Voila! The story of Viola for IWD

OPIRG McMaster is a member of the Anti-Violence Network at McMaster University

what's the wordle, reading week?

Board Meeting in Motion

OPIRG Board, meeting, making decisions....

Cafe OPIRG

Encouraging fair trade organic coffee and tea consumption while promoting our latest edition of PIRGspectives, we set up a pirate cafe at our student centre office. Business was booming. We're here until 2pm if you want a free hot drink - you can drop by anytime for a newsletter (also free). Somedays are just beyond fun: a giant beaver actually stopped by to visit (something to do with SOCS)

putting up with OPIRG

Putting up posters for OPIRG events is one way of helping the organization out as a volunteer. With so many great events, OPIRG wants everyone to have a shot at attending, so volunteers like Areej lend time out of busy schedules to hit the bulletin boards of campus.  This poster is for March 2nd's talk by Sustainability guru Mike Nickerson, 12:30pm in Togo Salmon Hall 719 (poster by Janie Ginsberg)

table service!

Big thanks to Jason for helping staff the OPIRG table in the student centre today. There are lots of ways to volunteer with opirg, and we can suit your busy schedule - start by filling out our volunteer form online.

wild table times in MUSC today

Yeah, there are bake sales, and then there are bake sales with Creme Brule - that's right, OPIRG's FOOD FOR LIFE working group are selling creme brule in the student centre RIGHT NOW!

Here's someone enjoying one:

So if you are in the area, get over there now, and meet the lovely people from FOOD FOR LIFE!

help us grow! anti-oppression and self-esteem

Body Equity Workshop Piloting Session

February 15th 7:30 PM 

McMaster University Student Centre room 303

Organizers: Body Equity Working Group

This is a great opportunity to discuss anti-oppression and self-esteem issues in a fun and interactive way! 

Everyone is welcome! 

Hope to see you there :)

Newsletters shipping far and wide

Hi - our community membership will be getting their copy of the latest print newsletter from OPIRG in the mail this week - they launch from the McMaster Mother Ship tomorrow.
In other news, OPIRG will be brewing up fair trade coffee and tea for a coffeehaus at our office this Wednesday, so you can pretend you are in Paris and reading the newsletter in English, um  - OK, that sound weird, but it will be fun!
Copies are available at OPIRG 24hrs a day if you need a read late at night.

Guatemala Guest

Filiberto Celada (foreground), a member of HIJOS Guatemala. (Sons and Daughters for the Identity and Justice against Forgetting and Silence) visited McMaster in an informal sharing session with food last Thursday.

HIJOS, born in 1999, is comprised of children of the disappeared and murdered, along with students, workers and professionals in Guatemala. They engage in public events, protests, political art/murals to preserve historical memory, combat impunity, human rights atrocities, and face other issues threatening Guatemalans today.

The event was hosted by OPIRG McMaster's Guatemalan Working Group, and the McMaster Chaplancy Centre.

PIRGspectives fall/winter 2010-2011

Open publication - Free publishing - More social justice

women, mental health and criminalization this Wednesday

winning is sweet!

We are known for engaging students in social and environmental research and action, but we are also known for our devotion to fair trade and organic - thus the prize awarded to a winner from the Soul Food draw - fair trade organic chocolate!
You win every day though, since we sell it on a cost recovery basis! Drop by the office for a sweet fix of organic fair trade goodness.

beat the February blahs

Yes, the world comes together at Mac, and just in time to help get a leg up on winter. OPIRG McMaster is proud to be supporting this annual convergence of culture on campus!

shelf life!

The latest and greatest OPIRG McMaster newsletter pirgpsectives is printed and ready for reading - right this instant you can grab a copy at the OPIRG Office anytime (from the display outside the office door) - next week we will host a coffee shop with fair trade organic coffee and tea at the office to encourage and support your reading habit.

INSIDE:

• Working Group Spotlight: Threadwork by Dorina Simeonov
• Tech Free for Change and Poverty Awareness by Sabah Khan
• Facing the Crisis of Biodiversity Loss by Maria Strybos (Biodiversity Guild Working Group)
• Inter-City Humanitarianism by Audrey Naluz
• Working Group Spotlight: FreeSkool by Dorina Simeonov
• Book Review: Rethinking Schools, by Preeti Nayak
• The Key to Change is to Stop Fearing It: McMaster Students for Social Justice
• Rain Drops and Burning Cars by Harjot Atwal
• Working Group Spotlight: McMaster Students for Social Justice by Dorina Simeonov
• Taking Action through Volunteering: Why do we do it? by Arum Choi
• plus art, poetry and Board Profiles

The great looking publication was put together by our newsletter volunteer committee: Layout by Harjot Atwal and Dorina Simeonov. Writers: Hayley Moody, Arum Choi, Randy Kay. Review: Preeti Nayak. Photography by Harjot Atwal and Davey T. Hamada. Editing by Eric Collins and Kristina Mangligot.

THANKS TO ALL FOR LENDING YOUR TALENTS!

