VC Eco-Pirates Present Eco-Fest Dec. 3

Save Santa! The Ventura College Eco-Pirates Present:
Eco-Fest– A DIY Day for Action Thursday December 3, 2009 8:30am-1:30pm

Can’t go to the UN’s Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen this December?
Join the Eco-Pirates in Ventura College quad 4667 Telegraph Road
and learn how you can “Do It Yourself” to help preserve the planet and ourselves.
Keep the North Pole from melting!

On Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 from 8:30am-1:30pm, Ventura College students from Gwendolyn Alley’s English composition classes will offer a free “Eco-Fest: A Do It Yourself Day for Action” which they have organized over the last few weeks of the semester. Student presentations encourage cycling, gardening, ocean rescue, and self-empowerment.  All are welcome to this free event.

Students encourage participants to ride bikes or take public transportation to the event. Student and local bike mechanics will be on-hand to show cyclists how to fix their own bikes and look over bikes to make sure they are in shape for commuting.  Students will also be sharing eight reasons to ride and information about local fun rides including the monthly themed First Friday ArtRides to galleries around downtown Ventura. The next ride, the Save Santa Ride, asks: what will Santa due if the North Pole melts? (details follow)

Another student group will offer information on how to grow a salad. They will have seeds and soil so participants can begin at the event. An additional student group is concerned about women’s empowerment. In the Fireside Lounge, students will curate a film festival on these themes. Other entertainment includes art, music, handmade crafts and eco-friendly gifts.

To encourage participation at the Eco-Fest, Starbucks is donating coffee to those who bring their own cups and Noah’s Bagels will provide bagels. A small donation is requested for cream cheese. From 11:30-1pm, Milano’s is catering healthy pasta and salads for a small donation; samples will be free.

More info: http://bikergogal.wordpress.com and http://artpredator.wordpress.com

What will Santa do if  the North Pole melts due to climate change?
Join us for a Save Santa Bike Ride Fri. Dec. 5
Meet 4:45pm Ventura College corner Day/Telegraph
5-6pm Ride to Artists Union Gallery, California St & the Promenade
6-8pm Ride around downtown Ventura to open galleries
Party 8-10pm CSUCI Gallery corner of Main & CA  (unconfirmed as of 11/18/09)
for music, drinks, veggie pasta & salad from Milano’sVC

Be a Hopenhagen Ambassador in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Conference Dec. 12-19

Hopenhagen Ambassador Contest: HuffPost Citizen Journalist Will Win A Trip To Copenhagen

WHAT: Hopenhagen is sending a HuffPost citizen journalist to Copenhagen for the climate conference as the Hopenhagen Ambassador, to represent the global nation of people who are hopeful that leaders will come to an agreement.

 

THE PRIZ E: The winner will receive a trip to Copenhagen from December 12-19th! This will include airfare, accommodation, press accreditation for the UN conference, Media training with HuffPost Citizen journalism editor Mat t Palevsky, HuffPost blogging privileges, and a flip camera to record events .

But with great privilege comes great responsibility:

The duties of the Hopenhagen Ambassador will include:

Representing the people of Hopenhagen to the media and at official events throughout the week, reporting on events in blogs and videos posts for HuffPost while in Copenhagen, doing celebrity interviews, and spreading the message of hope throughout his or her personal and social networks.

WHO: Anyone over 18 can enter the contest — you just need to upload a one minute campaign video for why you should elected ambassador. click here for the full contest rules.

Watch this video for more information on what we’re looking for.

WOW!! Should I go for it?? Should you?? Automatic A if you win!

Make a video about YOUR concerns about climate change

I received this email today from the Alliance for Climate Protection & think making a video would be a great project for us all! As the New Media Director here at the Alliance for Climate Protection, I’ve been thrilled to see The Wall grow so rapidly over the last few weeks. My team and I have been busy reviewing thousands of moving messages, and I just wanted to take a moment to highlight a few of our favorites, and share with you why I’m so excited about this campaign. Enjoy these, then add your own: In the past few years, new online tools have revolutionized the way that people can get involved in the world around them, connect with the things they care about, and even organize others to truly make a difference. Of course, traditional media like TV and newspapers are still an important way we communicate.  But most of us can’t just go on TV or get published in the newspaper when we have something that we want to say.That’s what makes The Wall so unique. The Wall is powered by your support for clean energy and enabled by an online platform that brings together your messages from across the country in a powerful, visual display. We then amplify your messages by putting them in mass media ads targeted for your state or community. These ads are uniquely positioned to have an impact on the elected leaders who are deciding now how soon we’ll take action for clean energy and climate in this country. The Wall represents a resounding sense of urgency shared by diverse voices from across the country. It gives us the chance to organize and connect on clean energy and climate in a whole new way. As our leaders debate issues of Make  and scope related to clean energy policies, The Wall is more important than ever to make our voices heard in the fight for strong energy and climate policies. Add your voice and grow a movement for clean energy that our leaders can’t ignore: http://acp.repoweramerica.org/wallform I look forward to your message and thank you for being a part of this exciting campaign. Tim Fullerton New Media Director I hope you’ll go check it out! If you make and post a video, leave a comment below so we can check it out!

