Description:

D.I.Y. MEDIA!!
Fear of a Handmade Planet

They’re smaller, smarter, and feistier, and they number in the millions, but can D.I.Y. zines, blogs, and viral videos overthrow the corporate media dinosaurs?

Find out from Anne Elizabeth Moore and Franklin López as they brazenly celebrate independent media in Seattle and world-wide. Anne is the Chicago-based author of Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity and has been self-publishing her own work since she was 15.

Vancouver’s subMedia genius and producer of the hilarious and foul-mouthed news vlog It’s the End of the World As We Know It and I Feel Fine, Frank hosts an eclectic evening of spoof ads, book excerpts, video shorts, and inquiry into the rebellious forces driving the D.I.Y. movement.

Join Anne and Frank as they explore the bizarro world of corporate marketing, where revolution is a commodity, the punk scene is a target demographic, and graffiti is a brand. What happens to cultural resistance when it becomes just another marketing platform?

"People need independent media because it is vital to democracy," explains Anne. "People do it for inherently political reasons, or for no reason at all, but in an intellectually free nation, they must be secured the right to do it."

Non-commercial media is essential for freedom, Anne argues. "In the US, hyper-commercialism has created a system of economic censorship," she says. "Dissenting voices are being pushed off the shelves of bookstores, out of the pages of newspapers, off the radio dials. These vital elements of healthy democracy have been effectively silenced."

Anne recognizes the frustration of those who reject corporate media as disconnected from the reality they see everyday. "As far as the kids who view the media critically . . . you're not alone!" she asserts. "But as long as you see it as a two-way street, you should be OK."

*****
In the past seven years, Frank López’s politically-charged films have racked up millions of views online. His work has been featured and reviewed in the New York Times, Wired, BET, and more. Recently drafted as a producer for Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now!" Frank is currently producing a film inspired by Derrick's Jensen's bestseller Endgame. View Frank's work at www.submedia.tv

Anne Elizabeth Moore's Unmarketable was called "sharp and valuable muckraking" by Time Out New York, and "a work of honesty and, yes, integrity" by Kirkus. Mother Jones described it as "conversational, intellectually curious, and charmingly ragged, Unmarketable is an anti-corporate manifesto with a difference: It exudes raw coolness," and the LA Times said it offers "something distinctly more radical than merely protesting against consumerism: a total rejection of the competitive ethos that drives capitalist culture." This winter, Anne taught self-publishing to a group of 32 women university students in Cambodia, where freedom of expression is frequently met with government-backed police violence. More about Unmarketable and her work in Cambodia can be found at www.anneelizabethmoore.com.

Anne and Frank welcome fellow media critics, D.I.Y. enthusiasts, and the general public Sunday February 17th at the Rendezvous JewelBox Theatre in Seattle (2322 Second Ave.) starting at 7:00 pm. Tickets are only $5, and books will be available courtesy the University Bookstore.

Description:

Jean Kilbourne on "The Naked Truth: Advertising's Image of Women"
Thursday, March 20, 7pm
The Bush School, Gymnasium

We are each exposed to more than 5,000 ads every day, yet most of us believe we are not influenced by advertising. This presentation illustrates that ads sell a great deal more than products. They sell values and concepts of success and worth, love, sexuality, and normalcy. Drawing on more than 30 years of research, Jean Kilbourne explores the relationship of advertising images to problems in society, such as violence, sexual abuse, eating disorders, racism, and sexism. For a list of Kilbourne's suggested resources, click here.

The Diversity Speaker Series is focused on exploring issues related to diversity, privilege, and oppression. Each year we invite experts in these areas to speak and engage with members of The Bush School and the greater Seattle community. These events are free and open to the public. For more information about The Bush School’s Diversity Speaker Series, please visit www.bush.edu/diversity. For seating reservations and if you have any questions, please call Dr. Eddie Moore Jr., Director of Diversity, at 206-326-7731 or eddie.moorejr@bush.edu.

Description:

Town Hall Center for Civic Life presents:
ERIC ALTERMAN: 'WHY WE'RE LIBERALS'
FRIDAY, MARCH 28 AT 7:30 PM

"Liberal" has become a dirty word in American political discourse of late, yet public opinion polls consistently show that the majority of Americans hold liberal views on everything from health care to foreign policy. Eric Alterman, a journalist and author well-known for his political weblog Altercation, examines liberalism's development and seeks to restore to its rightful honored place in our country's political life in Why We're Liberals. Presented by the Town Hall Center for Civic Life with Elliott Bay Book Company.
Tickets are $5 at the door only. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Downstairs at Town Hall, enter on Seneca Street.

