This is the closest we have:

The Vogt Visual Art Center hosts some art classes via the Park District. I’ve taken a few: a drawing class and a watercolor class. Nice teachers, nice people.

They also display student art, local artists’ work, and other exhibits (historical photography etc) on occasion.

The American Foundation for Children with AIDS is an organization that is dear to my heart, as I’ve done volunteer work for them and know first-hand how dedicated they are to the cause.

AFCA is a non-profit organization that helps HIV+ children, their guardians and HIV+ pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa who have no other access to aid. AFCA provides critical AIDS and related medications, medical equipment and supplies, nutritional supplements, and emergency supplies that are requested by the institutions in our targeted areas. Currently, AFCA is working in Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Although a $1 donation may not seem like much, every little bit helps. Of course, you can also make a donation on your own at any time. But if you are purchasing shoes anyway, you might as well take advantage of this since it won’t cost you anything extra to have Ahnu Footwear contribute their $1.

Here’s the schedule for the film festival:

(click to enlarge)

After-Words Books is one of my favorite used bookstores in the city, probably because it reminds me of being back in San Francisco. The store is owned by Beverly Dvorkin, who worked at multiple bookstores in order to put herself through college. Before buying the bookstore over a decade ago, she was a journalist in London and Washington D.C. Everyone who works there has always gone out of their way to help me find stuff or to order whatever I’m looking for. It’s also a relaxed, comfortable place to sit and read. The basement is stocked with tables and chairs.

They sell new and used books, and they also buy used books. So, if you’re looking for a place to donate your old books or to make a little extra cash while cleaning out your closets, keep them in mind.

As many of you know, I have pet rabbits. And as anyone who has pet rabbits knows, rabbits get bored easily. Fortunately, there are plenty of expensive toys you can buy online and off to entertain your pet. Unfortunately, rabbits — like small children — would rather play with the boxes.

Rabbits get bored easily. When mine get bored, they take to eating my apartment. So I’ve learned to make a lot of inexpensive “toys” out of junk that’s laying around the house: oatmeal boxes, paper towel rolls, the boxes all those nice books I order online are delivered in…

But for the holidays, I like to get a little festive. I usually make these paper wreaths out of newspaper. (If you’re a bored rabbit owner and want to make one, the center is the outer ring of a paper plate. The paper strips are wrapped around and tied in knots. No tape. My bunnies love to eat tape, but it’s not so good for the bunny bellies.)

This year, I’ve received an abundance of paper catalogues from a bunch of fancy places I can’t afford to shop at. So, I decided to recycle them. I used the pages to rip into strips for my bunny wreaths. They are colorful, and my rabbits are enjoying flipping them around and digging them to shreds. Corporate America, we thank you for our new free toys.

Never forget that we’re not invincible.

Never forget that our government can, and readily does, fail us.

Never forget that propaganda can be as dangerous as any other weapon of mass destruction.

Never forget the power of the people.

Never forget the people who suffered and died — not just in the WTC etc, but also the innocent civilians we killed in retribution, the parents who buried their children over wars they voted for, the stigmas we placed on our neighbors in the heat of revenge.

Never forget the fires of ignorance. They still burn.

Never forget that fear is a powerful motivator, one that can be used to manipulate and imprison us.

Never forget that the moment we allow someone to strip us of our liberties under the guise of safety, that we have lost our freedom.

Today, we remember. I hope we never forget.

What happened: In 1989, my friend was severely beaten and raped by a couple of white guys who weren’t too fond of a gay black teenager moving onto their block. In 2011, my friend tried to fly back to his hometown to visit his mother and mentally relived his past sexual assault when a TSA employee’s hand grabbed his balls and penetrated his ass.

My friend’s story is not unique. The internet is full of videos and articles about kids’ throwing tantrums while being fondled, grannies’ being stripped of their diapers, and rape victims’ being devastated by the “pat-downs” of the TSA. But this was my friend — a tough guy I’d never seen like this, a person who could easily have been me. It hit home.

I asked him what happened after “it” happened at the airport. He told me he broke down. He forced himself with all his will not to try to kill the guy whose hand was on him. He vomited all over himself. He froze. He cried. He walked away. He couldn’t force himself to get on the plane. He couldn’t force himself to drive home. He forgot about his luggage and wandered around the parking lot. He called me. Three hours later, as we sat talking at a diner, he was still visibly shaking.

