Hey there JP Forum members,

We are closing up shop for the summer, in order to take stock of our last season and plan another great one for the fall of 2010!

For now, you can sign up for our email announcements so that you can be the first to know of our fall line-up of events.

See you in a few months,
Liz, Chuck and the JP Forum team

Speaker: John Ross

Author and activist John Ross has spent many years traveling and chronicling struggles for human rights in Mexico. He has written ten books of fiction and non-fiction. His latest volume “El Monstruo – Dread & Redemption in Mexico City”, a street-level peoples’ history of the most polluted, overcrowded, corrupt and crime-ridden megalopolis in the western world.

Covering 4,000,000,000 years of history from the primal broth that first spewed out the monster to the Aztec-Mexica oblivion through centuries of rapine and revolution all the way to the Great Swine Flu Panic of 2009, El Monstruo is a retelling of the story of Mexico City, with which Ross’s own history has become hopelessly entwined. Come join us for a presentation about the political times past and present in Mexico.

Review:

“Vividly impressionistic survey of a fascinating urban panorama,
El Monstruo makes for addictive reading.”
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“El Monstruo is a valentine to place and useful chronicle of an epoch that has seen Mexico’s people find their voice…
Ross’ quarter-century as witness does us the invaluable service of putting events to come in a context to understand them.”
—Denver Post

John Ross is the author of the acclaimed memoir Murdered by Capitalism, which was praised by Thomas Pynchon and chosen as a San Francisco Chronicle Book of the Year. Based in Mexico City for the last two decades, Ross’s reporting has appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Nation, Texas Observer, and Counterpunch, to name a few. He is the winner of an Upton Sinclair Award and an American Book Award. His books include Rebellion from the Roots, The Annexation of Mexico and the novel Tonatiuh’s People.

Thanks to our co-sponsors

Fred Pearce, Author of When the Rivers Run Dry

For more than two centuries there has been mounting concern that rapidly growing populations are putting an unsustainable strain on the Earth’s resources. However, much has been misunderstood about the current rate of population growth and its effect on the environment. Though the global population is four times what it was a century ago, women in nearly every country are having fewer children, people are living longer thanks to medical and technological advances, and soon global deaths will exceed global births.

In this forum, renowned science writer Fred Pearce will discuss what is in store for our changing planet, and what we can do to help build the foundation for a wiser, kinder, greener world. By exploring the sordid history of population control efforts, and emphasizing the important roles of women’s rights, migration, and conservation, Pearce shifts the argument away from over-population to instead look at the critical global threat of over-consumption.

Reviews:

“The population ‘debate’ is so fraught with the history of colonialism that no one wants to touch it. Thank goodness that Fred Pearce has had the courage to write this informative, timely, and brilliant challenge to the commonly held vision of overwhelming population growth laying waste to the earth. This book is about hope—just in the nick of time.”

—Maude Barlow, author of Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water

“What a wonderfully rich and humane book! As a generation of newly empowered women sweeps away our wrongheaded Malthusian nightmare, Fred Pearce demonstrates persuasively that the end of the population surge may well usher in a new era of ethnic tolerance, increased global integration, and a period of kinder and more nurturing governance.”

—Ross Gelbspan, author of The Heat Is On and Boiling Point

Fred Pearce is a former news editor at New Scientist. Currently its environmental and development con­sultant, he has also written for Audubon, Popular Sci­ence, Time, the Boston Globe, and Natural History, and writes a regular column for the Guardian. His books include When the Rivers Run Dry (Beacon), With Speed and Violence (Beacon), and Confessions of an Eco-Sinner (Beacon). Pearce lives in England.

Thanks to our co-sponsors

What’s a time bank?

A time bank is an organization where members have a bank account of time, and exchange time-based services with other members.  It’s a pool of members, and operates like a circle, not a one-to-one swap or barter.  In  a time  bank, for example, Lara makes a cake for Aldo, Keren gives skiing lessons to David, Dianne gives Carol ride to the airport, Carol paints a painting for Louisa, Krystyna lends her vacation house to Alice, etc. You get time credit for the services you provide, and you can spend that time on services that other members offer.

After the economic crisis, more people are bartering with friends and neighbors and forming time banks to share goods and services locally. Come meet local members of the Time Trade Circle, a Boston-area organization with more than 500 members, to learn how you can start participating in this locally-grown and sustainable economy.

This orientation meeting will be followed by a potluck get-together at 5:00 PM, including JP folks who are already members of the Time Trade Circle. If you wish to stay for the potluck, please bring a dish to share.

To learn more about time banking, please visit www.timetradecircle.org

Thank you to our co-sponsors

Time Trade Cirle

Many people hoped that the December’s United Nation’s Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen would generate a decisive global stance to curb the planet’s warming.  With world leaders joining journalists, policy makers, activists, business people, and grassroots stakeholders, the talks were varied and heated.  While some walked away claiming victory, others saw the conference as a failure to make critical changes in global climate policy.

