We Believe the Children Are Our Future

Our presidential elections aren’t until 2008, but the way the campaign trail is heating up, you could be excused for thinking they were this November. It seems in the drive to hang new drapes in the White House, we’ve forgotten about the depressing debacle of our electoral process. Hanging chads, diabolical Diebold stations, and contested recounts don’t belong in an efficiently run democratic election. If you want to see how it should be done, look no further than China. That’s right -- the country that gave the world the Little Red Book and lead-painted toys is the setting for Please Vote for Me, an award-winning documentary brought to us by Hands On Miami and the Independent Lens screening series. The documentary traces the class monitor campaigns of three eight-year-old students: a charmer, a ruthless campaigner, and an intelligent outsider. Catch the Florida premiere tonight at 8:30 at the Miami Beach Cinematheque. Admission is free; donations are welcome. Call 305-673-4567, or visit www.mbcinema.com.

For insight into the pull-up-your-bootstraps efforts of local kids, stop by the WLRN studios (172 NE 15th St., Miami) this evening at 5:30 for a screening of These Kids Mean Busines$, a PBS documentary that shows the glorious benefits of teaching entrepreneurship and business skills to local at-risk and minority youth. Call 786-228-8455 for reservations.
Thu., Sept. 20