Welcome to OPIRG Kingston

Alternative Frosh Week is a week-long extravaganza of events co-ordinated by OPIRG Kingston and planned to coincide with faculty-run frosh week activities. Altfrosh seeks to offer an alternative to students who feel for whatever reason that frosh week (or a part of frosh week) is not for them; we are also looking to connect with campus newcomers who are looking to learn more about grassroots community organizations at Queen’s and in Kingston.

All Altfrosh events are open to all students and Kingston community members, and with the exception of a single fund raiser are entirely free!

See our promotional video here.

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ALTERNATIVE FROSH WEEK 2008 SCHEDULE

Wednesday, September 3rd

1pm-5pm: Queen’s In The Park (City Park)
This is actually a part of regular frosh week! Watch out for the OPIRG booth and learn about our organization and activities.

Thursday, September 4th

12pm-2pm: Sustainable Local Food Walking Tour w/ Andrew McCann; Departing from the Grey House (51 Bader Lane)
Facebook event here

Where in town can you find sustainable, local and fresh food? What are the ethical and ecological issues surrounding the food we eat? Andrew McCann, co-ordinator of Kingston’s Food Down the Road program, will be leading a walking tour through Kingston to point out where to get the good stuff. This talk will survey the growing food revolution, while speaking to the causes and consequences of mounting global food shortfalls and price hikes: peak oil, ethanol, peak water, peak soil, meat eating, export-bans, speculation, climate change, and more!

3pm-6pm: Activist Art Workshop w/ Kaitlin Schwan; Grey House (51 Bader Lane)
Facebook event here

Come participate in an activist based workshop which will include silkscreening, ‘zine making, and patch making. Bring any skills you want to share with the group! Materials will be provided, but please bring old clothes or fabric if you want to make several pieces. The workshop will also include discussions around the creation of a community art project for Kingston, so stop by even if you don’t want to participate in the workshop and share your interest and ideas.

8:30pm: Graffiti Art Film Screening Outside the Grey House (51 Bader Lane)
Facebook event here

Come out for a screening of the celebrated illegalist graffiti film Dirty Handz 2. The Dirty Handz Team is back on the tracks with a one hour movie, pushing the limits of what can be shown on a screen without ending up in a cell…If you get sick of riding the same boring art and cultureless train every morning, here is what you missed in Paris City…Art and colours taking control of the system, an army of kids involved in a civil war going on while you might have been asleep. Underground missions, street bombing, train attacks all around France up to Hamburg city in Germany… The vandal menace has spread!

10pm: Urban Capture the Flag Meet in front of Stauffer Library (University + Union corner)
Facebook event here

Take a self-guided running tour of campus like you’ve never experienced it before! Urban Capture the Flag is an easy game that mixes urban exploration tactics, team-building skills and hide-and-go-seek to create a high-energy situation where anything is possible… if you have em, wear black clothes, bring a flashlight, walkie-talkies, bandanas, a water bottle, etc…

We seek to create an anti-oppressive and friendly social atmosphere, so no acting like jocks. This game is organized by members of UCTF Kingston and will take place immediately following the graffiti film. All rules will be explained on the spot. For more info, email miasma_infoshop (at) riseup.net

Friday, September 5th

3pm-5pm: Free Bike Repair Workshop provided by Yellow Bike Action; Grey House (51 Bader Lane)

Come out to this event and learn a thing or two about bikes, whether you’ve got one or not! OPIRG, Yellow Bike Action, and Free School, together forever!

5pm: Critical Mass Bike Ride departing from the Grey House (51 Bader Lane)
Facebook event here

Critical Mass is a bicycle-centered social movement that occurs in cities all across the globe. A Critical Mass is a leaderless event that is usually not organized beyond meeting at a set time and location with bicycles, at which point the bikes take over the streets and ride together in spontaneous celebration of bike culture. The slogan of the Critical Mass movement is, We ARE Traffic!

7pm: Indigenous Struggle Film Night and Discussion featuring Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance; Policy Studies Building Room 448, 138 Union Street

The Kingston Indigenous Solidarity Network hosts a screening of Alanis Obomsawin’s Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, which shines a spotlight on the historic standoff between the Mohawk Warriors and the Canadian military at Kanehsatake (Quebec) that has come to be infamously known as the Oka Crisis. View the trailer here.

The film will be followed by a discussion facilitated by the Kingston Indigenous Solidarity Network that will tie the Oka Crisis of 1990 to the present situation at nearby Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, in hopes of raising awareness about colonization, the struggle for land, and political prisoners and getting people active.

