Presentation of Web Video : 'Orwell Was an Optimist'

Peace Action of San Mateo County's January program will feature Paul George, Director of the Peninsula Peace And Justice Center and TD Daniell, the head of PPJC's video crew. For over a year now, Paul and TD have been producing a series of short videos called Orwell Was An Optimist. Distributed on YouTube, other internet outlets and cable access TV, the Orwell series currently stands at 39 episodes.

Paul writes and appears in the videos, while TD is the videographer and editor. Both Paul and TD have been honored with video excellence awards from the Alliance for Community Media.

The goal of the Orwell series is to try to draw new audiences to critical issues of the day, ones that have often been overlooked by the mainstream media. By utilizing humor, satire, and visually intriguing images, Orwell attempts to inform, provoke thought, and encourage action, as well as to amuse. Paul and TD have one guiding principle for Orwell: Be different. You really have to see these videos to fully appreciate that motto.

On Tuesday, January 27, Paul and TD will screen a selection of the Orwell videos and discuss the role of humor and satire in politics, as well as the role of new media such as the internet in grassroots organizing. They will also of course delve more deeply into the issues raised in the selected Orwell episodes. It should prove to be a lively, entertaining, and informative evening.

We begin at 7 PM in Beck Hall of the Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo, 300 E. Santa Inez Ave. in San Mateo. Admission if free, with refreshments available. The UUSM is wheelchair accessible.