From the link http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/93314?fp=1

With Haiti still reeling from Tuesday’s devastating earthquake, the Red Cross has stated that it has run out of medical supplies on the island nation.

More supplies are on the way, but it is unknown when they will arrive. Meanwhile, on the Web, people eager to help are seeking out unique ways in which they can help.

In the Search box, some of the biggest queries are for different ways to “text to help.” For example, the Red Cross has set up a system where a cell phone user can text “Haiti” to the number 90999. The text message will result in a $10 donation to the Red Cross. So far, the campaign has been a massive hit. According to Mashable, the texting option has already raised over $800,000.

Another popular option for cell phone users eager to help: Text “Yele” to 501501. Doing so will result in a $5 donation to Yéle Haiti, a grassroots organization started by singer and Haiti native Wyclef Jean. Over the course of the day, Web searches on Wyclef and his organization have soared to record highs.

Wyclef, famous for his participation in the Fugees as well as his successful solo career, has been outspoken in seeking donations, especially via his Twitter account.

We could find no stats on how successful his drive has been, but based on anecdotal stories from the Web, text-to-give campaigns have the potential to make a big difference. The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed several young people who have made donations and have also asked their friends to donate via social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Even if you’d rather not donate via text message, there are other ways to give your support to those who need it most. The official sites for the Red Cross, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and Wyclef’s Yéle Haiti are all accepting donations. Searches on those organizations surged tremendously on Wednesday afternoon.

Hi all,

If you happen to be in the Bay Area this spring, I’m scheduled to give two readings so far:

1.  Thursday March 11, 4 p.m., with Cecilia Woloch, MLK Library on 4th St., 2nd Floor Meeting Rooms (at this reading Cecilia will read her poetry, and I will be discussing how poetry functions in my new novel, Complementary Colors).

2.  Wednesday April 7, 7 p.m., MLK Library on 4th St., 2nd Floor Meeting Rooms (a reading from my new novel, with audience Q&A)

Cheers,
Kate

Design Competition! Wearable Art with a Lifesaving Message
Please Circulate!

What Is Wearable Art?
Wearable art, also known as Artwear or “art to wear”, refers to individually designed pieces of (usually) hand-made clothing or jewelry created as fine or expressive art. While the making of any article of clothing or other wearable object typically involves aesthetic considerations, the term wearable art implies that the work is intended to be accepted as a serious and unique artistic creation or statement. Source: Wikipedia

Design Competition! Wearable Art with a Lifesaving Message
Sponsored by the Silicon Valley American Red Cross Heroes Celebration.
In Collaboration With, SAN FRANCISCO FASHION AND MERCHANTS ALLIANCE, INC.
http://www.facebook.com/l/af3ee;sffama.ning.com/

SEARCHING FOR
Fashion designers, high tech designers and artisans with the right mix of talent, irreverence and flair to compete in the inaugural Red Cross Wearable Art Competition. Win the opportunity to showcase your design at this year’s highly visible fourth annual event, honoring local heroes and supporting the life-saving programs of the Silicon Valley Red Cross Chapter.

MEET
Finalist will mix and mingle with more than 500 of Silicon Valley attendees including major technology, business, fashion and art industry luminaries.

PRESS
Finalist will be highly visible through-out the Bay Area through press coverage, website features and other marketing opportunities.

WIN
On May 8th, at the City’s freshest must-attend fete – The Heroes Celebration at the Santa Clara Marriott, winners will be selected from all attending finalist by our celebrity panel of judges. The crowd will also select a favorite!
Grand Prize: Lots of press and some serious bragging rights!

Initial Deadline: February 19th, 2010

For more details please Visit This Blog: http://www.facebook.com/l/af3ee;wearableartdesign.blogspot.com/

To enter this contest – Visit This Site: http://www.facebook.com/l/af3ee;www.siliconvalley-redcross.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=426&Itemid=331

Check out our events here – http://www.facebook.com/l/af3ee;www.sanfranciscofashionindustry.com/

PR/Marketing:
Owen Geronimo
http://www.facebook.com/l/af3ee;www.owengeronimo.com/

Dear friends,

The 2010 Omnidawn Poetry Chapbook Contest
Judged by Elizabeth Robinson
is Omnidawn Publishing’s first annual
chapbook contest
open to all poets writing in English.

Prize includes $1,000.,
Fall 2010 publication by Omnidawn &
100 complimentary copies of the chapbook.

The entry fee of $15 entitles you to a copy of
the winning chapbook if you send an SASE.

Submission period: 1/1/10 – 2/28/10.
Accepting both electronic
and postal submissions.

For details visit http://www.facebook.com/l/d86bd;www.omnidawn.com/contest/

——–

Also Coming:
Omnidawn’s 2010 Full Poetry Book Contest
for first or second books.
Judged by Rae Armantrout.
Prize includes $3,000.,
Fall 2011 publication by Omnidawn,
& 100 complimentary copies of the book.
Electronic & postal
submission period: 3/1/10 – 6/30/10.

We invite you all to submit!

Thank you for your continuous interest and support,
The Omnidawn team

Feature in a major Bay Area city’s alternative weekly on one of our summer featured artists, painter Wayne Jiang.

Canvas Noir

ROUND MIDNIGHT:Wayne Jiang’s 2009 acrylic ‘Babyland’ is as much an exploration of the idea of ‘the other’ as it is an urban landscape.

FROM INSIDE the main corridor at Alameda Artworks Studios, artist Wayne Jiang is pointing toward the open doorway, through which we can see the setting sun. Outside, across the narrow parking lot and behind a squat chain-link fence, sits Park Avenue Preschool, which isn’t actually located on Park Avenue.

Both the preschool and Alameda Artworks Studios sit on The Alameda, just off Race Street, separated by this parking lot we’re gazing across from the studio hallway. Next to the preschool are a playhouse, a jungle gym and a toy sports car popular with the kids.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.metroactive.com/features/wayne-jiang.html

– The Quarter One Flash Fiction Challenge is Open –

See below for details.

Are you up for a challenge?

Homer was able to write about the Trojan War in ten epic novels, The Iliad being one of them. He covered it all: religion, love, war, fantasy, myth, and horror. Now it’s your turn to carry on the tradition and create your own epic story; but there’s a catch… It must be done in 1,000 words or less. That’s roughly 2 pages, which is 3/1000 of the size of the entire Homeric collection!

All the entries will be reviewed blind (no author names are on the review copies) by a panel of reviewers and the very best will be selected for publication in the next Flash Fiction Challenge anthology. Multiple entries are allowed.

The Current Challenge: Thieves and Scoundrels

Would your characters try to swindle a dragon out of his treasure? Perhaps they’d try to steal the fastest spaceship in the galaxy? Or are they after something a little more sinister that’s in need of taking? Where ever and when ever they take place, the stories of these Thieves and Scoundrels will take hold of your imagination and ransom it back to you.

NOTE: all stories submitted to the Flash Fiction Challenge must fit within the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror.

The Schedule:

Submissions will be accepted up to midnight PST on the closing date of the challenge.

• Quarter One opens on December 1st  and closes on January 15 (for a late-February release).
• Quarter Two opens on March 1st and closes on April 15 (for a late-May release).
• Quarter Three opens on June 1st and closes on July 15 (for a late-August release).
• Quarter Four opens on September 1st and closes on October 15 (for a late-November release).

Link, and information on how to submit work, here: http://absolute-x-press.com/flash-fiction-challenge/