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This is good to hear, because belonging to more than one minority really stacks the disadvantages: National Education Conference Focuses On GLBT Students of Color
Kenneth Harvey, The Gay and Lesbian Times: "The National Education Association, representing 3.2 million educators nationally, held its 2009 Joint Conference, at the Manchester Hyatt Hotel on Monday, June 29, where 1,000 educators gathered to discuss 'Public education, the gateway to global opportunities in a diverse society.' The conference took special interest in GLBT students and their teachers, along with GLBT minorities of color and women." Tags: education, ethnic studies, gender studies, news
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This poem came from the June 9, 2009 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jolantru and sponsored by janetmiles. Time’s Keeper Dust motes dance down the sunbeams to settle softly on the floor, collecting a fine film in the corners. Dust speckles on the pale page-edges of books were once paper themselves, frayed into freedom. Dust flecks on cabinets have perhaps blown in through open windows and settled somewhere welcoming. Dust blankets on old furniture lie thick as gray velvet, protecting impressions of years gone by. Dust streaks on a white car tell the tale of where it has been, the colors of beach sand and the earth by the sides of the roads. Dust is time’s keeper, accountant of hours unspent at labor: apply to assistant, Memory, for those records. Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, history, poem, poetry, reading, writing
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Today I am reminded that just the fact America exists is an accomplishment: Remarks of President Barack Obama's Weekly Address
Today, we are called to remember not only the day our country was born - we are also called to remember the indomitable spirit of the first American citizens who made that day possible. We are called to remember how unlikely it was that our American experiment would succeed at all; that a small band of patriots would declare independence from a powerful empire; and that they would form, in the new world, what the old world had never known - a government of, by, and for the people. Among the things I love about President Obama: * He knows history and can use it to illustrate his points. * He speaks in an uplifting manner, even in the face of great challenges, without denying that the challenges are indeed great. He makes overcoming those challenges feel possible. * He doesn't just claim that America is great; he reminds us of what made America great, so that we may do more of it. We have come a long way, through events bitter and sweet, shameful and glorious. It is a mighty accomplishment. America is not perfect, but that's understandable, because our country is a grand experiment and always has been. Even when we make mistakes, there is always another chance to do better, always the hope that next time we'll get it right. After all, the Universe is a patient teacher who keeps presenting tests until they are passed. The process may be frustrating but in the end it makes for stronger people and nations. Just the fact that America is still here is something to celebrate. As a bard, part of my duty is to serve as a watchdog. I relay information; I point out important matters that are being ignored; I mock the arrogant and criticize the incompetent. I also praise the clever, the dutiful, and the industrious. Although there are times when America disappoints, angers, or embarrasses me there are still many times when it makes me proud. It is good to be reminded of the latter. My country, right or wrong:
If right, to be kept right.
If wrong, to be made right.
-- Carl Schurz I would also like to thank all the veterans, living and dead, who helped make it possible for America to manifest and to survive. All hail! Today it is raining here, so our planned trip to see the local fireworks show has been abandoned. (Sitting on wet grass would not be fun, and parking the car on wet lawn would be downright risky.) So here's a bit of red, white, and blue from my yard instead:  Tags: history, holiday, news, personal, photography
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This very detailed article does a splendid job of putting numbers and lines on some trends that I've been tracking through description and observation. It covers wage deflation, job market deflation, and their impact on the economy -- which is to say, if people don't have money to spend, the economy isn't going to get better no matter what you do to the poor thing. Wage Deflation in Our Midst
