Educate...Entertain...Eradicate Borders
What issues change society's social order? Here we discuss social progress and the issues that impede that progress such as poverty, negative impacts upon the environment, and disparities among peoples.
Ever since I came to the United States, I have always been puzzled with a certain attitude in this country. Why do so many ordinary, god-fearing Republicans in this country oppose measures such as free healthcare for all? What do they mean when they say they are ‘against Obama as a matter principle’?
I have slowly started realizing that there are some fundamental issues that need to be solved before moderate Republicans will vote for President Obama and health care.… [Read more]
In my first installment of Getting Schooled, I gave you the results of the survey I did about where people were sending their children and why.
In this installment I will be talking about the private school option.
As a follow up to the surveys, I interviewed parents from each of the schooling categories to dig deeper into why they chose the option they did.… [Read more]
The news came out yesterday that in high school, Mitt Romney was a bully. He was outed by five of his former prep school buddies, who painted a horrifying picture of young Willard terrorizing at least two underclassmen, both of whom were closeted homosexuals. One of the boys had bleached his hair blonde, which offended young Willard, so he and his posse chased down and tackled the student.… [Read more]
Yet another state has yanked funding for Planned Parenthood due to the mistaken impression that all they do is provide abortions. One would think that Planned Parenthood is building an AbortionPlex, complete with waterslides and “Buy 9, Get Your 10th Abortion Free” card. What’s even more troubling? Some states are forcing public school districts to choose between abstinence-plus or abstinence-only education.… [Read more]
“I swear to the Lord, I still can’t see,
Why Democracy means, Everybody but me. ”
~ Langston Hughes
When I read these words spoken more than half a century ago by Langston Hughes, I think that it is unconscionable to observe that in 2012 very little has changed. During the era of slavery, slave codes were enacted to dictate what was permissible by slaves as well as the slave owners.… [Read more]
Being a Southerner in a major city has made me acutely aware of what I appreciate about my heritage, and those qualities I loathe about it. When I moved to the DC metro area 5 years ago, folks knew immediately that I wasn’t from around here. I learned quickly that the ease of my smile was welcomed precisely because warmth is an unfamiliar character trait around these parts.… [Read more]
Recently I’ve had a lot of conversations with other activists where we’ve voiced our experiences in persistent doubt, especially when it comes to our judgement of others. It seems that many of us have a (metaphorical) voice in our heads constantly asking ‘Are you sure?’ ‘What if you’re wrong?’ etc. etc.
Needless to say, while constant questioning has its merits, doubting yourself in the middle of a meeting with a high-ranking official can be a little problematic.… [Read more]
During my daily hour-long commute to work on Tuesday, I had the chance to get stuck in traffic on a city bus while the May Day march was passing through Union Square. I, along with a pair of mommies and their toddlers, marveled at the movement. I was happy to see democracy hard at work, but wondered where all those people had been since I hadn’t seen them hanging out in the square for the past few weeks.… [Read more]
Last week I was on the twitters and I found myself bemoaning the abundance of people sending their kids anywhere other than public schools.
I am a public school teacher, after all. And I work in a district that is constantly stereotyped as less than the best because of the kids who go there. I mean, they are not all white kids from affluent families so we must be a “ghetto” school, right? It makes me mad when I hear people say that about us…and it makes me sad when I hear our students say that about their own school.… [Read more]
Radicals, said David Graeber, while holding a plastic Roman legion helmet (he just returned from an action protesting student debt), radicals have had a long unspoken pact with liberals: we incite, provoke, ask controversial questions, and liberals, now regarded as holding a more reasonable alternative to us, gain political power and enforce change. This, he went on to explain, is how political progress occurs: the Haymarket Affair was what pushed legislators to enact 8-hour workdays, it was factory occupations in the early 20th century which led to the rise of unions, and it is radical direct action which will turn the wheel of change now, in 2012.… [Read more]
In a lot of ways, I feel the same way about Earth Day that I feel about Black History Month and Women’s History Month. These holidays are important for raising awareness about specific issues and creating a space to talk about them, until they become entrenched traditions and periods of time in which corporate PR takes over and we do little but pay lip service to an idea. It seems like we all breathe a sigh of relief when the day or month is over, the equivalent of saying, “Phew, solved that issue for this year.” Black people, women, the earth – they’re given some time in the spotlight and then shoved aside once our guilt is assuaged so we can go right back to the status quo.… [Read more]
Today, countless will convene in celebration of her majesty, Lady Mary Jane.