Later, I asked him what he wanted to do about it. I asked him if he was going to report the incident to someone. He told me it wouldn’t do any good. “What could anybody do?” he said. “The man was just doing his job.”

I disagreed, but it wasn’t my business. I don’t push unsolicited advice on my friends, especially under circumstances like these. I was sexually abused for most of my childhood. I know what could – or probably would – happen if I tried to get on a plane and someone “just did their job.” Compared to me, my friend was a perfect gentleman. If he never wanted to talk about it again, that was his right.

Last week, he called to tell me that he finally got his luggage back. This afternoon, I called to ask if he would consider reading this blog post: Don’t Give The TSA An Easy Time Of Violating Your Rights

I don’t know Amy Alkon, who wrote about her experience with the TSA. But I do know some of the lawyers who have written about the lawsuit she may face as a result of writing it.

Amy Alkon blogged about the emotional distress of having a government worker put her hand in Amy’s vagina, and now that government worker has threatened to sue Amy Alkon for $500,000 for “severe emotional distress, fear, difficulties performing her duties, and other problems.”

I don’t know if what Amy posted is true, because I don’t know her and I wasn’t there. But I do know what my friend says he suffered, and what countless others say they have suffered. I have no reason to doubt any of it. It seems to be common practice.

I don’t know what it’s like to be a government employee whose job it is to sexually assault paying airline customers under the guise of keeping America safe, but I am ashamed to live in a country where the emotional distress of a perpetrator could be worth more than that of the victim. Whether that perpetrator is the government or its employee in this case is not for me to judge, because I don’t know where the lines are drawn when touching peoples’ genitals becomes a government job.

All I know is that I’m more afraid of our government than I am of terrorists. I feel less safe thinking about getting on an airplane now than I did in the days immediately following 9/11. I no longer fly, because I’m not willing to take the risk of suffering a PTSD episode and ending up in prison for trying to kill a government employee who puts her hand in my vagina.

Our boogeyman Osama Bin Laden may be dead, but our civil rights are still being raped away. When I got to the airport to meet my friend, whose clothes were still wet with his vomit, he muttered “This is what safety smells like.” Do you feel safe yet?

This weekend, at an autism school’s summer festival, I had the opportunity to visit with some of those kids and their families, as well as the teachers and therapists who work extra-hard to make sure their students aren’t excluded from getting the very best education possible. Sometimes, though, this school doesn’t have the funds to provide its children with the extras that most students take for granted. That’s what this weekend’s festival was about: raising funds and awareness for a school most of the locals don’t know exists, benefiting kids who are mostly ignored by the community at large.

Local bands played, kids danced with Power Rangers, and things got noisy enough so that nearby neighbors — for the moment, anyway — couldn’t ignore what was going on around them.

While kids get back to school this week, and you parents take a sigh of relief that the little buggers are finally out of the house once again, remember that there are kids out there who might not be exactly the same as everyone else — but they are just as deserving. These are some exceptional kids who have already been through more struggles than most of your kids will ever imagine.

This is an issue that’s bigger than money — although donating to a school like this would be a nice thing to do. It’s about realizing that just because someone is not exactly like you or your family, doesn’t mean they’re not equally important. Don’t look the other way and treat people like they’re invisible. Look at them. Get to know them. They will give you much more than you could ever possibly give them.

You may now nominate me for my Pulitzer. Ha.

This is one of very few books I can honestly say completely changed my perceptions. I used to spend a great deal of time wondering why so many people could witness the exact same event and yet come away with dramatically varying memories of what they’d seen. I also used to ponder what would make the least likely person in the room lie about something to the point where he/she seemed convinced that his distorted perception was indeed reality.

This book changed all of that, and made me question many of my own memories and points-of-view. I have recommended this book to dozens of people, from lawyers I’ve worked for to long-time friends going through divorces. Truly eye opening, with stunning examples and exemplary research. I have nothing negative to say about this book — a rarity for me.

Amazon says it’s out of print now, but you can still get it used or on Kindle.