Ventura College One Act Plays November 2009

The Ventura College Theatre Department presents the Fall 2009 One-Act Play Festival beginning November 12. This semester’s one-acts include Seven Menus, a transcendental dining experience shared by multiple couples in ever-changing relationships, written by David Ives and directed by Aaron Manuyag; Variations on the Death of Trotsky, an exploration of how the great Leon Trotsky came to have a mountain climber’s axe smashed into his head, written by David Ives and directed by James Fraker; Night Visits, an endearing parable of love, loss, and ultimate happiness, written by Simon Fill and directed by Alex Manriquez; and Misreadings, a unique tale of the delicate and complex relationship between teacher and student, written by Neena Beber and directed by Wayne Hellstrom.

The One-Acts will be performed at the Ventura College Mainstage and Circus Theatres continue next weekend: Thursday, November 19 at 8pm, Friday, November 20 and Saturday, November 21 at 8pm, and a Sunday Matinee on November 22 at 3pm. Tickets are $7.00 for general admission, and $5.00 for students, staff, and seniors, and are available only at the door shortly before the performance begins. For more information, contact Judy Garey at 654-6400 ext. 3236 or Jay Varela at ext. 3194.

Students enrolled in my classes get in free! Just tell them you’re in my class and your name and they’ll look you up on the roster. I hope you’ll write up a review on your blog–please leave a link here so we can go see!

The Embark & The Goodbye: Luis de Camoes

Poetry from Portugal: The Embark & The Goodbye by Luis de Camoes

from Ploughing the Sea: Poems from the Lusiadas
by Luis de Camoes
Canto IV: 86-93

Having done everything practical
To make ready for so long a voyage,
We prepared our souls to meet death
Which is always on a sailor’s horizon.
To God on high who alone sustains
The heavens with his beloved presence,
We asked His favour that He should endorse
Our every enterprise and steer our course.

The holy chapel from which we parted
Is built there on the very beach,
And takes its name, Belem, from the town
Where God was given to the world as flesh.
O King, I tell you, when I reflect
On how I parted from that shore,
Tormented by so many doubts and fears,
Even now it is hard to restrain my tears.

That day, a vast throng from the city
(As friends, as family, others
only to watch), crowded the shore,
Their faces anxious and dismayed
Looking on, as in the holy company
Of a thousand zealous monks
With heartfelt intercessions on our lips
We marched in solemn file towards the ships.

The people considered us already lost
On so long and uncertain of a journey,
The women with piteous wailing
The men with agonizing sighs;
Mothers, sweethearts, and sisters, made
Fretful by their love, heightened
The desolation and the arctic fear
We should not return for many a long year.

One such was saying: “O my dear son,
My only comfort and sweet support
In this my tottering old age, now
Doomed to end in grief and pain,
Why do you leave me wretched and indigent?
Why do you travel so far away,
To be lost at sea as your memorial,
And bloated fish as your only burial?”

Or one bareheaded: “O dearest husband,
But for whose love I could not exist,
Why do you risk on the angry seas
That which belongs to me, not you?
Why, for so dubious a voyage, do you
Forget our sweet affection?
Is our passion, our happiness so frail
As to scatter in the wind swelling the sail?”

As these piteous, loving speeches
Poured from gentle, human hearts,
The old and the children took them up
In the different manner of their years.
The nearest mountains echoed them,
As if stirred by nearest sympathy,
While tears as many as the grains of sand
Rained without ceasing on the white strand.

