STAND UP ... AND WALK OUT >>>

South Puget Spound Community College student Kendall Brookhart and other students will walk out of class Monday, Nov. 28 in protest of the special session and proposed budgets aimed at education. The "Student Walkout" will have several "rally points" that Monday: 10 a.m. at South Puget Sound Community College's Student Union Building and The Evergreen State College's Red Square, and 11 a.m. at Heritage Park in Olympia.

Below is Brookhart's plea for others to join the student walkout.

Myself and several other students are planning a student walkout for Monday, November the 28th.

This is a planned action. This is a conscious decision. This is not a day to stay home and sit on the couch. This is a response to the opening of the Special Session on Capitol Hill, which has proposed severe budgets aimed specifically at our Education.

The proposed cuts would result in larger classes. This is a problem because as the number of students in a class grows, the ability for teachers to cater to and communicate with each individual student lessens. Larger classes also means fewer overall classes; so registration just became that much more difficult.

Fewer programs would be offered under the new budget cuts. Running Start would no longer be free, or even terminated all together. Services for exchange and international students, including those for students just learning English, are vulnerable.

Tuition will rise. These fewer, more crowded classes of lesser quality will cost you more money. Financial aid will suffer. Qualifications for receiving financial aid are going to become stricter, and the amount of people able to receive assistance will diminish.

Teachers' jobs are threatened. They are liable to be laid off en masse around the entire state. These budget cuts will take jobs away from our teachers, creating a circular effect again increasing classes sizes and work loads for those lucky enough to remain employed.

Education for everyone is essential to any democratic society, and lately that belief has been kept at an arms length for most of us. Education has become a privilege for the few, no longer the right of all. This unfortunate, yet designed consequence of our current system is no longer tolerable.  We plan to walk out, in solidarity with the Occupiers all over the world, in a physical demonstration of the strength of the people and our ability, as students, to stand up for our education and ourselves. On the 28th of November we will walk out of our classrooms in order to better defend our classrooms, and our fellow students and teachers whom also depend upon them. JOIN US AS WE WALK OUT to restore the precedent of participation in our own lives.

ALAN GORSUCH DISCUSSES ONBE OF HIS EXHIBITS >>>

Of course, I don't actually know the whole story of Bruce, only the final chapter and some of the earlier skirmishes he'd had with worlds far away. Strange worlds such as Vietnam - he was a waist gunner aboard the Chinook choppers and carried with him all the scars that that world had to offer.

The World of UFOs

Bruce's dad worked for the government in the '40s and '50s in "Area 51" outside Roswell, N.M. and inculcated in his son all of the firsthand accounts of "inverted tea saucers" (his dad's words - later morphing, with the help from the media, into "flying saucers.")

The Art World

Although I do know he'd experienced occasional brushes with the oftentimes hard-to-reach, far-off world of art, to my knowledge Bruce was not invited in. Not in the sense that he should have been. If ever there were a guy who lived his art, created art based on his beliefs, while poking fun at those same beliefs, this would be the guy. Space guns and Buck Rogers and aliens and laser lights and 1950s flying machines come to life from old vacuum cleaners, hood ornaments, sprockets, Art Deco lamp parts, Harley handlebars, bells and whistles, timing lights and gauges, Tesla bulbs and Studebaker spinners - all become a collective array of ancient futurism.

Read more...

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT >>>

I was a virgin. It was my first time ... ever. I had no idea what I'd been missing.  And it all happened in the Church - Church of Great Rain to be specific. I've been converted. I want more. 

Church of Great Rain is a musical variety show held every six weeks on Vashon island. Each 90-minute show features the Church House Band, twisted news and irreverent views by the Holy Roller Radio Players, amazing musical guests and a lively inspiring sermon by the Rev. Hunter Davis. It's A Prairie Home Companion with a Monty Python twist.  The show, or Church, has taken Vashon Island by storm, drawing near capacity crowds at Open Space for Arts & Community.

Last February, 500 or so folks joined me for a Love In The Afternoon-themed Church. The local and diversely talented actors, musicians, writers, and technical crew clearly took pure delight in creating, producing and performing awesome live music and whacky comedy sketches - all inspired by Vashon's, charming unusual populace, the Pacific Northwest and the intrigue of living near a live volcano. The musical guests were Publish The Quest - the hottest band I've heard in ages. Think blues, rock, ska, and world pop mixed up and decolonized. I squirmed and wiggled in my seat to their thumping bass, sassy horns and wicked guitar. Hot!

Apparently, Tacoma's own Vicci Martinez has performed at Church, too.

Tomorrow, another Church show hits the Island promising to propel me into a silly state of mind for April foolishness. I can't wait to hear this month's musical guest Teresa Tudury and her bluesy originals of passion, verve and disarming humor. 

