Progressive Calendar 10.20.05
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu)
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 05:13:28 -0700 (PDT)
             P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R      10.20.05

1. MN Somalis post-9/11  10.20 6:45pm

2. Legal ed/non-citizens 10.22 8:30am
3. Intl youth/skills     10.22 9am
4. Haiti                 10.22 10am
5. EJAM/kid env health   10.22 10am
6. Ophuls/anti-war film  10.22 12noon
7. Gulu walk/Uganda      10.22 1pm
8. Vs police brutality   10.22 2pm
9. Witness/peace/fiesta  10.22 5:30pm
10. Justice/Dean/party   10.22 7pm
11. Women/issues         10.22 7pm
12. Hartley benefit      10.22 7pm Duluth MN
13. The MN 8/reading     10.22 8pm
14. genderBLUR cabaret   10.22 8pm

15. Ralph Nader       - "None of us have the right to avert our gaze"
16. Scott Lyons       - On national commemorations in the Age of Empire
17. Andrew Schmookler - Speak moral truth to immoral power
18. Wilfred Owen      - Anthem for doomed youth (poem)

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From: omar jamal <shabeelj [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: MN Somalis post9/11 10.20 6:45pm

Omar Jamal Director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center

The Executive Director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center Mr. Omar
Jamal will address about the "Somalis in Minnesota post 9/11" on Thursday
October 20th 2005 at the Humanists of Minnesota at 900 Mount Curve Avenue
Minneapolis MN, Chalice Room down stairs.

Social Time: 6:45-7:30pm First Unitarian Society
Program: 7:30-8:30pm Chalice Room - Downstairs
Q & A: 8:30-9pm 900 Mount Curve Av Minneapolis

Thousands of Somali refugees have settled in the Twin Cities since
Somalia's civil war erupted in 1991. Minneapolis-St. Paul has become the
de facto "capital" of the Somali community in North America.

Mr. Omar Jamal will speak about the change the community went through
after 9/11. Some of the main reasons the community settled in the Midwest
were job market and services for families; however, soon after 9/11 all
hopes vanished and fear, detention and FBI interrogation become very
common.

Mr. Jamal will focus on the high spirit of the Somali community being most
recent immigrants in the United States in an attempt to accomplish the
American Dream, yet without any of their making, get caught up in the
terrorist war


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From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Legal ed/non-citizens 10.22 8:30am

October 22 - International Leadership Institute: Continuing Legal
Education Program. 8:30am-12noon.  Cost: $95.00/ Per Person.

International Leadership Institute Presents: Special Concerns When
Representing Non-Citizens In Civil and Criminal Cases Professional
Liability Practice Pointers

The focus group for this particular CLE is Civil Attorneys, Paralegals and
Guardian Ad Litem who handle cases that involve non-citizens and their
interaction with US Immigration Laws. Family Law Attorneys who handle
cases that involve non-citizens or issues surrounding pre-nuptial
agreements.

Program Schedule and Speakers:

8:30am: Check In
8:45-9:00am: Opening Remarks
-Michael Ciresi*
9:00 - 9:45am: Professional Liability (emphasis on the civil practice)
-Jerry Blackwell
-Karl Johnson
-Pat O'Gorman
-Danielle Shelton

9:50-11:25am: Criminal/Immigration Panel
Immigration Consequences of Criminal Sentences: When does a criminal attorney need to consult with an immigration attorney to avoid collateral consequences related to sentencing?
-Albert Goins
-Earl Gray
-Herbert Igbanugo
-Robert Oleisky
-Thomas R. Anderson III, Esq.

11:30-12:00: A View from the Bench
-District Court Referee Wesley Ligima
-District Court Judge LaJune T. Lange
-District Court Judge Salvador M. Rosas

*invited speaker

The course provides three (3) hours of professional continuing legal
education units. Certificates of participation will be provided. Location:
Lower Level Classrooms, University of Minnesota Law School, Walter Mondale
Hall


--------3 of 18--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Intl youth/skills 10.22 9am

October 22 - 4th Annual International Youth Conference: Critical Skills
For A Changing World. 9am  Cost: $15.00/person.

This year the ILI International Youth Conference will be held at the
University of Minnesota Law School, Walter Mondale Hall on Saturday,
October 22, 2005.

The youth conference focuses on leadership skills for youth; a road map to
college for students and parents; positive coping skills for students;
navigating cultures for self identity; and international human rights 101
around the world. The conference will also celebrate youth expressions
with a Spoken Word Poetry Composition and Performance Event hosted by SASE
founder and director Carolyn Holbrook and performer, Mankwe Ndosi.

Invited or confirmed guests and session presenters include Dr. Monica
Colvin-Adams, Tsehai Wodajo, Liz Royal and Kristi Rudelius-Palmer.

A special presentation at this year s conference will be a session for
parents on How to finance their child s college education (public or
private college). Many parents are confused as to what are the correct
ways to finance higher education.  They want to know how to use their
savings to support their children s college career.  Finance experts will
be at the session to answer parents questions. This session is Saturday,
October 22, from 3:00pm to 5:00pm at the University of Minnesota Law
School Human Rights Center, lower level. The session is free with
conference registration which is $15.00/person.

Conference sponsoring community partners include Valentini &amp;
Associates, P.A., NFL Play It Smart and University of Minnesota Human
Rights Center.

The Youth Conference is open to all high school students (8th to 12th
grades), college students, teachers, parents, community professionals and
youth advocates. Attendees will have an opportunity to explore critical
international topics important to our communities emerging youth leaders.

The youth conference begins at 9:00am with registration and includes a
lunch for each registered attendee. Juice and coffee will be available at
the check in table. The event has space for youth oriented vendors and
health focused literature. 150 young people are expected to attend the
conference.

Conference sponsoring community partners include Valentini &amp;
Associates, P.A., NFL Play It Smart and University of Minnesota Human
Rights Center.

