This & That is published now and then for the Erie area progressive community. Always good to double-check dates and times. Event submissions should have “T&T” in subject line, send to [email protected] . If you don’t want to receive this please reply with “Unsubscribe” in subject line. Also posted to http://occupyerie.net and www.erielead.org

Feb 15 – On Screen/In Person: Cafeteria Man Mercyhurst. The documentary chronicles the ambitious effort to “green” the public school diet serving 83,000 students in Baltimore. Leading the charge to replace pre-plated, processed foods with locally grown, freshly prepared meals is New Orleans chef Tony Geraci, whose bold vision includes school vegetable gardens, student-designed meals, meatless Mondays and nutrition education in the classroom. This film will screen on Friday, Feb. 15, at 2:15 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. in the Taylor Little Theater at Mercyhurst University and will include a Q-and-A session with the director following both screenings.

Feb 17 – “Forward on Climate” Rally “Largest Climate Rally in History” with the Sierra Club
Sunday, February 17, 2013 Washington, DC On Join this historic event to make your voice heard and help the president start his second term with strong climate action. Rally will feature critical action, inspiring speakers, and a march to the president’s doorstep to show him that we can’t afford to wait any longer.

• For more information about rides, housing and answers to Frequently Asked Questions, visit http://forwardonclimate.org
• BUS FROM PITTSBURGH: Please contact Peter Wray, Chair, Conservation Committee Allegheny Group, Sierra Club [email protected] 412-244-9907 BUS FROM BUFFALO: Email Linda or Sara at [email protected] to reserve a space.

Feb 18 – Author Peter Annin on “The Great Lakes Water Wars” Penn State Erie

Feb 18 – “Death: The Great Adventure” with Mary Hembrow Snyder PhD 7pm Mount St Benedict, 6101 East Lake Rd, Erie. Dr. Snyder has authored or edited three books. “The Christology of Rosemary Radford Ruether (Twenty-Third Publications, 1988); “Liberation Theology: An Introductory Reader (Orbis, 1992); and “Spiritual Questions for the Twenty-First Century: Essays in Honor of Joan D. Chittister” (Orbis, 2001). Free and open to the public. 814-899-0614 ErieBenedictines.org

Feb 19-24 – American Idiot Heinz Hall Pgh. Tour website at http://www.americanidiotthemusical.com/

Feb 21 – A Priest Speaks His Conscience: The Struggle for Gender Equality in the Catholic Church (Film and Presentation) 7 PM Market Arcade Theater, 639 Main St./ 628 Washington St., Buffalo The documentary Pink Smoke will be shown at 7:00pm and a presentation by Fr. Roy Bourgeois will begin at 8:00pm. Fr. Roy has spoken at National CTA Conferences as well as many venues around the United States not only as a leader of S.O.A. Watch, but also as a leading advocate for the ordination of women in the Catholic Church. On Nov. 19, 2012, after 36 years in the Priesthood, Fr. Roy bourgeois discovered he had been “expelled from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, his religious order and faith community for 46 years and the Vatican had removed his priesthood – all for his refusal to be silent about his support for womens’s ordination.” The talk is free and open to the public. A Free will offering will be taken. Contact: Lucille Gervase (716) 837-8685. Convenient parking is available on Washington St. Sponsored by Upstate NY Call To Action.

Feb 26 – Makers: Women Who Make America 8:00pm 54.1 – WQLN HD (PBS-Erie) The modern women’s movement is chronicled. Included: first-person accounts from movement leaders (Gloria Steinem, Eleanor Holmes Norton); opponents (Phyllis Schlafly); celebrities (Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric); political figures (Hillary Clinton).

Mar 2 – Pennsylvania Progressive Summit Harrisburg

Mar 8-9 – Allegheny To Host Photojournalism Conference on the Ethics and Challenges of Visual Storytelling Allegheny College will host a two-day conference, “Documents of War: the Ethics and Challenges of Visual Storytelling,” exploring the role of photojournalism and film documentaries in the context of armed conflict, on March 8 and 9. The conference, which is free and open to the public, requires no preregistration.

