Category Archives: Articles

UN Day Meeting, Oct. 22

The Gainesville Chapter of the United Nations Association

invites you to join us for our annual UN Day Meeting

Thursday October 22, 2015 from 9 am to 2 pm
at the Gainesville Woman’s Club
2809 W University Avenue Gainesville, Florida

Theme: “The United Nations at 70: Past, Present and Future.”

Focus: Sustainability, as the UN adopts the new Sustainability Goals.

Keynote Speaker: Cynthia Barnett will address the issue of water in a changing world and living more ethically with water.

Panelists: Barbara Oberlander will talk about Eleanor Roosevelt, the first Chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights.

David Price will present an overview of the UN’s 70 years.

Luncheon: Box luncheons are available at $17.00 each. Selections are: Veggie Wrap, Turkey Swiss Croissant, or Ham and Cheese Croissant

Please order by October 14, 2015 by contacting: Lisa Renner at ejrenner@hotmail.com or PO Box 358361, Gainesville, Fl. 32635-8361

The Association welcomes co-sponsors at $30.00 each. The Gainesville Chapter of the UN Nations Association is a 501 (c) (3)

Theatre Santa Fe presents “Oedipus at Ichetuckneea” Oct. 15–17

OedPosterFinalIn 2035, a sacred spring is threatened with pollution. A power-hungry ruler is blind to warnings about defiling Mother Earth. With their land in the midst of drought, people rally to save their water while aggressive reporters brag about “providing news that’s ‘Patently Palpable.’” A hip-hop chorus offers commentary and an old story is made new in “Oedipus at Ichetuckneea,” a re-imagining of the tragedy “Oedipus the King” adapted by Santa Fe College Theatre Professor Gregg Jones and English Professor Stephen Robitaille from a script by Ian Johnston.

Set in the midst of a water crisis in a place much like Florida, “Oedipus at Ichetuckneea” is an allegory for climate change. The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 15–17, in the Fine Arts Hall at the Northwest Campus of Santa Fe College, 3000 NW 83rd Street, Gainesville. Tickets are $15 main floor and $12 balcony for adults; $9 for seniors, children and University of Florida students; and free for Santa Fe College faculty, staff and students with college identification cards. For ticket information, call the Box Office at 352-395-4181 or visit the Fine Arts ticket website at: http://www.sfcollege.edu/finearts.

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Gainesville PRIDE Days: Oct. 16–25

Pride Community Center of North Central Florida is sponsoring Gainesville Pride Days. For updates and more information see: gainesvillepride.org

Friday Oct 16, 6pm: Community Awards Dinner & Silent Auction
Sweetwater Branch Inn, 625 E University Ave. $45 tickets at Pride Community Center and Wild Iris Books

Saturday Oct 17: Same-Sex Marriage Ceremonies
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship offers marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples at no charge, 4225 NW 34th St. Ceremonies begin at 11am, in 1/2 hour blocks, each followed by a gala reception! Interested couples e-mail MarriageEquality@uufg.org by Oct. 12 to receive details

Saturday Oct 17, 5pm: Stonewall Democrats of Friendraiser
Happy hour at First Magnitude Brewery, 1220 SE Veitch St

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Linda Lee: A Voice for Lake Apopka Farmworkers

by Becky Wilson

Linda Lee ascends to the podium slowly, for her mobility is limited by her multiple health conditions.

Speaking before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS) on September 22nd in Orlando, she details her story of injustice. Her unassuming presence does not prepare you to hear her powerful words. Linda Lee speaks out frequently about farmworker rights, and getting justice in her hometown of Apopka.

She is a Farmworker Association of Florida member and she works tirelessly for the farmworker community and the community of South Apopka.

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Graduate Assistants United goes to arbitration with University over health insurance changes

by Taylor Polvadore, Graduate Assistants United

Graduate Assistants United (GAU), the official labor union that represents around 4,000 graduate, teaching, and research assistants at the University of Florida (UF), has decided to take the University to arbitration hearing with an outside neutral body over the unilateral changes it has made to graduate assistant health insurance. These changes were made by the University outside of bargaining and without negotiations with GAU. The changes made by the University included a significant increase in the cost of dependent premiums (a 22.8 percent increase from last year) and an increase in deductibles.

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Social Justice Summit runs Nov. 12 to 15 at UF

The CWC/ASPIRE, in collaboration with the Black Student Leadership Conference and MicCHECK, are proud to announce the first Social Justice Summit at the University of Florida. Events will last from Nov. 12 through Nov. 15, with events occurring at the Reitz Union, HPNP, Engineering Building, and Brain Institute.

Dr. Joe White, renowned scholar, activist, and key figure in the development of Black Psychology, will be providing the Opening Address from 5:30-7:00 p.m. on 11/12/2015 in the Reitz Grand Ballroom. Following the address, Dr. White will be joined by a panel of individuals from UF for a Q and A session.