Youth Conference Registration is $15.00 each for youth and adults.
Registration forms can be found online at
www.internationalleadership.org/Calendar. Print out the web form and mail
to the address indicated. For more information or vendor booth forms
contact: Coventry Cowens at coventryintl [at] visi.com or leave a message at
612/340-0250, ext 1. Location: University of Minnesota Law School, Walter
Mondale Hall, 229-19th Avenue South Minneapolis


--------4 of 18--------

From: Mary Turck <mturck [at] americas.org>
Subject: Haiti 10.22 10am

Saturday, October 22 - Canada in Haiti: Waging war on the poor majority
Yves Engler, Canadian journalist and Haiti activist, will speak on his new
book, which will be available for sale and signing. (Coffeehour: A weekly
talk and discussion with a featured speaker. Saturdays, 10-11:30 a.m. $4
($3 for members).  Resource Center of the Americas, 3019 Minnehaha Ave.,
Minneapolis.)


--------5 of 18--------

From: Elizabeth Dickinson <eadickinson [at] mindspring.com>
Subject: EJAM/kid env health 10.22 10am

On Saturday, October 22, a free conference on Children's Environmental
Health will take place at the Minneapolis Urban League, 2100 Plymouth
Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55411. Registration begins at 10am and the
conference starts at 11:15am and will go all day.

This year's theme is "Fighting for our Future: Children's Environmental
Health".  We won't be just talking; we'll be planning and organizing on
the dangerous pollution which hits low-income children and children of
color the hardest.

We will have action-oriented workshops about:
* The Arsenic triangle in Phillips Neighborhood;
* Lead in our homes, which cuts our children's IQ and makes them more
impulsive;
* Mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin, which the government is failing to
protect us from;
* Pesticides: if it kills bugs and weeds, what is it doing to the poor
migrant farmers who work in it?;
* Toxic Dumping in Somalia: International Environmental Racism plain and
simple;
* Asthma: Spreading among Blacks like mad: Is it the air, our homes? Come
see what you can do;
* Youth Organizing

Our keynote speaker is Margie Richard. Her keynote address begins at 5:30
p.m. Ms. Richard been called the "The Rosa Parks of the Environmental
Justice Movement". From her trailer in a small town in Louisiana, this
retired schoolteacher took on the world¹s 10th largest corporation, and
third largest petroleum company, to save her community.

Ms. Richard brought visitors to her trailer on the Shell fenceline and
told them the story of how her community was being poisoned. She said it
was God ³who opened the door² and allowed her to take that message to a
human rights conference in Geneva and environmental conferences in the
Netherlands and South Africa. She brought bags of polluted air from her
community to these international gatherings and demanded that Shell buy
out the homes of her neighbors.  The relocation campaign that she led
clearly had the potential to become another media disaster for Shell.  In
September 2000, Shell offered to buy out half the properties on the two
streets closest to their fenceline. Town residents were outraged: Did
pollution coming from the plant stop after the second street, they asked?
And what would happen to those left behind? In June 2002, after protracted
negotiations Shell finally agreed to buy out all of the residents of
Diamond who wanted to move. For her efforts, on April 19, 2004, Richard
became the first African-American woman to win the $125,000 Goldman
Environmental Prize for grassroots activism.

EJAM's opening speaker (11:15 a.m.) is a bright young leader named Jesus
Torres. Jesus will be speaking to the need to organize youth around
environmental justice.  He has been organizing migrant farm workers in
South Minnesota and he has an inspiring and informative perspective.
Come and listen.

On Friday, October 21, at 6:30 PM, we will show the movie Fenceline at the
Minneapolis Urban League. Margie Richard will be there to answer questions
and talk about her struggles and victories!

Please come and get active, and bring a friend. For more information, or
to pre-register please call Alecia at (612) 436-5402 or
alecia.carter [at] sierraclub.org.

---
From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>

Environmentalism Takes on Racism and Economics:
EJAM conference addresses health
by Lydia Howell

Say "environemtal movement" and many Americans think of saving obscure
species from extinction or wilderness preservation.  Grassroots activists
are broadening that paradigm by linking public health, racism and economic
power, exemplified by Environmental Justice Adovocates Minnesota (EJAM),
hosting their third annual conference on Saurday, October 22nd in
Minneapolis.

"People of color and poor white people tend to live where the rest of
society wants to dump its garbage. We say some people don't have the
complexion for protection from environmental hazards. That's environmental
racism. When we recognized poor white people are also subjected to
pollution, we expanded to environmental justice," says Minnesota State
Rep. Keith Ellison, an EJAM founder and one of only a handfull of people
of color elected to the State Legislature. "Becaue of people's politcal
disadvantage, whether it's economic, race or both, they should NOT have to
live where everyboy else dumps crap they don't want, with dirty air and
bad water."

Studies show that 71% of African-Americans live in counties that don't
meet federal clean air standards, creating high rates of respiratory
diseases.  Continued housing segregation based on race and class puts
people of color and the poor on toxic waste sites and by 'dirty
industries', resulting in escalating cancers and other health problems.

EJAM's conference keynote speaker, Margie Richard, lives in Norco,
Louisiana, an African-American community, surrounded by the oil industry,
chemical and plastics plants since the 1920s. Located 25 miles from New
Orleans, the area is known as "Cancer Alley".

"I got involved when my sister died at 43 from a rare disease caused by
these poisons. I saw my students with asthma. We all grew up with those
flares burning chemicals off the factories...Many people here have
respiratory disease, cancer, shortness of breath," explains Richard, a
retired middle-school teacher. "We weren't getting anywhere just talking
among ourselves. We needed to connect government, industry,
African-Americans, poor whites, Indigeous people."

Richard, the first African-American to win the Goldman Prize for
environmental activism, started Concerned Citizens of Norco (CCN). For 30
years, she challenged the world's tenth biggest company, Shell Oil - and
won.

EJAM's conference highlights children's health, focusing on local hazards.
One in three African-American children has asthma. Children who are poor
and/or of color are disproportionately harmed by lead poisoning.

"This lead crisis is deeply impacting the academic gaps in public schools.
This lead crisis is deeply impacting the juvenile courts. It causes
impulse-control problems," Ellison, a father of four, is intense.
"People think 'it's bad home-training" or 'babies making babies'. Some
just say 'THOSE people are just like that'. But, many of these kids have
lead poisoning!."

