Etcetera
Free Computer Use
Since December the Ann Arbor Public Library has offered the public free use of its Microcomputer Center. The center contains two Macintosh LCs and an IBM PC. Software available for the Macintoshes is Microsoft Works. The IBM stores two data bases (College Search and the Michigan Occupational Information System), the historical calendar (CalMaster 2000) and Professional and Patient Drug Information. For more information call 994-2333.
What To Do With A Window?
Dawn Treader Book Store manager Nisi Shawl was thinking of ways to use the window space of the store's new Liberty Street location and ended up raising $1,900 for Washtenaw Literacy. "The thing about Washtenaw Literacy," said Shawl, "is they've been going for a while and they have plenty of tutors, but what they need is more outreach." And since outreach takes money, Shawl invented the window Read-A-Thon. Volunteers gathered pledges from their relatives and friends, and then performed a reading-in-costume (participants included a bumble bee, a flasher, and even Soujoumer Truth) in the window of the store. The event ' was so successful, said Shawl, that she plans to do it again next year.
Not For "Feminists" Only
On Friday, April 10 at 7:30 pm author Paula Kamen will discuss her book "Feminist Fatale: Voices From the 'Twenty-something' Generation Explore the Future of the 'Women's Movement'" at Common Language Bookstore (214 S. Fourth Ave). Kamen's book addresses the question of whether young people are (turned off by feminism. A "written documentary of her generations perceptions of and visions for the women's movement," the book is a result of 236 interviews Kamen collected from college campuses around the country. For more information call 663-0036.
Elections in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
On Monday, April 6 half of the city councils in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti will be elected. These will be the first elections using the new ward boundaries that were drawn in light of the 1990 census. The Ann Arbor race may be a referendum on the year-old Democratic majority's performance, while Ypsi voters will decide among candidates who support or oppose the city's contract with the Ypsilanti Recycling Project. Polls will be open from 7 am until 8 pm. 21st Annual Hash Bash Once again, U-M and marijuana legalization advocates are embroiled in legal skirmishes over the right to gather, speak and demonstrate on the Diag. The university is denying a permit for the rally, while Hash Bash organizers are seeking an injunction against interference with the festivities. It is expected that once again Ann Arbor police will stay away, while university, county and state police will be on hand to arrest those found partaking of the ganga weed. Regardless of what the courts decide, and whether it rains or shines, legal-hemp supporters will gather on the U-M Diag at noon on Saturday, April 4. Afterwards, from 4 to 10 pm, there will be a fundraiser for the National Organization to Repeal Marijuana Laws (NORML) at Dominick's restaurant, 812 Monroe St.
Carless of the World, Unite!
Non-motorists now have their own information exchange. Send a stamped self-addressed envelope to: Non-Motorist Information Exchange - April Issue, 532 Third St. #3, Ann Arbor, MI 48103.
Recycle Week 1992
The Ecology Center of Ann Arbor doesn't think that a single annual Earth Day is enough, so they have announced Recycle Week 1992. It starts with an April 22 "Bluegrass for a Green Cause" benefit at the Ark. On the 25th, the Recycling and Education Center at 2050 S. Industrial will reopen with a craft workshop. The l0th annual Waste Awareness Awards will be presented on the 28th at a dinner at Zingerman's Next Door. Frank Allison and the Odd Sox will play at the Dance for the Earth at the Blind Pig on the 29th. The festivities will conclude with a birthday party for curbside recycling at 2050 S. Industrial. See CALENDAR or call Claire Pferdner at 761-3186 for details.
Support the WISE Program by Buying at Yogurt & Sandwich
The Women' s Initiative for Self-Employment (WISE) Program, an umbrella of the Community Development Corporation, was developed to offer unemployed and underemployed women the necessary tools for self-employment. The program is a response to low-income women who are systematically denied training and educational opportunities and access to regular sources of capital. The program enables many women to realize their dreams of self-sufficiency, independence, skill-based employment and the freedom to manage their own lives. There will be a fundraiser on Sunday, April 5th at Yogurt and Sandwich (2603 Plymouth Rd. in the Traver Village Plaza). Ten percent of all proceeds will go to the WISE Program.
