Still moving

We've moved into our new house and are in the process of reordering our life, which explains my negligence in updating my blog. I have pictures of my house that I was going to post here, but I can't seem to find the thing I use to load them to my computer! Once I do, I'll be posting more pictures of our move....

Living among boxes

It might be strange, but I actually enjoy living among moving boxes, waiting for the move. This move is particularly exciting because it's to a house we really like.

On the need to oppose Obama's support for the Honduran coup

The blogger American Leftist has a good recent post assessing Obama's position on the Honduran coup. He mentions that Hillary Clinton's last statement critical of the ousted Zelaya - that Zelaya's symbolic return to Honduras was reckless - is more proof that the Obama Administration is providing support to the military coup there.

Actually, there is great deal of evidence amounting that the Obama Administration supports the Honduran military coup, which in my opinion, was entirely predictable from the very beginning.

From the outset, the Obama Administration refused to call what happened in Honduras a coup. They won't call a spade a spade because to do so would mean that the U.S. is obligated under law to stop economic and military aid, and bringing an end to that aid would likely stop the coup in its tracks. All of this is perfectly in line with Obama being a conservative establishment figure, who in perfect alignment with the Clintonites, prefers a reactionary coup leadership against a leader like Zelaya. While Zelaya is no radical, his call for reform, such as an increased minimum wage and agrarian reform, might inspire the Honduran people to further confront the wealthy oligarchy traditionally aligned with U.S. imperial interests.

Obama's support of the coup is very subtle yet effective. He supports negotiation, but negotiation of terms implies that there is something to negotiate, people with whom it is worthwhile negotiating, when again, the military leaders would probably fold with strong opposition from the U.S. Also, the fact that old-time Clinton lawyers and associates are actually running the PR game for the coup leaders shows that more is afoot than what is being said.

In the days following the coup, I listened to some of the views of my Democratic Party friends, such as "Obama did the right thing by denouncing the Honduran coup," or "the Administration had no hand in what occurred." These assumptions fly in the face of the historical, and reactionary, military relationship between the two countries, and Obama's belated announcement condemning the coup should have been a further tip-off. I wouldn't mention this error in judgment if I didn't think it had no negative consequences. We can't build movements to force the government to do the right thing, against its own very entrenched interests, if we assume that we have a friend in the White House. The biggest obstacle to change now, in this assessment, is the faith that liberals have in their president.

Bloomington-Normal: a town divided against itself

In a recent article in Health and News, a small monthly newspaper here in Bloomington-Normal, it is mentioned that Minneapolis/St. Paul is the "other Twin Cities." What?! The article clearly wasn't meant to be disparaging of Minneapolis/St. Paul, since it was a favorable tourist guide of the area. (The article itself has other problems; for example, I would take issue with Mall of America as being the biggest attraction of the area.) What I find strange is that Bloomington-Normalites would describe their cities as the "Twin Cities." Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge, huge fan of Bloomington-Normal, and love its cultural offerings, perhaps more than what is offered in the Mpls/St. Paul metropolitan area. But, that said, I can't help but feel that Bloomington-Normal is one city, divided in half. As a St. Paul friend of mine recently pointed out, Minneapolis and St. Paul are two distinct cities in every way - each has a downtown with its own nightlife and its own distinct culture and feel. While the cities touch, their downtown centers are 10 miles from each other. In contrast, Bloomington has the downtown, Normal has the college life and uptown area, everybody drives back and forth like the divide on Division Street does not exist. Only in terms of public services, like school districts, police forces, etc., does the division have a present-day objective reality. Here in Bloomington-Normal, you don't hear the common refrain in the Mpls/St. Paul Twin Cities, "I don't know much about Minneapolis" or "St. Paul, I never go there."

Maybe I could be accused of being an outsider, or a newcomer to B/N, still lacking a feel for the cities. Still, I must resist calling B/N the Twin Cities. Does the term come from copying the Twin Cities to the north? Does it really capture Bloomington-Normal's uniqueness? Does the city division serve only as an excuse for redundant city bureaucracy?