More Laughing? Bring it on! I'm in love now. I can't wait! You should join me, too. – Chiara Wood, Queen of the 253

LINK: Church of Great Rain April Foolishness details

SPENDING A SUNDAY IN THE STADIUM BOWL WITH EVERYONE >>>

Editor's note: Chiara Wood, co-owner of The Turning Point Integrated Therapies on Tacoma's Sixth Aevnue, and an activist with Catherine's Place, Women in Black, and about 50 other organizations and charities attended the Pierce County Sings event Sunday in the Stadium High School bowl. What follows is her thoughts on the event.

What a great, sunny-with-a-chance-of-rain, Northwest day to gather for Pierce County Sings - an event sponsored by The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation as part of the organization's efforts to bring greater awareness to issues of community, hope and nonviolence.

Pierce County residents, students wearing school colors, families, anyone who wanted to be a part of "History In The Making" were invited to participate.  We'd be singing John Legend's "If You're Out There," and making a professional music video to be premiered at "Be the Spark" when Archbishop Desmond Tutu comes to visit Tacoma as a keynote speaker, May 13, 2011 at the Tacoma Dome. GTCF's Be the Spark - a movement focused on mutual respect, nonviolence and hope - contains four different strategies built on the "4 truths": 1) Create a Youth Against Violence Endowment Fund directed by area youth who've been impacted by violence; 2) Continue and expand High School Dialogues on youth violence; 3) Engage the community through Pierce County Sings; 4) Engage and inspire community to action through Archbishop Tutu's visit.

The video crew and equipment were set up and ready to go as folks trickled into Stadium Bowl, guided to sit on the damp concrete bleachers with the towering brick school above and behind for scenic drama.

Staging and first "takes" of the song were going on as people arrived.  The sky darkened and the "Hey, that was great ... now let's just do it again" easiness of the director became a more urgent "Let's get this done."  The cloud burst across the bay was sloshing its way to the bowl.

Rose Lincoln Hamilton, executive director of TGTCF, stressed that the reason for the video was a call to action for each of us to play a role in making our community better. 

Chaira Wood

I showed up at Stadium Bowl because I thought it sounded like fun.  It was fun - like being an extra in a scene of a movie, outside in the cold and damp, doing the same thing over and over with no idea what the whole picture will look like.  I showed up because I am an activist in love with the 253.  I showed up to sing the song, which I did on the way to the Bowl and the way home. I like the forward thinking and heart-centered personal responsibility for changing the world that John Legend's song promotes. 

Pierce County lending its intentions and focus in a positive direction ... is all good.

FUTURE THINGS ARE COMING >>>

The Radio8Ball Show is a musical talk/game show based upon the concept of synchronicity. The format is simple and unique. Guests and audience members ask questions to The Pop Oracle. The answers are divined by spinning a wheel or picking a card that determines which song the musical guest will perform as the answer to the question. Speakeasy Arts Cooperative is bringing Radio8Ball with singer-songwriter Jerin Falkner to Tacoma on Sunday, Aug. 8. We asked R8B host and creator Andras Jones for eight reasons why people should attend.

Synchronicity makes you lucky! They say the key to being lucky is the ability to recognize and appreciate your luck. That's what synchronicity does. It's a clue that we are in the right place at the right time. By engaging The Pop Oracle we train the part of our mind that recognizes synchronicity to recognize it more often.

Synchronicity is sexy! We're not saying that Radio8Ball will get you laid but there is a reason that words like fate, serendipity and kismet are all associated with erotic love. When we get that tingling sensation that we are in the right place at the right time the people around us look that much more attractive. Like beer goggles for the soul.

Synchronicity makes music better! You know how it is. You'll be driving in your car thinking about things in your life when a song comes on by an artist you didn't think you liked but the sentiments in the song jibe so completely with your inner experience that you actually listen to it in a whole new way, and you love it! We love creating a venue where songwriters get listened to like this and Jerin Falkner is the perfect artist for this show. Great lyrics. Soulful melodies. A generous spirit. By the end of the night you'll want her CD (if you don't already have it.)

Synchronicity makes you the star! This is a participatory show. If your question is chosen you'll be onstage with me and our musical guest.  The cameras will be rolling, the tapes will be set to record, and our photographer will have you in their sites. The show will be re-broadcast on local cable and, for fifteen minutes, Your Question will be everyone's question. Plus you'll get a prize from one of our sponsors.

Synchronicity doesn't make mistakes! It's not a meaningless coincidence that Radio8Ball comes to Tacoma as a Speakeasy Arts Cooperative project. The cosmic cats and art rebels at Speakeasy are stirring up some major "magick" downtown and if you are a creative person there is probably something for you to gain from aligning with your future friends at Speakeasy Arts Cooperative.

Synchronicity is an invitation! If you are reading this there is a chance that you have even more to contribute to Radio8Ball then your $5 at the door, your questions and your good attention. We are building an entertainment juggernaut in your backyard and we need creative people who are inspired by synchronicity to be a part of it. Film artists, musicians, photographers, graphic designers, potential sponsors and promoters are all needed. We are also looking for energetic healer types who enjoy working with crowds.

