Signs of the Times - Community Historical and Political Events for November

November 2002

Calendar 2002: Community Historical and Political Events for November

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Friday, November 1: Birthday of singer Lyle Lovett (1957) and of writer Stephen Crane (1871).

Friday, November 1: A press conference for Meredith Richards to speak out on the environment has been scheduled for 1 p.m. at Ivy Creek Natural Area in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Saturday, November 2:

Did You Know That:

* Albemarle and Charlottesville have the highest rates of children in foster homes of any county and city in Virginia?

* 72% of Charlottesville public school students are involved in extracurricular and sports activities yet only 24% of children in the juvenile justice system are involved in such activities?

* 44% of Charlottesville school children, 18% of Albemarle children, and 25% of Virginia children qualified for free and reduced meals in public schools in 2000?

* 38% of the youth placed on probation in Charlottesville and Albemarle between 1998-2000 had been exposed to domestic violence?

* In 2000, the birth rate for Charlottesville teens ages 15-17 was 2.7% (down from a high of 8.6% in 1992); the 2000 rate for Albemarle County was 1% (down from a high of 2.8% in 1996)? The national rate in 2000 was 2.7%.

What Should We Do?

Attend the 1st ANNUAL Charlottesville/Albemarle Civic Forum on Saturday, November 2, 2002 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., followed by a Community Resources Fair from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., sponsored by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia and by Charlottesville/Albemarle Commission on Children and Families.

For more information call CCF at 434-970-3350 or The Weldon Cooper Center at 434-982-4770.

Saturday, November 2: Birthday of Warren G. Harding (1865) and of James K. Polk (1795).

Saturday, November 2: Deadline to apply for absentee ballot in person for November election in Virginia.

Sunday, November 3: From 12 noon to 2 p.m., Sundays in McIntire Park will feature hot dogs and apple cider. Come on out for a good time.

Sunday, November 3: The Soviet Union launched its first cosmonaut, a dog named Laika, aboard Sputnik 3 (1957).

Monday, November 4: Don't miss the rally for Meredith Richards at the Get Out the Vote Center [opposite the Jefferson theater] on the Downtown Mall on the day before the election on November 4th at 5 pm! Gov. Mark Warner will arrive about 5:15 p.m. or 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, November 5: Election Day

Tuesday, November 5: Teach-In: IRAQ

Featuring PVCC Faculty: Marietta McCarty on the cycle of violence; Evelyn Edson on historical background; Andy Wilson on the role of oil; Carol McIvor on American electoral politics and the war; Sam Pincus with an American historical perspective; Patricia Franklin on the threat of biological warfare.

Questions and discussion to follow. Tuesday, November 5 (TODAY) at 1 p.m. PVCC, Main Building, North Mall.

Tuesday, November 5: "Origins of Conflict"

Columnist Helena Cobban will be speaking on the "Middle East" at the Christian Children's Fund Building (at 2821 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond, Virginia), where participants will be invited to join in discussion. The moderator of the event will be Dr. Charles Sydnor, President, WCVE-Richmond.

For more information, call the World Affairs Council at (804) 644 - 0083.

Thursday, November 7: Who's The Target? Questioning the War on Iraq

Gilmer 130 7:30pm
Speaker: Dr. Rania Masri;
Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC)

Dr. Rania Masri founder and coordinator of the Iraq Action Coalition, a network dedicated to distributing news on the dangers of war and sanctions to the people of Iraq. She is also director of the Southern Peace Research and Education Center of the Institute for Southern Studies in Durham, NC. Masri also contributed to the widely read book Iraq Under Siege (2000) and spoken at dozens of universities and conferences around the US and Canada. In 1999, Masri received the International Human Rights Award of North Carolina. She has also served as the Arab Women's Solidarity Association's representative to the United Nations. A board member of Peace Action, she holds a PhD from North Carolina State University. From a family of Lebanese descent, she currently hails from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Sponsored by: ASO, MSA, ASU, Middle Eastern Studies Program, CCPJ, The Women's Center, Politics Department, SALS, & Critical Mass

Thursday, November 7: From November 7-10 and 14-17, 2002, Teresa will be guest directing Rita Dove's Darker Face of The Earth at Piedmont Virginia Community College's V. Earl Dickinson Building, Main Stage.