And then, there is the issue of school segregation. Since moving here, I was surprised to constantly hear from folk that Unit 5 schools - based in Normal but encompassing much of Bloomington, indeed surrounding its core - is better than the Bloomington District 87, a view I've since heard derives it true origin from utterly racist and classist views perpetuated by realtors since the 70s and 80s. Both Bloomington and Normal, and every school within their districts, would be considered lily white and middle-class suburban schools in larger metro regions, underscoring the absurdity of this view. Even though I don't know of a single school in the B/N area failing to make the NCLB grade, much of this is being further aggravated by the absurdity of the NCLB testing system, which encourages some teachers to view working in schools that serve a slightly higher percentage of poorer and more disadvantaged students as a potential threat to their job security and, when schools test scores get compared, their own feeling of occupational worth. If this can happen to teachers, who should be able to see that NCLB is poor assessment policy, it is no wonder that middle-class B/N residents count living within the Unit 5 boundaries as a plus.

In trying to explain some of these popular views, I was recently very surprised to hear someone in Bloomington say that she wouldn't send her kids to Normal, due to its lack of diversity which, she thinks, contributed to racist attitudes being expressed to her children by other children and a complacent school leadership on the issue.

While such problems are hard to eradicate, merging the two districts into a single one might help. I also can't help but wonder why, if you must have two distinct districts, they don't follow the city boundaries. Isn't revealing that much of upper-class Bloomington is within the Normal-based Unit 5?!

Seems to me, in talking about merging, a unified Bloomington-Normal might be advantageous on all fronts. Besides the issues centering on social justice, the vast majority here live in B/N as if it were one city. To artificially think of ourselves living in the Twin Cities, when there exists a Twin Cities that is nationally known to have that name (and even has a baseball team that calls itself the Twins), seems to disparage the special uniqueness of Bloomington-Normal.

The blacklash of white privilege

While drinking coffee at my local coffeeshop this morning, I overheard a conversation among 4 white Verizon workers that undoubtedly is being replayed across the country. These 4 were arguing that Henry Louis Gates had acted inappropriately prior to his arrest in Cambridge and deserved to be arrested for disorderly conduct. According to this view, the cop's police report is to be believed; Henry Louis Gates, not to be believed.

In my view, these scenes are evidence of a revived white racism in America, perpetuated by right-wing radio and rooted in traditional white privilege. Why is this racism? The sentiments expressed here are about the reconstruction of a white identity, a revived racism, in a world where there have been victories against racism. White racists are portraying themselves as the victim where, as they see it, African-Americans are irrationally overstepping their bounds.

The racism of the Verizon workers is blatant. Here are reasons why:

1. Why assume that the cop is telling the truth? For those of us who have experienced the actions of some police, especially when exercising our first amendment rights in protest, we know that the police can lie. Black people know that the cops can lie and be racist. (To be fair, I'm not talking about all cops here.) That these Verizon workers believe the white cop over the black professor, without being present during the altercation, is evidence of their racism.

2. I don't know where these 4 workers get their news, but I suspect that this view is predominant on Fox News and right-wing radio. Why do people believe these sources, especially when they are so obviously biased and, despite what they claim, unchristian? The presentation of many news stories on Fox is not only biased but oftentimes gets the facts wrong in order to score ideological points. I once saw a story on my home town, about my high school, that got important facts wrong just to make such an ideological point. Fox and right-wing radio can't be trusted.

3. The very fact that these Verizon workers are so troubled by this story, when they weren't there, demonstrates that they have a psychological need for the white cop to be right and the Black academic to be wrong. Again, more evidence of their racism.

Superior beings

We're convinced that our cat Lefty has learned the concept of using bed covers. (This scene wasn't staged, and they wouldn't let us even if we tried.) As can be seen in the picture, Lefty has learned how to get under the covers and then position himself so that his nose sticks out for air. Pretty smart.

Nothin' But the Blues Festival

We went to the Nothin' But the Blues Festival here in Bloomington, Saturday afternoon and evening. The event was very well-attended and very impressive. In places I've lived outside Illinois, I was used to horrible music festivals. But, here in Bloomington-Normal, all of the blues festivals have been terrific. I've been more impressed with the cultural offerings here than in the larger towns I've lived in, such as Tucson and Minneapolis/St. Paul.

On Saturday, we first heard the Bloomington-native Matt Curry and the Currfew, then B.J. Allen and Blue Voodoo, Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne, and Sharrie Williams. The only downside were the ribs and Bud lites that threw me off my diet!

Excellent resource for Spanish language learning and teaching

I just wanted to share my wife's ISU homepage (Rachel L. Shively's ISU Home Page) for its excellent resources involving Spanish language learning, especially for its web resources. There is also a link on the page to her class wiki on technology resources for foreign language teaching.

