T.O. Greenspiration Events: avoiding activist burnout

Angela Bischoff greenspi at web.ca
Sun Jan 22 17:58:12 EST 2012


Toronto Greenspiration Events

Special invitation to the 2 events that I'll be speaking at: Monday on energy, and Thur. on sustainable activism. Deets below.
Also, I still have a few bicycle calendars available for $10 if you're interested. Send me your address.
Please pass this onto a friend... 
-a

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Stop New Nuclear in Ontario

With Jack Gibbons and Angela Bischoff of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance
 
Mon. Jan. 23, 7 p.m.
Toronto Metro Hall, Rm. #310 (intersection of John / King St.)
 
With the coal phase-out almost complete, the province has plans to rebuild 4 more nuclear reactors at Bruce B (Bruce A rebuild is already 2 years late and $2 billion over budget), AND rebuild 4 reactors at Darlington, AND build 2 new reactors also at Darlington. These projects would cost upwards of $80 billion dollars. OCAA is campaigning to have those dollars invested in safer, less costly, greener electricity options.  
 
Is it do-able to meet all our electricity needs without nuclear or coal? Absolutely! Find out how. And plug in!
 
For more info: angela at cleanairalliance.org, www.cleanairalliance.org
https://www.facebook.com/events/331013163587399/

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Building Community Resilience: A Viable Response to Climate Change and Other Emerging Challenges to Health Equity?

Mon. January 23, 3 p.m.
U of T
With Blake Poland, Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/climate/

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Occupy Talks: Indigenous Perspectives on the Occupy Movement
 
Mon. January 23, 7 pm
Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham Street (Bloor and Bathurst)
 
What does it mean to ‘Occupy already occupied lands?’. How does Occupy relate to 500 years of resistance on Turtle Island? Please join speakers Tom B.K. Goldtooth, Clayton Thomas-Muller and Leanne Simpson to explore and discuss these dynamics of the Occupy movement.
 
Sponsors: Canadian Auto Workers, Canadian Labour Council, Ryerson University, Environmental Justice Toronto, Indigenous Environmental Network
Media Sponsor: rabble.ca
 
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ANDPVA - The Writers Room

Monday, 23 January, 7:00 until 10:00 pm
Toronto Free Gallery (1277 Bloor St. W @Landsdowne)

You are invited to The Writers Room with Duke Redbird, Neal McLeod and Black Coffee Poet in honour of all the missing and murdered Indigenous women

Revel in, review and respond to each others work at The WRITER'S ROOM. This bimonthly space brings all word warriors, from spoken word to scripts and poetry to novels, together for readings and professional development. You will hear from incredible writers reading from their latest works or addressing what they have learned of the art form. The end of the night is open to everyone to get up on the mic and share current projects, test your voices and deliver your words. Writer's from any community and discipline are welcome. If you would like to come as an audience member and offer your ear, eye and mind only then please feel welcomed.

To sign up for open mic or for more info please contact: Leslie McCue executive.andpva at gmail.com or call 416 535 4567 x 101.

www.andpva.com
www.torontofreegallery.org

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The Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs presents:
 
From Anti-apartheid to the Human Rights Battles of 2012
Learning from Canada’s First Global Solidarity Movement - With Kofi Hope
 
Monday, January 23, 6 - 7:50 pm
St. James Town Community Corner, 200 Wellesley Street East, Toronto
Free. RSVP: couch at couchichinginstitute.ca or 416-494-1440, ext. 225

The international Anti-Apartheid movement was one of the first truly international social movements the world had seen.  Activists all across the globe organized political actions in support of Southern African liberation movements and those organizing uprisings and protests in the townships.  This international movement included thousands of Canadians. In our age of global issues, what can Canada's contribution to one of the first truly global campaigns for human rights and justice teach us about today's struggles?

Kofi Hope is an activist and scholar who has extensive experience in youth work and political advocacy.  He recently completed a doctorate in politics at Oxford University; his thesis explores the ways in which progressive civil society organizations turn values into policy and create North-South partnerships. Kofi has worked extensively in community development work in Toronto, mobilizing youth to advocate for real solutions to the issue of gun violence, managing various youth initiatives, and increasing the United Church of Canada's capacity to support community programs for visible minority youth.  Kofi is a Rhodes Scholar, a global traveler, and an accomplished public speaker. The Toronto Star named him one of the Top 10 People to Watch in 2006.

