Community Youth Services in late September will host a series of youth poetry workshops presented by renowned mythologist and storyteller Michael Meade and his Seattle-based group, the Mosaic Multi-Cultural Foundation. The four-day program, entitled Voices of Youth, Voices of Community, will engage street dependent youth in the creation of an artistic forum for their own expression while developing mentoring relationships within their community. Mosaic seeks to create cross-cultural alliances, mentoring relationships and social connections built upon personal trust and commitment to bridging unhealthy divisions in contemporary communities. Hearing the acute perspectives of youth can significantly change the community’s perception of both local and national issues and inspire continuing conversations across the generation gap. Voices of Youth inspires and empowers local youth, fosters ongoing cross-generational dialogues and leads to the development of unique local forms of mentoring.

"A healthy, many-cultured community is like a MOSAIC in which the overall design reveals the singular beauty of each part,” writes Michael Meade on the foundation’s website. “In that sense, America is not a melting pot that dulls and blurs, but a mosaic, made of numerous distinct pieces, with beautiful, unexpected colors, rough edges and hidden symmetries."

The workshops will culminate in a public performance for the community that will take place on Friday, September 26, 7 pm, at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts Black Box Theater. It is free and open to the public. To learn more about the event, contact Brian Hatcher at Community Youth Services, (360) 943-0780, ext. 137. For more information on Mosaic, visit www.mosaicvoices.org.

Here's a video of last year's event:

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Olympia's Constitution in Crisis: The Case for Impeachment drew over 800 people, almost filling the Washington Center on Tuesday, February 20, 2007.

Elizabeth de la Vega, David Lindorff and Ray McGovern made compelling arguments about the need to impeach Bush/Cheney.

Each stressed that impeachment is necessary to restore the Constitution. While the list of impeachable offenses is long, de la Vega pointed out that incompetence was not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind. They also poked holes in the various "arguments" given by Democrats. Unlike the Clinton impeachment, de la Vega stated, the violations of law by Bush/Cheney are serious abuses of power and impeachment was intended to remedy those abuses.

All agreed that the evidence was overwhelming and that the impeachment process would be swift. They rejected the belief that impeachment would harm the Democrats. Lindorff noted that the Democrats would be harmed by not taking action, especially if the Republicans decide to take the lead on impeaching Bush/Cheney.

McGovern asked that if lying to get us into war, illegal wiretaps, dismissing the basic protections granted in the Bill of Rights and creating a unitary executive through signing statements are not impeachable, than what is?