Synopsis:

The Darker Face of the Earth incorporates themes of Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex, but sets the action on a South Carolina plantation in the 1840's. In a Prologue, set twenty years earlier, Amalia, the plantation owner's wife, gives birth to a male child fathered by Hector, an African slave. Despite Amalia's grief, the child, ordered to be killed by Amalia's husband, Louis, is rather sold into slavery. Twenty years later Amalia is running the plantation when a new, rebellious slave, Augustus Newcastle, is purchased. As the fires of rebellion, led by Augustus, threaten to engulf the plantation society, Augustus and Amalia are drawn together into a passionate and dangerous relationship that will bring about the fulfillment of their tragic destiny.

Saturday, November 9: State-Wide Anti-war March in Richmond at 2:00, Festival Park to the Capitol

Come and show our representatives how many Virginians are NOT behind Bush's war plans. This march is co-sponsored by Richmond Food Not Bombs along with a broad anti-war coalition. The march will leave the park and end up at the capitol building, passing by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. For info on either carpools (need a ride? have a car?) or buses to Richmond contact Jennifer at 979-5395.

DIRECTIONS: from 64 E take the Belvedere exit. Take a left onto Leigh St. Take a right onto Fifth St. and Festival Park should be right there next to the Colliseum.

It is important for our VA reps to see how many of those people who went to D.C. on October 26th are US.

Saturday, November 9: BEYOND PUNISHMENT: HEALING INJUSTICE IN OUR COMMUNITY

WHEN: November 9, 2002 from 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.
WHERE: Albemarle County office Building, Lane Auditorium

Sponsored by the Charlottesville Society of Friends (Quakers) in conjunction with The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice Family and Corrections Network

You are invited to attend a community forum where the process of making amends and moving toward reconciliation and healing will be explored.

TOPICS TO BE ADDRESSED:

· WHY restoring a voice to victims matters
· HOW punishment alone merely continues the cycle of victimization
· WHY prisons alone do not protect or heal anyone - victim, offender, or the community
· HOW to use the process of forgiveness and reconciliation: what it is and what is isn't
· WAYS in which forgiveness, reconciliation and healing can occur within the self, within a community, and between nations.

INVITED SPEAKERS:

Joyce Allen, RN,CSN, Dir. Of Nursing at Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents, is the author of Because I Love You: The Silent Shadow of Child Sexual Abuse. Her presentation, entitled "The Human Ecology of Child Sexual Abuse," addresses healing the injustice of sexual abuse within a family.

David Saunier, Director of the Charlottesville Restorative Justice Program, will describe the process of restoring a voice to victims and its power to heal individuals and the community.

Helena Cobban, a writer on international affairs, has published five books, and is currently studying the rich cultural resources many African societies have for helping them escape cycles of violence. Helena will speak on "Restoring community after genocide: Rwanda shows the way."

Monday, November 11: Veterans Day

Tuesday, November 12: "Origins of Conflict"

Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia Allen Lynch will be speaking on the "Balkans" at the Christian Children's Fund Building (at 2821 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond, Virginia), where participants will be invited to join in discussion. The moderator of the event will be Dr. Charles Sydnor, President, WCVE-Richmond.

For more information, call the World Affairs Council at (804) 644 - 0083.

Friday, November 15: At 9:00 p.m. on November 14, 2002, Virginia will execute Mir Aimal Kasi for the murder of Frank Darling and Lansing Bennett. There will be a protest against the execution at 12 noon in front of the Charlottesville Circuit Court House, 315 E. High St. Signs will be provided. Please come and show your opposition to this additional taking of life. It must not go unnoticed.

