Wednesday, October 7, 2009

FW: Wabanaki Perspectives and Human Awareness at UMA, Oct. 13-16

MAIN and Maine Equal Justice wanted to share with our members and friends this exciting opportunity to experience the rich culture of the Wabanaki People. We encourage you to participate in this free public event.  If you have questions or want to learn more, please go to: http://www.uma.edu/wabankiperspectives.html 
 
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Wabanaki Perspectives and Human Awareness
October 13-16, 2009
 
University of Maine at Augusta

 
Several Wabanaki citizens have been working with staff and students from the University of Maine at Augusta to plan Wabanaki Perspectives and Human Awareness. 
 
This four-day event to take place October 13-16 will include presentations, films, demonstrations, and opportunities for socializing to share and to experience the rich culture of the Wabanaki People.  The events are free and open to the public. 
 
Week-long ongoing opportunities include: Talking Circles, Sacred Space, Bonfire by the lake, Music by native artists, Continual showing of films on university public monitors, Traditional foods available in the café, Arts displayed throughout the main buildings, and the sale of local Native books, DVDs, CDs, baskets, jewelry, clothing, & crafts.
 
This event will provide an opportunity 
 
+    For Native American Students attending UMA to gather and share their culture.  
+    To allow Wabanaki youth to meet and to celebrate their common heritage while sharing key aspects of Wabanaki nationhood and culture with the non-Indian population.
+    To allow Wabanaki youth to experience a campus environment and learn about the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine.
+    For non-Native American students to learn about the Wabanaki and participate in Wabanaki cultural activities.
For the public to learn about the Wabinaki and participate in Wabanaki cultural  activities; and
+    To provide a foundation for future intra and inter cultural interactions amongst university students, faculty, staff and the public.
 
To learn more about this exciting event and to see a schedule for each day, go to:   http://www.uma.edu/wabankiperspectives.html
 


Margaret Wheatley in Portland on October 15th!

Margaret Wheatley is one of the most creative thinkers about leadership and organizational development around.  I just finished her book Finding Our Way : Leadership for Uncertain Times and will blog more about that later... I was surprised to find that she's coming to USM on October 15th.  Sadly, I'll have just returned from 3 days away from my family and likely will have to be home for bed time, but I hope someone I know will go and tell me all about it! 

Fwd: Registration Now Open CCFC's 2010 Consuming Kids Summit


The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood Reclaiming Childhood from Corporate Marketers

Praise for CCFC Summits:

"Just the right balance ofinfuriating info and inspiration."

"An amazing opportunity to meet and network with like-minded, motivated activists for change."

"I left thinking about what I can do in my own home to fortify the lives of my children (and myself)...I was so inspired...andwe had so much fun."


Register Now! 

CCFC's 7th National Summit:

Consuming Kids:  Market Values, Human Values, and the Lives of Children

April 8-10, 2010

Wheelock College

Boston, MA


The values children learn in the marketplace - excessive consumption, impulse buying, and unthinking brand loyalty - are antithetical to healthy development, independent thinking, spirituality, community, and democracy. What happens to childhood - and society -- when market values trump human values? How can we make a difference?  What role can parents, educators, public health professionals, faith communities, and policy makers play in stopping the proliferation of market values, and in nurturing positive values, in a commercialized world?

Join CCFC and leading activists, scholars, and authors for the only national conference devoted to stopping the commercial exploitation of children. Register by November 1st to take advantage of recession-busting, super early bird rates and to beat the rush.  Our last summit sold out early! Register now at: http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/events.htm

Confirmed speakers already include:

Enola Aird, founder, Mothers for Human Future - Tim Kasser, author, The High Price of Materialism - Sharon Lamb & Lyn Mikel Brown, authors, Packing Boyhood & Packaging Girlhood - Lenore Skanazy, author, Free Range Kids  Nancy Carlsson-Paige, author, Taking Back Childhood  -  Allen Kanner, co-editor, Psychology and Consumer Culture  Diane Levin, co-author, So Sexy, So Soon, Susan Linn, author, The Case for Make Believe  - and many, many more to come!


Scholarships available - please visit http://commercialfreechildhood.org/events/summitscholarship2010.html for more information.

Can't make the summit? Help someone else attend by supporting CCFC's summit scholarship fund.



Unsubscribe | Donate | CCFC Events | Forward to a friend |CCFC on Facebook | Contact CCFC 

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
A Program of the Judge Baker Children's Center
53 Parker Hill Ave
Boston, MA 02120
www.commercialfreechildhood.org





Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Fwd: Play Date for Equality - Please join us!

