The Guardian// 11/29/11

Yesterday Iranian protestors stormed the British embassy in Iran.  It took a while for the article to get to the reason the protestors were so angry, but it turns out it's because these protestors want to flout the UN regulations and create nuclear weapons.  The British, of course, oppose this.  I've always been a little fuzzy on how the UN is able to essentially say to countries, "We don't think you're responsible enough to have nuclear weapons so we're just not going to let you have them even though other countries do."  I mean I get WHY and obviously I don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons, but how does the UN really defend these decisions without deeply offending these countries?

The seventeen-year-old blogger above took on a Houston clinic that was using unproven techniques to "treat" cancer and charging thousands of dollars for it.  Perhaps even more tellingly, the Guardian than ran a story on it.  It really speaks to the power of the internet that a blogger still in high school can make international news.

Occupy Towson Forum

I whipped up this flyer for this week's upcoming Occupy Towson forum! I wish I could be there, but I have class and really can't afford to miss it.  Check out the facebook event here for more details.

New York Times// 11/19/11

I found the NY Times article on Elizabeth Warren to be very on point.  I'm definitely one of the fan girls mentioned by the author.  This woman is great- she's all about consumer protection and is extremely coherent to boot.  Right now she's running for the Senate, but I'd love to see her as a presidential candidate in years to come.

It's hard to believe this is even a debate.  There is a currently a push to broaden the exemption for contraceptive coverage in healthcare.  This would mean that many religious institutions, even ones that are only nominally Catholic, like hospitals, could refuse to cover birth control for their employees.  This kind of thing makes me so angry.  IT'S BIRTH CONTROL, I mean seriously, EVERYONE uses birth control.  I know a handful of extremely Catholic women who don't, but they are a tiny minority.  The vast majority of people, and even the vast majority of Catholics, use birth control.  Do we seriously want everyone having ten kids? It's all well and good if that's truly what you want and you can both emotionally and financially provide for these children, but most Americans can't.  Not to mention how many children are languishing in foster care systems and orphanages across the world.  I firmly believe that even if you do want a lot of children, adoption is the way to go.  Anyway, side rant, but the fact that this is even a discussion is ridiculous.  What is this, the 1950's?

Occupy Black Friday

I LOVE this.  Some people might argue that we need to support corporations through shopping because they provide so many jobs.  But small businesses and independent shops provide jobs too, plus the money goes back into your own local economy.  Small businesses also have more invested in the community, and are more likely to stick around even during hard times, as long as the community has their backs.  We don't need to baby corporations... we have the control... vote with your wallet and avoid corrupt corporations this Black Friday!

The Maples

As part of Rebekah and I's Intergenerational Relations Project, we organized an arts and crafts activity at The Maples, a senior living center in Towson.  Due to the weather and everyone's busy schedules, we weren't able to get a ton of people to attend.  However, our friend and fellow IOD major Steph joined us, as well as three community service doers from Calvert Hall Highschool, and of course the lovely residents of The Maples.

At the advice of the Activities Director, we chose a simple project that wouldn't require too much coordination but would allow for some creativity.  At first many of the participants were nervous to get started, but with some encouragement and chatting they all made some really cute and quirky pumpkins.

I was actually really impressed with how well the highschool boys interacted with the older adults.  While I heard them talking about which party got busted over the weekend while washing their hands in the other room, they were very polite, considerate, and encouraging when working with the residents.

We had a great time and the residents all told us that they did too! They want us to come back again and we certainly plan on doing so.  Check out more photos from the event here.