Jerry Garcia’s music spanned styles from old time and bluegrass to reggae and Motown, and touched listeners from different generations and many walks of life. Reflections formed in 2004 to take on that massive repertoire, with an initial focus on the Jerry Garcia Band.

Reflections hopped on the Rex Musical Caravan in 2009. Now in 2010 Reflections will host another Rex supporting event on April 24 at Mexicali Live in Teaneck, NJ. A five piece band with a homebase of Mexicali Live in northern New Jersey, Reflections consists of Bob Guerra (guitar,vocals), Lizzy Friel (vocals, violin), Paul Kates (keyboards, vocals), Josh Kates (drums) and John Cassano (bass).

Reflections Website
Mexicali Live Website
Facebook Event

Come to the ballpark to celebrate the life and times of legendary musician and San Francisco Native Jerry Garcia! Garcia was born in San Francisco in 1942, and grew up in the city’s Excelsior District, before becoming a founding member of the iconic rock band The Grateful Dead. This event at the ballpark concludes a week long celebration of Jerry’s life, starting with “Jerry Day” at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in McLaren Park on August 1st. Your special event ticket package includes a seat in the Jerry Garcia tribute section for the August 9th game against the Cubs, and a limited-edition Jerry Garcia bobblehead. Grateful Dead tribute bands will perform prior to the game, and members of the Garcia family will be on hand to throw out the first pitch. Ticket proceeds will be donated to the Rex Foundation; a Grateful Dead founded charity promoting good in the community. Come support a great cause and celebrate the life of a San Francisco legend!

Buy tickets online here.
Facebook Event

To contribute and make your gift selection, use the Make A Donation button just to the right, above the Latest News & Events and note your gift selection in the description part of the PayPal order. Or download the Make a Gift ~ Get a Gift order form and fax it to 415-561-3136 or mail to Rex Foundation, P. O. Box 29608, San Francisco, CA 94129-0608.   Thank you for Jammin’ with Rex!

Rex Jam Organic Strawberry Fruit Spread

Enjoy the delicious contents of the 10 oz jar of Organic Strawberry Fruit Spread made by Sweet Creek Foods of Elmira, Oregon.

Ingredients: Organic strawberries, organic evaporated cane juice, fruit pectin, organic lemon juice, Love & Care.

Sweet Creek Foods says, “This fruit spread was made for all who make their contributions to create a better world for us all.”

Jerry Jams & Jerry Cares Music CD

Various Artists including David Grisman Quartet, Railroad Earth, Amfibian, Dark Star Orchestra, David Gans, Toni Brown and many more!

From the inside jacket: “A 3 CD, 36 song collection of interpretations of songs by, or associated with, Jerry Garcia. This various artist release is a ‘charitable tribute to Jerry Garcia’ to benefit the Jersey Jams Fund. A portion of the profits from this release will be given to the Rex Foundation.”

Disc 1 (Band Jams):

• Dark Star – David Grisman Quintet
• They Love Each Other – Dark Stark Orchestra
• That’s What Love will Make You Do – Scarecrow Collection
• Ain’t No Bread In The Breadbox – Stir Fried
• I Know You Rider – Soulfarm
• New Speedway Boogie – Toni Brown Band
• Golden Road – One Cat Left
• Ramble On Rose – Jones
• Jack-A-Roe – Natural Breakdown
• Tennessee Jed – Amfibian
• Bertha – Matt Angus Thing
• Deal – Dyer Weed

Disc 2 (Good Acoustics):

• Friend of the Devil – C Lanzbom
• Little Sadie – Sam Mann
• Cumberland Blues – Only Footprints
• Catfish John – Railroad Earth
• Mississippi Half Step – Toni Brown Band
• Lazy River Road – David Gans
• Midnight Moonlight – Michael Patrick & the Suburban Hillbillies
• Standing On The Moon – Mike Montrey
• Gomorrah – Stir Fried
• It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – C Lanzbom and Noah Solomon Chase
• Rosemary – Patrick Fitzsimmons
• It Must Have Been The Roses – Catherine Moon and Josh Rubin
• Scarlet Begonias – Caren Kennedy with Toby Ray Loyd
• Ripple – Gregg Cagno with Jeff “Spike” Tyron and Laurie Cagno
• Nuages – Walt Bibinger

Disc 3 (All-Star Epics):

• Wharf Rat – Swampadelica
• Eyes Of The World – Juggling Suns
• Morning Dew – Zen Tricksters
• Franklin’s Tower – Matt Angus Thing
• Sugaree – Soulfarm
• Rhapsody In Red – Rose Hill
• Brokedown Palace – Mel Brody and Nobody’s Business
• Eyes Of The World – Laurie Cagno
• Dark Star – John Ginty and Kathy Phillip

On December 9, 2009, junior class members in the Future Leaders of Social Change Academy of Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo, CA, put on a Town Hall for the 300+ students and faculty of their Academy.  On December 10, students from several different classes at Balboa High School in San Francisco put on a full school assembly.  Both groups had spent the semester studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and shared  reflections on its principles in song, dance, spoken word, poetry, dramatic segments, animation and visual arts displays.  The presentations culminated The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Project’s 2009 pilot curriculum initiative, which sought to integrate the creative arts into teaching the UDHR, as well as formally celebrate students’ acceptance of their responsibility, as engaged members of the global community, to support the tenets of the UDHR.

