Fabulous dance mashup with stars from old movie scenes grooving to ‘Uptown Funk’

Screen Shot from Michael Binder Mashup
Screen Shot from Michael Binder’s dance mashup of Uptown Funk
Turns out that a bunch of film’s old dance stars had moves even Bruno Mars could be proud of. Paul Morris writes about the mashup Michael Binder put together:

It took him a long while to find the perfect clips which properly conveyed the energy and passion, but after he scanned through hundreds and hundreds of movies from 1953 and earlier, he finally edited together an absolutely stunning video featuring some of our favorite dancers and singers.

It’s pretty amazing to watch legends like, Gene Kelly, Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, and Fred Astaire dance to one of the catchiest songs ever! read more

Herramienta para combatir a los rumores, racismo y el perjuicio contra los inmigrantes

proyecto antirumores
Fuente: antirumores.com
Los nuevos inmigrantes afrentan el desafío significante de establecer nuevas vidas en un país extraño. Tampoco puede ser fácil para los residentes indígenas a acomodar no sólo un influjo de estranjeros y sus necesidades sino también aceptar a sus diferencias en costumbre, ideología y perspectivo.

De todas maneras, la asimilación de nuevos inmigrantes se hace mucho más fácil cuando los retos que cada grupo social afrenta son retos prácticos y no miedos basados en el rumor.

Antirumores Getxo read more

Uganda Jews sing Shalom Mirembe with joy, a peace song

Shalom Mirembe songThere are not only Jews in Uganda, but they dance, sing, are farmers and land stewards.

The Abayudaya Jewish Community of Uganda and Israeli artist Irene Orleansky partnered to create “Shalom, Mirembe!” as part of a music collection from Israelites and Jews of Africa and Asia. For more information and to purchase the CD visit ireneorleansky.com. The participating Jewish communities receive all proceeds from CD sales.

Meet with journalists in a free forum and get help telling YOUR story about life in Atlantic City

NJ News Voices in ACFree Press wants to help Atlantic City community members tell your stories to the press:

We’ve heard what outsiders have to say about Atlantic City. Now it’s your turn. Meet with journalists in a community forum and tell YOUR story about life in Atlantic City.

My Atlantic City – What’s Your AC Story?
Tues 08 Dec 2015 | 6–8:30 pm
(light refreshments will be served)
Noyes Arts Garage at Stockton University
200 Fairmount Ave
Atlantic City NJ
RSVP today

We hear from Creative New Jersey that some stories may get into a PBS documentary and that free training on media platforms will be offered to all participants. read more

Princeton students take over the President’s office to demand campus racism be addressed.

Princeton student protestors 151118
Photo source: Planet Princeton
Please support students at Princeton University who have taken over the university president’s office. They have been negotiating with the university about taking steps to correct systemic racism at the university, but three demands are unmet. The university is threatening discipline.

Student press contact: Destiny Crockett at 314 327 9340

THE STUDENTS DEMANDS:

  1. A Black space on campus
  2. A mandatory course on the history of marginalized people
  3. A demand relating to the Woodrow Wilson School

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

  • CALL AND FAX THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT
    Urge him to talk to the students, not discipline them. LEAVE A MESSAGE – YOU WILL ONLY GET HIS ANSWERING SERVICE ON THE PHONE.
    Phone 609-258-6100 or Fax 609-258-1615
    Assistant to the President Mary DeLorenzo email
  • People in the neighborhood please go to Nassau Hall
  • Supplies: the students need food, bottled water, sleeping bags, tents, blankets pillows
  • read more

    NY Daily News outs GOP-backed NRA for putting weapons in hands of terrorists

    NY Daily News front page 151118
    NY Daily News front page 18 Nov 2015

    Republican federal officials were outed by the New York Daily News this morning for colluding with the NRA to sell guns with no questions asked and no background checks, to anyone with the financial resources to buy them. What this means, is that guns have been legally sold to thousands of people on the FBI terrorist watch list – 2000 in fact, over the past 11 years. And your Republican politician, helped to make that happen.

