WHEN: Wednesday, July 29, 2026 WHERE: Alameda Point Collaborative Screening Room, 2550 Monarch St., Alameda, CA 94501 On Wednesday, July 29, 2026 the West End Arts District and Alameda Point Collaborative will be screening Abraham’s Bridge, a film about a mosque, synagogue, church, and interfaith center being built side-by-side. The audience and candidates for City […]
Continue readingJoyful Resistance for Art and Democracy
WHEN: Saturday, July 25, 2026, 1:00 – 3:00 pm WHERE: Healing Garden, 1435 Webster St., Alameda, CA 94501 Special Guest: Cat Brooks (KPFA Radio host) Emcee: Jeff Raz, founder of Citizen Joy FREE – Learn more here. Through the power of Joyful Resistance, activists, poets and musicians will raise their voices to envision an equitable […]
Continue readingThe Glorious “Rise Up Sing Out” June 14, 2026 Concert
I was dreading the prospect of this year’s June 14 - U.S. Flag Day - being defined by the undignified “bread and circuses” spectacle of an autocratic U.S. President and his sycophants marking his 80th birthday by watching brute force gladiatorial cage fights on the South Lawn of the White House. Also, as the 4th of July the 250th […]
Continue readingO Say Can You See: the Soul of Our Nation
(Above image: “American Dream 2 by Lisa Bostwick, acrylic on wood) WHEN: Friday, May 29, 2026 7 – 9pm WHERE: Sanchez Art Center, 1220-B Linda Mar, Pacifica, CA 94044 Join us for the opening of O Say Can You See: the Soul of Our Nation at the Sanchez Art Center on Friday May 29 from […]
Continue readingSinging the Resistance
Something happened at the start of 2026 — the 250th anniversary year of our country at a time when we are disunited and dispirited as rampant authoritarianism threatens our democracy and the world order. In Minneapolis, ICE’s Operation Metro Surge had been going on since early December, with 3000 ICE and Customs and Border Protection […]
Continue readingCitizen Joy! is Getting Out the Vote
Democracy is a beautiful thing—it’s the power of our voices coming together to shape the future. By registering to vote, you’re taking a joyful step toward participating in something bigger than any one of us: our collective decision to build a better tomorrow. By registering to vote, you’re embracing the privilege we all share: the […]
Continue readingPromoting the Joy of Voting
When we first settled on Citizen Joy as a name, we assumed that we were hardly the first group to emphasize the importance of joy in motivating people to participate in civic life. I recently ran across a Seattle-based organization with a webpage promoting “The Joy of Voting.” The organization is Citizen University, co-founded by […]
Continue readingMy First Time
Agency. One of the fundamental questions about democracy that we at Citizen Joy! ask is: “What choices are you able to make that are dear to your heart?” Everything we enjoy in our lives flows from one simple precept: America is a country where the people are sovereign, where the leaders serve at the pleasure […]
Continue readingThe Origin of “Uncle Max”
I created The “Uncle Max” character to carry the message of joyful celebration of democracy in 1995. I conceived Uncle Max, as a combination of my Maternal Grandfather and my Father (and maybe some Aunts too, you should live and be well!) He debuted as a voice-over character for my voice submission tape that I […]
Continue readingThe Power of Joy
When we started working on Citizen Joy, we always assumed that we would be discovering people and organizations out there whose work involved tapping into the power of joy. Here are two examples I’ve discovered recently. First, there’s the work of Ingrid Fetell Lee, author of the 2019 book, The Aesthetics of Joy. On the […]
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