24 FRIDAY Last year on this, the biggest shopping day of the year, there were Buy Nothing Day anticonsumerism actions in over 30 countries. In Vancouver a gold-clad Mr. Materialism thanked shoppers for their enthusiastic spending, while in Kyoto a “Zenta” Claus sat meditating in the lotus position for eight hours on the city’s busiest shopping strip. The annual protest, started eight years ago by the Vancouver-based Adbusters Media Foundation, encourages spontaneous pranking and DIY street theater by whoever wants to participate–or you can simply buy nothing. It takes place all day today, all over the city and suburbs, and it is, of course, free. For more information call 800-663-1243 or visit www.adbusters.org.
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“We used to get a lot of people who were outraged and would say ‘How dare you!’” when Fur-Free Friday started 15 years ago, says Kay Sievers, director of Animal Rights Mobilization of Chicago, the local sponsor of the annual multicity antifur protest. These days, passersby occasionally join the leafleteers. “Fur has become an issue that has sunken into the public conscience. Sales are way down, but nowadays they’re selling a lot of things with fur trim.” Today’s free march–the largest such demonstration in the midwest–starts at noon at the northwest corner of State and Adams and proceeds north and east, concluding with a rally at the Water Tower, at Michigan and Chicago, around 1:30. Call 773-381-1181 for more.
When his mother died of cancer 15 years ago, Roger Marquette promised her he’d devote the rest of his life to helping the poor. That’s when he started Scattered Famines, Inc., an innovative job-creation program for disabled veterans and the homeless and a support system for their children. Future goals includelaunching a cafe and a gourmet butcher shop (to be called Corn Cob). In the meantime he’s looking for volunteers for odd jobs like picking up flowers from funeral homes for SFI workers to recycle as potpourri. He’ll discuss the groups activities tonight at 8 at the College of Complexes at the Lincoln Restaurant, 4008 N. Lincoln. Tuition is $3, plus a required purchase of food or drink. Call 312-326-2120 for more.
30 THURSDAY “We especially want our children–all children–to remember that more democracy is always a possibility if they are willing to carry on the precious heritage with vision, courage, and compassion,” write Harvard professors Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cornel West in the introduction to their new book, The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Country. In it, the pair profile 100 influential African-Americans from the past 100 years, from Booker T. Washington to Jimi Hendrix to Colin Powell, and argue that the U.S. would be a much different place without their contributions. West will discuss the book tonight at 7 in Mandel Hall at the University of Chicago’s Reynolds Club, 5706 S. University. It’s free; call 773-684-1300.
