VSA Arts Display at Appleton Public Library

VSA Arts of Wisconsin, Paintings and Sculpture will be on display at the Appleton Public Library’s first floor exhibit space from January 2-February 27. This traveling exhibit contains award-winning artwork by Wisconsin adults with disabilities. Admission is free. The exhibit is open to the public during Library business hours.

Contact Reference and Information Services for further information at 920-832-6173

Legislative Advocacy Forum

Do you ever wonder how bills become law? Do you ever wonder how you can influence the legislation that is proposed? Well, if so, this event is for you!

Legislative Advocacy Forum
January 26, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
140 S. Green Bay Road, Neenah

The event is sponsored by ESTHER, a Fox Valley Interfaith Justice Organization, Citizen Action Wisconsin and the Association of Retired Americans. Forbes McIntosh, with Government Policy Solutions in Madison, will be our guest speaker and he will describe the legislative process. That will be followed by a panel of four area legislators who will talk about how we should contact them and how we can get to know them. They will then answer questions about legislation.

The Forum is free and open to the public.

Question? Email esther.foxvalley@gmail.com or call Connie Raether at 920-832-8990.

18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Monday, Jan. 19

APPLETON, WIS. -- A diversity scholar who believes in the power of turning dreams into reality will be the keynote speaker at the Fox Cities annual celebration honoring the man whose own dreams changed the United States.

Bola Delano-Oriaran will examine the question of what is each person's purpose in the world at the 18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Monday, Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lawrence University Memorial Chapel. The theme for this year's event is "Beyond Dr. King's Dream: Next Steps."

The celebration, co-sponsored by Lawrence University and Toward Community: Unity in Diversity, is free and open to the public. The Post-Crescent and WFRV-TV are media partners for the event.

Rev. Roger Bertschausen, who helped found the MLK celebration in 1992 and continues to serve in planning the annual event, calls Delano-Oriaran "someone who has made a real difference in the Fox Cities.

"I am excited to have Bola Delano-Oriaran keynoting this year's event," said Bertschausen, pastor at Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship church. "In her work with students as well as her work with our community, she has promoted and exemplified Dr. King's dream."

An assistant professor of education at St. Norbert College, Delano-Oriaran shares her message of understanding the richness and value of diversity in society in a high-energy presentation. Ever since she organized a fund-raiser for a disabled homeless man as a 13-year-old in her native Nigeria, Delano-Oriaran has advocated the importance of each person's role in building a better community and world.

Delano-Oriaran saw her own dream of a place where all people could gather to celebrate their individual identities and experiences realized with the creation of the Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center in 2004.

Her efforts on behalf of diversity issues and community change have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Rotary Club of Appleton Charles and Patricia Heeter Outstanding Community Leadership Award and the St. Norbert College Bishop Robert F. Morneau Community Service Award. In 2000, the Wisconsin State Human Relations Association presented her with an Outstanding Human Relations Educator Award.

Highlighting the celebration will be the presentation by Toward Community of the annual Jane LaChapelle McCarty Unity in Diversity Award to an area individual who has made great strides in bringing different people in the community together. Delano-Oriaran was a recipient herself of this award in 2004.

"This year's celebration occurs the eve before the inauguration of the first African-American president in U. S. history," said Kathy Flores, chair of the MLK committee and a member of Toward Community. "Not only is this an exciting time, it truly is a realization of Dr. King's dream. I am excited to come together with citizens of the Fox Cities to hear Bola Delano-Oriaran share her vision of how we as a people can move forward together into the future and into the next steps of Dr. King."

The MLK celebration also will include music performances by the Kaukauna High School Concert Choir and Lawrence sophomore Isake Smith. Area students will read their winning essays addressing the question "Beyond Dr. King's Dream: Next Steps" as part of the celebration.

"This celebration is truly another example of how a community, sharing similar yet different cultural values, can come together and pay tribute to a dream, dreamt by many," said Mohammed Bey, acting assistant dean for multicultural affairs at Lawrence. "It is has been inspiring to witness the level of participation from the community for this event."

A sign language interpreter will be present for the program and a reception for all in attendance will follow.

NEW World Cinema - Winter/Spring series

Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center & Wisconsin Public Radio Present

NEW World Cinema

Fox Cinema Café, 400 Third Street, Menasha
All movies have English subtitles
Tickets: $5, Show Times - 7:00 PM
At each screening, a moderator will introduce the movie and facilitate a discussion at the conclusion of the film.

January 25 & 26
After the Wedding
(Denmark)
2006 120 min Rated R
Director: Susanne Bier
The orphanage which Jacob runs in India is threatened for closure. He receives an offer from a Danish businessman Jørgen, who offers him a donation of four million dollars with conditions that Jacob returns to Denmark and take part in the wedding of Jørgen's daughter. The wedding proves to be the most intense dilemma of Jacob’s life.