Minneapolis trip

I'm now back from my one-week trip to Minneapolis. I saw some Minneapolis-St. Paul friends during my stay, visited with my friend from Austin and saw his family, visited some bookstores, and altogether had a pretty good time. Unfortunately, though, I didn't take many pictures. This is a picture I took of my Austin friend in one of the bookstores we visited.

First reaction to the health care proposals

With the passage of the health care bill in the House, more details of the bill have been released. Although the bill appears like an improvement in the short-term, it needs to be analyzed in depth for short-term and long-term results. One thing we know for sure - single-payer health care is a far better option than the Obama 'government-run' health option for a number of reasons. First, single-payer includes everybody right away. In Obama's plan, after 1 trillion dollars get spent over 10 years, 17 million people are still left uninsured. Secondly, the choice to enter the government plan is only for those who do not have health insurance. I will be ineligible, since I already have an employer-based plan. How is that choice? Really, for those who receive health insurance and are unhappy with the current employer-based system, not much will change. (One of the arguments of Michael Moore's movie Sicko is that the current system is not only bad for the uninsured but for those who do have health insurance but get exploited by the insurance companies anyway.)

Wisconsin road trippin'

It's been a long time since I've taken a road trip. After having visited State Street in Madison yesterday, I'm getting to set to head through the driftless region of Wisconsin, up through Viroqua and Black River Falls toward Menominee where I'll meet up with the White family. Then on to Minneapolis...

Where is the outrage over Honduras?

Notice how the politicians, in particular Fox News, are quiet over the military coup in Honduras? All the outrage over Iran, and yet with a country that we largely control, turns out democracy isn't all that important to them. (Of course, we know that Washington politicians across the spectrum don't want Hondurans to push for real democracy because that will mean a confrontation with the ruling elite there and U.S. imperialists allied with them.) In fact, Fox News has featured a Heritage Foundation piece in support of the coup, accompanied with their typical corporate propaganda.

Background to the Honduras coup

Defeat the reactionary military coup in Honduras!

This article on the Workers International League (WIL) is the best background and analysis I could find on the Honduran coup. My view is that we need to pressure the U.S. government, after their belated condemnation of the coup after virtually everyone else already had acted, to pull their ambassador, cut off funding to the government, among other acts. Yesterday, in order to avoid applying adequate pressure, Sec. of State Clinton actually said that they weren't yet willing to say a coup had taken place!

Bloomington-Normal Citizens for Peace and Justice

Or, BNCPJ, as it is called for short. BNCPJ is the anti-war group in B-N. When first moving here, they were very easy to find on the Internet. And being independent of party politics, promoting grassroots mass action, BNCPJ was an easy sell. Since then, though, activity in the group has waned. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that many who support Obama either think the imperialist wars in the Middle East are over or don't want to embarrass their commander-in-chief by opposing his wars and occupations. But, I would argue, imperialism is imperialism, and it doesn't matter whose war it happens to be. We should be in the streets opposing the Iraq and Afpak wars, and to that end, BNCPJ is kicking off its new rally time on July 2, 5:30 pm, on East Street (in front of the B/N Center for the Performing Arts). See you in the streets, or in our case, on the sidewalks!

Oppose the American Clean Energy and Security Act

Only 2 of the large environmental organizations stood up to typical corporate politics in Washington and opposed the remarkably bad American Clean Energy and Security Act (Waxman-Markey). Their criticism says say it all, so I'll just post their statements here.
Greenpeace opposes Waxman-Markey (Statement by Greenpeace)
Greenpeace opposes Waxman-Markey (Blogger mikeg's summation on Greenpeace's blog)
Flawed energy and climate bill passes house (Statement by Friends of the Earth)

In reading about the "Cash for Clunkers" program in the papers, I was initially opposed because it continues supporting the use of cars and not mass transit (and bikes, walking, etc.). But in reading this section in the Wikipedia entry on the bill, I'm even more opposed to it. Here is a snippet of the environmentalist analysis:

Environmentalists criticized the "fuel efficiency" standards in the "cash for clunkers" provision of the bill, because new cars would only need to get 22 MPG to be considered "fuel efficient." ^[36][37] New SUVs and pickup trucks would only need to get 18 MPG to be considered "fuel efficient." ^[38] Vehicles older than 25 years are not eligible for the program. CNN reported that "One of the biggest criticisms is that it's not very environmentally friendly."^[39]

Unbelievable! So, in the end, "Cash for Clunkers" is just taxpayer money wasted on more corporate welfare for the polluting auto industry and an award for both past and present irresponsible consumer behavior.