Synchronicity can make you seem or feel CRAZY! That's where I come in. I've been working with The Pop Oracle for more than 12 years. I have indulged in its excesses and learned from its sometimes brutally unforgiving mirror. Ultimately, I can tell you that The Pop Oracle, like life, is VERY generous. My job as host is to help you appreciate this generosity, stay grounded, and keep a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Synchronicity is NOW. Seriously, right now, look around you and listen to what's playing in the air or in your head. Synchronicity isn't a sporadic phenomenon. It's a constant and sometimes we notice it. I hope you come out to our show Sunday so we can share synchronicity together but even if you don't I invite you to play with this powerful medium by asking a question and then making or letting something random happen. I've been doing it for years and I still get surprised every day.

Radio8Ball Show

Sunday, Aug. 8, 7-10 p.m., $5
Speakeasy Arts Cooperative, 746 Broadway St., Tacoma

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TACOMA'S POET LAUREATE HAS A WORKSHOP FOR YOU >>>

Not to be morbid, but I always wanted to write book before I died.

So I did.

The year before I turned 40, I committed to write poetry for a year straight until I had enough poems to make up a manuscript. Then, last November, I published that first collection of poetry, The Vicissitudes (Pearle Publications 2009) with funding made possible by a TAIP grant I won through the Tacoma Arts Commission.

Since being awarded Urban Grace's 2010 Soul of the City Poet Laureate of Tacoma title, I'm learning that I'm not the only writer that dreams of this achievement. I have found, in my own literary circles of friends in Tacoma - by volunteering for several local poetry organizations, and as serving as poet laureate this year - that there are writers and poets of all skill levels who always come up to me after a reading and tell me how bad they want to write a book.

As poet laureate, it is a very important task for me to share the world of poetry and writing with Tacoma from many angles. In addition to poetry readings and literary events, one of the goals of the poet laureate program for me is to outreach not just to poets but also to all people in our community who want to write or who do write and support and encourage them to reach their own personal literary goals.

In addition to the hunger many people have to publish their collection of poems, or write their first novel, they simply do not know where to start once the manuscript takes shape. It is daunting for writers and poets to consider the overwhelming world of publication options. Can you self-publish? Should you get an agent? What is the benefit of working with small presses?

To help answer these questions and offer publishing inspiration to Tacoma's writers and poets, I will be offering a class called, Indie Lit Chicks on Publishing: A Writers Workshop on Sunday, Aug. 1 from 2-4:30 p.m. at Urban Grace Church. Joining me to co-teach and host a Q&A session on topics such as self-publication, literary agents, funding, marketing and independent press publication will be two guest authors, Gina Frangello and Zoe Zolbrod. The authors will also read from their latest novels and books will be available for purchase and signing.

Gina Frangello is the author of the books My Sister's Continent (Chiasmus 2006) and Slut Lullabies (Emergency Press 2010.)  The long-time editor of Other Voices magazine, she co-founded its book imprint, Other Voices Books (www.ovbooks.com) in 2005, where she serves as executive editor.  Frangello is also the fiction editor at the popular online literary collective The Nervous Breakdown (www.thenervousbreakdown.com). Visit the author at: www.ginafrangello.com.

Following her debut novel, My Sister's Continent, which delved "fearlessly into questions of identity, abuse ... trust, trespass, and delusion" (Booklist), Frangello continues her exploration of the power dynamics of gender, class, and sexuality in this collection of diverse, vibrant short fiction. Slut Lullabies is unsettling. Like the experience of reading a private diary, these stories leave one feeling slightly traitorous while also imprinting a deep recognition of truths you did not know you felt (Emergency Press).

Other Voices Books 2010 recently released Zoe Zolbrod's new novel, Currency. Inspired by her personal experiences backpacking in Asia in the mid-'90s, itis a literary thriller set in Thailand that tells about a Thai man and an American woman backpacker who get involved with each other and an endangered animal smuggling ring. Ladette Randolph, author of A Sandhills Ballad and editor-in-chief at Ploughshares, writes, "Currency is an impressive debut, a spellbinding novel of international intrigue and a heartbreaking love story between a naive young American woman and a sweetly ambitious Thai man. Zoe Zolbrod writes with authority about little known parts of Thailand in prose so beautiful I found myself conflicted between savoring every word and rushing to see what would happen next."

Zolbrod has published short stories and some of her essays appeared in Maxine, a zine she co-published in the 1990s. Born in Meadville, Penn., Zolbrod attended college in Oberlin, Ohio, and received a MA from University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently, Zolbrod works in educational publishing and lives in Evanston, Ill., with her husband, the artist Mark DeBernardi, and their son and daughter. Visit the author's blog: http://zoezolbrod.com/

Indie Lit Chicks on Publishing: A Writers Workshop

Sunday, Aug. 1, 2-4:30 p.m., $10 suggested donation
Urban Grace Church, 902 Market St., Tacoma
Cost: $10 suggested donation
To RSVP, email: tamsugah@aol.com

LINK: Tammy Robacker knows this blog