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BlogsOPIRG BROCK WEEKLY EVENT NEWSLETTER
We have an amazing line up for Alternative Orientation Week, starting Monday! Please find details below and in the attachment. We encourage you to circulate it far and wide. Hope to see you at some of the fantastic events! Events! Monday September 6th
Outdoor Self Defence Workshop: 10-11am & 5-6pm, meet under the Brock Library Tower
Campus Eco-Hike: 12-2pm, meet at the OPIRG Office, 1st floor, Student Alumni Centre Tuesday September 7th
Vendor Fair: 10-4pm, in front of the Brock Library Tower
Documentary Screening "The End of Suburbia”: 8-10pm, OPIRG Community InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street) Wednesday September 8th
Vendor Fair: 10-4pm, in front of the Brock Library Tower
A Night at the InfoShop: 8-10pm, OPIRG Community InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street) Thursday September 9th
Know Your Downtown Hike: 11-1pm, OPIRG Community InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street)
Tower Plant Sale: 1-3pm, Brock Library Tower
A Night of Improv at the InfoShop: 7-9pm, OPIRG Community InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street) Friday September 10th
Volunteer Fest: 10-3pm, Jubilee Court Saturday September 11th
Board Games in Montebello Park and Vegan Potluck Picnic: 12-3pm, Montebello Park
Volunteer Opportunities!InfoShop Volunteers: The InfoShop is a resource for information about social and environmental activism, a local community assistance outlet for information, and a space for volunteer organization and workshops. It houses a zine library, has working group information and is a resource for activist art.
The InfoShop is a great place to meet folks interested in social justice and environmental issues - and to connect with your local community. If you are a returning volunteer or would like to take a little of your time each week to help us run the InfoShop it would be great! FreeSkool Educators:
The OPIRG Freeskool is a project that is designed to challenge the hierarchical and institutional way learning is primarily conducted in our community. We reject the notion that only some kinds of knowledges are valuable, or that only certain people are 'accredited' enough to share information. We embrace radical accessibility, critical consciousness, and student-centered learning. We are looking for folks interested in hosting a class, be it on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis at the InfoShop. If you’ve got a passion for sharing what you’ve learned send us word.
Spanish Speakers for Migrant Workers
Research CallA PhD candidate from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. is researching gender. Contact information is at the end of this message if you'd like to participate or offer feedback. Following is a description of her intentions:
I am looking for 25 people in the southwestern Ontario area (from Toronto to Windsor) interested in participating in an interview with me at a location and time chosen by the participant (keeping in mind safety, privacy, and scheduling). I am willing to travel anywhere in the area
Why I want to know:
What I will do (and not do) with the information:
Who I would like to interview:
What to do if you're interested:
Alternative O-WeekMonday September 6th Outdoor Self Defence Workshop: 10-11am & 5-6pm, meet under the Brock Library Tower Campus Eco-Hike: 12-2pm, meet at the OPIRG Office, 1st floor, Student Alumni Centre Tuesday September 7th Vendor Fair: 10-4pm, in front of the Brock Library Tower Documentary Screening "The End of Suburbia”: 8-10pm, OPIRG Community InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street) Wednesday September 8th Vendor Fair: 10-4pm, in front of the Brock Library Tower A Night at the InfoShop: 8-10pm, OPIRG Community InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street) Thursday September 9th Know Your Downtown Hike: 11-1pm, OPIRG Community InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street) Tower Plant Sale: 1-3pm, Brock Library Tower A Night of Improv at the InfoShop: 7-9pm, OPIRG Community InfoShop, 10 Summer Street (right behind the Pizza Pizza on St. Paul Street) Friday September 10th Volunteer Fest: 10-3pm, Jubilee Court Saturday September 11th Board Games in Montebello Park and Vegan Potluck Picnic: 12-3pm, Montebello Park
OPIRG BROCK WEEKLY EVENT NEWSLETTER August 30th – September 5thWelcome to a new year of OPIRG Brock, keeping thoughtful activism at the heart of campus life! Volunteer Opportunities! With the new school year upon us we are excited to have committed volunteers returning and new folks interested in helping out in the many important activities OPIRG Brock is up to. In particular we are looking for: InfoShop Volunteers: The InfoShop is a resource for information about social and environmental activism, a local community assistance outlet for information, and a space for volunteer organization and workshops. It houses a zine library, has working group information and is a resource for activist art. The InfoShop is a great place to meet folks interested in social justice and environmental issues - and to connect with your local community. If you are a returning volunteer or would like to take a little of your time each week to help us run the InfoShop it would be great! Please contact Lisa at opirgbu@gmail.com FreeSkool Educators: The OPIRG Freeskool is a project that is designed to challenge the hierarchical and institutional way learning is primarily conducted in our community. We reject the notion that only some kinds of