Downtown Decatur

A good friend of mine told me that I made Decatur look too dreary with just pictures of the Staley plant in the last post. So here are some pictures I took walking downtown, around and about, and at the Juneteenth Festival.

Just so you know, the memorial statue is of Stephen Decatur, where Decatur gets its namesake. I was surprised reading the inscription, though. It says something to the effect, better that your country be in the right, but if not, my country right or wrong! (If you click on the picture and examine the larger version, you can actually read yourself what the inscription says.)

An afternoon in Decatur, Illinois

A few days ago I decided to head out for Decatur, check out some independent bookstores, and reflect upon the Madison college days when I traveled down here with the Student Labor Action Coalition to support the Staley strike. Today, Saturday, I made a day of it, taking in the sights. Decatur looks much like I remember it back then. It seems much more of a working-class town than Bloomington-Normal, with a much larger industrial base, with a much more diverse working-class. The town itself seems bigger than it appears on the map. I actually had to just look up the population to be sure it wasn't bigger than Bloomington-Normal. At around 80,000, it is about the size of Bloomington alone; its metropolitan area is about 2/3 the B-N metro area, so they are comparable.

My main purpose was to check out Cheryl's Old Barn Bookstore and Novel Ideas Bookstore, two indies in the Decatur area. After Novel Ideas, I ate downtown, walked around a bit taking pictures, and happened upon the Juneteenth Festival in a park in downtown Decatur. I then headed out to the A.E. Staley corn processing plant, owned by Lyle and Tate, the scene of a couple of very large demonstrations in the 90s around the Staley strike. At the time, the labor movement was calling Decatur "the War Zone" because the town had three high-profile strikes occurring simultaneoulsy: Staley, Caterpillar and Firestone/Bridgestone. There was so much hope around the Staley strike because the workers and their union had reached out for solidarity and groups of students organized on campuses to support them. In fact, the spread of SLAC groups and similar labor-focused student groups had its start with the Madison group organized around Staley. When going to Decatur, I remember seeing a lot of labor activists there, including the precursor to the Labor Party, Labor Party Advocates. The first time I went, there was a standoff between labor unionists and police at the gate, which led to tear gas, a scene that came to represent the struggle and can be found in different sources. My pictures included here show the scene there today. In walking by the plant, past the Staley headquarters building, and over the bridge that traverses the innards of the processing plant, you can't help but feel sick from the industrial hell that surrounds you. For me it gets connected to the defeat imposed on the workers there: slashed pay and benefits, imposed 12 hour shifts, etc. The nauseating feeling inside is compounded by the sickening smell of the corn being processed, a sweet smell that reminds one what our Millers and Pepsis are made out of. (It smells like Miller or Coors beer to me.) Anyway, when people say our food is filled with corn syrup, A.E. Staley is where it is being produced.

Blogmania!

I've started some new blogs in the past week, which has been taking most of my time and keeping me from some important projects for work! Here are their links:
Corey's Indie Bookstore Travelogue
Corey's Health and Fitness Diary
Spanish Schools Abroad
I think after these three extra blogs, I'll be all blogged out!

u5i3f6pb7j

Huge hypocrisy

First off, I support movements for democracy, whether in Iran or here in the U.S.

But the current coverage of the Iranian election by the U.S. corporate media, and the rulers it serves, is very revealing when you compare it with their coverage of other democracy movements. Immediately, U.S. rulers made pronouncements on the need for democracy in Iran, and that there might have been voter fraud, when they routinely ignore glaring cases of election fraud here and abroad.

For example, in the last presidential election in Mexico, there was much evidence produced by the Partido de la Revolución Democrático (PRD) that the election there was stolen for current president Felipe Calderón. Huge protests rocked Mexico City for weeks. But here in the states, immediate recognition was granted by the Bush administration. Since the Mexican government is a "friend" of the U.S. (read: they serve our interests), it was inevitable that immediate recognition would be granted no matter who was in office. (Obama would have done the same.) I don't want to suggest that there wasn't fraud in Iran. My point is that the U.S. government, and the bourgeoisie it represents, has blatant tunnel vision when it comes to justice.