A month after Copenhagen’s conclusion, we gather to talk with three Boston residents, one journalist and two activists, who attended the conference.  Smartmeme’s Doyle Canning, ACE’s Kalila Barnett, and The World’s Peter Thomson will share their stories and photos from both inside the Bella Center, and outside on the streets.

For those of us that weren’t at Copenhagen, this JP Forum will be a wonderful way to learn about what happened and what the next step is to challenge climate change.

Doyle Canning is a strategist, trainer, and organizer with a deep commitment to innovating social change methods and building 21st century social movements for ecological justice. As co-director of smartMeme, Doyle acts as a facilitator, messaging strategy consultant, trainer and coach for grassroots groups and social change organizations. Doyle is a contributor to Letters from Young Activists (Nation Books, 2005), and co-author of Re:Imagining Change – How to Use Story-based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements, and Change the World (PM Press, 2010).  Doyle served on the advisory funding panel of the Haymarket People’s Fund, an antiracist social change foundation in Boston from 2007-2009. She lives in Jamaica Plain, MA, where she enjoys practicing yoga and singing.

Kalila Barnett has been the Executive Director of Roxbury’s Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE) since February 2009. She was previously a Senior Organizer at Community Labor United and served on ACE’s Board of Directors for 5 years. She is a Roxbury native and lifelong resident of Boston. Kalila graduated from Bates College in 2001 with a degree in American Studies and Spanish. She has also worked at Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation and Madison Park Development Corporation, organizing around community development issues and affordable housing in the Roxbury and Jamaica Plain area. Kalila was also the field director for a local city council campaign in 2005.

Peter Thomson is The World’s environment editor, for Public Radio International.  He works with staff and freelance reporters and the show’s hosts to bring clear and compelling coverage and analysis of global environmental issues to the program’s 2.5 million listeners.  Peter has worked for NPR, WBUR, Boston, and Monitor Radio.  He’s been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Italy, and is a member of the board of Directors of the Society of Environmental Journalists.  Peter lives in Boston with his co-mortgagee Edith and their cats, Stretch and Mister Softee.

Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE)

Through stories of hand-rolled pasta and homemade chutney, local markets and backyard gardens, and wild mushrooms and foraged grape leaves— Breaking Bread:  Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens recounts in loving detail the memories, recipes, and culinary traditions of people who have come to the United States from around the world. Chef, teacher and author of this book, Lynne Christy Anderson, has gone into immigrant kitchens and discovered the power of food to recall a lost world for those who have left so much behind and we are lucky enough to have her in our own backyard.  Lynne will be joining us for an evening of recounting stories including the people she has met along the way, who come from all over the world, but all have the same connection to food. We will also hear more about what inspired her to write this book and her realization of the powerful relationship between food and culture.

The enticing, easy-to-prepare recipes feature specialties like Greek dolmades, Haitian soup joumou, Dominican sancocho, Persian Kou Kou Sabzi, and Sudanese mulukhiyah. Together with Robin Radin’s beautiful photographs, these stories and recipes will inspire cooks of all levels to explore new traditions while perhaps rediscovering their own culinary roots.

Books will be available for purchase and Lynne will be on hand to sign copies following her reading and discussion.

Lynne Christy Anderson (www.lynnechristyanderson.com) is a writer, teacher, and cook who lives in Jamaica Plain.  For many years she worked professionally in award-winning restaurants until she turned to a career in teaching, first working with immigrant adults learning English as a Second Language. Her students–mothers and fathers from places like Guatemala, Pakistan, Vietnam and Morocco, grandparents from Haiti, Cape Verde, Brazil, and China–shared the triumph and loss that marked their coming to America and the way that food lessened the struggle by serving as a link to the past and a bridge into the future. These stories led Lynne to first consider the powerful relationship between food and cultural well-being and were the inspiration for her book, Breaking Bread:  Stories and Recipes from Immigrant Kitchens. Lynne was the recipient of a Bread Loaf Rona Jaffe Foundation scholarship in non-fiction in 2008.  Currently, she teaches at Boston College and Bunker Hill Community College.

Thanks to our co-sponsors

At this time last year, we came to you with “10 Reasons to Support the Jamaica Plain Forum.” The list ranged from silly (“Best Cheap Date in JP”) to sincere (“In economically stressful times, we need to come together”). One year later, both still hold true.

This year, we humbly request your support for one reason:The Jamaica Plain Forum offers free, dynamic, politically and culturally relevant programming with the goal of strengthening our neighborhood.

The forum fosters new ways of thinking about ourselves, our communities, our city and our globe.

Please consider making a secure online donation to the Jamaica Plain Forum. With your support, we look forward to a rousing and revelatory 2010 season.

A monthly contribution can both sustain our work throughout the year, and lessen the impact on your bank account. Consider an automatic donation of $10, $30, or $50 each month for 2010 by choosing the “recurring payment.” It’s the sustainable way to give back to your community.

See you at the Forum!