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Paynes Prairie/ Marjorie Harris Carr bus tour on Oct. 24

The Matheson is excited to host a history bus tour of Paynes Prairie, featuring a tour of the prairie and a catered lunch by Pearl Country Store & Barbecue, on October 24, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. Lars Andersen, a full-time river guide and author of Paynes Prairie, The Great Savanna: A History and Guide, will lead an immersive tour of the prairie. Dr. Peggy Macdonald, executive director of the Matheson and author of Marjorie Harris Carr: Defender of Florida’s Environment, will provide an overview of Carr’s quest to save Paynes Prairie, Lake Alice, and Micanopy. Carr is one of the six women featured in the Matheson’s current exhibit, Saving the Sunshine State: Women Leaders in the Twentieth Century.

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Government in the shadows vs. Paynes Prairie

by Robert “Bob” Simons

The workings of government in Tallahassee have always been messy. The money from the Florida Lottery, voted upon by the people of Florida for the purpose of increasing funding for education, was long ago syphoned off into the murky politics of Tallahassee. Amendment 1, also voted upon by the people of Florida (passing by a 75% to 25 % majority of the people who voted) is suffering the same fate. (The overall funding for the environment in the State’s 2015 budget, in spite of supposed additions from Amendment 1, is $48 million less than it was in the 2014 budget according to Pegeen Hanrahan – Gainesville Sun 7/19/15.) The Water Management Districts, designed to carefully ration Florida’s fresh water supply to ensure a sustainable future for the people of Florida have been downsized and reworked to eliminate the “sustainable” aspect of that idea. And now, it seems, Tallahassee’s attention has turned to Florida’s State Parks.

Some time ago, the people of Florida came up with a plan to help reduce or limit some of the worst aspects of state and local politics by devising a legal system termed “Government in the Sunshine”. This has never been perfect, but it has been helpful. Alas, nothing lasts forever.

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From the publisher: On taking things for granted

joe-WEBby joe courter

There is only so much our brains can pay attention to as we go through our lives. We all develop habits; not only of what we feel we need to be thinking about, but how much we dwell on what we are thinking about. Our minds are active, but under-activity and over-activity can present problems. We all know the situation of over-thinking a situation, reading too much into a situation and actually, by adding needless complexity, making a mess of something that could have been simple and straight forward.

Under-activity of the mind is something we all do by necessity. We tune out what we don’t need or want to think about. This allows us to focus on what is important to us. So we take for granted many things. We trust maps (or our GPS) to be accurate. We trust other drivers to stay in their lanes. We trust our senses.

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Active Streets Gainesville on Oct. 18

active-streets-fall-2015_webSunday, October 18, will mark the third time that Active Streets Gainesville has coordinated a free community event that transforms our most iconic roadway into a vibrant destination full of activities led by local organizations and businesses.

From 11 am until 3 pm, University Avenue, stretching from West 6th Street. to East 7th Street., right through the heart of downtown, will be a joyous promenade of non-automotive activities, with walkers, riders, skaters, art bikes, live music, information booths and smiling people.

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Labor Coalition working with Fight for 15 Florida

by Sheila Payne Alachua County Labor Coalition

The Alachua County Labor Coalition (ACLC) has been working with Fight for 15 Florida to visit with and sign up fast food workers in Alachua County the last 2 months in addition to the ACLC Living Wage Campaign. We need folks willing to join us in both of these campaigns. The fast food workers are very eager to learn that Fight for 15 has come to their community, and we have visited over 50 fast-food restaurants locally with the Fight for 15 state-wide organizers providing the initial training.

We had a well-attended meeting in September where about a dozen fast-food, child-care and health care workers from the Tampa/St. Pete area joined twenty labor coalition and local community members to provide testimony about the gains they have made there in the Fight for 15. They spoke of one-day strikes, fighting for better pay, for better working conditions and being treated with dignity and as a valued employee.

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October 2015 Gainesville Iguana

October 2015 Iguana coverThe October 2015 issue of the Iguana is now available! If you want to get your hands on a hard copy, check out our distro locations here.

Introducing UF Radical Student Alliance

rsaUF Radical Student Alliance is a multi-issue activist organization that is united around combating all forms of systematic oppression. Formed in the summer of 2015, we strive to uplift and concretely address the material needs of those most stifled by institutional violence and neglect, with an emphasis on a radical lens in order to fundamentally reshape society by addressing the root issues rather than simply producing band-aid solutions. With this in mind, we work for the liberation of all marginalized groups, regardless of class, race, ethnicity, abledness, gender, or sexual orientation. New students and the Gainesville community are welcome to come out to learn more or get involved at meetings, which are held weekly at 6:30 PM Wednesday on the UF campus.

Upcoming events will include discussing the impact of capitalism on society and deciding on this semester’s social justice campaign.

If you are interested in finding out more about UF Radical Student Alliance, you can email them at ufradstudentalliance@gmail.com, or visit their facebook page at: www.facebook.com/ufradstudentalliance.