Ellison says Minnesota's policy of universal screening for lead in
children is better than many states. However, enforcement is far from
universal. "Are all children on Medical Assistance screened? Are all
toddlers screened?", he asks.

Long-gone industrial sites perpetrate public health consequences. One
conference workshop looks at what's called "the arsenic triangle" in south
Minneapolis' Phillips neighborhood, near Lake Street.

"It was a pesticide manufacturing company that closed in the 1950s,"
says Thomas Frame, with the City of Minneapolis' Regulatory Services,
working on environmental safety. "We're still trying to discover the
distribution pattern of these poisons. We keep finding arsenic 'hot spots'
but, no pattern yet."

Richard's community understood the petrochemical industries were
permanent, so, they battled for restitution.

"It was like David and the giant. We had to come face to face with Dutch
Shell. There's a need here that CAN'T be ignored,"Richard relates."It took
15 years for us to be heard. The plant wasn't going anywhere so, we only
had two choices: stay there with a slow death or move away. We chose to
move away but, we wanted continued healthcare no matter where we are."

Richard networked with the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
DSCEJ) at Xavier University, a historical black college in New Orleans,
currently closed due to post-Katrina flooding.

"DSCEJ carried me from my front yard to Dutch Shell," Richard says that
white, middle-class environmental organizations also stepped up. " A
struggle is a struggle. Our plea was:if you can help save a black bear or
trees, will you give us some assistance? Sierra Club gave us funds to
start our website. There's always someone in an organzation with a heart
and understanding."

In 2000, Shell paid out $5M in community development funds, helped
relocate Norco residents, and purchased about 200 of 226 their properties
at $80,000 each.

Twin Cities' quality of life includes lakes damaged by industrial waste.
Another EJAM workshop addresses mercury pollution from coal-fired energy
plants, making lakes and the fish in them a public health hazard.

"Native Americans and Asians are more likely to have mercury poisoning
because eating fish is part of their cultures. African-Americans and pooor
people are affected, too," Ellison explains. "All these people are
substinance anglers. They're not fishing for fun - they're fishing for
FOOD. So, this is traditional, historical, and survival."

Going to work can be an environmental hazard. Since the 1960s' California
migrant farm workers movement, led by Caesar Chafez, pesticides have been
recongizing as causing infertility, birth defects and cancers. EJAM's
confernce kicks off with Jesus Torrez, an Owatana, Minnesota migrant
worker, union activist and youth organizer making these issues current.

"Migrant farm workers are mostly Hispanic people in southern Minnesota.
people with the least economic power applying this poison so we can get a
1% bigger corn crop," Ellison says. "These pesticides' purpose is to kill
stuff, so what do you think it does to you?"

Rep. Elliosn calls Margie Richards "a true hero", urging people to come be
inspired by her experience.

"For me, this is an evangelical call. Our Earth is the Lord in all its
fullness. Are we going to respect the Creation for ALL of us? You pollute
and you can't tell the wind which way to blow. You can't tell the river
where to flow," Richard's voice lilts in Southern dialect and the poetry
of black preachers. "Land, air, water are here to stay. Will we clean it
up or leave it messed up for future generations?  How could someone
respect the Creator and NOT respect His Creation?"

"People in the environmental movement have to think more broadly. It can't
be only about saving exotic species and wilderness - those it is those
things,too. If you're teaching in the public schools, environmental
hazards are impacting your students' ability to learn. The environment is
impacting public health,"Ellison underscores that EJAM's conference is
action-oriented and building new coalitions. If you're interested in power
dynamics and the people, there's a strong democracy component here. If you
want to - quote - 'Fight the power', the environmental justice movement is
the place for you. We'er not anti-industry, but, we are about people who
reap the profits should also pay the costs."

FREE Sat. October 22, Environmental Justice Adovcates Minnesota Conference
9:30pm-5pm, MInneapolis Urban League, 2100 Plymouth Ave.  North,
MInneapolis (612)588-9122 www.ejam.org Hear Rep.Ellison and Margie
Richards on "Catalyst", archived www.kfai.org


--------6 of 18--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Ophuls/anti-war film 10.22 12noon

October 22 - Film: Memory of Justice.  12noon
1976  278 min

Arguably his greatest work, and virtually unavailable to the U.S. public,
The Memory of Justice remains Ophuls' most ambitious film. If you can
commit to seeing only one 4 1/2 hour film in your lifetime, make the
necessary arrangements to see this stunning masterwork. In one courageous,
lyrical tour de force, Ophuls takes on the sweep of history from Nuremberg
to Vietnam, exploring the questions of guilt and responsibility for the
horrors of war.

University Film Society at the Bell Museum of Natural History, 17th and
University Avenue, SE


--------7 of 18--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Gulu walk/Uganda 10.22 1pm

Saturday, 10/22, 1 pm, "Gulu Walk," drawing attention to as many as 40,000
children of Northern Uganda who make the "night commute" to reach urban
centers in order to avoid abduction.  The walk is 3.5 miles, beginning and
ending in Elliot Park, Minneapolis.  FFI: http://guluwalk.com/minneapolis/


--------8 of 18--------

From: Michelle Gross <mgresist [at] minn.net>
Subject: Vs police brutality 10.22 2pm

This Saturday, October 22 is the 10th Annual National Day of Protest
Against Police Brutality.  Here in the Twin Cities, we've marked this day
every year since it started.  This year, we'll be gathering for a rally
and march in an area that has been marked by numerous incidents, including
deaths at the hands of police.  You'll want to be there to hear the
authentic voices of people whose lives have been affected by police
brutality, misconduct or abuse of authority.

O22 PROTEST AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY
Saturday, October 22 at 2pm
Peavey Park
Corner of Chicago and Franklin Avenues, Minneapolis


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From: Merideth Cleary <meriberry15 [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Witness/peace/fiesta 10.22 5:30pm

Witness for Peace Fall Fiesta

Please join past Witness for Peace delegates and members of the community
to for a night of education, music, food, and dancing..for the Witness
for Peace Fall Fiesta!!!

