if you haven't found the right holiday gift for yourself or that special someone, you can support the olympia 22 now by making a $50 donation, and i will give you 50 toy piano tokens which can be traded for a toy piano at dumpster values, last word books, or fire and earth in downtown olympia. to make a donation to the olympia 22, go to their web-site at www.olympia22.org. be sure to indicate that you want toy piano tokens while making your donations. then write to tokens@toypiano.org to arrange to get your tokens.

there have been several exciting developments on the 2007 toy piano recital. while the exact date is still not certain, it will definitely be at the olympia film society capitol theater in olympia, washington ( www.olyfilm.org ), and will most likely be the first friday in april at 7 pm to coincide with the spring artswalk.

this year's event will be a benefit for the olympia 22's legal defense ( www.olympia22.org ). the olympia 22 are people who engaged in civil disobedience to resist the use of the port of olympia by the military last spring. like last year, admission to the recital will be free. all money donated will go directly to the olympia 22.

for more information on the recital, go to www.toypiano.org/recital. for more on toy piano tokens, go to www.toypiano.org/tokens

I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test:

Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.

Will he gain anything by it?

Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny?

In other words, will it lead to Swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?

Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away.

A castle's great hall and a land of winter holiday magic call us back to the setting of our 2004 show, "The King's Festival." This year Masterworks presents a new choral theater show with choir, instrumentalists, dancers and Tenino Elementary School Choir. We explore the connections between Christmas and Winter Solstice traditions in this colorful performance, complete with story, song, sets, costumes and special guests. We invite you to choose a showtime, mark your calendar and bring the family for Masterworks' holiday extravaganza!

Shows at 2:00 and 7:30

Masterworks events are held at:
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts
512 Washington Street SE, Olympia
For tickets call the box office: 360-753-8586

In the midst of anger & frustration over Olympia's City Council decision to move the civility ordinance forward, the story below offers inspiration for some additonal action. Last summer's nazi activity turned the community to take counter action in a way that benefits groups targeted by hate (some of you were surely involved in these efforts, thank you). In response to the city's move re: sidewalks, I personally pledge to donate money to groups that assist the populations and values impacted by the ordinance...

So help me out - name the organizations I should donate to.

And, if you're so inclined, join me in getting some extra cash into the hands of those who help people and protect rights (or, into the hands of those who occupy the sidewalks).

(as with my bumper sticker entry of earlier this month, I know, too, that getting out my checkbook is not the only form of activism...)

 "if no one seems to understand, start your own revolution, cut out the middleman...so join the struggle why you may, the revolution is just a t-shirt away." billy bragg

Published November 29, 2006 Money handed out to neo-Nazi opponents

BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN

Five groups received an equal share Tuesday of the nearly $6,800 raised during a pledge drive that coincided with the July 3 neo-Nazi rally on Capitol Campus.

Residents and community groups pledged money for each hour of the rally organized by the National Socialist Movement Northwest. The money would benefit South Sound groups that help individuals targeted by the neo-Nazis.

Unity in the Community, a coalition of human rights and diversity groups that united to oppose the neo-Nazis' presence in the community, organized the pledges. It dubbed the drive the "lemonade brigade project" after the old saying, "If you have a lemon, make lemonade."

"It's a very positive use of a negative incident," said Reiko Callner, the coalition's co-founder.

For all of you folks that enjoy meeting up for coffee we are having another get together. Think 10'ish this saturday at borders on the westside. Comments, feedback, rsvp's and such, just leave them on here.

Regards,

Norm

PS. I once again forgot ( and don't really know how ) to make this an event. Any mod's out there willing to give a gentle nudge?

All,

Last night's council meeting was disappointing to say the least. I simply do not understand the logic of the amendments, and I have spent hours trying, I have lost sleep over this, I have research and soul-searched and really stepped back and approached this from all sides. One of the louder arguments is that this targets a certain population. The answer to that has been that this is about behaviors not people. Let's look at what this ordinance, even if it doesn't target anyone, does to address the behaviors in question. Instead of these behaviors happening against the side of a building, they'll happen six feet over. Aggressive panhandling has always been illegal (though the Olympian doesn't recognize this), drug dealing and assault have always been illegal. People should call the police if these things occur. What do these amendments really do to change people's behaviors?

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