#encouraging everyone to prioritize their own countries' histories in their projects

[littlegildedswallow]

gyns I hate being a cringe cliche but I have a huge crush on one of my professors, and you WILL be hearing about him.

[thatfeministkilljoy]

This September 20 to 27, we rise up in peaceful, non-violent rebellion with a single message: ACT NOW on the climate and ecological crisis! This week of climate action is in solidarity with and in  support of Halifax Youth  for Climate Action/School Strike 4 Climate HFX. We strive to work in solidarity with Mi'kmaw Water Protectors in Mi'kma'ki and all Indigenous peoples facing continued threats to their rights and sovereignty. Throughout the week, rebels will support youth strikers as we demand a livable future. Youth strike leaders have asked XR not to plan our own NVDA (non-violent direct actions) in HRM during the week. However, there will be plenty of events, marches, talks, trainings, street fairs, parties, and other actions! XR international has called for a wave of NVDA on October 7th, so we will ask Rebels to postponed NVDA until then. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: FRIDAY SEPT 20: --2 EVENTS!- Interfaith Gathering and CLIMATE CHANGE RALLY - to honour the victims of climate change 12 noon, Grand Parade Square on Barrington. organized by concerned citizens of Halifax - see event info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/757366544721018/ and then the YOUTH NATIONAL DIE-IN: (Friday Sept 20)  meeting at 3:30 pm at Mumford Bus Terminal. (then going together to the secret Die-in location.) The Die-in will happen simultaneously by youth activists across Canada. ----------------------------------------------------------- SATURDAY SEPT 21: ART-BUILD at Quinfest, 11-3pm on Quinpool Road - info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2883491621724951/ ALSO: Community WATER WALK in Tatamagouche - meet at 9am at the Snowmobile Club on Warwick Mtn Rd in Tatamagouche. email flowingtogethernovascotia@gmail.com for more info. https://www.facebook.com/events/509054906558892/ Also SATURDAY SEPT 21: XR talk: 'Heading for extinction and what to do about it'. 3:30 to 5pm, Halifax North Memorial Library on Gottingen Street. https://www.facebook.com/events/2527129914043648/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- SUNDAY SEPT 22: COMMUNITY GUERRILLA GARDENING - building a vision for the future- we will grow what we want to see in our city. 10am and on - location TBA bring tools and prepare to help! event: https://www.facebook.com/events/400851284162650/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- MONDAY SEPT 23: XR talk: 'Heading for extinction and what to do about it'. Halifax Central Library: Lindsay Children's Room, 3-4:30pm https://www.facebook.com/events/393807141516263/ Also MONDAY SEPT 23: OPEN MIC HOUSE CONCERT: 7pm: 2539 Agricola St. fundraiser for STOP ALTON GAS legal fund https://www.facebook.com/events/647018249123691/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TUESDAY SEPT 24: BAKE SALE! fundraiser for Water Protectors, Stop Alton Gas legal fund 11-4pm Dalhousie Campus - McCain building lobby organized by Our-Time and The Loaded Ladle https://www.facebook.com/events/309870626524761/ ALSO on Tuesday: David Suzuki and Stephen Lewis -Climate First Tour, in support of youth strikers across the country - They will ask people to come to the rally on the 27th! 7pm Dalhousie Arts Centre - $14 to $26 tickets at: https://www.climatefirsttour.ca/ ------------------------------------------------------------- WEDNESDAY SEPT 25: PAINT THE TOWN! 3:30pm, meet at Halifax Central Library the youth want to create messages and art about the need for climate action - should be fun! ALSO 6pm FILM SCREENING: Standing Rock Parts 1 and 2" "Sacred Water" and "Red Power" directed by Michelle Latimer, 2017, 110 minutes) at the Khyber Centre for the Arts. Part of the Radical Imagination Film and Discussion Series: https://www.facebook.com/events/2388849514688109/?active_tab=about ----------------------------------------------------------- THURSDAY SEPT 26: PARTY FOR THE PLANET! Concerts, poster making, and Sustainable Market all day - 9am to 9pm Granville Mall - Duke and Granville St https://www.facebook.com/events/376133056655045/ ALSO: Whose Water Is it, Anyway? Book launch and public Talk with Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians - Maude will ask people to come to the big rally on the 27th! 7pm, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic https://www.facebook.com/events/2125092891119826/ --------------------------------------------------------- THE BIG BIG DAY: FRIDAY SEPT 27: GENERAL STRIKE - EVERYONE NEEDED! IF YOU CAN ONLY ATTEND ONE EVENT, THIS IS THE ONE! 11am meet at Victoria Park (Spring Garden and South Park St) The marching route will cover some distance, so bring your signs, your voices and your walking shoes! Most of all, bring your neighbours, your friends and your family. PLEASE COME!! HELP THE YOUTH DEMAND CLIMATE ACTION NOW!! WE NEED YOU. WE NEED YOU. are we getting the point across? STRIKE FROM WORK/TAKE THE DAY OFF - PLEASE COME!! ALSO ON SEPT 27: Non-Violent Direct Action training Halifax Central Library, BMO room https://www.facebook.com/events/457763944833521/ ----------------------------------------------------------- Sunday Sept 28 and Monday 29: and a cherry on top of the week: The Deanery Project offers solutions: NATURAL BUILDING EAST ECOLOGICAL BUILDING DESIGN CONFERENCE: funding may be available - please ask them if needed. https://www.facebook.com/events/371864056695348/ ------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: More events are welcome! Send a message to this page, or register your climate action event on the http://novastrike.earth/# website and we'll add your event to the list! Please try to choose a date/time that will compliment the current schedule. The more action the better. Thank you! This date has been chosen by Greta Thunberg, Climate Strike Canada, School Strike 4 Climate Halifax, 350 .org, Earth Strike and many international climate movements. Contact the youth organizers at: https://www.instagram.com/schoolstrike4climatehfx/ schoolstrike4climatehfx@gmail.com twitter @ss4cHFX If you've been waiting for the right time to come together with hundreds or thousands of fellow humans to pull us all away from the brink of senseless destruction and back towards a future where we care for this planet and each other, where decision-makers prioritize life over greed, this is it! We need all hands on deck! If you're young and want a future, if you're old and want to do your duty, if you're an organizer, lawyer, artist, musician, builder, crafter, speaker, caregiver…anyone and everyone else - this is our time to stand together with love in our hearts for this world, and rage against its senseless destruction. Be sure to join this event, share it widely, invite your friends, talk to the groups that you are involved in - your church, your union, your clubs - if we all stand together, we can win the future we deserve! Governments must ACT NOW to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025. Time is running out. At this point in history we have three choices: to die, to survive or to thrive. Glaciers are melting, permafrost is thawing, sea levels are rising, and hundreds of thousands of people are losing their homes because of climate breakdown. In the midst of the sixth mass extinction, the collapse of civiliZation is a distinct possibility. We are in the face of unprecedented flooding, wildfires, thawing, species deaths and harsh consequences for marginalized communities in Canada, and widespread heatwaves, water shortages and resource-related conflicts in the wider world, especially the Global South. BUSINESS AS USUAL Our Federal Parliament, HRM council and dozens of municipalities have declared a climate emergency, but the decision-makers are not taking the decisive actions required by the crisis. The current plan to ramp up fossil fuel infrastructure and burn carbon past 2050 is an alarmingly insufficient response for halting climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. By then it will be too late. Our current economic system rewards the exploitation of people and planet. Our house is on fire, and politicians are ignoring the science as they encourage new pipelines, airports, fracking and oil-sands extraction, with billions in taxpayer money flowing into fossil fuels, all while trampling Indigenous rights. Meanwhile, politicians in power continue to refuse solutions, like a green new deal for a fair and rapid transition to safe, responsible energy. It is only by adopting meaningful measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025, protecting biodiversity, upholding UNDRIP, and making ecocide law that the government can show itself to be on the right side of history - in the pursuit of Climate Justice. In line with the urgency of reports from the IPCC and IPBES, we remind the government of the need to ACT NOW. In the past, Canada has been a leader and trendsetter to other major democracies. If we can show leadership now, the resulting chain reaction across the world will be crucial for securing the future. LEARN MORE EXTINCTION REBELLION Extinction Rebellion is a non-violent, international movement that aims to achieve radical change to minimize the risk of human and animal extinction and ecological collapse. We invite everyone, and every part of everyone, to join us for this week of beautiful, decentralized rebellion. Visit https://Rebellion.Earth to learn more about our demands, who we are and our theory of change. Sign up to XRNS here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/join-extinction-rebellion-nova-scotia This event takes place on UNCEDED, and UNSURRENDERED Territory of the Mi’kmaw People. We are all Treaty People and have responsibilities to each other and this land. More info on the Peace and Friendship Treaties: http://mikmaqrights.com/negotiations/treaties Follow the School Strike 4 Climate HFX school strikers here: https://www.instagram.com/schoolstrike4climatehfx/?hl=en or email the Youth Strikers here: schoolstrike4climatehfx@gmail.com

LINK TO FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

@allthecanadianpolitics @nspoli

[losangelesleftygayvoters]

March 3, 2020 Primary

Hi there. We didn’t write this. But a very smart and interesting dude named Kris Rehl did. As we were about to sit down and prepare ours - we read his and thought well, we’re not going to do a lot better than this.

LOS ANGELES AREA PROGRESSIVE VOTER GUIDE

The following are recommendations for the most effective, progressive candidates in each race based on reviewing the resources listed at the bottom of this guide, news articles, and candidates’ statements. I encourage you to do your own research on each candidate as well!

CALIFORNIA STATE PROPOSITION

Prop 13: YES - This is a $15 billion bond to invest in crumbling school infrastructure, including the removal of toxic mold and asbestos from aging classrooms, to provide cleaner drinking water, and make upgrades for fire and earthquake safety. The proposition would also increase the size of bonds that school districts can place on future ballots.

CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE

21st District: Kipp Mueller - Mueller’s progressive platform focuses on homelessness, wage inequality, and the environment, calling out Big Oil in the Antelope Valley swing district.

23rd District: Abigail Medina - The daughter of immigrant parents, Medina has been in the foster care system, worked as a tomato picker, and served on the San Bernardino City Unified School board. She is the candidate with the boldest environmental platform in her district.

27th District: Henry Stern - A strong advocate for closing the Aliso Canyon gas facility and a fairly progressive candidate in a purple district. In addition to fighting big oil, he’s running on creating incentives for companies to switch to clean transportation and renewable energy infrastructure, improving the economy with small businesses and job training, supporting education by securing funding, and creating safer communities by providing funding to local governments. (Fun fact: His dad played Marv in the Home Alone movies.)

29th District: Josh Newman - Newman won his Fullerton district in 2016, focusing on 100% renewable energy by 2045, affordable education, and homelessness and mental health services. He was recalled by voters in a low turnout midterm primary, after being targeted by a Republican effort to break the Democrats’ supermajority. Despite the partisan recall over his vote to increase the state gas tax by 12 cents per gallon to fund $5.4 billion in annual road improvement and transit projects, Newman will again face the Republican he beat in 2016.

35th District: Steven Bradford - A leader on police reform and accountability, including passing AB391, a law reducing when police can use deadly force. Bradford is focused on lowering homelessness through affordable housing, enhancing access to healthcare, and increasing access to mass transit.

CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY

36th District: Eric Andrew Ohlsen - Endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Ohlsen has excellent positions on environmental issues, immigration, eliminating student debt, and criminal justice reform. Ohlsen wants to eliminate costly and unjust private prison contracts and help people already in the system with policies targeting recidivism.

38th District: Dina Cervantes - A child of immigrants, community activist, small business owner, and former preschool teacher with a strong record on education and environmental issues. (This district’s incumbent is retiring.)

39th District: Luz Maria Rivas - The incumbent, Rivas has a solid record on immigration and housing. She also founded a non-profit in Pacoima to encourage school-aged girls to pursue careers in STEM.

41st District: Chris Holden - The incumbent, Holden has fought to expand funding for disability programs, expand lead-level testing in drinking water at child care centers, and passed legislation to improve safety on electricity systems that caused the 2017 wildfires. His only opponents are Republicans, so vote for Chris! 

43rd District: Laura Friedman - Friedman is the incumbent and has a progressive voting record, including supporting the end of Section 8 discrimination and authoring several environmental and sustainability bills.

44th District: Jacqui Irwin - The incumbent, facing a Republican challenger, Irwin has focused heavily on gun violence prevention legislation and strengthened gun violence restraining orders since the 2018 Thousand Oaks shooting.

45th District: Jesse Gabriel - A progressive incumbent, Gabriel has enacted more than a dozen new gun safety measures, championed efforts to address California’s housing and homelessness crisis, and strengthened public education.

46th District: Adrin Nazarian - A strong charter school opponent, who has fought to increase public school aid by $23 billion over the past five years, with a mostly progressive record across the board.

49th District: Edwin Chau - Born in Hong Kong and raised in L.A., incumbent assemblymember Chau is facing a Republican challenger. He’s focused on legislation to prevent elder abuse and authored bills to address the affordable housing crisis as well as the California Consumer Privacy Act, enhancing protections for internet users’ personal data.

50th District: Richard Bloom - Authored some strong housing bills with a heavy focus on environmental legislation, helping establish the most stringent protections in the country against the dangers of hydraulic fracking.

53rd District: Godfrey Plata - Plata is a progressive challenger to an establishment Democratic incumbent, who has a disappointing record on housing policy. Plata is a gay Filipino immigrant, who if elected will become the first person in the California Assembly's 140-year history to be an out LGBTQIA+ immigrant. Plata’s campaign is focused on affordable housing, strengthening public schools, and universal healthcare.

54th District: Tracy B. Jones - A special education teacher, Jones is a strong advocate for increasing public school funding and improvements. He supports Medicare for All and the banning of fracking. 

57th District: Vanessa Tyson - Tyson is an advocate for increasing the accessibility and affordability of college, expanding affordable housing, and investing in permanent housing solutions to address homelessness.

58th District: Margaret Villa - A Green Party candidate, Villa supports rent control, Medicare for All, and getting money out of politics. The incumbent Democrat she’s challenging (Cristina Garcia) previously made false claims about earning a graduate degree, has several sexual harassment accusations against her from her own staff, and was investigated for her rampant use of racist and homophobic language in the workplace. Vote for Margaret Villa instead!

59th District: Reggie Jones-Sawyer - A strong progressive incumbent, Reggie comes from a family of pioneers in the civil rights movement, is the nephew of one of the Little Rock Nine, and a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus. He’s co-authored legislation to provide re-entry assistance like housing and job training for persons that have been wrongfully convicted and consequently released from state prison. He also led an effort to secure nearly $100 million for recidivism reduction grants. 

63rd District: Maria Estrada - Endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America, Estrada is a community activist, challenging an incumbent establishment Democratic leader, who stopped the passage of single-payer healthcare in the California legislature. Maria is running “to end the culture of policies that are deferential to industrial polluters that continue to poison our communities.”  

64th District: Fatima Iqbal-Zubair - A high school teacher from Watts, Fatima is challenging Democratic incumbent Mike Gipson, who takes money from Chevron, Valero, Pfizer, and Juul. She is campaigning to end environmental racism in her district, fight for affordable housing and rehabilitation services for the homeless, better funding for public schools, and making college accessible to everyone.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

District Attorney: Rachel Rossi - Rossi’s experience as a public defender and aggressive platform make her the most progressive option to unseat incumbent Jackie Lacey, who Black Lives Matter and the ACLU criticized for refusing to prosecute violent cops. Rossi will pursue “data-driven crime prevention” over ineffective mass incarceration, focusing on serious, violent cases and ending the revolving door of low-level offenses that waste taxpayer dollars.

County Measure R: YES - An important step toward L.A. County jail reform that helps decriminalize mental illness and build community-based care centers where people can get the qualified help they need. Measure R also provides crucial tools for LA’s Civilian Oversight Board to check a corrupt Sheriff’s department.

L.A. County Measure FD: YES - Provides firefighters with the resources they require.

COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE, 43rd Assembly District (*Vote for no more than 7)

Luke H. Klipp - A progressive, who is disenchanted with the establishment, Klipp has been a housing and HIV/AIDS policy advocate and transportation analyst. He hopes to create a more walkable, bikeable, and transit-friendly LA, centering equity and climate change in all policy.

Jennifer “Jenni” Chang - A universal healthcare advocate and community activist, Jenni wants to make politics more people-centric, shun corporate influence, and hold party leaders accountable to progressive values. She supports green transportation, more public education funding, affordable housing, closing corporate loopholes, and prison reform.

Linda Perez - Linda is an immigrant and retired labor advocate, who is prioritizing immigrant protections, LGBTQ rights, education, housing, workers’ rights, and student homelessness.

Ingrid Gunnell - A teacher focused on public school funding and accountability for charter schools, Ingrid plans to fight homelessness with affordable housing, mental healthcare, and job training.

Nicholas James Billing - A Sunrise Movement member, Nicholas is fighting for renewable energy infrastructure, supports public school, prison reform, and affordable housing.

Angel Izard - A community activist, Angel supports public schools, quality healthcare for all Californians, investing in renewable energy, affordable housing, and prison reform.

Paul Neuman - An incumbent, Paul wants to empower people and make government more accessible, transparent, responsive and accountable. He has a long history of activism and volunteer work, advocating for many marginalized groups. He’s written resolutions for emergency funding for homelessness, arts education, campaign reform, and more.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT

Office No. 42: Linda Sun - Sun is an experienced prosecutor focused on corruption from professionals and businesses rather than crimes of poverty. She describes her judicial approach as embodying empathy and dignity.

Office No. 72: Myanna Dellinger - Dellinger is passionate about gender-related employment discrimination, harassment, and violence cases. She believes “people of color and lower incomes are disproportionately affected by environmental problems such as air and water pollution...The law should help remedy that.” Dellinger also advocates for gender-affirming treatment of everyone in and out of the courtroom.

Office No. 76: Emily Cole - As a judge, Cole is dedicated to helping the victims of crime but also helping the defendants that are in a system that they can’t get out of. She was also endorsed over her opponent by the LA County Bar Association.

Office No. 80: Klint James McKay - McKay is an administrative law judge with social services and has a history in the Public Defender Union. He has focused on an empathetic approach and understanding for all people, who pass through the court. His opponent David Berger is endorsed by the problematic current DA Jackie Lacey but was also chosen for the District Attorney's Office Alternative Sentencing Designee, where he’s worked within the criminal justice system to find alternatives for non-violent candidates.

Office No. 97: Sherry L. Powell - Powell has dedicated much of her legal career to serving and advocating for families, who lost loved ones to murder, and victims of violent crimes such as child molestation, rape, human trafficking, and domestic violence. She is running against Timothy Reuben, a real estate law firm founder, who ran as a conservative in 2018.

Office No. 129: Kenneth Fuller - As a District Attorney, Fuller has prosecuted environmental and sex crimes, but has also worked on the defense side as a military judge advocate.

Office No. 145: Troy Slaten - Slaten strongly supports criminal justice reform with efforts such as Collaborative Courts, designed to provide treatment instead of incarceration to the most vulnerable populations in the criminal justice system.

Office No. 150: Tom Parsekian - Parsekian is a civil litigation attorney, who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

Office No. 162: Caree Annette Harper - Harper is a former police officer, turned civil rights attorney, who has dedicated massive amounts of her time to pro bono work. In 2018, Caree obtained $1.5 million for the family of Reginald Thomas, who was beaten and tased to death by Pasadena Police Department.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERVISOR

2nd District: Holly Mitchell - A champion for progressive causes in the State Legislature, Mitchell has called for 20% affordable housing in every new development and a compassionate, non-criminalization approach to the homelessness crisis. Holly introduced the recently enacted CROWN Act, the first state law to ban discrimination based on natural hair or styles like locs, braids, and twists in workplaces and public schools.

4th District: Janice Hahn - Hanh has been solid on housing and labor issues. It should be noted that in 2015, she voted with 242 Republicans and 46 Democrats to pass a bill that proposed instituting a much more intensive screening for refugees from Iraq and Syria, who applied for admission to the U.S. It does not appear Hahn has any serious challengers.

5th District: Darrell Park - Park proposed an ambitious Green New Deal for LA County, signed the homes guarantee, and endorsed the Services Not Sweeps campaign to end the criminalization and ease the suffering of unhoused people. The current Supervisor for this district, Kathryn Barger, is the only Republican on the County Board of Supervisors. 

LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT - BOARD OF EDUCATION

The following are the endorsements of the Los Angeles teachers union: 

District 1: George McKenna

District 3: Scott Schmerlson

District 5: Jackie Goldberg 

District 7: Patricia Castellanos

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL

***The corruption in City Hall has led to inaction, worsened the housing crisis, and wasted millions in taxpayer dollars. I urge you to vote out all incumbents.

2nd District: Ayinde Jones - Wants to expand affordable public transportation and beds in homeless shelters. (The incumbent, Paul Krekorian, did not meet the new bed goal that the city council set for itself. Krekorian did turn his own budget’s $400 million surplus into a $200 million deficit with little transparency or public oversight though.) For more info on this race, check out this community activist’s thread from the candidates’ forum.

4th District: Nithya Raman - Nithya is an MIT-trained urban planner, who founded SELAH, a local homeless service organization, and served as executive director of anti-sexual harassment group Times Up. She plans to end homelessness by providing services and housing to those in need, stop evictions, and freeze rents. She is also focused on fighting the climate crisis and improving our city’s air quality.

6th District: Bill Haller - A member of his neighborhood council and experienced with environmental advocacy, Haller is running because he is disgusted by the corruption in L.A. City Hall. Haller wants to reduce city council pay from $207,000 to $93,500 (or 85% of an elected state assemblymember’s salary) and double the number of city districts to allow for more diverse, grassroots candidates, who better understand and represent their communities.

8th District: Denise Woods - A write-in candidate who has fought against housing discrimination, Denise has plans to address public safety, prevent gang violence, and expand education and job training in South L.A.

10th District: Aura Vasquez - Aura was born and raised in Colombia. In 1996, her family came to America to escape the bloodshed and violence caused by drug cartels and the War on Drugs. As an undocumented student, Aura worked nights and weekends to put herself through college. Aura has become a dedicated community organizer, environmental advocate, and was the driving force in banning single-use plastic bags in L.A. She is focused on making city services more responsive, creating affordable housing and homeless services, ensuring police treat all residents with respect and dignity, keeping immigrant and refugee families together, and supporting local schools, teachers, and after-school programs.

12th District: Dr. Loraine Lundquist - An educator and astrophysicist, Loraine is an expert on clean energy and helped organize community opposition to the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility when it posed a massive danger to the Valley in 2015. She is refusing donations from corporate special interests and wants to challenge corruption in the LADWP to create lower utility bills for residents. Loraine also wants to use humane, data-proven solutions to end the homelessness crisis, putting an end to tax dollars being wasted on inaction.

14th District: Cyndi Otteson - Cyndi served on her neighborhood council and leads a nonprofit that helped over 320 refugee families resettle in the U.S. Cyndi rejects developer, charter school, and special interest money and wants to make housing more affordable for rent-burdened Angelenos with financial reforms and protections for renters. She proposes using the $355 million annually generated by Measure H to build on or adapt commercial property that is undeveloped or abandoned for affordable housing and homeless shelters.

GLENDALE CITY COUNCIL

Dan Brotman - Dan is an advocate for a sustainable Glendale and has been endorsed by the Sunrise Movement for fighting fossil fuel infrastructure and advocating for affordable housing.

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

8th District: Chris Bubser - Bubser has been endorsed by several labor and environmental groups, and she is the only chance to avoid two Republicans on the November general election ballot in this red district.

23rd District: Kim Mangone - Kim is a veteran, running against Kevin McCarthy, one of the most far-right Republicans in Congress and the GOP’s current House Minority Leader. Vote for Kim and get McCarthy the hell out of Washington!

26th District: Julia Brownley - The incumbent, Julia passed her Female Veterans Suicide Prevention Act in 2016, which requires the VA to collect data on women veterans to identify best practices and services to end female veteran suicide. She passed a surface transportation bill to increase funds to invest in our crumbling infrastructure. Julia has been an advocate for women and working families, fighting to close the wage gap, raise the minimum wage, and expand job training and education assistance.

27th District: Judy Chu - The incumbent, Chu is chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and has a strong record on immigration rights and reform. She has also become a strong advocate for ending military hazing since her 21-year-old nephew shot and killed himself after enduring three and a half hours of discrimination-motivated assault and torture from his fellow marines in Afghanistan.

28th District: G. “Maebe A. Girl” Puldo - Maebe (she/her) is the first drag queen elected to public office in U.S. history! She is genderfluid/trans and hosts, produces, and performs in drag shows around Los Angeles in addition to her Silver Lake Neighborhood Council duties. Maebe supports Medicare for All, has experience with homelessness advocacy, and is running on a broad, progressive platform. If your knee jerk reaction is to dismiss Maebe because she’s a drag queen, kindly check your queerphobia at the door. 

(Second Choice: Adam Schiff - Despite his impressive contribution to the president’s impeachment, incumbent Adam Schiff has shown himself to be a hawk, defined by donations made to his campaign by the defense industry. Even if you plan to vote for Schiff during the general election this November, I encourage you to vote for Maebe in the primary.)

29th District: Angélica María Dueñas - A member of her neighborhood council, Dueñas supports unions, Medicare For All, achieving 100% renewable energy by 2030, eliminating pharmaceutical subsidies, increasing taxes on the rich, and a humane path to citizenship.

30th District: CJ Berina - CJ is challenging an establishment Democratic incumbent, who has worked against many progressive causes. CJ supports the Green New Deal, Medicare For All, the cancellation of medical and student debt, abolishing ICE and the death penalty, and ending for-profit healthcare.

32nd District: Emanuel Gonzales - Growing up, Emanuel and his family became homeless twice: after his father was diagnosed with End-Stage Renal Disease and during the recession. Since his father died from a failed kidney transplant, Emanuel has become an advocate for expanding Medicare coverage to everyone in the U.S. and reforming the current organ transplantation system so that no organ goes to waste. Personally knowing the pain of losing a home, Emanuel will fight for affordable interest rates for first-time buyers, extending tax benefits for working families who own homes, and increasing federal grants, so people can own homes in the communities they work and serve in.

33rd District: Ted Lieu - Ted has been an outspoken critic of the current administration, bringing special attention to the treatment of migrant children in detention, separated from their families. Ted previously authored a bill banning conversion therapy and was a co-sponsor of the 2019 Medicare For All Act.

34th District: Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla - Frances supports Medicare for All, the Rent Relief Act, the Green New Deal, and urgently wants to end the war in Yemen. The incumbent Jimmy Gomez has moved to the left since facing a Green Party candidate last election cycle. If nothing else, let’s push him even more left.

37th District: Karen Bass - Leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, Karen has focused on issues such as criminal justice reform, a national minimum wage increase, and foster care. She supports Medicare For All, tuition-free community college, and capping the interest rate for federal student loans at 3.4 percent.

38th District: Michael Tolar - Supports Medicare for All, The Green New Deal, closing private prisons, getting money out of politics, and banning military-style weapons.

39th District: Gil Cisneros - A solid Orange County Democrat facing a tough reelection against a Republican this fall. Cisneros was a $266 million Mega Millions winner and became a philanthropist before deciding to run for Congress in 2018. Gil is a veteran and education advocate, who has stood up to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries to lower healthcare costs, protected education funding, and worked to create good-paying local jobs.

40th District: Dr. Rodolfo Cortes Barragan - Taking on a more conservative Democrat incumbent, Rodolfo is a first-generation American, who came from Mexico at a young age and earned degrees from UC Berkeley and Stanford. He is a Green Party candidate, running on a platform of Medicare for All, tuition-free public colleges, the Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, repealing the Patriot Act, and a homes guarantee with funding for universal public housing.

43rd District: Maxine Waters - Maxine has been an outspoken advocate for women, children, people of color, and the poor. She has strongly condemned the actions of the current administration and is facing a Republican challenger this fall.

44th District: Nanette Diaz Barragán - Elected in 2016, Nanette became the first Latina to represent her Congressional district. She is a strong advocate for immigration and supports Medicare for All.

45th District: Katie Porter - Katie is a survivor of domestic abuse and a former consumer protection attorney. She impressively won a swing district while still supporting Medicare for All, gun safety reform, and legislation to reduce the influence of dark money in politics. 

47th District: Peter Matthews - Peter refuses donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists,  supports tuition-free college, canceling student debt, Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, universal child care, public banks, taxing income brackets over $10 million at 70%, and believes housing is a human right.

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

Elizabeth Warren - Elizabeth doesn’t just have some of the most comprehensive, progressive plans of any candidate, she has figured out and proposed some brilliant strategies to actually move them through the gridlock in Washington. She engages with stakeholders in every community, listens, and incorporates their feedback to be sure she is addressing the needs of all Americans. I trust Elizabeth to take on corruption and create a better, fairer country by removing monied corruption in politics, implementing a wealth tax on the ultra rich, creating free universal healthcare, reforming our criminal justice system, fighting predatory debt, expanding educational and economic opportunities, and creating new clean energy jobs to swiftly combat climate change.

(2nd Choice: Bernie Sanders - Bernie is a truly inspiring candidate, and I agree with almost all of his policies. I would be thrilled to vote and volunteer for him if he becomes the nominee, but he is my second choice because I believe Warren has more effective strategies to implement an extremely similar platform, ranging from the removal of the filibuster to finding solutions that won’t raise middle-class taxes to fund for Medicare For All.)

RESOURCES

https://lavote.net/Apps/CandidateList/Index?id=3793

https://laist.com/elections/

https://knock-la.com/the-knock-la-los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-for-the-march-2020-primary-7f2c3efc13cc 

https://www.dsa-la.org/2020_primary_voter_guide 

https://votersedge.org/en/ca 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/9/1917945/-LA-Progressive-Majority-Voter-Guide-to-Judges-Candidates-for-March-2020-Los-Angeles-CA 

https://progressivevotersguide.com/california/

https://app.kpcc.civicengine.com/v/choose_party 

http://www.easyvoterguide.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/EVG-march2020-Eng.pdf 

[sophiag-lts-blog]

DRRM: Brgy. Sangandaan, Proj. 8, Q.C., LAGING HANDA!

As a freshman in the University of Santo Tomas, we are required to take up this course called NSTP (National Service and Training Program), and we’re currently focusing on what we call DRRM (Disaster Risk and Reduction Management). So what are all these and what do we do? Basically, we learn and get to know more about the different communities in the country, and how we can do our part and contribute to the overall well-being, happiness, and safety of the people who live in it. DRRM is grounded and focuses on four thematic areas: Disaster Prevention and mitigation, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Response, and Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery.

For the past 7 years that I’ve lived in the humble and thriving community of Brgy. Sangandaan, I’ve never had the chance to interact with the people who worked in the barangay hall or office. And now, I’ve recently had the chance to have a walk and “kwentuhan” with one of the local head persons of our barangay’s DRRM: Sir Fidel Nisperos.

December 9, 2019, I visited the brgy. hall. All of the staff and workers who were there were very patient, kind and accommodating. And as I was waiting for Sir Nisperos, I was able to observe that the place has a very happy and healthy working environment, and all seemed very close to one another. This even brought a smile to my face. 

Sir Fidel was kind enough to accommodate an interview with me even without prior schedule or notice. He enlightened me and shared with me almost entirely everything I needed to know about our barangay’s DRRM. 

We first identified and analyzed the hazards, calamities, dangers, that may affect and disturb the peace and safety of the community. Sir mentioned a few specific incidents and calamities that have already occurred: in 2012, a large fire spread across 100 homes affecting around 200 families; in Bagyong Ondoy the floods were so great that it surpassed the height of an average Filipino and the height of three-story townhouses. We are now preparing for “the Big One”.

So how does DRRM prepare for this? To identify a nearing threat, they always stay updated with the weather forecast. They often hold earthquake drills (quarterly) in areas like the Savemore supermarket (Project 8) and the Villagers Montessori, because these are the places where a lot of people mostly gather. They are always alert and standing by, since the Blue ridge, Libis in Q.C. is the nearest fault line to us. Their evacuation emergency plan for any kind of calamity, is to escort people to the designated evacuation centers, namely: first plan is at the Mendoza covered court, then Ismael Mathay Sr. High school, since both are of the highest places in the district, and there are a lot of buildings. If ever it is too full, next is to evacuate to the church beside the Brgy. Hall, the Immaculate Conception Church. Last resort is to the private village, Paradise Village’s covered court (given their consent). 

When it comes to mitigation, He said that they first look back at the previous incidents and what may have caused things to happen, and what may have gone wrong. As for instance, during Bagyong Ondoy, there wasn’t enough mitigation for it, and since then, the government has been continuously cooperating with the different districts to ensure that everyone is prepared. They also conduct inspections of hazards, such as large trees that may cause harm to people and houses next to them, so they eventually have to cut these trees down. They also frequently de-clog the sewers, and provide dissemination programs on proper cleaning of the home and environment to avoid illnesses and viruses such as Dengue, and hygiene programs.

We took a little walk around, this when we talked about the Depressed areas and the Informal settlers who live by the river and underneath the bridge. He said it to be one of their main concerns for a number of reasons: they are one of the main causes of the river’s pollution; it is dangerous to live underneath the bridge and beside the river, since one can easily fall into the river, or during storms, floods may easily surge them due to its overflow; they are the poorest in the society, therefore they don’t have the right drainage and septic tanks that enable them to avoid floods; since they are the ones usually most affected during calamities, most of the funds for financial assistance goes to them. At this moment they are still waiting for the government’s approval and provision for them to be relocated, and they are continuously encouraging them to consider this. This has to be one of the most hazardous places. Another is that there are a lot of stray dogs by the route I pass towards home, and two or three times they’ve already barked or threatened me (but didn’t harm me thankfully).

One of the safest spaces in the barangay has to be the area within the Brgy. Hall, beside it the Church and beside the Church is the Health Center. Having these three geographically close to one another gives (if not all, to me personally) a sense of security, safety, ensurance, and community. Personally based on my observation, one of the best practices my community has is cleanliness. I walk from place to place around the barangay very often, and I have hardly seen any trash such as wrappers or plastics lying around.

In addition to these, I asked Sir Nispenos about the specific and various programs for the PWD, elderly, and the youth. For the Pwd, they have a list and record of them so that they’d know who to prioritize. For the Senior Citizens, they do their best to screen and identify the senior citizen indigents so that the people who first get the government pensions are those who really need it. And lastly for the Youth, there are life training programs, especially for those out of school, such as welding, automobile, call centers, sewing and dressmaking, cosmetology, etc. For those who wish to study, there are several scholarships offered, supported by the government and the diocese of Cubao. 

Personal insights

I think one of our main issues and concerns in our community is poverty. This has been the most obvious yet unresolved and dominating issue in our country, and I can see it clearly everyday as I pass by the bridge where the informal settlers live. Based on my own knowledge on politics and government programs, support and services, I think the government should focus on helping these informal settlers both find a proper home, and gain a sustainable way of earning money and making a living. The government should support them in a way that sometime in the near future they are then able to eventually support themselves. As Sir Fispenos said, most of the funds go to them since they are always the most affected, due to lack of resources, nd the lack of resources come from lack of sustainable jobs and income. Therefore, the cycle goes all over again. The allocation of our budget tends to be quite messy at times, but then again there are a lot of issues and concerns that need focus and I hope the government recognizes this. I simply realized how blessed I am to be able to live a comfortable life. I am thankful for the everyday blessings of having a happy and complete family, a religious community and a solid group of friends who are always there to support me, a roof over my head, having food to eat three or more times a day, studying in a prestigious university, and knowing and having a deep relationship with God. These things I try not to take for granted every day, and I eventually realize that everyone, every single child of God deserves to be loved and to be blessed with happiness and peace, all the days of their lives. That’s why we must in return share these blessings given to us. It is important to be socially aware of these issues and kinds of things, because it strengthens our sense of community, and helps us empathize more with the people around us. One concrete way is to be more active in social development programs, like me not only in NSTP, but in my religious org. wherein I am able to reach out to different kinds of people at different states of life. One suggested way is to also create my own action plan, so that I am able to openly share my personal thoughts and takes on an issue then it may eventually contribute to the greater good. 

 Sources: https://sites.google.com/site/ismaelmathaysrhsqcsecondary/history-1 , https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiso6Ol1LDmAhVT8XMBHWAvBicQjhx6BAgBEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcommons.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3A03102jfBarangays_Church_Conception_Talipapa_Sangandaan_Quezon_Cityfvf_04.jpg&psig=AOvVaw1vBG8_kcajqoUVAgsGs0oZ&ust=1576258930208586 , https://foursquare.com/v/savemore-project-8/51511425e4b0fe2bab60f58d?openPhotoId=51a6d80d498e1575af11bb58 https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=17vSFTAP&id=EF31C8E734D970C54EA5A64AF405583ECDB67CDE&thid=OIP.17vSFTAPBzCazaZNrBltdwHaE7&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fs.yimg.com%2Fny%2Fapi%2Fres%2F1.2%2F3xRorRyaPJ4VHMsZbVPUcg--%2FYXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9MTI4MDtoPTk2MDtpbD1wbGFuZQ--%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen_us%2FNews%2FReuters%2F2014-01-28T083908Z_1069901473_GM1EA1S1A3P01_RTRMADP_3_PHILIPPINES.JPG.cf.jpg&exph=853&expw=1280&q=poverty+quezon+city&simid=608007690116796036&selectedindex=1&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&sim=11

http://ndrrmc.gov.ph/attachments/article/41/NDRRM_Plan_2011-2028.pdf

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/the-top-ted-talks-of-2019-and-what-you-can-learn-from-them/

The Top TED Talks of 2019 and What You Can Learn From Them

December 25, 2019 11 min read

“Ideas worth spreading.”

That’s TED’s tagline, and the organization — originally launched as a convergence of the technology, entertainment and design industries — has done its best to stick to that mission since 1984. Talks cover everything from how to recover from activism burnout to quantum computing explained in 10 minutes. Every second, 17 people watch a TED Talk, on average, and the organization’s videos have garnered well over one-billion views.

If you’re looking for a spark of inspiration, here are six of the most compelling talks of 2019 so far, with key takeaways.

3 Psychological Tricks to Help You Save Money (Wendy De La Rosa)

There’s a reason saving more money ranks in the top five New Year’s resolutions each January: We all want to do it, but it’s easier said — or written down on a resolution list — than done. Behavioral scientist Wendy De La Rosa aims to change that in her TED Talk, teaching three psychological strategies for overcoming our propensity to spend-not-save.

One preliminary thing to keep in mind: “It’s not about how smart you are or how much willpower you have,” said De La Rosa. Instead, she said, it’s about the environment in which you think about saving. Exhibit A: In one of De La Rosa’s studies, subjects who were shown their income on a weekly basis were able to budget better than people who were shown their monthly income total, she said.

As for the three tricks? Number one is to “harness the power of precommitment,” said De La Rosa. We tend to see two versions of ourselves, our past selves and our future selves, and our future selves are perfect; they’ll have the motivation to wake up earlier, exercise more, save money and more. But we often forget, said De La Rosa, that the future self is the exact same person as the present self. We can use this potential shortcoming to our advantage by forcing ourselves to make saving decisions in advance through an app or automatic account deposits. In another of De La Rosa’s studies, one group of subjects received the following text in February: “If you get a tax refund, what percentage would you like to save?” The average answer: 27 percent. But when another group of subjects was asked — just after receiving their refund — how much they’d like to save, they chose an average 17 percent.

De La Rosa’s other strategies: Use transition moments to your advantage — New Year’s, birthdays, a job change, a move — and get a handle on small but frequent purchases (for most people, eating out is at the top of that list).

Why Working From Home Is Good for Business (Matt Mullenweg)

Matt Mullenweg’s employees live all over the world, from California to New Zealand. He’s the cofounder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, which has a 100 percent distributed workforce of close to 800 employees. Why? In his TED Talk, Mullenweg said he believes that “talent and intelligence are equally distributed throughout the world, but opportunity is not,” and that the most diverse perspectives inherently come from people living and working in countries different from your own.

“In Silicon Valley, you have the big tech companies fishing from essentially the same small pond or bay,” said Mullenweg. “By making the company distributed, we can fish from the entire ocean.”  A distributed workforce also offers unprecedented flexibility for employees: They can choose the food they eat at their office, noise level, temperature and more.

If you’re looking to skew your own office towards a distributed workforce, the first step is to document everything and leave a trail of your thought process in making different decisions, said Mullenweg. It’s not just efficient for people in different time zones; it’s also helpful for any company over time as people leave and join up.

Mullenweg sees the future of work as being completely decentralized. “I think that companies will evolve to be ‘distributed first,’ or that they’ll be replaced by those that are,” he said.

How to Make Applying for Jobs Less Painful (Priyanka Jain)

If the idea of sending in a resume and cover letter makes you inwardly (or outwardly) groan, you’re not alone. According to a January TED Talk, about 75 percent of people who applied to jobs using various methods in the past year said they never heard anything back from the employer, and 46 percent of people get fired or quit within the first year of starting their jobs.

“For the first time in history, we have more open jobs than unemployed people — and to me, that screams that we have a problem,” said Priyanka Jain, who’s featured in the TED Talk and is the head of product at Pymetrics, a company pairing neuroscience with recruiting.

Jain believes that a single piece of paper is the heart of the problem. Resumes can showcase someone’s past achievements, she argues, but they fall short when it comes to someone’s potential — especially in a quickly changing economy, where jobs of the future may require skills no one has yet.

As for the solution? Jain said multi-measure tests, powered by AI algorithms, can help potential employers gauge your memory strengths, levels of attentiveness and other traits. The key, she said, is to make them scalable (which, of course, is what her company Pymetrics aims to do). During her presentation, Jain showcases a brief example of a multi-measure test, in which viewers are asked to clap when a circle turns red and refrain when it turns green. Your results could inform potential employers of your strengths and weaknesses — e.g., if you clap late after the red circle appears but correctly never clap on green, you likely score high in attentiveness and restraint, similar to successful project managers and accountants. If you clap immediately upon seeing a red circle but sometimes incorrectly clap on green, you may skew towards impulsivity and creativity like some top-performing salespeople.

The caveat: If companies like Pymetrics use current industry top performers and their traits to train algorithms, that could lead to bias against women and minorities. It’s vital for diverse teams of people to monitor and review these tools before they’re rolled out on any large scale.

8 Lessons on Building a Company People Enjoy Working for (Patty McCord)

Patty McCord always wanted to be an HR professional, to speak the language of management — but after her decades-long career in HR, including a 14-year stint as Netflix’s chief talent officer, she’s learned none of the HR jargon really matters and that many companies treat their employees like children. “In fact, I’ve learned ‘best practices’ usually means copying what everyone else does,” said McCord in her TED Talk.

The job of management isn’t to control people; it’s to build great teams. The metric we should be using is customer happiness, said McCord, not arbitrary metrics like whether someone came to work on time or how many vacation days they used. Everyone in the company should understand the business, how it makes money and what success looks like there. And encourage your employees to get excited about change, said McCord: “Beware of the smoke of nostalgia.”

Everyone in your company should be able to handle the truth, said McCord, and if you find it difficult to give employees feedback, it’s likely because you don’t practice enough. “What else do you do in your whole life that you’re really good at that you only do once a year?” she said. “Here’s what I’ve found: Humans can hear anything if it’s true.” Make it a priority to tell people the honest truth about what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong — while they’re doing it.  

One more thing to keep in mind: Careers are journeys, and it’s rare for someone to want to work towards the same goal for their entire lives. “What if we created companies that were great places to be from,” said McCord, “and everyone who leaves you becomes a great ambassador for not only your product, but who you are and how you operate?”

How to Lead a Conversation Between People Who Disagree (Eve Pearlman)

We’re living in the Information Age, but some feel it’s never been harder to find the truth. Political divides grow deeper, technology seems to create more rifts than it mends and, from sea to shining sea, it’s growing increasingly more difficult for people to talk to each other in a calm, respectful, open way.

Journalist Eve Pearlman wanted to change that, so she spearheaded Spaceship Media, a company prioritizing “dialogue journalism” — journalism-supported open discussions between people who disagree — and explained it in her TED Talk. After the 2016 election, she brought together 25 Clinton supporters from California and 25 Trump supporters from Alabama to talk about hot-button issues. The first question: What do you think the other side thinks of you? After getting those stereotypes out of the way, participants discussed guns, immigration, race and education. “What we found, remarkably, is that real dialogue is, in fact, possible — and that when given a chance and structure around doing so… many of our fellow citizens are eager to engage,” said Pearlman.

Our current state of discord doesn’t benefit anyone, said Pearlman, and people often appreciate the chance to engage curiously, openly and respectfully. They want “a chance to put down their arms.” Many of Spaceship Media’s Facebook groups have spun off into member-run groups, individual friendship and, most of all, real human connection across difference.

“We do our work in direct challenge to the political climate in our country right now, and we do it knowing that it is difficult, challenging work to hold and support people in opposing backgrounds in conversation,” said Pearlman. “We do it knowing democracy depends on our ability to address our shared problems together.”

How to Spot a Pyramid Scheme (Stacie Bosley)

In 2004, a new company called Vemma Nutrition started offering anyone, regardless of education or experience, the opportunity to earn part-time income for full-time work. The only requirements to get started: Spend $500 to $600 on a product kit and recruit two more members to do the same, explains economist Stacie Bosley in her TED Talk. By 2013, Vemma Nutrition had expanded globally and brought in $200 million per year. But it turned out that most members earned less than their initial deposit, and Vemma was charged with operating a pyramid scheme.

So how do you identify — and avoid — a pyramid scheme? The primary red flag: A founder solicits an initial group of people to buy into the company and recruit other members, with the promise they’ll earn a commission for each new person who joins or invests. The founder also takes a share. The catch: “As a pyramid scheme grows, it becomes increasingly difficult for new recruits to make money,” said Bosley. For example, the founder recruits an initial group of six, who then recruit six people each (adding up to 36), who then, in turn, each recruit six others: a total of 216. By the twelfth recruiting round, the 2.1 billion new members would be tasked with recruiting over 13 billion others — more than the world population — in order to turn a profit, said Bosley. In this example, over 80 percent of the scheme’s newest participants lose everything they paid in.

As for the difference between pyramid schemes and “legitimate” multi-level marketing (MLM) opportunities? Bosley said it’s a question of whether members primarily earn compensation from selling a product or service or from recruiting new members. If you’re considering taking on a new opportunity, keep an eye out for red flags, as many pyramid schemes disguise themselves as legal MLMs.

[architectnews]

Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces

Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces Competition News, Architecture Contest 2020

Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces Competition

August 18, 2020

Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces Open Call

Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces Design Ideas Competition, PA, USA

How can communities turn underutilized schoolyards into outdoor classrooms that could enable students to safely return to school? The Community Design Collaborative, in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, invites designers to submit ideas for outdoor learning spaces that can be easily and inexpensively implemented by schools in Philadelphia and beyond.

The Community Design Collaborative will compile all feasible design solutions in the Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces Design Guide that will serve as a digital resource to support Philadelphia schools and schools across the U.S. and the globe in their efforts to safely go back to school. The School District of Philadelphia will use the design guide to implement 5-6 pilot learning spaces at Philadelphia schools this fall.

The competition opens Friday, August 14, 2020 and the deadline for submissions is Sunday, August 23, 2020. The digital design guide will launch Monday, September 14, 2020. More information is available at www.cdesignc.org/outdoor-learning.

Further Details:

Students haven’t seen the inside of a classroom for months and they’ve been missing in-person interaction with their teachers and peers. They’ve tried school on a screen, but it’s just not the same.

How can schools turn underutilized schoolyards into outdoor classrooms that could enable students to safely return to school?

As school districts and parents all over the country are contemplating the possible scenarios for returning to school, history indicates that we should be (re)turning to the outdoors for answers. With funding from the William Penn Foundation, and in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, the Community Design Collaborative’s Design Assistance In Demand (A.I.D.): Outdoor Learning Spaces Design Ideas Competition is seeking your innovative and creative solutions for outdoor learning in a time of global crisis — and beyond — to bring all of our students back to school as soon as safely possible and to expand opportunities for learning in the extended future.

School buildings have a limited amount of square footage to address the proper social distancing necessary for all students to return to school, so we are looking to utilize the typically underused footprint of schoolyards to expand learning environments to the outdoor classroom. While this challenge is not site specific, design solutions should be considered for typical paved schoolyards. Designs can address a range of interventions, from the simple idea of bringing existing classroom furniture outdoors to a kit of parts that can be mixed and matched in various schools and sites, and may be constructed by school and community volunteers.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

Anyone can participate! And everyone’s a winner! The Community Design Collaborative will compile your design solutions in the Design A.I.D.: Outdoor Learning Spaces Design Guide that will serve as a digital resource to support Philadelphia schools and schools across the U.S. and the globe in their efforts to safely go back to school.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE?

Entrants will design an outdoor learning space and create for submission (1) main concept image accompanied by a concise (150 word) concept description. In addition, entrants can create up to 12 supporting images and/or text components that provide clear instruction about materials needed to construct, install, and maintain the proposed design.

TIMELINE

Friday, August 14 Competition opens.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 Deadline for submissions. Due by 11:59 PM EST

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 Digital Design Guide launched.

SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER Outdoor learning spaces installed at 5-6 schools.

Early November Virtual presentation of completed projects.

DESIGN GUIDELINES

Successful designs must reflect the Design Goals, Design Parameters and Public Health Recommendations as outlined in the following pages of this brief.

Additional considerations and resources are also included. However, while you may use these to guide your work, it is not necessary to address all of them in your submission.

While the designs will be evaluated for inclusion in the Design Guide based on compliance with the Design Goals, Design Parameters, and Public Health Recommendations, they will also be considered based on creativity and innovation. So, please BE CREATIVE!

Medium, technique, and vantage point of drawings are determined at the discretion of the entrant. However, drawings and supporting information must be clear and comprehensive for all audiences, not only designers.

HOW TO SUBMIT

To submit your design solution, please prepare the following materials for submission: – Name of Designer / Design Team or Firm – Names of individual team members – Designer / Design Team or Firm contact information – Title of Design Solution – One (1) main concept image of your design solution. File must be as close to 300dpi and no larger than 5MB. – 150 word narrative that describes your design solution and how it addresses the design criteria. – Design Guide page with one (1) main concept image, three (3) supporting images, and narrative. File must be a PDF no larger than 5MB, download Design Guide template: https://ift.tt/3219yRj

– Design Details page with up to eight (8) images and/or text components that provide clear instruction about materials needed to construct, install, and maintain the proposed design. File must be a PDF no larger than 5MB, download Design Details template: https://ift.tt/321WivY

– Design assembly difficulty level: no tools, hand tools, power tools, or specialized skills. – Total number of hours spent by all team members on the design of your submission. This information is intended to document the overall value of pro bono service provided through this design competition. – Social media handles – Website, if applicable – Non-refundable entry fee of $25 (per entry). 100% of this fee (and any additional donation) will fund the construction of additional outdoor learning spaces in School District of Philadelphia schoolyards, providing more opportunities to our school children beyond the funded 5-6 pilot outdoor learning spaces through this effort. Designers / design teams may submit multiple design solutions, however, each must be submitted as a separate entry submission. Submit your outdoor learning space idea here: https://ift.tt/3aBwB9e

THE PANEL

All design submissions will be reviewed by a panel of members of the School District of Philadelphia, Playful Learning Landscapes, the Community Design Collaborative and traditional and community educators.

All competition submissions will be reviewed and evaluated for inclusion in the Design Guide based on compliance with the listed criteria of Design Goals, Design Parameters and Public Health Recommendations.

Additionally, School District of Philadelphia students and their families may review the submissions to select their top 10 favorite submissions, which will receive a gold star designation in the Design Guide.

IMPLEMENTING PILOT LEARNING SPACES

This initiative intends for 5-6 pilot outdoor learning spaces to be implemented through funding from the William Penn Foundation for this Design Ideas Competition. The beneficiary schools will be selected by the School District of Philadelphia with a goal of serving those schools most in need. These schools will, hopefully, be catalysts, encouraging other schools to implement their own outdoor learning space.

Design Goals

DESIGN SOLUTIONS ARE TO BE:

– Welcoming, safe, accessible, and equitable

– Vibrant, intriguing, and playful

– Supporting teacher-student interactions

– Spaces that foster learning (all components/ aspects of the design should strive to incorporate opportunities for learning, i.e., if there is a roof element, it can incorporate a system of rain collection to teach about stormwater management)

– Inclusive of all modalities of learning: kinesthetic (moving), visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), and tactile (touching)

– Appropriate for elementary (K-5) schools with special focus on the youngest students in grades K-3 – Promoting creativity and ingenuity in children

Design Parameters

DESIGN SOLUTIONS ARE TO:

– Be fabricated and installed for $5000 or less

– Easily fabricated and assembled quickly by volunteers (ideally with assistance from students)

– Be temporary, yet inspiring the potential for permanent installations.

– Accommodate year-round learning (all four seasons)

– Be low maintenance (in ease and cost)

– Make creative use of everyday materials and items prioritizing the use of durable, reusable, and sustainable materials

– Maximize accessibility throughout the site for all abilities

– Meet minimum code requirements for structures, railings, ramps, surfaces, etc.

– Consider a menu of design elements that are versatile and can be configured to the needs of multiple sites

– Accommodate clear lines of sight for supervision of a 30-student class by teachers

– Include opportunities for smaller groups or individual learning

– Integrate power, water, and wifi, as possible

– Be easily secured (security in some cases may be provided by an existing fence surrounding the schoolyard)

– Include opportunities for storage, writing and tackable surfaces

– Consider the design for one classroom and/or how multiple classrooms may be arranged within one schoolyard space

Public Health Recommendations

DESIGN SOLUTIONS ARE TO:

– Incorporate public health guidance from the local, state, and federal requirements to maintain the health and safety of school staff and students.

– Follow CDC guidance for schools, City of Philadelphia Reopening Guidance for Elementary Schools (English) (Espanol), and the School District of Philadelphia Public Health Guidance for COVID-19.

– Embrace the Guiding Principles of Inclusive Healthy Places. These guiding principles can inform strategies for shaping public space projects that promote accessibility and diverse social interactions, reflect shared social values, advance equity, and are welcoming for all.

SUGGESTED STRATEGIES MAY INCLUDE:

– Seating that supports physical distancing and universal design for all abilities

– Proper signage for physical distancing that includes information on how to stop the spread of COVID-19. All signage should be available in languages appropriate to the host community

– Touchless hand-washing locations and automatic dispensers for hand sanitizer

Additional Considerations

PLANNING & ACCESS

Design teams may review and use the following considerations to guide their designs, but are not required to address them in their submission. – Designs should consider impact on surrounding residential areas. – Designs are to be attractive and add to the overall look and appeal of the school and grounds. – Designs should consider protection from surrounding vehicular traffic. – Grade should be maintained, or changes should be easily navigable without gaps or steps. – Designs should account for heavy traffic/usage. – Designs should consider the increased need for bike or scooter parking within the schoolyard space.

PLAYFUL LEARNING

Playful Learning Landscapes uses an evidencebased approach that harnesses guided play in spaces designed for children to discover, explore, and learn. Entrants should consider using designs that: – Encourage children to engage in the type of play known to support learning (i.e., joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, and socially interactive) – Incorporate 21st century learning goals (i.e., 6 Cs; communication, collaboration, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence) – Include elements that spark conversation and enriching interactions – Integrate, where possible, elements of community culture and identity

***

THE FINE PRINT

The Design A.I.D.: Outdoor Learning Spaces Design Ideas Competition is organized and administered by the Community Design Collaborative in partnership with The School District of Philadelphia (The Partners). The goal of this outdoor learning space initiative is to develop a Design Guide that Philadelphia schools can adapt for use at their specific sites with the support of their students, families, and neighbors.

All competition submissions shall be vetted by The Panel for eligibility and adherence with the design criteria in the competition brief. All design solutions adhering to the listed design criteria will be published in the Design A.I.D.: Outdoor Learning Spaces Design Guide. Decisions of eligibility will be at the discretion of The Panel and all decisions are final. The Panel and Partners reserve their right to refuse any entry.

By submitting an entry to this competition, the designer/ design team represents that all work submitted is the original work of the designer/design team. The Partners shall not be responsible for any misrepresentations, disputes, or other concerns associated with the authorship of the submissions. The Partners reserve the right to publish and/or reproduce images and text from any and all submissions, with credit to the creator(s). By submitting an entry to this competition, entrants transfer unlimited use for publication, exhibition and electronic posting of all entries to The Partners, and entrants acknowledge and accept that all aspects of any submission may be used for publicity purposes.

The Partners shall not be responsible for any technical or other conditions that prevent the receipt or evaluation of a competition submission, or any part thereof.

Entrants agree to release, indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The Partners and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims, liens, demands, causes of action and suits and all losses, damages and expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees, in any manner connected with entrants’ participation in the competition.

Upon submitting an entry to this competition, all entrants agree to waive any and all claims against The Partners in connection with the competition. The Partners shall not be responsible for evaluating the soundness of any entry for construction or safety purposes, including without limitation with respect to any public health requirements.

***

With funding from the William Penn Foundation, and in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, the Community Design Collaborative is seeking innovative and creative solutions for outdoor learning in a time of global crisis – and beyond – to bring students back to school as soon as safely possible and to expand opportunities for outdoor learning in the future.

School buildings have a limited amount of square footage to address the proper social distancing necessary for all students to return to school, but the typically underused schoolyard can be used to expand learning environments to the outdoors. Open-air classrooms were used to prevent the spread of tuberculosis in the early 20th-century, and outdoor learning has been shown to have physical, emotional, and social benefits for kids.

Architects and designers are encouraged to submit ideas for outdoor learning spaces that can be easily and inexpensively implemented by schools in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

Anyone can participate! And everyone’s a winner! The Community Design Collaborative will compile all feasible design solutions in the Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces Design Guide that will serve as a digital resource to support Philadelphia schools and schools across the U.S. and the globe in their efforts to safely go back to school. The School District of Philadelphia will use the design guide to implement 5-6 pilot learning spaces at Philadelphia schools this fall.

designaid@cdesignc.org

Community Design Collaborative a: 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia PA 19107, USA

Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces Competition images / information received 280720

Architectural Competitions

Current / Recent architectural contests on e-architect:

2A Continental Architectural Awards 2020

2A Continental Architectural Awards 2020

Re-imagining Stations Competition

Network Rail Re-imagining Stations Competition

3rd Generation New Towns in Korea Design Contest

3rd Generation New Towns in Korea Architecture Competition

Tottenham Pavilion Competition

London Architectural Competitions

Contemporary Home Design

24H Architecture Competition

Main Library Gwangju Competition

LafargeHolcim Awards for Sustainable Construction

Flexible Housing Competition for Great Places Lakes & Dales Partnership

LFA 2020 Architecture Competition

Architecture Competition

US Architecture Design

American Architects

American Architecture

Comments / photos for Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces Competition 2020 Open Call page welcome

The post Design AID: Outdoor Learning Spaces appeared first on e-architect.

[michaelandy101-blog]

Black Lives Matter.

New Post has been published on http://tiptopreview.com/black-lives-matter/

Black Lives Matter.

The time to use our platforms and privilege to speak out against the deep racism that plagues our society was years ago. I regret staying silent in those moments. The next best time is now. Silence is harmful because it prioritizes the comfort of those of us who benefit from racist policies at the expense of those exploited and victimized by them.

It’s not enough to simply “do no harm” or “not be racist.” That well-trodden path has produced the same brutal results again and again. At Moz, we’re moving to a higher standard. The creation of a more just world requires us to be loudly, unceasingly anti-racist.

We must acknowledge that human rights exist beyond politics.

We must hear and validate the lived experiences of people of color and amplify their voices.

We must show up.

We must reinforce, loudly and often, that Black lives matter.

This is an uncomfortable conversation for most of us. We’re afraid of saying the wrong thing, offending people, losing relationships, jobs, customers, and in some cases physical safety. By design, white supremacy has made it uncomfortable to speak out against white supremacy. Fearing angry backlash for speaking out against the risks and injustices people of color face every single day only serves a system designed to keep us silent — a system that has been shaped over centuries to oppress and exploit people who are not white. At Moz, we will practice the courage to speak out and show up for love and justice. Maya Angelou said wisely, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”

Today, we express solidarity with Black people grieving the losses of David McAtee, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many, many others. We share and honor the outrage rippling through our country. We stand with you and we stand for justice and love.

We want to amplify the signal of inspiring people doing powerful work. Activists like Rachel Cargle and her work on The Great Unlearn project. Resources like the Intentionalist, an online directory that allows you to discover and patronize diverse local businesses in your community. Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race illuminates the harsh reality of police brutality, inequitable mass incarceration, and other lived experiences of Black people in the United States and gives us tools to talk about race and racism. EmbraceRace is an organization focused on helping parents, teachers, and community leaders raise children to think and act critically against racial injustice. Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Anti-Racist asks us to think about what an anti-racist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. Ross Gay’s poem, A Small Needful Fact, is a powerful memorial that says so much in a few beautiful words. I invite everyone to re-read or listen to Martin Luther King Jr.’s full Letter From a Birmingham Jail. His statements and questions are heartbreakingly relevant today. May you be moved beyond thought to action, as we are.

Be well and love each other.

Update 6/4/2020: We’ve heard your concerns and questions about what steps Moz is taking to address racial injustice. In writing this post, our goal was to support the cause and the Black voices that deserve to be listened to, especially at this critical moment. It didn’t feel right to center Moz when the conversation should be focused elsewhere. After listening to your feedback, we realize we missed the mark by staying quiet about our own efforts in this area. It’s important to share not just our words, but the actions that uphold them.

What we’ve done in the past hasn’t been enough. We must improve. Understanding that we have more work to do, Moz also has a history of working toward equality within the tech space.

Internally, we offer support and training to employees as part of our ongoing work to create an inclusive, equitable, anti-racist work environment. All employees are required to participate in implicit bias training, and we encourage Mozzers to take our additional training in Understanding Microaggressions, Owning Our Rank & Power (a course about understanding and using privilege for good), and Allyship.

We partner with amazing companies doing the important work of addressing the root causes of systemic injustice:

Techbridge provides STEM education to girls from low-income and under-resourced communities. We regularly invite Techbridge classes to visit Moz and learn from women whose work in tech can inspire and energize them.

IGNITE Worldwide works to improve gender equality in STEM opportunities. Similar to our partnership with Techbridge, we invite IGNITE classes to come to our office and speak with the women at Moz who have forged careers in tech.

Year Up connects young adults facing social and economic injustice to opportunities in tech that can grow their skill sets and forge new career paths. We’re proud to call our Year Up program alumni colleagues.

Ada Developers Academy provides tuition-free coding education to women and gender diverse adults, with a focus on those with low-income and from diverse backgrounds and the LGBTQIA+ community. We’ve welcomed multiple Ada graduates into our software engineering teams as full-time Mozzers.

Un-Loop provides opportunity to students in Washington State prisons, building a path toward careers in web development. Their first program graduate interned with us and we’ve hosted a fundraiser for the program.

HERE Seattle fosters an inclusive and diverse community in technology. Moz was an inaugural sponsor and partnered on events.

As CEO, I’ve chaired the diversity and inclusion committee in the Washington Technology Industry Association (from which programs like Apprenti launched), as well as lobbied for stronger equal pay laws in Washington State. Twice a year, Moz examines its pay structures by race to ensure equitability, and we regularly review and adjust our hiring practices to increase the diversity of our workforce.

We know we have more work to do. While our gender diversity has increased, we have not made substantial progress on racial diversity. In the coming weeks, we’ll share an update on what further steps we’ve taken to support the Black community — both in this time of crisis and in an ongoing capacity. To hold ourselves more publicly accountable, we plan to create and maintain a page on our site that gives transparency to the actions we’re taking.

For now, though — today, this week — we want to share our support for the cause of equality and leave space for Black voices that need to be heard.

Editor’s note: We’re disallowing comments on this post to make sure the focus remains on the problem at hand: the indiscriminate mistreatment and murder of Black people in the United States. In addition, we will be forgoing our typical publishing schedule to make space for the more critical conversations that need to be held.

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[biofunmy]

Following the Lead of the Diving Girl

The Diving Girl was born in Portland, Ore., in 1920. In my pursuit of her ghost, I find myself eyeballing three contentious Canada geese on a floating swim dock in the Willamette River.

On this overcast June afternoon, cottony clouds of varying thickness hang overhead, the sun and splashes of blue visible in the gaps between puffs. The promise of summer is palpable, though the season itself hasn’t yet arrived. The water is fine, nearly 70 degrees — warmer, in fact, than the air. Perched on the dock, goggles at the ready, my friend Fran and I wait for a big enough hole in the clouds to allow for the ritual of a sun-warmed leap into the water.

From this dock, just under the Hawthorne Bridge, you can observe the downtown skyline, prettily framed across the river. You can see the Marquam Bridge to the south, cars and bikes and people racing across. And, of course, you have this calm, silvery span of water, disturbed only by the occasional tourist boat or stand-up paddleboarder — or Canada goose, squinting suspiciously at you before it settles back down to snooze. This is the beauty of a swimmable urban waterway.

The Willamette River, which winds north nearly 190 miles from Eugene to Portland and into the Columbia River, has long been a hub of human activity. In recent decades, frequent sewage overflows made the water unswimmable, but the completion of a $1.4 billion public works project in 2010 changed all that. Every July since then, the nonprofit Human Access Project hosts “The Big Float” — a giant people-powered flotilla and beach party to encourage Portlanders to reclaim the river for swimming and other aquatic recreation.

I’ve spent the last couple of years writing a book about swimming. This river, it turns out, is also a landmark in swimming history — it’s the place where the modern American swimsuit had its big breakthrough, in the early 20th century. The Diving Girl surfaces again and again in the history of swimming, as an international cultural symbol and muse; she even makes a cameo in my own family’s history.

But, really, I’m getting ahead of myself. Rule No. 1 of summertime immersion? Get in the water. With that in mind, I take a running leap off the dock.

The rowers come calling

Let’s go back a little over a century ago, to a little operation called the Portland Knitting Company. Owned by a pair of brothers from Missouri named John and Roy Zehntbauer and their partner, a Danish immigrant named Carl Jantzen, the small retail shop had a few hand-knitting machines and did most of its trade in woolen items like sweaters and socks. The first day’s receipt, in 1910, was 35 cents for a pair of gloves.

The men were members of the city’s rowing club; one day in 1913, a fellow club member placed a special order for a woolen suit that he could wear while sculling during cool mornings on the Willamette River. Jantzen used a sweater-cuff machine to make the one-piece garment, so it would stretch. A lighter weight version eventually became the prototype for the first bathing suits offered in the company catalog.

At the time, men’s bathing suits were required to cover the entire chest; the groin area also had to be covered with a piece of fabric — O.K., it was a skirt — for modesty. Topless men were banned from places now synonymous with sunbathing, like Atlantic City. The reason? Well, the city proclaimed, it didn’t want “gorillas on our beaches.”

Jantzen figured out how to make a superior wool unitard with a rib-stitch that retained its shape and allowed a snugger fit than all the other swimsuits out there. (Imagine swimming while dragging eight pounds of wet wool — that was the existing competition.) The founders wore the new suits in the river; knit in green and yellow stripes, the suits were called “froggers” and soon everybody wanted one. In 1918, the company rebranded itself as Jantzen Knitting Mills. A black-and-white photo from the era shows men, women and children picnicking along the Willamette, all wearing Jantzen swimsuits.

Along came the Diving Girl logo. In her early years, she appeared on the cover of the catalog, wearing long socks and a red and white wool cap. (Remember the company’s origins as a woolens mill.) In 1922, Jantzen printed up 10,000 Red Diving Girl stickers and sent them to retailers to put in their shop windows as advertisements.

It worked pretty well, but not in the way they intended: People started putting them on their cars. The Jantzen girl windshield decals became a massive sensation. Within five years, 5 million Diving Girls could be seen on cars all over the United States. (They were eventually banned in Massachusetts in the interest of public safety.)

She was even made into a hood ornament, so that by the late 1920s and 30s, the Diving Girl was crisscrossing the country, spreading the gospel of swimming to every corner of America. There were free swimming seminars, as part of a national “Learn to Swim Week” campaign.

In 1923, Jantzen’s slogan came to epitomize a cultural revolution: “The suit that changed bathing to swimming.”

A suit for the jet age

In her worldwide travels, the Diving Girl even made it to Hong Kong. My parents met in 1968, in a swimming pool there. For one hot moment, they were the cliché incarnate. He was the lifeguard; she, the big-eyed beauty with long dark hair and a mean sidestroke. In photos of them on the beach early in their courtship, she is wearing Jantzen.

My mother says that almost all the imported swimwear in Hong Kong back then was made by Jantzen. She remembers wistfully that one of her three sisters, my aunt Rosena, had “the cutest floral one-piece by Jantzen.” In my own childhood, I remember the little Diving Girl as a fixture on the bathing suits worn by the ladies at the pool, and the glamour that came with it.

Everyone from Duke Kahanamoku to Elvis and Princess Diana wore Jantzen. In its heyday, Jantzen had more than a dozen design studios around the world. In the late 1950s, it produced the International Set, a collection of 17 suits from those studios. They were jet age suits for the new jet age and the planes that were taking people to exotic places. The Hong Kong studio produced the Shek-O, with a black-and-white woodcut print and a bell-shaped skirt inspired by a Chinese lantern. There were even designs by Hubert de Givenchy, created in his Paris salon especially for the company.

There were monuments. A series of 20-foot-tall, fiberglass-and-steel Diving Girl statues were mounted in strategic locations around the country; some even traveled internationally. In 1965, one was put up above a swimwear shop in Daytona Beach, Fla., called Stamie’s Smart Beach Wear. It became an icon.

One could say the same for the swimsuit, in cities and pools and beaches everywhere. Though ostensibly a functional garment, the bathing suit has long been so much more, particularly as it pertains to female bodies. Jantzen proved it could be both functional and fashionable, and helped turn swimming into an appealing — and acceptable — sport for women.

Eventually, other companies took up the mantle. Speedo is now the world’s best-selling swim brand. China makes 70 percent of all swimsuits. Jantzen itself was bought by a multinational manufacturing giant, Perry Ellis International, and then sold to a private company in 2019. Last year, Stamie’s in Daytona Beach finally closed, after more than five decades on the boardwalk, and the Diving Girl statue was taken down and shipped to Washington State for storage.

The Diving Girl comes home

Culturally and geographically speaking, you can’t get farther away in America from Portland, than Daytona Beach, home to NASCAR’s Daytona 500, endless water parks, and spring-breakers racing dune buggies on its 23 miles of hard-packed beach. They’re even in opposite corners of the country. But Jantzen is a bridge. When the Red Diving Girl was taken down, Daytona Beach residents protested. “Please let her be where she belongs,” they said. “A Florida visit isn’t complete without her.” “Save a piece of my history and my youth.” City leaders rallied together, a rarity; the city’s newspaper received a deluge of nostalgic letters and pictures, with a “Bring Back the Jantzen Girl” campaign; social media exploded: #JantzenGirlDaytonaBeach. Originally from somewhere else, the Diving Girl had come to represent something intensely local.

And so, last winter, the not-so-little Diving Girl took one last cross-country road trip. It took six days on a truck to get the 20-foot behemoth back home to Daytona. She was restored and feted with fireworks at a New Year’s Eve bash, and reinstalled above a plaza at the One Daytona entertainment complex.

Over the years, hems rose and fell with the fashions, both on the Diving Girl and on us. But over that same period, swimming moved from an activity that prioritized public bathing and hygiene to one that represented the pinnacle of sport and leisure, and took off as one of the most popular recreational pastimes anywhere. It’s a story of American pluck, entrepreneurship and cultural migration — all collapsed into one little red logo, and worthy of being blown up into a giant fiberglass store-top mannequin.

So, to honor the travels of the Diving Girl, I returned to her birthplace, in the crisp waters of the Willamette River. It was a baptism of sorts. On that afternoon, I swam between the bridges, and dodged the geese. Running right through the city of Portland, the recently renewed Willamette water was an escape in plain sight. I couldn’t help but laugh when a little boy and his mother stopped at the top of the walking path to stare at me swimming with the birds. I waved, and Fran snapped a photo before jumping in herself. Neither of us wore Jantzen. But it’s not a stretch to say that this freewheeling spirit of swimming is part of the legacy — here, there, and everywhere — that the Diving Girl left in her wake.

If you go

The Hawthorne Boat Dock is one of the easiest public access points for swimming along the Willamette River. Stand-up paddleboarders, dragon boaters and rowers also tie up here, but the crowd is generally friendly. Swimming and wading are permitted in the river, but there are no lifeguards on duty. The Human Access Project recommends several other good Portland beaches on its website, and also offers a useful safety primer on swimming in this urban waterway.

Bonnie Tsui is a frequent contributor to Travel. Her next book, “Why We Swim,” will be published next spring by Algonquin Books.