Guantanamo Railroad to be Documented
Jenny Smith, who was once a missionary in Haiti and who worked as a Creole-English interpreter for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during hearings for Haitians who were arrested at sea and taken to Guantanamo Bay, will speak at a Haitian dinner on Sunday, April 12 at 12:15 p.m. at Ann Arbor's First United Methodist Church, on State Street between Washington and Huron. While the Bush administration kept the press away from the Haitian refugees and thus suppressed news coverage of their situations, Smith will tell some of their stories, plus the sordid tale of INS procedures designed to avoid truth and justice. The event is sponsored by the church and the Haiti Solidarity Group. Besides fine Caribbean food, there will be Haitian musicians, Caribbean poetry and a display of Haitian arts and crafts. Proceeds will be split between the church's Haiti Fund and the Haiti Solidarity Group. Due to limited space, it is necessary to make reservations in ad vanee by calling 6624536. See CALENDAR for details.
Paul Newman-Salad King Helps A2 Center for Independent Living
The Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living (AACIL) recently received a check for $10,000 from Paul Newman-Salad King. The donors, who manufacture and sell "Newman's Own" products, give all after-tax profits to educational and charitable causes. For the past decade and a half, the recipient has provided services that have helped over 15,000 people with disabilities live independent and dignified lives. The AACIL 's services include helping people move out of nursing homes into their own homes, counseling, home visits and advice for adaptive equipment and home modifications.
More Restrictive Michigan Prison Regulations
The Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) has enacted new administrative regulations which, among other things, reduce prisoners' right to receive visitors and obtain books. Under the rules, visits are restricted to those on warden-approved visitor lists, which could be as narrow as "immediate family members only." This could effectively end ACT-UP Ann Arbor' s visits to AIDS-afflicted Jackson Prison inmates. Wardens also have greater leeway to choose which bookstores can send books to prisoners. This change could make abuses like last year's characterization of a dictionary sent by Ann Arbor' s Borders Books to Agenda contributor Ahmad Abdur-Rahman at Coldwater Prison as "contraband" systematic throughout the Michigan prison system. There will be public hearings and an opportunity to submit written opinions about the regulations. For more information on the changes and how to register your comments, contact Susan Fair at Freedom Link, 741-0028.
New Magazine Targets Child Abuse
"Body Memories: Radical Perspectives on Childhood Sexual Abuse" is a forum for radical political views about childhood sexual abuse. Dedicated to the proposition that ending child abuse is deeply connected to a total transformation of society , the magazine criticizes what it calls "the survivor industry," groups and individuals who profit from abuse. For example, its first issue reports on a conference on ritual child abuse which was mainly a forum for Christian fundamentalists, cops and medical/psychiatric professionals who advocate drug therapy for abuse survivors. "Body Memories" also defends those who are imprisoned for defending themselves or their children against abuse. Contact "Body Memories" at P.O. Box 14941 , Berkeley, CA 94701.
Local Men the First Convicted for Drug Analogue
Carl Hofstatter and Michael Griffor face 10-15 years in prison after their conviction for intending to manufacture analogue drug compounds in an apartment on Ann Arbor's Kingsley St. This was the first conviction under the new federal analogue drug law. The government did not have to prove that the drugs were specifically prohibited by law. - only that they were "substantially similar" in either chemical structure or physiological effect to specifically prohibited substances, and that they were intended for human use.
The crime was intending to manufacture four chemicals, including cathinone and methylcathinone, two substances that can be legally and inexpensively bought from chemical supply houses without a permit or prescription. These substances can be made using equipment normally found in a kitchen.
Critics in the legal community fear that the case is a precedent by which vague and undefined concepts like "substantially similar" will be used to empower the government to jail people for violating unwritten laws.
HAC Update
The Homeless Action Committee reports that the campaign for the reconversion of the building at 110 N. Fourth to its original purpose of low-income housing is now entering its seventh month . As a continuing part of this campaign, HAC will have a demonstration on April 15. Watch for details!
The Washtenaw County Commissioners' recent purchase of the Downtown Club for office use prompted HAC to focus on that governmental body's dismal record on housing. HAC members are now regular attendees at County Commissioner meetings and videotape the meetings for replay on Community Access Television.
The Commissioners meet at 5 pm every other Wednesday (April 1, 15, 29) in the County Building at 101 E. Huron. HAC invites anyone interested to attend these meetings and speak out in favor of low-income housing! The recent attention on the County does not mean that HAC is not still reminding City Councilmembers of their responsibility to insure that housing is available to low-income Ann Arborites. The Council meets every other Monday at 7:30 pm at City Hall, 100 N. Fifth Ave. (April 13, 27). Join us there!
HAC would like to thank the following local businesses for their generous food donations: Dominicks, Subway (Packard & State), and Geppetto's. HAC meets Thursdays at 5:30 pm at Guild House, 802 Monroe. A free meal preceeds the meeting at 5 pm.
Nice Beaches and...
As of April 1992, Hawaii is the only state offering a state-wide, school-based afterschool child care program. The state-funded program offers low-cost and free child care.