Sunday,  April  2  at  1:00 pm
Bay Area Spark Collective Workshops and Chanting Circle
Presented by   James Bianchi	415-824-4220
Come enjoy the FireDance community and find another home in the Bay Area for your heart songs, your dance, your poetry, your music. You do not have to be a good singer.  You do not have to know a single chant.  Just bring your enthusiasm and your spark.  The Bay Area Spark Collective is a new flame, kindled from embers carried home from fire circles around the country -- an intentional community group that meets monthly to celebrate spirit, community, and each other.  Workshops begin at 2:00 pm.  The sacred circle opens at 6:00 pm.  Participants introduce themselves and share their magic;  the four directions are called in;  a chant is sung;  and a sacred play begins.  From here on out, anything can happen:  drumming, a song, a poem, dancing, magic, drawing, writing, massage, deep trance.  As participants take their turns around the circle, they stir the container and mix in their magic to create a synergistic miracle in the space.  Everyone listens to what the moment needs.  Around 9:30 pm the energy of the circle rises to a fever pitch and then sweetly winds down.  The circle is closed with a chant, an "Om," that releases the four directions -- and plenty of hugs.
http://www.sparkcollective.org
$5 Donations Accepted

 

 

 

 

Monday,  April  14  at  7:00 pm
No Police State in Oakland
Presented by   Wendy Snyder	510-625-1106
The City of Oakland is spending $7.7 million for more police: Where is the $7.7 million for economic development for the impoverished African community? One in five families in Oakland live on less than $15,000 a year; Over one third of the black population has been pushed out of Oakland since the 1990’s through gentrification; Although only 6% of the state’s population, African people make up 29% of the prison population in California. Let’s get organized in the white community to take a stand to support economic development, not police containment, for Oakland’s African and oppressed communities.  Come and join our campaign to hold the elected officials accountable and to build the movement for white solidarity with the struggle of the African community for genuine economic development and justice! The mayor’s plan is a military solution to an economic problem that serves white developers and business and deepens the poverty and gentrification of the African community.  East and West Oakland have been stripped of any viable ability to make a living.  The U.S. imposed illegal drug economy creates huge profits for those on top while impoverished Africans are forced into a penny-ante drug trade and face death or prison.  For decades these communities have experienced police violence and repression in their daily lives under this “war on drugs.”  We need genuine economic development to uplift the living conditions of the entire impoverished African community, not brutal, heavy-handed police containment policies and prison for youth faced with no future!  Uhuru believes that the real crimes are the brutal conditions imposed on the African and Mexican communities by the City of Oakland including:  Police murders of African people through the imposition of a deadly drug economy; Removal of Africans through gentrification;             Support for vigilante groups and individuals – such as the Guardian Angels and Patrick McCullough (awarded by the City for shooting a young black teenager); Militarized schools where recently police tasered students at a peaceful march at McClymonds. On March 14th, Oakland police killed 71 year-old renowned African artist Casper Banjo across from the Eastmont Police Station.  Five days later, three OPD officers shoot and kill Mexican high school student Jose Luis Buenrostro Gonzalez in front of his home.  Police containment of the African community continues the legacy of white domination that has kept the majority of African people impoverished for hundreds of years and maintained wealth in the white community.  As long as the white community lives at the expense of the African community there will never be peace.  Oakland needs economic development for its black communities -- not gentrification of historic black neighborhoods.  The answer is not more militarized police but genuine economic development -- massive infusions of capital equal to what goes into the white communities.    This evenings program will include a slide show presentation by Wendy Snyder about Oakland -- from the Gold Rush to the Panthers to Today.  Also featured will be a presentation by Bakari Olatunji  of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, Oakland.
http://www.apscuhuru.org
Donations Accepted

 

 

 

Sunday,  April  20  at  2:00 pm
Middle Eastern Treasures Concert
Presented by   Mary Ellen Donald	510-654-3786
This will be an afternoon of exciting, delightful, and incredible Middle Eastern drumming, music, and belly dancing.  Mary Ellen Donald is a nationally acclaimed Middle Eastern percussionist for over thirty years.  She is the prime mover of the gorgeous and exotic Middle Eastern Treasures concerts.  She shines not only as an expert and thrilling player of Persian drums and cymbals, but she is also an amazing jazz singer.  Today she will perform exquisitely on her doumbec, cymbals, zarb, tambourine, and frame drum.  This afternoon's beautiful concert will also feature Nazir Latouf of Syria playing the oud and singing;  belly dancing performed by Brynn Mercedes and Michelle Joyce;  the Silk Road Caravan -- Afghani and Anatolian music under the direction of Kevin Cloud;  the Variety Pack Chorus directed by Lauren Carley;  and three percussion ensembles will perform original compositions by Mary Ellen.  It is impossible to have a more enjoyable afternoon at Humanist Hall!  Come and help Mary Ellen raise the rafters of Humanist Hall as high as the sky today!
http://www.maryellendonald.com
$16 Donations Accepted

 

 

Thursday,  April  24  at  6:00 pm
Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Monthly Meeting
Presented by   Jack Kurzweil	510-549-2696
This is the monthly membership meeting of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club (WDRC).  The Club works to renew and reform the Democratic Party.  Everyone is welcome to participate in the discussions.  The evening begins with a social hour and pot luck supper at 6:00 pm -- bring food to share.  At 7:00 pm the Club begins it programs and everyone, members and non-members, is invited to participate in the discussions.
http://www.wellstoneclub.org
$5 Donations Accepted