I know many of us wonder how to best respond to the mean spirited Yes on 1 commercials that vilify families we live in or families we care about... here's one way (also, vote now - absentee ballots can now be requested online -- http://www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl  and  give money ) 


Dear friends:
 
Please join us for a Play Date for Equality on Columbus Day, October 12.
 
The No on 1 / Protect Maine Equality campaign is hosting a Play Date for Equality for Maine families to show their support marriage equality. We have invited the media to show them the rich diversity of Maine families who support marriage equality.
 
We will provide cider and cookies; you bring yourselves, toys/balls/frisbees for the park, and your kids, grandkids, nieces/nephews, neighbors, etc. We'd love to have older kids too who may have outgrown play dates but who want to show their support.
  
It will not only be a fun afternoon, but an important one too. On that day we will be just 19 days from election day and showing the diversity of support for marriage equality is a critical part of our campaign.  
 
Please RSVP if you plan to attend, by emailing or calling me. And bring all your friends!
 
Thank you.
 
Betsy
  
 
What: "Play Date for Equality"
 
When: 1:00-3:00 pm on Columbus Day (Monday, October 12th)
[rain date: 1:00 pm on Saturday, October 17th]
 
Where: The playground at Deering Oaks Park in Portland
 
Who: All families who support marriage equality
 
 
Please pass this on far and wide, even if you cannot attend! Thank you.
 
 
 
 
Betsy Smith
Executive Director
EqualityMaine
207-939-7769 cell
 
 
 
 

Monday, October 5, 2009

THE TOXIC TOYBOX -- A COMMUNITY READ

Copies of this book are free for borrowing -- there is a copy in front of Corie's room and 2 more on the table in front of Jame's office... gives an overview of why we should care about these issues and some interesting expose's about where toxic chemicals are hiding in our households. I'm trying to collect some good links for the sidebar -- please use the comments to share sites you check as you pursue health and well being and all that!

Wolfe's Neck Update

Currently almost 40 FSP children and parents have signed up to come to the Wolfe's Neck field trip on Friday October 9th. All are welcome -- please feel free to join in at the last minute (we just had sign ups because the staff wanted an estimate count).
The program will begin promptly at 10:00am -- since it involves a hayride, it can be tricky to catch up (although there might be 2 shifts) and they can't hold it too long because they have afternoon groups. The official program ends between 11:30 12 but we're welcome to stay and play...
The cost is $5.00 per person (including adults) -- all children will receive a pumpkin and everyone gets an apple.
The weather currently looks beautiful -- I will post here if the weather changes and we need to cancel, but that is unlikely. Bring a picnic and hiking shoes if you'd like -- there are beautiful trails here and at the nearby Wolfe's Neck State Park.
Directions are here (note : there used to be 2 ways in, but now I think there is only 1) : http://www.wolfesneckfarm.org/map_and_directions.php

Paul Solman at Bates College (tonight and Wednesday)




THE ANDREWS LECTURE IN ETHICS AND EDUCATION

Paul Solman
Economics Correspondent
The News Hour with Jim Lehrer



The Divided Self: Money, God and Neighbor

Lecture I
Monday, October 5, 7 p.m., Chase Hall Lounge
Spending Beyond Our Means And Are We Screwed If We Don't?

Lecture II
Wednesday, October 7, 7 p.m., Chase Hall Lounge
IS Money The Root Of All Evil?

Sponsored by the Multifaith Chaplaincy and the Department of Economics


--  The Rev. Bill Blaine-Wallace, Ph.D.  Multifaith Chaplain Bates College 161 Wood Street Lewiston, ME. wblainew@bates.edu 207.753.6906 Fax: 207.786.8282  "A mosaic is a conversation between what is broken." Terry Tempest Williams

Saturday, October 3, 2009

FW: [Maine_Science] An Evening for Middle School & High School Girls to dream BIG and meet a scientist

______________________________________________________________________________ Join Us and Dream Big!
Explore Science Writing & Science Career Opportunities
An Evening For: middle and high school girls*

 . Tuesday October 6, 2009, 6:00-8:00pm
 Freeport Community Center, 53 Depot St., Freeport, ME
 RSVP requested, light Refreshments served