As for us, we dared not lit our faces
To our mothers and our wives, fearing
To be harrowed, or discouraged
From the enterprise so firmly begun,
And I decided we should all embark
Without the customary farewells,
For, though they may be love’s proper course,
They make the pain of separation worse.

published 1752

Portuguese poet Luis de Camoes (1525-1580) led quite an adventurous life, which included traveling to India and China by ship. His hands-on experience enriches his epic poem The Lusiads about Vasco de Gama on the voyage which ultimately connected Europe to India. He is such an important figure to the Portuguese that his birthday is Portugal Day and his tomb is at the Jeronimos Monastery (pictured–with an actor from a Portuguese Ren era play waiting in the wings!). More to come about and from Camoes!

For more poetry, ride the Monday Poetry Train!

PS I send my gratitude to Enoforum Wine for the copy of the book from which I quote. I was admiring it in the book store at the monastery and trying to find it on the shelf to buy it when it was quickly purchased for me along with a collection by Fernando Pessoa. Enoforum Wines recognizes that a wine is more than the grapes; it even includes the poetry of the people who make the wine and live on the land. I agree. Thank you!

It’s almost Halloween!

Last year I led some writing workshops in my son’s class. His group wrote a poem, “I am a Scary Smelly Skeleton Pirate” which my son and I turned into this YouTube video. Here’s the text to the poem and here’s two more Halloween oriented poems from that workshop.

And here we are as un muy pequeno calavero with Art Predator aka Ms Frizzle of the Magic School Bus fame.

River of Skulls: the perfect wine for Halloween & Dia de los Muertos & more

Yep, Twisted Oak’s River of Skulls: This is the wine you need for Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and maybe for all the sinners on your list: Twisted Oak’s River of Skulls, a mourverde with a little syrah thrown in.

from Twisted Oak in Calaveras County CA

This is a special creature, this wine. Sorry to say that unless you have a trip planned to Calaveras county, you’re out of luck. You can get on the list now for next year! Sign up here.

While my favorite blend on Earth has to be GSM (grenache/syrah/mourvedre), seeking out a mourvedre– “the sinner” in all its wild gamey glory–seems perfect for this time of year. And for my money, I’m going for Twisted Oaks “River of Skulls” which conveniently arrived a few weeks ago in my “Twisted Few” allotment!

I had the amazing opportunity to taste this wine at last year’s Wine Blogging Conference 2008 and it wowed the socks off of me. (OK, I admit, I’m a sucker for mourvedre!) This year, El Jefe aka Jeff Stai served it up during the live blogging portion of the 2009 Wine Bloggers conference. This wine not only wowed us bloggers but in recent competition and tastings, it’s done well: they just got word from Wine Enthusiast magazine that the 2006 Spaniard will receive a score of 92 points, and the 2007 River of Skulls will receive a 90 point score, in their December issue. Congrats to Jeff and crew!

For more poetry, jump on the TRAIN! For more about wine, head over to Wine Predator! That’s where I plan to aggregate my wine posts and where I will post first from the European Wine Bloggers Conference and from the Enoforum Tour of the Alentejo region of Portugal. (Oh, you didn’t hear about that? You didn’t hear my joyous noise? Go here to learn more.)

There is some ghostly formatting going on here–just attribute it to the hi-jinx of los calaveras!

Harvest ArtWak to feature children’s play at Bell Arts

There’s plenty going on around with the Ventura Harvest Artwalk this weekend downtown.

Bell Arts Factory is always a highlight of any ArtWalk, but today Sunday at 2pm, my son will be performing there in a very unusual and free theatrical presentation, “We Source” about “magical beings in a magical forest who discover what empties the spirit and feeds the soul.”

About 11 children from 5-12 have been developing the story and rehearsing the play two afternoons a week for two months. Numerous adult artists from Bell Arts and the community have also been involved in various aspects of the play written and directed by Tracy Hudak, created by the young artists of the Bell Arts Youth Program, and with live music. The set includes a fabulous tree created by MB Hanrahan, Rosel Weedn, and Michele Foster. Bell Arts is located at 432. N. Ventura Avenue.

My son plays a Wizard and he’s very excited about being part of this performance. He’s worked very hard to understand his character and the character’s motivation. Being part of this play has been an important journey in his life. He’s had lots of fun but he’s taken it very very seriously. I see how much he’s grown in terms of understanding the world, his place in it, and how we are each motivated by various factors. As he has come to understand what motivates the characters in the play, and why and how they respond to conflict and opportunity, he has understand to himself and the world better.

If you can’t make the performance of the play on Sunday at 2pm at Bell Arts, a second performance has been added for Tuesday Oct 27 at 4pm. Hope to see you there!

