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Register now for the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Workshops, hosted by the Tucson Pima Arts Council, April 24, 25, and 26, at the Hotel Arizona in downtown Tucson. NALAC’s Regional Arts Training Workshops are convened throughout the nation to assist in strengthening local networks of Latino artists and arts and cultural organizations. All are welcome! Workshops will provide professional development opportunities and foster theoretical and aesthetic discussion. For more info contact Reuben Tomas Roqueni at 624-0595 x18 or reuben@tucsonpimaartscouncil.org   To register, visit the NALAC website at: www.nalac.org To view the just released NALAC Conference Agenda visit: www.tucsonpimaartscouncil.org/about/AboutWordDocs/NALACAgenda.pdf

Reprinted from Women’s eNews as an educational service under the fair use doctrine of the U. S. Copyright Law.   Subscribe here.

As an aside, personally I subjected myself to a tubal ligation so that I would never face the emotional and psychological consequences of possibly having to make this sort of decision.  However, I will to my dying day stand tall for all women to retain the right to make their own choices.

“Abortion” as a search term had been blocked in POPLINE, the largest reproductive health database, according to an April 2 post by Women’s Health News blogger Rachel Walden. The research database is funded by the federal government as a project of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The result is that a person who types abortion in to the database for a keyword search will retrieve no articles on the topic.

Database officials advised a librarian who queried about the omission that the term “unwanted pregnancy” should be substituted instead. A more difficult search through the database’s index can still be used to retrieve abortion-related articles, but most average library users will not know the workaround, Walden, who is a librarian, points out in her post.

The database is funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is prohibited from distributing foreign aid to international groups that provide abortions, make abortion referrals or lobby for change in their nation’s abortion laws, under the so-called global gag rule policy of the Bush administration.

On April 4, apparently in response to bloggers, Michael J. Klag, dean of the Bloomberg School, reversed the decision to remove “abortion” as a search term and said he would launch an inquiry into the change. In a statement published on the school’s Web site, Klag said that USAID had found two items in the database that did not meet POPLINE’s criteria for “evidence-based information” and administrators decided to remove the search term.

It’s time to get Published. J. Mercury & Maxed Art present: The Plume Zine: [bicycle] Conversations. The new theme is: anything relating to Bicycles or Conversations. All submissions must touch on this theme. Submit written work (poems, prose, micro fiction). Must be under two pages, double spaced. All written work is subject to a selection process. Submit images (drawing, collage, photography) no larger than 8×10. If emailing your image, it must be saved at 300dpi. Artwork will be proportionally formatted to fit the ‘zine. Submit all work by April 3. The Plume Zine is: art for people. Our debut zine, God & Love, a hand-bound, double pamphlet stitch, in an edition of 50, was distributed at select locations in Tucson and just about flew off the shelves. God & Love had 11 contributors and debuted with a reading at Dinnerware Artspace gallery. [bicycle] Conversations will have a special debut party TBA — don’t miss out! (view blog for images) Email submissions to MaxedArt@gmail.com or call 245-2681. The future awaits you at maxedart.blogspot.com

Join ArtCorps and use your creative talents to strengthen international development in Central America in 2009.  Through community arts projects, artists educate and inspire people to participate actively in improving the environmental, health, and social conditions in their communities. Work as a volunteer with a host nonprofit development organization that is an expert in its field. All volunteers will receive a personal stipend of approximately $1,000 to reduce personal costs, in addition to receiving airfare, room and board, and medical insurance. Both 1-year and 2-year opportunities are available. Candidates must be proficient in Spanish. Deadlines are April 4 and May 2. For application visit http://www.artcorp.org/artist_placements.html

National Endowment for the Arts to Manage Design Competition forRosa Parks Statue in US Capitol
The National Endowment for the Arts today announced a design competition, in partnership with the Joint Committee on the Library and the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, for a statue of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. Commissioned by the U.S. Congress, the sculpture will be permanently installed in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building. The Rosa Parks statue represents the first commission of a full-sized statue authorized and funded by the U.S. Congress since the 1870s. The Chrysler Foundation has provided $100,000 to support the administration of the competition.

http:www.nea.gov/news/news08/RosaParks.html