If you are ready to take action on this important internet matter please click here: http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA
Tell Congress you OPPOSE Senate 968 “Protect IP Act” (PIPA) and H.R. 3261 “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA)
Let congress know that you are against this and want to keep the internet accessible. Use this link above to take action, it’s easy and is very important….
There are a few topics that Americans don’t like to talk about, they are for the most part topics I do like to talk and learn about; such as the failure of our prison system and our odd relationship with trash.
We have such a weird relationship to consumption and to trash. A friend who was visiting from Sweden this summer was talking about her country’s campaign to get people aware of wasting food. She was raised in America and is astonished with our relationship to food after living overseas so long. I have often thought if we could raise people’s awareness of not wasting food here we could resolve the problem of food insecurity that is a growing issue in America with the struggling economy.
Infographics always delight me and this one called Trashonomics illustrates some of our relationship with our garbage.
A documentary that will change your relationship with trash is called Waste Land From their website: ” Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker (DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, BLINDSIGHT and COUNTDOWN TO ZERO) and co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley have great access to the entire process and, in the end, offer stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.”
It is an excellent film.
As if this isn’t enough take a moment to listen to the Diane Rehm’s WAMU radio program talking frankly about hoarding . This will bring new insights to this phenomena and bend your thinking about what you do and don’t keep. Pass it on if you haven’t used it in the past year… This is a bit like “Scared Straight” for people who have a tendency of being a pack rat!
The visual display of information when well done can be an awesome way to display data. One such illustration is one that shows “Why Apples are Better than Oranges” sure to warm the hearts of the many people in Washington State’s international apple growing industry.
Another is one that shows the differences between the decades 2000 vs 2010 called “A Decade of Change“
Our lives can go in different directions, here’s one that shows ‘the incredible savant brain‘ and another that illustrates a time line of ‘the real cost of prison.‘ Here’s another that shows the amount of student loans state by state called “Graduating from IOU“. Here’s another that shows you how to “Build a Work Wardrobe from Scratch“
What’s not to love about these creative ways to display information? Perhaps they will inspire you to come up with your own visual display of information and let your talent shine.
When you think about disabled children generally you have pity for the parents. Many marriages crash and burn at the prospect of raising a special needs child but what this little film will make you aware of is how long the relationship is between this child and his or her siblings will go on longer than those with the parents.
Don Meyer is based in Seattle has helped siblings all over the world with his Sibshops and those interested should connect to his website and subscribe to the Sibnet that has subscribers from all over the world who discuss sibling issues.
For a moving YouTube experience see this piece about the word “retarded” and a sister’s love of her brother.
Open your mind to the needs of the developmentally disabled and take a moment to see how you could make a difference in the lives of these special people and his or her family.
With all the discouraging news drifting about these days it’s a good idea to focus on some good news and applaud those in this world who are quietly making a difference.
Take a break tonight and sit down to watch the 99 minute documentary “Pressure Cooker” and you will be inspired by the difference teacher Wilma Stephenson has made in the lives of her inner-city students, at Frankford High School. Ms. Stephenson teaches Culinary Arts, in a North Philadephia all-black high school, and her passion and determination to provide choices for her students is nothing short of inspirational. This movie is well-paced and will reminder viewers that one person can make a difference.
It was said that Halloween marked the day that the world population reached seven billion.
Many people I surveyed had no idea how to get their heads around that number and didn’t have any idea how many zeros that really was. We can comprehend ten, hundred, and thousand easily and routinely but then the numbers get to move into more zeros they are less familiar.
Population control is one of those taboo topics I have always been interested in, along with prison reform and end of life choice. There was an excellent New York Times opinion piece by NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF this week called the “Birth Control Solution” urging us to look more realistically at controlling family size vs. listening to religious people many of whom have taken a vow of chastity.
If you are interested in exploring various countries and their birth rates here’s a link that will ring your bell.
If you would like to see an estimate where you fall in the population of the world based on your birthday give this a whirl.
Take a moment this week to talk about population by posing the question to your friends and family if they know how many zeros there are in a billion and use it as a starting point to discuss the world’s resources and the growing strains population puts on Mother Earth.
Oral History from 9.11
In the precious tradition of Studs Terkel , within days of the September 11th tragedy the Columbia University Oral History Research Office deployed a team to interview people in New York City.
For the tenth anniversary The New Pressh has published a stunning selection of these interviews that took place initially and in the years following in the book After the Fall: New Yorkers Remember September 2001 and the Years After.This book deserves special attention amid a field of others. Although we have heard from many people who lost family members in this attack, here you will hear from the blind woman who ran a candy shop in a nearby building lobby, artists who lived in Tribeca, and other people whose perspectives you likely didn’t get to hear from before and if you did likely it wasn’t in their own words allowed to breath and come alive with emotion. Here selected interviews have been distilled and are presented in their own words and you will learn things you didn’t know previously even if you have read other books. It’s easy to visualize what the editors plowed through to come up with the brilliant selection that is presented here, they had over 900 hours of interviews to choose from.
If you aren’t familiar with Studs Terkel‘s work I’d recommend listening to Hearing Voices piece about him called Working With Studs it gives you a taste of this man who spent his life listening to those who are rarely featured and presenting them in their own words. He is perhaps the most famous for his book Working published back in 1974.
Barbara Coombs Lee, an American hero
Hawaii has become the fourth state in the union to allow death with dignity joining Oregon, Washington, and Montana in allowing people to have a say in their end of life choices. Here’s a timeline detailing the end of life choice movement in case you want additional background. There are many who have come to realize that it’s not quantity of life that matters but the quality of life, who want more say in their lives final chapter.
The blog Seven Ponds has a worthwhile round up of this latest state to work toward more end of life choice. You can click to the many links including a statement from Barbara Coombs Lee , from Compassion and Choices. Here is a section of Seven Pond’s website that details “end of life rights” that has plenty of resources for study.
If you want to know how your state does on palliative care here’s an interactive map that will give you the run down If you don’t like what you see, work to raise this grade by joining up with others to provide better end of life care.
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