Michelle Tea at Food For Thought Books
Michelle Tea browsing at Food For Thought Books - we love this photo.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
James Scott on The Art of Not Being Governed
We need more historians willing to re-vision the tired tropes of royal agency and the magic of the state. History doesn't need to follow the centralized lines of formal political organization and, as Scott shows, it misses so much when it does.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Book Porn
For those of you who not only love books for what they contain, but books themselves as objects of beauty and artistic expression, please check out the extraordinary online collection: Publishers Bindings, 1815-1930: The Art of Books.
Everything from slave narratives to suffragists, art deco to rococo revival. A feast of beautiful book design!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
FFT Volunteers in the News
Check it out! Noalanii Karakashian (pictured) & Nathara Bailey, two valiant volunteers here at Food For Thought Books, are on the front page of the Amherst Bulletin!
Race's role at Amherst Regional: How the high school is tackling a touchy subject.
... Some of the students, like senior Nathara Bailey, thought teachers' expectations for students like them would rise if they were trained in dealing with a racially diverse student body. Peyton suggested that administrators and School Committee members come and talk to their group.
"We can try to make it better and brainstorm tactics that can make the high school a better place," he said
For senior Noalanii Karakashian, a key issue is the small number of nonwhite teachers, which gives her few role models to look up to. "I don't see people who look like me," she said, adding that she doesn't feel comfortable being the only nonwhite person in a class.... read more
Monday, May 23, 2011
Farewell Black Sheep Books!
Very sad news: Black Sheep Books, a wonderful collectively-run radical bookstore and community space up in Montpelier, VT is closing up shop.
On Saturday, May 28th, we will be closing our beloved bookstore. We have had a tremendous six and one-half years and we thank you for your support and involvement in this project. The fact that a radical, anti-profit organization like this has thrived this long is inspiring, especially these last 2 and one-half years in the heart of downtown Montpelier. We thank all the volunteers, friends, supporters, and collective members — past and present — for helping to create radical space in a small town. ... read more
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A Night of Jazz with The Gary Smulyan Trio!
Baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan is critically acclaimed as one of the major voices on the baritone saxophone today. Mr. Smulyan has recorded and performed worldwide with Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Tom Harrell. Cedar Walton, George Coleman, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Tommy Flanagan, Chick Corea, Diana Ross, Clark Terry, Kenny Wheeler, Charles McPherson, James Moody and Slide Hampton, among others.
More info on our main website: Gary Smulyan Trio Jazz Concert
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Happy Mother's Day!
Not many know the radical origins of this holiday. It was originally begun by women after the Civil War as a protest against the carnage that war wrought, all the husbands, fathers, sons & brothers taken.
A good example of its original character comes from Julia Ward Howe's "Mother's Day Proclamation, 1870", written in 1870. Check it out: it has lost none of its power & poignancy.
Arise then...women of this day!For more on the origins & history of Mother's Day, check out Fiona Tinwei Lam's Mother's Day's Radical Roots.
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress,
not of Caesar, but of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Happy Happy May Day!
Today is May Day, a.k.a. International Workers Day! Come join us today at 4:30pm to celebrate this best of all holidays!
For more information on the history & significance of May Day, check out Peter Linebaugh's great essay The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of May Day.
More resources & links can also be found here. Happy May Day!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Our New Window
When others try to silence and shame the people you love and care about, the only proper response is to make your support even more vocal and visible.
Be sure to visit and support the Pride & Color blog, the folks who made these wonderful posters - http://prideandcolor.blogs
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Loca author Susan Stinson wins literary award!
Huzzah! Local author Susan Stinson wins the "Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize" from Lambda Literary Foundation!
Congratulations, Susan! You rock!Alex Sanchez and Susan Stinson Awarded Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize
This week the Lambda Literary Foundation announced the two recipients of the Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prize – the largest monetary prize awarded exclusively to a self-identified LGBT writer. This year the prize recognizes young adult novelist, Alex Sanchez (Rainbow Boys), and novelist, Susan Stinson (Venus of Chalk). ...read more
Be sure to check out the novel that won her this award: Venus of Chalk
Sunday, April 17, 2011
A Night of Liberation!
A Benefit Concert for the Prison Birth Project 
CHARLES NEVILLE & ROGER SALLOOM April 23rd 7-9:15pm Northampton High School Auditorium
Also Performing: V Haddad, Sugati & Chris Phillips, Rae & Devin Griffiths, Kennethia & Nancy Tolson, Ellen Clegg, Ann Sirignano, Fabiola Guiteau, Ricardo Frota, WT Funk
"This Spring we are presenting 'Liberation!' a multi-cultural performance arts concert to benefit The Prison Birth Project. The show will explore the subject of 'Liberation' through the music, dance, and poetry of an eclectic mix of world-class local artists. The performance will include spoken word poetry written by mothers currently or formerly incarcerated."
Tickets: $12-20 sliding scale. Children under 5 = free.
For more info, check out The Prison Birth Project.
Greg Mortenson = Tool
well, what a surprise... (not really).
Investigation throws "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson's charity work into doubt
An investigation by "60 Minutes" to be broadcast this weekend will cite multiple sources that contend some of the most inspiring stories in Greg Mortenson's books "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones into Schools" are not true.
Significantly, Mortenson's origin story -- of being saved by a remote village in Afghanistan and promising to build a school for them -- appears to be a fabrication. ...
And according to "60 Minutes," Mortenson's charity, the Central Asia Institute, has spent more money in the the U.S. talking about education in Pakistan and Afghanistan than actually building and supporting schools there. The television program talks to charity waltchdog group that has concerns about the financial management of the group.
read more
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