Tides, a nonprofit organization that promotes social justice and a saner world, is about to start a big shindig called Momentum up in San Francisco.  Buncha people sharing ideas on how to do good.

The guest list includes former VP candidate John Edwards; Alex Gibney, the documentary filmmaker behind Taxi to the Dark Side and No End in Sight; Emory University psychology professor Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain: the Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation; Premal Shah, president of cool microlender Kiva, a group I’ve been meaning to pimp here for some time; and tons of other people who do neat stuff.

It’s described in the literature as “where some of the most creative minds in the progressive movement come together to challenge, inspire, and rejuvenate each other.”

I’m not one of those creative minds, and my sciatica defies rejuvenating, but I’ll be attending as media.  Any really nifty challenging, inspiring and rejuvenating going on, I’ll mention it here.

Particularly hoping to snag a chat with the Kiva dude.  (Seriously, check out Kiva.  You lend a teeny amount of money — not donate; lend, like $25 or something, and with a repayment delinquency rate near zero, so you get it back — and people in the developing world get lives that suck less.  Possibly a lot less.  The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize went to one of the idea’s pioneers.  It works.  So Kiva up if you’re in the mood.)

More good ideas to come shortly, I hope.