Regional Left Convergence: Presenters

Left to right: Danny Mayer, Michael Benton, Andres Cruz, Teri McGrath

Enku Ide presents on academia, capitalism, and tuition struggles

Occupanel: Brandon Absher, April Browning, Ian Epperson, Steven Burt

Janet Tucker, at right, presented the concluding film and discussion on Anne Braden. (Ramona Waldman, on left, is filming; we'll post her film when she's done with the editing.)

Regional Left Convergence

We're very excited about the Regional Left Convergence this Saturday. Come check it out! We predict a good turn-out locally as well as visitors from Louisville and from West Virginia and Ohio. Here's the latest schedule of events:

10am--Coffee and refreshments, introductions, ice-breaker

11am--Social/Media Panel, chaired by Craig Crowder
*Michael Benton, a humanities and film studies professor at Bluegrass Community and Technical College and a regular contributor to North of Center
*Andrés Cruz, editor and publisher of La Voz de Kentucky
*Danny Mayer, publisher of North of Center and an instructor at BCTC.
*Teri McGrath, writer, teacher, and activist in Lawton, Oklahoma and regular contributor to the Okie Magazine.

1:00--Lunch (free cajun food, including vegan option)

2:00pm--Fifteen-minute film presentation and discussion on historic civil rights struggles, chaired by Janet Tucker

3:00pm--Panel and break-out sessions on the struggle for affordable tuition, chaired by Enku Ide

4:00pm--Occupy Panel, chaired by Joan Braune
*Brandon Absher
(Brandon Absher teaches Philosophy at Indiana University Southeast and received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 2010. Brandon is a member of the NO BORDERS Collective in Louisville, KY and was involved in the early days of Occupy Louisville.)
*April Browning
(April Browning is a political activist and a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth as well as several other community based organizations. She is an active member of Occupy Lexington since Sept 29th 2011.)
*Steven Burt
(Steven Burt is a political science student at bctc and founder of bctc ssu. He is an occupy activist since september 29th.)
*Ian Epperson
(Ian Epperson is author of Love Songs for the Apocalypse and founder of Lexington Sustainability Fund. Occupy activist since Oct. 6th)


Spread the word and come when you can--this will be a fantastic event! It's free and open to the public--you don't have to be a student or a socialist to attend.

Thanks to everyone who helped us put this together, and a special thanks to the Committees of Correspondence's Fund for Intergenerational Dialogues, whose generous grant to make this event possible.

Flier design: Clayton Brown

Latest organizing

The semester is off to a great start for the U.K. SSU. We've already had a couple of planning meetings, and planning is in full swing for the Saturday, February 25 Regional Left Convergence. We are looking forward to gathering together with activists from around the region to discuss a range of topics, from the Occupy movement to the Immokalee workers, from learning from the history of the civil rights movement to contributing to struggles for affordable tuition. We are especially looking forward to meeting some activists with whom we have not been in touch as much as we'd like and sharing our stories of what organizing projects have worked for us, and possibly finding ways to collaborate in the future. It will be a great time--stay tuned for updates. If you haven't joined the Facebook group yet, please check it out: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/10175332735/. You can also contact me at standinsolidarity@yahoo.com for more info. --Joan