12 Days of Christmas Giving: Days 11 and 12: CivLAvia and Partners in Sex Education

A 2-in-1 recommendation special today!

Belated Day 11: CicLAvia
Remember when everyone in LA gave up their cars for bikes, and the LA freeways became the largest bike path system in the world?

No?

Well, ok, maybe we're not there quite yet (although Carmageddon was a good start), but the good folks at CicLAvia are doing their best to get us there. Three times already they've shut down 10 miles of streets in downtown LA to cars, and opened them to bikes and other human powered modes of transportation. There's nothing quite like it - Angelenos from all over the city, out of their cars, enjoying the beautiful weather and our interesting city together!


Mark your calendars now for the next two CicLAvias: Sunday April 15th 2012 and Sunday October 14th 2012. And be sure and donate before January 1 - they've got some cool swag (it's LA, after all) if you give at least $25.

Day 12: Partners in Sex Education


Remember when you/your kids/your partner(s)/your parents got comprehensive sex education in school that provided age-appropriate, non-judgemental information?


No?*


Well Partners in Sex Education is working to change that, at least in Boston.


Led by the indomitable Megara Bell, Partners in Sex Education offers classes for middle school, high school, and at-risk populations in Greater Boston.


Donate to help raise the next generation of young people making healthy decisions for themselves and their partners!


*If you answered yes to this question, you are so lucky! Take a minute to write a thank you letter to your school, your principal, your sex ed teacher. This is a rare and wonderful thing!

12 Days of Christmas Giving: Day 10 Aliza's Brain Trust

Back in July I blogged about my friend Aliza's stroke and need for funds to support her recovery. The good news is that she's on a slow and steady mend, though challenges remain like, oh, missing a third of her skull and needing to wear a helmet to protect her head.

It was really inspiring to see her extended community and beyond rally to raise funds for an artist/activist - almost $43,000 raised so far! Even more is needed for rehab and day-to-day expenses, so donate today. It's a no brainer!

12 Days of Christmas Giving: Day 9 Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship

I love to watch movie credits. I guess it's the same instinct that drives me to read acknowledgements in books - wanting to know all the people it takes to make one book or one movie. I don't usually watch credits on TV, however - the text is too small or moves by too fast to be legible.

For some unknown reason, I was actually watching the credits to the HBO documentary Bobby Fisher Against the World when I spotted the name of my old classmate, Karen Schmeer. We were both anthropology majors at Boston University and had a number of classes together. I always appreciated her intelligence, humor, and ready smile. After graduation, we would often see each other when I worked at a copy center and she worked for Errol Morris, whose production company had offices upstairs. She'd bring pictures of enormous chickens and electric chairs down for me to copy. Later, I'd see her name in the credits to Morris's movies, noting as she moved from Production Assistant to Editor, editing films such as Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control; Mr. Death; and Fog of War. 


I was excited to catch Karen's name, and to know that she was continuing her work as a film editor. As the credits continued to roll by, I reminisced about our classes together, and tried to remember the last time we'd met. Minutes later, my memories were coldly interrupted by the last words on the screen: a dedication of the film to Karen's memory. I was horrified to learn that she was killed in January 2010 by a driver fleeing the scene of a robbery in New York City.

Her friends and family founded the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship in her memory. The Fellowship provides "a year-long, in-depth experience designed to foster the development of an emerging, talented film editor." You can support the fellowship, currently in the process of selecting their second fellow, with a donation. It's a pretty cool program that's a wonderful tribute to Karen's generous spirit. 

12 Days of Christmas Giving: Day 8 PARTICIPANT INC

If I know anything at all about contemporary visual and time-based art, I have Lia Gangitano, founder of PARTICIPANT INC to thank. She's the type of curator who can make the most abstract or obscure work accessible and exciting, and she never makes me feel dumb or not cool or not in-the-scene enough. And that's a pretty tall order on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

What makes PARTICIPANT INC truly unique is the collaborative relationships it nurtures between artists, curators, and writers. This collaborative approach enables artists to take on projects that they might not be able to in other contexts. As their mission states:

PARTICIPANT INC seeks to provide a venue in which artists, curators, and writers can develop, realize, and present ambitious projects within a context that recognizes the social and cultural value of artistic experimentation. 

Donate to support this risk-taking artist-centered non-profit art space. And stop in the next time you're in the neighborhood. I guarantee you'll be surprised, challenged, and maybe even delighted by whatever they've got going on.

12 Days of Christmas Giving: Day 7 In Memory of Troy Davis

If you were like me, you were glued to Democracy Now's live reporting leading up to the shameful execution of Troy Davis on September 21.


That night I wrote on Facebook: 

Going to bed sickened and angry and ashamed of the US tonight. Trying to remember the incredible strength and determination showed by Troy's sister Martina Correia and her son, De'Jaun.

Early the very same day, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were freed from prison in Iran. Shane's first words to the press were: 

Two years in prison is too long, and we sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and other unjustly imprisoned people in American and Iran.

Though Shane can't have known about the status of Troy Davis' case, his words on that day were an incredible call for strength and solidarity in the face of personal injustice and suffering, a trait exhibited by Troy Davis himself only days before his murder by the state of Georgia:

‎The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath. (via Amnesty International)

How could I wallow in my own sadness and frustration when people like Troy and Shane refused to? So I got up the next morning and gave a donation to The Innocence Project, an organization that works to exonerate those wrongly convicted, like Troy Davis. You can donate to them here. 


Obviously it's urgent to free innocent people, but it's also urgent to abolish the death penalty in the US, which is why I also gave to the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. This grassroots organization takes leadership directly from death row prisoners and their families. Donate to CEDP here.   


While you're at it, why not donate to Democracy Now, too?


In a sad postscript, Martina Correia, who had been battling breast cancer for more than ten years, passed away on December 1. The Nation published a moving tribute to her and her steadfast work to save her brother's life.