Be The Change Tour Day 4 Pt 2: Statesboro

We showed up in the boro just in time to set up. We were booked in the best venue in Statesboro, it was a HUGE beautiful stage and auditorium. The turnout was small in relativity of the capacity of the space, which was close to 1000, but it was the right crowd. We had a group of organic farmers who use their farm as a way to start discussions about economic injustice, a teaching major who plans to get 600 signatures in defense of public education in the next month, several librarians(we love librarians), and several community organizers.

I was especially impressed with how the group dealt with several tough questions and assertions regarding race from other audience members.

AAC was of course a huge hit, as always. I know that everyone has their favorite moments but I was really moved by Paul's Mic Stand Revolution, Mikes T.V. box, and Tameka's reintroduce myself.

After the performance we, along with several of the attendees were treated to dinner and hospitality by Dr. Rosemarie Stallworth.

Jeremy Foreman (Statesboro's organizer of a 1000 hats) and Emma Marie Tracy(Statesboro's kid genius) roped several of us into going out to some karaoke night in he boro. There was a bonfire outside, and country covers of MIA's paper planes, surreal for sure.

After not getting enough sleep we got up and where treated to breakfast by Rosemarie at the famed Snooky's. The restaurant is definitely a throwback, way back. I must say the service was amazing, everything you would imagine in a folksy southern breakfast joint in the 1970's.

Then it was back to the road!
Thanks Statesboro! Can't wait to come back!

Photos by,
John Reynolds
www.curiousjohn.com


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Be the Change Tour Day Four Pt 1: Milledgeville

Well, Milledgeville was a trip on several different levels, I don't even know where to start. It should be said that Art as an Agent for Change did start at Georgia and College State University, a school that is 90% white....and one can no doubt feel the whiteness of the campus.

It goes without saying that a tour that focuses on exploring systems of oppression was likely to spark some discomfort not only amongst attendees but anyone that was aware of the tour stop. That didn't stop us from trying to get folks in the room. In fact we shut down the dinning hall in an attempt to create last minute buzz, check out the video below!

AAC did their thing well as usual, rocked the crowd and John caught a little footage I'll
share with ya'll.


During the performance we all noticed that there was a man in a nice suit sitting in the back of the room. After the performance he approached Paul and I. After telling us he enjoyed the performance and supported our alternative views he let us know the AAC was not welcomed to perform at the upcoming fall fest that they had been asked to perform at. He said that it just wasn't the right crowd and that there were elements in the admissions office that were not ready for AAC's message. It suddenly became painfully clear why Milledgeville is over 50% percent black and GCSU is 90% white. Good luck on "diversifying"!



After that mind numbing experience we hit my favorite coffee joint in Milledgeville, BlackBird coffee, and got a honey latte to take the edge off before hitting the road to Statesboro.

Photos by,
John Reynolds
www.curiousjohn.com


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Day Three: Athens

So we actually rolled into Athens the night before Wednesday just in time for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Georgia, the Grit! Mmmm...stuffed peppers and gravy with a side of succotash!

We were lucky to have several local folks that were down to put us up for the night, thank you Allie McCullen and Laura Estrada for being such gracious host:)
......although Mike was stalked and attacked by a cat who went by the name of Falcor, he's still recovering for the trauma.

Wednesday presented all of us on the tour an opportunity to have half a day to chill, take care of personal stuff, catch up on emails, and check out Athens. John got to catch up with sleep, Tameka got some studying in, Mike caught up with school work, Paul did some work work, and I got to check out the best comic shop in Georgia(that's right, Athens has the best restaurant and the best comic shop), Bizarro.

We also received some pretty troubling news. The Board of Regents decided to check the immigration status of all college students in the Georgia college system. Undocumented student already have to pay out of state tuition and have difficulty receiving. The move by the BOR will not only mean an end of higher education for thousands of youth in Georgia, it will also add another layer of bureaucracy to the school system that will cost tens of thousands of dollars to implement. It's a move by the BOR that appears to be purely punitive and racist in nature.

When it was time for us to head over to the miller learning center at GSU and set up we noticed a ton of buzz in the area. Apparently Ludacris had been hired to headline a concert for homecoming week. His sound check could be heard all over campus.

