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The San Diego Tap & Jazz Dance Festival is a vibrant 5-day community event dedicated to celebrating and preserving American Vernacular Dance and its African roots. Organized by Claudia Gomez, owner of Tap Into Yoga & Reiki and Summer Briggs, owner of Rap A Tap Center for the Arts, the festival will be held from Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, to Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, at Keiller Leadership Academy. This festival will feature a diverse range of activities, including tap dance, swing dance, jazz dance, African dance, and breaking classes, along with a music theory class, historical panel discussions, a faculty concert, a student showcase, social dances, and jam sessions. Daily classes will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with special events scheduled for the evenings. Renowned dance educators and musicians from San Diego and beyond will participate as faculty members and performers. The opening faculty concert, featuring a special African Drum and Dance company from San Diego, and a live jazz band, will kick off the festival on Saturday, November 23, at 7 p.m. Additional highlights include an open jam session at Panama 66 in Balboa Park on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, and the student showcase on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. Visit: https://sandiegotapandjazz.com/collections/all San Diego Tap and Jazz Festival on Instagram and Facebook

An age-old Palestinian tradition of making soap in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was recognized by UNESCO. A visit to one factory tells you why.

The 8th Annual North County Veterans Stand Down (NCVSD) starts at 8 a.m. Thursday Oct 17 and goes through Noon Sunday Oct 20, 2024 at Green Oak Ranch in Vista. The North County Veterans Stand Down is an annual four-day event where ALL veterans and their families, especially those homeless or struggling, can receive much needed services in a safe, friendly, drug and alcohol-free, and secure environment. During their stay at the NCVSD, Veterans and their families will receive many services such as: meals, lodging, clothing, medical, dental, vision, veterinary care for their pets, plus many more services to help them both physically and mentally, all FREE of charge. NEW THIS YEAR, the VA is bringing in a doctor on Thursday and Friday to perform evaluations for Compensation & Pension claims, greatly speeding up the disability claims process! Veterans may stay overnight in cabins or visit during the day, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 9 a.m. - Noon Sunday, when services are offered. Not all services are available every day, so we recommend attending Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Register to attend, volunteer, or donate to our cause at www.ncvsd.org NCVSD is an all-volunteer, nonprofit group of veterans and family members who care enough about our veterans to work long, hard hours to make this happen. We are grateful to all our community partners, including Supervisor Desmond and the County of San Diego, Healing California, North County Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, American Legion Riders Ch. 365, Vista Elks, Los Rancheros Kiwanis Club, Helen Woodward Animal Center, and many more! North County Veterans Stand Down on Facebook / Instagram

As the dust settles from the first wave of firings at health agencies, here's how many people got cut and the impact of the roles that were lost.

Ecuador will choose its next president in a April runoff election after conservative incumbent Daniel Noboa and leftist lawyer Luisa González garnered enough votes Sunday to beat 14 other candidates.

Wearing traditional cosmetic face masks from their homeland of Madagascar, they agreed to be photographed to take a stand.

Section I: Sunday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. October 13 (1 day, 8 total hours of instruction) AAC Print Room $130/150 + $20 materials fee paid to instructor Section II: Sunday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. October 20 (1 day, 8 total hours of instruction) AAC Print Room $130/150 + $20 materials fee paid to instructor Join Master Printer Sfona Pelah for a one-day etching workshop. Suitable for beginners to advanced, as well as printmakers who want time in the print room with support from an expert printmaker. Artists who would like to work in a different technique than etching are also welcome. Materials: Basic etching materials will be provided. You can bring your own zinc plates or purchase 6 x 8” plates from instructor ($27 each). Max students: 8 Visit: https://www.ljathenaeum.org/faculty-bios/sfona-pelah Athenaeum Music & Arts Library on Instagram and Facebook

The rebels continued advances in eastern Congo despite their own announcement of a cease-fire. The U.N. secretary-general called for them to lay down their guns and agree to mediation.

