This article by a cancer surviver attending Tufts University points out some serious concerns with the annual philanthropic event benefiting the American Cancer Society, including funding allocations and the language used to talk about cancer.
Monopoly players around the kitchen table think the game is all about accumulation. You know, making a lot of money. But the real object is to bankrupt your opponents as quickly as possible. To have just enough so that everybody else has nothing.
Richard Marinaccio, the 2009 U.S. national Monopoly champion
Interesting take.
Question: If this is indeed the object, what personality, traits, or demographic background might a good monopoly player tend to have?
Yikes. What a conundrum. People increasingly need the internet to help complete school assignments, research and apply for jobs, stay current with the news, and be connected with their networks. Not everyone can afford Internet, so they look for places offering free WiFi. Cue McDonald’s, the home-base for all things unhealthy, to offer that service at more than 12,000 locations. Health issues are tied to economic status. If you’re going to McDonald’s to use their free WiFi, you’re in a demographic that is at higher risk for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. This is not the greatest scenario. But, who else is stepping up?
An amazing photography series and cultural exploration.
(via Portraits of Albanian Women Who Have Lived Their Lives As Men)
(via glukkake)
Sesame Street answers the question ‘What is a career?’ with the help of Sonia Sotomayor.
Pros: Cool profession, breakout from gender roles, dream big
Cons: Teleprompter reading, settling on one career, no substantive information about how getting into law school isn’t easy and costs a lot of money and might not even result in a job as a lawyer let alone a judge
Insight: Adults should not be watching Sesame Street
Windows.
Narratively, a new digital publication devoted to original, true & in-depth stories about New York, is going to be big. They have an experienced team with fresh angles to journalism and a clear vision. I have often lamented how the news glosses over the most incredible human interest stories because there’s something flashier to be told; Narratively will return the focus to the minutiae that together make New York the best city in the world. There are certainly fun storytelling nights and blogs and exhibits and other fun outlets that celebrate the city and the people in it, but nothing to date that has used “new media” to tell stories and achieve scale.
To get this project rolling, they’ve gone the Kickstarter route. The benefits for donating are really neat, and I have no doubt that the content they will put out as a result will be fantastic. Help support this project today, and capture the stories of New Yorkers forever. (Is that too cheesy? I suppose that’s why I’m not a ‘real’ journalist.)
I was combing through old papers tonight, and I found my graduation speech for Tufts. It was awesome on so many levels to read and reflect on right now. Start in the middle(*) if you don’t want to read it all, because that part is the best. Enjoy!
I love Somerville. The people, the places….It’s great. All week, I’ve been trying to capture it in a series of snapshots so that I can take the feeling I get here with me when I move to New York. It’s not so easy.
People-watching is like taking a series of snapshots in the context of the environment as we know it. We make judgments about teeth, clothing, demeanor, skin color…..we can infer a lot. We create stories…it’s fun.
I’ve always created these snap judgments; we all do. We see what we can, and then build what we want out of these creations. But, these assumptions may not be right. That’s dangerous: does that mean we’re misinterpreting the snapshot? It’s the exploration and challenging of these judgments that’s a key part of sociology.
Being an active photographer through people watching makes this possible. In active photography, the photographer might not know the subject, but they’re excited to find out. It’s the interactions, the conversations, the relationships that build a snapshot and give meaning where otherwise we can only guess.
That’s why I love sociology. It has infused in me a passion for people watching and active photography that I can share with others both as art and to tell a story about my environment through my lens.
The community at Tufts is also something I have been trying to capture on camera, and this process honestly only made sense to me at the Champagne Brunch with the senior slide show and posterboards of pictures the other day. Some of the pictures were just pictures, but remembering the context and feeling proud to know the people in others of those pictures makes the snapshot a story.
My Tufts snapshots are an album of my friends, professors, and my family. They have created my stories from both this physical place and this place in my life. These photographs are snippets of my continuing learning and my place in a fabulous community.
* So what profound advice can I leave you? Probably not much; sorry to disappoint. But what I can do is leave you with a picture of the voices of Somerville. Yesterday, I spent some time in davis square figuring out who the people in the background of my davis square photographs are, and i asked them for some advice for post graduation. In this photograph though, it’s not the visual that’s important, but the appreciation for all of the voices in it. I want to share some with you:
They advised about life:
They advised about jobs:
They advised about relationships:
And of course, there were a few funny but great ones:
Mike, a 63 year old history teacher, who was sitting on the bench outside of jp licks, asked me if I had ever visited mt. auburn cemetery. I said I hadn’t, and he said that to visit, then, was his best advice. the snapshot of graves there tells the stories of the founders of the schools that all of Boston is graduating from, the people who have written the texts that we have studied and debated, the people whose shoulders we stand on, even though we often forget that we do not stand alone. Mike’s advice to visit the Mt. Auburn cemetery reminds us not only to learn the stories but to expose ourselves to taking the picture and appreciating our context in the first place.
