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A Diversity Theme Film Festival, presented by WOLV-TV 70, will run from February 4 to April 6.  Films with multicultural, international, and diversity related themes will air every Thursday at 6:00pm on WOLV-TV channel 70.  Students, faculty, and staff are welcome to contribute ideas for selections; suggestions can be emailed to unreal@umich.edu.
 

The Blackness Blues-Time to Change the Tune is a Basement Arts production.
January 14 and 16 at 7:00 p.m. and Janury 15 at 8:00 p.m.
Arena Theatre in the Frieze Building.  Contact Dominique Morisseau at dfm@umich.edu.

Encompass: Many in One is a pan-ethnic cultural show and the kick-off event for the theme semester.
Saturday, January 16, at the Michigan Theatre, 8:00 p.m.
Tickets are available at the Michigan Union Ticket Office.  Both $5.50 and $7.50 seats are still available.

Camp Logan:  A World War I Drama is a theatrical drama based on the 1917 courts-martial of the Black soldiers fo the 24th infantry.  The play received the 1994 NAACP Image Award for Best Play.
Monday, January 18, in the Michigan Union Ballroom,  2:00 p.m.

Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan is a public debate presented by Academics for Affirmative Action and Social Justice and the College Republicans.
There will be an open microphone portion for audience participation.
Monday, January 18, at 7:00 p.m. in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union
 
Rethinking Racial Divides:  Asian Pacific Americans and the Law is a semester-long speakers series organized by the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association.  This month's panel features Leti Volpp and Anthony Farley, both professors of law, and is hosted jointed with a number of other students of color organizations.
Thursday, January 21.  For more details contact Marita Etcubanez at ricci@umich.edu.

Trying the System:  Lawyers and Racial Justice is a panel discussion featuring:  J. L. Chestnut, Jr., the first black lawyer in Selma,  Muneer Ahmad, staff attorney with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles; Marisa J. Demeo, Regional Counsel of the Washington, DC office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.  Mixing information with inspiration, this panel will provide a context to help students understand the role that lawyers and the law played in developing and sustaining the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and how activist lawyers continue to work to realize King's dreams and ideas in everyday life.
Monday, January 25, at 4:00 p.m. in Room 250 of Hutchins Hall at the Law School.

Mosaic Youth Theatre will be artists-in-residence at the Residential College.  They will perform their original play HeartBeat in the Trueblood Theatre on Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. and also give a free concert at the Residential College Auditorium on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
January 29-30.  Contact Kate Mendeloff at mendelof@umich.edu.

Arab-American Activism:  Bridges to the 21st Century is a conference open to all, featuring sessions on such topics as environmental discrimination, women's issues, student activism and media stereotypes.
January 29-31, at various campus locations.  Contact Arab.Student.Conference@umich.edu.

Acariciando el Linenzo:  Arte Contemporaneo Mexicano
(Caressing the Canvas - Contemporary Mexican Art) is an exhibit of the work of three Mexican artists, Claudia Hecht, Diana Guarneros, and Jorge Leguizamo.  The exhibit will be opened to the public with a reception Saturday, January 23, 1999 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
January 23–February 13 at the William Monroe Trotter House.  Contact Cynthia Ramirez at ramirezc@umich.edu
 

It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The University Housing at the University of Michigan is proud to sponsor a photo contest in conjuction with the University of Michigan's Diversity Theme Semester. Photos submitted for the contest should represent the following theme statement or be otherwise relevant to the Diversity Theme Semester.

Rules:  Entries will only be considered from persons affiliated with University Housing or Family Housing.  Photos (prints only) must be submitted on a 5 x 7 mount or larger. If desired, they may be titled.  Photos will be displayed on campus or in University of Michigan publications. As a result, release statements (available at the West Quadrangle front desk) must be signed and placed in an manila envelope (if
photo size permits) with the photo entry.  No age restriction. (release forms must be signed by parent or gauardian if under 18)  Photos must be turned into the West Quadrangle front desk by 5 p.m. February 12. Winners will be notified in March.

Questions? Contact Julian Vasquez Heilig at jheilig@umich.edu or 764-3773.

Submit either an essay or poetry piece on your Caribbean nationality/ethnic background and its impact on American minority history.  Essays should be 200-300 words in length, and poetry no more than one page.
 
Deadline: All submissions must be turned in by 5:00 p.m. on February 6,1999 to the
Caribbean People's Association (CPA) mailbox in the MSA office (3rd floor Michigan Union).
 

A prize of $300 will be awarded by the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies for the best original essay on any topic in Afroamerican, Caribbean, and/or African studies in each of two categories, undergraduate student and graduate student.

