Exciting news for campus and community activists–UM Social Justice Conference 2009 is to take place on April 4th. For more information, and to register go to: www.umsjc.blogspot.com.
There will be student-led workshops and discussions on: human rights, animal rights, environmental issues, labor rights, gender/sexuality issues, civil rights and more!
Also speakers list include: Keith McHenry (Food not bombs), Hector Aristizabal (SOA Watch, Imaginaction), Bill Ayers, Shanta Driver, Alan Haber and Derrick Jensen.
Interesting Op-ed from the Washington Post here lamenting on the lost literary tradition of dissent and new ideas among today’s college students. Ron Charles writes:
“According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the best-selling titles on college campuses are mostly about hunky vampires or Barack Obama. Recently, Meyer and the president held six of the 10 top spots. In January, the most subversive book on the college bestseller list was “Our Dumb World,” a collection of gags from the Onion. The top title that month was “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” by J.K. Rowling. College kids’ favorite nonfiction book was Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers,” about what makes successful individuals. And the only title that stakes a claim as a real novel for adults was Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” the choice of a million splendid book clubs.
Here we have a generation of young adults away from home for the first time, free to enjoy the most experimental period of their lives, yet they’re choosing books like 13-year-old girls — or their parents.”
I haven’t really been following the news on Shaman Drum too closely, but I had heard they were in threat of closing due to financial difficulties. (Which, of course, is due to being a small, independent bookstore and suffering from people not buying local.)
I am on the mailing list of A Public Space, a small literary magazine based out of Brooklyn, NY. (http://apublicspace.org/) The other day, I was surprised to find an email from them asking to support Shaman Drum by buying a book from their online store. (Apparently March is Small Press Month.)
Dan Wickett of Dzanc Books also blogged about this: http://emergingwriters.typepad.com/emerging_writers_network/2009/02/just-back-from-.html and directed people to a blog from Karl Pohrt, owner of Shaman Drum, explaining their financial crisis. You can find that here: http://shamandrum.blogspot.com/2009/02/open-letter-from-distressed-bookseller.html
It’s amazing that people from other communities are drawing attention to this issue.
“It’s not just that it will outlive corporations or nations, or even human civilization as we know it. New Horizons will outlive mountain ranges, it will outlive the earth and the sun. It may very well go on, until the stars burn out; until the protons making it up decay or until the end of time, if there is one. Amazing, isn’t it. What human beings can build?”
– Dr. Alan Stern, principal investigator NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto, in an interview with DarkSnyde from DailyKos.
If you listen to WLBY (1290 AM), Ann Arbor’s progressive talk radio, you may have noticed that Randi Rhodes has been absent for awhile.
Her last show was February 3rd — after that, Nancy Skinner was guest-hosting, but I’m used to - and unfazed by - Randi-absences (she’s not shy about plastic surgery). Recently, however, I noticed Ed Schultz’s show airing during that time slot. Translation: oh crap.
A quick check to http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/ shows Randi’s vague statement on the matter — an anonymous source in Randi’s Wikipedia entry claims that Nova M promised certain legal protections that Randi has since discovered was disingenuous, prompting her current hiatus. Meanwhile, Nova M, the network Randi has been broadcasting under since her messy departure from Air America Radio last April, has since announced that it will be liquidating.
Oh Randi, I hope you find a new home soon. There’s only so much Ed Schultz I can take.
On Monday the University announced that it will cut its apparel licensing agreement with Russell Corporation, citing the company’s abusive treatment toward its workers.
The New York Times reports:
“On Jan. 31, Russell closed its Jerzees de Honduras plant, where 750 of the 1,800 employees had joined a union, and the management and the union were in a contract dispute.
The Worker Rights Consortium, a factory monitoring group sponsored by 185 universities, condemned the closing, saying it had been done partly because of antiunion animus. Another monitoring group, the Fair Labor Association, also found labor violations.”
In early February, the University’s Advisory Committee on Labor Standards and Human Rights called on President Coleman and the administration to cut its relations with Russell when the current license expires in March 31.
Joel Eckel from Tiny Blue Marble acknowledges the struggle and efforts put forth by UM student activists that have led to the University’s decision to cut its contract with Russell:
“SOLE, UM student activist group, has been working on this issue since 1999. That’s a loooong time. It reminds me that patience is key for those working for a better world. Change comes slowly, but it does come.”
This is a victory for worker’s rights, but a small one. Russell Corporation still has yet to reopen Jerzees de Honduras, re-hire the workers, and negotiate with the union.
The Chronicle of Higher Education predicts that the University’s decision will lead to a snowball effect–that other colleges will follow, adding greater pressure on Russell.
To put a more human face to the issue, below are two powerful testimonies from former employees at Russell’s Jerzees de Honduras plant.
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If you are in town over break, check out these events and opportunities:
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Last week, Alan Keyes and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) attempted to fan the conspiratorial flames surrounding whether President Obama is truly natural-born.
Wait, Alan Keyes? When did he become relevant again? Is it because he is known for his rational, non-partisan thoughts on constitutional law? Or perhaps it’s a shallow attempt for the GOP to avoid charges of racism for bringing this issue up only when the president looks so different from all the previous ones?
Oh, I’m just being cynical — Alan Keyes was just as concerned about McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone. You want a source for that concern? … I’ll get back to you on that, Katie.
Sheesh, here I was, concerned with the wars we’re currently fighting (and my friends heading over soon), our economy, our broken healthcare system … I just didn’t see that if only we as a nation could collectively examine the JPEG of Obama’s birth certificate and take a national vote over whether it’s legitimate, all these other crises would just go away.
I forgive Keyes; what else does he have (or know how) to do than contribute Crazy to the national conversation? Senator Shelby, though, has more important things he should be thinking about (or reading about — in the same event he wondered about Obama’s citizenship, he claimed the spending in the stimulus bill is wasteful … and also .. that no one knows what the spending is because no one [implicating himself] has read the bill …).
But I’m not a lawmaker, and you probably aren’t either, so let’s have the only productive discussion that this subject truly warrants: is it time to amend (read: do away with) the Constitutional requirement that a president be natural-born? Are we still concerned about electing British aristocracy, which was its original motivation? Is there a more-modern argument for keeping the requirement? Are we straight-facedly claiming that this nation, “a nation of immigrants,” cannot satisfactorily be led by one? Immigrants can be Senators, Congresspeople, judges, cabinet officials … but the presidency should remain exceptional because … uh …
See, I’d have more sympathy over concerns over Obama’s citizenship if it weren’t such an arbitrary requirement in the first place. I’m all about the rule of law, but I’m also about priorities; Keyes, and anyone who dignifies him, are staking out a suspected 20 y/o pot-smoker while ignoring the homicides across the street.
The latest issue of The Michigan Independent, Volume V Issue IV, is now online! You can view the articles by clicking this link or using the navigation bar to the left.
This issue’s cover story discusses how Black history is (and isn’t) being taught in schools, and spotlights Khalid el-Hakim, curator of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.
Other stories discuss: the School of Americas Watch recent lobby days in Washington DC; student efforts to bring organic and local foods into the dining halls; the fatality of bipartisanship; and the media’s complicity in purveying a misleading narrative of violence in the Middle East.
Also, our sex columnist unabashedly talks about oral sex–how to give it, and get it. Guest writer Beenish Ahmed gives her personal account of inauguration day. And Joseph Xu’s photo story recounts this year’s student production of the Vagina Monologues.
We hope you enjoy, and as always, welcome your feedback!
