Fri Aug 9 – Thu Sept 5: The venerable downtown movie house is reviving its cinematic salute to creepy, geeky fare for the first time in 17 years. Expect a few new prints and celeb appearances (both TBA at press time) at the four-week series, which includes showings of Alien, Evil Dead 2, Ghostbusters, Starship Troopers, Plan 9 from Outer Space!, a 3-D presentation of The Creature from the Black Lagoon and many more wide-ranging titles. 212-727-8110, filmforum.org. Various times; $12.50, seniors (Mon–Fri before 5pm) and members $7 per screening.

209 W Houston St between Sixth Ave and Varick St

Shakespeare in the Park

Tue May 28 – Sun Aug 18: This annual festival, which begins in June, presents the Bard’s greats performed in open air at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Created by the late Joseph Papp and presented by the Public, Shakespeare in the Park has endured not just because it’s a night of free theater in New York’s backyard, but because it’s a night of great performances by some of the most talented actors of our day, including Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Al Pacino, Oliver Platt, Blythe Danner, Philip Seymour Hoffman, George C. Scott and Denzel Washington.

Delacorte Theater

TripAdvisor: Things to do in New York City

Yelp: Best Places to Eat

Dear RSS Members:

At the February meetings of the RSS Executive Committee and RSS Council, the issue of our contracts with Hyatt properties was thoroughly reviewed.  The RSS Executive Committee and the RSS Council passed the following motions: (Details of the RSS Council discussion are contained in the minutes, which are currently under review, but will soon be posted to the RSS Website www.ruralsociology.org).

The following motions were first approved by the RSS Executive Committee and passed on to the full Council:

Michael Schulman, President of RSS, reported on the discussion of the Executive Committee in regard to the contract with the two Hyatt properties.  The Executive Committee recommended the following action items to Council: 

•  2015 Columbus OH Hyatt: Recommend severing contract, stay in Columbus and look for a different hotel in Columbus.
• 2016 Bellevue WA Hyatt:  Recommend severing the contract and move meetings to Toronto and coordinate with IRSA
• Create an escrow account to pay for cancellation fees whereby voluntary contributions for the 2013 meeting may be deposited and in which a surcharge for 2014 and 2015 cancellation fees may be deposited.
• Incorporate new language into future contracts regarding union conflicts using the draft provided by the Experient representative as a model.

This language is as follows:

Organized Labor / Unions.

Hotel will notify Group of any organized labor (“Union”) that exists at Hotel and Hotel will identify any costs associated with said Union by specific dollar amount in this agreement. If a labor group organizes subsequent to the execution of this contract, Group will not be held to any contract, agreement, restriction or costs associated with that new labor group if it negatively affects pricing, arrangements, outside suppliers or any term of this Agreement. 

Additionally, Hotel will notify Group prior to execution of this Agreement of the status of any existing Union agreement and the date(s) on which that agreement is set to expire/renew. Hotel acknowledges that individual Group attendees’ may be members of other labor organizations and their personal collective bargaining agreements may prohibit those attendees from crossing picket and/or strike lines. As a result, if there is active picketing or striking at any date within the Sixty (60) days prior to Group’s event, Group shall have the right to cancel this Agreement without liability and/or continue to hold the Event without any performance obligation (sleeping room performance, F&B performance, etc.)

Subsequently, at the RSS Mid-Year Meetings, RSS Council Unanimously Approved the Following Motions.

Michael called for a motion: That the RSS would break its contract with Hyatt Regency in Columbus OH in 2015 but maintain our meeting in Columbus, and that RSS would seek an alternative hotel property in Columbus that would be consistent with RSS guidelines.  Joan moved. Pat seconded.  The motion carried unanimously.

Michael called for a motion:  That the RSS would break its contract with Hyatt Bellevue for 2016, and that it move the 2016 meetings in Toronto and work with IRSA to find a hotel consistent with RSS guidelines. Joann moved, Conner seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

Michael welcomed a motion to include the contract language from Claudia from Experient for all future contracts. Joan moved. Pat seconded.  The motion carried unanimously.

Michael welcomed a motion that for 2013 that RSS Business Office establishes procedures for voluntary contributions to Escrow fund to be used to augment any cancellation assessments for 2015 and 2016 contract cancellations. Pat moved. Leland seconded.  The emotion carried unanimously.

In taking these votes, Council was aware that cancelling the two contracts would have financial consequences but believed that holding our annual meetings in hotels from a hotel chain which is engaged in an active dispute with their workers posed significant moral issues.  In the end, Council decided that taking a moral stance in support of labor was the right thing to do and believed that the overwhelming majority of RSS members would agree.

Subsequent Updates

Formal letters were sent by Certified Post to the two Hyatt properties informing them that RSS is cancelling their contracts. The RSS Business Office has investigated alternative venues in Columbus Ohio, but found no suitable alternatives (the Hilton ultimately did not have sufficient space for our needs; the Sheraton is in an undesirable location in town; and RSS members in Columbus found that dorm rooms were not available at the proposed meeting times and that the eating facilities associated with the dorms are limited and substandard for our needs). Therefore, the RSS Business Office is currently exploring other Midwestern locations for 2015.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact the RSS Business Office at rural_sociology@byu.edu.

Applicants may be either faculty or students from under-represented minority groups within RSS (i.e. African American, Asian-Americans, Latino/a, American Indian/Native American or other recognized minority) and/or from tribal college, HBCU or community college faculty.

The applicant must be on the meeting program. Priority for awarding these competitive grants will be given to applicants who have not received travel funds in the past and who lack financial support from other sources. Applications will be reviewed by the Diversity Committee and awards will be presented to recipients upon arrival at the RSS annual meeting.

Applications are due by March 30, 2013. Applications may be submitted electronically using the Diversity Travel Grant application form below. Successful applicants will receive notification by May 15, 2013.

2013 Diversity Travel Ap

Send completed application via e-mail to: nikkicrowe@fdlrez.com

Main text should be a maximum 250 words (approx 2000 characters). Please separate paragraphs with a blank line. Do not indent the first line of each paragraph.

The abstract title is a maximum of 250 chars. (approx. 25 words) Use upper case for only the first letter of the title, proper nouns and acronyms.

To submit your abstract, click here.

If logging in for the first time, you must create a NEW login. This is different from your RSS login or your login from the 2012 Annual Meeting.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact the RSS Business Office at rural_sociology@byu.edu or (801) 422-7386.

Abstract submission deadline is March 1, 2013 (11:59 PM EST).

Kalyan Ghadei, India, Banaras Hindu University

A Special Thanks to All of Our International Presenters!

Yuh-Yuh Li: Taiwan
National Sun Tat-Sen University

Iba Haruhiko: Japan
Kobe University

Elizabeth L. Jackson: United Kingdom
Newcastle University

Magsi Habibullah: France
AgroParis Tech and Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam (Pakistan)

Pollini Jacques: Germany
University of Hamburg

To view a brief video of his address, see below.

View an article written by one of our attendees, Texas wisdom: Big hat, big mouth, a lot of plain speaking