Awards:

• Academy Awards 2007 (Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film)
• Bodil Awards 2007 (Best Supporting Actor)
• Festróia - Tróia Int. Film Festival 2007 (Best Director, Best Actor)
• Rouen Nordic film Festival 2007 ( Best Actress)
• European Film Award 2006 (Nominated for Best Director & Best Actor)

February 22 & 23
Volver
(Spain)
2006 121 min Rated R
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Raimunda (Penelope Cruz in a stunning performance), who lives in Madrid with her daughter and drunk husband, visits her aunt Paula in the village in La Mancha where she lost her parents in a fire years ago. Paula continues to speak about her sister Irene, Raimunda’s mother, as if she were still alive. When the old aunt dies the past returns in a twist of mystery and suspense.

Awards:

• Academy Awards 2007 (Nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role)
• Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards 2007 (Best Foreign Film)
• Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 2007 (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress)
• Czech Lions 2007 (Best Foreign Language Film)
• BAFTA Awards 2007 (Nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role)
• Cannes Film Festival 2006 (Best Actress & Best Screenplay)

March 29 & 30
A Good Hearted Daughter-in-law
(Hmong)
2008 116 min Rated NR
Director: Abel Vang
After the death of her husband and two sons, Va Cha returns to the northern lands of her husband’s clan. One daughter-in-law decides to follow her into a marginal village existence in a steeply patriarchal society. Inspired by the biblical story of Ruth, it is a tale of two widows bounded by loss and love.
Note: The Hmong National Development, Inc will hold its 14th Hmong National Conference here in Appleton from April 3-5, 2009. NEW World Cinema is very proud to be a part of it by screening this film at the dawn of this conference.

April 26 & 27, 2009
In the Name of God
(Pakistan)
2007 168 min Rated R
Director: Shoaib Mansoor
Since 9/11 the Muslims are caught up in an unfortunate situation. There is a war going on between the fundamentalists and the liberals Muslims, creating a rift not only between the western world and the Muslims but also within the Muslim community. Educated and modern Muslims, because of their approach towards life, are harassed by the fundamentalists -- and on the other hand, the western world sees them as potential suspects of terrorism.

Awards:

• Asian First Film Festival 2008 (Best Cinematography)

ESTHER Advocacy Training

Make Your Voice Heard!
2nd Annual Advocacy Training

Monday, January 26th; 6:30 - 8:00 pm
St. Mark Lutheran Church
140 South Green Bay Road, Neenah, WI

Join local Representatives and Senators, along with Forbes McIntosh of Government Policy Solutions, in a lively discussion on why it is important for citizens to get involved in the legislative process as well as how to get involved.

• Learn the basics of the legislative process
• Find out who you need to contact about issues of concern
• Discover methods to get your voice heard to create lasting change

State and federal laws affect and protect us all. Join us for this training.
Event is free and open to the public. Questions? Contact us: esther.foxvalley@gmail.com

Directions: Take Highway 41 to Winneconne Exit into Neenah. Turn left onto S. Green Bay Road.St. Mark's Lutheran Church will be on your right.

Advocacy program sponsored by ESTHER, an interfaith social justice organization in the Fox Valley, Alliance for Retired Americans ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens, and Citizen Action of Wisconsin, organizing people to make Wisconsin a better place to live and work.

Please feel free to pass this information out to the general public.

Stephanie Gyldenvand
ESTHER Organizer
(920) 216-0891

Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center Open House

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008
6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.

Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center
128 North Oneida Street
Appleton, WI 54911

Highlights

• Honor Roll of Donors
• Honor Roll of Volunteers
• Meet our Upward Bound Program Family with Craig Baker
• Visit the American Indian Center with Lisa Hurst
• Enjoy delightful conversations with Harmony Café Staff & Shannon Kenevan
• Meet & Greet our member organizations
• Experience community dialogue with various individuals
• Refreshments….

For more information, please contact Aditee Shet.

NEW Wolrd Cinema - Joyeux Noël

France 2005 Director: Christian Carion, rated PG-13
November 30 & December 1, 2008, 7:00 PM
Fox Cinema, 400 3rd Street, Menasha
Ticket $5

In 1914, World War I, the bloodiest war was well under way. However on Christmas Eve, numerous sections of the Western Front called an informal, and unauthorized, truce where the various front-line soldiers of the conflict peacefully met each other in No Man's Land to share a precious pause in the carnage with a fleeting brotherhood. This film dramatizes one such section as the French, British and German sides partake in the unique event, even though they are aware that their superiors will not tolerate its occurrence.

Thia film was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 2006.

What do the reviewers say …

• “The story speaks to universal human emotions that transcend country and culture”. – Robert Butler (Kansas City Star)
• “Today's audience might find it hard to believe soldiers could shoot each other one day and play soccer together the next. Alas, this happened and Carion's screenplay is smart enough to make us believe ... even in the 21st century”. – Forrest Hartman (Reno Gazette)
• “A remarkable episode in the bloody history of what is still referred to - with increasingly sickening irony -- as the war to end all wars.'” – John Beifuss (Commercial appeal, Memphis)
• “It's a marvelously entertaining history lesson -- glossy, emotional and touching” – Roger Moore (Orlando Sentinel)