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Nonviolence in Action!
 
Mondays 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. , Jan. 23 – Mar. 5
Cost: $150 (inquire if cost is a barrier)
 
Workshop series:
- Practical skills for effective social change
- Spirit of nonviolence in our lives
- Challenges to nonviolence
- Tools for nonviolent action
- Analysis, Vision, Strategy of nonviolent campaigns
- Case studies on nonviolent social transformation
- Power of nonviolence: Success stories in film
- Develop effective strategies for effective social change in a series of evening workshops (register for 6 sessions).

For more info and to register: 416-731-6605 or 416-596-7328 or email Lyn Adamson: peaceworks at primus.ca

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Economic Inequality: What Do We Do?
with:
Linda McQuaig, Toronto Star columnist and co-author of The Trouble with Billionaires
Ed Waitzer, partner of law firm Stikeman Elliott, former chair of Ontario Securities Commission, and professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and Schulich School of Business.

Tues. Jan. 24, 7 - 9 p.m.
Trinity St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor St. West (just west of Spadina)
Free – donations welcome. Speakers followed by audience discussion moderated by John Sewell. 

This summer the Occupy movement rekindled widespread interest in the growing income gap in our society.  You are invited to the first in a series of public forums on the subject of economic inequality.

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Blogging for People Who Should
 
Tues. January 24 – February 21, 6:00pm -8:30pm
CSI Spadina, Think Tank, 215 Spadina Avenue

If you are doing work in the social sector and want people to know about it, this workshop is for you. Blogging for People Who Should is both a hands-on introduction to the science of blogging and social media and a workshop on the art of telling your story online in an authentic and engaging way. You will finish the course with a working blog and a better understanding of how to make blogging work for you… read more
 
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Tell City Executive We Are Not for $ale!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 9:00am until 6:00pm
Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON 

Info: socialhousingtenants at gmail.com or leave a message at 416-694-5900.
Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/270868062952621/

Join Tenants for Social Housing at City Hall on January 24, 2012 to say NO to the $ale of our homes and destruction of our communities!!

On October 21, 2011, the Toronto Community Housing Board voted in favour of selling off over 1,000 homes across the City. In a vote that only saw the two tenant Board members vote against the sale of our homes, it became quite clear that this decision was made well in advance of the today. Although the outcome wasn’t what we hoped for, the unity and support that was at Toronto Community Housing yesterday was remarkable! We saw three rooms at TCHC filled with tenants ready to depute and share their stories.

Although we lost the vote at TCHC, WE STILL HAVE HOPE. We now take our fight to City Hall! This recommendation from the TCHC Board now has to go to City Hall for approval and then the Province for final sign off. This means we’ve got two more opportunities to stop TCHC from forcing families from their homes.

To get involved in the campaign, email socialhousingtenants at gmail.com or leave a message at 416-694-5900.
 
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TorontoNet Tuesday: Exploring Tech Trends and Opportunities for Nonprofits

Tues. January 24, 5:30pm
CSI Spadina, 4th floor, Alterna Room, 215 Spadina Ave.

In our day-to-day work, we’re so busy staying on top of everything that we rarely have time to take a step back and explore new ideas and possibilities. At the same time, technology is constantly evolving and trying to keep up with every new development is overwhelming. We will take time to think, discuss, explore and imagine how changes in technology could impact our work… read more
 
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Community Cannery Workshop
Tuesday, January 24th, 6 - 9 p.m. (registration 5:45 p.m.)

Parkdale Neighbourhood Church, at 201 Cowan Avenue (steps south of Queen Street, between Dufferin and Lansdowne
Join the West End Food Co-op at our next Community Cannery Workshop to celebrate the flavours of autumn & winter - we plan to can delicious pear chutney using pears from local, LFP-certified producers Bizjak Farms. This preserve pairs beautifully with goat cheese, meats, or savoury dishes of all kinds.