From the Associated Press, October 9:

"A judge postponed for one week the scheduled execution of a Pakistani who opened fire with an assault rifle outside CIA headquarters in 1993, killing two people and injuring three.

According to the Coalition for the Celebration of the Enrichment of Texas Society through State Capital Punishment Implementation:

After the shooting, Mr. Kasi was nabbed in his home country of Pakistan and was transported back to Virginia. Kasi has stated that he is proud of his actions and should not be executed because he committed a "political" crime.

The Coalition for the Celebration of the Enrichment of Texas Society through State Capital Punishment Implementation has said they will proudly take two shots of Jack Daniels to celebrate the execution (Lance Richards, electronic mail, October 30, 2002).

Fairfax Circuit Judge Terrence R. Ney on Wednesday rescheduled Mir Aimal Kasi's execution for Nov. 14. Kasi's lawyers sought postponement of the Nov. 7 execution after Gov. Mark R. Warner called off his planned Nov. 9 trade mission to China and Japan."

You are also encouraged to go to the execution site at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarrett, VA. There will be an interdenominational service at 8:15pm on the 14th: songs, prayers, litanies, reflection in remembrance of Frank Darling, Lansing Bennet and Mir Aimal Kasi. For more information, including directions, see the website: http://www.uuadp.org/ftf2002/

This execution will be the 4th for Virginia this year and Virginia's 87th since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Friday, November 15: From Johannesburg to Charlottesville: A Region's Response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 9am-5:00pm, Room 153, Campbell Hall, University of Virginia, with Support from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

This year's Planning Symposium will focus on the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development convened Johannesburg, South Africa, and its implications for planning and design. In late August some 60,000 attendees from around the world converged on Johannesburg, South Africa, for one of the most significant global environmental meetings in recent history. The Summit, convened 10 years after Rio, was intended to evaluate progress made in implementing sustainable development around the world and to reinvigorate commitment to global sustainable development goals. While the Summit highlighted a host of pressing global problems, from poverty to climate change to global ecosystem health, there is growing consensus that local action and planning are essential to successfully tackle these problems. The Symposium will explore these local implications.

A portion of the Symposium will involve reporting back on the events and discussions taking place in Johannesburg. An afternoon keynote address will be given by Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Columbia. He will discuss the impressive strides made by this city in advancing local sustainability. Presentations will also be made by a number of U.S. cities implementing innovative local sustainability programs with a global perspective, including Burlington, Chicago, and Chattanooga. At the end of the day, a panel of Architecture School faculty will reflect on the presentations of the day and discuss the World Summit's implications for their respective disciplines.

The Symposium is free, with box lunches available for $7. To reserve a box lunch, or for additional information about the Symposium, please call or email Bettie Hall in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, at 434-924-1339, or bhh@virginia.

Planning Symposium, University of Virginia

9-9:15am Welcome by Dean Van Lengen, Bruce Dotson

9:15-9:45 Report from Johannesburg and the World Summit: Themes, Controversies, Challenges. Tim Beatley, University of Virginia School of Architecture.

9:45-10:15 Burlington, Vermont: A City Pursuing Sustainable Development with a Global Perspective. Gwen Hallsmith, Vermont Coordinator of Earth Charter Campaign.

10:15-10:30 Coffee Break

10:30-11:15 Chattanooga: Sustainable Development in the South. David Crockett, Chattanooga Institute for Sustainability.

11:15-12:00 Chicago: An Emerging Midwest Ecological City. David Reynolds, Department of the Environment, City of Chicago.

12:00-1:00 Lunch. Brownbag Presentation: Preliminary Results of the UVA Global-Local Project.

1:00-1:30 Positive Stories of Local-Global Planning Partnerships. Tim Honey, Executive Director, Sister Cities International, Sister Cities Network for Sustainable Development.

