Wildlife: Calliope Hummingbirds are lingering at our feeders since we planted those fragrant, colorful annuals in boxes on the deck. One of them spent a long time perched on one of them last evening, just slurping away.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: Bright, beautiful, but there's drought going on, and I'm hoping for rain.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site

In The Community: Finals Week isn't even over yet, and graduation hasn't happened, but "Interim Classes" are beginning tonight at Flathead Valley Community College.
I took the liberty of writing to the Daily Kos weblog -- one of the biggest and most important of it's kind, about "The Fire Next Time" being broadcast on PBS:
I live in Kalispell, Montana (West side of Glacier National Park). Our already-reactionary talk radio scene was further polluted by a guy who sought to out-rush Rush and out-grump G. Gordon Liddy.
After many threats, lawsuits, and some unfortunate gunfire, a local victim of this on-air viper invited a video crew from Oakland (The Working Group) to see what was going on. They'd covered the anti-Semetic violence in Billings, Montana a few years earlier, and made a film called "Not In Our Town."
The Working Group made their video, and showed it to the community last summer. Although they could have stuck to telling the truth about the grim, selfish, adolescent whiners around here and went away, they did more than they had to, and reached out to all sides -- trying to bring people together to talk to each other. There were some real ongoing issues about our natural and economic environment that transcended the story of one mean-spirited airwave-defecator.
Even though I was just a technician, hired to run the their data projector. I was personally moved by the extra effort they put into human relations. (Time alone will show if they softened anyone's hostility.)
While PBS exists, everyone has the opportunity to see their video, and watch how mis-applied communication can have pretty awful consequences.
I'm looking forward to keeping Daily Kos informed about the progress and reactions of this little project -- it may provide a window on why one "red state" is "turning blue." (See Below)

NOT IN OUR TOWN NEWSFLASH
HOST A COMMUNITY SCREENING OF "THE FIRE NEXT TIME"

THE FIRE NEXT TIME, The Working Group's production on community divisions in Northwest Montana, will air nationally on the PBS series P.O.V. on Tuesday, July 12 at 10:00 pm (check local listings). More information is at: www.pbs.org/pov/tvschedule.php
Groups around the country from Bloomington, IL to Bozeman, MT are hosting pre-broadcast community screenings, using the film to address issues of polarization, the power of extremist media, and divisions arising from rapid growth and change. We are developing a discussion guide and extensive resources related to community conflict resolution, and are particularly interested in hearing about "success stories" and case studies of best practices.
>>>>If your community is interested in hosting a screening in June or July, please contact us as soon as possible: niot@theworkinggroup.org or call 510 268 9675 x310.<< www.theworkinggroup.org

Media Watch: We are watching the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions to see who gets to take on Ken Jennings next week.