Hear Colombian Human Rights Lawyer and Analyst, Diana Murcia share her
perspective on Plan Colombia: U.S. Military Buildup in a Changing Latin
America.

Saturday, October 22
5:30pm
St. Joan of Arc Church
4537 3rd Avenue S.
Minneapolis, MN

PROGRAM:
5:30 Doors Open, Silent Auction
6:00 Dinner (Home-Cooked Food from: Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Venezuela
7:00 Speakers
8:30 Salsa Lessons & Dancing!

Please call Merideth to RSVP or with questions  at 612-702-8542^Å.or
e-mail her at merideth [at] witnessforpeace.org.


--------10 of 18--------

From: Tom Taylor <tom [at] organicconsumers.org>
Subject: Justice/Dean/party 10.22 7pm

Saturday October 22nd at Mill City Cafe (75 22nd AVE NE from 7-10pm) is
shaping up to be THE artistic and social justice event of the season as
folks gather to support Dean Zimmermann in his defense against the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.

There will be drink, music and food.
Some of the fine establishments that have stepped forward to provide
scrumptious food are:
Rainbow Chinese
North Country Co-op
Cristo's Greek Restaurant
Mill City Cafe
Bergin Fruit And Nut Company

There will also be an incredible art auction with pieces included from these
artists, collections and galleries:
Aldo Moroni
Keri Picket
Shaskin
Heinz Brummel
Bruce Bacon
Jan Attrige
Lucinda Anderson
Roy McBride
Kat Corrigan
Michael McElrath
Tom Taylor from the Shannon Welch collection
Gallery 13
Creative Electric Studio
Jodi Reeb Myers
Jan Elftman
Wilenski Reunion Show Posters
Terrance Myers
Kendall Bohn

Come have a time, get some art, hear Dean and others and stand up with us
all and proclaim: IF LOVING DEAN IS WRONG I DON'T WANT TO BE RIGHT.

We hang together or surly we will all hang separately,
-Tom Taylor 612-788-4252


--------11 of 18---------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Women/issues 10.22 7pm

Saturday, October 22

Equilibrium Spoken Word Series at the Loft features "We Got Issues!"
National Tour featuring Kelly Tsai, Kamilah Forbes, Lenelle Moise, Sarah
Littlecrow-Russell & Staceyann Chin. Performance including monologue,
spoken word, beatboxing, movement and song. Produced by the Next Wave of
Women& Power in collaboration with The Center for Civic Participation &
Code P ink. 7 pm at Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis.


--------12 of 18--------

From: Debbie <ddo [at] mchsi.com>
Subject: Hartley benefit 10.22 7pm Duluth MN

Eat Sweets, Bid On Treats!

Hartley Nature Center cordially invites everyone to its second annual "Eat
Sweets, Bid on Treats!" Benefit Auction, hosted by KBJR's Barbara Reyelts
and Michelle Lee, Saturday, October 22nd, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Attendees
will have the opportunity to bid on silent and live auction items while
they sip gourmet coffees and ciders and nibble the same desserts you would
find in the area's finest restaurants, all while being serenaded by local
musicians.

"Eat Sweets, Bid on Treats!" is Hartley's biggest annual fundraiser,
bringing in as much as 10% of the center's total operating budget. Put
another way, if this year's goal of $19,000 is met, the auction will pay
for one educator for an entire year.

Proceeds from the ticket sales will be used to establish a school
scholarship fund that will enable qualifying schools to attend for just $2
per student! (to qualify schools must have 60% or more of their students
qualify for the free or reduced school lunch program)

Tickets for the auction are $25 dollars each, and available only at
Hartley Nature Center. Pick them up in person, order by phone at 724-6735,
or send the total amount for the number of tickets you want to Hartley
Nature Center, 3001 Woodland Avenue, Duluth, Mn. 55803.

Here is your chance to support the many valuable environmental education
programs Hartley Nature Center has been offering for more than 15 years,
while pampering yourself too!

3001 WOODLAND AVENUE, Duluth, MN 55803 office: 218-724-6735 FAX:
218-724-4891 WWW.HARTLEYNATURE.ORG


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From: wamm <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: The MN 8/reading 10.22 8pm

"The Minnesota 8": Staged Reading with Reception to Follow

Saturday, October 22, 8pm. Great American History Theatre, 30 East 10th
Street, St. Paul.

"The Minnesota 8" by William Lanoue is a true story of young anti-war
protesters who, during the Vietnam War, raided and destroyed draft records
at several Minnesota draft boards, got caught and were convicted. Many of
the guys still live in the Twin Cities and have been interviewed for the
play. The performance will have a bare-bones staging, allowing for the
spotlight to be on the text, as the performers move about the stage as you
would ordinarily expect for a theatre performance.

A reception with real members of "The Minnesota 8" will follow the
performance. To reserve tickets in advance, please contact the WAMM
office. Co-sponsored by WAMM. FFI: Call 612-827-5364.


--------14 of 18--------

From: David Strand <mncivil [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: genderBLUR cabaret 10.22 8pm

genderBLUR Cabaret & Fall Festival After Party
      for the Trans, Genderqueer & Allied Communities

Saturday, October 22
7:30 pm - Doors open
8:00 pm - Cabaret

Post-show Fall Festival After Party: pumpkin carving, apple bobbing, dance
party and more! Everyone Welcome (except Herbie Klockenlocker)

Held at Patrick's Cabaret, 3010 Minnehaha Ave S (at E Lake St),
Minneapolis
$0-10 suggested donation, no one turned away due to lack of funds

Curated and Hosted by Rob Yaeger
Featuring Comedy, Music, Youth Performers, Drag Kings, and more!
with
Hakeem
Joy MacArthur
Miss Harmony Vuitton
River Gordon
   and more!

Concession sales (including hot cider and pumpkin goodies) to benefit the
Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition.

* All-ages, alcohol-free, smoke-free
* Wheelchair accessible
* On bus routes 21 and 7
* ASL interpreted
* Dressing rooms available on site
* No-Scent Policy: so that everyone can be comfortable, please don't wear
perfume or other scented products

Winner of the 2003 Twin Cities Community Pride Award, this regularly-held
cabaret and party invites trans, genderqueer and allied people to get
together and celebrate our communities.  genderBLUR works to create a
place for people of all different backgrounds, races, ethnicities,
genders, sexualities and abilities.

