Next Bay Area Freelancer gathering Thursday, Sept 30, 6:30pm, Oakland

Hey all. The next Bay Area Freelancer Gathering promises to be a good one! Hope you can make it – and spread the word!
Best,
Mia

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Freelance Café would like to invite you to our upcoming social gathering at 6:30pm on September 30, 2010 at Luka’s, located in the Uptown District of Oakland and a few blocks from BART. Sponsored by Oakland Local, this month’s gathering is a chance for organizations and freelancers to casually network and connect.

Freelance Café is a 300 member strong organization of writers, photographers, filmmakers, graphic designers, and audio producers in the Bay Area.
If you are looking to connect to a wide array of talented media workers, this is a great opportunity to network at a cool spot in Oakland.

Please RSVP to jennifer.wrd@gmail.com by September 20 if you are interested in attending. You can also RSVP on Facebook. Let me know if you have any questions, and I hope to see you on September 30.

Best,
Jennifer Inez Ward
510-393-7544
Social Secretary
Freelance Cafe

Upcoming events at the UCB J-School in Sept/Oct

A bunch of interesting talks coming up at the UC Berkeley Jschool. Details below.
-mia

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Fat Profits on the Economic Fringes: Award-winning Reporter and Writer-in-Residence Gary Rivlin

When: Wednesday, September 8,  6:00 PM

Where: North Gate Hall Library

Award-winning author and Writer-in-Residence Gary Rivlin discusses his acclaimed new book, Broke USA, and how the working poor become big business. A former national reporter for the New York Times and Industry Standard, Rivlin’s book has attracted acclaim and wide attention in print and broadcast media, including appearances on Charlie Rose, Terry Gross’ Fresh Air, and National Public Radio.

The Bay Citizen: A Progress Report on New Journalism in the Bay Area

When: Wednesday, September 15,  6:00 PM

Where:
 North Gate Hall Library

Join us for a lively discussion about the most widely watched new online news enterprise in the country, The Bay Citizen, a $12 million non-profit enterprise founded in partnership between the Hellman Family Foundation and Berkeley’s School of Journalism. Featuring: Citizen Multimedia producer Tasneem Raja, Partnerships coordinator Queena Kim, and reporters Richard Parks and Kate McClean.

Michael x Michael: Michael Lewis and Professor Michael Pollan in conversation

When: Thursday, September 23, 7:00 PM

Where: Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Two admired, best-selling writers will talk about writing, storytelling, books, and journalism.

Advance tickets required. This is a fundraising event for Journalism School student fellowships.

Berkeley and YouTube: Innovators at Work!

When: Wednesday, September 29,  6:00 PM

Where: North Gate Hall Library

Join J-School student Shannon Service, alumna Anna Bloom, YouTube’s Olivia Ma and New America Media's Kevin Weston as they discuss an exciting joint project in which the School is working to understand, curate, and engage citizen-contributed news content to the online video powerhouse. Moderated by Associate Dean Paul Grabowicz.

The Big Story: National Public Radio’s Tamara Keith

When: Wednesday, October 6,  6:00 PM

Where: North Gate Hall Library

NPR Reporter and Journalist-in-Residence Tamara Keith discusses radio journalism, the challenge of covering disasters, and NPR’s transition in the digital age, while outlining her experiences covering major stories ranging from the world financial crisis, to the earthquake in Haiti, to the BP oil spill in Louisiana.




Julie Hirano
Event & Fundraising Coordinator
Graduate School of Journalism
121 North Gate Hall
University of California at Berkeley

(work) 510.642.3394
(fax) 510.643.2680
http://journalism.berkeley.edu

health coverage update from the CA Freelancer’s Guild

More info about getting health coverage from the CA Freelancer's Guild. They're getting very close!
-mia

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Dear Friends,

Guild Freelancers is close to securing group health insurance. In
order to meet the letter of the law, we need to adopt an eligibility
process that offers concrete proof that we do not, as an organization,
exist only to provide health coverage for anyone who walks in the door
and pays dues.

With that in mind, we’ve crafted a provision for a two-tier
membership, one of which requires a track record in journalism and
qualifies the member for health coverage.

Please read our proposal carefully and offer all the comments,
questions, and objections that cross your mind. The deadline for
comment is Sept. 10. We will meet as a unit to ratify the plan Sept.
17.

Once again, here are links to the cost tables provided by DublinSure.

Medical:
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=50bc97e310&view=att&th=12a925f8ac0f8fc6&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_gd3tdqst0&zw

Dental/Vision:
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=50bc97e310&view=att&th=12a925f8ac0f8fc6&attid=0.2&disp=inline&realattid=f_gd3thgip1&zw

Refer to a googlegroups posting of Aug. 20 for our timeline.

In solidarity,
Bill Snyder, Michael Fitzhugh and Rebecca Rosen Lum
Health Benefits Committee
Guild Freelancers
freelance@mediaworkers.org
rrosenlum@gmail.com

Eligibility Requirements
We propose creating two classes of membership in Guild Freelancer,
professional and general. Professional members will be eligible for
group health insurance, following 90 days of membership in good
standing. General members will not be eligible for group health
insurance. Guild freelancer members are responsible for self-reporting
any changes in status that would change their membership class.

Professional
Professional class is limited to persons substantially engaged
primarily in, and paid for, reporting and/or editing in either print,
broadcast or online, blogging, books, poetry, technical writing, copy
writing, design/illustration, audio/radio, photojournalism, video,
multimedia, or web design/production.

General
General membership is available to individuals engaged in occasional
writing, editing, etc. and to former journalists, journalism
educators, students, and supporters now engaged in occupations other
than journalism.

Adapted from the Investigative Reporters and Editors guidelines, “Who
can join”:
http://www.ire.org/join/classes.html

Other issues
•       We need to adopt a waiting period to minimize liability to the
Guild. The industry standard ranges from 90 days to six months; we are
opting for 90 days.
•       A review committee composed of the credentials chair, unit chair, a
Guild staff representative and three unit members will determine
eligibility for Professional Memberships.
•       The two-tiered membership includes a process for hearing appeals of
denials and/or disputes, with Representative Assembly of the Guild the
ultimate authority.