knowledges are valuable, or that only certain people are 'accredited' enough to share information. We embrace radical accessibility, critical consciousness, and student-centered learning. We are looking for folks interested in hosting a class, be it on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis at the InfoShop. If you’ve got a passion for sharing what you’ve learned send us word. Please contact Lisa at opirgbu@gmail.com Alternative Orientation Week Volunteers: This year we have an amazing lineup shaping up for OPIRG Brock’s Alternative Orientation week. There are a couple areas where we could use some volunteering… Eco-Hike Monday Sept. 6 from 12-2, Campus Eco-Hike: We have a returning volunteer facilitating a hike around Brock’s green spaces, but an additional person to help out is needed. Please contact Lisa at opirgbu@gmail.com Downtown Know Your City Hike Wednesday Sept. 8 from 11-1: We are looking for someone to help a returning volunteer lead new students in an informative hike for folks interested in sustainable and environmentally-friendly local options. Please contact Lisa at opirgbu@gmail.com Night at the Improv Thursday Sept. 9 from 7-9: Do you have experience with Improv theatre? We are looking for people with experience doing Improv to help us facilitate a night of Improv at the InfoShop. Please contact Lisa at opirgbu@gmail.com Events! Free! Documentary Screening – Derren Brown, The Gathering Stop on by for free delicious homemade popcorn and a mind opening film! Discussion of film to follow the viewing. The Gathering was a specially recorded as-live show at a secret location (hidden from the audience) with an invited audience of students from Roehampton University, celebrities, psychologists, psychics, taxi drivers and magicians. It was filmed on 18 May 2005 and broadcast on 29 May. As part of the show Brown recalled streets, page numbers and grid references from the Greater London A-Z map. Also pseudo-psychic "mind reading" and "remote viewing" activities were recreated. During the show, Brown hypnotised the audience as a group and convinced them that for approximately half an hour after leaving the room they would have no memory of the events. Furthermore, the word "forget" was intermittently flashed very briefly on the backdrop throughout the performance. A variety of audience members were interviewed afterward; some of them couldn't recollect anything (but were nevertheless very impressed); brief clips of these interviews were shown. One of the most memorable stunts was getting a London taxi driver to choose a street in London and then choose and mentally drive a random route. This was achieved by drawing a line on a map of London made of stuck together A-Z pages. An envelope, which had been visible onstage throughout the entire show, was then opened. This contained a card listing the page number and coordinate of the destination, an acetate with the route marked on it and a receipt for £8 (the estimated cost of the journey by the driver). He started at Buckingham Palace and ended up at Shepherd's Bush Green, the street where the secret performance took place.
KICK OFF AUGUST IN SOCIAL JUSTICE STYLE BY VOLUNTEERING WITH OPIRGFor OPIRG August means planning and lots of it! We put on our brainstorming hats and start drawing up plans for the fall. This includes what events we want to hold, what campaigns we want to create or become a part of, creating workshops, and doing outreach within our community to see what opportunities exist for collaboration! As you may know if you are a regular visitor to our site, we are a public interest group, which essentially means our communities guide the work that we do. That means YOU can direct the work we do! If there is an issue you are passionate about and think we should create programming around it, or better yet if you want to work with us to create programming, workshops or campaigns let us know. We are always open to ideas and learning new ways of doing things. Here are project we have on the go- we need volunteer help to either get them off the ground or to sustain them.If any of the following projects catch your eye send us an email at OPIRGBU@GMAIL.COM and let us know! THE PROJECTSProject 1: Getting Crafty: We're making an OPIRG radical calender!This is a big project for August; Creating an OPIRG Calendar of Radical Events for 2010-2011!
The calender will be full of radical dates for every day of the year, space to write your phone numbers, a contact list of radical groups around the province, menstrual calendar, info on DIY projects, tips on sustainable living etc, extra note pages, plus much more. If you want to get creative with DIY art, adbusting images for the calendar, or gathering radical dates that should be included, let us know we’d LOVE to hear from you! We don’t think our scene is just an isolated bubble! Radical community spaces are popping up everywhere. You can help us by doing liaison work with rad communities in our region and getting them involved in our calender project! Project 2: Looking for folks to start up a DIY Collective!Wait- what’s this DIY thing all about? The DIY ethic (do it yourself ethic) refers to the ethic of being self-reliant by completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are likely more experienced complete them. The term can indicate “doing” anything from home improvements and repairs to healthcare, from publication to electronics. DIY questions the supposed uniqueness of the expert’s skills, and promotes the ability of the ordinary person to learn to do more than he or she thought was possible. Interested?
