Black Harmony Gathering 2010, Sun 21st March, Fairfield Amphitheatre #Melbourne #mysuburb

Multicultural Arts Victoria Presents…
Black Harmony Gathering 2010
1pm – 5pm Sunday 21 March
The Fairfield Amphitheatre
Heidelberg Rd, Fairfield (Melway 30 J12), Melbourne

Held in the heart of Aboriginal land under the gum trees, on the banks of the tranquil Yarra River, at the Fairfield Amphitheatre Multicultural Arts Victoria presents the Black Harmony Gathering; a unique event with the message say no to racism! With Indigenous and multicultural communities coming together in a spirit of reconciliation for Cultural Diversity week. This year the Black Harmony Gathering will launch the first Black Harmonies CD.

Black Harmony Gathering is a showcase for premium professional and talented emerging Indigenous, African and refugee
artists It is strongly supported by Indigenous and non-indigenous artists and communities alike. The Black Harmonies CD will cross the cultural boundaries to create a cultural revolution in the Australian music scene and features artists Kutcha Edwards, Peter Rotumah, Casey Atkinson, Tjimba Possum-Burns, Selwyn Burns, Ajak Kwai, Aminata Doumbia, Michelle Belesy, Joe Geia and Diafrix.

The Black Harmony Gathering will also feature a Cultural Stage led by Indigenous artists Koori Youth Will Shake Spears, Skye Taikato and Friends, Meriki Hood, Johnny Mac and more. With friends from our multicultural music and dance scene, the African Royal Drummers, Narasirato Pan Pipers from the Solomon Islands, Shiamak Bollywood dance group and the soul pumping vibes of African band Blak Roots. MC’s Shiralee Hood and Neda.

The day will be opened with youth forum Skillz at 12pm, a traditional Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and a smoking ceremony by Robbie Thorpe, followed by the Black Harmonies CD launch and Cultural Stage. There is a Koori BBQ of Kangaroo and Emu sausages, cultural food stalls, children’s activities, workshops and a market place of Indigenous and African wares plus more performers. People from all cultures come together for the Black Harmony Gathering a positive community celebration that is very special and important for the community well being.

Black Harmony Gathering is proudly supported by City of Yarra, Victoria Rocks, Koori Justice Unit, APRA, Victorian Multicultural
Commission, Besen Family and Triple R.

www.multiculturalarts.com.au

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Ada Lovelace Day, March 24 #geekgirl

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science.

Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines, whatever they do. It doesn’t matter how new or old your blog is, what gender you are, what language you blog in, or what you normally blog about – everyone is invited. Just sign the pledge at Finding Ada and publish your blog post any time on Wednesday 24th March 2010.

Who was Ada Lovelace?

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognized as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine; as such she is often regarded as the world’s first computer programmer.

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Find Your Tribe (and 9 other things I wish I’d known in high school) by Rebecca Sparrow #geekgirl #gurls

FIND YOUR TRIBE

High school handed best-selling author, Rebecca Sparrow, some of her most crushing moments:
• No-one invited her to her Year 12 formal
• Despite playing netball since she was nine, she wasn’t even selected for the C-Grade netball team
• She was kicked out of ‘Advanced Maths’ and made to do ‘Maths in Society’
• And – as if all that wasn’t bad enough – thanks to her permed hair she spent her teenage years looking like a cross between Jon Bon Jovi and Tootsie

And yet, Rebecca is one of those rare people who claims to have loved (nearly) every minute of her high school days. The question is – HOW?

In Find Your Tribe, Rebecca outlines the 10 key lessons she believes make the difference to not just surviving, but enjoying, those years, including – finding your tribe (your true friends), trusting your intuition, learning to be resilient, having a positive body image, coping with the pressure of school work, the importance of giving back to the community, the dangers of binge drinking and the delicate issue of young love … making this irresistible and invaluable reading for every teenage girl.

In 2003, Rebecca was asked to write a letter to a friend’s daughter before she started high school – to share some advice on what she thought her friend’s daughter needed to know to survive those joyful but often brutal years. This letter was the seed for her latest book, Find Your Tribe (and 9 other things I wish I’d known in high school), a witty, warm and wise roadmap for girls navigating their high school years.

Following the success of her first book, The Girl Most Likely, Rebecca started receiving emails from hundreds of high school girls around the country seeking advice about how to survive their teenage years. As a result, she provides motivational talks to countless numbers of high school girls on the topics covered in Find Your Tribe and she has twice spoken at the National Young Leaders Convention.

Highly engaging, relevant and inspiring, with a few memorable photos here and there of the author, Find Your Tribe is the little black book for every teenage girl … and a must read for every parent too.

Published by UQP / 1 March 2010 / RRP: $14.95 / Non-fiction paperback
ISBN: 978 0 7022 3772 0

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Free seminars on social media marketing by Keren Flavell #geekgirl endorsed!

Creator of wholesome media, Keren Flavell is offering free seminars on using social networking for promoting your social cause.