For some, it is indeed a love relationship, a matter of matrimony – in good times and in bad, forsaking all other drugs, til death do they part, the stoner remains committed to his Mary Jane.
What is it about weed that engenders such fidelity?… [Read more]
Israel Defense Force (IDF) Lieutenant Colonel Shaul Eisner has been dismissed from his command for the next two years following the beating of a Danish pro-Palestinian protester last week in the Jordan Valley. The incident which was caught on film sparked quite a controversy and called into question once again long criticized tactics by the IDF and allegations of excessive force.… [Read more]
The documentary, Bully, opened this weekend and the online world has been buzzing with anticipation.
The movie, made for under a million dollars, examines the effects of bullying in schools by getting the perspectives of five kids (and their families). Two of those families lost their children to suicide due to the bullying.
Before even hitting the theaters, the film directed by Lee Hirsh was getting publicity. Katy Butler, a Michigan teen, campaigned with great success to get the “R” rating changed to PG-13 which would allow more school-aged kids to be able to view the movie.… [Read more]
A few days ago, I logged into my student loans account to pay my monthly bill. I was confused and surprised to find that my $80,000 balance was at $0. I spent twenty minutes attempting to figure out how my loans were paid off, gave up and went to bed.
That night I dreamt of men in suits being sprinkled with fairy dust and pressing the delete key for automatic student loan forgiveness across the world.… [Read more]
In February of this year, a group of seismologists was indicted in Italy for manslaughter because in 2009, they had asked the public to “relax with a glass of wine” for there was no serious threat of a major earthquake in their (Abruzzo) region. Then 300 people died in a disastrous quake within a week of this assurance in the same area the scientists predicted as safe.… [Read more]
So, while trying to pick a topic for this week’s blog post, I thought of many political things that are annoying me. President Obama’s support for at least the southern half of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the absence of a viable presidential candidate whom I can get excited about, the lack of political will to pass the much needed Buffett Rule on Taxation (let alone true tax reform), continued legislative attacks on women’s health and rights, and the stalling of the Student Loan Forgiveness Act in Congress all came to mind.… [Read more]
There is no way to adequately start this article. There are thousands of metaphors I could twist into something that will tear at your heart strings, but there is nothing that will make you feel. There is nothing that will make you stop what you’re doing and take immediate action. There are only the strangled voices and the loss of lives before they’ve even begun, struggling to maintain some type of humanity within themselves, to remind them they’re human, too, that stand behind you like evanescent ghosts.… [Read more]
Now I for one thought the connections between Invisible Children and Fundamentalist Christianity became quite apparent when co-founder Jason Russell went on a naked rampage. This, if nothing else, served to underscore the trite and, frankly masturbatory nature of slacktivism: the decentralized, interconnected, 21st century’s stand-in for real brick-and-mortar (or rather megaphone-and-placard) activism. Strikes, demonstrations, and happenings, however, have not so much been replaced by web-friendly alternatives as supplemented by them.… [Read more]
On Monday I attended a rally in Annapolis where we encircled the Maryland Statehouse to show support for offshore wind in Maryland. While this might not seem like something worthy of a blog post, this rally was a very pivotal experience for me (and the state). What made this rally so noteworthy is that it featured representatives from broad constituencies across Maryland coming together to advocate for clean energy, green jobs, public health, and the future of Maryland.… [Read more]