Other possible projects: -Turning recycled paper and old novel covers into funky notebooks! - Painting murals in the InfoShop! Let’s showcase our artistic talents Niagara! -making our own furniture! -we’re open to ideas! We believe in being the creators of culture rather than consumers. We believe in promoting a just society that supports itself through mutual aid and without hierarchies. We believe in fighting against institutionalized oppression (racism, sexism, ageism/adultism, and homophobia), and we support environmental justice, animal rights, egalitarianism, and human rights. Project 3: Orientation Week PlanningDis-orientation is a week of workshops, discussions, tours and events brought to you by OPIRG.
Originally designed to generate awareness and provide an 'alternative' lens, this tradition has existed to engage new students, with not only the political struggles on campus, but also within the community, and the world at large. A closer look at issues surrounding sexuality, gender, ability, race, student unions, environmental sustainability, polices and ethical purchasing, all comprise a portion of the exciting platter we can display during o-week. We hope you'll take this opportunity to learn and explore ideas with us! What do you think? Come on out and brainstorm new engaging disorientation week events with us. First meeting: This Thursday- July 29th at 6pm in the OPIRG InfoShop on 10 Summer St. If you can’t make this meeting but you are interested in getting involved let me know and I will keep you up to date on the next meeting! Project 4:FreeSkool Fall Classes CALL OUT!!
This means we are looking for eager facilitators! Anyone can facilitate a class on any topic whether they have skills or want to meet up with people that have skills. Send an email to opirgbu@gmail.com to propose your idea.
InfoShop Summer of Activism!OPIRG staff and volunteers are spending their summer getting the downtown InfoShop in shape for community use! We have just started organizing a series of committees to look after different aspects of the Infoshop and we need you to lend your creativity! So what is an Infoshop?An Infoshop is a volunteer-run and self-managed community and social center for action-oriented activities, including a computer center, meeting space, a library with radical literature, a shop with books, zines, patches, and more. An Infoshop is a free space where people are invited to hang out, talk, meet, play and organize. Everyone is welcome! The CommitteesThe following is a list of the committee we having running right now, if you are interested in joining one..two..or all of them just send us an email at opirgbu@gmail.com and let us know what peaked your interest!If you're interested in something entirely different then what we have right now send us an email and let us know-we'll help you get started! SWAP IT Center
The idea of the SWAP IT Center is to connect folk that are looking to trade stuff, skills, rides and many other swappables!We have a SWAP IT board in the Infoshop where you can put what you need, what you have, and where you can donate what you no longer need. Next Meeting; Tuesday May 18th @ 12 in the InfoShop Zine LibraryMiss the days of white glue and cut and paste??
We do too! To deal with our nostalgia for cut and paste days we are putting together a zine making committee who will work towards producing zines for the InfoShop zine library! Zines are self-made, independently published booklets made by cutting and pasting text and images! They can be about anything and are a great way to share information! Bike RepairThe very exciting Bike Repair committee will be focused on a few things this summer and many other things that we will figure out with your help!
So far we’d like to build a bike tool storage space in the InfoShop that can be accessible to anyone needing to fix their bikes. Going along with this logic, we plan on holding a number of “ Know Your Bike” workshops that will take folks on a guided tour of their bikes, getting to know the parts, the tools and of course how to fix any bike related problems! Fundraising will also be a part of this committee; we need mulla to buy bike tools! There have been whispers of putting together a “wine route bike tour” as a fundraisers! Fundraising/Commercial
This committee will be working on different fund-raising strategies to raise income for the Shop. Activist Art Zone
This committee will also be putting on activist art workshops to share their crafty skills! Rotating GalleryThis is a gallery for us all; if you have drawings, photographs, paintings, and in general art as you define it this is a space available to you. This will be a great way to cover up our currently white walls with lots of rad local art!We will collectively decide how often to meet, how to run our meetings and of course what art we will feature in the Infoshop! If you want to connect with local artists, like art, do art yourself, or want to help with organizing and helping this project start , the Rotating Gallery is the committee for you! FreeSkoolFreeskool is a space where people can come together across communities and share in learning. The summer term of FreeSkool is beginning in June and we are looking for eager facilitators! Anyone can facilitate a class on any topic whether they have skills or want to meet with people that have skills! Send an email to us to propose your idea. Looking forward to some summer learning in the sun! for more information about courses being run, check out opirgbrock.org/freeskool
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As our summer 
An exciting project that encourages communication and connection in our community!
We are so excited to finally have a physical space in downtown St Catharines so it goes without saying that we are keen to keep it downtown for as long as we can. In order to keep the Shop running it needs to become financially sustainable.
Patches-T-Shirts-Murals and oh so much more! So far, the Art Center has a screen-printing station, a button making station, a ton of art supplies, and room for anything else we can imagine! Projects we have in mind include making custom t-shirts using different patches and silk screened images/text, tote bags, and murals to decorate our white walls!
We all know things and have stories or skills to share, and Freeskool works to provide an egalitarian, radically inclusive, anti-oppressive setting for that sharing to take place.