Food, Politics, Comedy & More at the 2019 Ozy Fest

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Category: Other Festivals

Published on Wednesday, 10 July 2019 17:40

Written by Brad Balfour

Two days in NYC packed with a little something for everybody, the Ozy Fest encompases cooking, film making, comedy, politics, and more. Held in Central Park on July 20 and 21, Ozy Fest bills itself as a multipurpose festival that celebrates creativity and interactivity. Now in its fourth year, this year’s festival includes guests such as:

• Spike Lee
• Trevor Noah
• Rachel Ray
• Malcolm Gladwell
• Padma Lakshmi
• Mark Cuban
• Tove Lo
• Ronny Chieng

Political guests include Democratic hopeful Beto O’Rourke, New York’s junior US Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, and politician and lawyer Stacey Abrams. For those looking for culinary pursuits to follow, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry will be conducting a live discussion, as will Marcus Samuelsson, the first White House guest chef for former president Barack Obama, along with a wealth of booths from NYC restaurants and cooking workshops..

To learn more, go to: https://www.ozy.com/ozyfest

Ozy Fest
July 20 - 21, 2019

Central Park
New York, NY

The Blue Wave Festival: Food, Fun, & Turning the House

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Category: Other Festivals

Published on Monday, 27 August 2018 16:13

Written by Brad Balfour

The Blue Wave Festival is on it’s way to help people learn what they can do to  take back NY and America from Republican control this November. Being held September 6 at the LGBTQ Center (208 W 13th St) in Manhattan, and the Irondale Center (85 South Oxford St.) in Brooklyn, the festival features activities including voter registration, canvassing lessons, candidate tables, training to help you know your rights postcard writing, and music and food on top of all that.

The Blue Wave Festival was born from the 2016 Get Out the Vote Fair which lead to hundreds of New Yorkers canvasing across Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Now the alumni of GOTV are continuing their mission to bring on the Blue Wave in November.

To learn more, go to: https://www.bluewavefestival.com/

The Blue Wave Festival
September 6 & 8, 2018

LGBTQ Center
208 W 13th St
New York, NY 10011

Irondale Center
85 S Oxford St
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Netroots Nation, Atlanta '17

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Category: Other Festivals

Published on Wednesday, 09 August 2017 00:38

Written by Eric Lurio

Welcome to the resistance. For the lefties, Netroots Nation is sort of like Comic-Con. Young activists get together to drink and talk about what they love most: The upcoming revolution.

I remember the upcoming revolution. It was when “we” stopped the Vietnam war in 1968. I remember when future President George McGovern was about to come from behind and beat Trickie Dickie back in 1972. Or When Presidents Anderson or Nader were elected in….when was that again?

I know these people. They would put up flyers in Washington Square park advertising cheap bus trips to DC for various protests, that was real. 25 bucks to protest whatever Reagan, Bush or the other Bush, and sometimes Clinton did something that wasn’t pure.

In 2001, they had a day trip all the way to Quebec City to protest some international summit. I was teargassed. For real. One more item crossed off the ol’ bucket list.

I remember the protests of the 9/11 response. Not the attacks, the response, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!!!!!! Those morons actually thought that Dubya would flee to South America or something and Bob Avakian, head of the Revolutionary Communist party and it’s travel agency, ANSWER, would become Provisional President of the United States. (Don’t believe me? Google: Bob Avakian, drive out the bush regime)

That’s when I got thrown off Daily Kos the first time. I tell truth to power. Bush was bad news for sure. Netroots Nation was their annual jamboree since 2006 as “Yearly Kos” and it was a success. A real success. They actually threw the Republicans out of their congressional majority that year. Not them, we the people. Then two years later we got Obama. I voted for him four times and am glad I did. He beat Hillary after all. Romney too.

But Netroots didn’t know how to handle success. Nor did the Democrats. Starting in 2010 they started losing. We lost the house that year and the Senate in ’14. Then came Trump. I warned them not to do stupid stuff or they’d get the Sonofabitch, but they threw me out again, they then did stupid stuff, and we got the Sonofabitch.

I’m not saying that I could have saved Hillary, I was as surprised like everyone else.

I’m going this year because I want to see if these people have learned their lesson. I want to see if they know WHY they lost last year’s election, and the one before that.

The thing is going to take place in Atlanta. They generally have it in a red state to show that they’re reaching out. Which is cool. I’ve only been to Atlanta one day. So why the heck not?

From the press release:

The 2017 Netroots Nation will be held on August 10-13, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. This convention will be the most diverse event to date, with 69 percent of selected speakers and moderators being people of color. Panels feature activists from across the country, members of Congress, top digital practitioners, and those at the forefront of the latest Resistance efforts. A sampling of panel topics include: Making Congress Listen: How to Transform Trump Anger and Movement Energy into Victories on Capitol Hill, Resistance Through the Courts: Our First Line of Defense Against Trump’s Agenda, Pivoting Left: How We Win by Standing Up for Working Families and Embracing Progressive Values, States Resisting: Working with State Lawmakers to Fight the Conservative Agenda, and Leaving It All on the Field: The Midterm Elections in the Resistance Era.

According to the 2010 Census, People of NOT color are 72% of the population.

Like I said, it should be interesting to see how they plan to screw it up this time, which would be a shame. The Republicans are evil.