In his extensively documented counterattack on right-wing spin and misinformation, Alterman disposes of such canards as "Liberals Hate God" and "Liberals Are Soft On Terrorism," reclaiming liberalism from the definitions foisted upon it by the right and repeated everywhere else. Alterman aims to bring clarity and perspective to what he believes has often been a one-sided debate for nothing less than the heart and soul of America.

Alterman is a Distinguished Professor of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and Professor of Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He is also 'The Liberal Media' columnist for The Nation and a fellow of the Nation Institute, a senior fellow and Altercation web blogger for Media Matters for America, (formerly at MSNBC.com) in Washington, DC; a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, where he writes and edits the 'Think Again' column; a senior fellow (since 1985) at the World Policy Institute at The New School in New York; and a history consultant to HBO Films. Alterman is the author of seven books, including the national bestsellers, What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News and The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America; When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and its Consequences, His Sound & Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy , which won the 1992 George Orwell Award; It Ain't No Sin to be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen , which won the 1999 Stephen Crane Literary Award; and Who Speaks for America? Why Democracy Matters in Foreign Policy.

Termed "the most honest and incisive media critic writing today" in the National Catholic Reporter, and author of "the smartest and funniest political journal out there," in The San Francisco Chronicle, Alterman is frequent lecturer and contributor to numerous publications in the US, Europe and Latin America. In recent years, he has also been a columnist for Worth, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, and The Sunday Express (London). A former Adjunct Professor of Journalism at NYU and Columbia, Alterman received his B.A. in History and Government from Cornell, his M.A. in International Relations from Yale, and his Ph.D. in US History from Stanford.

Description:

Progressive broadcaster Jim Hightower speaks as part of the Seattle Green Festival.

Description:

Air America host Thom Hartmann speaks as part of the Seattle Green Festival.

Description:

Democracy Now! cohost Amy Goodman speaks as part of the Seattle Green Festival.

Description:

The Washington News Council presents:

The First Amendment: Our Rights at Risk?
a special presentation by John Seigenthaler of the First Amendment Center.

No admission fee.

John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values (See www.firstamendmentcenter.org).

Seigenthaler was founding editorial director of USA TODAY. He was formerly editor, publisher and CEO of the Nashville Tennessean. He also served as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Seigenthaler served as administrative assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in the 1960s. During the Freedom Rides in Alabama, he was attacked by a mob of Ku Klux Klansmen and hospitalized. He is also a senior advisory trustee of the Freedom Forum.

Description:

Lives and Truth at Stake in the Niger Delta: A Sweet Crude Forum

The deeper story and larger issues behind the detention of the Sweet Crude film crew in Nigeria.

Monday, May 19th, 7:00 pm, Kane Hall 130, University of Washington

In 2007 worldwide: 86 journalists were killed, 887 arrested, 1511 attacked or threatened. If cameras are seized, if journalists are silenced, who will tell the truth about the critical stories of our time?

Face down this question and others with the Sweet Crude crew and a panel of international journalists, activists and human rights experts.

Tickets $10 / $5 students at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3513 or at the door.

Doors open 6:30 pm. More info at www.sweetcrudemovie.com.

Supported by Amnesty International Puget Sound; Committee to Protect
Journalists; Seattle Arts & Lectures; UW Law, Societies and Justice
Program; UW Program on the Environment.

Description:

Reel Grrls presents “Story Time,” a screening showcasing short films produced by teen girl filmmakers from the Seattle area. The young women, ranging in age from 12 to 18, created seven videos in beginning and advanced video production programs at Reel Grrls, an award-winning Seattle nonprofit organization. Reel Grrls is the nation’s first after-school media and technology training program exclusively for girls.

The short films produced in Reel Grrls programs for beginning and advanced media makers tackle topics ranging from teen pregnancy to substance abuse to personal identity. “Thoughts in a Hijab” explores the young director’s debate about whether to continue wearing the veil after immigrating to the United States from Iran. “More Than a Pain in the Neck” is Reel Grrls’ first mockumentary; view the trailer at www.youtube.com/reelgrrls.

These films are made possible in part by Adobe Systems Inc., the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Reel Grrls films go on to screen at film festivals around the world, including the Sundance Gen-Y Studio, the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Women’s Film Festival in Seoul, Korea.

The teen filmmakers will be in attendance and a question-and-answer session with the girls will take place after the screening.

“Story Time” will also include a screening of “Click Whoosh,” the short documentary produced by Reel Grrls instructors that won Best Film of the International Documentary Challenge at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto in May 2008.

Tickets available online here.