Class of 2008, I wish you the best of luck and hope that you create your own collage of meaningful snapshots wherever you go.
I went on a magic hour photography adventure with Anna* (top right photo; a brilliant photographer with a similar love for the city and the people here), and these were some of my favorites. Surprisingly (given the amount I talk with and observe strangers), I had never asked anyone if I could photograph them. Some folks were flattered, others indifferent, and others of course refused. When you have permission, you can really take the time to frame the photo, and that interaction can better inform the tone and feel of the end result. But, I also love capturing a moment without anybody’s knowledge, because it is completely natural. There is no feeling of posing or expressing oneself a certain way so that it ‘looks good’. The resulting mix of planned and unplanned photos is one that I am thrilled with and hope to do more of.
Click on any photo to view in high res.
*On Instagram, Anna is anna_goldberg and I’m jenbo1. Follow us!
The Knight Foundation recently released an awesome report on their grant to Macon, Georgia for a social game designed by Area/Code to build community through local currency. These are a bunch of my favorite things. (Games! Philanthropy! Sociology! Money!) You really must read more about it, because I can’t embed any here and it’s too good not to look. I leave you with a teaser screenshot:
People don’t get heard as much as they’d like. It was a great realization for me as a writer that people really want to be listened to. They are surprised that someone is interested, really interested. And you have to really want to hear somebody. A big part of it is tapping people’s natural desire to be listened to, especially since they know they’ll never have to deal with you again. It’s the same principle that underlies therapy, confession, conversations with strangers on airplanes: it’s a kind of duty-free intimacy that people really crave. If you can provide it without tricking people — because it’s not duty-free; it gets published — you can tap into that incredible appetite. It’s more appealing to talk with someone you’ll never know. It’s almost like talking out loud to yourself. And there is no limit to how unnoticed people feel by the media. It’s just the nature of what is considered newsworthy. If a person is living a life that is not newsworthy, it’s appealing to have someone say, “I want to hear your story.” Most people say, “Really, really? You really want to hear?” And people have amazing stories.
Source: susanorlean.com
Duke was one of the first employers to make benefits available to same sex partners in 1994 as a way to be inclusive and supportive of the needs of all faculty and staff, and this support will continue.
Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president of administration at Duke, following the approval of Amendment One in North Carolina. While the voters’ decision is extremely disheartening and causing ridiculous action already, we shouldn’t overlook the statements being made by those opposed to the amendment. Civil rights and social change happen, but often at slower speeds than makes sense. It’s a lost war in NC for now, sure, but by continuing to speak out about equal rights for all people and maintaining fair policies where possible, change will happen (thanks, Mr. President!). NC hasn’t historically been a leader with human rights anyway.
Fair to be cranky about the vote outcome. Good to optimistic that this will not be a precedent for other states. Best to continue and increase the consciousness of civil rights and responsibilities of communities to represent and take care of the people in them.
In the 1950s, having the Encyclopaedia Britannica on the bookshelf was akin to a station wagon in the garage or a black-and-white Zenith in the den, a possession coveted for its usefulness and as a goalpost for an aspirational middle class. Buying a set was often a financial stretch, and many families had to pay for it in monthly installments.
After 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the Presses, by Julie Bosman
This is sad, even though I understand all the reasoning and good that will come from pouring energy into the online and educational resources. But gosh, I used to LOVE spending hours reading our encyclopedia (circa 1996) and accidentally learning about alphabetically-similar places, ideas, tools, and people to what I was intending to look up. That stumble-upon method of learning is continuing to be lost on the dusty shelves of libraries in lieu of curated, search-by-keyword internet sites.
Although what I think I feel is sad, it’s probably more so nostalgia. We should embrace the exciting opportunity to have greater access to up-to-date resources at lower cost rather than wanting something that certainly was incredible for 244 years but perhaps is becoming too outdated for this increasingly fast-changing world.
Here’s to the next era of Britannica.
Source: The New York Times
Deborah Block, a fellow Tufts graduate with an admirable passion for promoting equality and understanding among peers, helped to found the nonprofit Athlete Ally. Along with founder Hudson Taylor, Deborah is committed to making sure that all athletes - regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or other defining trait - are treated with dignity and respect among their peers, especially in the sports context. I spoke with her about Athlete Ally’s growth and vision.
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Jen Bokoff: What moment stands out to you as a defining moment in establishing the mission of Athlete Ally?
