The second annual Knickerbocker Film Festival closes tonight with two more screenings at the Madison Theater and its award show, at Pearl Street Pub, at 8:00 p.m. featuring performances by Frankie’s Theory.

Tickets for the festival and the awards show are $10. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/knickfilmfest

525,600 minutes is not the wait for Capital Region theatergoers to see Our Own Productions’ version of the hit Broadway musical, RENT, at the Egg Performing Arts Center at the Empire State Plaza in April.

RENT premieres tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. and culminates months of venue changes and production alterations. The reported $22,000 budget went to ensuring that the Jonathan Larson penned production remained as true to the original Broadway run as possible.

RENT runs from tomorrow night through April 10th, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets range from $21.00 for students to $26.00 for general admission and can be purchased online at theegg.org.

Ah, the protest. One of the remaining elements of direct democracy still exerted by populaces, both large and small – rich or poor – black or white. The marches of the 1950s and 1960s brought about significant social change, raised the value of issues that were immensely important to the future of America, and the best thing of all – people cared.

Where have we gone…

Since the invasion in Iraq and through President Obama’s election, a new wave of activism has swept the land. From the tea party, to unionized forces, to students – people are clearly not happy with a number of directions the country and the state are going. The early part of this year has been evident of such sentiment.

Here’s the thing though – I’m all for citizen activism and breaking down the walls of injustice, but when you do it, do it right. Don’t go in the New York State Capitol, stake out all day because your tuition is rising or your benefits are being cut, and then say, “hey guys, let’s all get muffins and crumpets so we don’t get arrested.” You’re inside the your supposed ‘people’s house’ and you’re going to walk away freely without getting what you want, nor speaking to who you needed to, and instead of actually trying to move the policy debate, you only obstructed either a hallway, staircase, or congregation point.

The same thing goes for Mr. Chris Schewe, the ‘famed’ 41 year old student whose been protesting UAlbany’s Fountain Day cancellation by first staking out all weekend at the fountain chained (he only went through one day), followed by a daytime hunger strike, and a daytime thirst strike, leaving by 5 p.m. each day. Mr. Schewe, if you want to make your mark or whatever you claim to be pushing forward, stay all weekend instead of saying you’ll be there and we find out that you’re gone by the time the 11 p.m. news is coming on. That’s not a protest, that’s just posing.

Speaking on the Fountain Day front, huge swathes of UAlbany students took to Facebook (no surprise) to start up events, groups, pages for alternate events such as “Waterfest” and whatnot. And these events garnered 400, 500 attendees. Last week, Brian Johnson solicited a petition to get the attention of the Student Association and the University that claimed to have over 800 names. However, nothing against Brian’s efforts, but where were all these people, these dismayed and disappointed students, when programs were being cut, tuition being raised, facilities being shut down, and health care diminishing?

The problem isn’t with the cause, it’s with organization and evolution of the movement. Save Our SUNY, for example, had such a policy window open when the University at Albany suspended programs last Fall. Instead of using that moment and truly galvanizing a campus previously known for its activism and advocacy, they faltered for a number of reasons – primarily not evolving the debate and educating potential new members. A protest or opposition can win if its members know the information, both direct and background, and use it to its prime ability. That’s how things get done – when you start spreading misinformation and misquote individuals and attempt to isolate statements for your own purpose without preparing for a backlash, that’s how a movement stalls in it’s tracks.

Back in March 2003, I was part of a “Books Not Bombs” protest at Albany High School that promoted funding education instead of overseas conflicts. Back then, I wrote up a one sheet to give information to fellow students who were there. So there we were, 150, 200 strong, walking down the State Capitol and truly what could have been seen as students who wanted to make a difference turned into a small number ripping their shirts off, diverting from the march, talking to media and saying “I got the day off school.” Classic example of organization and a movement lost.

Cindy Sheehan, who was the face of the anti-war movement earlier in the 2000s, had a great opportunity to turn a movement into an organization. Sheehan’s son, Casey, had been killed in Iraq in 2004. What started as “Camp Casey” outside of President Bush’s Crawford, Tx. ranch became the political talk of the summer of 2005. However, she went from being the “peace mom” and “Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement” to now a note of past activism. Another example is Mark Rudd, who organized as a member of the Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society the Columbia University anti-Vietnam protests of 1968. Rudd was a spokesperson for the movement, but ended up diverging more radical, alienating what could have been a fundamental shift at Columbia. The key thing with both Sheehan and Rudd is that they failed to capitivate their respective movements.