* Volunteers and new members for the genderBLUR Collective are always
welcome! 612-823-1152 or www.genderBLUR.org


--------15 of 18--------

An Interview with Rev. William Sloane Coffin
"None of Us Have the Right to Avert Our Gaze"
By RALPH NADER
CounterPunch
October 19, 2005

Rev. William Sloane Coffin has been a leader against the war in Vietnam,
an advocate for civil rights and an opponent of nuclear weapons. Coffin
was an Army officer in World War II, acting as liaison to the French and
Russian armies. Upon graduating from Yale University in 1949, Coffin
entered the Union Theological Seminary until the outbreak of the Korean
War when, in 1950, he joined the CIA and spent three years in Germany
fighting Stalin's regime. He earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree from
Yale in 1956 and was ordained a Presbyterian minister.

Rev. Coffin became Chaplain of Yale University in 1958. Early on he
opposed the Vietnam War and became famous for his anti-war activities and
his civil rights activism. He had a prominent role challenging segregation
in the "freedom rides." Coffin used his pulpit as a platform for
like-minded crusaders, hosting the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, South
African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, among others. Fellow
Yale graduate Garry Trudeau has immortalize Coffin as "the Rev. Sloan" in
the Doonesbury comic strip.

By 1967, Coffin increasingly concentrated on preaching civil disobedience
and supported the young men who turned in their draft cards. In 1968
Coffin, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Marcus Raskin and others were indicted by a
Federal grand jury for conspiracy to counsel, aid and abet draft
resistance. All but Raskin were convicted, but in 1970 an appeals court
overturned the verdict.

Coffin remained chaplain of Yale until December 1975. In 1977 he became
senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City and became a leading
activist, meeting with world leaders and traveling abroad to protest U.S.
policies. He currently resides in Vermont.

Ralph Nader: With the majority of Americans in poll after poll turning
against the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq and with many retired
Generals, diplomats and intelligence officials opposed to the invasion in
the first instance why is the organized opposition not greater? What can
be done to turn this public support into organized opposition?

Rev. William Sloane Coffin: Sacrifice in and of itself confers no
sanctity. Even though thousands of Americans and Iraqis are killed and
wounded, the blood shed doesn't make the cause one wit more or less
sacred. Yet that truth is so difficult to accept when sons and daughters,
husbands, friends, when so many of our fellow-citizens are among the
sacrificed.

Because her son was killed Cindy Sheehan is not called unpatriotic. What
the rest of us have to remember is that dissent in a democracy is not
unpatriotic, what is unpatriotic is subservience to a bad policy.

The war was a predictable catastrophe and we've botched the occupation.
However, I sympathize with those who are perplexed about what is best now
to do. Soon I hope people will heed the call to renounce all American
military bases in Iraq and to begin withdrawal of American troops. I think
Bush has it wrong: he says: "When Iraqis stand up, Americans will stand
down." More likely its: when Americans stand down, then Iraqis will be
forced to stand up. The question is, "Which Iraqis and for what will they
stand?"

RN: Why do you think most of the anti-war groups stopped their marches in
2004 and became quiescent compared to 2003?

WSC: Wars generally mute dissent, and Bush is given to silence criticism,
to keep problems hidden and ignored. Now that such tactics are no longer
possible, given the many setbacks to his war aims, the marches will soon
begin.

RN: What do you think the churches and the National Council of Churches
should be doing that they are not now doing regarding the war-occupation?

WSC: Bob Edgar, the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches,
has been an eloquent protester of the war. Local clergy must brave the
accusation of meddling in politics, a charge first made no doubt by the
Pharaoh against Moses. When war has a bloodstained face none of us have
the right to avert our gaze. And it's not the sincerity of the
Administration, but its passionate conviction of the war's rightness that
needs to be questioned. Self-righteousness is the bane of human relations,
of them all - personal and international. And the search for peace is
Biblically mandated. If religious people don't search hard, and only say
"Peace is desirable," then secular authorities are free to decide "War is
necessary."

RN: Any comparisons between the domestic opposition to the Iraq
War/Occupation with the domestic opposition to the Vietnam War?

WSC: There are similarities. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was based on a
lie; so was the charge that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
destruction. And the lies continued: We were winning the Vietnam War,
Iraqi oil would pay for the costs of the war and of the occupation.

I think the absence of a draft has much to do with the present lack of
student protest. On the other hand, I think the colossal blunders of the
Administration will quicken an antiwar movement faster now than during the
Vietnam War. After all, it was only after the Tet Offensive in 1968, not
originally in '62,'63 or '64, that the American opposition to the Vietnam
War became massive.

RN: What should the U.S. government do now?

WSC: The U.S. government should realize that if we can't defeat the
insurgents, we have lost. The insurgents, on the other hand, have only not
to lose to declare victory. And to defeat the United States and its allies
might go a long way to assuage, to offset the humiliation and rage so many
Muslims presently feel. All of which indicates we should start to withdraw
our troops. What we shouldn't do is to believe President Bush when he says
that to honor those who have died, more Americans must die. That's using
examples of his failures to promote still greater failures.

RN: What do you think should be done strategically and tactically by the
peace movement?

WSC: I am very much in favor of well thought out non-violent civil
disobedience, of occupying congressional offices, telling lawmakers, "You
have to stop the slaughter, to admit mistakes and to right the wrong."

Unfortunately, to get media attention, you have to sensationalize the
valuable. But town meetings, letters to the editor, flooding Washington
with protest letters and marches - all that is still very important if the
protest continues and gains momentum.

RN: How is Vermont a model in this respect?

WSC: Representative Sanders, Senators Leahy and Jeffords - Vermont is well
representative by these sensitive, intelligent people. The state is
exceedingly environmentally friendly which tends to make people more
peace-minded. Actually some Vermonters want to secede from the Union. I'm
opposed. Better to stay where the guilt is and try to improve things
throughout the country.