Deborah Block: Definitely when my Co-Founder Hudson Taylor was a guest on Thomas
Roberts’ show on MSNBC. Thomas heard about Hudson and our cause through Twitter and sent him a direct message that he’d like to meet him and potentially bring him on the show. That’s exactly what happened. The day the show aired live, the number of our Facebook likes, pledge signatures, and Twitter followers sky-rocketed. A few months later, because of a press release we sent out, Hudson was presented with PFLAG’s Straight for Equality Award at their 3rd Annual Gala, an award that Maya Angelou had received years back. A few months later, we were on the front page of nytimes.com and Hudson was named The Huffington Post’s “Person of the Day.” This national press coverage was defining in getting the word out about LGBT inclusion in sports through mainstream news sources that write about much more than just write about LGBT issues. Through this, reaching mainstream athletes and advocates who can help make a real difference became tangible.
JB: The premise of Athlete Ally is that no group should be disadvantage or bullied in the sports arena; we should act as one. What’s your approach to sustainably combating bullying both on and off the playing field?
DB: Athlete Ally is grounded in the idea that athletes are leaders in their communities, whether that be in middle school, high school, college, or professional sports. Those athletes who are chosen as captains of their teams are not picked just because they’re great athletes; they’re picked because they also exhibit true leadership skills on and off the field. They have the ability to motivate their team and be a role model through all of their actions. Our goal at Athlete Ally is to empower athletes - particularly those who are straight - to be role models and combat homophobia by, for instance, challenging derogatory language on the field, in the locker room and in their daily routine. It’s our hope that as more athletes promote LGBT inclusiveness and respect, others will follow.
JB: Women’s (psuedo) equality in sports was largely spurred by Title IX. How do you think Athlete Ally can reach the same or greater impact with true equality across lines of gender and sexuality in sports?
DB: When we started Athlete Ally, it was clear that stereotypes in male sports are far different from stereotypes among women athletes. On male sports teams, you commonly hear the expression that you need to “man up” or “not be a pussy” or “stop throwing like a girl.” But within female sports, there’s the automatic assumption that women who play sports are butch or a lesbian. Although men’s and women’s teams face a separate set of problems, Athlete Ally encourages a similar solution. If straight athletes on men and women’s teams stand up for inclusiveness and team unity among their teammates and challenge derogatory language and stereotypes, they can empower their peers to challenge homophobia and stand together as a unified team.
JB: You must have learned a lot setting up your own nonprofit, from governance, to publicity, to defining goals. What can you share with us?
DB: Goodbye 9-5. To get Athlete Ally off the ground, I worked closely with Hudson and his wife Lia to work through everything from getting our website set up, to creating a mission statement, to filing for a 501c3, to marketing the cause to the press, and more. Something important that I didn’t realize before we started is that if you’re putting together an organization for a cause people truly believe in, you can get a TON of help for free. We ultimately brought on pro-bono lawyers, a pro-bono accounting firm, a pro-bono publicist, a pro-bono public relations firm. And by working closely with another LGBT organization, we also built our website for almost nothing. As a new nonprofit, we were working with a non-existent budget, so the fact that some of the most respected professionals in their fields were willing to come on board and help us just because they believed in what we’re doing was both humbling and inspiring. Another tip: Get used to 2am conference calls. The adrenalin rush of starting something new and exciting can be so intense that sometimes you and your teammates are up and ready to do work, even in the middle of the night.
JB: If people want to help the cause, what can they do?
DB: Through our cornerstone Ambassador Program program, we work with students on college campuses across the country to bring Athlete Ally to their school. We give these ambassadors the resources they need to meet with their school’s athletic directors, present to Student Athletic Advisory Committees, LGBT support groups, coaches, and team captains and encourage them to sign our Athlete Ally Pledge. This pledge asks students, athletes, and sports fans to commit to challenging homophobia in sports. Every month, we have new ambassadors who sign on to spread the cause and speak to athletes at their school. If someone wants to help, the first things they can do are sign the pledge online, share the pledge link with their network on Facebook and Twitter, and ask others to do the same. The reason why Athlete Ally is gaining so much momentum is because this is a cause people believe in and want to support.
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In the year since it was founded, Athlete Ally has had incredible success, including getting 4,864 pledges to make teammates feel respected on and off the field. They also have had numerous press pieces and recently partnered with the NCAA. Their Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube Channel also have quickly built up an engaged following. Read more and support Athlete Ally by exemplifying respect and leadership!
Posts to keep you entertained, thinking, sharing, and discussing. I blog across subject areas because there's a lot of interesting stuff out there; why limit our conversation?
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