James Partnanen and Heather Kilner, both expert canners with many years' experience, will lead you through the recipe as well as an in-depth discussion about canning and preserving. This will be a great way to learn new skills or brush up old ones. You will learn about the theory and practice of preserving, gain hands-on experience using a hot water bath canner, and leave with some jars of delicious preserves.

The total cost for the workshop is $45 for West End Food Co-op members or $50 for non-members (which includes the cost of a lifetime membership). Payment can be made in person at the workshop. Please register online by visiting our website at westendfood.coop 

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Exposure: Environmental Links to Breast Cancer
Film Screening & Discussion re: Action for Prevention
 
With Producer Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg, MES, PhD
 
Wednesday, January 25, 12:00—1:30pm
Centre for Women’s Studies in Education (CWSE),Room 2-227, 252 Bloor Street West, OISE
Free, bring your lunch!

Tired of the pink-washing of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month? Exposure: Environmental Links to Breast Cancer is an award-winning documentary conceived in response to the growing public debate about environmental contaminants and women’s health. Featuring multiple experts in women’s health, the film raises awareness about the connections between environment, health, and disease prevention and offers strategies for generating the social changes needed for a cleaner, safer world.
 
Co-Sponsored by Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN) and The Centre for Women’s Studies in Education 
cwse at utoronto.ca for information

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Everyone can be a Peacebuilder!

Wednesday January 25, 6 pm - 8:30pm
Ellington’s cafe, 805 St.Clair Avenue West  http://ellingtonsmusicandcafe.com
Suggested Fee: $30 general, $20 InterChange members, $20 students/unwaged
Food and refreshments will be provided!

Please join us for a creative and participatory ‘Peace Ambassadors’ Workshop in which you will:
- learn core peace concepts and models
- explore the idea of “peace literacy” and how it can be promoted
- discover your unique peacebuilding role
- find out more about the InterChange workshops and facilitators and how these can be brought to your community
- share your values and ideas with like-minded people
- use the metaphor of a picnic to help spread the Culture of Peace

To RSVP and for more information, contact  community at interchange4peace.org
www.interchange4peace.org

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The Power of Self-Care In Health Care:  Caring for ourselves as a foundation for the care of others 

Wednesday January 25, 7 pm - 9:30 pm
Friends House, 60 Lowther Ave (St. George subway station)
Suggested Offering $10.00

Ghandi said: "Be the change you want to see in the world". Whether you are a health practitioner or not, it can be very difficult to balance care of yourself with the care of others. In this experiential session we will reflect on this, and you will be guided in a fun and powerful exercise designed to help you access the seeds of wisdom, inspiration, and balance buried in your own memories of self-care. These seeds will help you grow the caring balance you really need in your life, that best serves you and those around you. You will leave with a guide on how to use this self-care tool on your own and with others. Come and enjoy this opportunity to be good to yourself!

Larry Nusbaum MD, is a family physician, psychotherapist, storyteller, and musician who develops tools that help people access the power of their inner wisdom. He has been a mentor for physicians, medical students, and allied health professionals internationally for over 25 years and is devoted to promoting a culture of Practitioner Wellness as a foundation for the care of others. 

Hosted by the Spirituality in Health Care Network - Integrating Spirituality and Health Care 

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Feed Your Head: Films for Mental Health

Orthomolecular Health presents two great documentary films produced by the ISF. 

Wed. Jan. 25, 7 p.m.
JJR MacLeod Auditorium, U of T, 1 Kings College Circle, Medical Sciences Auditorium
The screening of Feed Your Head (45 min.) and Masks of Madness: The Science of Healing (15 min.) will be followed by a question and answer period led by Dr. Prousky, ND, MSc, Chief Naturopathic Medical Officer and an Associate Professor of Clinical Nutrition at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. He is the editor of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine and author of several books including Principles and Practices of Naturopathic Clinical Nutrition and Anxiety: Orthomolecular Diagnosis and Treat ment. In private practice, his focus is on optimizing mental and neurological health with nutrition and botanical medicine.