Activist/progressive organizations holding networking/recruiting fair

rad rushThe Civic Media Center has organized Radical Rush since 1998. Radical Rush is an organizational fair for progressive and radical activist groups of Gainesville to recruit new members and publicize their work to students. Radical as in getting to the root of problems, Rush meaning entertaining bids for membership. The Rush is presented in the form of a collaborative tabling effort. Campus and community-based groups participate, with the added bonus of helping to bridge the “town/gown” divide and allow activists working on a wide variety of issues to meet each other, network, and learn about each other’s organizations.

Radical Rush also helps break through the generation gap, fostering inter-generational collaboration as students and younger activists are introduced to older, seasoned organizers for a wide variety of causes. Anyone interested in learning about progressive social change and/or becoming more active in the community has the opportunity to talk with members about their organizations.

This year’s Radical Rush will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 14, in the Oak Grove at Santa Fe College, and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 16–17, on the Plaza of Americas at UF. The Radical Rush Reception will be on Friday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m. at the Boca Backyard. The week is a great way for people to engage with organizations and for people from various organizations to meet one another. The Civic Media Center also prepares a guidebook to all the organizations involved. For more information or to participate, please email coordinators@civicmediacenter.org or call 352-373-0010.

History and the people who make it: Hernan Vera

Transcript edited by Pierce Butler

This is the 29th in a series of transcript excerpts from the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program collection at the University of Florida. 

Hernan Vera was interviewed by Diana Gonzalez-Tennant [G] in 2009.

V: I was born on February 16th, 1937 – seventy-two years ago – in Santiago, Chile. I went to several schools. By age 16 or 17 I was fluent in both Spanish and English and had a limited fluency in French. My second school was St. Georges College—Colegió San Jorge. I started there around 1946 and graduated in 1954. Then I went into Law School of Universidad de Chile, became a lawyer in 1962, got married in 1963 to Maria Inez Concha Gutierrez, my wife of today, and we had three children. I am retired, after 33 years of teaching sociology at the University of Florida.

I was getting ready to return to Chile, after getting a PhD in sociology, when a military coup on 9-11-1973 took place, and it was advisable in the view of all of our families and friends that we should stay in the US. We had come here in 1968 with a residence visa so we could work and stay without any problems.

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Global March for elephants, rhinos

Elephantopia is participating in the third annual Global March for Elephants and Rhinos this October 3 and 4. We are hosting a benefit concert at First Magnitude Brewing from 4–7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, featuring live bands (Blue Slammers and Melting Funk Pot), an opportunity to sign a letter to Florida legislature calling for an ivory ban, and raffle to support an orphaned elephant in Zambia at the GRI – Elephant Orphanage Project. This event is FREE and open to the public.

Come out on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 10:30 a.m. to march through Gainesville with Conservation Initiative for the Asian Elephant — we begin at Plaza de Americas at UF.

For more information, visit http://elephantopia.org/event/global-march-for-elephantsand-rhinos-2015/. The Gainesville event is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/events/1564058527210604/.

Not in Florida? Find a city near you: www.march4elephantsandrhinos.orga/.

Redistricting corruption in Florida

by Susan Bottcher

In 2010 more than 60 percent of Floridians voted for two constitutional amendments that would require the end of gerrymandering. We sent a clear message to Tallahassee that We The People should chose our elected representatives, not the other way around where entrenched politicians pick their voters.

The Republican legislature ignored and disrespected the will of The People. Instead they used their political operatives to draw and submit illegal maps that they then embraced and passed into law. We are fortunate to have three organizations, Fair Districts Now, the Florida League of Women Voters and Common Cause, who filed lawsuits to prevent the illegal maps from being implemented.

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Francis ‘Pat’ Fitzpatrick made social work ‘absurd and hilarious’

patby Katie Walters

Surrounded by close friends and family, Pat Fitzpatrick passed away on August 3, 2015, at the Malcolm Randall VA Medical Center after a long bout with liver disease. He was 65 years old. He will be celebrated by his two children, Dan and Katie, his two sisters Katherine and Nora, and many close friends.

Pat was a lifetime agitator and advocate for the poor and underrepresented. As his bandmate and friend Jon Decarmine expressed, “He was an incredible guy with a huge heart and a knack for making social justice work absurd and hilarious.”

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Proposed zoning overhaul threatens Gainesville neighborhoods

by Tana Silva

A proposed zoning overhaul in Gainesville would reward speculation in the guise of redeveloping urban neighborhoods—the last cheap real estate—around UF and downtown. Each neighborhood is unique, and all are gradually revitalizing.

With rezoning, multistory business and apartment buildings could replace houses and small yards, first and worst in the historically African American Fifth Avenue neighborhood and eventually Porters and others.

From Brooklyn to San Francisco, the same fate has befallen once-affordable real neighborhoods and their distinct character. They become Disneyfied, the rich become richer, and longtime residents become refugees.

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Fall Trash Festival at the Repurpose Project, Oct. 10

repurpose