AREA Readers and Friends:

Thanks to everyone who came out to our AREA #7 Release Event on Saturday (the content from that issue will be online soon). Later that night we made $3,800 at the 2nd annual AREA "Wants and Needs" auction and everyone that came out for that and helped with the event deserves a thanks as well! Which leads to the call for proposals for the next issue of AREA #8, which will be partially funded by the generous support of our readers through the auction as well as individual donations (mail us a check today to PO Box 476971 Chicago IL 60647 - made payable to Experimental Station).

So most people in Chicago by this point know about the inspiring actions of Republic Window unionized workers over on Goose Island who occupied their factory which was getting shut down (http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/uenews.html). And hopefully some of you caught this afternoon's rally down at Bank of America to call for a People's Bailout. Between these events and our corrupt state is has been an exciting week in Chitown. It is likely that this factory occupation and increased  worker and citizen  militancy responding to the financial crisis will only increase - so its a great time for AREA to develop a new issue about economic justice, capital and cash-money. Please consider proposing an article, interview or project to our upcoming issue. The details are below.....

"Everybody's Got Money Issues" Issue #8 of AREA Chicago (www.areachicago.org)
Submission Deadline 2/1/2009
To be released 5/1/2009
Send proposals to areachicago@gmail.com

Twenty years ago we were told that there was no other option besides capitalism, and that the socialism of the 20th century was a failure. Today we witness economic justice struggles around every corner-from labor rights organizing, to protests against unaccountable free-trade conferences, everyday price increases from entertainment ticket surcharges to groceries-the unprecedented inequality of wealth is deforming our lives and the general crisis, illustrated by the recent Wall Street bailout, is plain to see. Still, it's hard to talk about money and how it impacts our lives and work. There are struggles for fair wages and benefits at the same time as an increasing number of people are relegated to the flexible free-lance/temp/day-labor sector where nothing is consistent or reliable. Money obscures our hard work as it turns activism and culture into a struggle for grants; those with access can dedicate their energy to publicity and gaining more access while others are ground to disintegration. And what about taxes and welfare-the political mechanisms that can supposedly re-distribute wealth? Money breeds money. We want a different way of life but sometimes our alternatives seem to exist only in a mythic universe. We're constantly comparing apples and oranges: material comforts and intangible emotions, the necessities of living and our wildest dreams, abstractions like the ideas that fuel our creative, intellectual, and activist work. This confuses our sense of what matters. Just as the housing market is speculative, everyone is always looking for a better option in every aspect of life-looking for a deal, looking to buy low and sell high.

In the Money Issue of AREA, we hope to reveal examples of Chicagoans tacking the question of money, capital, and work in challenging or creative ways. Ideas for articles might include a profile of an organization tackling fair or locally-oriented economic concerns,  an interview with an immigrant from a Soviet-aligned country about the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall on their community in Chicago, a manifesto from a cultural organization about how money affects their art, a report back from school funding protests, documentation from Chicagoan's protests in the 1930s to nationalize the banks, or a group discussion with Chicago activists about funding their work in creative ways. Please don't feel limited to these suggestions-they are purely meant to get your head spinning with ideas. Once you settle on one, email AREA with a proposal by February 1st 2009 at areachicago@gmail.com

Your proposal should be no longer than 200 words. Include ideas of "keywords" that you think might explain your work and the topics it connects to. Feel free to send links or attachments that show related work.