RN: What broader advice do you have for strengthening our democracy and
confronting the concentration of power and wealth over the life sustaining
directions our country (with its impact on the world) needs to take?
Please address any specific reforms that demand priority.

WSC: Something happened to our understanding of freedom. Centuries ago
Saint Augustine called freedom of choice the "small freedom," libertas
minor. Libertas Maior, the big freedom was to make the right choices, to
be fearless and selfless enough to choose to serve the common good rather
than to seek personal gain.

That understanding of freedom was not foreign to our eighteenth century
forebears who were enormously influenced by Montesquieu, the French
thinker who differentiated despotism, monarchy, and democracy. In each he
found a special principle governing social life. For despotism the
principle was fear; for monarch, honor; and for democracy, not freedom but
virtue. In The Broken Covenant, Robert Bellah quotes him as writing that
"it is this quality rather than fear or ambition, that makes things work
in a democracy."

According to Bellah, Samuel Adams agreed: "We may look to armies for our
defense, but virtue is our best security. It is not possible that any
state should long remain free where virtue is not supremely honored."

Freedom, virtue - these two were practically synonymous in the minds of
our revolutionary forbears To them it was not inconceivable that an
individual would be granted freedom merely for the satisfaction of
instinct and whims. Freedom was not the freedom to do as you please but
rather, if you will, the freedom to do as you ought! Freedom, virtue -
they were practically synonymous a hundred years later in the mind of
Abraham Lincoln when, in his second inaugural address, he called for "a
new birth of freedom." But today, because we have so cruelly separated
freedom from virtue, because we define freedom in a morally inferior way,
our country is stalled in what Herman Melville call the "Dark Ages of
Democracy," a time when as he predicted, the New Jerusalem would turn into
Babylon, and Americans would feel "the arrest of hope's advance."

RN: What about the Educational system as it relates to democracy?

WSC: Higher education is doing fairly well. Universities are only too
expensive, and do too little to persuade students to make a difference,
not money, to be valuable not "successful."

Lower education, on the other hand, particularly for the urban and rural
poor, cries for attention. And it's all related - inadequate education,
housing, jobs, day care, lack of medical assurance. Our children need
teachers and doctors, not generals and wars. And they desperately need the
incentive only good mentors and a good nation can provide.

RN: Are you writing another book?

WSC: Not that I know of.

To contact Rev. Coffin or Ralph Nader write the Director of Democracy
Rising, Kevin Zeese at KZeese [at] DemocracyRising.US. You can comment on this
interview on Ralph Nader's blog at www.DemocracyRising.US.


--------16 of 18---------

On National Commemorations in the Age of Empire
Multicultural Columbus
By SCOTT RICHARD LYONS
CounterPunch
October 19, 2005

A week has now passed since America observed its latest round of Columbus
Day activities - e.g., the usual Italian American-led parades and Native
American-led protests - and in that regard things were no different in my
town, Syracuse, New York, which dutifully featured both. But many folks
seemed pleasantly surprised this year when a pretty young lady of
Vietnamese descent, Myphuong Phan, was crowned Miss Columbus Day.
According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, the committee who selected Phan
for the honors did so because "Columbus discovered America for everyone."

Christopher Columbus: he's not just for Italians anymore! Many Americans,
conservatives and liberals alike, would doubtless applaud this
multicultural take on the controversial explorer; and some might even
conclude that our colorfully adorned Miss Columbus Day brought an
additional meaning to the day's festivities, namely another welcomed step
away from that grisly legacy of ambivalence known as the Vietnam War.
Surely, if Columbus discovered America for Miss Phan as much as anyone
else, there's a bit less incentive to worry about old unpleasantries like
napalm or My Lai.

Of course that wouldn't change the fact that the Vietnam War was waged in
precisely the same imperialist spirit that Christopher Columbus
represents, whether we call it stopping the spread of communism, opening
up new markets, or discovering the New World. In the cases of both Vietnam
and the Americas - and here we can quietly mention Iraq as well - the
sovereignty and intelligence of people who inhabited invaded lands was
considered a moot point by outsiders who presumed to know best and acted
accordingly. In such cases, you can be sure that the deaths of natives
will always far exceed those of the invaders, and native life will
inevitably be made more difficult in the aftermath.

To wit, the American phase (1965-73) of the Second Indochina War (1960-75)
killed some 1,700,000 natives, as well as 58,000 U.S. military personnel.
Bathed in the blood of imperialism, the entire war destroyed 3,500,000
lives. So far the Iraq War has killed between 26,000 and 30,000 civilian
Iraqis, according to the conservative estimates of Iraq Body Count,
although the British medical journal The Lancet reported a year ago that
the war had already caused a possible 100,000 "excess deaths." Such
numbers are getting worse; Robert Fisk recently reported that 1,100 Iraqi
civilians died in Baghdad alone last July. The US military death toll is
rapidly approaching 2,000, of which a full quarter has been reservists,
and that latter statistic is multiplying: in August and September of this
year, a full 56% of the US military dead have been reservists.

As for the death toll legacy of our old friend Columbus, for years
demographers have argued over how to estimate the pre-Columbian Native
population and its subsequent reduction, with informed guesses ranging
anywhere from 8 to 100 million Indians killed as a result of Columbus's
"discovery." Personally, I've always been partial to geographer William
Denevan's reasonable 1976 "consensus count" of 54,000,000 dead Indians,
but that's probably because I'm a moderate. Whether attributed to
unlivable conditions of life caused by colonialism, or to outright
genocidal military campaigns, the fact is these obscene numbers would not
exist were it not for the man Americans celebrate each October. Nor would
our more current and depressing array of statistics that consistently rank
today's Indians at the very bottom of every single social indicator of
well being, from health, to education, to crime, economy, and more.

So I suppose I'm not feeling uplifted by Syracuse's multicultural take on
Columbus, no matter how much I support efforts by the Vietnamese-American
community to become more accepted in their new country (and I do
appreciate that impulse). To me, this joint celebration of old Chris on
the one hand, and today's fascination with "diversity" on the other, is
neither more nor less than a symptom of the cultural logic of Empire:
namely, the New World Order's desire to have everyone wear their ethnic
costumes to global capitalism's grand ball.