Mar 11 – Erie Benedictines for Peace present peace activist and author Kathy Kelly. 7 pm Mount St. Benedict Monastery 6101 East Lake Road, Erie PA

Apr 8 – “Invisible War” 7-9pm –Presented by Passages, Inc. Clarion University 840 Wood Street Clarion, PA More Information: (814) 226-7273

Apr 12 – Apr 13 (Fri – Fri) – Erie Reader Staged Reading Series: “8” by Dustin Lance Black (PACA – Performing Arts Center & Theater, 1505 State St, Erie, PA 16501) Portrays the legal argument and witness testimony of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial, which led to the overturning of California’s Proposition 8. Using actual transcripts from the court case, Black has crafted a heartbreaking and compelling look at this monumental legal case. Free admission – no reservations needed. Performance time is 8 PM both nights. Contact: Mark Tanenbaum. Phone: (814) 434-0687 . Email: [email protected]. Browse to http://www.paca1505.com.

Apr 12-14 – SpiritQuest Film Festival Edinboro University campus. Focusing on the human experience, from day to day relationships to matters of life and death, war and peace, science and spirituality

Apr 13 – Thomas Merton 2013 Award Honoring Martin Sheen 5 PM Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall – 4141 Fifth Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Apr 21 – Wild & Scenic Film Festival Bradford PA

Jun 20-23 – Netroots Nation

NEWS & VARIOUS

FOOD CO-OP Deserves to be said again: Erie’s Whole Foods Co-op is not affiliated with Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods Co-op is a local, member-run cooperative whose one store is located in Erie. Whole Foods Market is a Texas-based national chain of supermarkets, whose CEO has been quite a jerk lately. Nice article about the co-op in the Erie Times-News, featuring one of their chefs and schedule for their monthly full moon dinners. Also here is a WICU/WSEE story on the co-op from last year. The community center is now a reality, and available for use by community members and groups.

ART Two art shows of interest: Q2 at Glass Growers (through Feb 28) and Lincoln exhibit stirs the soul at Erie Art Museum Check out this video of the new, green LEED-certified Erie Art Museum, and remember second Sundays of the month is free admission.

FRACKING NY Group Praises New York’s Common Sense Schedule for Fracking Regulations Health impact review will precede final rules on fracking, not vice-versa

CORBETT BUDGET PROTESTS Erie: Erie budget protest Harrisburg: Protestors provide backing track to Gov. Corbett’s budget address, disrupt some of normal postgame show at Capitol

GUNS CeaseFirePA Applauds Attorney General Kathleen Kane for Closing “The Florida Loophole” From Erie Times-News: “Pat Howard: Flap over gun forum illuminates how political ground has shifted” “Feds: Erie felon possessed gun, cocaine” “McCrorey obtained one of the handguns in December after he lied about his identity in paperwork he filled out at Bob’s Gun Shop in McKean and also falsely indicated that he had no felony conviction, the indictment charges.”

ALSO…

• Allegheny Defense Project 2013 schedule is here.
• Edinboro University Women’s History Month events calendar
• “House of Cards” series with Kevin Spacey exposes power of Israeli lobby. Watch online.
• “God Made a Farmer” parodies
• UPMC to reinstate fired workers under NLRB settlement
• SUNY Fredonia¨Calling for more recyclable trash, campus signs up for national tournament

DRONES

Brought out of the shadows by the confirmation process Obama’s drone czar John Brennan…

• John Brennan’s “Trust Me” is Not Good Enough by Dana Milbank
• Cenk Uyger takes on the White House response to white paper on drones: “Deadly Drone Strikes – Obama is ‘Serious’
• See how serious Obama really is about drones (haha, you won’t see it coming!)
• Are drones already over US skies? Amid the controversy over a newly-released memo, documenting the CIA’s policy on the targeted killing of American citizens with drones, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released a list of public organizations that have applied for a special permission to use drones over USA towns and cities.
• Drone activism in central NY: “Ground the drones, end the wars” (basic, readable background on drone warfare), “History of drone activism in central NY” From Syracuse Peace Council. (“Founded in 2010, Upstate Drone Action is a decentralized, informally — organized grassroots group of mostly upstate New York activists. We seek to educate the public and Hancock Air Base personnel re the war crimes perpetrated with the MQ9 Reaper drone piloted from Hancock on the outskirts of Syracuse. We also seek to educate the public re drone proliferation and blowback dangers as well as the surveillance and civil liberties threat the Reaper and other military robots poses domestically. Legitimized by international law and by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Upstate Drone Action members heed our consciences and the Nuremburg mandate to expose and impede our nation’s war crimes.”)
• Moyers: Obama’s cold-blooded use of drones shows seeming indifference to innocent bystanders une of drones
• Wash. state residents kill Seattle Police drone program

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