Well, if last week’s theme was activism and art, I guess this week’s theme would have to be activism and beer.  Yup, there will be plenty of opportunities this week to have a cold one while chatting with fellow activists, but there should be a lot of opportunities to get involved for the teetotalers amongst us as well.  Everybody wins!

Also, I’ve gotten a fair amount positive feedback on the weekly events messages, so I probably will continue something like it during the year.  Unfortunately, facebook won’t let me drop “for summer ’08” from the name, so don’t be shocked when I send you a friend request in the next few days (if we’re not already friends).  I won’t be offended if you ignore it, but accepting it will make it easier for me to invite you when I create a more permanent version of this group.    

This week’s events:

Monday, July 28, 6:30 to 7:30: The first opportunity for drinking & activism will be tonight at the Young Democrats of Greater St. Louis Monthly membership meeting.  The meeting will be at the Laclede Street Grill.  More info is here.

Tuesday, July 29: I couldn’t find a whole lot of activism events per se going on for Tuesday, but the St. Louis Art Museum continues their series on famous civil rights photographer and “Shaft” director Gordon Parks with a gallery talk by photojournalist Wiley Price of the St. Louis American.  The talk is at 11 AM starting at the information center.  More info is at this link.

Wednesday, July 30:  Join the Latin American Forum for a showing and discussion of “The Revolution Will Not be Televised” at 7 PM at the Oak Bend Branch Library, 842 South Holmes Avenue.  More info here .

Thursday, July 31 The Grand Opening of the St. Louis Obama Campaign for Change office in St. Louis is from 5 PM to 7 PM.  They’ll be passing out free buttons and letting people know how they can get more involved in the campaign.  Details are here.  Also, I hear that Obama is kicking off a tour of rural Missouri next Wednesday; is it possible that he would be stopping by St. Louis on Thursday for the HQ opening?  Probably not, but hey, one can always speculate.

Also Thursday, after the Grand Opening or after work, you should come hang out with the people who liked the combination of drinking and activism so much, they made it an end in itself.  The monthly meeting of  St. Louis chapter of Drinking Liberally will be at the Royale, 3132 South Kingshighway, from 6 PM on.  You can join the Drinking Liberally facebook group by going here.

Friday, August 1st: Come to St. Louis’s worker-owned collective Black Bear Bakery for an opening of the art exhibit “Resistance”, featuring work from St. Louis and international artists.  The event starts at 7 PM and you can find more information at this link.

Also Friday, the St. Louis Art Museum is showing a documentary about the aforementioned Gordon Parks.  The movie, “Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks” will be at 7 PM in the museum’s auditorium.

Saturday, August 2: Starting at 8 AM at the Schlafly Tap Room, come check out the SchlaFlea Market to pick up some good stuff and get rid of the things you don’t need! The event is in conjunction with Goodwill and is designed to promote reuse and recycling.  Of course, beer will be available.  For more details, go to the Schlafly site.

Also Saturday, a couple bannering events:  CODEPINK St. Louis will be at the Soulard Market for a couple hours starting at noon (dress in pink!), and St. Louis Speaksout will be at the Animals Always sculpture outside the St. Louis Zoo from 2 PM to 4 PM .

Also Saturday , for people infinitely more daring than myself, is the St. Louis version of the World Naked Bike Ride.  The event is designed to (1) protest our oil dependency (2) promote a comfortable body image, (3) raise awareness of cyclists in a motor driven world and (4) promote exercise.  I’m fairly confident that (3) will be achieved.  You can find the details here.

And finally on Saturday evening, you can party with Planned Parenthood over at Just Johns starting at 9 PM.  The event features a drag show and will be at 4112 Manchester Avenue. Details here.

That’s all for now; have a fun and meaningful week,

Adam