Sent to me from the Dept. of Medical Ethics at the NYU Medical Center

ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival Screenings
March, 8 2013 3-5PM: 550 1st Avenue, Alumni Hall B, NYU Medical Center

Presented with ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival, March 7-12, a showcase of award-winning films by and about people with disabilities. For more information, please visit: www.reelabilities.org.

Free and open to the public!

- WILLOWBROOK, Directed by Ross Cohen (USA, 2012, USA, 16 min, Narrative): In 1964, a young pediatrician begins his residency at Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, only to discover that the institution is conducting Army funded experiments on developmentally disabled children. Based on true events.

- FLYING ANNE, Directed by Catherine van Campen (Netherlands, 2010, 21 min, Documentary): Eleven-year-old Anne is the kind of beautiful girl you can’t take your eyes off. The longer you look, the more you see her ‘tics’ from her Tourette’s syndrome – she suddenly spins or licks something. Anne is afraid of being teased at school and tries to keep her tics in check though she prefers ‘flying’ through life, so no one notices her tics.

Discussant: Arthur Caplan (Director, Division of Bioethics, NYUMC) and Barron Lerner (Professor of Medicine, NYUMC)

Moderator: Helena Hansen (NYUMC and NYU Department of Anthropology)

March 5th is a big day for events (see both the entries below this one for other March 5th events).

One of the things that gets me angriest about NYC is the fact that schools keep getting cut. And even the money put in increasingly is going to a form of privatization that leaves more and more kids behind. We are hurting our own future, hurting our children by doing this.

Alliance for Quality Education is fighting back and March 5th is your chance to get involved in Albany:

10:30am – 11:00 : Check-in at The Albany State Armory, 195 Washington Ave in Albany.
11:00 – 11:30 : Welcome & Instructions for parade
11:30pm : Line-up for parade
11:45 – 12:15pm : March from The Armory to the capital building and around the perimeter
(ending at the West Lawn of the capital)
12:15 – 1:15pm : Rally at the West Lawn
1:30pm : Advocates disperse for lobby visits

Twitter #Parade4Ed

More info (all of below are PDFs)

Agenda for the day

Map of the parade route

2013 Budget Factsheet

Educate NY Now Funding Project Curriculum

Request Educate NY Now postcards (and bring them signed on March 5th! or if you can't make it, mail to your Assembly member and State Senator)

The upcoming mayoral races is a critical one for our city and forums like this are important for citizens to come face to face with the candidates. From Act Now:

Join ACT NOW, along with our friends at Democracy for NYC and Living Liberally for a forum with Democratic candidates for NYC Mayor. Ask questions and hear what the candidates have to say on important issues. Next year will be the first time in 12 years NYC has had a new mayor. We look forward to taking part in this historic election!

When: Tuesday, March 5th, 7pm

Where: 151 West 46th Street, between 6th & 7th Avenues, 8th Floor

Invited Candidates: (* Confirmed)

John Liu*

Bill Thompson

Christine Quinn

Sal Albanese*

Bill de Blasio*

Seating is limited. Please RSVP here.

The ACT NOW Team

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email: info@actnowny.org
phone: 212-714-7125
web: http://www.actnowny.org/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My family's Taiko instructor, former Kodo member Kaoru Watanabe, will be performing in Brooklyn at the Shapeshifter Lab along with Kenny Endo and Sumie Kaneko:

Tuesday, March 5 @ ShapeShifter Lab (NYC)
Music From Japan presents Kenny Endo and Kaoru Watanabe, and special guest Sumie Kaneko (koto and shamisen)
7:30pm, $12 at the door
18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn, NY 11215. R train to Union
www.shapeshifterlab.com www.musicfromjapan.org

Honestly this should be an excellent show. And the train stop is near some excellent restaurants like Oaxaca Taqueria, Palo Santo and Fort Reno BBQ. Kaoru is an amazing musician and all around good person...and a very patient teacher!

Kaoru Watanabe:

Kenny Endo:

Event flyer:

Seems corporate greed by Hewlett Packard may be defrauding NYC out of about $163 million. From a recent email from NYC Comptroller John Liu:

To those who say there's no money: there's plenty due to the City. That is, of course, if you know where to look and have the will to go after it.

Last week, Comptroller Liu uncovered $345 million that should be recaptured from the City's generous Times Square giveaway. This week, it's $163 million that should be recouped from "CityTime II", another botched, runaway consultant contract already over-budget.

Doing business with the City of New York is a privilege, not a lifetime guarantee. Although City Hall can't turn back the clock and undo the gross mismanagement, it must pursue the rightful refunds for our taxpayers.

Looking behind the press release, from the Daily News article covering the Hewlett Packard fraud:  read more »