Being Amber Rhea

I won’t be there this Saturday because I’ll be in Augusta, but here’s all the info…

On Saturday, January 26, 2008, Atlanta, host city of the first U.S. Social Forum, will be the venue for a statewide People’s Assembly, beginning with a caravan and rally at the State Capitol. SPARK! is leading the reproductive justice contingent and will be at the GA State Capitol from 11:30-12:30 as our site of struggle where we will speak truth to power FOR OUR BODIES, OUR LIVES, AND OUR FUTURE!

At 11:30 join us for drumming by Cakalak Thunder, Puppets, Teach-ins, an Art Exhibit, Giveaways, and MORE.

At 12:30 the entire caravan will converge at the Capitol for a dynamic Action and Rally where SPARK! will be met by other movements, issues, and hundreds of activists.

From the Capitol, SPARK! will have flatbed trucks and vehicles for activists to join the caravan as we continue through the streets of Atlanta, chanting REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE NOW! The caravan will end at the Hunger Coalition where hundreds of activists will exchange views, plan ongoing actions, and continue to build our movements!

This year, let’s show our power in numbers and send the message that reproductive justice is not a wedge issue!

Instead of solely Walking for Women’s Lives, help make a BOLD reproductive justice contingent happen on January 26 as we march as movements united for power and action.

Date: Saturday, January 26, 2008
Time: 11:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Georgia State Capitol
Contact: (404) 656-2844

Visit legislatethis.org for more info.

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Local folks who are into the whole citizen journalism thing? I recommend you get all up in this.

…that Sex, Wine and Chocolate was a huge success!!

Apparently the emcee took her top off, but Rusty and I had already left by that point.

I loved watching people throw money on stage for the burlesque troupe and the pole dancers. Heh. And it all helped us reach our goal, which meant everyone got the free panties we worked so hard to iron for y’all.

We’ll be doing it again next year!

“I Volunteered at Sex, Wine and Chocolate!”

That’s what you’ll be able to say when the night is done!

We’ll need all kinds of volunteers for this event! From set-up starting at 5pm to clean-up at 11:30pm and everything in between. It doesn’t matter if you love people or would rather work behind the scenes, there’s something for every one.

We’ll need volunteers for 2 hour shifts and you’ll receive free admission (that means more money for prize drawing tickets!) and we will give you all the information you’ll need.

Volunteer Shifts for SWC (Thursday, October 18):

• 5pm - 7pm — Set-Up
• 7pm - 9pm — 1st Shift
• 9pm - 11pm — 2nd Shift
• 11pm - 1am — Clean-Up

If you’re interested, contact Mia at miamingus@gmail.com and we will get you hooked up with a job in no time!

Can’t make it to SWC? Join us for an early Volunteer Night from 3-7pm, Wednesday, October 17.

We will be stuffing goodie bags, assembling programs and more for Sex, Wine and Chocolate the next night. RSVP for food and drinks–walk-ins welcome, too.

Contact Mia at miamingus@gmail.com or 404-532-0022 to RSVP!

Prizes, Prizes, Prizes!

Here is a sampling of some of the prizes you can win at Sex, Wine and Chocolate:

• Grand Prize: three-night stay at Sand Castle on the Beach Hotel & Resort, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands
• ONLY for prize-drawing tickets bought in advance: iPod Video Nano
• Classes from PoleLaTeaz
• Themis Personal Organizing gift certificate
• Smart Glass Jewelry by Kathleen Plate
• One-hour health consultation from Sustainable Wellness
• Jewelry by Shirin Style
• Two tickets to Sex 2.0
• Additional prizes from Dr. Sketchy’s Atlanta, Aphroditie’s Toy Box and more!

Buy your tickets now!

(Fellow ATL bloggers… please re-post!)

If you don’t have plans for Oct. 18, be sure to mark your calendar and come to the Georgians for Choice/Generation Five Sex, Wine and Chocolate fundraiser. Hell, if you do have plans, cancel them and come to this instead, because it’s likely to be a lot more fun than whatever you’ve got scheduled.

There will be burlesque performances, spoken word, a drag show, Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, all manner of tasty desserts, a chocolate fountain, plenty of booze, awesome prizes such as a trip to St. Croix, and, of course, more.

I’m really excited about this because too often, it seems like nonprofit activist type gatherings are so somber and boring - which always struck me as a terrible way to raise money for a cause. Instead, why not have a big party that says, “This is the good stuff our organization is working for in the world!”

So come to Decatur on Oct. 18 and get yourself some sex, wine, and chocolate - or at least one of the three.

(Major props to Mel for creating the bad-ass logo. It makes me salivate.)

This weekend, I’m going on a retreat with Georgians for Choice. We’ll be staying in somebody’s cabin near Ellijay, and there won’t be internet access or a cell phone signal. Am I allowed to use the phrase “off the grid” to describe what my weekend will look like? (Probably not, because there’s a landline and electricity at the cabin.) I’m not sure what we’re going to do at the retreat other than eat and sit around; but that’s okay, because eating and sitting around sounds like a damn fine weekend to me.

On one hand, I’m looking forward to the retreat, but on the other hand, I’ll be missing Rusty and looking forward to getting back to Atlanta (civilization) on Sunday afternoon.

Oh, for those of you who don’t pay attention to my Twitter updates, our AC is fixed now. Last night we slept at our apartment for the first time in 11 days. There are other updates regarding this situation, but I’ll post them later.

And now that we can actually stay at our apartment again, I will post about the pole saga soon, too. Executive summary: Platinum Stages is a shady company that has fucking awful customer service. Don’t buy anything from them.

Podcast interview with Paris Hatcher, co-executive director of Georgians for Choice, is up. Give it a listen!

Yesterday I went to a Georgians for Choice meeting. I participated in the Walk for Women’s Lives two years ago, but this is the first time I’ve been to a GfC meeting. And, those women are awesome! I did a podcast interview with Paris Hatcher, the co-executive director, which will be posted sometime next week. She and Mia (the other co-executive director) are strong, smart, passionate, fun, hilarious women. Hell, all of the women who were at the meeting fit that description.

I think I managed to get them fired up about social media, and I might be working with them in the future to put some of the ideas we came up with into place on their soon-to-be-redesigned web site. In particular, Paris really liked the idea of incorporating Flickr. (I’m far too busy these days for pro bono freelance work, but the nice thing about Web 2.0 stuff is that most of it is so simple and user-friendly that it’s often just a matter of showing/telling someone what to do, and encouraging them to run with it.)

One thing that I really enjoyed was the emphasis GfC puts on intersectional analysis of social issues. They specifically frame their goals in terms of “reproductive justice,” rather than “reproductive rights.” But you’ll hear more about that in the forthcoming podcast.

All in all the meeting was productive and fun - and that’s not necessarily an easy thing to accomplish. I’ve been to plenty of volunteer organization meetings that are just tedious, and everyone is so dour - as if being passionate about a cause means you can’t have fun. I’m really glad I went to the meeting, and I’m looking forward to working more with GfC. It was a diverse group that felt free of judgment of other women. And it sure was nice to enjoy some good IRL feminism, after all the bizarre shit happening in certain corners of the feminist blogosphere lately. This is a huge part of what made me fall in love with feminism in the first place.