The op-ed column by Bob Herbert in the Saturday New York Times really hit the nail on the head on this whole ‘green shoot’ issue — how can there be ‘green shoots’ when the labour market is deteriorating at such a rapid clip fully nine months after the Lehman collapse. The full brunt of the credit collapse may be behind us, but please, the other two shocks, namely deflating labour markets and deflating home prices, are very much still front and centre. For every job opening in the USA, there are more than five unemployed actively seeking work vying for those jobs. That is unprecedented and nearly double what we saw at the depths of the 2001 recession. The official ranks of the unemployed have doubled during this recession to 14 million and if you take into account all forms of labour market slack, the unofficial number is bordering on 30 million, another record. For those who still believe that we somehow managed to avoid an economic depression this cycle because of a 13% fiscal deficit/GDP and a pregnant Fed balance sheet, the Center for Labour Market Studies at Northeastern University estimates that the real unemployment now stands at 18.2%, which is actually higher than the posted rate at the end of the 1930s. The part that got me was "For every job opening in the USA, there are more than five unemployed actively seeking work vying for those jobs." I have no idea how they came up with a number so low. Around here, job openings get dozens or hundreds of applicants. There are probably well over five fully qualified applicants per job, not counting the desperate who don't really fit the requirements and the average folks getting out-competed by the several perfect matches. The last job I applied for entailed a rather obscure combination of skills and drew over a thousand applicants. My chances of getting that job were less than .1%. To put this in perspective, the major science fiction magazines buy about 2% of manuscripts submitted. So my chances of selling a story to Asimov's are twenty times my chances of getting that job. Even if there had only been a hundred applicants, my chances of selling a story would still be double, and there are a lot of jobs pulling in 100 applicants these days. I like freelance work, but I need regular gigs too. People talk about how depressing it is to be a writer and deal with all that rejection. Well, I'm a writer; I can deal with it. But most people can't and when lots of our workers are putting out dozens or hundreds of applications and not getting a job -- or even an interview! -- that is doing tremendous damage to our workforce. People's sense of self-worth is so tied up in employment that when they are unemployed, they think they are worthless, and if it goes on too long they may get so wrecked they can't function anymore. In that case, society has wadded them up and thrown them away for no better reason than it didn't want them right then. That's a recipe for disaster. You think taxing the rich will "discourage people from working hard" ...? Howbout dumping them by the truckload. Plus of course it's necessary to consider that the norm used to be one job per household. It now takes 2-5 jobs to support a household. Many people are working multiple jobs, because a single job often doesn't pay enough to live on. So not only does the economy contain fewer jobs, but the number of jobs is not the same as the number of employees. Tags: economics, news
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This set of articles deals with economic issues: Dean Baker | Economy Loses 467,000 Jobs In June; Unemployment Edges Up to 9.5 Percent
Dean Baker, Truthout: "Unemployment among men is near its all-time high on record. The economy shed another 467,000 jobs in June, as the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 percent. The rise in unemployment would have been higher except 155,000 people left the workforce, pushing down the employed percentage of the population (EPOP) by 0.2 percentage points to 59.5 percent." It really bothers me that people are "cut out of the workforce" if they cannot find a replacement job for one they lost. They want to work, they desperately need to work, they are neither drifters nor retired; but they aren't counted anymore. This means that the official unemployment figure is much less useful in determining the size of the group that is going to cause big social problems: people who want to work but don't have a job. Not to mention the people who have a job, or several jobs, but can't get enough hours or pay to make a living anyhow. So then you always have to compensate for that, trying to estimate how far off the mark the official numbers really are, by adding in information from other sources. Flawed data makes effective solutions difficult or impossible. Recession's Toll: Most Recent College Grads Working Low-Skill Jobs
Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers: "The tough economy and tight labor market have tarnished the luster of a bachelor's degree for young college graduates seeking employment. New monthly survey data from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston finds that during the first four months of 2009, less than half of the nation's 4 million college graduates age 25 and under were working in jobs that required a college degree. That's down from 54 percent for the same period last year." This is particularly disturbing for two reasons. 1) More jobs than ever are requiring applicants to have a college degree, even if the work doesn't really need it. So if the number of graduates in non-degree-requiring jobs is STILL growing, that's very bad. 2) Many of those graduates have college loans, which they certainly won't be able to pay off earning the minimum wage or anything close to it. Jeannette Wicks-Lim | How the Green Economy Can Promote Equal Opportunities for Women
Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Dollars & Sense: "Create jobs. End the recession. Save the environment. What else can transforming our fossil fuel economy to a clean energy economy do? How about create unprecedented employment opportunities for women? Readers of Linda Hirshman's recent New York Times editorial may think this is a dubious claim. She sparked a debate over the gender bias in Obama's stimulus plan by asking, 'Where are the new jobs for women?' She makes a good point. Transitioning to a clean-energy economy has the makings of a decent jobs program. Unfortunately, many of these jobs are in male-dominated industries such as construction." This point has been raised before regarding the rise of the green economy -- that it's heavy in jobs requiring physical labor. I should add, that not only tends to discriminate against women but also against people with disabilities. Some of this is unavoidable; building infrastructure pretty much demands workers who are in good shape. But it would be prudent to acknowledge that slant and counterbalance it with some support positions, such as green information technology, that don't require physical labor. That would help prevent unbalancing the job market. Tags: economics, networking, news
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These articles have an environmental theme... Robert F. Kennedy Jr. | A President Breaks Hearts in Appalachia
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., The Washington Post: "Mountaintop removal coal mining is the worst environmental tragedy in American history. When will the Obama administration finally stop this Appalachian apocalypse?" Mountaintop removal is a terrible strain on the environment. Generally when a project does damage that will far outlast its benefit, that's a very bad idea. Polar Bear Apearances Grow on Oil Fields
Alex DeMarban, The Arctic Sounder: "Polar bear encounters on the North Slope oil fields have risen to record levels the last two years, a sign that increasing numbers of the white giants may be prowling on land because the sea ice they prefer is shrinking, scientists said." The bears are there because human actions are diminishing their proper hunting grounds on the ice. Somehow, though, I expect the bears will be blamed for getting in the way of human activities; and it's the bears who will pay the price. Olivier Truc | The Carbon Tax Has Proven Its Effectiveness in Sweden
Olivier Truc, Le Monde: "In 1991, the Swedes established a carbon tax that bears on energy consumption. To the skeptics who assert that this tax kills growth, they answer with their record: since the introduction of the tax, Swedish greenhouse gas waste has been reduced by 9 percent, while, during the same period, economic growth was 48 percent." I like it when people produce solid numbers in support of their ideas. We need to reduce greenhouse gasses, but without wrecking the economy (further) in the process. I'm somewhat leery of a plain carbon tax because it's likely to hit consumers hard; I'd prefer to make companies buy permits, and then disperse the fees to citizens, which would help offset the price increases. But it's nice to know that Sweden is making good progress with their program. Tags: environment, networking, news
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As several people have suggested, I did some more exploration of the butterfly and ant aliens. I liked the poem suggestion, so that's where I went for now; someday I may come back and write fiction as well. Meanwhile the poem allowed me to capture the core of the storyline in a more concise way, although it's still a very long poem. I learned a lot about both species and their culture while writing this. Much of that is stated or at least hinted in the poem. Some of what I learned includes: * These species are true symbionts: both of them contribute effort to and gain benefits from the relationship, and they cannot survive without each other.
* Neither species has any individuals who raise babies that come out of their own body. The butterflies scatter their eggs widely and leave. The ants have a queen who does all the laying, and then the babies are raised by nursemaid ants. Both species produce more young than will survive to adulthood. So they just don't have the tight attachment to individual babies that mammals have.
* They are not really "Eeek, monsters!" aliens, even though some of their habits are disturbing to humans. They are quite civilized.
* Their dominant senses are different than ours. The ants and the butterfly caterpillars can see, but their dominant sense is smell followed by touch. Adult butterflies have sight as their dominant sense, followed by smell. They can hear, but it's not as important to them.
