Open Doors #4: Protestant Worship, focus on social justice

Rachel Berkowitz '09 from the Interfaith Justice League sends in some info about the fourth event in the Open Doors series:

Curious about social justice, spirituality, or religious observance on campus?

On Sunday, January 25, 2009, in Memorial Chapel at 2PM, join guest minister The Reverend Dr. A. Knighton Stanley, author of A View From My Window and The Children is Crying along with Pastor Joan Cooper Burnett, Protestant Chaplain, the Chapel Ministers, Praise and Worship Team, and the Interfaith Justice League, as we gather to celebrate our covenant relationship with God and are reminded of our relationship with neighbor.

This Open Door gathering is designed as a cry to God for justice in the midst of injustice, a call to God's people to practice justice, and a proclamation of God's vision of a just world.

This is the fourth event in an "Open Doors" series of open religious/spiritual gatherings around campus, organized by the Interfaith Justice League and various faith communities, in which we visit a different religious/spiritual service each week, and invite the greater campus community to join us. Keep your eyes open for more upcoming events!

What: Social justice-focused Protestant Worship with Reverend Dr. A. Knighton Stanley
When: Sun, Jan. 25th at 2 pm
Where: Memorial Chapel

Events at the WestCo Cafe

Looks like there's a lot going on down there this Tuesday. Check it out:

1. Connecting the Dots of Climate Justice: Workshop / Strategy Session with Evan Greer of the Riot-Folk! Collective & Rising Tide

This popular-education workshop weaves together music, stories, guided discussion, images, and games to help groups to identify and understand the root causes of climate change and the related systems attacking our planet and our communities. With this knowledge, we will brainstorm creative responses that everyone can take part in.

Climate Change is too often framed as simply an issue of too much carbon in the atmosphere. Climate Justice is about seeing climate change as the product of hundreds of years of colonialism and other forms of injustice, and recognizing that the communities who will be most affected by climate change are the same communities who are already oppressed by this society.

Everyone has something to bring to the discussion, and we will cover topics and ideas ranging from gender liberation to community gardening. The focus will be on identifying ways to strengthen local organizing and connect with other social movements in our area.

Facilitator Evan Greer is a twenty-three year old activist, educator, and musician from Massachusetts. He tours internationally as a political songwriter and is a founding member of the Riot-Folk! Collective, a group of 9 musicians who work together to use their music to support grassroots justice organizing. Evan has spent time as a relief worker in New Orleans, a street medic at the G8 Protests in Scotland, and a youth and community organizer in Boston, where he currently lives. His deep involvement in movements for social and ecological justice gives him a unique perspective on the many ways that we can address the problems facing our planet and our communities.

Evan's music is available for free download here.

Event: Climate Justice Workshop
Date: 10/21
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: WestCo Cafe

2. Free concert at the WestCo Cafe

(Broadcast Live)

Performing will be:

• Broadcast Live, a live hip-hop group from Albany, NY.
• Evan Greer, a radical folk singer from Boston, MA (who also happens to be facilitating a workshop at 4:30pm at the Cafe)
• Crocodiles, a cool new band with members from The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, from San Diego CA
• Fundamentally Sound, a awesome new campus band from 200 Church!

The show should go till around midnight! It's free, but bring money for CDs!

Event: Free concert
Date: 10/21
Time: 9 pm
Location: WestCo Cafe

Echoing Green

Karimah Nichols '09 sends word of Echoing Green, an organization that she and quite a few Wes alumni are involved with, which is devoted to funding entrepreneurs working for social change:

Echoing Green, a leading investor in early-stage social entrepreneurs through a two-year fellowship program, has just launched its Facebook page. We're really interested in reaching out to young adults with a passion for social justice that are looking to turn that passion into a career.

Keeping in mind Wesleyan's reputation for student activism, we thought it would make sense to start our outreach here. Not to mention the fact that two thirds of our departmental leadership are Wesleyan alumnae—Carolyn Bess, VP of Development, and Lara Galinsky '96 (BA English), VP of Strategy and Communications—and three of this summer's interns are from Wes as well—Ellen Eng '08, former WSA President Zachary Kolodin '07, and Karimah Nichols '09. Check out the page, and if you like what you see, become a fan.

Other notable Wes alums who've gone through the fellowship program are 2000 Fellows Damilola Adebiyi '00 (Psychology/Neuroscience & Behavior) and Fadekimi Akinfaderin '00 (Biochemistry/Chemistry/Molecular Biology), co-founders of Education as a Vaccine Against AIDS (EVA); 2006 Fellow Sasha Chanoff '94 (COL), founder of Mapendo International; 1994 Fellow Jason Moss '93 (English/AFAM), founder of New Orleans Outreach; and 2002 Fellow Cynthia Willard, founder of the Utah Health &Human Rights Project.

Learn more about the fellowship program at EchoingGreen.org.

Links:

• Facebook Page
• Mapendo International
• Education as a Vaccine against AIDS (EVA)
• New Orleans Outreach
• Utah Health & Human Rights Project

A Closer Walk at PAC

Friday event:

This weekend Students for Social Justice will be showing A Closer Walk. A Closer Walk examines the underlying causes of AIDS; the relationship between health, dignity, and human rights; and the universal need for action, compassion, and commitment to counter what has become the worst plague in human history. The film's director and producer, Robert Bilheimer, is an Academy Award nominee and the film was conceived with the late Jonathan Mann, architect of the World Health Organization's response to global AIDS.

What: Screening "A Closer Walk"
When: Friday at 6:30
Where: PAC 001
Plus there will be snacks! See you all there!