Sarah Schwartz Sax, Liz Wambui, and Chuck Collins

P.S. Here are a few highlights from our 2009 season.

• This fall we hosted a forum on organizing a local Common Security Club. It spawned several new self-help groups to learn about the changing economy, offer mutual aid and take social action.
• Throughout the season, we continued our Sustainability Series with skill-building workshops on topics ranging from Food Canning to Beekeeping and Container Gardening.
• In October, more than 350 of you came to hear Ralph Nader talk about his provocative novel “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us.”
• We explored health care politics, militarism and mountain removal coal mining. On themes closer to home, we also co-hosted a forum about the history of Franklin Park and a candidates forum.

Would you prefer to send us a donation?  Make checks payable to “The Jamaica Plain Forum” and mail to IPS New England Office, 30 Germania St. Bld. L, Boston, MA 02130.

America’s stalwart fighter against corporate abuse, best selling author and presidential candidate will talk about new strategies to build economic equality and his new book, Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us.

In his first work of fiction, Nader tells the story of what would happen if the country’s richest and most powerful decided to act for the common good, challenging corporate power and fixing our government – in a way that actually benefited hard working families.  This is his only Boston-area book appearance!

Praise for “ONLY THE SUPER-RICH CAN SAVE US”

Warren Beatty: “Since the Progressive era, Ralph Nader has done more than anyone else to protect American consumers.  With this utopian fantasy, he shows us how good he thinks things could be.”

Patti Smith: “A high spirited visionary romp melding the wisdom, humor and imagination of Ralph Nader.  May it inspire action.”

Cornell West: “Ralph Nader is an exemplary citizen and prophetic leader who tells the truth at great cost to himself on behalf of everyday people. This tale has a moral substance and political content that is quite relevant for our time!”

In  “ONLY THE SUPER-RICH CAN SAVE US!” (Seven Stories Press; September 22, 2009) the public advocate, presidential candidate, and bestselling author Ralph Nader puts seventeen billionaires together in one room to address some of the most pressing issues of our time.

In this “practical utopia” Warren Buffett invites sixteen other super-rich individuals around a table to save America. It is September 2005. Buffett has just gone to New Orleans to see the destruction of Hurricane Katrina firsthand and is moved to restructure his vast personal wealth to help the people of this country. And he wants others to do the same.

In an unprecedented genre-bending book, Nader’s billionaires work together to unionize Wal-Mart, rebuild New Orleans with a speed and efficiency FEMA could only dream about, advance clean and transparent elections, effectively clean up the environment, and otherwise galvanize Congress and the corporate behemoths to be accountable to the people.

The New York Times has written, “what sets Ralph Nader apart is that he has moved beyond social criticism to effective political action.” The author who knows the most about citizen action here returns us to the literature of American social movements-to Edward Bellamy, to Upton Sinclair, to John Steinbeck, to Stephen Crane-reminding us in the process that changing the body politic of America starts with imagination.

America’s stalwart fighter against corporate abuse, best selling author and presidential candidate will talk about new strategies to build economic equality and his new book, Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us.

In his first work of fiction, Nader tells the story of what would happen if the country’s richest and most powerful decided to act for the common good, challenging corporate power and fixing our government – in a way that actually benefited hard working families.  This is his only Boston-area book appearance!

Praise for “ONLY THE SUPER-RICH CAN SAVE US”

Warren Beatty: “Since the Progressive era, Ralph Nader has done more than anyone else to protect American consumers.  With this utopian fantasy, he shows us how good he thinks things could be.”

Patti Smith: “A high spirited visionary romp melding the wisdom, humor and imagination of Ralph Nader.  May it inspire action.”

Cornell West: “Ralph Nader is an exemplary citizen and prophetic leader who tells the truth at great cost to himself on behalf of everyday people. This tale has a moral substance and political content that is quite relevant for our time!”

In  “ONLY THE SUPER-RICH CAN SAVE US!” (Seven Stories Press; September 22, 2009) the public advocate, presidential candidate, and bestselling author Ralph Nader puts seventeen billionaires together in one room to address some of the most pressing issues of our time.

In this “practical utopia” Warren Buffett invites sixteen other super-rich individuals around a table to save America. It is September 2005. Buffett has just gone to New Orleans to see the destruction of Hurricane Katrina firsthand and is moved to restructure his vast personal wealth to help the people of this country. And he wants others to do the same.

In an unprecedented genre-bending book, Nader’s billionaires work together to unionize Wal-Mart, rebuild New Orleans with a speed and efficiency FEMA could only dream about, advance clean and transparent elections, effectively clean up the environment, and otherwise galvanize Congress and the corporate behemoths to be accountable to the people.

The New York Times has written, “what sets Ralph Nader apart is that he has moved beyond social criticism to effective political action.” The author who knows the most about citizen action here returns us to the literature of American social movements-to Edward Bellamy, to Upton Sinclair, to John Steinbeck, to Stephen Crane-reminding us in the process that changing the body politic of America starts with imagination.