And if you can’t make either performance, drop by Bell Arts to check out the set. Or join us for the First Friday ArtRide –it will still be up and lit up for our Bikers Ball gracing the stage where band The Sideshow Preachers will be performing!

Halloween Weekend Activities at the Moorpark College Teaching Zoo

Halloween Event at Zoo

Contact: 805 378-1441

Boo at the Zoo America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College will be holding the annual Halloween weekend event on October 31st and November 1st. The zoo opens to the public at 11 am, and hours have been extended until 7 pm for this event. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors & children 12 and under, and free for children 2 and under. Booths will include face painting, crafts, and Halloween activities with candy and prizes. Animal shows in the amphitheatre are at 12, 1, 2 and 3pm. Visitors to the zoo can also witness a carnivore feeding display that takes place cage-side at 4pm. Complete details are on the website at www.moorparkcollege.edu/zoo

Ventura Election Forum 10/21 Focuses on Green Issues

Many folks in the US have an election coming up on the first Tuesday of November–which is soon! I urge you to find out about local issues and participate! VCCOOL is sponsoring a forum tonight–I’ll be there at Bell Arts to listen and learn and to pass out flyers about the Nov 6 ArtRide and for the after party which will be held at Bell Arts!

The following post features excerpts from a recent newsletter put together by editor Rachel Morris. Read it here.

Ballot Measure Forum with Local Flair
Why is November 3 Important for the Environment, Public Transportation, and Social Justice?

Wednesday, October 21st
6:30-8:30pm
Bell Arts Factory
432 N Ventura Ave, Ventura 93001

Free / Bilingual

Join us for an Ventura-Avenue-Style forum on this year’s November ballot initiatives. VCCool and ASERT (Alliance for Sustainable and Equitable Regional Transportation) will be hosting this in-depth look at measures A, B, and C, with help from C4 Green Building Council, and CAUSE. We’ve worked hard to come up with an informed, gender-balanced panel that can go into detail on the pros and cons of each measure. There will also be time for written questions collected at the event.

As a special treat
Los Amigos band will be opening for us with beautiful Latin rhythms and guitar. Lalo’s, one of the Avenue’s best Mexican restaurants, is cooking up some tasty snacks. There will also be a Spanish/English interpreter available so that everyone feels welcome to participate.

VCCool’s 2009 Voter Guide

VCCool is taking a position on two of the three ballot measures this year. We feel it is important to weigh in from a healthy-climate point of view.

Yes on A
Support public transit with a half-cent general sales tax

VCCool is recommending a YES vote on measure A. We are deeply concerned about the impact of state budget cuts on local funding, particularly the 30% cut to Ventura County’s budget for public transportation.

Measure A is a half cent general sales tax for the city of Ventura. The tax expires in four years. Measure A’s Spending Plan includes money specifically for local public transportation. It also includes funds for local street repair improving conditions for cyclists, as well as funds for other core services in the city of Ventura.
Measure A – Full Text City of Ventura FAQ on Measure A

No on B
No to Sprawl. Support compact walkable, bike-friendly communities with public transit

VCCool is recommending a NO vote on November 3rd ballot measure B. VCCool is committed to a walkable and bike friendly community with affordable public transportation. A 26 foot height limitation prevents compact infill, effectively forcing Ventura’s future growth out as opposed to up. Denser residential development coupled with or adjacent to commercial trade locations optimizes space utilization, making it possible to walk, bike, and bus.
Measure B – Full Text

VCCool Supports SOAR

The VCCool Board has formally voted in support of SOAR’s mission and goals. SOAR (Save Open-Space and Agricultural Resources) is dedicated to protecting open space and agricultural lands by limiting urban sprawl. Careful city planning for compact walkable and bikeable communities is critical to lowering our carbon footprint. What many people don’t realize is that compact city design is also what makes public transit economically viable. We also believe having abundant local agriculture will become more and more important in the big picture of sustainability and a healthy climate.

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To be on Ventura’s Global Warming email list, send a note to the action@vccool.org with instructions to add you to the global warming e-mail list.Elec

Did you participate in a National Day of Writing? Link your blog to this post with a comment!

The NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) is sponsoring a National Day on Writing today Tuesday, October 20, 2009.

And many of my students participated by posting about it on their blogs and by posting writing here on a special gallery for Ventura College: http://www.galleryofwriting.org/galleries/52342.

Did you participate in National Day of Writing? If so, please leave a comment below with the link to your blog so we can see! We can also go to the gallery and see what everyone at Ventura College posted as well as students from other colleges here http://www.galleryofwriting.org/.