OPIRG BROCK WEEKLY EVENT NEWSLETTER September 20-26
Volunteer Opportunities!
Bike Ride In Support of Migrant Workers
Location: Downtown Info Shop – 10 Summer Street (Behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul)
Time: 2PM
Date: Sunday, September 26, 2010
Join us on Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 2pm as we ride out to Virgil in support of Migrant Workers and Car Free Day. Over the Summer OPIRG Brock took in bicycles for migrant workers. We now NEED volunteers to ride out to Virgil to deliver these bikes. Transportation back to St Catharines will be provided after the ride. Afterwards we will party it up in celebration! Please contact opirgbu@gmail.com if you are interested.
Events!
Free! Documentary Screening: TED Talk Selections, The Human Mind
Tuesday September 21, 8 pm, OPIRG Brock InfoShop, 10 Summer St.
Come down to the InfoShop for riveting film and delicious popcorn and refreshments. Film to be followed by discussion.
TED is a global series of conferences that feature experts making short presentations on a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture. Many of these talks have been made available for free though www.ted.com. In our second round of TED Talk Selections, we’ll be choosing some of our favourite selections on the subject of the human mind. The field of neuroscience has made many recent advances in understanding how the mind works and what parts of the brain are responsible for different aspects of the mind, and the selected talks should inspire some interesting discussions about the implications of this research.
World Car Free Day
Wednesday September 22, All day everywhere
Car Free Day is a national and international event encouraging motorists to give up their car for a day. Car free day promotes sustainable travel – through improvement to mass transit, more cycling and walking, and intelligent city design where people can work and live closer to home. Leave your car at home today and break out the bike, go for a walk, or take the bus. Keep an eye out for the World Car Free Day Table OPIRG will be setting up on campus.
No One Is Illegal – Toronto Open Meeting
Wednesday September 22, 6 pm, 252 Bloor West (OISE), Room Number to be posted at the security desk, wheelchair accessible and childcare provided
No One Is Illegal - Toronto is a migrant justice organization, primarily led by people of color and migrants, that organizes openly for the justice and dignity for all people, irrespective of immigration status. We have started open meetings on alternate Wednesdays and invite everyone interested in joining the struggle to come to this upcoming meeting.
No One Is Illegal - Toronto is a migrant justice organization, primarily led by people of color and migrants, that organizes openly for the justice and dignity for all people, irrespective of immigration status. We have started open meetings on alternate Wednesdays and invite everyone interested in joining the struggle to come to this upcoming meeting.
Free! Documentary Screening: The Cove
Thursday September 23, 7 pm, Brock Campus, PL410
Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists - led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry - infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health. BARC – the Brock Animal Rights Club – is putting on a free screening of this important film. Please stop by to see it.
Free Skool Classes Are Here!
We are excited to offer a wide selection of Free Skool classes. The classes are all free and offered by our generous volunteers to make education accessible to all. It is a great opportunity to meet people interested in learning about the same things you are.
Please contact the instructor directly to enroll for a class. All classes start running September 20th, unless otherwise indicated. Don’t be shy about enrolling in a class at any time!
Introduction to Africa
Instructor: Andrew Barclay
Contact: opirgbu@gmail.com
Day/Time: second last Monday of the month from 7-9pm, starting in October
Location: InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street)
This Free Skool class will attempt to outline the individual history of specific African states. Too often Africa is categorized as one simple homogenous entity, this class will help explain some of the differences between states, and show some of the important changes that have occurred since decolonization. The first three lectures will focus on southern Africa. In two separate lectures we will look at apartheid South Africa and Namibia. The third lecture will address the economic development of Botswana. The last three lectures will look at central Africa, with a lecture on the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Rwandan genocide, and post colonial Uganda. There will also be a bonus lecture on the Western Sahara and Morocco.
Hactivism and Digital Rights
Instructor: Daniel McCarney
Contact: daniel@binaryparadox.net
Day/Time: weekly on Thursdays from 6-7:30pm
Location: InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street)
The speed at which the Internet became intertwined with our lives, our infrastructure, and our planet hasn’t allowed for public knowledge and legislation to keep up. The goal of this course is to inform at a higher level, and recommend solutions or techniques that are accessible to the average person. Ultimately awareness is the primary objective. The word hacker has been sullied by popular culture to the point where the original meaning is lost. Hacktivism is a prime example of where fear can be replaced with support. Groups like the Cult of the Dead Cow’s Hactivismo arm work to develop tools that can be used by people in countries like China to talk freely without fear of Government intervention. During the student protests in Iran, hactivists were able to set up secure anonymous relays to let repressed citizens reach out to the world via Twitter and other websites blocked by the Government. Topics that will be covered include: Censorship, Privacy, and Anonymity; Hactivism (Wikileaks, the EFF, etc.); Free Software (Free as in freedom, not in the pricetag sense); Digital Rights Management (the defective by design movement); Maker culture (Recycling Technology, repurposing it, DIY hacker spaces)
Beginners Guitar
Instructor: Jaimie Goddard
Contact: thisisjaimie@hotmail.com
Day/Time: biweekly on Thursdays 8-9pm – please check with instructor
Location: InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street)
This course will go over the basics of playing the guitar. The goal is to get people started on a path that encourages them to teach themselves. I will provide information and lesson plans on strumming, how to tune, read chord charts/tablature, play scales, as well as the time to practice and jam with others. I will also have students write down some songs they would like to try to learn and go over them individually during the designated practice time. I will also create a list of easy songs for students to choose from that we can go over as a class or individually.
