Awesome day today
July 09, 2008
I'm so happy! We'll have Kinky Friedman, Terri, me and Mayor John Cook (El Paso) as entertainment,
and I hope we can get one of the innocent men just freed from death row as one of the speakers.
Went to Austin Voices and had a terrific meeting with them about their work on behalf of Super Pal Universe. They were one of the winners of
our first C4C Fundation (Change 4 Change) grants back in the fall. Austin Voices works with Austin youth, empowering them to create their own
merchandise and learn business skills. They created SPU recycled, hand stenciled tee shirts and pins to wear, and Alice Geaccone, a young lady who
has been a part of their team since she was a teen and is just getting ready to go to college, helped mentor other youth at Garza High School and
brought out some awesome teens to SXSW to promote SPU by giving away the merchandise.
My brakes had gone out Monday while I was driving home (thankfully no one was hurt cuz I was having to roll
through stop signs to get home!), and I got my car back today. It is ship-shape now! Good ol' Martha! Thanks to B & B Auto Mechanics
on South Lamar! Ask for Mike or Earl and tell 'em Sara sentcha!
Went to Theatre Camp to watch io practice her role in "The Music Man" because I'll be in OK during their Friday night performance. Lance is going
to film io and Lily, who both ended up with the same part, so they've been practicing similar lines and learning the same songs! That's pretty funny.
(Two different productions...one for the younger set, one for the older set.) So, today, all the kids were in their costumes singing "Gary, Indiana"
and it was making me beam with happiness, watching io pour herself into her part, singing her sweet heart out.
Then she and I had lunch with her friends, and we had some puppets so I talked in a silly voice and we all had some chuckles.
Then I talked with Johnny Goudie on the phone and he and I are going to work on my next album together! I am SO PSYCHED!!!
He calls me, I call him, we are laughing and we are happy and it will be a rockin' project! PLUS! He LOVES Super Pal Universe
and really wants to help mentor them in songwriting. He went last night and jammed with them, and went to his THIRD library
show to check them out live. So, I think they are going to start writing some new material. I am getting excited about their pilot---
it is all filmed (missing two short segments)---and I went to the first edit last Friday. Saw the beginnings of some REALLY COOL
animation of the kids and laughed with glee over the funny parts. Did I mention there is a dancing polar bear? (While I'm talking
about SPU, I want to give a shout out to Joe McDermott who has been an unbelievable help, too, on a number of levels with the kids,
coming to numerous rehearsals and library shows and helping to record "DMWT"; and Wendy Colonna came out last week and
worked with them. They finished out a bridge on "Shrewd Eyes," one of their songs that is really, really, I mean SUPER REALLY
catchy and I can already hear on the radio...SPU wrote it and was just needing some time and a little push to finish the missing bridge...)
And it looks like I am going to have a video, "Always a Saint", showing in all 585 Chuck E. Cheese locations! And a possibility to film
a kid's song for January! I'm hoping to get SPU involved, too. Keep your fingers crossed!
Last night I was at the Cactus Cafe with Jenny Reynolds (so incredibly nice and I love the timbre of her voice), Betty Soo (who drew a
self-portrait on my arm with a sharpie! Ahhh!), Michael Fracasso (ok, who doesn't love Michael?) and Colin Gilmore (I drew a portrait
of his fist on his wrist with another fist inside the first fist...tongue twister, huh?)...We all sang Williams Songs---Hank and Lucinda---
I sang "Essence" and "Never Get Out Of This World Alive" and played my old electric Guild on a tiny amp with a delay setting.
You know what, I liked singing those sad, moody songs. I really enjoyed listening to everyone sing their renditions, and just
getting to relax and have some O.J. while listening to live music with great sound was true pleasure. Plus, it was even better
because Joe and Louise McDermott showed up and Cat gave me a big hug when I came and sat down, and Dave Oberman
was there and Chris, the bartender, gives the BEST BEAR HUGS in Austin and everyone was in a super mood. And it was
a free night of music! Thank you, Jenny, for putting this event together!
posted by Sara Hickman at 01:36 pm
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PLEASE VOTE FOR ROBIN MACY’S ARBORETUM to win $25,000!!! I just did!!!
Bartlett Arboretum is in danger of washing away?
You can help.
BARTLETT ARBORETUM is a finalist for Markham Vineyard's Mark of Distinction grant of $25,000.
This grant would help examine and alleviate flooding in the Belle Plaine community while fortifying
this historic property. Your vote could help determine the winner.
YOU ARE INVITED to go to
http://www.markhammarkofdistinction.com
and vote for Bartlett Arboretum today!
You may vote once per day through July 21.
Please follow the link to vote and encourage your friends to do the same!
FOR MORE INFORMATION
about this project go to http://www.savethearb.com
…Rise each day and seek deliberation
Essential needs and a humble habitation
Care-take the earth and all in its creation…
Lyrics from Robin Macy's Songs From the Garden
posted by Sara Hickman at 12:14 pm
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DALLAS MORNING NEWS Announcement about Music For Life Event, July 20, 2008
Sara Hickman to perform at Cathedral of Hope
The Cathedral of Hope will welcome singer-songwriter Sara Hickman as
its special guest musician for its 9 and 11 a.m. services on Sunday, July 20, 2008.
