Are you a progressive person looking for progressive reading material? Then look no further, the Progressive Book Club is here! 

The progressive movement has prided itself on its ability to get its messages out by harnessing the Internet, through organizations like MoveOn.org and blogs like Daily Kos or The Huffington Post. But now a liberal-minded group is returning to an old-fashioned model: a book club. Starting on Monday, the new Progressive Book Club is inviting readers to join and buy three books at $1 apiece in exchange for the obligation to buy four books over the next two years.

The brainchild of Elizabeth Wagley, a former fund-raiser and communications adviser for nonprofit

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Debra Winger, the actress best known for her performances in Terms of Endearment and Urban Cowbow, can add another profession to her resume– writer. Winger has just released her first book entitled Undiscovered. Winger shares her thoughts on acting, explaining “I love the work, and don’t much care for the business.” Winger also discusses the double standards faced by men and women in Hollywood:

Age is an issue in society as well as in the movies. If a man has an affair with a woman 20 years his junior, then most people see him as virile. But if a woman has an affair with someone 20 years her junior, most people look askance. Movies are a reflection of our society. I’ve come to a point where I’m interested in the freedom that comes when your sexuality and yourself are one. When you are younger, you tend to be posturing in your sexuality. And when you’re older, you tend to be at one with your sexuality.

Now Winger is not only a writer and actress, but an activist who has worked with the ACLU and is part of the ACLU’s Rights Camera Action campaign. The website explains

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A man who was almost undefinable - Hunter S. Thompson is the focus of Alex Gibney’s latest documentary:

While we mostly think of crazy and drugs when we think of Thompson today - his political mark can’t be denied

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Ann Jones, author of Kabul in Winter, has been using the power of digital cameras to help women in Africa reclaim their voice. Her latest piece on TomDispatch is called “Me, I’m a Camera” African Women Making Change and in it, Jones documents how taking cameras to the Democratic Republic of Congo has helped the women to leave their victim status behind:

As a volunteer with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), I go from country to country, running a simple little project dreamed up by the IRC’s Gender-Based Violence unit. (GBV is the gender-neutral term for what I still call VAW: Violence Against Women.) The project — dubbed A Global Crescendo: Women’s Voices from Conflict Zones — is meant to give women a chance to document their daily lives, their problems, their consolations and joys. It’s meant to give them time and space to talk together and come up with their own agenda for change.

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Acclaimed writer Elizabeth Royte, author of Garbageland, takes the bottled water industry to task in her new book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. Royte examines our contemporary trash and water crises by looking at the culture and economy that have made bottled water a $60 billion dollar a year industry - despite the fact that our plastic waste is out of control.

Royte goes right to one source of the fad - Fryburg, Maine, where residents are battling the extraction of their spring water for bottling by Poland Spring.  She investigates not only the environmental consequences of billions of bottles of water being produced, but also looks at the state of tap water today, and the social impact of multinational corporations seeking the ever diminishing supplies of fresh water from tiny rural towns.

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The Brooklyn Flea is reviving an endangered species in New York City: the affordable flea market with worthwhile merchandise. In keeping with the regional residential real estate market, the decent, affordable flea market has been priced straight off the Isle of Manhattan and has found a new home in Brooklyn.

Organized by the good folks at the Brownstoner blog, the Brooklyn Flea turns the schoolyard of Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn into an outdoor bazaar filled with both new and previously owned clothing, furniture, arts, crafts, knick-knacks, books and other media. Plus there’s plenty of food concessions for when your stomach starts growling after a morning filled with hardcore shopping.

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Ian McKellen will be reprising his beloved role of Gandalf in the upcoming film versions of “The Hobbit” according to an interview in a British film magazine. McKellen told Empire magazine that recently slated “Hobbit” director Guillermo del Toro told him he will once again be playing fiction’s most famous Wizard saying:

“He confirmed that I would be reprising the role…Obviously, it’s not a part that you turn down, I loved playing Gandalf.”

With “The Hobbit” being the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, expect to see Gandalf the Grey as seen above. In the video clip below you can check out Gandalf the Grey’s last stand from “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

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Guillermo del Toro has been chosen to direct the new film version of “The Hobbit” for New Line Cinema. The Mexican born director will film J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novel, which serves as a prequel to his subsequent Lord of the Rings Trilogy, in two parts. Del Toro has agreed to move to New Zealand for four years to complete the films which will be produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh.

Del Toro’s previous director include “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “Hellboy” and “Mimic”. According to the director:

“I am indeed blessed to become a part of the filmmaking community that Peter, Fran and their extraordinary team of collaborators have created in New Zealand. Contributing to the ‘Lord of the Rings’ legacy is an absolute dream come true.”

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Today, April 23rd we celebrate William Shakespeare’s birthday, also the same day he died. (Geesh does it get more epic than that?)

If you’re like me, Shakespeare seems ultra intimidating. It wasn’t until I finally took a Shakespeare class while studying in London that I began to sorta shed my Shakespeare scare. His plays are actually easily understood plots told through gorgeous language and brilliant word play. If you’re afraid of Shakespeare and check out http://www.shakespeare.org. Not only does this organization produce performances but they also offer one of the most extensive Shakespeare arts-in-education programs in the northeast, reaching more than 40,000 students and teachers each year with innovative, socially responsive, and educationally challenging performances, workshops and residencies.

Also check out Shakespeare for Dummies. I am a huge fan of the Dummies book series, they offer clear cut explanations of all those things you think you should know but admittedly don’t.

It’s National Poetry Month. Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month (NPM) brings together publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools, and poets around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.

What I like about poetry is the vast definition of what makes a collection of words poetic. I like how poetry is found in the silliness of Shel Silverstein, in the deeply moving Maya Angelou, and in the innovative and lyrical Saul Williams (see the clip below). All of these artists take feelings and thoughts that seem unexplainable and translate them into something beautiful.

Poets.org has a great list of the top 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, here are my favorite 5 from their list.

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