Global imperialism, whether in the form of yesteryear's colonialisms or
more recent blood-for-oil initiatives pursued by US-led "coalitions," is
always done in the service of the global market. Today's world elites who
benefit from this market - it's not just Americans - are far removed from
those stodgy old Mr. Potter types who used to frown upon cultures that
weren't Eurocentric enough. To the contrary! Global capitalism knows full
well that culture and ethnicity make great "niche markets," so cultural
differences have become commodities like any other. In this context,
ethnic groups from Vietnamese to Native Americans have been transformed
from subaltern "savages" into so many new producers and consumers in the
global marketplace.

Provided, of course, that they are invited to attend the ball. For those
not favorably situated to participate in the global market - i.e., those
unlucky millions who presently lack use value for whatever historical
reason, for instance the vast majority of Native Americans living on
reservations today - you can be certain that their cultures will continue
to be thoroughly condemned: as "cultures of dependency," "cultures of
poverty," and so on. But there is nothing inherent in the world market
today, or the global culture it produces, that requires ethnic groups to
check their ethnicities at the door - just their poverty, their
complaints, their progressive political movements, and most definitely
their militant resistance or even a hint of it.

So in addition to the crowning of young Phan, the traditional Vietnamese
dragon that was featured in Syracuse's Columbus Day parade last week was a
perfectly acceptable way of participating in - and celebrating - global
imperialism, as well as another sign of America's commitment to its
cultural diversity. Indeed, in this instance the two are the precisely
same thing.

Progressives should always resist the symbol of Columbus, no matter how
colorful the clothing folks might try to put on him. Not only because of
what Columbus means as a symbol - namely, the origin of so much suffering
and death for imperialism's victims, be they Native Americans to
Vietnamese to Iraqis - but even more so because of what Columbus Day does
to the people who celebrate it.

Columbus Day is an act of public memory, a "commemoration," which my
dictionary defines as a "ceremony to honor the memory of someone or
something." It's a ceremony. That means the commemoration of Columbus has,
as all ceremonies do, something powerful built into it, some sort of
creative component that changes the world, or at least the people doing
the ceremony. Just as the ceremony of marriage creates a family, or the
ceremony of bar mitzvah creates a man, the ceremony of commemoration is
similarly intended to create something new that didn't exist before.

What do commemorations create? The identity of a people. This holds true
no matter what the specific context or given people doing the
commemorating. When Cherokees commemorate the Trail of Tears, they leave
the day feeling very Cherokee. When Christians commemorate the
resurrection of Christ, they not only solidify their identities as
Christians but actually become the "Body of Christ." It's not even the
case that peoples have to be large, recognized, historical groups; to the
contrary, where two or more are gathered, it seems, identity can be
present. (Think about family funerals.) All that's required is some
commemoration of a common past.

Commemorations work by compelling people to remember this past, first by
asserting that there is indeed something that's "common" to it - which
isn't always easy - and second by reflecting upon how it led to our
current present. But commemorations don't stop with reflection on the
past; if they did, we would just call it studying history. Commemorations
are different because they insist that we identify with what is
remembered, deeply and emotionally, and hence come to feel akin to others
who supposedly feel the same way we do. In this heartfelt manner, we are
transformed into a particular people, an "us."

What sort of identities do national commemorations create? Why, national
ones of course. Through commemorative ceremonies authorized by the United
States of America, disparate groups of people, be they Vietnamese,
Italian, or Cherokee in origin, are compelled to solidify their common
identity as national citizens, that is, as Americans. This is how a recent
Vietnamese immigrant, not to mention a Cherokee, can come to identify with
Columbus, even though more honest assessments of the past would find less
common ground between America and its imperial victims than violent
opposition.

Of key importance to this process of making national identity is the
presence of particular values. That is, the identity formed through the
act of remembering is inseparable from the values drawn from historical
example. For instance, each Fourth of July Americans assemble to reflect
on the independence gained long ago through an act of militant rebellion
waged in the name of liberty, freedom, and equality: values which are then
firmly linked to American identity. Public memory creates a common
identity defined in large measure by this reverent acquisition of certain
values - they're absolutely crucial - which explains the proliferation of
emotional, value-laden speeches at commemorative events.

None of this is meant to imply that national commemorations are absolutely
effective, working on everyone, everywhere, every single time. No, it's
still very much the case that the Cherokee remember the Trail of Tears and
view Columbus Day accordingly. But these ceremonies are supposed to work
this way, and they are very often successful, especially in the arenas of
public perception: mass media, writing, school curricula, and other sites
where commemorations are disseminated as a kind of pedagogical orthodoxy.

So our dangerous global age seems as good a time as any to ask new
questions of national commemorations like Columbus Day. For one, what kind
of national identity are we trying to create for ourselves by celebrating
this man? For another, what values are we deeming so important from the
example of his life that we wish them for our own?

The identity that's created through Columbus's commemoration is not an
American one so much as that of the global imperialist. Columbus was
obviously not an American himself but a slave-trading explorer who saw all
non-Europeans (and a good many Europeans beneath his own class position)
as lesser beings given to people like him for exploitation by the grace of
God. As for values, to the extent that American identity in, say, its
Jeffersonian ideal, might be tied to enlightened values like freedom,
liberty, and equality, to what values would a Columbian imperialist
identity be linked? Discovery, even though discovered lands somehow always
seem to be occupied? White supremacy, by virtue of an idea called
"civilization" that posited as "savage" all non-whites? How about male
dominance? Slavery? Land theft? Genocide?

I don't believe that most Americans want to be global imperialists who
value things like genocide and slavery, yet history proves time and again
that they will allow their government to act in their name in precisely
these ways. Why? One reason is certainly because their identities and
values are so often, and so powerfully, provided to them through national
celebrations - yes, sometimes the obnoxious kind embodied by Orwell's
"hate week" or the programming on Fox News, but more often through simple,
local, and more polite observations of national commemorations like
Columbus Day.

