From: "Nowlan, Robert A." <RANOWLAN@uwec.edu> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:12:19 -0500 Subject: Request for Help in Potentially Restarting Memorial High School Amnesty International Chapter Message-ID: <7A17A445D0203848B157E8D70D1AC77E459E965601@CHERRYPEPSI.uwec.edu>
Greetings, Friends, SFPJ:
If anyone could be of help to Lindsey Brandrup who is looking to help revit
alize the Memorial High School (Eau Claire) chapter of Amnesty Internationa
l [see below], that would be great (Lindsey now teaches in English at Memor
ial, and is a recent graduate of UWEC--an English and Spanish double major-
-or so I recall [the Spanish part I'm not absolutely certain about--but in
anyway Lindsey was always a great student, and very strongly progressive, a
s well as strongly interested in and committed to peace and justice causes.
])
Thanks,
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Nowlan, Robert A.
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 6:06 PM
To: 'Brandrup, Lindsey'
Subject: RE: Possible Collaboration
Hi Lindsey,
I'm glad to learn of your involvement with Amnesty International at Memoria
l and the group's ideas and plans for the year ahead. That all seems quite
exciting -- and valuable. Unfortunately, it does seem like AI on the UWEC
campus is currently inactive, or so I have heard, but I also seem to recal
l a local chapter existing outside of any school in this area, and that cha
pter might be of help to you if it is still active. I can inquire about th
at last point for you, and see what I can come up with. As for the MHS AI
Film Festival, I'll be happy to consult if you will find it useful to do so
on possible titles and distributors to work with. As the Executive Direct
or for the Eau Claire Progressive Film Festival and Series I've gained some
useful knowledge and experience that might be of help to you, and perhaps
we could even collaborate at some point. I can also empathize as it usuall
y costs quite a bit to bring in even a relatively inexpensive guest speaker
who doesn't ask for much of a stipend unless this is a person driving here
himself or herself from nearby. But perhaps the international organizatio
n of AI has money to help with such efforts. And sometimes too another cha
llenge is that even independent, alternative, progressive films and videos
cost a good deal in paying for public performance rights (which includes an
y exhibition of a film or video advertised as open to the public -- even wh
en no charge for admission is included and even when sponsored by a non-pro
fit campus or community group). And, finally, it is possible that Progress
ive Student Association members, as well as ACLU-UWEC members, and Eau Clai
re Progressive Film Festival and Series members, Progressive Media Network
members, and Progressive Film and Video Makers members, may want to help yo
u and a reorganized Memorial High School AI chapter out either as a whole o
rganization project or separately as the contribution of individual members
(or as the contribution of constituent affinity groups). I'll bring this
to the attention of all of these student organizations shortly and see what
we might be able to offer. In the meantime I'll pass on your message to E
au Claire Staff and Faculty for Peace and Justice as some of these people m
ay well be able to help you out too--and/or know more about the current sta
tus of and contacts for local AI chapters than I do.
All the Best,
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Brandrup, Lindsey [mailto:lbrandrup@ecasd.k12.wi.us]
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 3:50 PM
To: Nowlan, Robert A.
Subject: Possible Collaboration
Importance: High
Hello Bob,
I'm writing to you with a general question that I'm hoping you may have an
answer to. I'm teaching at Memorial High School right now and I'm trying to
get their Amnesty International Club revived. I was planning on contacting
the AI advisor of the UWEC branch and I noticed that there doesn't appear
to be one. Is this correct? It's a little disheartening because the other p
ublic high school in Eau Claire doesn't have anyone leading AI either. Mayb
e you don't know much about whether or not the group is functioning at the
university, but I thought it might be nice to contact you anyway regarding
some possible things I want to set up with our group this year.
We're contemplating doing an Amnesty Film Festival at school (it wouldn't b
e for several months) and I thought that you might have some knowledge of f
ilms that would be good to show for this purpose. I also wanted to arrange
for a guest speaker to come, but I realize this may not happen at the high
school level; that, and I don't really know who would come or how I would g
o about arranging that. I was just wondering if you would keep our group in
mind if you hear of anything that might be of interest in either of these
categories.
I was really hoping that there would be a university group for Amnesty so t
hat we could collaborate and my students would see that college students ca
re about more than going out. I know you're advising the Progressive Studen
t Association, but perhaps an opportunity will arise to work together on so
mething.
Like always, I really appreciate your time and help.
Sincerely,
Lindsey Brandrup