The most hypocritical statements coming from the ruling elite are those of Joseph Lieberman:

“Through intimidation, violence, manipulation and outright fraud, the Iranian regime has once again made a mockery of democracy and confirmed its repressive and dictatorial character,” Lieberman said.
The hawkish Democrat-turned-independent added: “I would hope that President Obama and members of both parties in Congress will speak out, loudly and clearly, about what is happening in Iran right now and unambiguously express their solidarity with the brave Iranians who went to the polls in the hope of change and who are now looking to the outside world for strength and support.” (Politico, Real doubt on Iran election, 6/15/09)

This rings hollow coming from Lieberman, who with Gore, did not fight here in the United States when evidence suggested that the presidency was stolen from them in 2000.

In a different vein, with the violence that has occurred in Iran, we would expect that if similar violence was committed in the U.S. during a demonstration, the government here would condemn the entire movement and blame it for that violence even committed by the state.

Chicago Blues Fest

The Chicago Blues Fest this year, my first, was impressive to say the least. Click here to get my Flickr pictures of the festival.

In all, I got to see Gloria Thompson Rogers, Eddie Taylor Jr. with Harmonica Hinds, the Maxwell Street Revisited band (Dancin' Perkins, Iceman Robinson, Smilin' Bobby, Bobby Too Tough, and Frank "Lil Sonny" Scott), Cyrus Hayes and Lady Lee, Eden Brent, Little Dave Thompson, Tre' and the Blueknights with Lady Kat, Big Jack Johnson, David Honeyboy Edwards with Devil in a Woodpile, and Johnny Drummer and the Starlighters.

Gotta' start making my plans to attend next year!

Heading to Chicago

So, after much anticipation, I'm heading to Chicago tomorrow for the Blues Fest! Since I'm traveling light, really light, I won't have my computer with me and won't be blogging for the three days. But, hopefully, I'll have loads of pictures I can share on Monday....

Rachel's travels

I took this picture of my partner in route between 2 summer trips. Actually she has been traveling for 3 weeks now!

She spent 2 weeks traveling in El Salvador and happened to be there for 3 historical events - the transfer of state power from the extremely right-wing ARENA party, which ruled for 30 or so years, to the left-wing FMLN; the major earthquake (7.2 on the Richter Scale) that rattled the country from its epicenter in the ocean off Honduras; and the Salvadoran soccer victory over Mexico, a major upset that boosted national pride after Salvadorans endured insult after insult from the Mexican press.

Now, she is heading to Cincinnati to work for the evil empire of the education world - Educational Testing Service (ETS). (In case you are reading this, ETS, this is my opinion, not hers!) At the very least, it's good money for 1 week's worth of work. In the picture, she is getting ready to take off for Cincinnati, after just returning from El Salvador.

Naomi Klein on Obama

Everything Klein said in this video before the election about the need for social movements is still relevant now. Where is Move.on and countless other anti-Bush groups in speaking up against the Iraq and Afpak wars? In opposing the bailout for the rich? In supporting one of the few movements on the ground, that for single payer health care?

Full of wonder

This picture my partner took, during her friend's visit here, is so amazing I had to share it.

The Normal Theater - Not so normal

The Normal Theater is a real gem. I've been to small indie theaters in a number of cities - Madison, Tucson, Austin, Minneapolis - and none of them come close to its quality. First, I've been very impressed by the quality of the movies, in that it shows a perfect mix of new and classic options, changing flicks every week on average. For good measure, the theater itself looks great and is very well-maintained, supported by an active membership. Every time I've attended a movie there, the crowd was a decent size, a big surprise for me, since in Tucson and Minneapolis I would sometimes be the only patron in similar establishments.

Just this last Sunday I headed down there and saw Everlasting Moments, directed by Jan Troell. All in all, a superb movie shown in an outstanding venue.

Right-wing terrorism

This is a sad day for those of us who believe in women's rights and reproductive freedom. Dr. Tiller's assassination is a tragedy that we must not forget.

Heading toward socialism with Obama?

Here in the heartland of McLean County, Illinois, where I've been told we have a good percentage of apostolic and evangelical Christians, it seems relatively widespread to view Obama as a socialist. Let's review some highlights of Obama's presidency so far and see if his policies are more socialist or status quo.