* They are all oriented to cooperation rather than competition. "The Sky-Eyes and the Earth-Hearts" is a free-verse poem in which first the Sky-Eyes (butterflies) and Earth-Hearts (ants) speak to the humans, and then the Twin Peoples speak together, so it's in three sections. The parallels are very tight between the first two; there is a lot of repetition and alliteration. It's epic length, almost a thousand words. Since several folks expressed interest in reading more about these characters, I'm making the poem available for sponsorship (there's a permanent PayPal button on my profile page) and including a teaser below. 117 lines, Buy It Now = $58.50Donations: $26.50Remaining to fund whole poem: $32.00
Amount to fund next verse: $4.50EDIT: This poem is being microfunded. Price is $.50/line so $5 would get 10 lines, etc. I have just posted the third verse in response to the first donation, and I'll continue to post more verses as funding arrives. Sponsors: minor_architect, nhpeacenik, browngirl, siliconshamanThe Sky-Eyes and the Earth-Hearts The Sky-Eyes speak: We are the Sky-Eyes, the blue people of the air. When you came to our world, it was our territory you flew through on your way down. To us Queen Cosmos gave wings and the wind: it is our duty to defend against threats from above. When the songhawks come with their deadly voices, we draw them off with the dance of eyespots. You say that you mean us no harm, but Your words batter our ears as savagely as hawk-song. We know that our young eat the young of the Earth-Hearts. We know that you think this is wrong, but this is how our peoples live. We cannot raise our own young as you do; those perverts who have tried it always fail. Without our family ties to the Earth-Hearts, we would have no balance for the lightness of our minds and no defense against dangers from below. We live as we were made to live, and our life is good. We cannot help how we are made. How can we tell you that what would be abuse for you is for us a fair exchange? How can we make you understand that it defines rather than undermines our morality? We cannot live without the Earth-Hearts; the ruins of history have shown us why. Your species was born to compete, even with each other: how can we teach you cooperation when it is not in your nature? The Earth-Hearts speak:We are the Earth-Hearts, the red people of the land. When you came to our world, it was our territory you landed upon when your ship touched down. To us Queen Cosmos gave strength and the earth: it is our duty to defend against threats from below. When the burrowers come with their crushing claws, we bite them and sting them and drive them away. You say that you come in peace, but we smell the metal claws with which you would crush our culture. We know that the Sky-Children eat our young. We know that you think this is wrong, but this is how our families love. We cannot abandon their young as you would do; they are so adorable, they rouse our nurturing instincts. Without our family ties to the Sky-Eyes, we would have no balance for the heaviness of our bodies and no warning of dangers from above. We love as we were made to love, and our families are good. We cannot help how we are made. Tags: cyberfunded creativity, nature, poem, poetry, science fiction, writing
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I was charmed by this article about the return of a butterfly species that had become extinct in Britain: Butterfly Species Reborn 30 Years After Extinction
Thirty years ago it was officially declared extinct in Britain. But the beautiful large blue butterfly has made an astonishing return. Around 20,000 will be flitting through the countryside this summer as a result of reintroduction efforts, scientists say. First, this case demonstrates that it is absolutely crucial to understand the real cause(s) behind a species' demise. Otherwise nothing will save it. Second, it demonstrates that livestock and nature are not always opposed: the large blue requires closely grazed land for its habitat, because it depends on an ant species that really only thrives under those conditions. Third ... well, you know me. I'm pondering what kind of alien species might evolve with a relationship like that, and what they would be like, and how humans would react. I think the aliens would get along fine, and humans would be horrified by all of them. Imagine a species that raised the young of another species that ate the raisers' own babies. Ant Alien to Human: "Yes, I know they eat babies, but ... but ... they're so cute! I can't help myself. I just have to pick them up and cuddle them and take them home." Butterfly Alien to Human: "How could you imply that we abuse the Ant People? We love them! They're our parents!" And I think they would both say: "We can't help how we're made." Yai, like I need another story-farm. Me to Butterfly and Ant Aliens: "Go to the end of the line, folks." Ant Alien: "I can't smell the end of the line from here." Me: "Neither can I. Start walking." Butterfly Alien: "Look at me, look at me! I can fly!" Me: "Go follow your nursemaid or I'll take a net to you." *sigh* And here I was supposed to be working on sabbat history. What does my brain do? -- Ooo! Butterflies!!Literally. *headdesk* Tags: good news, nature, science fiction, writing
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