What these established identities and values do to the people who receive
and then hold them, however unwittingly, is make them complicit in
activities they would otherwise be loathe to perform themselves. Each
October Columbus Day turns Americans into ruthless imperialists, whether
they know it or not, and for that reason alone the annual commemoration
seems required to culturally justify what is relentlessly happening in our
name: imperialism, colonialism, exploitation, marginalization, and mass
death.

So it seems more than just a passing fancy for anyone who detests
imperialism to appreciate Indian protestations of Columbus Day as the
moral objection of a group whose history is elided in its celebration and
support efforts to replace it with Indigenous People's Day. A national
commemoration like the latter would obviously invoke a different set of
identities and values for Americans to assume, as well as produce new
festivals and initiate important dialogues. Indigenous People's Day would
flip the script of Multicultural Columbus: that is, rather than
globalizing the very embodiment of imperialism, it would give progressive
internationalism a distinctly American face.

This might also be a good time for progressives to revisit the political
potentials of national commemorations in general, since many of them - for
example, Labor Day, Earth Day, and especially Martin Luther King Day -
invoke identities and values that we revere.

Commemorations are important, but why are so many progressive ones
depressing candlelight vigils? Better to capture the festive energy of
large antiwar demonstrations, or for that matter small Fourth of July
parades, if we wish to use the powerful energy of commemorative ceremonies
in ways that might actually benefit us, not to mention the world, for a
notable change.

Scott Richard Lyons, A Leech Lake Ojibwe, teaches at Syracuse University.


--------17 of 18--------

What America Needs Now: A Prophetic Social Movement that Speaks Moral
Truth to Amoral Power
by Andrew Bard Schmookler
Published on Wednesday, October 19, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

There's good reason why, a year after our presidential elections, millions
of Americans still refuse to "get over it".

It's not because these ruling forces are so "conservative" in their
values. Although these rulers persuaded half of America that they are
righteous champions of such values, many of the rest of us can see through
their pretense.

We can see that, beneath that sheep's clothing of false righteousness,
they are satisfying the wolf of their unbridled appetite for
self-aggrandizement.

We can see it in their persistent effort to undermine any rules that, in
the name of a greater good, would restrain their freedom of action -
whether in their tearing down the rules of international order, or in
their disrespect for constitutional limits on their power, or in their
dismantling of environmental restraints on their pursuit of wealth.

We see it, too, in their use of bullying tactics and character
assassination in dealing with political opponents. For all their pious
talk, there is no sign whatever of the Golden Rule in how they conduct
their politics.

We see it in the way they sow enmity - whether between Americans, whom
pollsters have found more intensely polarized than ever, or between
America and other nations, among whom trust in American power has reached
an all-time low.

And we see it in their disdain for the truth - whether in how they "spin"
virtually everything they say to us, or how they disregard or distort
science, or in how they arrange to be told only what they want to hear.

America would be fine in the hands of people devoted to real conservative
values. But this is something different, something dangerous. For America
is now ruled by forces apparently not guided by any genuine values at all.
One can look in vain for any juncture where they've made a decision that
sacrificed any of their power or wealth in favor of some larger good.

And this is not just about this particular presidency, which should be
understood as the creature of bigger forces. These forces - an alliance of
the greediest part of American capitalism with the most power-hungry and
imperialist of American politicians and with the most divisive and
hypocritical of America's religious leaders - have been gathering power
for a generation and will doubtless seek to maintain their grip when its
current public faces leave office.

Never in American history has so much power been in such ruthless hands.

The very soul of America is endangered. Yet not only did the presidential
campaign of 2004 fail utterly to speak about this profound moral danger,
but the political opposition remains virtually mute and effectively
impotent in the face of these forces. (This silence and this impotence are
signs of another part of America's moral crisis, of that also-dangerous
moral flaccidity into which too much of American liberalism has lapsed.)

It is essential, therefore, that those of us who do see this frightening
reality stand up to take the struggle for America's soul to a new stage -
a "prophetic" stage of speaking moral truth to amoral power. Moral truth
is our great weapon, for the power of these rulers rests on moral lies.
Only by selling their false image of righteousness to good, conservative
Americans could these forces gain power.

But that which depends on moral lies can be defeated with moral truth -
for, if these good people can be helped to see that these emperors have no
moral clothes, they will withdraw their support.

Most of those who have supported these rulers should be regarded not as
our opponents but as our potential allies. For the struggle that now must
urgently be waged is not that of liberal values against conservative
values, but of those who really care about goodness against those in power
who only pretend to.

To accomplish these worthy goals, unmasking the false righteousness of our
rulers must be framed in terms of Americans' shared values - of justice
and compassion and truth and fair play - and supported by evidence drawn
from our common knowledge. Framed in that way, the stories of what we've
all seen can be told in ways that strip away the political coverings and
show the dark moral reality that lies beneath the mask these rulers wear.

America is in need of an "Emperor's New Clothes" moment. "This emperor,"
we must loudly declare, "has no moral clothes".

By skillfully speaking the moral truth, we can help unite the good people
of America, and end the polarization that our amoral leaders have worked
to foster. With such "prophetic" speech, we can help America's
conservatives to remember how better to tell the difference between good
and evil, and help America's liberals to remember how absolutely vital -
and real - that difference is.

Let us then speak to America, drawing strength from that ancient idea
deeply embedded in the Western religious tradition: the idea that the
material power of the bad ruler can be overcome by the power of moral
truth boldly spoken. Let us launch, then, a "prophetic" social movement to
re-establish the power of real righteousness in America.

Andrew Bard Schmookler has just launched his website "NoneSoBlind.org"
devoted to understanding America's present moral crisis and the means by
which this challenge can be met. Dr. Schmookler is also the author of such
books as The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social
Evolution (SUNY Press) and Debating the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge
America.s Moral Divide (M.I.T. Press). He also conducts regular talk-radio
conversations in both red and blue states. Schmookler can be reached at
andythebard [at] comcast.net.


--------18 of 18--------

 Wilfred Owen
 Anthem for Doomed Youth

 What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
 - Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
 Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
 Can patter out their hasty orisons.
 No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
 Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -
 The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
 And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

 What candles may be held to speed them all?
 Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
 Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
 The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
 Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
 And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

 [orisons = prayers]

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   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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