With the challenge to Obama’s health care plan coming before the U.S. Supreme Court this week, the Administration’s signature legislative accomplishment is once again in the news. And public attention to the issues is assured by the demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court building that it has encouraged.

Film, Center for Global Justice presents, Sicko by Michael Moore, Thu, Mar 29, 3pm, Teatro Santa Ana, La Biblioteca, Reloj 50A, 60 pesos

Michael Moore’s 2007 award winning documentary Sicko reminds us of the failings of a health care system that is one of the most expensive in the world and yet has 50 million uninsured citizens, 18,000 of whom die each year because they are uninsured. However, the film focuses not on them, but on the inadequacies for the insured whose claims are denied or policies canceled so that private insurance companies can achieve higher profits and on those who are driven to bankruptcy by high medical bills—important issues addressed by the legislation Congress finally passed in 2009 after a bruising political battle.

But President Obama failed to confront the profit-driven healthcare system that is the source of the problems. The solution? Public opinion in the U.S. has overwhelmingly favored universal single-payer health coverage like Canada has. The U.S. is the only industrialized country without it, where it is tarred as “socialized medicine.” Elsewhere it is simply seen as social insurance. As a result, France, Britain, Canada, and even poor Cuba have better delivery systems than the U.S.  Moore gives France’s socialized medicine considerable attention. There, doctors lead comfortable lives, patients receive attentive care, and employers grant extended health-related leaves — all reasons the World Health Organization ranked France tops in its global 2000 survey of the best healthcare countries. The U.S. ranked 37th.

Cuba’s extensive system of free preventative health care for everyone also comes in for praise. Moore took three 9/11 Ground Zero volunteers to Cuba for free treatment they could not receive in their own country. Moore certainly knows how to tweak the establishment. That’s why his films, topical though they may be, are of continuing relevance. But now the focus must be on the Supreme Court as well as the insurance industry.

Women, War and Peace, by Cliff DuRand

The vast majority of today’s conflicts are not fought by nation states and their armies, but rather by informal entities: gangs and warlords using small arms and improvised weapons.

Film, Center for Global Justice presents, Women, War and Peace, Tue, Mar 27, 3pm, Teatro Santa Ana, La Biblioteca, Reloj 50A, Donations 60 pesos

The post-Cold War proliferation of small arms has changed the landscape of war, with women becoming primary targets and suffering unprecedented casualties. Yet they are simultaneously emerging as necessary partners in brokering lasting peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.

As part of International Women’s Month, the Center for Global Justice will screen portions of last fall’s PBS series Women, War and Peace. This series spotlights the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan and Colombia to Liberia, placing women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security, and reframing our understanding of modern warfare.

Episode 1, “I Came to Testify”, is the moving story of how a group of 16 women who had been imprisoned and raped by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foca broke history’s great silence—and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law. Their remarkable courage resulted in a triumphant verdict that led to new international laws about sexual violence in war.

The capstone episode, “War Redefined,” challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain through incisive interviews with leading thinkers, Secretaries of State and seasoned survivors of war and peace-making. Interviewees include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; Bosnian war crimes investigator Fadila Memisevic; and globalization expert Moisés Naím. This powerful film will move you with the courage of women putting their lives at risk protesting the injustice of war.

We were here, by Bill Weber

We Were Here is the first documentary to take a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco. It explores how the city’s inhabitants were affected by, and how they responded to, that calamitous epidemic.

Film, We Were Here, Wed, Mar 28, 3pm, Teatro Santa Ana, La Biblioteca, Reloj 50A, 60 pesos

Though a San Francisco-based story, We Were Here extends beyond San Francisco and beyond AIDS itself. It speaks to our capacity as individuals to rise to the occasion, and to the incredible power of a community coming together with love, compassion, and determination.

2011 marks 30 years since AIDS descended. Like an unrelenting hurricane, the epidemic roiled San Francisco for two decades and only began granting some reprieve with medical advancements in the late 90s. We Were Here utilizes San Francisco’s experience with AIDS to open up an overdue conversation both about the history of the epidemic, and the lessons to be learned from it.

We Were Here focuses on 5 individuals—all of whom lived in San Francisco prior to the epidemic. Their lives changed in unimaginable ways when their beloved city changed from a hotbed of sexual freedom and social experimentation into the epicenter of a terrible sexually transmitted plague. From their different vantage points as caregivers, activists, researchers, as friends and lovers of the afflicted, and as people with AIDS themselves, the interviewees share stories which are not only intensely personal, but which also illuminate the much larger themes of that era: the political and sexual complexities, the terrible emotional toll, the role of women —particularly lesbians—in caring for and fighting for their gay brothers.

Archival imagery conveys an unusually personal and elegiac sense of San Francisco in the pre-AIDS years, and a window into the compassionate and courageous community response to the suffering and loss that followed. And it also conveys in a very visceral sense the horrors of the disease itself.

The film was produced and directed by David Weissman. Editor and co-director Bill Weber will be present for this screening and will be in discussion with San Miguel artist Anado McLauchlin after the film.

By Lola Smith , photo by Chuck Rubin

The current Players Workshop production at the Teatro Santa Ana, 2006 Pulitzer Prize Nominee, Last of the Boys by Steven Dietz tells the hurting, haunting yet sometimes hilarious tale of Jeeter, Ben, Salyer and Lorraine. Dietz, one of the most popular playwrights in the world (tied with Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams for most American productions done,) has written what one reviewer called a ‘shattering play laid all about with land mines of explosive humor.’

Theater: Last of the Boys. Wed, Mar 14-Sat, Mar 17 & Wed, Mar 21-Sat, Mar 24, 8pm. Sun, Mar 18 & Sun, Mar 25, 5pm. Teatro Santa Ana, La Biblioteca, Reloj 50A. 200/150 Pesos. Reserved Seating

The formidable cast, under the direction of Chuck Rubin, take Dietz’s script head-on and lay bare the playwright’s themes which intertwine and tighten to the show’s stunning climax. Last of the Boys, which takes place one night during the final summer of the twentieth century, shows how a war long over lives on in the hearts and minds of those left in its wake. Ben (Michael Gottlieb) and Jeeter (Fil Formicola) are Vietnam vets who served together in combat. Jeeter is outgoing and expansive, a college professor who ‘teaches’ the 60s and follows the Rolling Stones around the world on a quest to have them see his hand painted sign. Ben is withdrawn and in denial. He’s a carpenter with nothing to build. A wounded soldier who still hears the sounds of battle and fights to justify a reason for all the things he’s seen and done. Salyer (Clara Dunham) a ghost whisperer of a sort, whose body is covered head-to-toe with tattoos, is hooked up with Jeeter. It’s not love as much as need. She needs to know about Vietnam. She’s on a quest to find out what happened to her father who went off to war without ever knowing he left a daughter behind. Lauren Osornio plays Salyer’s mom, Lorraine, who has buried her grief and secrets in booze and men and whose broken heart can’t be mended with an “I’m sorry.” Rounding out the cast is David Galitzky who plays The Young Soldier, a ghost of Vietnam past, present and future who comes out of the fog to haunt and to heal.

Our cast of experienced actors are at the top of their game. Combine that with a sizzling script of mystery, humor and high drama and you have a hit show. Don’t miss the Players Workshop production of Last of the Boys.

Players Workshop productions tend to sell out and sometimes sellout early, so, if you don’t already have them, get your tickets now. All Seats are Reserved. Tickets on sale at the Theater Box Office. For more information visit our website at www.players-workshop.com or find us on Facebook. 

What will you wear to Nora Ephron’s play “Love, Loss and What I Wore”?

By Jane Sallis

What will you wear to Nora Ephron’s play “Love, Loss and What I Wore”?

A troupe of San Miguel’s most talented performers is presenting Nora Ephron’s play: Love, Loss and What I Wore at the Biblioteca’s Santa Ana teater.

Theater: Love, Loss and What I Wore To benefit Mujeres en Cambio. Wed, Mar 28-Sun, Apr 1, 6pm. Teatro Santa Ana, La Biblioteca, Reloj 50A. 150 pesos

The curtain will rise at 6pm this lively production written by sisters Nora and Delia Ephron and based on the book by Ilene Beckerman.

Directed by Jim Newell and starring Clara Dunham, Melissa Hirsch, Santa Claire Hirsch, Raquel Martin, and Judy Newell, Love, Loss and What I Wore is a scrapbook of stories about unfortunate prom dresses, traumatic lighting in fitting rooms, high heels, short skirts, and the existential state of having nothing to wear. Accessorizing these tales — which are mostly comic but often sad or sentimental too — are the mothers who disapprove, the men who disappear, and the sisters who’ve got your back.

If there are chick flicks and chick lit — derogatory though some might find those terms to be — Love, Loss, and What I Wore should clearly be classified as chick legit. (In old-school parlance, legit is shorthand for the legitimate theater.) Breezy and perfectly enjoyable for the stray men in the room, it’s like a big bowl of buttered popcorn (but calorie-free!) for the women who can share deeply in the particulars of the experiences dissected and discussed.

The New York Times stated that this play was “funny, compelling, and brought down the house!

All profits from these productions will be donated to Mujeres en Cambio, the San Miguel charity that provides scholarships to young women. You can find out more about this wonderful organization by visiting their website at www.mujeresencambio.org

1 PIX BIB MUSIC ANDREI

Concert

w/Andrei Krylov

Russian Classical guitar. Romances, folk songs, Russian Gypsy Music

Fri, Mar 24, 7:30pm

Sala Quetzal

La Biblioteca

Reloj 50A

Donations 100 pesos

Russian folk songs

By Andrei Krylov

Andrei Krylov – Guitarist / Composer from Canada (originally from Russia) who plays guitar 40 years and publish 44 CD’s/albums with Flamenco, Jazz, Gypsy and Classical guitar music and they are available at: iTunes.com, Amazon.com etc.

He studied guitar in Music school and University in St.Petersburg, Russia and worked as concert soloist for Russian State Concert Company.

His romantic guitar music featured by Time Magazine at: http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/portraits_of_russia/

The National Gallery of Canada has placed six films with his music (and some about artists living in San Miguel de Allende) in it’s Media Library.

Some of his Classical guitar and Gypsy guitar albums are bestsellers in largest internet music store – iTunes.com.

Andrei has recorded and performed for Russian TV5 and TV22, US and Canadian Radio and TV channels (including Rogers, PRI, KRNN,CKTB etc).

He composed and recorded guitar music for films in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and USA including music to film about Esteban Vicente for museums of his Art in New York and Madrid and Spanish National TV.

He played recently solo concerts for: University of California, Cornell University, Ottawa Tulip Festival, Ottawa Chamber Festival, Ottawa NCC concert series, and in many other concert venues and events in Canada, USA and Europe.

In his performances in San Miguel de Allende Andrei is going to present to listeners wide range of music styles including old traditional Russian Songs and Russian Gypsy romances, classical music by J.S.Bach, H. Purcell, F. Tarrega and other composers, Flamenco guitar solos and guitar arrangements of Beatles songs and Jazz Standards.

He would love to share Joy and Passion of the music with audience. You can preview his performance at: http://www.youtube.com/AndreiKrylov or listen his guitar playing at iTunes.com or Amazon.com