Excitement was palpable at each school as the young performers’ hard work  received overwhelmingly positive responses from their peers, teachers, family members, and school district leaders.  The performances and follow-up reviews at each school will soon be streamed on our website and be available on DVD to help pave the way for the next stage of the project, as well as to help broadcast the importance of the UDHR as a frame of reference for positive social change.

The Rex Foundation is now immersed in expanding on the successes of The World As It Could Be project initiated in 2006.  Click here for the full details of the project (2009) that led to the recent pilots, and to see the video performances created as part of the 2006 and 2007/08 project work.

Our current initiatives to expand the project include the following:

• Refine the curriculum materials for easy application and adaptation by teachers and others interested in implementing the project;
• Working with Rex grantee Studio BAYCAT, create a robust website that provides the curriculum and resource links for anyone interested in learning more about the UDHR and implementing the curriculum;
• Expand implementation of the curriculum in Bay Area high schools in the 2010/11 school year, including collaboration with the University of San Francisco International & Multicultural Education Department of the School of Education to create a 3-day curriculum training forum;
• Work with schools across the country interested in implementing the project; seek, as in the Bay Area pilot project, to encourage successful connections between the schools and  local area non-profits that utilize the creative arts in working with youth, so as to strengthen community connections while also helping academic-subject teachers integrate the creative arts in their teaching;
• Continue to expand awareness of the UDHR and its importance:
  • Commission local area Rex grantee(s) that utilize the creative arts in working with youth, to develop original dramatic productions that depict the significance of the different articles of the UDHR, such as Article 26: Everyone has the right to education.  Be able to showcase these productions with live performances and video distribution across different types of media platforms, such as YouTube and public broadcasting networks.
  • Collaborate with organizations that promote human rights education, community dialogue and other forums for civic engagement, providing access to all developed materials.

The World As It Could Be project is made possible because of the generous support of foundations, corporate and individual contributors.   These contributions make it possible for the Rex Foundation to fund the work of the non-profits who are part of the project, the teachers who attend the curriculum trainings, the schools who implement the project, as well as to administer all aspects of the project.  We thank the supporters who have made each phase of this project possible:

The World As It Could Be – A Declaration of Human Rights

The World As It Could Be – Where There’s A Will There’s A Way

The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Project 2009

Consider being a sponsor of the next phase of this project and help further the possibilities of The World As It Could Be. Download the Sponsor Response Form or contact Rex Executive Director Sandy Sohcot,  (415) 561-3134, sandy@rexfoundation.org

Long-term Vision:

The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Program seeks to have public schools throughout the United States set the standard for:

• Incorporating a human rights perspective in the teaching of social studies, history and language arts, as well as other subjects, whereby the underlying lessons promote an understanding of equity, justice and the pursuit of happiness for all people, and a striving to achieve those ideals;
• Providing  students the opportunity to show their acceptance, as members of the global community, of responsibility for promoting the human rights perspective, and to have their peers, teachers, school administrators, parents, family members and local community leaders celebrate this rite of passage;
• Valuing the creative arts as essential elements of a successful educational experience.

In the process, young people gain the objective knowledge and thinking tools to solve problems and successfully perform various types of jobs and services, but also learn to:

• Appreciate and value the interconnectedness of all people and sentient beings throughout the world;
• See themselves as vital contributors to the sustainability of the world around them, from their immediate circle of family and friends, to their local communities and the natural environment;
• Seek ways to be responsible, positively engaged members of their immediate and extended communities, so as to help manifest all that is encompassed by the human rights perspective.

Background and Program Context:

The World As It Could Be Human Rights Education Program is an outgrowth of a series of successful initiatives carried out since 2006 to educate and inspire youth and adults to further human rights for all people,  and to understand the type of individual and community engagement needed to compel constructive action. These initiatives used the creative arts to deepen learning about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); they also gave the youth, in turn, the chance to teach their peers and adults about the importance of manifesting the words of the UDHR. The initiatives include:

