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'Camp Darfur' exhibit shows effects of genocide
2 p.m., March 13, 2007--On March 7, the Rodney Room of Perkins Student Center was transformed into a refugee camp. Five canvas tents formed a semicircle in the small room, with signs identifying the genocide and the date it took place. The last tent represented Darfur, with the date "now" and a death toll of 400,000 and counting. From 8 a.m.- 5 p.m., Students, faculty and staff were exposed to the effects of genocide at Camp Darfur, a traveling interactive awareness and education exhibit funded by the grassroots community Stop Genocide Now. The all-day event was part of Smyth residence hall's first annual "Hunger and Homelessness Week," from March 5-10. Smyth Hall is a part of UD's Central Complex, whose residence curriculum is based upon the concept of service learning. Slide shows of refugee victims and an iTunes video about Darfur
were projected on the walls and information about the event and others throughout the week also were available at information tables.
AK07: Nathan Haines at the Festival Club at Red Square
As raptuous applause emanated from wonderful Spiegeltent, where sell-out show La Clique was taking place, we couldn't help but wonder how the corporate tent that is the Festival Club (a.k.a. the Britomart Pavilion) would convert to a music venue. No fear - after last night's performance by Nathan Haines and his all-star band lifted the audience out of the canvas construction. Greeted by the groovy sounds of DJ Manuel Bundy, the crowd were toe-tapping before Haines and band came on and fired up. The show focussed on material road-tested on Haines' summer tour of New Zealand - including a date with a 3000-strong audience, lions, monkeys and elephants at the zoo - for his sixth solo album due to be released later this year. But the Festival Club really came alive with the arrival onstage of Tama Waipara.
MIDDLE EAST: EVICTIONS CONTINUE IN EAST JERUSALEM
East Jerusalem, 20 March 2007 (AKI) - Source IRIN - Two months ago, the 12 members of the Abdullah family awoke at 7.30am to find their home in East Jerusalem surrounded by 2,000 Israeli soldiers. They were hustled out as two bulldozers from the Jerusalem Municipality tore it down - leaving them to face the winter cold with just a canvas Red Cross tent for shelter. "We have no money to rent a flat here and no relatives who can take us in. Years of saving money and work disappeared in 30 minutes," said Milouk Abdullah, a 55-year-old scrap-metal dealer. Abdullah's house in Al Tur, on the city's hilly eastern outskirts, was officially demolished because the family built it without a permit – a rule that Israel insists applies equally to everyone regardless of race or religion. The Jerusalem Municipality and Sabine Haddad, spokeswoman for the ministry of the interior, said the law applied equally to all residents.
Off To The Races
DADE CITY - Amid a sea of white tents, where high society social groups set up elaborate catered affairs with sterling silver serving pieces, jumbo shrimp and champagne, Helen and Tim McConnell had their own version of a steeplechase picnic. Blue canvas chairs, a blue and white blanket and a cooler spread over a green patch of lawn near the racetrack were the only accoutrements the Leesburg couple and some family members needed for what, to some, is the social event of the year. Helen McConnell's brother and sister-in-law, Jerry and Patty Schaller, entered their Jack Russell terrier in a race, one of several dog and horse events of the day. The Schallers' brown and white dog, Toby, came in second of three in his category. "We were here two years ago," Tim McConnell said.
Times New Roman
Elvis is really dead. Even the supermarket tabloids have let him go. And, in the 10 years since Dennis Nahat created "Blue Suede Shoes," a '50s-'60s story ballet based on the music of Elvis Presley for Ballet San Jose (then known as San Jose Cleveland Ballet), the King has gotten deader still. Maybe in Memphis people still care deeply about the old Presley tunes and the campy movies, not to mention the personal saga of the artist with the scandalously young bride and his bloated, pathetic end. But, in the wider culture, 50 years is forever, and anything Presleylike has become empty nostalgia. But if Nahat's revived ballet, at San Jose Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday, wanes on the nostalgia-meter, it should be seen just to admire the costumes and scenery of Hollywood legend Bob Mackie.
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