Acknowledgments
From Learning Activities Using "The Yes Men Fix the World"
Many people helped me in the course of creating this guide. Some attended screenings and shared their thoughts about the movie and about how it might be used in a variety of learning situations. Others answered my many questions about specific resources. Others made very helpful suggestions as they reviewed the guide in different stages of drafts. All inspired me to want to make this guide helpful in using the valuable and creative work of The Yes Men as a catalyst for interrupting business as usual, and getting more people involved in fixing our broken world.
The people listed below work in a wide variety of educational settings. Some are university teachers and staff, many from my College of Public and Community Service (University of Massachusetts Boston), but also from Brooklyn College (City University of New York, which was free when I attended), the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Salem State College, Portland State University, Rutgers University, the Berklee College of Music, Tufts, and Swarthmore. They work in a wide variety of disciplines: Advising, American studies, Chinese politics, conflict resolution, economic literacy, education, English as a second language, experiential education, film studies, labor studies, math teacher education, media literacy, music and social change, outdoor and leadership education, political science, quantitative reasoning, technical literacy, and, writing. Some work with elementary and high schools, as students, teachers, librarians, principals, or in community programs amplifyme!!!, whose mission is to use media arts to amplify the engagement of all people in action for positive change; and The Transmission Project which works nationally to strengthen the power of public media and technology by supporting organizations such as low power radio, community media and arts centers, rural broadband initiatives, and social change organizations that rely upon these media). Some work in human service agencies as providers of care or welfare rights organizers; others work in government (the Cambridge, MA Peace Commisioner, and a town meeting member from Brookline, MA). Others include a documentary filmmaker, journalists (from Open Media Boston, and from Dollars and Sense magazine, artists, and an electrical engineer. Still others work for United for a Fair Economy, an organization that supports and helps build social movements for greater equality through raising awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart. And all are activists for social justice.
Thank-you: Kathleen Weiler, Chamaine Washington, Victor Wallis, Marjorie Torchon, Carolyn Thompson, Pat Taylor, Chris Sturr, Kyane Strother, Dottie Stevens, Emilie Steele, Sharon Small, John Sims, Ben Sheldon, Joe Sheehan, Steve Schnapp, Charlotte Ryan, David Rubin, Wesley Richardson, Scott Reed, Belinda Rawlins, Jemirma Rateau, Lex Ireland-Pryor, Jason Pramus, Arthur B. Powell, Miriam Pope, Linda Pinkow, Ashakie Phillips, Lisa Patrick, Denise Patmon, Luke Patmon, Ashanti Pasha, Amelia Onorato, Swapna Mukhopadhyay, John Mazzarella, Carol Ma, Rich Levy, Scherazade Baruvalia King, Grant Jones, Diane Jones, Fred Johnson, Earl Jackson Jr., Michael Ireland, Inez Hedges, John Haffner, Roland Gubisch, Lee Goodrich, Reebee Garofalo, Chris Gang , Joshua Friedman, Clive Francis, Molly Fergus, Joseph Entin, Diane Dujon, Linda Dittmar, Scott D’Antuono, Brian Corr, Arthur Wellington Conquest, III, Alexandra Collins, Ellen Cantarow, Brett Calo, Robert Brooks, and Peter Adams. And, Joseph Huff-Hannon, The Yes Men’s Outreach Coordinator who always answered every question and every request efficiently, and with kindness; James W. Fishwick who got this material up on the website; and, The Yes Men, for their work.
And we are confident there will be more people contributing to this work, that there are many Yes Teachers and Yes Students out there. When The Yes Men were asked why they are so confident that there are many other Yes Men, they stated: "After spending two days recently with 650 supposedly right-wing zealots, at the Heritage Foundation’s annual "Resource Bank," we determined that most of these people had to be fake."
AND DEEP THANKS TO HOWARD ZINN
Along with millions of others, my commitment to work for social justice was solidified through reading A People’s History of the United States. And my power to continue, to not lose hope, was strengthened by so many of Howard Zinn’s teachings. He died as I was editing this guide, so our loss was on my mind. I was struck by how I quote him in almost every chapter; I was struck by what a significant, consistent influence his life’s work has contributed to my life’s work. Howard Zinn. ¡Presente!
 Courtesy: The Bread and Puppet Theater |
 Courtesy: Stanley Moore Postcards |
