Happy Juneteenth! Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States! On June 19, 1865 Union soldiers landed at Galveson, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This was two years after Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation which […]

Was Clinton victim to a sexist media? This question has been debated, analyzed and parsed. I don’t mean to be arrogant, but the answer is glaringly obvious. Yes, yes and yes! Clinton fell victim to a sexist media within a sexist society.
Is that a reason to vote for her? No, of course not. So […]

For the first time this decade, a study conducted by the PEW Research Center show that the global image of the US has improved…slightly. (No reason to get too cocky.) This should be good news to any US President, but the study shows that this change in attitude is prompted by people’s anticipation for […]

I am a three year member of the Facebook group “Crappy Asians”. Our idols are Harold and Kumar. According to the group’s description, one can gain membership if she is Asian and “has no work ethic; does not play the violin; doesn’t play Starcraft, doesn’t play DDR, [or] has a GPA below 3.9”.
But the members […]

On June 19, the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (WICIR) is hosting a community forum regarding the recent home intrusions, arrests, detentions, and deportations of immigrants in Washtenaw County and nation-wide. WICIR is a coalition of churches, grassroots and university organizations formed in response to numerous documented cases of federal raids done by the […]

If you’re walking past Hill Street and East University, you may be pleasantly surprised by the scent of fresh thyme, dill, and other mixed herbs. Spring planting has begun for Cultivating Community, a student organization that aims to develop “a closed-loop food system using gardening, composting, education, and research to improve human, community, and ecological […]

It’s like Google, except it filters out all things un-GLBT friendly for you, thus the name GLOOBTS. (G being gay, L lesbian, B bi and T trans)  It’s a search engine that enables you to access a growing database of GLBT operated and friendly businesses and organizations around the world. 
Publicly launched on June 1, […]

In this month’s issue of Labor Notes, UM alum and former Michigan Independent writer Paul Abowd reports on the organizing efforts of labor and anti-sweatshop activists at the University of North Carolina (UNC). For years, the campus group Student Action with Workers (SAW) has been pushing UNC’s administration to stop purchasing university apparel from sweatshops. […]

I consider myself a fan of Dove’s campaign for real beauty. Initially though, when I first caught sight of their advertisements, I was less than impressed. I wasn’t alone. Many consumers have been calling Dove out for being overly self-congratulatory. Just because they use models with more meat than skeletons, can Dove really claim to […]

Crappy Michigan weather aside, last Thursday I was given another reason to want to move to California.  California legalized same sex marriage.  While this is a nationwide victory for lesbian and gay rights activists and proponents, there is still a long way to go and an increased risk of a nationwide backlash.   
My heightened spirits […]