• Bailout of the rich, amounting to billions of dollars of corporate welfare to the the financial sector elites who exacerbated the crisis.
• Expansion of American imperialism with the Afghanistan surge and fake withdrawal from Iraq - plans are to leave 50,000 troops indefinitely to support the American puppet government in Iraq.
• Continuation of Bush-era military tribunals on American soil, after much fanfare in the first days of his presidency on closing Gitmo.
• The announcement, going beyond Bush, that he supports preventive detention.
  
• The denial of Single-payer health care, the most popular health care option among Americans.
  
• The part he played in the decimation of the United Auto Workers, with Obama forcing workers to shoulder the brunt of the capitalist crisis and his refusing to nationalize the auto industry for the purpose of retooling for the construction of green infrastructure.
• His cave-in to the coal industry in supporting mountaintop removal (see my blog post)
  
• Failure to deliver on Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

So, is that socialism?

Conservatives might think Obama is a socialist because, for them, increased government spending or involvement in the economy is socialist. But any understanding of Keynesianism deficit spending, including the Reagan military Keynesianism of the 80s, should dispel that notion.

Also, it appears as if conservatives don't see that the free market failed last year and had to be bailed out by the taxpaying public. Since the market failed so miserably, I argue, we should demand socialization of the financial sector and auto industry, and not accept the current plan of socialization of the losses (which amounts to socialism for the rich).

This article in Business Week, a mainstay of the bourgeois press, exposes the massive gulf between Obama and socialism. However, maybe the socialist charge works well with their base.

For us on the left, in saying Obama is like any corporate politician before him, the point is not to crush our hope. There is hope in the building of democratic social movements, and hopefully the initiation of a party built on working people, outside of corporate control - a labor party or socialist party.

Rosie's Pub and Restaurant

Last night I headed down to one of my favorite places for a drink in Bloomington-Normal --- Rosie's in downtown Bloomington. They have for sale my favorite beer in a bottle, Dead Guy Ale, and the rich combination of dark woodwork and maroon walls and ceiling make it the perfect place for personal reflection and brooding. I was introduced to Rosie's by a friend who was born and raised here but now lives in a neighboring state. Ever since, I've been going back many a Friday when digestion of the week's events is in order.

By the way, I almost forgot to mention that the restaurant at Rosie's is also superb. I love the bar, but I have to say that the restaurant is also my favorite in town.

An environmental reflection on my train ride to Chicago

In a few weeks I'm going by train to Chicago to attend the Chicago Blues Festival. I love taking the train for the ride itself, especially when the ride is short (like a few hours or so, not the 2 day trip across the country I sometimes take). But another reason I want to take the train is that, as mass transport, it cuts down on our carbon emissions. Like many people, I believe that we need to begin examining how we can best conserve resources, stop polluting, and get away from the car as the primary means of transport.

So, in getting my Chicago trip arranged, I happily booked my ride via Amtrak, and in doing so, was surprised to see on Amtrak's website a suggestion that my contribution to global carbon emissions be offset by a contribution to the CarbonFund. I checked out the CarbonFund website and initially thought that its goal was worthwhile; it offered a means to contribute individually to environmental projects while connecting that contribution to one's current carbon use.

But my lingering questions and doubts evolved to be outright skepticism.

First, will carbon offsetting help reduce carbon emissions? Or conversely, will carbon offsetting promote carbon emissions by making us feel good about traveling again. It reminds me of my childhood when I would go to Reconciliation, the Catholic Church's offering of absolution for sins committed. Except now, for liberals and leftists traveling, we seek absolution for environmental sins yet to be committed. I suspect that we're trying to avoid the pain of real resource conservation, perhaps wanting to eat our cake and have it too.

The other problem is, being based on the market, it is open to manipulation by the polluting companies. An article in Business Week (3/26/2007) gives details of how companies profited by the carbon-offsetting outfit, Terrapass, by taking credit and getting paid for clean-up projects that were either happening anyway or mandated by the government.

I need to look more into this issue. I always felt that the environment was a collective problem that required a collective solution, even if as individuals we can do our part. At the very least, whether or not I decide to offset my Chicago trip, I need to resist the logic of feel-good environmentalism and face squarely my love of travel and how (and if) that can be done with sustainability in mind.

Compassionate parenting blog

An old friend of mine from the U. of Arizona, from back in my rowdy Students Against Sweatshops days, has a very interesting blog called Compassionate Parenting. I read a few entries and immediately felt its childrearing philosophy and thoughtful strategies to be useful for my classroom teaching. It makes very an interesting read and is definitely worth a return visit.