Hosted at CERES Environment Park (Melbourne) from 7PM – 8PM on Thursday evening (Feb 25th & March 4th) – contact Keren to reserve your place!

First session, will focus on how to set-up and use a Facebook Fan Page. The following week she’ll be talking about Twitter and other social networking sites.

Keren is committed to assisting people who are seeking to create positive change in our world. Be part of the magic.!!

http://wholesomemedia.wordpress.com/

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IBM FITT #Melbourne FREE Networking Event – Feb 23, 2010 #geekgirl

IBM FITT Melbourne FREE Networking Event – Feb 23

Hmmmmmm, senior female IBM executives…

   – Janet Matton – IBM Vice President Sales Operations And Executive
   – Nicole Crooks  – IBM Vice President, SO & Global Technology Services
   – Robyn Woodley – IBM Client Director BHP
   – Jane Chen  – IBM Executive IT Architect

The IBM panel will discuss matters related to their careers in the ICT industry, and the challenges and opportunities they see for business in 2010 and beyond.

After the presentations we will have question time for the audience to ask questions to the panel and then networking time and refreshments.

For more information, goto FITT website<>
(Females in Information Technology & Telecommunications)
 .
Date & Times:
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Arrive: 5.30pm
Finish: 7.30pm

Venue:
The Arts Centre
Level 8, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne

The Arts Centre is a couple of minutes walk from Flinders Street Station
Or take any tram (except tram no.1) along St Kilda Road and disembark at the
Arts Centre. Stop number 14.

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Miss Cellania looks at 8 Truly Strange Christmas Customs

The holiday called Christmas is an amalgam of many winter holidays from around the world. The name is designated as a celebration of the birth of Jesus, although the date is not recorded in the Bible, and people at that time did not place particular important on birth dates. Scientists say the actual date was June 17th, 2BC because of the appearance of the star that beckoned the Magi. December 25th was set as the date for Christmas in the 4th century by Pope Julius I as an attempt to Christianize midwinter pagan holidays such as Solstice and Saturnalia. Customs such as bringing evergreens inside, eating fat-laden foods, and hanging lights are universal responses to the cold, dark winter season. Some of the stranger Christmas traditions are remnants of those older pagan holidays, and some have been changed over the centuries until their origins are hard to discern. Others were just made up to boost business!

1. Krampus

St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, or Santa Claus is the weirdest Christmas tradition ever, but he is so well known and so well documented that his origins are beyond the scope of this particular post. As a tool to encourage good behavior in children, Santa serves as the carrot, and Krampus is the stick. Krampus is the evil demon anti-Santa, or maybe his evil twin. Krampus Night is celebrated on December 5th, the eve of St. Nicholas Day in Austria and other parts of Europe. People dress as Krampus and roam the streets looking for someone to beat with a stick. Since it is also a night for drinking, the beatings probably don’t hurt much. (Image by Flickr user salendron.)

More from Miss Cellania

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Enrol now: Video Journalism with Carmela Baranowska #Open channel #Melbourne

Starts January 7 | Enrolments close December 22

Cross-media skills are essential for journalists. This practical course gives you the knowledge you need to plan, shoot and edit stories as a single-person crew. You will be guided by Walkley Award-winning journalist and filmmaker Carmela Baranowska (Scenes From An Occupation, Taliban Country) and screen your story to a news producer. This course is suitable for print journalists or emerging documentary makers.

Open Channel Training | Under Video Journalism

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Blog: throw another tofu-burger on the barbie will ya mate. #Geekgirl on behalf of #tcktcktck

Tcktcktck invited me to write a blog on climate change. I knew immediately what I wanted to pen about – animals!

Have you ever tried to get your head around what it actually takes to feed the planet!? It’s something I find difficult to come to terms with.

Even my little shopping village of Northcote, Melbourne, Australia opened a new butcher the other day. Another one! You’d think 4 existing butchers plus all the restaurants in the area would provide enough meat.

I’ve become more educated lately on the nature of food production, and films like Food Inc are a good start to understand the process from pasture to plate.  Although, I still don’t quite understand who is feeding, farming & processing the 60 billion animals we kill each year.

It’s horrific that most of this is inhumane and, to be quite frank, not producing animals that even taste good. I’m not a vegetarian (yet) but I have massively reduced my consumption of meat and although I try and stick to the MOOS principle (Meat Only on Sunday). I have a lot of reverence for what I eat, and I am conscious of what it takes to get my food on the table.

I know most people eat meat for the flavour and texture. And my smart vegie friends know a lot of tricks developed by Asian food producers who provide some meat-tasting alternatives. Unfortunately, most of this is soaked or prepared in soy sauce and as a Coeliac I can’t go there. But, there must be a huge potential in coming up with an alternative to meat, which tastes like meat, but ain’t. As much as the electric or hybrid cars are being driven (excuse the pun) by an industry that has to, perhaps rather than wants to. There’s a huge market in developing electric sheep, too.