Attend an informational discussion to learn more about sexual violence. The Center for Community Solutions presents an interactive workshop on sexual assault covering myths, warning signs, challenges and tips to support survivors. Attendees will learn the definition of topics like consent and sexual violence and explore the various hurdles that prevent reporting. This program is offered as part of regional One Book, One San Diego programming. Attendees may receive a copy of "Know My Name" by Chanel Miller, the 2024 One Book One San Diego selection for Adults, while supplies last. Books will be handed out on a first come basis. Visit: https://sandiego.librarymarket.com/event/sexual-violence-101-407042

Join us at Southwestern College Art Gallery for the opening of Movidas Razquaches and Other Cheap Thrills, a collection of new work by artist Perry Vásquez. The exhibition is open from February 4 - March 4, 2025. Regular Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 10:30 AM -2:30 PM or by appointment. ARTIST STATEMENT“As an artist I try to pay attention to things being created and consumed within my milieu along the San Diego/Tijuana boundary. I find inspiration by reframing and recontextualizing overlooked things I find here and there and on the margins. I chose Movidas Razquaches as the title for my show because I think it captures the spirit and methodology of what I want to accomplish as an artist.” – Perry Vásquez. ABOUT THE LANGUAGEAccording to Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, rasquachismo is a sensibility that gets expressed in Chicano cultural forms and practices. Ybarra-Frausto writes, “It is a sensibility that is not elevated and serious, but playful and elemental. It finds delight and refinement in what many consider banal and projects an alternative aesthetic, a sort of good taste of bad taste.” Like African-American funk, or the improvised inventions of Rube Goldberg, the emphasis is on wit, resourcefulness and working with what is at hand. The add-on word, movida, can be translated as a maneuver, or a play (as in a game). Poet Juan Felipe Herrera interprets movidas rasquaches as “cheap thrills”, linking it to a pleasurable activity open to anyone who cares to partake. While legal scholar Alfredo Mirandé offers the word “hustle,” suggesting an illicit or unethical way to make a living. Sociologist David Spener uses movidas rasquaches to describe the network of the ad hoc work-arounds and tricks employed by migrants to navigate the US/Mexico border. While no single one of these terms perfectly captures the full meaning, taken together they give a reliable framework for interpretation. ABOUT THE WORKOver the last year and a half, Vásquez has created new work that divides into four projects using different media and including collaborative and solo work. Some of the projects are well established while others are being presented to the public for the first time in this exhibition. Blankets Vásquez collects flyers advertising gardening services left on his driveway by workers seeking employment. The no-thrills graphic style and the not-so-subtle way in which they seem to copy each other caught the artist’s eye. The act of weaving the flyers into blanket designs celebrates the DIY approach while reminding us of the workers’ aspirations to provide warmth and shelter for their families. Le Voyage/El Viaje This is an AI imaging project whose goal was to rethink and replace the transactional language used to prompt and generate AI images. “The AI image making process is hyper-focused on the outcome as the only part of the process with artistic merit. The prompt itself is written to be transactional and limiting.” Vásquez turned the process of generating imagery into a Surrealist game by inserting lines from French poet Charles Baudellaire’s poem Le Voyage into the software. The resulting images were used as the basis for a series of oil paintings. Monopalms The presence of cell towers disguised as palm trees (monopalms) has become a common sight in Southern California. This series of paintings implies the link between palm trees and the myth of paradise. The paintings also offer commentary on the telecommunications industry and how it alters our perception of nature and our sense of public and private space. Mexus Nexus Fluxus Inspired by Mexican recording artist Esquivel and the German techno artist Señor Coconut, Vásquez arranged four traditional Mexican songs for the synthesizer. He then worked with visual artists Lianne Mueller-Thompson and Carlos Solorio to create video and animations for the music. The music will be presented as a video installation. RECEPTIONSSaturday February 8, 11 AM -1 PM. (free parking in Lot O for this event) Tuesday, February 11, 11 AM -1 PM.