Once relegated to the margins of society, pornography has emerged as one of the most visible and profitable sectors of the cultural industries, assuming an unprecedented role in the mainstream of our popular culture at the same time that its content has become more extreme and harsh, more overtly sexist and racist.

This eye-opening and disturbing film tackles the complexity behind this seeming paradox, placing the voices of critics, producers, and performers alongside the observations of men and women as they candidly discuss the role pornography has played in shaping their sexual imaginations and relationships.

Honest and non-judgmental, The Price of Pleasure moves beyond the liberal versus conservative debates so common in the culture to paint a myth-busting and nuanced portrait of how pleasure and pain, commerce and power, liberty and responsibility have become intertwined in the most intimate area of our lives.

Thursday, March 25

7pm

Bloom Collective 1134 Wealthy

$3 Suggested Donation - Discussion to follow the film.

Empowered Women’s Health
Sat. March 20 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The Bloom Collective
1134 Wealthy SE

Info: bloomcollective@gmail.com
www.thebloomcollective.org

Celebrate Spring Equinox in solidarity with sisters! The Bloom Collective hosts a free workshop,Empowered Women’s Health, Sat. March 20, starting at 10 a.m. at 1134 Wealthy SE. The workshop will share information on alternative practices and philosophies around the issues of women’s healthcare as well as provide a safe space for women to share health wisdom with each other.

Such wisdom was the basis for good health in times past, before healthcare became a commodity on the stock market and a product on the pharmacy shelf. The workshop is intentionally free because access to health information, or healthcare for that matter, should not be based on one’s ability to pay.

Sessions include:

• Simple Herbal Remedies for Mothers and Others, a presentation by Chrysta Coronado, local herbalist and women’s health advocate.
• DIY facial and body care recipe exchange.
• De-sanitizing Our Menstrual Health with Rachael Hamilton, a presentation/discussion which will include a DIY pad making activity.
• Women & AIDS: Alive and Well in Kent County, Kelly Knudtson, CleanWorks.
• Expressive Language and Self-esteem with Dance, Painting
  and Writing, a participatory session with Zulema Moret, director of Latin American Studies, GVSU.

We’ll have coffee and muffins in the morning and a potluck lunch—please bring a dish to pass. The Bloom Collective will provide vegan dishes. We do have seating available but if you have your own comfortable folding chair, bring it along.

Our next film is Beauty Mark: Body Image and the Race for Perfection. In this courageous, deeply personal new film, Diane Israel examines American culture’s toxic emphasis on thinness, beauty, and physical perfection. Israel, a Boulder-based psychotherapist and former champion triathlete, talks candidly about her own struggle with eating disorders and obsessive exercising, fearlessly confronting her own painful past as she tries to come to terms with American culture’s unhealthy fixation on self-destructive ideals of beauty and competitiveness.

Date: Friday, March 12

Time: 7pm

Location: 1134 Wealthy SE

A discussion will follow the film. $3 suggested donation.

Zapatista

BYOC (Bring your own chair)

The DAAC 115 S. Division $3

7:00PM, Febuary 24th

Theres going to be a discussion after the movie, so plan to stay and talk awhile!

With exclusive access and interviews with Subcomandante Marcos, Noam Chomsky and others, Zapatista is the definitive look at the Zapatista uprising, its historical roots and its lessons for the present and the future.

January 1, 1994. The day the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect. A few minutes after midnight in Southeastern Mexico, several thousand Mayan soldiers take over haf the state of Chiapas, declaring a war against the global corporate power they say rules Mexico. They call themselves the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN).

Zapatista is the definitive look at the uprising in Chiapas. It is the story of a Mayan peasant rebellion armed with sticks and their word against a first world military. It is the story of a global movement that has fought 175,000 federal troops to a standstill and transformed Mexican and international political culture forever.

Featuring Interviews with: Subcomandante Marcos, Noam Chomsky, Comandante Tacho, David and Zebedeo, Mayor Insurgente Ana Maria, Javier Elorriaga, Zach de la Rocha.

55 min.

Come to the first ever REALLY, REALLY FREE MARKET in Grand Rapids! Bring usable stuff that you don’t need and/or aren’t using to share with others. You might consider bringing clothes, furniture, records, toys, or even food.

July 27 – 2:00pm

Corner of Wealthy and Fuller
Wealthy and Fuller
Grand Rapids, MI 49506

04/09 – ROOT FORCE: PRESENTATION – 7PM @ THE BLOOM COLLECTIVE

Are you ready to talk about “the system” and ready to do something about it? Are you looking for a way to fight the onslaught of corporate globalization beyond summit hopping and buying fair trade?

Come see a presentation about Root Force’s strategy to take down the system by targeting the infrastructure of global trade. Hear about the connection between globalization, international solidarity, indigenous sovereignity, ecodefense and migration. Learn about resistance in North and Latin America and ways to get involved!

Admission is free, donations for Root Force are welcome.

04/17 – RNC PRESENTATION – 7PM @ THE BLOOM COLLECTIVE

Local anti-war group ACTIVATE will give a presentation on the upcoming Republican National Convention protests taking place this summer. Come learn about the history of mass mobilizations in N. America, plans and strategies for this summer, and how you can get involved!

04/23 – STITCH N BITCH – 7PM @ THE BLOOM COLLECTIVE

Bring your yarn, needles, scissors, clothes that need mending, or old projects that need finishing, and enjoy working with other folks for a “do-it-yourself” evening.

04/30 – FILM: MEETING RESISTANCE – 7PM @ THE DAAC (115 S. DIVISION AVE)

What would you do if America was invaded? Meeting Resistance raises the veil of anonymity surrounding the Iraqi insurgency by meeting face to face with individuals who are passionately engaged in the struggle, and documenting for the very first time, the sentiments experienced and actions taken by a nation’s citizens when their homeland is occupied. Voices that have previously not been heard, male and female, speak candidly about their motivations, hopes and goals, revealing a missing perspective from the Iraq War.

Following the film there will be a brief presentation by the local antiwar group, ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS) about antiwar organizing in Grand Rapids.

$2 donation encouraged but not required.

Sponsored by The Bloom Collective and Mediamouse.org

The Bloom Collective
1134 Wealthy St SE

Are you tired of talking about “the system” and ready to do something
about it? Are you looking for a way to fight the onslaught of corporate
globalization beyond summit hopping and buying fair trade?

Root Force is a strategic campaign designed to exploit weak points in the
global economy and hasten the system’s collapse. Come see a presentation
about Root Force’s strategy to take down the system by targeting the
infrastructure of global trade. Hear about the connection between
globalization, international solidarity, indigenous sovereignty,
ecodefense and migration. Learn about resistance in North and Latin
America and ways to get involved!

The presentation includes a puppet show, video and slides from communities
of resistance in Latin America.

For more information, visit http://www.rootforce.org