 Final Tap: An Unofficial History of Beer
Wed. Sept. 9, 7:30pm, Free
The rise of microbrewers in American is preceded by a rich social and revolutionary history of beer and brewing, spanning from the Mayans to the Mayflower, from the Founding Fathers through Manifest Destiny, and from Prohibition to the corporatization of beer. Artists John Jota Leaños and Sean Levon Nash will consider this history of beer and invite regional microbrewers to talk about American brewer patriotism and the issues surrounding locally controlled beer production. Enjoy craft-beer samples while discovering the political realities and alternative histories of a largely misunderstood beverage.
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Art & Politics: Conscious Youth Media Crew
Wed. Sept. 16, 7:30pm, Free
Join CounterPULSE and CYMC in a dialogue of Art and Politics featuring a screening of selected short films and a panel with the Bay Area's next generation of filmmakers. "No Justice No Peace" by Chantal Renous, 16, addresses the BART shooting of Oscar Grant that brought all kinds of people to the streets to protest police violence and racism in the Bay Area. "Be the Change, Change the Nation", a CYMC short segment that explores the making of a music video by Tha Faculty and the reasons behind why we need to "change the nation." "A Choice of Weapons" film trailer, CYMC 2009 examines the Bayview's redevelopment plan, thec hanging urban landscape of San Francisco, and the city's decreasing black population. In "Grind for the Green" by the CYMC Summer Youth Crew, young people speak out on what makes going green important, who's really going green in the hood and how you can make money behind it.
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From India to the Bay Area
Wed. Sept. 23, 7:30pm, Free
 Devendra Sharma (Performing Diaspora) and Jaysi Chander (physician and kathak dancer/tabla player/poet and activist) discuss important issues surrounding the Bay Area Indian community. Topics include: immigration politics, women in forced marriage, Indian Invitro industry, political economy of Silicon Valley and Indian outsourcing industries.
Photo of Devendra Sharma by John Cagle
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Ecology and Redevelopment in Bayview Hunter's Point 
(Nature in the City)
Wed. Sept. 30, 7:30pm, Free
The City and Lennar Corporation are promulgating a redevelopment plan, but what about ecology, wildlife and the human community? Come learn about ArcEcology's recent report that illustrates brand new and exciting alternatives for the Bayview-Hunter's Point Redevelopment. How is Candlestick Point State Recreation Area affected? Isn't Bayview-Hunter's Point entitled to its own Crissy Field? How can (re)development benefit the current residents and be driven by their needs and wants? (Saul Bloom, ARC Ecology)
Photo: Fence at edge of former Navy Base, by Chris Carlsson
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The Politics of ‘Third Space’ in Global Videos and Installations
(co-sponsored by the Global Commons Foundation)
Wed. Oct. 14, 7:30pm, Free
Michelle Dizon, Filipino-American artist from LA, screens her installation video comparing the 2005 riots in France and the 1992 riots in LA, illuminating political issues of marginal citizenships, migration and exile, media and the erasure of memories of historical violence. The discussion will be centered around a criticism of the current predominance of video realism—activism as a limited politics and poetics, mimicking mainstream media. By bringing examples of experimental forms of political installations we look for possibilities of reconfiguring political subjects and actions. Discussants: Dalida Maria Benfield, filmmaker, art educator and scholar, Laura Fantone, visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley, Beatrice Bain Research Group. Katherine Wallerstein will moderate the discussion.
Image: Michelle Dizon's "Civil Society". Her video work will be shown on Oct. 14 at CounterPULSE.
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 Bicycling in San Francisco
Wed. Oct. 21, 7:30pm, Free
17 years of Critical Mass and 10,000 members of the Bike Coalition?… what’s right, what’s not with the way bicycling and bicycling politics is developing at the end of the first decade of the 21st century? A broad discussion of bicycle etiquette, transportation and urban design, equipment and safety (good engineering vs. "good shopping"), Stop-Roll, Bike Plan 04 vs. Copenhagen 1980, etc. Inside/outside, SF Bike Coalition/Critical Mass… Janel Sterbentz, Steve Jones, Andy Thornley and TBA.
