1Sky and MAU: Partnership in Activist Art and Community Fun!

Exciting stuff has been happening! Obama will head off to Copenhagen tomorrow to participate in a "political agreement" that will set the stage for an international climate treaty sometime in 2010. In order to send a message, MAU and many other volunteer organizations around the country created works of art to express our support for strong climate legislation here in the U.S. and internationally. The Tempe MAU community created a 3-D sculpture project out of all-natural materials. It displays Obama in the center and play-dough renditions of all the individuals in our community who surround him with our hope and support. Others made oversized banners and beautiful drawn art. 1Sky held a presentation ceremony for all of our artwork at Civic Space Park in Phoenix. Check out the photos!

You can also check out the video from the presentation of art projects at the White House.



Thank you to everyone who participated in the creation of the art. Thank you to the Wieses for throwing the art party and letting us use your space for messy art making. Special thanks to Ashley Lauth of 1Sky who invited us to be part of this project, and supported us along the way.

International Day of Climate Action

Josh, Aurora & I are at the bottom of the 3.

If you don't know, 350ppm is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere (to avoid catastrophic climate change). The amount that is in the earth's atmosphere right now is ~390ppm. Yikes! That's not even counting the amount of other greenhouse gases like methane.

Yesterday, Josh, Aurora & I attended one of over 4,000 events taking place worldwide to bring attention to the issue of climate change. We marched up Tempe Butte and then marched down to the AZ Capitol building to tell our reps that we want policy action on climate change NOW.

If you would like to send a similar message, please visit 1sky.org (to sign the petition) or just sit down today and write a letter to your representatives.

Here are their addresses:

Senator John McCain
4703 South Lakeshore Drive Suite 1
Tempe, AZ 85282

Senator Jon Kyl
2200 East Camelback, Suite 120
Phoenix, Arizona 85016-3455

Congressman Harry Mitchell
7201 East Camelback Road, Suite 335
Scottsdale, Arizona 85251

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500


Thank you all for your support!

warmth,
Alix

Playdate with a Purpose

This is a great video to give everyone an idea of what MAU is all about. This is what our events usually look like: lots of food, laughter, kids running around, and a bit of activism. I like when Juliana Forbes says, "If I have to get a babysitter to do my activism, it's just not going to happen." This is what mother-activism looks like.

The Playdate: Mothers Acting Up and 1 Sky from Kemi Ingram on Vimeo.

Upcoming Events

I am reposting the link to our Fall Calendar of Events as a reminder of our upcoming evetns.

Next...

October 28: Love your Body Day on ASU campus. Hayden Lawn 10-4pm



November 3: Election Night Pizza Party at Leslyn's house 6pm

Keep checking the blog for updates. See you there!

~Alix

Our Stand Up, Take Action Event

Our day of action to eradicate world poverty was a success. We had 11 people stand up as part of the international campaign to support the Millenium Davelopment Goals. The event will reach its goal of 116+ million participants. Thank you to everyone who participated.

We wrote 8 letters to the president, senators, and congressman about children's issues. I had the opportunity to read some of your letters, and the leaders of this country would have to be made of stone to not be touched by your remarkable words. Thank you again!

We finished the event by standing up, literally, against poverty. You can watch the video below to see how well your kids stood in solidarity. It was Awesome! Everyone at the park that day took notice of this group of kids who were writing letters and holding signs about social justice. This community is lucky to have so many smart and amazing kids!

Congratulations to Prakash who won the contest for the most amount of trash picked up in five minutes.

You will need a flash player to watch the video.



A few more thank yous: Thank you to Josh who helped me through every step of this event. Thanks to the Zellos! for being amazingly cool. Thank you to Laxmi and Mia for making the posters so beautiful. Thanks Getemesay and Laxmi for writing those special letters. Thank you to everyone who participated online.