The competition is open to all University of Michigan undergraduates enrolled in a CAAS course during the Spring-Summer 1998, Fall 1998, or Winter 1999 terms, and to University of Michigan graduate students working on Afroamerican, Caribbean, or African topics.  Since CAAS is a multi-disciplinary program, the papers may be from a wide range of fields including, among others, anthropology, architecture, art, art history, health, journalism, law, literature, medicine, music, natural resources, nursing, policy studies, political science, psychology, social work, sociology, urban planning, and women's studies.  Papers written for courses are eligible.  The judges for the competition will be drawn from among the faculty and faculty associates of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies.

*  Essays should be no more than 6,000 words in length (approximately 30 pages).
*  They should be typed, double-spaced, on 8.5" by 11" paper (one original and two copies).
*  The title page should include name, anticipated date of graduation or candidacy status, address, and telephone.  Undergraduate entrants must also include the CAAS course in which they were or are enrolled during 1998-99.
*  Essays must be submitted to the CAAS office, 200 West Hall, no later than 5:00 P.M., Friday, March 12, 1999.  For further information, call 764-5513.
 

This annual competition is sponsored by Pi Lambda Phi; the winner receives a $1,000 scholarship at the awards dinner. The essay contest is open to all enrolled University students.  Entries may not exceed five pages, and will be judged by a panel of University faculty and administrators.  Essays must be received by March 19,1999.

In keeping with the values of Pi Lambda Phi, and the objectives of the theme semester, entrants are asked to respond to this question.

During the past century, many strides have been taken to increase understanding among socially diverse groups.  While this has benefited society as a whole, there still exists a vast ground for improvement.  That do you perceive as the next step necessary to dismantle the constricting walls of cultural ignorance?

From the Backyard to the Schoolyard:  Building Villages to Raise our Children
The 1999 Medstart Conference opening address will be given by Hedda Sharapan, Associate Producer of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and will feature a variety of workshops.  For example, Tracking and Inequality will look at how the structure of schooling in the US can lead to greater inequalities and unequal educational opportunities for some children; and consider statistics and research findings that challenge the idea of the US as an educational meritocracy.  For more information or to register contact Jennifer Preston at 663-6969 or prestoni@umich.edu
February 6 from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Dow Chemistry Building

Identities is an art exhibition organized by Kaleidoscope, the History of Art Undergraduate Student Club, with help from Amnesty International USA.  It explores issues of diversity and self-definition within our pluralistic world through the display of student artwork.
February 1-19 in the Pierpont Commons Atrium.  Contact Russell W. Jacobs at jacobsr@umich.edu

Bi-Weekly Luncheon Series, hosted by Housing in the residence halls, provides the opportunity to address theories and practices of human diversity.  Students and student groups will be invited to address topics relevant to the theme semester at a one-hour luncheons in the residence halls.
Thursday, February 11 and Thursday, February 25.  Contact Julian Vasquez Heilig at jheilig@umich.edu.

Acariciando el Linenzo:  Arte Contemporaneo Mexicano
(Caressing the Canvas - Contemporary Mexican Art) is an exhibit of the work of three Mexican artists, Claudia Hecht, Diana Guarneros, and Jorge Leguizamo.
January 23 – February 13 in the William Monroe Trotter House.  Contact Cynthia Ramirez at ramirezc@umich.edu

Aquarium is a dance performance featuring 22 students from our Dance Department in a complex exploration of Caribbean themes.  Choreography by Evelyn Velez-Aguayo, Peter Sparling, Gay Delanghe, and guest artist Cliff Keuter.  The jazz-inspired music is by Ed Sarath.
Februay 4, 5 and 6 at 8:00 p.m., and February 7 at 2:00, in the Power Center.

Chocolate on the Outside is a play written and directed by April Turner, founder of Life as Art, who also stars in this production.  It's about four African-American co-workers who set out for a team building retreat and become stranded in a snow-bound Appalacian cabin.  Following the performance, the actors will discuss the issues uncovered by the play.
February 9 at the Power Center.  Contact Lisa McRipley at lmcriple@umich.edu for more details.

CaribFest 99  Shining through our Heritage is a joint effort by the Caribbean Peoples Association, African Students Association, Alianza, Cuban Students Association, Puerto Rican Student Association, and Indian American Student Association.  Each group will provide a speaker from different disciplines; students will contribute to poetry readings, dance and drama productions, and art exhibits.
February 13 in the Stockwell Residence Hall Blue Carpet Lounge.  Contact Venetia Barnes at vmbarnes@engin.umich.edu.

