Busy Weekend: Book Party and Film Screening

On Saturday night, Aug.13, the Music Room, a popular venue on the trendy Edgewood Ave. strip in the Old Fourth Ward, hosted MADSA’s party to celebrate member Cecily McMillan’s new book and benefit the Georgia Civil Disobedience Fund.

The Emancipation of Cecily McMillan, an American Memoir (Nation Books) describes the author’s difficult childhood growing up in Atlanta and Texas, her struggle to get an education, her Occupy Wall St. activism and the three months she spent in NYC’s notorious Rikers Island Prison following an OWS-related arrest – which inspired her to become a fervent advocate for prisoners’ rights. The event raised $1,100 for the Fund, which pays bail and legal expenses for people arrested while nonviolently protesting for justice.

Thanks to A Capella for selling many copies of the book, signed by Cecily (far left in photo), who also read passages and engaged the packed audience in a Q and A, and to the outstanding musicians who performed for us following the reading (Feat, RAHBI, Hero the Band, Loner, The Queedom and Shalom Little). Special thanks to MADSA supporters Johnnie Martinez and Brandon Ley, owners of the Joystick Game Bar and the new Georgia Beer Garden, and to Keiran Neely, owner of the Music Room who made his club available to us so generously after our first host, the Beer Garden, met with a last-minute delay of its long-anticipated opening.

The following afternoon, at the Decatur Recreation Center, we screened “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry,” an inspiring documentary about the 1960’s Women’s Liberation Movement. Betsey Miklethun, a veteran of the movement, introduced the film and Megan Harrison, a young law student, responded afterwards – pointing out, among other things, how much the film could have added had it brought the story up to the present. The audience, which included people of diverse ages, races and genders, enjoyed participating in the discussion.

Check out the calendar on this web page for future events designed to keep you plugged into activism in our area and important issues and questions facing the movement for a more just society. We are planning a special October meeting geared to welcoming new and prospective members interested in learning about democratic socialism and what our group does.