AUG. 1st * Art Walk * Rise Up India * Free Event * Poet House

2008 ART FOR INDIA 2008

FREE CANVAS PAINTING collaboration EVENT

Please join us for light refreshments at this live painting event where 20 local artists will create a 6 foot tall by 40 foot long color explosion that will be sold off piece by piece at the Art For India charity event in September.

Where: The Poet House, Downtown Bend, Oregon 97701 …..The Poet House is located above Norwalk Furniture. Enter from 55 NW Minnesota Avenue at the sign that says “The Wine Shop”. Convenient to the parking garage, but please be gentle with mother earth. Free.

The Poet House is the new Artist's hangout in Bend.

When: FRIDAY AUGUST 1, 2008. 4 pm to 9pm. Check out the artists throwing it down for 5 hours. This will coincide with downtown “art walk” so we’re expecting a stellar turn out. So the moral is: enjoy life, be active, its free, and come on down.

Drifting Rant: It was Marilyn Manson who said “we’re all stars now in the dope show”. Let’s prove Marilyn wrong and show him “we’re NOT stars now in the dope show”. Consider RISING UP today. Peace Out.

Child Smuggling – Selling Children for a Buck

Below is an article from the Times of India describing how police discovered some children being trafficked in Bihar. For every child rescued probably hundreds of others suffer as indentured servants or essentially slave labor. Just a reminder that the enslavement industry is active every minute of every day.

Children working in a brick factory

12 MINORS RESCUED FROM TRAFFICKERS

KISHANGANJ, BIHAR, July 26, 2008: Close on the heels of the incident of 20 bonded child labourers being rescued from a train here on July 21, as many as 12 children, who were being trafficked, were rescued by the railway protection force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) forces at Kishanganj railway station on Thursday night.

One tout Asrar Ahmad was also arrested. Two of his accomplices, however, pulled the wool over the eyes of RPF and GRP personnel and slipped away, sources said.

The rescued children are in the age group of 6 to 10, except two, who are about 14 years, said RPF sources.

RPF sources said the small children were huddled together on platform no 2. They were awaiting the Jodhpur-bound Jodhpur-Guwahati Express to arrive so that they could board it. The train was, however, running behind schedule. Meanwhile, RPF Inspector S K Prasad, accompanied by some personnel, was walking on the platform at 8 pm when he spotted the group of boys huddled in a corner on the platform. As they began to quiz them, they shuffled.

A person posing to be their custodian, appeared claiming that the children were being taken to school. But on a little more probing, it became clear that the man was a tout and a trafficker.

The RPF and GRP personnel took him into custody. The rescued children including Kalam, Ishtehar, Arshad and Mohd Kalim disclosed that they hailed from villages in West Bengal.

Goals for 2009 – Rise Up India School

We have many goals for the RISE UP INDIA School but our main goal is to add a second story to the existing building. And with the magic of Photo Shop we can see what we’re shooting for.

(Before) Existing School building

(After) Future school with two stories

Hey that two story building looks pretty good. The existing one story school gets a lot of use. It is a village center and has a good reputation. The second story will allow for four more classrooms and give the orphans a room of their own that doesn’t need to be converted back and forth each day from bedroom to classroom and back. The proposed addition is estimated to cost about $17,000. In addition to the second story it will probably be necessary to purchase a generator (electricity, if available, is on maybe 3 to 6 hours per day and then the voltage is quite variable). The generator is necessary to pump water into the roof tanks (imagine 80 students spending the day at school with no water, it gets stinky). Four more classrooms will require four more teachers. We also want to get a couple more computers (laptops). We are hoping someone out here will be willing to donate some old ones. The orphans, as they grow up, will leave our school (we go to 5th grade). Government schools are a really poor option. Sheri and Curtis are currently sponsoring two of the orphans at a quality private school. This costs about $350 dollars per year. (Imagine: books, tuition, uniforms, transportation, everything for $350 dollars! This makes a huge difference in the life of an orphan)(FYI public expenditure per student in Bend=$8000; in Oregon=$10,000). And of course we need money just to keep things going on a day to day basis. Our teachers and staff are working for rock bottom salaries ($25 to $40 per month). They are doing their part in really hard conditions. Please remember if you donate there is no middle-man. The money contributed goes straight to the school (hey, its tax deductible too). And believe you me money goes a long way in India.

Please consider donating, or attending one of our Rise UP India events. Cheers and thanks.

Young student standing in front of her house in Bashardi Village

August 1 – Painting Party – Art Walk – Poet House – Bend Oregon

Art For India – Painting Party – August 1, 2008 – Poet House – Bend Oregon

Yes! Free, Free, FREE. Free is a very good price. Join RISE UP INDIA for a free art event. 20 local artists will throw it down on 40 feet of canvas. Mark it on your Art Walk map and stop by. It’ll be sick and you’ll be looking phat. This sort of event creates good Karma for everyone. So drop in and chill out on this important step to nirvana.

Peace Out

Click for Event Flier (.jpg)

Click For Event Flier (.pdf)

Click to link to Art For India Fundraiser

Hey yeah, if you didn’t know, now is the festival of San Fermin (the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain). It’s a big 11 day party where each morning about 8 am a bunch of bulls are released into the streets of Pamplona and run up to the bull fighting arena. Where, well, it’s a one way trip. And those mad Spaniards love it.

Click and Check it out

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Latest from the G8 Summit in Japan

Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon meets Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Singh is an economists and a Sikh. Sikhs don’t cut their hair. They wind it up on their head and wrap a turban around it. Singh is viewed as being very weak and controlled by the Congress party which in turn is controlled by Sonia Gandi (Rajiv Gandi’s widow).

Secretary-General Meets Prime Minister of India
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) meets with Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India.
Location: Sapporo, Japan	Date: 08 July 2008

Fourth of July – Greetings From Iraq

USA – Founded In War

May you have a happy and peaceful Fourth of July. Maybe take a moment and think of people less lucky than you. Think of where we’ve been and where we’re going. People have died, people are dieing, and people will continue to die everyday.

Remember it is never to late to RISE UP!

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“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”

Edward Abbey

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”

Edward Abbey