Exercising one’s freedom of speech and freedom to organize does not give someone the right to be uneducated about matters. So when you organize and when you want to change the way things are, be committed, be truthful, and most importantly, continue to evolve your ideas to keep the movement fresh. Otherwise, it’ll be more stale than that bag of Doritos you left on the Capitol floor.

Photo Credit: Willow Burns (BAS News)

Roughly 15,000 protesters were in attendance on Wednesday to oppose proposed cuts made my legislators to public education. Students and faculty alike lined the “Million Dollar Staircase” in the Capitol Building throughout the day and well into the night, advocating for a “Millionaires Tax” to the top earners of New York State, in hopes to restore funding to educational institutions.

Ron Deutsch, Executive Director for New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, commented on the actions of legislators, stating, “Unfortunately, the Governor and Legislature sided with the top 2 percent of the state at the expense of the other 98 percent of us.  This was a bad day in Albany”.

Others saw the days events in a more optimistic light. Steve Allinger, Legislative Director of NYSUT, stated, “This is a great beginning in this cause to restore cuts… there is still time to avert this disaster”.

Bret Benjamin, member of the University at Albany’s English department and Save Our SUNY, argued, “This is a result of direct class struggle.  We need to stop talking about cuts to the state and start talking about revenue”.

Protesters have set up camp around the area of the Capitol Building and intend on sitting-in for the course of the evening.

Photo Credit: Willow Burns (BAS News)

Update: Senator Adams (SD-20) will join the groups of protesters still locked down upon Albany’s Million Dollar Staircase, in an effort to restore public education’s funding and implement the “Millionaire’s Tax”.

Protesters currently stand united in Albany’s Capitol Building in defense of New York’s public education system. The New York State budget is expected to pass before the end of the week, with substantial cuts proposed to public education. More news to come from the Capitol.

Apparently, when you want to make a statement, take a break. Or so is the logic of Chris Schewe, who previously was cuffed Friday to the UAlbany fountain in protest of University at Albany President George M. Philip’s decision to cancel Fountain Day. Schewe has now returned to the fountain, this time in a ‘thirst strike’ in order to gain the attention of Philip.

Schewe reportedly left Friday night on his own accord, only to return this afternoon.

Schewe, 41, is a currently enrolled undergraduate student at the University at Albany, a Pittsfield, Mass. resident, and a family man with a wife and two children. However, Schewe’s claim to fame prior to the fountain protest was a series of YouTube videos that have Schewe consuming glue, tampons, crayons, and hot wax (view his YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/shoenice22). Students and alumni have expressed their disdain for Schewe’s actions.

“It’s a publicity stunt, really. I know the students were pretty ticked about losing Fountain Day, but I feel he’s doing it for attention… funny as it may be,” said Gillian Gay, a recent Linguistics graduate of the University at Albany.

“I feel that he’s embarrassing himself,” said Lauren Bailey, a Sophomore Political Science and Public Health major.

The second annual Knickerbocker Film Festival is set to premiere tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. at the Spectrum 8 Theater in Albany. The festival, which has seen its expansion from the Madison Theater this year, has drawn more significant business support than last year’s run in addition to the increase of submissions from not only the United States, but from eight countries.

“We’ve come back from the brink of death to now Albany’s only city-wide film festival,” said Joe Bonilla, chief executive officer of BASKnickerbocker Inc. (disclosure: BASKnickerbocker Inc. is the parent company of BAS News, who operates the Knickerbocker Ledger). Earlier in the year, the festival saw the departure of Joseph Alindato, who chaired the 2010 festival.

Tickets for the festival are $10 and screenings run at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday this week (the Spectrum on Monday, Madison for the rest of the week). More information can be found at http://www.facebook.com/knickfilmfest or http://www.knickledger.com/2011/03/official-selections-into-2011-knickerbocker-film-festival/.