Turn out to our Athens stop was not our biggest crowd but it was a spirited one. There was no extra credit provided for attendence so we got only the most committed folks, folks that were for the most part actively engaged in campaigns on campus. Students fighting against education budget cuts, poverty, gender inequities, racial inequities, and more. The event actually ran longer then any of the other cities so far.

After the event Allie and Mitch Roper took us out for Jamaican food. Toward the end of our meal we somehow ended up going around the table sharing our stories of how we each have felt called speak out against oppression and exploitation in our perspective communities. What was it that opened our eyes to problems in our neighborhoods, in our world, and what are we doing about it.

Here's some footage of Mike Scott talking about his artistic process:



After dinner we said our goodbyes and hit the road to Milledgeville. When we pulled into Paul Place, which is part of the GCSU student housing(where Paul is on staff), GCSU student flocked around Paul with warm greetings for him, which thankfully extended to us as well!


Photos by,
John Reynolds
www.curiousjohn.com




Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Be The Change Tour: Day Two Kennesaw

We were originally going to take the day off on Tuesday to relax and prepare for the rest of the busy week but plans quickly changed when Tori Wester, KSU student and up and coming activist, messaged the Georgie Peace & Justice Coalition facebook page and said,"If there are any efforts that could be aided by the Kennesaw State University Peace and Justice Coalition, please email me via facebook or through tori.wester@gmail.com. We would be more than happy to join forces and help promote justice throughout Georgia!"

Of course we couldn't ignore the invitation! So with less then a week before the tour started Tori reached out to her professor, Tom Pynn, and booked a room and outreached the tour stop, not an easy task.

Though the crowd was much smaller then Dalton they made up for it with their vocal cords. KSU students had a lot to say, and they were excited to explore opportunities to strengthen their work, increase the volume on their collective voices, cross pollenate with other movements, and develop stronger analysis around the issues their working on.

We were super excited to hear about the peace conference they're working on for next March, which they invited us to be a part of:)

It must be said the AAC is amazing, I'm so excited to be on tour with this crew.

Oh, and we got some exciting news for those that are outside of Georgia or can't make any of the tour stops for whatever reason. The event Friday night at Georgia State(7pm) will be streamed live on the interwebs for all to see!

...and If you're a student at KSU you need to get with Tori....


Photos by,
John Reynolds
www.curiousjohn.com


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Be The Change Tour: Day One Dalton

So day one! We all met at my place to load in our shuttle bus, which we've been lovingly calling RosaII, and hit the road to Dalton

When we were putting together Be The Change Tour we wanted to go out of our way to reach out to rural schools that often get passed over by other tours. Dalton State has about 6,000 students and only 15 active student groups and many of those groups are not very active or engaged in any sort of community service. I've honestly never seen a school that is more difficult to organize on. Most of the students are working one of two jobs, it's the most economically depressed city in the state, close to 30% of students who enroll don't complete, and on top of that there is a extremely rigid bureaucratic procedure for student groups to post do anything.

That being said we were amazed that the rather small group, Students United for Peace, was able to secure an auditorium and pack over 100 people in to see the tour! Our hats are off the SUP! AAC really brought it, they honestly exceeded my expectations and I'm sure each stop will inspire a slightly different performance. Many in the audience we there for the extra credit points offered for attendance with is both exciting and risky.
Exciting because it's a chance to create dialogue with new faces, to really plant a seed.
Risky because if you don't reach folks or turn them off it could your stuck with a totally unresponsive crowd.
The crowd was reponsive, and he talk back session went very well. Students were able to identify a number of issue that need to be addressed in the community including climate change, bicycle lanes, extreme poverty, and immigration reform.
AAC's performance is impossible to ignore, no one has the option to disengage. If the tour is anywhere near you this week, go! If you're been feeling burnt out of disempowered lately you must make it a priority to come! If you have a friend that's expressed a desire to create change in the community but never does anything, grab their arm and drag then to one of the tour stops this week!

So Dalton was an amazing experience for all of us. Thank you again Students United for Peace, thank you Dr Kenneth Ellinger for providing so much support for students motivated to organize and buying us dinner!!

Oh, and check this video I shot of a the president of SUP Eldon Baines literally being the change



Photos by,
John Reynolds
www.curiousjohn.com



Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee