Students Compete To Win Organic Lunch Options At School

When I went to high school in Colorado my school had a 7-11 on campus as well as a choice of Chic-Fil-A and Dominoes pizza depending on the day of the week. We had vending machines that were filled with soda and candy, and a dessert selection of sugar and chocolate chip cookies.

Fast forward some years later and now schools across the country are competing to win organic choices over unhealthy lunch options for their school. I’m jealous!

The Organic Trade Association is hosting a national contest to award a lucky school with an organically grown garden or the option to have an organic vending machine on campus. The initiative “Organic. It’s Worth It In Schools” aims help schools access more organic food.

According to a survey by the OTA, more than half of the individuals polled feel that the best way to encourage children to make healthy food choices is by improving education about health and nutrition. A good way to start is by offering it!

So, if you want to enter your school to win a really cool organically grown garden or an organic vending machine, act now!

Visit www.OrganicItsWorthIt.org through May 1 and enter your school’s name and address when you sign up for an electronic newsletter to win. Similar to a petition, your school must receive at least 1,000 newsletter sign ups to win.

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Krysten Hughes

I Didn’t Think I Could Want To Marry James Mercer More

Until I heard his new collaboration with Danger Mouse, Broken Bells. James Mercer (of the Shins) provides smooth vocals and gorgeous songwriting that mesh with Danger Mouse’s expert production into a unique sound that’s chill and danceable at the same time. Hear it for free at npr.com.

James, if you happened to see this via Google Alert. . .I love you.

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Rachel Bishop

Poor Teachers Or Poor Funding To Blame For Education Crisis?

Newsweek recently posted an article titled “Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers”. The article cites that “what matters more than the class size or the textbook, the teaching method, or the technology or even the curriculum, is the quality of the teacher.”

The article also points out that “as the population of disadvantaged students grows, overall scores continue to sag.” Thus, as long as communities continue to be stripped of funding which provides assistance for things such as social services, housing and the creation of new jobs, there will continue to be a widening achievement gap between privileged and poor and minority students.

What I found interesting is that there is a connection between the two. According to Newsweek, “the weakest teachers are relegated to teaching the neediest students, poor minority kids in inner-city schools.” Statistics often demonstrate that this does not always happen due to mere coincidence.

In the state of Nevada the relationship between these factors is no different. An annual survey by Education Week magazine ranked Nevada 50th in the nation for the quality of its public K-12 education, with Las Vegas receiving a letter D grade. Also, according to city data Nevada ranks third in unemployment. If Las Vegas was a state it would rank second behind Michigan. The unemployment in Las Vegas ultimately led to foreclosure where Nevada ranks worst in the nation, causing many displaced families. To top it all off, Nevada teachers are some of the lowest-paid employees in the state and are currently facing an additional 1.75% salary cut on top of the 10% across the board that has already been proposed by Republican governor Jim Gibbons, which would result in thousands of teacher layoffs and 50-student class sizes in high schools.

How do we improve education for all when faced with so many obstacles?

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Krysten Hughes

Vestalife’s Headphones Are Music to Women’s Ears by Alissa Walker

Vestalife’s Headphones Are Music to Women’s Ears
BY ALISSA WALKER Wed Jan 6, 2010

Getting a product out of development and to market is one thing. Getting it into a top-tier store is like that times 100. Thousands of companies are vying for the same limited shelf-space. “If the designs make the first cut, there’s a lot of back-and-forth with clients, manufacturers and retailers as we ensure the designs hit on every cylinder,” says RKS’s Ravi Sawhney. “Distribution, margins, packaging, channels…everything has to be just right.” The marketplace attention garnered by RKS’s new headphone line for Vestalife is a testament to its intelligent strategy–laser-focused on a particular audience and manufactured with drop-dead gorgeous looks as a high priority.

A key to Vestalife’s success may have also been due to Sawhney’s unique development strategy. He tapped four female designers from his team–Soyun Kim, Leah Thomas, Young Bang, and Hojin Choi–and let them explore whatever headphone concepts tickled their fancies.

Read the rest of her article: Vestalife’s Headphones Are Music to Women’s Ears

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Moni'ca Brown

Numbers Don’t Lie! 10 Questions 10 Minutes

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Kirin Kennedy

Opinion: Obama’s Moral Failure by Joshua Hoyt

I’m a community organizer. Last week, I did something I never thought would be possible. I met with the president of the United States in the West Wing of the White House.

President Barack Obama met for 75 minutes with 14 leaders from across the country to discuss immigration reform — and the destruction of some 1,100 immigrant families a day through deportations carried out by his administration.

The meeting was tense, blunt and passionate. And there was a racial irony to our discussion. Our labor, faith and immigrant rights leaders included seven Latinos, three Asians and four whites. We were meeting with our country’s first African-American president, the son of an immigrant father. His senior advisers at the meeting included three African-Americans (one the child of immigrants), a Latina, a Chinese-American woman and a white woman.

There were years of intertwined friendships and relationships at the table, including my own with the president that began when he was a Chicago community organizer in 1986. Yet, despite all of these ties, we were there to tell him about his moral failure on immigration, and his looming political catastrophe.

Read more of this powerful op-ed by Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights here

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The Editor

Texas Board Of Education Declare Hip Hop Is Not A Cultural Movement

Members of the Texas State Board of Education gave preliminary approval Friday to remove significant areas of curriculum from civil rights and global politics and replace them with conservative historic figures and beliefs. Courses that would be affected by these changes include social studies, history and economics.

One of the subjects debated amongst the lawyers, dentists and publishers, who make up the board, was whether or not Hip Hop should be taught as a cultural movement. According to the Huffington Post, right wing members voted that Hip Hop should be deleted as a requirement and that students should not be taught about its cultural impact across not only the United States, but the world.
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Krysten Hughes

Guns Go From Police to Streets

I thought we were taking guns off the streets..?

Washington — Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place – the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.

Law enforcement officials said both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.

The use of guns that once were in police custody and later involved in attacks on police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the United States: Many cities and states destroy guns gathered in criminal investigations, but others sell or trade the weapons to get other guns or buy equipment such as bulletproof vests.

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DJWillieShakes