Welcome to the New Year and to Winter Term at COCC! Here is a list of the planned activities for this month – we hope that you’ll participate in as many as you can. Also, below is a list of the cultural holidays and celebrations for the month of January. Enjoy!
Please contact Karen Roth, Director of Multicultural Activities at kroth1@cocc.edu or call 541-383-7412 for more information. You may also visit our website at www.cocc.edu/mcc-events.
Programs and Events for January 2013
Student Club meetings in the Multicultural Center:
Black Student Union, Fridays at noon - 1pm
First Nations Student Union, TBA
Latino Club, TBA
Spanish Conversation Group
Every Monday, 11:30 – 12:30 pm, in 116 Campus Center
This conversation group is open to anyone willing to try and converse in Spanish.
2013 Season of Nonviolence
Honoring the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi,
Cesar Chavez, and Chief Wilma Mankiller
For the full schedule, visit the website: www.cocc.edu/mcc-events.
Spiritual Diversity Conference
Saturday, Jan. 26, 9 am – 5 pm, Wille Hall, Campus Center
Featuring Keynote speakers Dr. Allen McKiel, author of Beyond Tolerance: Religion and Global Community, and Wajdi Said, founder of the Muslim Educational Trust, this conference invites participates to explore the role of religion in promoting tolerance. Free and open to the public.
Book Discussion: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness
Mondays, Jan. 28, Feb. 11, and Feb. 25, Noon – 1 pm, 118 Cascades Hall
Currently there are more African Americans in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850. In her book, The New Jim Crow, acclaimed civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander explores the cultural biases that still exist and how segregation has been replaced by mass incarceration. Join James Foster, OSU Professor, for a three-part discussion of this book.
Night of a Thousand Stars and Other Portraits of Iraq: An Evening of Photographs and Discussion with Joel Preston Smith
Thursday, January 31 at 6:30 p.m., Hitchcock Auditorium, 201 Pioneer Hall
Photojournalist Joel Preston Smith challenges his audience to question how racism, xenophobia and a media bias have all played a role in shaping how we view Iraqis and the war. Using his photography, Smith portrays both Iraqis and US soldiers as human beings, instead of just victims and perpetrators, and explores together with his audience how various biases lead us to prejudge Middle Eastern societies. Free and open to the public.
OTHER JANUARY EVENTS:
Conversations on Books and Cultures: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Thursday, Jan. 24 at noon – 1 pm, Multicultural Center
Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When her sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.
January Cultural Holidays and Celebrations
January 1 – New Year’s Day
January 1 - Anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, eliminating slavery in 1863.
January 1 – Gantan-Sai – Also referred to as Shogatu, this is the Shinto New Year holiday. The faithful visit shrines, often at midnight, praying for renewal of heart, health, and prosperity.
January 5 – George Washington Carver, educator and scientist who developed many products from peanuts and sweet potatoes, dies in 1943.
January 5 – Guru Gobind Singh’s Birthday, the 10th and last living Guru of the Sikh faith.
January 6 – Three King’s Day, Dia de Los Tres Magos, marks the end of the Christmas season in Central and South America and some parts of Europe.
January 6 – Epiphany, a Christian commemoration of the journey of the three Wise Men to offer gifts to the infant Jesus.
January 7 – Christmas for Coptic and Eastern Orthodox Christians
January 11 – Amelia Earhart Day
January 12 – Supreme Court rules schools may not discriminate based on race, 1948.
January 13 – President Polk orders the invasion of land between Rio Nueces and Rio Grande in Texas, forcing the war with Mexico in 1846.
January 13 – Lohri – On this Hindu and Sikh holiday, bonfires are lit to mark the change from the decrease to the increase of the sun.
January 14 – Pongol – A three-day rice harvest festival in South India that is celebrated with a cultural evening of song and dance.
January 14 – Siejin No Hi, a Japanese national holiday which honors young people who have reached, or who will reach, the age of 20 during the current year. Twenty is the age of majority in Japan, and people who have reached this age are subject to adult laws and gain the right to vote in elections as well as to drink alcohol.
January 14 - Hostos Day in Puerto Rico. Born on 11th January 1839 in the Barrio "Río Cañas" of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, de Hostos was a patriot, distinguished scholar and writer of works ranging from treatises on law to children’s stories. He spent most of his life in exile working as a university lecturer, and leading educational reform efforts in both the Dominican Republic and Chile. He travelled widely to promote cooperation among Latin American countries and advocate freedom for Puerto Rico and Cuba.
January 14 – Makar Sankranti – A Hindu celebration of the transition of the Sun from Sagittarius to Capricorn during the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. The days gradually lengthen.
January 16 – In 1786, the Virginia legislature adopted Thomas Jefferson’s statue for the establishment of religious freedom.
January 19 – Sultan, the first day of the seventeenth Baha’i month.
January 20 – American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) formed in 1920.
January 21 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., minister and civil rights leader, born in 1929. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for work to bring about equal rights through nonviolent protest.
January 22 – Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in 1973.
January 23 – 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars poll tax in federal elections in 1964.
January 24 – Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883) addressed the first African American women’s rights convention in 1851.
January 24 – Eid-Maulad-un-Nabi honors the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. Since no one really knows when Mohammad was born, the date of his death has been adopted as the day of his birth. It is observed differently in the various Muslim countries for 9 days, with colorful fairs, parades, and feasting.
January 25 – Charles Curtis, Kaw Indian who was Vice President under Herbert Hoover, born in 1860.
January 26 – All public businesses in the U. S. have to comply with the American Disabilities Act by this date in 1955.
January 26 – Tu B’Shevat, Jewish Arbor Day. This day celebrates Judaism’s roots in the natural world. It is a holiday known as the New Year for Trees. Special meals include eating the seven fruits of the land – wheat, barley, figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, and dates. Trees are also planted.
January 28 – Birth of Jose Marti, hero of Cuban Independence,1853.
January 30 – 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to abolish slavery was passed in 1865. Mohandes Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.
January 31 – Birth of Jackie Robinson, first Black major league baseball player, 1919.