V-Day Coffee House tonight!

supported by OPIRG McMaster!

tabling

Preeti helped staff the OPIRG table today at MUSC - braving the cold interior of the student centre! Thanks for lending a hand!

food not bombs! founder Keith McHenry

Keith McHenry, one of the original founders of the now global movement known as Food Not Bombs! spoke about his long and ongoing involvement taking food that would otherwise be thrown out, and cooking it into vegan and vegetarian meals. The food is then served at a public location free to anyone, regardless of income or social standing.
For this, and his nonviolent resistance to war and poverty (for as he points out, 50 cents of every tax dollar in the U.S. goes toward the military and not affordable housing, food, etc.) he has been arrested over a hundred times.
But the local idea he helped create has spread from it's first home in Boston, to now encompass over 1,000 local Food Not Bombs! chapters across the world.
Hamilton has had several versions of FNB in the city over the years, supported by OPIRG McMaster. Currently there is no operating chapter in the city, though the need exists.
We will post audio of McHenry's talk at McMaster in the next week or so.

baking the bombs!

The Change We Knead Now! Bake Goods Not Bank Bailouts Tour
February 8th 7:00 PM
Location ROOM CHANGE: Room 318, McMaster University Student Centre

Food Not Bombs! founder Keith McHenry will be speaking at McMaster University and show a 15 minute film on Tuesday Feb 8th, 2011. The talk it titled "The Change We Knead Now! Bake Goods Not Bank Bailouts Tour". 


http://www.foodnotbombs.net/speaker.html

PROM NIGHT TONIGHT!

McMaster Celebrates Black History Month - Movie Night: Prom Night in Mississippi

Time	Begins at February 7th 7:00 PM EST ending on February 7th 9:00 PM EST
Location	Health Sciences (Ewart Angus) 1A4
Organizers	The Black History Month Committee
Posted by	OPIRG Staff

One town.  Two proms.  Until 2008...

1954 – US Supreme Court orders the integration of all segregated schools in America, including all the events.

1970 – Charleston, Mississippi, accepts its first black students into its only high school. Graduation dance remains segregated.

2008 – History is made.

Please join us for a facilitated discussion of racism and white privilege after the film with Dr. Gary Warner, Director of the Arts and Science Program and Dr. Daniel Coleman, Professor of English and Cultural Studies.

Free Admission.

Rethinking Review

Rethinking Schools: An Agenda for Change 


Lisa Delpit, Henry Jouis Gates Jr., Herbert Kohl, Howard Zinn, and 
others 


Edited by David Levine, Robert Lowe, Bob Peterson, and Rita Tenorio 



Reviewed by Preeti Nayak 



Rethinking Schools is a remarkable tool for educators and students alike, to change paradigms of education. The book examines power relations, curriculum, and stresses the importance of antiracist education.

Though the work is heavily based on American research, its conclusions are applicable to the Canadian context as well. In the book, interviews with leaders in educational reform are plentiful and insightful. In Canada, we do see multiculturalism as an answer to racism, xenophobia and issues of social equity. However, it is crucial to note that celebrations of cultural days or cuisine, do not address power struggles, systemic discrimination and other deeper issues. The terminology of multiculturalism has glazed its audiences with widespread ignorance of problems ethnic minorities face. This is why the authors accentuate the importance of antiracist education, to push for a deeper understanding of diversity and inclusivity in public schooling.

Curriculum is one very important foundation that is delved into. For instance, the importance placed on a biased national history overshadows histories of other peoples, other cultures, and other perspectives. Curriculum does not encompass a holistic view on world events, world problems or world history. This one sided perspective has profound influence on students’ self-perception, especially those of diverse  backgrounds.  If students cannot identify themselves within the education they are taught, what does this lead them to become? It hinders embracement of diversity because the shallow education we are given sets the standard for what is the norm, and status quo. Thus, social change is difficult to facilitate because it is education, at its roots, that teach young people to not question power relations, issues of inequity, or injustice.

The book looks at elementary schooling specifically and the importance of diverse education right from the beginning of a child’s education. The authors look at the importance of diverse representation in the classroom. This can mean from having an ethnic teacher, to including toys and books which depict non traditional representation. The authors also explain how the transformation to anti racist education happens in stages. The problem however, is when systems stop at one stage. For instance, having posters and literature that celebrate different languages and cuisine is only a start. Understanding difference and dialoguing about different structures pushes students to think about how to implement change. Exposure to pluralistic modes of thinking from an early age is critical to developing equitable and conscientious future leaders.

Rethinking Schools does a marvellous job of looking at different problems that penetrate schooling. It also provides plentiful resources for those who want to commit to implementing change in education. The case studies and interviews give readers an insightful insider perspective of the impact of biased education. Rethinking Schools is an inspirational piece, one that educators and students must read, to understand the importance of social change in education. 

About the Author: Preeti is a second year undergrad student, studying Sociology and Religious Studies. She has a deep interest in pursuing the movement in antiracist education, and advocating for diverse representation in all public sectors. Besides these academic pursuits, she enjoys cooking, writing, reading, photography and travel.

Just try and stop our latest working group

Second term applications for working group status found the OPIRG Board approving JUST STOP! Here's how the group defines itself:

Just Stop encourages individuals to think critically of the negative impact consumerist society has on natural resources. It envisions educating students to respect their stuff more, take better care of it and appreciating the effort, material and energy it took to make it. Just Stop is a group dedicated to offer students alternatives of simple living so they can “Just Stop” running on the treadmill of excessive consumptions and jump back into a richer and sweeter life of friends and community.

They are raring to get at the issues, and eager to meet like-minded souls.  Get in touch JustStop2011@gmail.com

mmmmuffins and more

board meeting postponed

The OPIRG Board meeting for tonight at 6pm is being postponed due to the approaching storm. Time to wax the x-country skis...