    Good thing that Pres. Obama has made a commitment to dedicate his last year in the White House to pushing for gun control reform. read more

    Exonerees robbed in prison of decades of their lives now work to free others

    true-conviction film
    True Conviction Film
    After watching the “True Conviction” trailer I put my head down on my desk and cried. What a terrible story – wrongfully convicted men exonerated after decades in jail, having lost the chance to raise and help their children – and to develop as members of society. This nightmare juxtaposed by the love for humanity this team embodies, men who have refused to turn their backs on others wrongfully imprisoned by a brutal and oppressive penal system. They call themselves Freedom Fighters and are led by Christopher Scott. Tambay A. Obenson writes: read more

    Gun control laws and racism: tools historically used to disempower US blacks, Irish & other minorities

    black soldiers
    Photo source: New American
    Many good historical examples in this New American article hint at a plausible reason for us having such a great proliferation of guns in the United States and for open carry laws that are clearly meant to be used by whites but never blacks. Historical fact shows that American political authorities clearly never intended for blacks to be authorized to own or carry guns and over many decades, laws specifically barring ethnic minority individuals (like blacks, Irish and Scots) from ownership were put in place. When black people attained full citizenship and voting rights, the strategy of barring them from gun ownership didn’t work any more. Is that when whites changed to a strategy of stockpiling such huge arsenals of personal firearms that they can outgun all other owners? read more

    Israel conspiracy theories are incitements to hate Jews. If you love truth, don’t buy in.

    Muslim leader & Hitler - Jew hatred is in Quran
    Photo credit courtesy of www.alipac.us
    There are an exponentially growing number of anti-Jewish incidents around the world, predominantly fueled by extremist Muslim dollars, the indifference of progressives and the silence of people whose reason and compassion might positively influence public opinion – except they won’t speak out. I don’t wish to enable hatred with my own silence.

    However, disputing the viciousness of Jew haters makes me instantly frustrated. It seems a daunting task to confront the beliefs of people who when it comes to bashing Jews thoughtlessly spread rumour and innuendo against my people and hold onto an unreasoning hatred of Jews no matter what good we do. These people embrace an unreasoning support for Muslims no matter what harm or violence Muslim extremists commit … and show no interest in factual analysis of the rumours that are disseminated by propagandists, or the truth. In their hatred for Jews the unreasoning are eager to embrace information that fuels their hatred and show no interest in assessing whether the information is true or false. read more

    Christie vetoed bill requiring police & firemen to live in NJ communities they serve

    Newark police
    Photo source: unknown photo of Newark Police found via Patch
    It’s a sad state of affairs when community servants are “vehemently opposed” to living in the communities they serve. That is nevertheless the case for policemen and firefighters, who consider it a huge win that Christie vetoed the residency requirement bill A4265 that passed both State Senate and Assembly this summer. The bill calls for new hires to live in the town they serve, “for the first 5 years on the job.” The NJ Fraternal Order of Police website states: read more

    Many stories in play behind U Missouri protests, football team boycott threat & president resignation

    U Missouri Race Issues
    Source: found at local8now.com
    ABC provides good framing for Pres. Wolfe’s resignation from University of Missouri: The Concerned Student 1950 campus group named for the year “the first black student was admitted” began a month-long series of protests that culminated in a list of demands calling for Wolfe’s removal…

    .. as a part of a protest over the way the university handles racial harassment … (including a request) for a comprehensive racial awareness and inclusion curriculum, and an increase of black faculty and staff. read more

    Police-tech partnerships could instantly blackout both phone and all social media access

    protestors with social media signs
    Source: dogonews.com
    One danger of mass internet communication being channeled through private companies – like Facebook – is the possibility that our communications can be severely curtailed, especially when we try to organize. Consider public protests: How easily could they be labeled as acts of terrorism by those with the ability to cut us off from communicating with each other? Especially in an era where police have become increasingly militarized and people have become accustomed to using corporate-owned online environments with the expectation of having free speech or privacy protection rights when we do, this possibility becomes disturbingly real. read more

    “White Shoes” nude photography series highlights slavery’s roots in NY Financial District

    NONA-900 on Wall Street
    Photo source: Nona Faustine
    Photographer Nona Faustine was drawn to shoot a series of self-portraits she calls “White Shoes”, which feature shots of her naked on sites associated with the slave trade in downtown Manhattan, NYC’s Wall Street area.

    The Village Voice points out, “New York was the capital of American slavery for more than 200 years.”

    Huffington Post author Priscilla Frank writes,

    Revisiting the spaces haunted by such atrocious tales, Faustine drapes her body across the implicated grounds like a bold protestor or a spiritual medium. Her bare flesh recalls the stories of so many strangers that went untold, simultaneously raising questions about why bodies matter and, more specifically, which bodies matter. read more

    MIT hosted a city-wide biannual breakdance competition for a decade

    Breakonomics at MIT
    Breakonomics Competition 2009 sponsored by MIT’s Imobilare crew
    My Aunt June told me about the breakdance competition she helped to found at MIT, the world’s best tech university. People don’t think of Breakdancing and performance art as typical geek activities but at MIT the arts are celebrated. Its Immobilare crew sponsored Boston’s biannual Breakonomics breakdance competition for about a decade, with the last competition taking place in 2011.

    MIT’s Imobilare breakdance crew also held regular bboy practices on the MIT campus from 1998-2009: read more