Feature Archives

The Society for Disability Studies is holding its annual conference at San Francisco State University from June 8th through 11th. The theme of the conference is Conversations & Connections Across Race, Disability & Identity. The conference coincides with activism by people in the Bay Area and on the East Coast to start a national organization for and by disabled people of color. There is a registration fee for the conference, but the following events are lower cost:

The photo exhibit Brown Disabled Broken Bodies: A Tour of Police Brutality Cases Against Disabled People of Color will be up on June 10th from 5-7PM in the Nob Hill Room. Photos of people such as May Molina, a diabetic woman who died in Chicago police custody when she was denied access to her medication, will be on display.

On Saturday June 11th from 12:30-2:30pm in the Richmond Room, there will be a panel entitled: Coast to Coast African Americans' Grassroots Incentives. The organizations to be represented are from the East Coast and California dealing with people of color with disabilities, and especially African Americans.

Also on June 11th, from 7:30-9:30pm in the Richmond Room, Black AND Disabled Artists Sharing, or BADAS, will perform Black Disabled Art History 101 with a slide show. Artists include Hip-Hop artist Keith Jones, Jazz poet Charles Curtice Blackwell, Safi wa Nairobi, and Leroy F. Moore.

As part of the conference, there will also be a Color of Disability photo exhibit of the two political conventions focusing on people of color with disabilities by Safi wa Nairobi.

For more information about the exhibit and performance, email Leroy Moore, sfdamo (at) yahoo.com | Society for Disability Studies | Leroy Moore's website

A Reclaim The Streets Party was held on Friday, May 20th in Palo Alto. Partygoers met at Lytton Plaza at University Ave. and Emerson at 8pm. Photos: 1 | 2 Report: 1

From the RTS Callout:
Our everyday lives are fucking boring. From where we work to when we sleep, when we go to school and where we play, every aspect of our lives is beyond our control. We have to work, to shop, and to go to school to survive, but these repetitive activities deprive us of what make us really alive: freedom, creativity, spontaneity, adventure, excitement, and love. Our cities are planned to keep us content, isolated, and passified - we want excitement, community, and revolt! When was the last time you danced like no one was watching - when was the last time you ran like it really mattered?"

Flyer for RTS | Palo Alto RTS Web Site

From the newswire:

"Zizek told the audience why he was a philosopher. He does not want to explain and account for the unaccountable, and instead wants to "render strange something we accept as given." Seeing things in a new way to "help us get a small shift of perspective to see the unexpected, implicit consequences" of thought and actions. "We do not know where we truly are," he stated, adding "we do not know what is really going on. We are in a radical crisis," he concluded."

Read More
Listen to Q&A with Zizek

On Sunday April 24th, Berkeley celebrated the anniversary of the founding of People's Park. There were, as always, speakers and performers on stage, donated from Food Not Bombs, and a skate park. Scheduled speakers included former UC Berkeley professor Ignacio Chapela and an update about the Pepper Spray Trial. There were also performances by Hightower, the Brass Liberation Orchestra, MC Wavy Gravy, and more. Audio

Indybay Coverage of the 2003 People's Park Anniversary Celebration | 2004 Anniversary | People's Park Website

On April 7th the "Made in Palestine" art exhibit opened at SomArts Cultural Center. San Francisco was the first stop of the exhibit after it opened at the Station Museum in Houston, Texas. The Station Museum, described "Made In Palestine" as "the first exhibit of contemporary Palestinian art ever displayed in the United States." Gabriel Delgado, exhibit curator, Jim Harithas, director of the Ineri Foundation, and Tex Kerschen, chief curator traveled in the Middle East for a month and met with artists in Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria to select the works to be included in the exhibition. The exhibit was on display until April 21st.
Photos | SomArts Program | Debut US tour of "Made in Palestine" exhibition

On April 2nd 2005, SF Reclaim the Streets and the Coalition for Transit Justice invited the community to come out to Dolores Park for a party to oppose a MUNI fare increase. Hundreds started to gather around noon and around 1:30pm a march left ending up in front of the Castro Theater (near the intersection of Market and Castro). A street party continued on Castro St until around 3:15pm. The party then moved up Market, turning right on 16th to the 16th St. BART station.Finally, around 4:30 the party moved up mission and back to Dolores Park where live bands peformed into the evening.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | Archived Breaking News | SF RTS Website | Past Coverage Of MUNI Fare Increase | Past SF RTS Coverage: 2000 | 2001 | 2004

Cultural Links will sponsor the 8th annual Radical Performance Festival on March 18th and 19th in at the SomArts Cultural Center in San Francisco. The show on Friday night will include Sparlha Swa, Shailja Patel, the Brass Liberation Orchestra, Ashley Brockington, SoulOgraphy, Julia Butterfly, the Vietnamese Artists Collective, Arts in Action poets, and others. Saturday night's performance will include Sistas in the Pit, Copper Women, Colored Ink, Matt Gonzalez, Kreatibo, Blue Buddha, Samsara, Deep Dick Collective, Dancers Without Borders, Pick Pocket Ensemble, Art in Action Poets, and antics by the Big Tadoo Puppet Crew. The two shows will benefit Art in Action Youth Scholarships and the From Attica to Abu Ghraib Conference

Radical Performance Fest Website | SomArts Website | Indybay's Coverage of the 2004 Radical Performance Fest