Monday, April 16, 2007

truly green?

i recently received the following evite to a milonga, which i've copied verbatim (with the exception of personal identification info). the event is meant to be "green" as in environmental, as 22 april is earth day (or something like it). i find the invitation to be lacking with respect to the presumed intention of the hosts. here's why. my comments are in red.

a big green milonga welcoming tango beginners!

Location: The Church in Ocean Park
235 Hill St., Santa Monica, CA

When: Sunday, April 22, 4:00pm


this is a specially conceived and carefully crafted milonga event

here the hosts claim that this event is "specially conceived and carefully crafted". one presumes that the consideration and attention which went into the planning is supposed to be environmentally conscious.

representing the LA Tango community's desire to welcome and accomodate all the fresh new beginners and newbies who are starting and learning this fabulous dance

spelling: "accommodate"

for those of you who don't know yet what a milonga is: it is simply a place to dance tango!

this milonga is formed by experienced dancers with the specific desire to make your first milonga fun, easy, and enjoyable.

our intention is that you'll have fun, dance with nice people who have a bit of experience, meet other teachers and community members, and get to know a bit more about Tango in LA.

DJ Stefan will play some rock solid Tango music specially curated for this occasion.

this earth day event will be carried out in an envrionmentally sensitive way! we ask you to: (1) bring your own cup or bottle for drinking (2) carpool if you can to the event (3) wear something green, or made of hemp :)

we note that the event is supposed to be "environmentally sensitive"
- spelling: "environmentally"
- should the cups that guests bring be disposable? which disposable cups are best? paper/wax, plastic, styrofoam?
- why carpool? why not take public transportation? stroll? what if i carpooled in a stretch hummer with one other person, i.e. the driver?

we'll have organic snacks and juice on hand to enjoy.

why the need to mention "organic"? is organic more environmental?

also, 5% of our profits will go toward the Carbon Neutral Company's awesome carbon offsets program, to help heal the carbon emissions challenge we are facing today

5%? where does the other 95% of profits go? and what is carbon neutral?
http://www.carbonneutral.com
they seem to be a renewable energy company, not an environmental group. what will carbon neutral do with the 5%? why is 5% going to a for-profit company?


party cost is $15 which includes special Tango Cultural Education Immersion Acceleration Modules that will show you how the tango social world works. $12 for UCLA or CalTech students with an ID.

that sucks for the other students in the area, e.g. santa monica city college just down the street, usc, pepperdine, loyola marymount. what about visiting students?

we encouage participants to carpool on over to the Ministry of Tango's Free Monthly M3 Milonga in Pasadena afterwards: http://tangoafficionado.com/events.htm#m3

spelling: "encourage"
fyi, the m3 event after this event is in pasadena. and this is the kicker. people are encouraged to drive 35 miles to pasadena for an event that is almost exactly a replica of this one? what happened to environmentally sensitive?

this is dancing that is good for you and good for your community! we're only doing this once! hope you can make space for it.

how is this good for my community?

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