Photo by Chris Carlsson, Critical Mass descending Lombard, July 2007
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Climate Change/Climate Justice (Nature in the City)
Wed. Oct. 28, Free
What is going to be accomplished by "cap-and-trade?" How is global warming being co-opted by corporate power? What are equitable approaches involving local communities? How are the effects of climate change already appearing on the planet's and the Bay Area's ecosystems? What is the relationship between climate change and ecological restoration? Tom Athanasiou (Eco-Equity), Jon Christensen (Exec. Dir., Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University), Dan Gluesenkamp, (Director of Habitat Restoration at Audubon Canyon Ranch), Laura Castellini (GGNRA and Nature in the City)
Photo: Chris Carlsson—August 15, 2009 march to Chevron Refinery in Richmond, California, demanding Climate Justice among other things. Oct. 28 Talk will be on politics of Climate Change.
History & Politics Alcatraz
40th anniversary of Indigenous occupation
Wed. Nov. 11, 7:30pm, Free
AIM-West and friends will revisit the historic occupation of Alcatraz, show video clips, tell stories, and most importantly, connect this important historic event with the decades of organizing and political resistance since that time.
Philippines: Immigration Politics and the Body
Wed. Nov. 18, 7:30pm, Free
Experiences of Women and effects of Diaspora on them, colonization/decolonization and creation of cultural forms, political economic relationships historically and now between Ph. and US. Aimee Suzara and TBA
Art & Politics: Keith Hennessy, revisiting Saliva
Wed., December 9, 7:30pm, Free
a 1988/89 performance by Keith Hennessy. Twenty years ago Keith Hennessy created Saliva, an interdisciplinary dance-performance-ritual under a freeway in downtown San Francisco. Deep within the rage and grief of the AIDS crisis, Hennessy performed a ritualistic reclamation of the body, the queer male body, as holy. Video excerpts, live performance, historical context, and audience discussion combine to recreate this AIDS-era work of queer performance
Prelinger Archive Lost Landscapes of the East Bay
Wed., December 16. 7:30pm, Free
Continuing our annual holiday excursions through lost films of the Bay Area, Rick Prelinger this year takes us across the water to the East Bay. Rarely seen clips, recently rediscovered home movies, and more surprises are in store. As always, come ready to call out what you see. It’s an evening of participatory film and history investigation! Bring your grandparents and your kids!
Prohibition: Then and Now
Wed., January 13, 2010, 7:30pm, Free
With Brian Sheehy, owner of Bourbon and Branch, Dick Boyd, author of "BroadwayNorthBeach, The Golden Years: A Saloon Keeper's Tales" and former owner of Pierre's, a bar in North Beach from 1960-65, and Michael Whitson, marijuana business theorist.
Art & Politics: Patricia Rodriguez, Mujeres Muralistas and former Mission Cultural Center curator
Wed., January 20, 7:30pm, Free
Rodriguez has been involved in San Francisco’s public art movement as an original member of Mujeres Muralistas and as an anchor from her home on Balmy Alley during the 1970s and 1980s to that remarkable flowering of public art, of which she was a major participant. She’s a window into the Chicano art and politics of decades past but also the present!
Urban Forest (Nature in the City)
Wed., January 27, 7:30pm, Free
Not only are trees and "urban forests" the most prominent features of the city's "natural" landscape, they are the city’s biggest biomass. Tree choices influence habitat resources for countless less obvious, but no less important species of flora and fauna. What are the facts about trees, "forests" and woodlands in San Francisco? A debate on the benefits and drawbacks of specific tree species and issues in the city, as they relate to habitat, aesthetics, and the human experience of nature in the city. with Doug Wildman (FUF), Josiah Clark, Peter Ehrlich.
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