October 2nd, the MTSU chapter of YAL attended, tabled at, and was an official ally of the Nashville Slutwalk.

The ... what? Slutwalk is an international movement to fight the blaming of the victims of sexual abuse and violence for the actions taken against them. It was started after a police officer in Canada told a classroom of girls that if they didn't want to get raped then they should not dress like "sluts."  But the fact of the matter is that women and men are abused and raped everyday irrespective of what they are wearing.

Slutwalk is a controversial event, even amongst feminists, but from a libertarian perspective sponsoring the event made perfect sense. Given that we all own our bodies, it would be utterly perverse to blame someone for violation of their right to self-ownership.

The message of the event was instead of solely teaching people how to avoid getting raped, they ought to be taught not to rape.

Everyone wore what ever they wanted to. Some chose to dress provactively, while others wore ordinary clothes some holding signs saying, "This is what I was wearing when I was raped. Did I deserve it?" [1] [2]

Some higher quality photos of the event were taken by Chris M. Scruggs.

The Young Americans for Liberty at Northeastern University drew at least 150 students to their event "Alcohol, Parties & the Law," presented by C.L. Lindsay. C.L. Lindsay is an attorney who founded the Coalition for Student & Academic Rights (CO-STAR). Through the night he spoke to students about how to have a party without getting busted by the police (or ticking off your neighbors).

Through his fun and entertaining presentation C.L. covered virtually every legal pitfall, including how to collect money legally, keg laws, underage drinking laws, noise ordinances, etc.

The best part of the event besides the enthusiastic student audience? The school helped sponsor the event and was very supportive of it, as it is in their best interest if students stay out of trouble (since they won't stop having parties).

Estonians peacefully gaining their independence, a dystopian future where everyone is equal, a philosophy realized through a man that stopped the engine of the world, a warning of the next financial crisis, parents struggling to get their kids out of failing schools, a brutal alliance between Nazis and Soviets, and an Australian family struggling to save their home from an expanding airport… all in one weekend.

This was what we experienced at the 1^st Annual Free Minds Film Festival.

The Free Minds Film Festival is an idea that was originally conceived and suggested about a year ago by my brother and mother. I initially rejected the proposal because I didn’t know anything about planning film festivals. However, after months of mulling over the idea, I was motivated by the power of film to promote liberty and decided to take up the project in February of this year.

The initial idea was to have the festival as a summer event in a venue somewhere in Colorado Springs. Then, in April, Jason Walker contacted me on Facebook about starting a Young Americans for Liberty chapter at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. We later decided that our new YAL chapter should host the event at our campus from October 7^th- 9^th to attract students. After months of work obtaining film rights, booking speakers, securing sponsorships, and navigating my university’s red tape, it was finally time for the festival!

At noon on Oct. 6th, in Nashville, TN, over 200 protestors gathered at Legislative Plaza to hold the first rally of the Occupy Nashville movement, a branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has been making headlines in recent weeks. At the rally there was a very diverse crowd of people ranging from libertarians to socialists to anarchists holding signs with phrases including “End the Fed,” “Tax the rich,” and “End corporate welfare,” while chanting slogans such as “We are the 99%” and “The people united will never be defeated.”