Saturday, September 6th

2pm: Radical Histories: An Introductory Walking Tour of Kingston departing from the Grey House (51 Bader Lane)

Meet at the Grey House for a guided radical walking tour of downtown Kingston. In order to feel a sense of community, it is important to know the history of a place. This tour is designed to uncover Kingston’s function in the military economy, the prison-industrial complex, and the public-private corporate nexus housed at Queen’s University and downtown. The tour will also bring to light some of the stories of marginalized folks including Kingston’s black, Jewish, and queer communities. It will point to a few inspiring examples of resistance that have all in their own way fought for a different and better Kingston, one that is anti-oppressive, pro-community and pro-autonomy. Spend an hour familiarizing with Kingston’s history, sites, sounds, joys, concerns, and news.

9:30pm-2am: Soul Shakedown #3 presented by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (Queen’s); Modern Fuel Artist-Run Center (21A Queen Street)
Facebook event here

Soul Shakedown parties aim to bring the best in dance grooves, from Middle Eastern to Bhangara tunes, U.S. funk and soul to Latin, Brazilian, and Pan-African beats. The party also raises funds for organizations doing social justice work and groups that challenge the status quo of neoliberal capitalism and colonization. We strive to construct a safe space where diverse peoples can enjoy themselves and get away from the same old music and pub scene. Let your hosts, DJ E, DJ Redfoot, and DJ Fictitious Commodity, take you on a journey through the best the world has to offer in music.

DJ Redfoot – Pan-African and Latin Sounds
DJ Fictitious Commodity – Soul, Funk, Broken Beat
DJ E – Middle Eastern and Bhangara Music

* Pre-Sale Tickets $8 at Brian’s Record Option and SPHR Table at Queen’s Sidewalk Sale (Sept. 5)*
*Tickets at the door will be $10*

SPHR is a student organization which advocates on a strong social justice platform to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people in the face of human rights violations and all forms of racism, discrimination, misinformation and misrepresentation. For more information, contact SPHR Queen’s at sphr.queensu (at) gmail.com

Sunday, September 7th

1pm-4pm: OPIRG Open House at the Grey House (51 Bader Lane)

Meet and Greet with OPIRG and Working Groups; Drop In for a Quick Visit and some Refreshments!

4pm: Grey House MegaParty! featuring DJ Haircut, DJ Grand Funk, DJ Sean187 with DJ KGB, and Montreal’s infamous WE FUNK; at the Grey House (51 Bader Lane)
Facebook event here

This FREE SHOW, Barbecue and Dance Party will take place on the Grey House balcony from 4pm until the night is long over.

DJ Haircut is bringing groove and great hair.

DJ Grand Funk (old-school hip-hop, minimal funk and klezmer funk) will cause you to dance it up and love OPIRG.

DJ Sean187, founder of Vintage Records and prolific producer pumping out the freshest beats on this side of the border, teams up with DJ KGB, hailing from Peterborough and renowned for his space sets.

WE FUNK: Montreal DJs Professor Groove and DJ Static comprise WE FUNK. Since their first show in 1996 they’ve been selecting only the best in hip hop, funk & soul — from old to new, classics, rare gems, new releases and more. Come and experience hip hop’s roots and future along with the rich legacy of funk, soul and jazz. For more info, see http://wefunkradio.com

Monday, September 8th

8pm: Screening Under the Stars w/ Marnie McDiarmid; Newlands’ Pavilion (Emily Street @ the Waterfront)
Facebook event here

This film will be introduced by Marnie McDiarmid, who will speak about queer history in Kingston dating back to World War II, based on oral history she has uncovered while researching the city’s queer community.

The film, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, is adapted from the critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock theatre hit. It tells the story of an “internationally ignored” rock singer, Hedwig, and her search for stardom and love. Born a boy named Hansel whose life’s dream is to find his other half, Hedwig reluctantly submits to a sex change operation in order to marry an American G.I. and get over the Berlin Wall to freedom. The operation is botched, leaving her with the aforementioned “angry inch”. Finding herself high, dry and divorced in a Kansas trailer park, she pushes on to form a rock band and encounters a lover/protégé in young Tommy Gnosis, who eventually leaves her, steals her songs and becomes a huge rock star.

A bitter yet witty Hedwig with her pan-Slavic band, The Angry Inch, shadows Tommy’s stadium tour, performing in near-empty restaurants for bewildered diners and a few die-hard fans. Through a collage of songs, flashbacks and animation, Hedwig tells her life story while on a tour of chain strip-mall seafood restaurants, trying to capitalize on her tabloid celebrity as the supposed ex-lover of famed rock star, Tommy Gnosis. Somewhere between the crab cakes and the cramped motel rooms, between the anguish and the acid-wash, she pursues her dreams and discovers the origin of love.

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Also, immediately following Alternative Frosh Week, don’t forget to check out EQuIP’s Queerientation!

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