Our Visit to Harry Mitchell's Office

Our meeting with Ardralyn (the District Aide) was a success! Leslyn, Josh, Prakash, Laxmi, Aurora and I delivered a letter to Harry Mitchell asking him to support the Emergency Presidential Initiave for the World's Children and fully fund programs for orphans and vulnerable children. We took in posters that the kids helped me make with the Millenium Development Goals on them. We told stories about being moms/dads/teachers/nurses and how we became advocates for children. Adralyn was very sympathetic to our requests, and she encouraged us to stay in touch with her in the future about any of our campaigns.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this fieldtrip. It was very cool to have the kids with us, soaking up the civic action. This was a great kick off for our weekend event: Stand Up, Take Action, which will focus our energies around the Millenium Development Goals and particularly foreign aid that prioritizes CHILDREN.

Please come on Saturday to be counted with millions of others who will stand up against extreme poverty. If you can't make it, participate online @ http://www.standagainstpoverty.org.

Thank you all again for signing the letter to Mitchell or attending the meeting today.

warmth,
Alix

THIS SATURDAY!

Don't stand by, STAND UP, TAKE ACTION!

Hello all,

Let's start thinking about the International Day for the Eradication of World Poverty. I would like to host a rally at Hudson Park so we can all stand up against poverty. This will be Saturday, October 17th 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Please mark your calendars!

The purpose of this post is to gather ideas:

What would you like to do with your families and community on this day?
How can we take action (community service, letter writing campaign, etc)?
Should we have a stilt-making workshop beforehand, so we can get really big on behalf of the world's children?

For more ideas, please visit: http://standagainstpoverty.org
and http://www.care.org/stand

I would like your thoughts. I know that we are all very busy, so let's keep the discussion going on our blog.

thanks,
Alix

MAU Fieldtrip to see District Aide Adralyn Wendel

Hello MAUs,

I am so excited to report that we have a chance to meet with Adralyn Wendel, the eyes and ears of Congressman Harry Mitchell. The Congressman is very busy in Washington, so Adralyn will meet with us in Scottsdale, and take our message back to him. The meeting will be during the week of Tempe School District's Fall break, so the kids are all invited to attend.

We can talk beforehand about exactly what our message will be, whether it is about the discretionary budget or the millenium develpoment goals etc. We can also prepare, with the help of our kids, some visual aids such as a poster with the discretionary budget pie chart clearly displayed. Please, let me know if you have any cool ideas, and let's really try to get our kids involved. Explain to them what a congressman does and ask them what they would tell their congressman.

The meeting will take place Thursday October 15, 10:00-10:30 AM at Mitchell's AZ headquarters. We can meet at Leslyn's house 9see map below) at 9:15 AM to carpool from there. Please RSVP before October 7th by emailing or calling me: Alix 480.529.3865 or tempe@mothersactingup.org.


View Harry Mitchell's Office in a larger map

Its Time to Tell McCain!

Obama promised us 1.7 million clean energy jobs.

The national unemployment rate will be announced this Friday, and MoveOn.org is seizing this opportunity to support the prposed bill for clean energy jobs. We will be staging a symbolic "unemployment line" outside of John McCain's district office. To sign up for the rally, please follow this link.

I don't have to tell you all how important it is that our leaders get started on a plan for a greener future RIGHT NOW. In my opinion, climate change and peak oil are the two most pressing issues facing this generation of Americans. Without a concerted effort to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels, we will face drastic environmental consequences within our lifetime, and our children just won't have a chance.

Please join me this Friday (October 2) at 12:00 noon at McCain's office.


View Friday October 2nd in a larger map

After the rally we can debrief and relax at Steve's Espresso as planned. However, we will meet there at 1:00PM instead of 5:00PM (as it says on your MAU calendars). I hope that this does not inconvenience anyone. Please let me know if you can make it. I have updated our Fall Calendar of Events to reflect the changes.

peace.

"LIVE" Film Screening: The Age of Stupid

I just wanted to share this with you all:



On Monday, September 21, MoveOn members in the Tempe area have a special opportunity to watch the one-night-only premiere of an important new film called The Age of Stupid.

