THURSDAY 8/23
LETTER-WRITING FOR POLICE OVERSIGHT--The Green Party of Seattle Criminal Justice Working Group is holding a letter-writing workshop. They hope to lobby the Seattle City Council to create an elected civilian review board with subpoena power to oversee police activity. There will also be speakers from the Seattle Human Rights Commission and the People's Coalition for Justice at this event. Douglass Truth Library, 2300 E Yesler Way, 7 pm; call 861-1037 for more information.
RELIGION AND TRANSGENDERED PEOPLE--This is the sixth installment of the "Out of the Closet, Into the Pulpit" series of forums sponsored by Multifaith Works, a nonprofit, non-denominational agency that is "committed to providing community education on human diversity." With a wink to Popeye, I suppose, this forum is titled "I Am What I Am," and addresses the issues that face transgendered people and their faith communities. It features a talk by Rev. Dr. William Stayton from the Center for Sexuality and Religion in Wayne, PA. St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Bloedel Hall, 1245 10th Ave E; call 324-1520 for more information and reservations, or visit www.multifaith.org.
SATURDAY 8/25
TIBETFEST--Today and tomorrow, the Tibetan Association of Washington will kick out the jams and celebrate their arts, crafts, garments, literature, food, music, and dance. I realize they want to make this a "family event," but oddly, there's no mention of Tibet's monumental political struggle. Nope, I guess people will just eat and dance this weekend. Seattle Center, Sat-Sun Aug 25-26, 11 am-6 pm, free; call 684-8582 for details.
MONDAY 8/27
NONPROFIT SCHMOOZEFEST--For anyone interested in networking the billions of nonprofit organizations in our grassrooted city, here's your opportunity: Today, and every fourth Monday of each month, a group of nonprofiteers get together and commiserate, strategize, and generally support each other. New Cherry Street Coffee House, 2121 1st Ave (between Lenora and Blanchard). They evidently haven't decided on a meeting time yet (those nonprofit committees take a while to compromise, you know), but keep an eye on www.npsfest.org for further details, or call 441-7176.
TUESDAY 8/28
FREE COLLEGE ONLINE--The University of Washington and an educational-services company called the Learning Network have teamed up to offer 12 free courses. You don't pay any money and don't get any real college credit, but it's a way to experiment with online education. Courses are based on full-length UW classes, and teach a variety of subjects such as the American Revolution, the History of Jazz, and Business Writing. Check out www.lifelong.learningnetwork.com for more details.