1:30-2:00 Planning for Solar Communities: Lessons from the Solar Decathlon. John Quale, UVA Department of Architecture.

2:00-3:00 SPA sponsored panel discussion: Growth and Sustainability in the Charlottesville Region.

3:00-4:15 Keynote speech . Enrique Peñalosa, Former Mayor, Bogotá, Columbia. "Forging a Sustainable Path in Bogotá". Comments, Maurice Cox, Mayor, Charlottesville.

4:15-5:00 Panel Discussion: Planning and Design Implications of the Global. Sustainability Agenda. Bill Morrish, Bill Lucy, Beth Meyer, Bill Sherman.

5:00 Reception in the Naugahyde lounge, Campbell Hall.

Saturday, November 16: The Albemarle/Charlottesville Democratic Breakfast will meet at 9:30 a.m. at Jefferson Area Board for the Aging and is open to the public.

Three ASAP Board of Directors will participate - Jack Marshall (President), Al Weed (Vice President), and Francis Fife - and will discuss "Avoiding the Perils of Local Population Growth: Will Democrats Lead or Dodge?"

They will explain what ASAP is about, then explain why the Democratic party and its leaders in the region have an opportunity to provide vigorous and progressive leadership regarding population growth.

Saturday, November 16: Bishop Spong Comes to Charlottesville

On Saturday, November 16, 2002, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Dickinson Auditorium at Piedmont Virginia Community College, the Right Reverend John Shelby Spong, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, Retired, will lead a conference on The Future of Faith: A New Christianity for a New World.

Bishop Spong has led the Episcopal Church to confront and resolve issues of race, gender and sexual orientation. As an advocate and witness, spokesman and author, he brings a message of inclusion for all communities. Proclaiming a God beyond creeds and a Christ beyond incarnation, he challenges the church to update the God-image to a gracious, creative source of life, love and being, and to understand Jesus as a model of love who empowers humanity, rather than as a divine rescuer or sacrificial lamb.

Says Spong, "Any holy person who brings life, love and being to another is the word of God, incarnate ..."

To register, make checks ($15) payable to Future of Faith Conference. For more information, please write the Registrar of the Future of Faith Conference [St. Paul's Memorial Church, 1700 University Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903] or email futureoffaith@hotmail.com

Sunday, November 17: Texas State Day at Washington National Cathedral

For more information, contact the National Cathedral Association at 202 - 537 - 5519 or email cubry@cathedral.org

Tuesday, November 19: At the next general meeting of the League of Women Voters [at noon in O'Mansky Hall of Congregation Beth Israel in downtown Charlottesville] a panel will discuss "School Choice in 2002 in Public Schools."

Panelists include: Linda Bowen, chairperson, Charlottesville City Schools; Steve Koleszar, chairperson, Albemarle County Schools; Michele Kellermann, chair, LWVVA Education Study Committee.

All speakers will be ready to answer questions of interest about education matters from the audience.

- 537 - 5519 or email cubry@cathedral.org

Wednesday, November 20: DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC: A Gathering for Peace at 4:00-6:00pm.U.Va. Rotunda, Lawn Side

Speakers will include:

-Julian Bond, Professor of History and Chairman of the Board for the NAACP

-Michael J. Smith, Human Rights specialist and Professor of Political and Social Thought

-Abdul Aziz Sachedina, Professor of Religious Studies

-Elizabeth Thompson, Professor of Middle Eastern History

-Richard Barnett, Professor of South Asian Studies

-John McCutcheon, Bard, Songwriter and Musician

"Dissent is Patriotic" comes at a time when more and more everyday Americans have begun to find and use their diverse voices, calling for peace and sensible policy alternatives. Many different people oppose the war for many different reasons. "Dissent is Patriotic" will bring together a diverse range of professors, students, and community members, mainstream and radical, in an effort to deepen our understanding and clarify our thoughts on the issues at hand.