The services are free and open to all.
At 7:30 p.m. that evening, Hickman will present
"Music for Life: Sharing Conversations on the Death Penalty" sponsored by Hope for Peace &
Justice and the Dallas Peace Center. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for
students and are available at http://www.h4pj.org.
Cathedral of Hope is located at 5910 Cedar Springs; Dallas, Texas 75235.
Sara Hickman is an Austin, Texas-based singer, songwriter and speaker who
has recorded 14 albums. In October 2007, in cooperation with the Texas
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Hickman launched "Music for Life:
Sharing Conversations on the Death Penalty," a 12-month tour of Texas
cities that seeks to raise the dialogue on the death penalty in Texas.
Joining Hickman in Dallas is John Cook, Mayor of El Paso, Texas, who
joined the tour in April. He will sing and play guitar. All opinions on
the death penalty are welcomed and encouraged to attend.
"I'm someone who wants to start a dialogue," Hickman said. "That's all. I
want to get Texas talking about the death penalty because we are the state
with the greatest number of executions, yet no one wants to talk about
what it means. I hope you will come out and join me, to ask questions, to
meet family members of murder victims, to meet family members of those
executed on death row. Come hear music and get involved at the same time.
This isn't easy. In fact, it's scary. But the conversation must begin, and
I hope it begins with you and me."
The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) is a grassroots
Texas organization comprised of individuals and groups who work to end the
death penalty in all cases, everywhere. TCADP is an inclusive organization
composed of human rights activists; death row prisoners and their
families; crime victims and their families; persons working within the
criminal justice system; and concerned citizens opposed to capital
punishment.
The Cathedral of Hope, a congregation of the United Church of Christ based
in Dallas, Texas, is the world's largest liberal Christian church with a
primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Local
and national church ministries, outreach programs, pastoral counseling,
Internet (http://www.cathedralofhope.com) and television media touch thousands of
lives each day.
(source: Dallas Morning News)
posted by Sara Hickman at 12:06 pm
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What happened in Bhopal…
July 08, 2008
Diane Wilson summed up her commitment to justice and connection the Bhopal survivors: "As one of the Bhopalis said, 'What else can people do when their government ignores their pain and cries of injustice? Agitate, agitate!'"
Diane's fast is part of an ongoing Global Fasting Relay, which is being supported by nearly 400 concerned individuals in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and India. (The full list of fasters available at http://www.bhopal.net) In North America, actions have taken place in Boston, San Francisco and Toronto, with further action planned at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC. The brave yet perilous decision to begin an indefinite fast has been undertaken by Wilson and others only after numerous unsuccessful attempts to focus the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toward the grave situation in Bhopal.
Diane Wilson, a mother of five, became aware of the Dow/Carbide crimes in Bhopal after learning her own Texas County, located near several chemical plants including a Carbide/Dow plant, was the most polluted in the US. After Ms. Wilson was arrested after a protest at her local Dow facility, she toured the country refusing to go to jail until the former CEO of Union Carbide was jailed. Former Carbide CEO Warren Anderson jumped bail after the Bhopal Disaster and has refused to face manslaughter charges in India.
Survivors are demanding the establishment of a special commission to deal with the issues that still plague the people of Bhopal. They are also demanding that the Prime Minister hold Dow Chemical legally liable, following Dow's purchase of the initial disaster offender, Union Carbide, in 2001. Though survivors have gained support from many influential lawmakers, as well as the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the Prime Minister Singh has not budged from his ongoing support of this rogue chemical company.
Nearly half a million people were exposed to poisonous methyl isocyanate during a runaway chemical reaction at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984. Since then, more than 22,000 people have died and 150,000 survivors continue to be chronically ill, as the Indian government and Dow have repeatedly failed to address their liabilities in the atrocities of the world's worst industrial disaster.
The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) is a coalition of people's organizations, non-profit groups and individuals who have joined forces to campaign for justice for the survivors of the gas leak. The Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is active in more than 20 cities in the US, UK, France and India.
To view who has signed up for the fast worldwide, visit http://www.bhopal.net/2008hungerfast.html.
For more information about the history of the gas disaster, visit the following websites: http://www.bhopal.net, http://www.studentsforbhopal.org, and http://www.truthaboutdow.org
(This information was taken from a press release sent to me by Betsy Moon)
posted by Sara Hickman at 01:46 pm
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Update from Diane Wilson
is just to tell the judge that i have a lawyer. he said there are few
trials in july. and he doesnt know about the supoenaing of acting
consulate general or anything until he reads the p0olice report on
monday. he also said he is big believer in free speech so has no
problem about media being generated. looks like a good angle beside
the bhopal issue is the harris county jail inspection by the Department
of Justice. The Department of Justice just finished a 6 month
investigation of Dallas County Jail and ended up filing federal suit
against them. later gaters, diane
posted by Sara Hickman at 01:43 pm
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