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Laura Otten, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the La Salle Nonprofit Center. She will present an introductory workshop on the composition, functions and requirements of nonprofit boards of directors. Staff and board members of nonprofit organizations are invited to attend. Registration is required. ... (more) Please phone 215.686.5423 to register.

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Join Diesel Bookstore for a green event with Van Jones, author of Green Collar Economy! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All, based in Oakland. The mission is to help build an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty. Van ... (more)is a tireless advocate, championing "green-collar jobs and opportunities" for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating "green pathways out of poverty," while greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming. He's worked to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. Under the slogan "green-collar jobs, not jails," he is calling for green economic development in urban America. As an advocate for the toughest urban constituencies and causes, he has won many honors, which include the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award, the international Ashoka Fellowship, selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader," and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship. He's also served on the boards of numerous national environmental organizations. Presently, he is a board member of the National Apollo Alliance, which advocates for clean energy jobs. He is also a founding board member of 1Sky, a national coalition working to avert catastrophic climate change. In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a "Green Jobs Corps" proposal; the City allocated funds to train Oakland residents in eco-friendly "green-collar jobs." At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-MASS) to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in "green-collar jobs." Van is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that promotes the idea of a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps." This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States. In 2005, Van produced the "Social Equity Track" for the United Nations' World Environment Day celebration. UNWED 2005 drew dozens of mayors from around the world to San Francisco, where they developed policies promoting the concept of "Green Cities." In 1996, Van co-founded (with Diana Frappier) the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, now located in Oakland, California. Named for an unsung civil rights heroine, the award-winning Center promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration. The Center, for which Van serves as board president, incubated Green For All in 2007 and spun it off in 2008. His many media appearances includes the popular Peabody award-winning show, The Colbert Report.

Join Clare Langley-Hawthorne at Diesel Bookstore as she presents the second book in her fantastic new historical mystery series! Featuring the strong, outspoken, intelligent and sassy Ursula Marlow, THE SERPENT AND THE SCORPION is a thrilling story of scandal and betrayal that's richly detailed and ... (more)action-packed. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Clare Langley-Hawthorne was raised in England and Australia. She practiced law in Melbourne until 1995 when she emigrated moved to the United States and began work as a health economist. Clare has since put her pursuit of a PhD on hold to focus on her career as a writer. She lives in the San Francisco bay area with her husband and twin sons. This is her second novel. For more information, visit her web site at www.clarelangleyhawthorne.com

Worldly Wisdom explores fifty classic works of philosophy, social thought and literature to draw out ideas for human life.

Shawn Stewart Ruff is the author of Finlater (Quote, 292 pp., $15.50 pb). The course of growing up in just-this-side-of-segregation 1970s Cincinnati, Ohio, seems predictable if uninspiring for Cliffy Douglas. That is, until the deadbeat father of this gifted 13 year-old black kid from the Finlater Gardens ... (more)Projects appears out of nowhere. The real fun and trouble begin when Noah, a Jewish boy he meets in junior high school, takes him on a joyride to lust and love. For a thrilling review, see http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=1&STORY_ID=4968&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=2

Labor Law for the Rank and Filer: Building Solidarity While Staying Clear of the Law is a guerrilla legal handbook for workers in a precarious global economy. Blending cutting-edge legal strategies for winning justice at work with a theory of dramatic social change from below, Staughton Lynd and Daniel ... (more)Gross deliver a practical guide for making work better while re-invigorating the labor movement.

Come for the reading and discussion of Just Like A Girl: A Manifesta! GirlChild Press has released its newest title - Just Like A Girl: A Manifesta! Edited by Michelle Sewell, with a foreword by Def Jam Poet Sonya Renee Taylor, this fiery, fierce collection of short stories, essays, and poems is a rough-and-tumble ... (more)travelogue through the bumpy, powerful, action-packed world of girl. The anthology features writings by an ethnically diverse cross-section of contributors ages 14-60, exploring the themes of love, fear, and forgiveness. Realizing the girl as superhereo! GirlChild Press publishes work that celebrates the triumph and defiance of girls and women, and provides a quality forum to bring their diverse voices to the foreground. With the tremendous success of GirlChild's most recent book, Growing Up Girl: An Anthology of Voices from Marginalized Spaces, the press is attracting more projects and writers. GirlChild's next anthology, Just Like A Girl: A Manifesta!, is slated for August 2008. A parenting handbook, centered on girls, is also in the works and will be released in September 2009.