As Copenhagen (COP15) rapidly approaches I would think that food production especially animal production would have to be high on the agenda. But, if ordinary folks like me can’t persuade the masses to re-think what they eat, what about politician turned good guy Al Gore, musician Moby or even PETA pet Pamela Anderson?

Australia needs to take part on a moral and uber-logistical stand on this issue. We can no longer farm or export meat in an inhumane fashion. Even if we do get our farming processes to the point it is compassionate, we need to become sustainable: that means all of us need to reduce our consumption of animals! “Throw another tofu burger on the barbie will ya mate”, might have to become our new national saying!

So, consume less & be informed more!

My personal top ten
1) stop live animal exports (join the Humane Chain)
2) make choices that respect animals; don’t eat them – or at least buy free-range, organic etc
3) moderate your meat consumption
4) support organisations that are compassionate re: ‘farming’  like Campaign for a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW)
5) support organisations that also protect our marine life like Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd
6) keep having a go at growing your own food and find out what and when to plant
7) read labels when buying food and insist that labels reflect ingredients like palm oil
(de-forestation is destroying the natural habitats of Orangutans)
8)become a volunteer join local organisations that protect animals and wildlife (Wildlife Victoria)
9) keep informed of campaigns and if need be, write or tweet our Australian politicians

10) On Dec 12, 2009 join the world for a global day of Action

With much love & respect, RosieX

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Help Sea Shepherd raise funds for Waltzing Matilda #Fremantle #Western Australia

Perth Operation Waltzing Matilda Benefit
Fremantle, Western Australia

Wed, 2 Dec, 2009 6:45 PM – 11:45 PM

The evening will be entertaining and provide information on Sea Shepherd’s forthcoming Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign. The MC for the evening will be the Hon. Ian Campbell who is a member of the Sea Shepherd Advisory Board. Special guests include Brad Pettit, the new Mayor of Fremantle, Senator Rachel Siewart, Greens Spokesperson for Whaling, along with current Sea Shepherd crew. There will also be a silent auction and various raffles! Music for the night will be provided by Aiden Varro.

The primary purpose of this event is to raise much needed funds for Operation Waltzing Matilda – Sea Shepherd’s 6th Whale Defense Campaign which is being launched from Fremantle on Monday 7th December. This year, Sea Shepherd’s flagship Steve Irwin, will be accompanied to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary by the Ady Gil. The Ady Gil is a futuristic trimaran which recently set the world powerboat record for circumnavigation. Due to its speed capabilities (up to 50 knots) Captain Paul Watson (Sea Shepherd President and Founder) intends to use the Ady Gil to intercept and physically block the harpoon ships from illegally slaughtering whales.

The Japanese whaling fleet will be targeting 935 Piked (Minke) whales and another 50 Fin whales, and has threatened to add Humpback Whales* to their quota as well. Sea Shepherd will once again attempt to block the whaling fleet’s efforts to kill these innocent animals and in doing so negate their illicit profits from the so called lethal research.

* Sources suggest Humpback Whales are not being targeted but all whales are beautiful and deserve defending!

Wed, 2 Dec, 2009 6:45 PM – 11:45 PM
Location: Fremantle Town Hall, William Street, Fremantle, Western Australia
Fees: $20 per person, tickets available at the door
Contact: jeff@seashepherd.org
http://my.seashepherd.org/

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The 2009 Entheogenesis Australis Mini Symposium at the University of Melbourne on Sat 14th Nov

The symposium will feature an array of interesting speakers including the notorious Bear (Owsley) Stanley: considered by many as one of the underground legends of the sixties counterculture, Bear Stanley was the best acid chemist of his generation, turning on heads from the Haight Ashbury, to the Beatles and beyond. Bear was a minor participant in the Acid Tests of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. He was the first underground cook to produce high-purity LSD in the 1960s, when it was legal, including the famous White Lightning and Monterey Purple. Nowadays Stanley denies his heroic status, and spends time in Far North Queensland working on sculptures, and writing essays on various subjects. He is renowned for his contribution to sound engineering, particularly working with live gig iconoclasts, the Grateful Dead, and perfecting the idea of on-stage monitors and high quality PAs. A tireless archivist, he kept a ‘diary’ of his front-of-house mixes, including hundreds of Grateful Dead performances, and has seen the release of a number of albums from his “sonic journal” tapes of PA mixes. [www.thebear.org]

Rak Razam authour of a great new book Aya who is presenting ’Planetary Icaro: Using examples from ayahuasca culture, Razam outlines the boom in plant-based entheogenic sacraments that connect to the Divine’.
More info at http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?p=7724544

Melbourne based Polyester will also be running a bookstore of drug related literature and DVD’s and will be offering a 10% discount for all attendees.

Location: The Basement Theatre – the Spot building – The University of Melbourne.
Building number 110 on the corner of Berkeley & Pelham Street. See a map at page two of the below link;
http://www.entheo.net/Parkville.pdf

Date: Saturday 14 November
Time: 10:30am – 6pm
MC: Martin Williams
Tickets: Available at the door, so pleases be on time.
Cost $75
Concession $50

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