Olga Loya is a world renown bilingual storyteller from California.  She has performed at conferences around the United States and Mexico, has been the featured storyteller at festivals, and teaches the art of storytelling.  Loya's work is available in recordings and in her book Momentos Magicos, Magic Moments: A Collection of Fifteen Stories from Latin America.
February 13 in the East Quad.  Contact Veronica Sanchez at ronnysan@umich.edu.
 
RHA MOVIES will be showing a diversity-theme film each night at 7:00 p.m.  Here's the schedule--click on!
 

This annual competition is sponsored by Pi Lambda Phi; the winner receives a $1,000 scholarship at the awards dinner. The essay contest is open to all enrolled University students.  Entries may not exceed five pages, and will be judged by a panel of University faculty and administrators.  Essays must be received by March 19,1999.

In keeping with the values of Pi Lambda Phi, and the objectives of the theme semester, entrants are asked to respond to this question.

During the past century, many strides have been taken to increase understanding among socially diverse groups.  While this has benefited society as a whole, there still exists a vast ground for improvement.  That do you perceive as the next step necessary to dismantle the constricting walls of cultural ignorance?

Bi-Weekly Luncheon Series, hosted by Housing in the residence halls, provides the opportunity to address theories and practices of human diversity.  Students and student groups will be invited to address topics relevant to the theme semester at a one-hour luncheons in the residence halls.
Thursday, March 11 and Thursday, March 25.  Contact Julian Vasquez Heilig at jheilig@umich.edu.

Brenda Flanagan is a playwright and award-winning author of You Alone are Dancing.  She is an alumna of our University who received three Hopwood awards.  Flanagan will discuss a collection of her short stories, In Praise of Older Women and Other Crimes, read selections from her work in progress, and share her background and experiences as an artist.  Hear about her odyssey from Trinidad to her current professorship at Davidson College in North Carolina.  Contact Sheryl Manning at sherylmanning@hotmail.com
Thursday, March 11, at 8:00 p.m. in Hale Auditorium of the Business School
Friday, March 12 at noon in the CEW Conference Room

bell hooks will speak at the invitation of the Housing Diversity Committee.  She is the author whose works include Teaching to Transgress: Education As the Practice of Freedom Black Looks, Race and Representation, and Ain't I A Woman : Black Women and Feminism.  There will be a public reception for her, and a book signing at 6:30 following her talk.   (NOTE:  The unusual hour is because Gloria Steinem is speaking that night at 7:30 p.m. in the Michigan Theater.)
March 11 at 5:30 p.m. in the Rackham Auditorium.  Contact Ann Pham for full details at annpham@umich.edu.

Elvia Alvarado is a peasant leader and political activist from Honduras, and author of the best-selling book Don't Be Afraid Gringo.  She'll speak about her experiences.
For more details, contact Lucy Arellano at larellan@umich.edu.
Saturday, March 13, from noon until 2:00 p.m. in Kuenzel Room at the Michigan Union

Race in Black and White:  Different Perspectives from Recent Research
Join authors Abigail Thernstrom (America in Black and White), Tamar Jacoby (Someone Else’s House), and James Jackson (New Directions in Thinking About Race in America:  African Americans in a Diversifying Nation) as they present their views and then take questions from the audience.  Sponsored by Dialogues on Diversity.
Tuesday, March 16, 1999 at 4:00 p.m. in the Rackham Auditorium

Tohono O'odham (Pima) Native American music will be presented by Esther and Jake Escalante as part of the course Popular Culture and Multicultural Practices.  Ms. Escalante works for the Dallas/Fort Worth school district in multicultural education and her brother is Chief of the O'odham in Arizona.  They will demonstrate the music, waila, and discuss its role as dance music, and the use of borderland instrumentation.  For more information contact James Standifer at jstand@umich.edu.
Wednesday, March 17, at 3:00 p.m. in the Atrium of the C.C. Little Building.

Sones de Mexico is Chicago's premier folk musical ensemble, specializing in a rich Mexican tradition.  They will be here for a concert and educational seminar, sponsored by Alizanza Latino/a.  For more information contact Veronica Sanchez (rannysan@umich.edu) or Diana Derige (dderige@umich.edu).
March 19, concert in the Pendleton Room, Michigan Union, 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
March 20, educational workshop in the Kuenzel Room Michigan Union at 2:00 p.m.

Coloring Outside the Lines:  Third Annual Conference on the Mixed Experience is sponsored by the Minority Marrow Donor Coalition and by the Mixed Initiative, an interest group for students who identify as bi/multiracial, multi-ethnic, and/or transracially adopted.  There will be a keynote speaker and sessions on a variety of topics.  The MMDC will be make a presentation and draw blood for the national registry.
Saturday, March 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Michigan League.   For more information contact Summer Del Prete at sdelpre@umich.edu.