Kevin Funk and Steve Fake, authors of the new book Scramble for Africa: Darfur Intervention and the USA, analyze the current humanitarian crisis in Darfur and the activist movements surrounding it, thereby taking on both the US government and the Save Darfur coalition alike. The authors present the ... (more)basic information on the political and military aspects of the conflict, examine the options, and suggest ways forward, always with a concern for the broader international implications and for the hundreds of thousands of victims. John Ghazvinian, author of "Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil", calls their book: "Explosive, masterful, and impeccably fair. Consider it the thinking person's guide to Darfur." The authors have been researching and writing about Darfur since early 2006. Their writings have been published in such media as Foreign Policy in Focus, Sudan Tribune, Common Dreams, CounterPunch, ZNet, and Black Commentator. In a careful yet scathing indictment of this constellation of holier-than-thou government leaders, corporate media outlets, and spoon-fed NGOs, Steven Fake and Kevin Funk reveal the myriad ways in which the West has failed Darfur. From neglecting to provide sufficient humanitarian aid to millions of displaced Darfurians, to refusing to adequately support peacekeepers deployed in the region, the West has amply demonstrated its unwillingness to bridge the chasm between rhetoric and reality. Eschewing liberal fantasies of Western benevolence, Fake and Funk unmask the hard reality behind "humanitarian intervention" advocacy, as well as the true nature of US-Sudanese relations. What emerges is a methodical and disturbing portrait of Washington's ongoing ties with some of the worst elements of the Khartoum regime. The authors delve deeply into the immensely harmful and little-known role that Washington has played in the country by decisively backing a series of repressive governments in Khartoum. Brutal enough in their own right, these machinations also set the stage for escalating conflict in Sudan, culminating in the present catastrophe.

Giving voice to a population rarely acknowledged in writings about the South, Sweet Tea collects life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the southern United States. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as "backward" or "repressive," suggesting ... (more)that these men draw upon the performance of "southernness"--politeness, coded speech, and religiosity, for example--to legitimate themselves as members of both southern and black cultures. At the same time, Johnson argues, they deploy those same codes to establish and build friendship networks and to find sexual partners and life partners. Traveling to every southern state, Johnson conducted interviews with more than seventy black gay men between the ages of 19 and 93. The voices collected here dispute the idea that gay subcultures flourish primarily in northern, secular, urban areas. In addition to filling a gap in the sexual history of the South, Sweet Tea offers a window into the ways that black gay men negotiate their sexual and racial identities with their southern cultural and religious identities. The narratives also reveal how they build and maintain community in many spaces and activities, some of which may appear to be antigay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures. Reviews: "Sweet Tea is an amazing book. Engaging from the very start, it is well written and thought provoking throughout. There were times I simply could not put it down."--E. Lynn Harris, New York Times bestselling novelist "A variety of biases, oversights, and material circumstances have conspired to push the narratives of southern black gay lives to the margins. Sweet Tea makes a monumental achievement by getting these stories out into the world. Every subsequent, serious engagement with the topic will have to address Johnson's work. This book is certain to be consulted, referenced, and discussed for many years to come."--John Howard, author of Men Like That: A Southern Queer History and Concentration Camps on the Home Front: Japanese Americans in the House of Jim Crow

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Malibu is excited to welcome legendary surfer and Malibu resident, Laird Hamilton to the store! As one of the most famous big-wave surfers today, Laird is known for his physical and mental toughness when out on the waves, and has achieved worldwide fame for his accomplishments. He'll ... (more)be joining us to discuss and share from his highly anticipated book, Force of Nature, and open a window into the unique physical regimens, mental strategies, and spiritual beliefs that has allowed him to do what he loves, while being surrounded by family and radiating peak health and fitness. We'll see you there!