The film is a powerful "docudrama" set in the year 2055, after global warming has done massive damage to humanity. Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite stars as a historian who "looks back" on real footage from 2008 to try to answer the question, "why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance?"

In addition to the movie, the theater will simulcast a Hollywood-style premiere event from New York City.

You can purchase advance tickets by clicking here:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=53440

You'll get so much more than just a great movie. The premiere event, simulcast live from a solar-powered tent in New York City to over 700 theaters in the U.S. and 50 other countries, will feature such celebrities as Gillian Anderson, Heather Graham, and Moby.

Also, MTV's Gideon Yago will interview Nobel Peace Prize recipient Kofi Annan, environmental scientist James Hansen, and The Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong. Ending the night will be a special, acoustic performance by Radiohead's Thom Yorke.

The Age of Stupid was number one at the box office in the U.K. this spring, and this one-night event is poised to break the Guinness World Record for biggest simultaneous film screening. You can watch the trailer here:http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51921&id=17229-17193136-zHA.X0x&t=1

Movie Night: Saturday Sept 19: 7 PM

War Dance

Join us for an inspirational film and family social. War Dance was nominated for an Academy Award and Sundance's Grand Jury Award. In this film, three children living in a displacement camp in northern Uganda compete in their country's national music and dance festival. The film is rated PG-13. We will have an alternative children's movie on at the same time for the kiddos to enjoy.

As always, we like to potluck. So bring a snack or drink if you can.

Movie nights give us a great chance to catch up with one another, share stories, and plan for our next MAU event. If you haven't seen our Fall Calendar of Events, please follow the link to download a copy for your refrigerator.

This movie night will be at my home at 7 PM on Saturady September 19th. The address is 1216 E Vista Del Cerro Dr Apt. 2064, Tempe, AZ 85281. Follow this link for a detailed map.
Call 480.529.3865 if you get lost.

See you all there!

Our Potluck at the Park

Our welcoming social and potluck was a great success. Watching the MAU movies with our families was more than inspirational, it sparked some great conversations, too. As an MAU community, we have planned some gatherings over the next few months. For a look at the complete schedule, download the Tempe MAU Fall Calendar. Reminders of upcoming events will be posted on our blog at least one week in advance.

Thank you to everyone who attended our welcoming event! We met a few new faces and had a jolly time despite the heat. The food was delicious, so thank you to everyone who brought a dish!

MAU is privileged to have so many amazing people on our side. We look forward to seeing you all again.

Presenting MAU Event

Please join us for a potluck at the splash park to welcome Mothers Acting Up to Tempe. Mothers Acting Up (MAU) is a mother-led, mother-fed movement to prioritize children in our public and corporate policies. This is a great opportunity to meet other fabulous mothers* and to plug into some positive community action. We will watch a short film about MAU, share healthful snacks, and discuss possible actions. Please bring your family and a dish to share. Kids, please bring your swim suits.
There will be door prizes!* mothers and others who advocate for the world's children

Location: Hudson Park

1430 S. Cedar St.

Tempe, AZ 85281

When: Sunday, August 30, 2009

5:00-7:00PM

Host: Alix Monty, 480.529.3865

website: http://www.mothersactingup.org/
email: tempe@mothersactingup.org

The MAU Vision: We realize that we live in a world that does not prioritize or protect our children's wellbeing and that this will not change without each of us finding the courage and commitment to speak out on their behalf. By mobilizing our gigantic political strength, we can ensure the health, education and safety of every child, not just a privileged few. Let us: whisper this to each other, sing it out in the streets, yell it from our rooftops, declare it in our houses of government: we will protect our children with our personal and political strength, wherever they live on earth!

Find Your Inner Grizzly

Mother's Day Proclamation

STAND UP and TAKE ACTION 2009

Dear President Obama, Please stand up for the world's children!