Da’ud X Mohammed writes:

”Speaking of CIA speakers bureau, Al Franken was in Eugene Oregon last Friday, and did their Air America broadcast live. Franken said the (Lane County Community College) audience was the best. They are a very hip audience, with a franken-keen sense of humor. We have discussed this before, that it may also behoove you to have the MediaChannel means of soliciting speaking engagements rather than waiting for someone to call on you.

“My 80+ yo auntie, in Montana, called the other day. She said your WMD movie is still as fresh as ever, and they’re still circulating it at house parties.

“One day at the breakfast table, me dear wife quoted something from a book she was reading. I asked her to copy it down and send it to me as an e-mail. She found the same quote on the Internet; from page 349 of the novel “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts. Please check it out in-context at

http://www.geeze.us/news-archives/feb-24-2006.htm#amonday

“Me dear wife is a Johnny Depp fan, and tells me Depp has asked Roberts to write a screenplay of “Shantaram” for the occasion.

YOUTH JOURNALISTS WANTED

”Participate.net is a social issue media distribution and activism organization that is working with such films as North Country, to use media as a tool for progressive social change.

We’ve got a new journalism contest for high school students as part of the Report it Now campaign. Students can submit stories they’ve written for their school newspaper or created for broadcast on a school or local television or radio station that are about an issue that’s important to their school or community. A judge will select the winners from the 10 entries with the highest score and the first place winner will receive $1,000, and second place will receive $500.

Entries must be uploaded by March 31, 2006!

R.I.P ELI SIEGAL OF CITY YEAR

This just in: “It is with great sadness that I share the news that Eli Segal, , champion and City Year Board Chair, passed away today after a courageous struggle with mesothelioma, a type of cancer.”

Keep your letters and items coming. In many ways this daily blog is only possible because of all the information shared by readers.

Write: dissector@medichannel.org