Let Freedom Ring presents a two-decade sweep of essays, analyses, histories, interviews, resolutions, People's Tribunal verdicts, and poems by and about the scores of U.S. political prisoners and the campaigns to safeguard their rights and secure their freedom. In addition to an extensive section on ... (more)the campaign to free death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, represented here are the radical movements that have most challenged the U.S. empire from within: Black Panthers and other Black liberation fighters, Puerto Rican independentistas, Indigenous sovereignty activists, white anti-imperialists, environmental and animal rights militants, Arab and Muslim activists, Iraq war resisters, and others. Contributors in and out of prison detail the repressive methods--from long-term isolation to sensory deprivation to politically inspired parole denial--used to attack these freedom fighters, some still caged after 30+ years. This invaluable resource guide offers inspiring stories of the creative, and sometimes winning, strategies to bring them home. Contributors include: Mumia Abu-Jamal, Dan Berger, Dhoruba Bin-Wahad, Bob Lederer, Terry Bisson, Laura Whitehorn, Safiya Bukhari, The San Francisco 8, Angela Davis, Bo Brown, Bill Dunne, Jalil Muntaqim, Susie Day, Luis Nieves Falcón, Ninotchka Rosca, Meg Starr, Assata Shakur, Jill Soffiyah Elijah, Jan Susler, Chrystos, Jose Lopez, Leonard Peltier, Marilyn Buck, Oscar López Rivera, Sundiata Acoli, Ramona Africa, Linda Thurston, Desmond Tutu, Mairead Corrigan Maguire and many more.

Join the book discussion group "Nature's Narratives" as they discuss an anthology edited by Jamaica Kincaid, which includes essays from many of the most famous horticulturists today, several of whom have joined us here at Scott for lectures. They range from practical how-to essays to poetic musings by ... (more)the likes of Dan Hinkley, Christopher Lloyd, Tony Avent, and Thomas Fischer. Connect with fellow garden enthusiasts and book lovers as they meet to discuss books about plants, nature, and the environment. “Nature’s Narratives” is a book discussion group sponsored by the Scott Arboretum where readers come together to discuss a book once a month and to share in the reading experience.

Danger's Hour dramatically chronicles the war in the Pacific through the stories of the men aboard the USS Bunker Hill.

The Teaching Rebellion speaking tour aims to foster dialogue among activists from Oaxaca and the US around organizing strategies and movement building utilizing the experiences of the Oaxacan organiziers, who brought together labor, indigenous, women's, youth, and neighborhood organizations to build ... (more)a powerful movement for democracy and accountability. Speaker Silvia Hernádez will join us from Mexico, accompanied by co-facilitator and translator Chris Thomas, to speak about the book, present art and photography from Oaxaca and promote discussion and reflection on the former and current political climate in Oaxaca and its relevance to everyone organizing in their own communities. Silvia Hernádez, a sociology student active in the barricades and in defense of Radio Universidad when it was under attack by state police, continues to actively organize for autonomous spaces and alternatives to the state's neoliberal development plans. She was arrested on July 16, 2007 when the Oaxacan social movement sought to occupy the Guelaguetza auditorium to carry out the traditional Guelaguetza festival, and spent nearly a month as a political prisoner. She belongs to VOCAL-Voces Oaxaquenas Construyendo Autonomìa y Libertad (Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Liberty) and gives workshops in recycled art and urban agriculture. Chris Thomas spent two years collaborating with groups working in the autonomous school system being developed in the Zapatista communities in the La Garrucha region where he worked with to develop teaching materials and reinforce the ongoing development of community educators in the region. He coordinated C.A.S.A. de la Paz from 2006-2007, and can generally be found somewhere between New York and Mexico. "Once You Learn To Speak, You Don't Want To be Quiet Anymore." In 2006, Oaxaca, Mexico came alive with a broad and diverse movement that captivated the nation and inspired communities organizing for social justice around the world. Fueled by long ignored social contradictions, what began as a teachers' strike demanding more resources for education quickly turned into a massive movement that demanded direct, participatory democracy. Hundreds of thousands of Oaxacans raised their voices against the abuses of the state government. They participated in marches of up to 800,000 people, planned strategy over the barricades, occupied government buildings, took over radio stations, held sit-ins, and reclaimed spaces for public art and altars for assassinated activists. In the now legendary March of Pots and Pans, two thousand women peacefully took over and operated the state television channel for three weeks. All this despite the fierce repression that the movement faced—with hundreds arbitrarily detained, tortured, forced into hiding, or murdered by government forces and paramilitary death squads. And the Oaxacan people are still determined to make their voices heard. Accompanied by photography and political art, Teaching Rebellion is a compilation of testimonies from longtime organizers, teachers, students, housewives, religious leaders, union members, schoolchildren, indigenous community activists, artists and journalists—and many others who participated in what became the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca. This is a chance to listen directly to those living and driving one of the most important social uprisings of the 21st century. " Teaching Rebellion presents an inspiring tapestry of voices from the recent popular uprisings in Oaxaca. The reader is embraced with the cries of anguish and triumph, indignation and overwhelming joy, from the heart of this living rebellion." Peter Gelderloos, author of How Nonviolence Protects the State "These remarkable people tell us of the historic teachers' struggle for justice in Oaxaca, Mexico, and of the larger, hemispheric battle of all Indigenous people to end five hundred years of racism and repression." Jennifer Harbury, author of Truth, Torture and the American Way " During their marches and protests, whenever the Oaxaca rebels sighted a reporter, they would chant: "Press, if you have any dignity, the people of Oaxaca demand that you tell the truth." Teaching Rebellion answers that demand, with ample dignity, providing excellent context to understand the 2006 uprising and extensive and eloquent interviews with the participants themselves; an amazing read and an important contribution to the literature of contemporary rebellion." John Gibler, author of Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt

Activism, organizing, social change, social movements, the social mind, public perception, swarming the streets, and revolutionary activity! What do these have in common? Rhetoric—the art and science of crafting communication to maximize social and political gains. From Emma Goldman to Subcomandante ... (more)Marcos, the most effective radicals are also the most effective communicators. Come join author Jason Del Gandio for an interactive presentation of his book, Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for Twenty-First Century Activists.

All These events are at the Philadelphia Free Library Central Branch. The events are the ones that I have some intrests in attending. However, there are many more events so click the link if you are interested.

Join the book discussion group "Nature's Narratives" as they discuss one of Orion Magazine’s finalists for its 2008 Book Award. The Wild Trees is a story of Northern California’s redwood forests and the exceptional people who have devoted their lives to their exploration. This book is rewarding as ... (more)an information source about these magnificent trees, but also as a narrative describing the characters who are so in love with these trees. Connect with fellow garden enthusiasts and book lovers as they meet to discuss books about plants, nature, and the environment. "Nature’s Narratives" is a book discussion group sponsored by the Scott Arboretum where readers come together to discuss a book once a month and to share in the reading experience.

Join the book discussion group "Nature's Narratives" as they discuss The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden. Twice named the U.S. Poet Laureate, Stanley Kunitz was not only a distinguished and celebrated poet, he was also an avid gardener up until his death at age 100. This book is ... (more)a collection of conversations, essays, and poetry on the topic of Kunitz’s Provincetown, Massachusetts garden. Connect with fellow garden enthusiasts and book lovers as they meet to discuss books about plants, nature, and the environment. “Nature’s Narratives” is a book discussion group sponsored by the Scott Arboretum where readers come together to discuss a book once a month and to share in the reading experience.

oin the book discussion group "Nature's Narratives" as they discuss Bringing Nature Home. Doug Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware, wrote Bringing Nature Home as a manifesto to suburban gardeners to help them make decisions based not just on their garden’s appearance, but also how ... (more)their gardens affect biodiversity and populations of insects, birds, and other mammals. Join us for the discussion of his book just two days before Doug Tallamy joins us at the Scott Arboretum for a lecture on February 12, 2009 at 7:30pm! Connect with fellow garden enthusiasts and book lovers as they meet to discuss books about plants, nature, and the environment. “Nature’s Narratives” is a book discussion group sponsored by the Scott Arboretum where readers come together to discuss a book once a month and to share in the reading experience.