Improv Everywhere--we cause scenes

http://improveverywhere.com/

Just a quick update---it's been about 4 weeks since they posted the Grand Central Station freeze mission and already the video on youtube has had 6.8 million views. Also noteworthy--there have been 28 other "copycat" missions in 28 different cities in 13 different countries! Anybody wanna do one in Denver?

Here are some links to my favorite improv everywhere missions--we watched some of these in class.

111 shirtless men in A&F
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdeBp8J0rqs&feature=user

Synchronized Swimming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggm_j_6jgTc&feature=user

Frozen Grand Central
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo

No pants 2k6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7snbtwG5wc&feature=user

Best Buy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkkXCF8ZVc&feature=user

Suicide Jumper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vsdtCuXS_I&feature=user

But really...once baseball season starts again I'd be totally down to help organize a "no pants" ride on game night on the light rail!

KRS One and Stop the Violence in New Orleans

KRS One visits a "camp site" in New Orleans as part of Stop the Violence's campaign to get the Hip Hop community involved in addressing global violence through education, critical dialogue, grassroots organizing and direct action. I've always had mixed feelings about KRS One's activism similar to the ones we discussed in class about celebrity activism. However, this video is really telling of the complex issues in New Orleans where there's no one group of people to blame - rather a complex system of governmental failures, issues of poverty and gentrification, land use, and natural disaster response.



Seeing this video reminded me of TED talk that I've been reading about from Philip Zimbardo (known for theStandford prison experiment) about his book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (here's a nice interview from Wired). When people are put under intense pressure to survive or do their jobs, there are horrific things they'll do. While the scene with KRS One handing out money is a smaller contained example, this isn't something people would do normally but they're put in position where they're broke, homeless, hopeless, living in a city with a blind government and there's a guy handing out 20 dollar bills. What would you do?

more stencils!

hello all,

its interesting how you notice things once you become aware of them... as i was walking to have breakfast on downing sunday morning, i noticed two pieces of stencil graffiti. im not sure if i was paying more attention because i would be giving a presentation on banksy the next day, but either way i thought they were good... especially the christ with the cross on his back firing a missle... religion can ignite so much hatred, create so many divisions...

RSS as GLU

Here's an inspirational video/slideshow by Alexander Hayes about how Web 2.0 technologies and RSS are changing education (I mentioned it briefly in class today). I'm hoping more academics pick up this methodology!

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Slavery Still Exists Week

The "Activist workshop" looks pretty interesting on Wednesday.

Slavery Still Exists Week

Because Abraham Lincoln didn't end slavery...

Information

Event Info

Name:	Slavery Still Exists Week
Tagline:	Because Abraham Lincoln didn't end slavery...
Host:	DU Task Force, CORD & THe Polaris Project
Type:	Causes - Protest

Time and Place

Start Time:	Monday, February 25, 2008 at 8:00am
End Time:	Friday, February 29, 2008 at 7:00pm
Location:	All over the world!
City/Town:	Denver, CO

Contact Info

Email:

DUTaskforce@gmail.com

Description

The Slavery Still Exists Campaign is the national grassroots public awareness program of Polaris Project on modern-day slavery and human trafficking. At the University of Denver, we will have a series of events open to all students to raise awareness on the issue of human trafficking and modern slavery, including:

Monday - Lecture: "History of Slavery" by Prof. Caleb McDaniel
Department of History
February 25 5:30pm at the Lindsay Auditorium, Sturm Hall

Tuesday - "Charcoal People"
February 26 6:00pm at the International House (2200 S. Josephine St) Sponsored by Peace Corps Week. Refreshments will be served.

Wednesday - "Activist Workshop" by Seth Donovan,
Program Director, Prax(us)
February 27 12:00pm at the Commerce Room, Driscoll Center

Thursday - Lecture: "Slavery in Colorado" by Prof. Claude d'Estree
Graduate School of International Studies
February 28 5:30pm at the Lindsay Auditorium, Sturm Hall

Friday - "Revolution T-Shirt Making Party"
Hosted by Prax(us) and Rocky Mountain Animal Defense February 29 7:00pm at Whittier Community Center (2900 Downing St)

We will also have a booth at the Driscoll Center throughout the week to provide information and conduct a photo campaign.

Wikileaks shut down

A controversial website that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents has been taken offline in the US.

Wikileaks.org, as it is known, was cut off from the internet following a California court ruling, the site says.

The case was brought by a Swiss bank after "several hundred" documents were posted about its offshore activities.

Read more.

NIU community successful in blocking WBC protests

Looks like the groups that utilized Facebook and other social networking sites were able to band together with local law enforcement to avoid any major confrontation at one of the NIU victim's funerals:

"When this is what you do as your hobby, as your leisure time, this is what you spend your money on," said Paulette Phelps, daughter-in-law of Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church. "This is our vacation. This is our fun time."

In spite of their inflammatory signs, including one that read, "God sent the shooter," their protest took place almost without incident.

The only exception was when a mourner shouted at the protesters from behind a police barricade before being led away by police.

The presence of several dozen police officers from departments throughout the county seemed to effectively prevent any confrontations between the Westboro Baptist Church and mourners.

A row of St. Charles snowplows formed a physical and highly visible barrier between the park where the protesters were assembled and the east entrance of the church.

About 40 officers from the Kane County Mobile Task Force, in riot gear, stood guard around the park to protect the mourners from the protesters.

"They have the ability to express their freedom of speech," St. Charles Police Chief James Lamkin said. "We wanted to make sure there was nothing that would disrespect the funeral."

About 15 students from around the suburbs were on hand to express their disgust for the protesters' message.

Read more.


Also, the article I wrote for Pop + Politics on memorializing the NIU shootings on social networks is available here. I'd love any feedback or comments if you have time as I'm planning to write something more lengthy for my master's thesis!