated to using donated frequent flyer miles and money for the relocation of refugees and those seeking asylum – including families recently separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. HIAS and Miles4Migrants (M4M) will work to identify refugees and asylum seekers who need assistance purchasing airfare to reunite with their families. Donate your frequent flyer miles here the week of National Refugee Shabbat.
6. Buy Refugee-Produced Goods – Support refugees and asylum seekers around the world and in your local community by buying refugee-produced goods and/or researching refugee-owned restaurants in your community and having a meal there. Check out this website to purchase goods made by a collective of African asylum-seeking women living in Tel Aviv, Israel.
7. Give Life to Refugees and Asylum Seekers – In the week leading up to National Refugee Shabbat, set up a Facebook fundraiser to benefit HIAS’ work.
8. Scholarships for Displaced Students – Research whether your local universities and colleges offer scholarships to refugees and asylum seekers. If not, reach out and ask them to consider starting such a program. Check out Columbia University’s program for an example.
9. Have A Difficult Conversation – Using the HIAS Conversational Guide for How to Talk About Refugees with Family and Friends, commit to having at least one conversation with someone in your life who has expressed concern about welcoming refugees to the United States or even someone who has made disparaging remarks about refugees or asylum seekers.
10. Light Shabbat Candles with Intention – As you welcome Shabbat on March 20, use this reading before lighting Shabbat candles to set an intention to stand with refugees and asylum seekers around the globe.
11. Host A Gathering In Your Home – Invite a small group of friends over to your home for Shabbat dinner or lunch or a havdallah (the ceremony for closing Shabbat) wine and cheese gathering. At the gathering, consider using the HIAS National Refugee Shabbat 5780-2020 Programming Content Resource. Use the text study on page 6 of this guide as a jumping off point for conversation, take a look at and discuss the refugee art on page 13 of this guide, or screen the movie suggested on page 14 and 15 of this guide.
12. Start A Book Club – Start a book club – for adults or young people – to read books by and about refugees and asylum seekers. Use this list as a jumping off point for suggestions or search google for even more ideas.
Interested in joining us in 2020? Fill out our early interest form and be the first to know when registration opens and save $50 off your registration. We’ll make sure you’re the first to know when registration opens for our August 7-9, 2020 ILI in Chicago. Bonus: you’ll receive $50 off when you register!
See the ILI in action
The Interfaith Leadership Institute (ILI) is the largest gathering of students and educators with a commitment to American religious pluralism. Each year, hundreds of people who care about the future of our religiously diverse society converge in Chicago to learn, train, share, and get inspired to bring the movement for interfaith cooperation back to their campuses and communities. Over the course of three days, participants learn to bridge divides and forge friendships across lines of religious and worldview differences. Come to the ILI with the passion to bring people together and leave equipped with the knowledge and skills to make it happen.
Interested in joining us in 2020? Fill out our early interest form and be the first to know when registration opens and save $50 off your registration.
Training Tracks
Introductory and advanced training tracks are designed to support those new to this work by laying the foundation for interfaith leadership, and providing advanced skills in topics ranging from strategic planning to navigating tricky challenges and more.
Plenary Sessions
Plenary sessions will feature conversation with experienced leaders and their stories of engaging religious difference and disagreement in American life. During the Unconference, attendees will have the power to guide these conversations by choosing discussion topics and important questions at the beginning of the gathering.
Discounts & Scholarships
As we do not want cost to be a hindrance to engaging with interfaith leadership, we have a number of discounts, as well as registration scholarships available.
Learn more about out discounts and scholarships
Interfaith Youth Core
141 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite 3200, Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: (312) 573-8825
Email: info@ifyc.org