• An original production called The World As It Could Be – A Declaration of Human Rights, created by youth of three non-profit organizations that utilize the arts in their work, under the direction of Ellen Sebastian Chang, to dramatize the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  There were two live performances in San Francisco: one on December 7, 2006 at the Presidio, for a convening of leaders of Presidio non-profit organizations, and the other on December 8, 2006 at Balboa High School, as part of that school’s curriculum on human rights.  Studio BAYCAT videotaped the performance; DVDs were produced and distributed, and continue to be distributed as a teaching tool;
• An original production called The World As It Could Be – Where There’s A Will There’s A Way, created by the youth Performance Troupe of Destiny Arts Center, under the creative direction of Ellen Sebastian Chang, was performed on January 11, 2008 at Balboa High School, and videotaped by Studio BAYCAT.  A second performance was presented at Oakland Tech High School in Oakland, CA on April 14, 2008.  This performance was a variation of the January 11^th production, reflecting additional elements from the original program developed by Destiny Arts Center as part of their programmatic work, called “Game Over: Escaping from the Dropout Factory,” which focused on how the UDHR was a vehicle for escaping the “Dropout Factory”;
• Produced a Chap Book of creative writings about human rights and political will developed by three freshman classes at San Francisco’s Raoul Wallenberg High School, working with writing tutors of Rex grantee 826 Valencia, in connection with developing the dramatization performed at the two high schools;
• Produced a CD of an anthem written and performed by youth of Youth Movement Records, another Rex grantee, in connection with developing the Where There’s A Will… dramatization.  The CD was inserted in the back cover of the Chap Book and distributed to all the high school students attending the performances;
• Produced a DVD that contains the two original productions of The World As It Could Be, along with interviews of some of the students involved in the performance and the Creative Production team;
• Worked with Balboa High School to develop a pilot public school curriculum to integrate the creative arts into the teaching of the UDHR;  creative arts activities were included in history, social studies and language arts classes dedicated to teaching the UDHR, followed by work to help the faculty and students present their own original production related to the teaching of the UDHR at a full-school assembly on December 10, 2008;
• Introduced the draft pilot curriculum, performance DVD and Chap Books to two more high schools in the Bay Area, with activities underway to incorporate the creative arts in the teaching of the UDHR.

As a result of these initiatives, thousands of youth and adults have already gained new awareness about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by their direct involvement in the development of the original dramatizations and related artistic materials, from attending the live performances, seeing the DVD and watching the performances of the Destiny Arts program “Game Over: Escaping from the Dropout Factory.”

From the work done on The World As It Could Be project, we have gained the following insights that form the basis for the proposed human rights education program:

• The UDHR provides an essential framework for actively engaging in local and global efforts toward the achievement of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people;
• Many people, across all ages and demographics, are not aware of the UDHR, even though the document is an official element of social studies curriculum in most public schools;
• It is vital that youth have the opportunity to not only learn about the UDHR, but also be leaders in teaching its importance to their peers and to adults so as to promulgate civic engagement and further democracy;
• The creative arts provide a powerful mechanism for teaching the UDHR in a way that compels student engagement and deep learning;
• There are no specific rite-of-passage traditions within the American culture that provide the opportunity for youth approaching adulthood to publicly accept responsibility as engaged members of the community.
  • Such rites of passage, such as the Jewish Bar/Bat Mitzvah for 13 year old youth and the Quinceañera coming-of-age celebration for 15-year-old Latina girls, provide an invaluable opportunity for young people to be positively recognized and celebrated by their peers, ritual leaders, families and friends for their accomplishments.
• The UDHR, given its approval 60 years ago by all the member countries of the United Nations, including the United States, is an ideal document for youth to study and use as their reference for accepting responsibility as members of the global community. Incorporating a culmination presentation and celebration of each student’s commitment to take responsibility to help manifest the words of the UDHR offers public schools the opportunity to be the forum that provides an American rite of passage that encourages and celebrates personal responsibility and civic engagement.

Program Description

The goals of the program for 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 are:

• Have a comprehensive curriculum package that utilizes all current materials, including the DVD, that can be readily implemented in any type of high school to integrate the creative arts in the teaching of the UDHR;
  • Incorporate comprehensive professional development to ensure that teachers have the content knowledge and tools needed to enthusiastically, competently and creatively implement the curriculum
  • Incorporate into the curriculum a culmination presentation and celebration of each student’s commitment to take responsibility as a member of the global community
    • The presentation will reflect each student’s reflections on their study of the UDHR, their actions or community service related to this study, and what it means to them to be global citizens
    • The presentations will be celebrated by the students’ school community, parents and community officials
    • Evaluation elements will be included in the package to be able to measure the effectiveness of the program
• Lay the groundwork to implement the curriculum in more districts in California and/or other states and to have the curriculum be considered as part of national educational policy;
• Strategically expand distribution of the DVD and related curriculum to generally raise awareness about the UDHR and its role in furthering human rights and positive social change, utilizing Internet resources such as YouTube, as well as collaborating with mainstream human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and the United Nations.

2009 SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

Visionary Extraordinaire
The Libra Foundation
Walter & Elise Haas Fund

World Visionary
Susan Sillins
Anonymous

Champions
Elm Advisors, LLC
David Fortescue
Fred Gellert Family Foundation
Marsha & Ralph Guggenheim
Christine Pielenz
Anonymous