Thursday, March 26 2009
We spoke with Katharine Mieszkowski an American journalist and graduate of Yale University. In 2001 Mieszkowski was honored as one of the top 25 Women on the Web. Since 2000 she has been a Senior Writer for Salon.com, where she covers technology, business, and the environment. Mieszkowski was the sixth employee of Women’s Wire (later Women.com) in 1994. From 1997 to 2000 she was a senior staff writer at Fast Company magazine, where she covered the Silicon Valley. Her column “Culture Shocked” ran in the San Francisco Bay Guardian between May 1997 and June 2003. Mieszkowski has also contributed to Ms., All Things Considered, Slate, Readers Digest, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Financial Times
at 4 PM Paul Armentano Deputy Director from Norml stops by to discuss President Obama’s town hall meeting today and his dismissive comments regarding the large number of respondents to questions about US marijuana laws. Read Paul’s blog post here http://blog.norml.org/2009/03/26/presid … -about-tax
Paul will also share results of a recently released CA Field Poll.
Go to http://www.norml.org for more infomation.
At 4:30 Writer and filmmaker David Modigliani is the creative director of Live Action Projects in Austin, Texas. He’s currently a 3rd year fellow at the Michener Center for Writers, working in playwriting and screenwriting. His play, HOLED, won the American Repertory Theater’s Phyllis Anderson award. Modigliani produced and directed the documentary, CRAWFORD, TEXAS — what happens in a town of 700 when the President moves in? Last spring, he created Austin Mayor Will Wynn’s unorthodox TV spots. He loves collaborative theater-making; this will be his first production in Austin.
What happens to the 705 people of Crawford, Texas when George W. Bush moves to town?
Check out the movie trailer at http://www.crawfordmovie.com –
CRAWFORD’s characters are, by turns, bizarre, entertaining and tragic. Shoved into the spotlight for political stagecraft, their insular town explodes, pushing a progressive teacher and her student to the brink — and beyond. Invaded and abandoned, Crawford booms and busts, like the Presidency itself.
Represented by Submarine Entertainment (Super Size Me, Spellbound, Control Room), CRAWFORD will premiere Spring 2008.
I’ve had the chance to work with an outstanding team on this movie. Our advisory board includes Ted Danson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Gideon Lester, Mary Steenburgen and Brad Silbering. Matt Naylor (501 Post) edits, David Rice (http://www.davidricemusic.com) creates original music, Deborah Eve Lewis shoots, Emily Harrison designs, Tanya Schurr and Lindsay Stillman assistant produce. Crawford’s story is incredible: In 1999, Governor George W. Bush buys a ranch in Crawford, Texas and calls it “home”; an insular community explodes overnight. Bush declares candidacy for President, using Crawford as the perfect set-piece to project a folksy image. Months later, he thrusts the town of 705 into the spotlight as his token symbol – the President’s “Western White House.” Crawford is instantly overrun with international press corps and droves of flocking tourists. Shops open; Main St. booms; the locals watch themselves on national TV. But soon, the town’s compelling characters feel the human impact of political stagecraft. The spotlight exacerbates tensions between freethinking and conformity, pushing a progressive teacher and her favorite student to the edge – and beyond. In 2004, the town newspaper endorses John Kerry; it’s promptly boycotted. By 2005, the President’s mounting problems follow him home. The conservative community finds itself hosting Cindy Sheehan’s peace movement. 20,000 impassioned protestors and counter-protestors battle on Crawford’s tiny streets. The symbol begins to change. Now, the Crawford’s boom is busting like the Presidency itself. Tourists have stopped coming; land is overvalued; the bumper sticker and trinket shops are boarded up. But seven years of political stagecraft have made a graver human impact. Two characters are dead and one is leaving town. Bush is soon to abscond. Left to deal with the aftermath are the real people of Crawford. Their lives are changed forever. And their story is our own.
On October 7, 2008, the complete film was made available for free in a streaming format on the legal video website Hulu, and was billed as the site’s “first movie premiere.”
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