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to gain an understanding of the history of orthomolecular medicine and the viability of this approach to treating mental health disorders with proper nutrition and supplementation.

http://www.orthomed.org/isf/pubinfosessions.html

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Invitation to Climate Action Roundtable
 
On Wednesday, January 25th, Toronto Climate Campaign is inviting reps from various climate action groups, organizations, to attend a
Climate Action Roundtable, at 25 Cecil St. (Steel Hall) at 6 pm. We would like to hear about the different events and actions planned for 2012 by the different groups working on climate issues (in Toronto, in Ontario, in Canada, internationally) so that we can work most effectively together to press for change. We hope that your group can be represented. Please RSVP to  info at torontoclimatecampaign.org
 
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Set Your Career Priorities and Goals for 2012

Wed. January 25, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
CSI Annex, Meeting Room 4, 720 Bathurst Street
 
Set your sights on a more satisfying career in 2012! This workshop will help you to articulate clear goals and identify concrete steps to achieve them. We’ll discuss how to create momentum and stay on track… read more

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A Good Food Social Enterprise: Learnings from Foodshare 

Wednesday, Jan 25, Noon - 1:30 pm
OISE, 252 Bloor St. West, (St. George Subway Station) Room 3-104

Zahra Parvinian, Director of Social Enterprise Programs, Alvin Rebick, Senior Manager of Kitchen and Focus on Food, and Meredith Hayes, Senior Manager of School Programs will introduce FoodShare Toronto's social enterprise programs and discuss:  the organization's different enterprise program models, as well as the challenges, sustainability issues, and other aspects related to running a food social enterprise.
	
*No registration required. Bring your lunch and a mug. Water, coffee, tea, and fresh-baked snacks from Lemon & Allspice will be provided.

For more information, please contact Andrea at secspeakerseries at gmail.com.

Presented by the Social Economy Centre (OISE/UT) & Toronto Enterprise Fund. 

This event will be webcast live on the Internet. For detailed instructions, please see our website at http://socialeconomycentre.ca/webcast-instructions.

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Innovative Methods in Community Development

Wednesday, January 25, 5:30 p.m.
Physical Geography Building, 45 St. George Street, Room 101, U of T

Speakers: Michael Prosserman, Founder & Executive Director, Unity Charity; Margo Charlton, Research Manager, Toronto Arts Foundation; Meredith Hayes, Senior Manager, FoodShare Toronto.

How can technology, social media, dance all be used to engage and empower youths across Canada? Unity Charity, in partnership with Blue Print for Life, is creating a new program that uses electronic, phone and physical ex-changes with youths to make positive community impact. This program connects young people from hip hop clubs in Toronto to the Arctic dance scenes in Nunavut/Nunavik. Michael Prosserman will share insights about this innovative project.

Margo Charlton of the Toronto Arts Foundation will speak about the SSHRC-funded project examining the impact of arts at a neighbourhood level. Residents in St. James town, Weston/Mount Dennis, and Malvern will be engaged through focus groups and interviews to explore the role art plays in their lives.

Meredith Hayes will provide a comprehensive overview of the issues that impact the way in which FoodShare is working to ensure Good, Healthy Food for All and what you can do in your communities, workplaces and day-to-day lives to contribute to a healthy, just and delicious future. 

All are welcome to attend a public seminar sponsored by Cities Centre’s Community Development Collaborative Program.  
No registration or RSVP is required.

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Scene Otherwise: an exhibition of recent work by Carole Condé + Karl Beveridge

Toronto Free Gallery, 1277 Bloor Street West
Hours: Wednesday-Friday 12-6 and Saturday 12-6 
Exhibition Dates: January 19th to February 26th, 2012

Scene Otherwise takes a number of artistic conventions and images and re-imagines them in terms of contemporary concerns. The first exhibition of the work of Condé + Beveridge in Toronto in over eight years, it brings together a number of projects that address issues of the environment, economics and politics.

Included in the exhibition are works on the four elements: The Fall of Water (the global politics of water based on a painting by Bruegel), Salt of the Earth ( a black and white series produced in collaboration with migrant farm workers), UnderFire (a studio portrait of Greenpeace activists) and Airwave (a 7.5 minute video based on Michael Snow's Wavelength). Other works include The Plague (a portrait of the 2008 financial crisis), Liberty Lost (a response to the G20 police actions in Toronto), and Multiple Exposures (a series depicting a single landscape that changes over 600 years).

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Avoiding Activist Burnout Workshop

Thursday, January 26, 2012 From 6:30pm – 8.30pm.

An activist culture that emphasizes passion and unwavering commitment can be alienating to those members who have lost some of that initial spark. This workshop aims to break down the stigma surrounding activist burnout, offer some constructive solutions for how to get back from the brink of burnout, and tips how to prevent it in yourself and members of your group.

Trainer: Angela Bischoff is the Outreach Director for the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.
Register:http://www.toolsforchange.net/2011/12/05/avoiding-activist-burnout-workshop/
 
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Book Launch – The Natural City – Re-envisioning the Built Environment
Featuring co-editors Ingrid Leman Stefanovic and Stephen Bede Scharper in conversation with Dr. James Orbinski
 
Thur. Jan. 26, 4:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Members Lounge, Toronto City Hall (Queen and Bay)
 
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1109114--natural-cities-on-an-urban-planet
A description of the book can be found at:
http://www.utppublishing.com/The-Natural-City-Re-envisioning-the-Built-Environment.html

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The Politics of Protest: Bridging the Local and Global in Emerging Social Movements 
Locating Occupy, Slutwalk and Other Organizing Efforts

Thur. Jan. 26, 5 pm
William Doo Auditorium, 40 Willcocks St., U of T

A Panel Discussion - Discussing the increasingly global nature of emerging social movements, such as Occupy and SlutWalk, and how they negotiate the politics of power and privilege in their organizing.

Keynote Speaker : Judith Taylor
Panelists: Saneliso Maya, Alex Felipe, Josephine Grey, Heather Jarvis, Laurel O’Gorman, Riasa Bhuiyan
 
More info: http://thepoliticsofprotest.wordpress.com/
 
Food and refreshments will be served. Venue is accessible. All are welcome

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Sherbourne Bicycle Lane Upgrades Public Meeting

City Council on July 12, 2011, directed City staff to proceed with the detailed design and consultation process to upgrade the existing bicycle lanes on Sherbourne Street. We want your input, and invite you to a public meeting for this project.  This meeting is an opportunity to learn more about the proposed design, and tell us what you think: 

Thursday, January 26, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Presentation at 6 p.m. 
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, 444 Sherbourne Street (at Wellesley)

Design options presented will be based on North American and international best practices.  City agencies such as TTC, Fire/EMS, and Solid Waste Management have been consulted to inform the design options that will be presented at this meeting.

Learn more about Sherbourne Street's bicycle lanes
Learn more about plans to upgrade Toronto's downtown bikeways

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Our Harm Reduction Stories

a digital storytelling project about stigma and discrimination 
created by peer educators facilitated by the Centre for the Digital Story Telling Project, North York Community House

Thursday, January 26, 2 - 4 pm.

Parliament Street branch of the Toronto Public Library, 269 Gerrard St. East 2nd floor (just west of Parliament St. on the south side)

www.harmreduction.org

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Democracy and the Decline of Great Powers
with Vsevolod Gunitskiy, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto
 
Thur. Jan. 26, 4 - 6 p.m.
Rm. 179 University College, U of T (15 Kings College Circle)
Free. All welcome

Co-Sponsored  by University College Health Studies Programme, Canadian Pugwash Group, Science for Peace, and Voice of Women for Peace

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Steal This Idea! (Three Bold Ideas)

Thursday, January 26, 7 – 8:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)
Toronto Reference Library, Appel Salon, 789 Yonge Street
Free tickets

A panel discussion of three bold ideas for civic change borrowed from other cities that could work here in Toronto. Each one is a world-class idea worth stealing related to social justice, sustainability or culture.

With radio host and filmmaker Sook-Yin Lee; Rick Smith, a prominent Canadian author and environmentalist; and MP Olivia Chow. The event will be moderated by Royson James, Urban Affairs Columnist for the Toronto Star; and President of Ryerson University, Sheldon Levy, will play the role of devil's advocate.

Presented in partnership with Diaspora Dialogues and the Literary Review of Canada.

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Clare Walker-Leslie Book Launch for The Nature Connection

Fri. Jan. 27, 7 p.m.
Another Story Bookshop, 315 Roncesvalles

You are invited to a Book Launch and Book Signing with Award Winning Author Clare Walker Leslie whose newest book "The Nature Connection" was published in 2010 and won a 2011 Teachers Choice Award. Clare will be talking about her book and how parents and educators can help build a deeper connection to nature with children of all ages.

https://www.facebook.com/events/228645453880673/

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Schizophrenia and the DSM: Psychiatric Fraud, Character Assassination and Stigma
with Don Weitz

Friday, January 27, 7-8:30pm
OISE, 252 Bloor St.W., Room 2199

Schizophrenia is the most damning, disempowering and stigmatizing diagnostic label in psychiatry.
Antipsychiatry activist Don Weitz was once diagnosed "schizophrenic" despite the fact he never exhibited any so called symptoms.
Schizophrenia and other diagnostic labels in psychiatry's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) are deconstructed as personal life crises and critiqued as unscientific, fraudulent and stigmatizing. Psychiatric labeling is a key element of social control and psychiatric oppression.

Sponsored by Alumni for a Free U of T.

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Wokai Toronto Presents: Drinks for a Better World 

Fri. January 27, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
CSI Spadina, Suite 120, 215 Spadina Ave.
 
Join us for our first-ever global chapter celebration event as we ring in the Year of the Dragon by bringing prosperity and good fortune to our microloan borrowers in rural China… read more
 
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Harm Reduction – American Style 

What's new/different south of the border??  An interactive discussion

Friday, January 27, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 pm

410 Sherbourne Street, 3rd floor (between Wellesley & Carleton)

Guest Presenter: Allan Clear

Allan Clear has been the Executive Director of the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC www.harmreduction.org) since 1995. HRC, through its training institute, conferencing, resource development, and policy work, is the leading national organization in the United States promoting harm reduction as a mode of working with drug users. Allan was the original Executive Director of the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center, one of the five original New York City syringe exchange programs authorized in 1992. He is a member of the North American Syringe Exchange Network and the New York Commission on AIDS.

There's no need to register /// Everyone's welcome!

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GTWA Coffeehouse: Occupy Debrief
With activists with the Occupy movement - Brendan Bruce and Lana Goldberg. 
 
Friday January 27, 7:00pm- 9:00pm 
Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham Street 
Free
 
2011 - maybe it wasn't quite 1968 but it was a year of great social upheaval. With 2011 behind us, the GTWA is holding the first in what will be a new series of Coffeehouses to discuss where we are as a movement, with this particular one featuring two local activists who were very involved in Occupy Toronto, and in particular building links between the Occupy movement and the labour movement. Is this the beginning of a new community/labour coalition that we've been waiting for? Will the Occupy movement be able to sustain itself and help awaken a dormant labour movement? How did the Occupy Toronto experience measure up with other Occupations? These and other issues will be topics of comradely discussion.
 
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Ayahuasca Retreat Seminar with Maria

Friday, January 27, 7-9pm 
Alternative Thinking Bookstore, 758 Bathurst St. (S. of Bloor)

An evening with Ayahuasca Shaman Apprentice Maria Andreeva. Join us to learn about the plant medicine of the Amazon as Maria shares her experience of apprenticeship over the past two years.  Learn about Shamanic Diet, Ayahuasca ceremonies and listen to Icaros, the Medicine Songs. 

Maria has been apprenticing with Don Alberto Torres Davila, whyo has over 30 years of experience in the Ayahuasca medicine. In 2010 Maria moved to his village, where she built a house for her long-term stay. She made the house large enough to host friends and guests in order to share the medicine with those who seek it. Maria and Don Alberto now host Shamanic Retreats that include Mindfulness training, art and sound therapy. The house is called El Corazon, "the heart", and the motto is "An open heart has no limit."