Coastal Studies for Girls and Cornerstones of Science offer an evening
designed to intrigue, inspire
and inform middle and high school girls about exciting science related
careers, projects and
educational opportunities.
. Introduction to Coastal Studies for Girls, a Science & Leadership
School--the nation's first
residential semester school that's just for 10th grade girls, opening Spring
2010 in Freeport
. Learn about science opportunities for girls at Cornerstones of Science, an award-winning
national science literacy initiative, located in Brunswick
. Featured guest speakers include Catherine Schmitt, author of local natural
history guide, A
Coastal Companion, and Beth Bisson, from Maine Sea Grant
. Explore science writing and other science careers opportunities at Maine
Sea Grant
. Design your own creative arts project and have a chance to win your own
copy of A Coastal
Companion
. Discover connections between science, nature art and science career
choices

*This event is open to all Maine middle school and high school girls, and
their parents/guardians
and is made possible, in part, through the support of a grant from the Maine
Girls Collaborative Project, an NSF
funded effort

RSVP to Margaret Martin at Coastal Studies for Girls: 865-9700 or
info@coastalstudiesforgirls.org

www.coastalstudiesforgirls.org
www.cornerstonesofscience.org/
www.seagrant.umaine.edu/
www.catherineschmitt.com/

Friday, October 2, 2009

Bates screening of 'Food, Inc.' with Stonyfield Farm chairman

Food safety seems to be one of the most challenging parenting issues we face, as a generation of parents that can't trust the FDA or big business that feeds us, but we can't all homestead either.  I saw 2/3 of this movie (a childcare emergency pulled me out before the hopeful part) and it has changed some of my eating habits, and also revealed places for collective action.   Plus, how fun to see it with energetic college students (who eat the most amazing food around)... 

 All are invited...


Stonyfield Farm chairman to speak at Bates screening of 'Food, Inc.'
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Olin Arts Concert Hall

MORE INFO: http://home.bates.edu/views/2009/09/29/food-inc/

A Bates College screening of the food-industry exposé Food, Inc. will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the director of Bates Dining Services and with Gary Hirshberg P'13, head of organic yogurt producer Stonyfield Farm.

The screening begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, in Olin Arts Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. The film is 90 minutes long.

Hirshberg appears in the film, which scrutinizes the food we eat and how it is produced. He'll be joined in the Bates event by college Dining Services Director Christine Schwartz. The event is open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6476.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

For Your October Calendar - Detox Your Toy Box, FREE Panel Discussion, Oct 20th, 7pm. USM's Abromson Center


 
Friends School of  Portland
1 Mackworth Island
Falmouth, ME  04105
Phone 207 781-6321
Fax 207 781-6320
http://friendsschoolofportland.org/sites/all/themes/friends/images/logo.jpg
 
 
 --FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
 
FRIENDS SCHOOL OF PORTLAND TO HOST PARENTING FOR PEACE EVENT "DETOX YOUR TOY BOX"

The School has assembled a panel of experts to discuss hopeful and concrete actions for maintaining the health of families and stewardship for the Earth

Portland, Maine September 22, 2009 – Friends School of Portland (FSP), an independent Quaker day school for grades preschool-8, today announces its fall, 2009 Parenting for Peace event, "Detox Your Toy Box."

This event will be held on Tuesday, October 20, 2009, from 7-8:30 PM at the University of Southern Maine, Hannaford Hall, in the Abromson Community Education Center in partnership with the Maine chapter of Physician's for Social Responsibility.

Taking a proactive approach, "Detox Your Toy Box" will explore current research linking environmental toxins to children's health. We will learn about the most urgent problems we face and opportunities for personal and collective action.   The panel will also share strategies for engaging children in making healthy choices for themselves and their planet. This event is free and open to the public.

Experts from diverse, yet connected fields come together as a panel and include:

·     David Bellinger, PhD, Professor, Harvard Medical School—will inform the audience of the latest scientific research linking environmental toxins to children's developmental health.

·     Nicole Borrasso, Teacher and Seasoned Outdoor Educator, FSPwill help us consider the best way to engage children in caring for the environment and their own bodies without scaring them (or the parents!).

·     Kristine Jenkins, Environmental Health Organizer, Environmental Health Strategy Center—will share stories of successful community clean-ups / social change and engage us in a conversation about public policy initiatives on the horizon.

The panel will be moderated by local pediatrician, parent and FSP Board member, Jeff Peterson.  A question and answer period will follow the panel presentation. Resource tables will be available in the lobby.
 
FSP is pleased and proud to offer Parenting for Peace as a community service to the Greater Portland community.
 
About FSP
The Friends School of Portland challenges and empowers students to develop their intellectual, physical, emotional, creative and spiritual potential. We honor our students' natural gifts as they learn to enter the world with confidence, competence, joy and a sense of purpose. We are guided by the Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, stewardship, and truth.