We all know one woman to whom we owe a great deal. The one who teaches algebra, volunteers at the rape crisis center, starts a community crime watch, and helps drive seniors to vote on Election Day. The one who seems to have more arms than an Indian goddess. She's done more for humanity in one day than the rest of us will do in time to complete our community service hours. If you want to honor this wonderful woman, describe her accomplishments in fewer than 250 words. ABC is looking for a few good women who help to make their small corner of the world a better place to be. If your nominee is chosen, she gets to sit in with the hen-pen on The View, plus she'll win $5000. Hurry up and write: Remarkable Woman Nominations end this Saturday, October 30. Visit www.justforwomen.net to enter. (TS)
FRI 29
Why is Florida still known as the Sunshine State? We might as well call ourselves the Controversial Elections State. In the eyes of the rest of the country, Florida is already screwing things up. What with the burgeoning purge list problems and malfunctioning voting machines, we're already headed for a November (and perhaps December) filled with legal challenges, mean (albeit hilarious) jokes about Floridians on late-night television, and no clear presidential victor in sight. The ACLU isn't surprised by any of this. Its members would like to welcome you to an Election Forum. Cheryl Roberts, the organization's field coordinator, and Voting Rights Project coordinator Courtenay Strickland will lead an informed, nonpartisan panel discussion explaining how current political issues will affect young people more than any other faction of society. Be there tonight at 6:00, in WUC 157 on FIU's Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151 St. Call 305-919-5521. (PEGY)
SAT 30
You've got a good two and a half months to slack off before your annual New Year's resolution diet. Right now it's time for seconds and what better way to celebrate than with a Vegan Potluck Dinner? Think of yummy comfort foods/vegetarian staples such as potatoes and pasta, but that's just a taste. Earth Save Miami's monthly shindig gives local herbivores the chance to swap recipes and get to know one another with a healthy, environmentally friendly community meal. While munching on animal-product-free dishes you can enjoy the evening's guest speaker, registered dietitian and author, George Eisman. He'll be debunking last year's fad diets as "Low Carb Lunacy," and suggesting ways to lose weight without consuming mass quantities of products made of the flesh of defenseless beasties. Bring a vegan dish serving eight people to the Coral Gables Congregational Church, Fellowship Hall, 3010 DeSoto Blvd. Call 305-228-1116. (TS)
SUN 31
By November 2, you will be faced with a big, scary decision. While most people made up their minds long ago, you, undecided voter, just couldn't. Bush seems like a regular Joe who mangles English and loves football. Kerry makes so many promises. There's no way he could keep all of them, right? And then, there's Nader. Hmmmm. Rest your befuddled head. The Films To See Before You Vote Tour is here to provide a desperately needed IV of information for clueless folks in key battleground states. See Soldiers Pay, a collage of soldiers' views about the war helmed by David O. Russell of I Heart Huckabees and Three Kings fame, About Baghdad, poet Sinan Antoon's look at the realities in occupied Iraq, and "Voting in America," nine short films that explore voter apathy and disenfranchisement. Open your eyes at the Miami-Dade Public Library, 101 West Flagler St. Admission is free. Visit www.filmstoseebeforeyouvote.org. (PEGY)
MON 1
While you pray that your vote will actually count this time around, let your children have a whack at democracy. The Election Experience is an interactive exhibit that lets young voices be heard while they learn nonpartisan, politically correct information about government and the whole messy, sometimes shameful, election process. The exhibit features election posters and symbols, information about running for office, a chance for youngsters to come up with their own campaign slogans, and a voting booth that will probably work just as well if not better than the ones we use. Stop voter apathy at the Miami Children's Museum, 980 MacArthur Cswy. Admission is $10. Call 305-373-5437. (PEGY)
TUE 2
Fabian Marcaccio produces some freaky-deaky, difficult-to-describe artistic landscapes. He calls them "paintants," works that fuse the traditional elements of painting with printmaking, digital photography and sculpture. He's created a 100-foot-long, 13-foot-high teenage mutant ninja painting for the New Works space at the Miami Art Museum. According to curator Cheryl Hartup, Miami-Paintant "begins in what appears to be a white void that suddenly gives way to a tumultuous gathering of images, filled with fleshy forms and ominous thickets, ending in chaotic darkness." Hey, that sounds like a typical weekend on South Beach. Come see Marcaccio's work at the Miami Art Museum, 101 West Flagler St. Admission is $10, but on Sundays, you can get in free from noon until 5:00 p.m. Call 305-375-3000. (PEGY)
WED 3
A filthy slip of paper drifts along a crowded street. You leave a footprint across its crumpled, stained surface. Most people would leave such litter in their wake. Not Davy Rothbart. As the man behind the cult magazine Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World, he collects and compiles your old shopping lists, homework assignments, ransom notes -- giving readers an uncensored, hilarious, heartbreaking glimpse into other people's lives. Find yourself tonight at 8:00 at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables. Call 305-442-4408 or visit www.foundmagazine.com. (PEGY)
Before you could attach "New York Times best-seller" to Janet Evanovich's moniker, she collected rejection letters in a cardboard box. When that box was full, she burned it. In your face, rejection! Her latest novel, Metro Girl, takes readers from South Beach bars to Key West on a mysterious romp involving cold-blooded murder and a sexy NASCAR driver. Miss Janet has packed up her van with books, her daughter and their Saint Bernard, Barnaby, and hit the road on a book tour. Meet her tonight at 7:30 at Barnes & Noble, 152 Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. Call 305-446-4152. (TS)