Current Events Conversation Circle
Instructor: Peter Lozinov
Contact: peterlozinov@hotmail.com
Day/Time: first Friday of the month, 11am-12pm, OPIRG Office
Location: OPIRG Brock University Office, Room 204 in the Student Alumni Centre at Brock University
Are you interested in current events? Philosophical issues? Controversial scientific findings? While magazines, news outlets and the internet are great sources of such information; they often provide no chance for dialogue. The Current Events FreeSkool allows you the opportunity to discuss your thoughts and opinions in an open-minded forum. Once a month, we discuss a pertinent philosophical or social issue, such as the roots of evil, the encroaching boundaries of technology, or the ethics of the Iraq war. Everyone is welcome to attend and alternative perspectives are welcome. Drop on by and bring your opinion along.
Technology and the Environment
Instructor: Lisa Kretz
Contact: opirgbu@gmail.com
Day/Time: last Wednesday of every month, 7-9pm, starting in October
Location: InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street)
It has been hypothesized by some that while technology is advancing quickly, our ethics are lagging behind. In this course, we will assess the environmental impact of particular technologies (e.g., fossil fuel technologies, pharmaceutical and information technologies) and discuss sustainable alternatives and appropriate technologies in developing as well as developed nations. Course themes will include: Ethics and Technology, Energy, Ecology, Population, Technology and the Third World, Health and Technology, and Technology and the Future.
Hollywood and Counter Cinema
Instructor: Vincent Tremblay
Contact: vincent.g.c.j.tremblay@gmail.com
Day/Time: biweekly on Fridays from 2-4 (biweekly, starting Friday the 24th)
Location: InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street)
Hollywood and counter cinema: you can go against Hollywood too! This course will be separated into two sections. The first section will deal with the history of Hollywood and the ways it perpetuates pro-capitalist, individualist, and consumerist ideology in a seamless fashion. We will start with the origins of Hollywood, interpreted as a savage capitalist battle to dominate the world market during the late-nineteenth century, leading to its victory during the first world war. The next part of the course will deal with Hollywood in the 1930s and its struggle with censors. After that comes the age of McCarthyism and the black-listing of the ten left-leaning screen writers that came to be known as the Hollywood ten. This brings us up to the (near) collapse of Hollywood in the 1960s and the rise of counter-cinema. World counter-cinema like the French-New-Wave and Italian Neorealism will be discussed. Movies will be assigned and watched for homework. The second half of the course will deal with the production of a film, from pre-production (script writing, shot-listing) to production (including casting, setting the mise-en-scene) to post-production (video, audio editing).
Introductory French
Instructor: Eric Michaud
Contact:em09op@brocku.ca
Day/Time: Reading Week 2011 (Stay tuned for updates on times and location)
This introductory French course is offered to those who wish to learn how to speak French and write in French. Learn to speak French by learning to read French, telling the class something in French and discussing the differences between French Canadian and French films from France. Learn to write a sentence in French by learning the parts of speech (verb, noun, etc.) and by learning to conjugate French verbs.
Up Coming Deadline for Working Group Proposals – October 2nd
Working groups are at the heart of OPIRG and what we do. They are one of the direct ways people can get involved and volunteer with us. They are collectives of people working on an issue(s) together be it environmental or social.
Working groups receive a variety of support from OPIRG to help establish their group as well as work collectively towards their goals. Working group participants are provided with training, included but not limited to anti-oppression, consensus and facilitation.
Working groups also receive a budget to help facilitate their activism. The OPIRG-Brock Alternative Resource Center, located on Brock's campus, is also available as a space for working groups to use during their organizing. The staff and board of directors are also available as ongoing support for working groups.
Sign-up/Ratification of New Working Groups
To start a working group, interested parties must fill out an Working Group Application Form available at http://www.opirgbrock.org/groups
Working groups are asked to submit an application and make a presentation at a meeting of the Board of Directors.
We are really excited to support existing groups that are reapplying and new groups growing on campus. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact opirgbu@gmail.com