Christopher Paul Curtis, winner of the Hopwood and Newberry awards, and author of The Watsons Go to Birmingham, will talk about his writing in two different venues while here on campus.  Both events are free and open to the public (with co-sponsorship from the Isenberg Fund, the Hopwood Room and the Residential College).
Tuesday, March 23, at noon in the Humanities Institute and
   2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Residential College Auditorium

Before the Bleach Gets Us All:  Our National Retreat from Affirmative Action--What Are Our Responsibilities? Michelle Fine is Professor of Psychology at the City University of New York, Graduate Center.  Her recent books include The Unknown city (with Lois Weis, 1998), Becoming Gentlemen (with Lani Guinier, 1997), Off-White Readings on Society, Race and Culture (with Linda Powell, Lois Weis, and Mun Wong, 1996), and Beyond Silenced Voices:  Class, Race and Gender in American Schools (with Lois Weis, 1992).  She has provided courtroom expert testimony in numerous cases involving equity in education.  In addition, she works nationally as a consultant to parents’ groups, community groups and teacher unions on issues of school reform.  Sponsored by Dialogues on Diversity  and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
Wednesday, March 24, at 7:00 p.m., Vandenberg Room in the Michigan League

Academic Service Learning as a Responsible Alternative for Language Instruction:  Communication, Culture and Community in Southwest Detroit
Ligaya Figueras is a doctoral student in the Department of Romance
Languages and Literatures.  For the past year and a half she has been
researching, developing and implementing a service learning curriculum for
Spanish learners at the University of Michigan.  The program develops a partnership between the Hispanic community of SW Detroit and the Universtiy of Michigan
Tuesday, March 30, at noon in the fourth floor commons of the Modern Languages Building 
 

Enrique Chagoya, in The Politics of Humor, will discuss the diverse uses of humor
throughout his work, including painting, graphic arts, video and bookmaking.  At
times, his art reflects Mexican traditions of political satire; in other examples,
complex concerns lurk behind his rowdy, cartoon-like style.   Chagoya is an assistant
professor in the Stanford University Department of Art.  His work presents a cultural
fusion of the artist's experience and interests, including pre-Columbian mythology,
western religious iconography and American popular culture.  For more information
contact Daniel Reich at 763-7618 or dreich@umich.edu
Thursday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the apse of the University of Michigan
Museum of Art

Tanure Ojaide, Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Ogoni, and the Imperative of Struggle in Nigeria
Prof. Ojaide, poet and Professor of African Literature at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, is currently writing a biography of Saro-Wiwa.  He will address the political and literary legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa--the Ogoni poet and activist executed on November 10, 1995 by the Abacha regime in Nigeria. Before his death, Saro-Wiwa had campaigned in Nigeria and internationally for the recognition of political rights for the Ogoni people as well as other ethnic groups in the oil-rich areas of southern Nigeria.
Monday, April 5 at 4:00 p.m. in 214 West Hall (the CAAS Conference Room)

Bi-Weekly Luncheon Series, hosted by Housing in the residence halls, provides the opportunity to address theories and practices of human diversity.  Students and student groups will be invited to address topics relevant to the theme semester at a one-hour luncheons in the residence halls.
Thursday, April 8.  Contact Julian Vasquez Heilig at jheilig@umich.edu.

An Evening with Ellen DeGeneres:  Speaking Honestly is a presented by Laughtrack, part of the University Activities Center, with support from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organization, and Dialogues on Diversity.  This is a special event:  not one of the performer's comedy routines, but a questions-and-answer session with the audience. Tickets available at MUTO starting Monday, March 15:  $12 students, $15 non-students, $50 special pass to show and reception at Michigan League afterwards.
Thursday, April 8 at 8:00 p.m. in Hill Auditorium.  For more information call UAC at 763-1107.

The Islamic Cultural Show can be found on the web site of the Muslim Students Association.  For more information contact Diba Rab at diba@umich.edu.
Thursday, April 8 at 7:00 p.m. in the League Ballroom 

Lowell Komie, author of the novel The Last Jewish Shortstop in America will be speaking for one of the theme semester courses, English 383:  Constructing
Jewish American Literature.  All are welcome to attend this session.
Tuesday, April 20, at 1:00 p.m. in 2402 Mason Hall

Dances for Elleggua will be performed by Ann Arbor Dance Works, and features traditional folkloric dances of the Afrocuban Lucumi (Santeria) tradition, choreographed by Cuban dancer Danis Perez.  For more information contact Robin Wilson at 763-9141.
Friday, April 23, at 8:00 p.m. in the Betty Pease Studio Theater
Saturday, April 24, at 2:00 p.m. in the Betty Pease Studio Theater