View Flyer > http://lts.cr/BVlF
Join Facebook Event > http://www.facebook.com/events/278763848849889/

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Metamorphosis - dvd screening

Friday, January 27, 9-11pm 
Alternative Thinking Bookstore, 758 Bathurst St. (S. of Bloor)

Synposis: Ayahuasca has been used by Shamans and those they help for hundreds if not thousands of years. Found all over the Amazon, Ayahuasca and it's incredible ability to heal has been slowly but steadily creeping into western consciousness. Metamorphosis is a documentary that follows several westerners as they undergo five Ayahuasca ceremonies and experience the gamut of emotions - from utter fear to outright ecstasy. It also explores the shamans who work with the medicine as well as all the key elements of an Ayahuasca ceremony.
The film also tells the story of Hamilton Souther, who earlier in life had no belief of and in spirit. After having a spiritual awakening, Hamilton is led to the Amazon where he apprentices as an Ayahuascero, or person who practices medicine with Ayahuasca. Hamilton and Maestro Don Alberto (an indigenous master shaman for over thirty years that practices with Hamilton) take us through the ceremonies as well as explain the meaning behind them. As the film progresses , we follow the journey that the participants take through the plant medicine. The difficulties of the experience are revealed as well as why each of the participants has come. Integral elements of the ceremony, such as the icaros (songs sung in ceremony) and the "purge" are explored further. Finally, we get to see the transformations people have undergone, from physical to emotional to spiritual, after having spent more than a week with Ayahuasca. They reflect on their experiences and share what they have learned, leaving profoundly transformed from when they first arrived.

Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/62906976928
Events page: http://www.alternative-thinking.com/events
Phone: 647 932 8311

View Website: http://metamorphosisfilm.com/

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A Rabbi advocates for Solidarity and Palestinian Human Rights 
with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb

Saturday, January 28, 7:30 p.m. @ Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham Street (south of Bloor, at Bathurst subway, take Markham Street exit)

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb is currently Project Coordinator of The Community of Living Traditions, a multi-faith residential community committed to the study and practice of religious and strategic nonviolence. She leads arts delegations to Palestine with the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Her book: Trail Guide to the Torah of Nonviolence will be available in March 2012. Lynn is a percussionist, klezmer dancer, storyteller, and poet. Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, formerly with the Danforth Jewish Circle and presently living and training in Stony Point, New York, is working to create a community devoted to waging Nonviolence in a multifaith, multiracial and intergenerational context. She calls the community, "The Community of Living Traditions". She is also working to establish a "Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence". It is from this vantage point that she addresses the Israel/Palestinian conflict

About the Sponsors - The Holy Land Awareness and Action Task Group relates to the South West Presbytery of the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada. www.occupiedwithpeace.org

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Self-Defense: Politics And Practice

Sunday, January 29, 2012 From 1:00pm To 4:00pm.

Our experiences of violence impacts our lives, and our activism. To challenge patriarchy, colonialism and capitalism we need to be able to defend ourselves and our communities. Join us for a physical self-defense workshop and a discussion about gender norms and the right to anger, to healthy aggression and to countering the pathologizing of women who fight back.

Trainer: Jen Danch is an activist, amateur boxer and survivor of gender-based violence. She is currently the Coordinator of Shape Your Life - a free recreational boxing project for women and trans survivors of violence.
Register: http://www.toolsforchange.net/2011/12/08/self-defense-politics-and-practice/

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Eurozone from Greece to Germany – Explaining the Crisis

Sunday, 29 January, 4 - 6 p.m.
OISE, 252 Bloor W., Rm. 8201 (at St. George subway)

Karl Marx talked about the contradictions between the forces of production and the relations of production as the basic impediment to human progress under capitalism. We are seeing this playing out in real time in the unfolding crisis in Europe. This talk will focus on these contradictions, not from the standpoint solely of the Eurozone’s weakest economy, Greece, but also from that of its strongest, Germany. The European Union, and the Eurozone within it, are just the most recent forms in which capitalism in Germany has attempted to overcome the contradictions outlined by Marx. The talk will trace these attempts, from Bismarckian imperialism in the 19th century, to the two world wars in the 20th century, and finally look at today’s crisis. All of these attempts at finding a “spatial fix” to crises in capital accumulation have occurred undemocratically, have fostered chauvinism and racism, and have remained trapped in the fetishized forms which are the curse of private property. These superstructural impediments have become prisons, holding back social development in Germany and throughout Europe. 

Paul Kellogg is a political economist who teaches in the graduate program at Athabasca University. For more information, email ideasleftout at gmail.com

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Eulogies and Condolences for Tooker
and Stories of ecology and activism
http://www.greenspiration.org
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