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This Could Be The Most Progressive Country On Earth

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – When 6-year-old Eddie Writes decided the world needed a little more kindness, he did the only thing he thought would work ― he wrote to his city’s mayor and asked for help putting on an annual “Kindness Day.”

Much to Eddie’s surprise, Wellington Mayor Justin Lester wrote back.

On Nov. 16, New Zealand’s capital city will be holding its first Manaaki Day (manaaki being the Maori word for kindness), taking Eddie’s ideas of how to encourage and celebrate charitable acts ― “We can buy toys for children that don’t have any,” for example ― to improve the social well-being of citizens.

“I am pleased to see a change in politics in New Zealand that I hope focuses more on listening,” says Eddie’s mother, the noted Kiwi writer and feminist Emily Writes. “Kindness should be what politics is all about. When you become a politician, it shouldn’t be for money or power or privilege ― it should be because you had a dream right from childhood that you could work with others to make our world better.”

Wellington City Council

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester and Eddie Writes. 

The mayor’s support for the new holiday is part of a new wave of progressive, child-centred politics sweeping New Zealand, led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, herself a new parent.

Ardern was met with thunderous applause at the United Nations last month for her speech calling for kindness and cooperation from world leaders. Watched by her partner and their then 4-month-old daughter, Ardern pledged New Zealand would be “a kind and equitable nation where children thrive, and success is measured not only by the nation’s GDP but by better lives lived by its people.”

Ardern’s call for a different kind of economy was viewed by many commentators as a direct rebuke to the more prominent trend of right-wing, populist strongmen in the U.S. and Europe.

New Zealand’s social and environmental policies already set it apart. The first country in the world to give some women the right to vote (and which has had two other female prime ministers before Ardern), New Zealand is a leader when it comes to paid leave. Under the Ardern government, 22 weeks paid parental leave has been introduced, and that will rise to 26 weeks by 2020.

Families with babies born after July 1 this year now receive the equivalent of about $40 a week in the child’s first year.

DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images

Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, kisses her daughter Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, as her partner Clarke Gayford looks on during the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit September 24, 2018, at the United Nations in New York. 

The policy is close to Ardern’s heart. She is only the second world leader in history to give birth while in office, and took six weeks’ leave when daughter Neve Te Aroha was born (although the timing left Ardern ineligible for her own paid leave).

In another world first, a new law requires victims of domestic violence be given up to 10 days paid leave from work, separate from annual leave and sick leave entitlements, to help them get away from abusive partners, relocate and protect their children.

Ardern also has her sights on New Zealand’s growing housing affordability problems. The country’s housing market is heated, with home prices rising more than 60 percent in a decade and nearly doubling in its largest city Auckland. 

Housing became a big issue in last year’s elections, and Ardern blamed speculation from overseas buyers. The government responded with a law that took effect Monday banning foreign buyers from purchasing existing properties. The government has also launched a new scheme known as “KiwiBuild” that will see the government build 100,000 entry-level homes over the next decade that will be sold at a capped price. 

The New Zealand government is also keen to make a mark on climate change. Among the latest environmental policies are a ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration, and plans to generate 100 percent of energy from renewables as part of an aim to be carbon-neutral by 2050.

These policies all fit into a government commitment to inject well-being and environmental principles into policies, and to report on progress, “to show a more rounded measure of success”.

“I think instinctively we all feel that money is not the most important thing in life,” says New Zealand public policy researcher Jess Berentson-Shaw. While having enough money does matter, she says, the problem is that excess wealth begins to erode the well being of a country’s citizens.

“The easiest way to think about that is that you can only take resources from the environment to make wealth for so long before the taking creates so much harm that it erodes any benefit derived from the wealth gain,” Berentson-Shaw says. “In other words, the wealth begins to destroy us. 

“The move to measure something other than GDP is a significant signal for a government to make,” she continues. “It is recognition the scales have tipped too far. The benefits that wealth have brought are eroding many things that matter more.”

New Zealand is not without its share of social and environmental challenges. It has the worst rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the world, and more than 40,000 children are admitted to hospitals each year with health problems stemming from damp and moldy homes.

The country doesn’t have the best environmental track record, either, and this year was named one of the most wasteful countries in the developed world. 

When it comes to climate change, however, Catherine Leining, a policy fellow at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, an independent nonprofit, says New Zealand has reached a social tipping point. 

“We definitely have the possibility to show a lot of leadership here,” Leining says. “The current government is really trying to make a genuine effort to develop cross-party consensus on the long-term direction of climate change policy, and if they can put that in place then it should be transformational in terms of sending the kinds of long-term signals that businesses need to produce low-emission investment.”

However, questions remain. This week marks 12 months since Ardern became prime minister, and for some the pace of real change has been too slow. Indeed, Ardern herself wrestles with it. She acknowledges in an interview with The Spinoff: “Transformation does take a bit of time, though. If there’s anything that I’ve learnt, that I’ve struggled with, it’s how long things take.”

Politics, without a public mandate for progressive change, can be “bloody tricky,” Berentson-Shaw points out. “But building a case for it, helping nudge the public to prioritize progressive policy, may be what is happening here. And that could be the game changer.”

New Zealand’s next push will be for the compulsory teaching of the Maori language in schools led by the NZ Greens Party, which is part of Ardern’s coalition government. “There’s nothing more indicative of a progressive society than one that truly treasures its indigenous language,” says NZ Greens co-leader Marama Davidson.

And while international plaudits continue to roll in for Ardern and her “anti-Trump” style of politics, Davidson cautions against defining New Zealand simply as a little country tucked away from the rest of the world’s troubles where everyone wants to escape to ― most famously tech billionaires seeking refuge from the apocalypse.

“I hope what we can do is show leadership for how other countries can do things and more importantly support grassroots movements which are demanding these progressive societies around the world,” Davidson says.

In late September, the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior III docked in the city of Dunedin on its Making Oil History tour of New Zealand. During a public tour of the group’s flagship vessel, the international crew spoke of Ardern and her pledge to end offshore oil exploration with almost reverential tones.

plumchutney via Getty Images

Greenpeace s Rainbow Warrior III in Wellington on 26 September 2018, celebrating New Zealand’s ban on new offshore oil exploration and encouraging clean energy alternatives. 

Ardern’s image was projected onto screens for tour groups to see, and one American crew member became emotional as she recalled hearing Ardern describe climate change as “my generation’s nuclear-free moment.”

“That’s the best thing about New Zealand is its politics right now,” says Greenpeace NZ executive director Russel Norman. “Jacinda Ardern has given hope to the world that if people make enough noise then the politicians will actually listen. What she’s done will change the course of New Zealand’s history – and hopefully the world’s – forever.’’

For more content and to be part of the “This New World” community, follow our Facebook page. 

HuffPost’s “This New World” series is funded by Partners for a New Economy and the Kendeda Fund. All content is editorially independent, with no influence or input from the foundations. If you have an idea or tip for the editorial series, send an email to thisnewworld@huffpost.com

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Why You Should Beer It Forward in Honor of American Craft Beer Week

Beer it Forward this American Craft Beer Week. (Credit: CraftBeer.com)

May 15, 2017

What’s better than beer? Sharing one and there is no better time than American Craft Beer Week, which takes place today, May 15 to May 21. Whether you’re a beer beginner or a beer geek you have the power to participate this American Craft Beer Week.

As thousands of retailers and small and independent craft brewers in all 50 states come together to celebrate I want to point out that craft brewers year-round “beer it forward” in one way or another through their various acts. Chances are your community has been exponentially advanced by craft brewers. Whether it be supporting our veterans to homelessness to a cleaner environment, they consistently work to exemplify this ideal every day in creating a lasting impact. Would you agree that supporting the small guy and gal breweries matters? 

Craft Brewers are locally and regionally using their craft beers as a cause for other causes. Tours, philanthropy, product donations, volunteerism and sponsorship of events are having community changing ripple effects. Beer is not just a marketing-driven beverage. It’s about our connection to the beers and to the brewers. To me, every time I visit a brewery or see a new beer on the restaurant menu or the liquor store shelf it brings to mind the phrase what feels good tastes even better.

(MORE: 2017’s Great American Beer Bars)

Over time, craft brewer New Belgium Brewing has donated more than $8 million; in 2016 alone they donated more than 4000 hours of volunteer time with a goal to improve the health of the planet to “inspire others to joyously embrace sustainable choices” (a great line from their website).

Hill Farmstead Brewery in Vermont accepts donations to local charities instead of tips in their tap room.

Sam Adams Brewing’s project the American Dream has coached more than 7,000 small business owners; it’s disbursed more than 1,200 loans totaling $15.5 million and roughly 60 percent of these loans were made to immigrant-owned businesses.

In Honolulu, Hawaii, the scars of World War II are hard to see, but Glen Tomlinson is working hard to preserve it for generations to come. He founded Home of the Brave, a museum — and eventually a brewery — to attract the next generation in his doors to share stories of the war and see WWII memorabilia he’s collected from vets who have come there to retrace their steps.

What Lens Do You Use To View Beer?

Beyond the stories above I always have to remind myself that everyone has a different lens even when we’re focusing on the same thing. Do you view beer through the lens of being a beer lover? Then you’re not alone as more adults enjoy beer over wine and spirits. Or perhaps you love wine or spirits over beer? Perhaps you don’t event partake in fermented beverages.

My lens on beer and supporting our independent breweries stems from growing up when I was routinely taken by my parents, along with my brother, to restaurants to supply his beer can collection. My dad and mom were always doing adventurous foodie things like stopping at the roadside spring to fill up whatever empty milk jugs and mason jars were around the house. Or we’d stop at the fruit or veggie stands off the highway and visit the weekend farmers markets so we can talk directly with the growers. As I came of age I started homebrewing, touring, tasting and talking beer.

My beer journey taught me that small brewery businesses are grassroots and innovative, authentic and accessible. To me, craft brewers are the very embodiment of the American Dream. They are entrepreneur risk takers who put everything on the line to open their doors and also work hard to give back. Sounds similar to many other small business owners right?

(MORE: 9 Strange Brewery Names and the Stories Behind Them)

Where Beer Was and Where Beer Is Today

The beverage of beer has gone through an incredible metamorphosis. In 1978 there were less than 100 U.S. brewing locations. The beer scene of my parents’ generation was mostly imported beer and Light American Lager. It seemed like the same beer was just being sold in different bottles and cans. For the most part, beer loyalty was marketing driven based on the number of impressions from advertising. In 2005 a very talked about AdAge article dubbed beer “dead.” It stated: “There’s nothing intriguing about beer. It’s like water and soft drinks.”

That’s not the beverage we know and love today with tens of thousands of beer brands in the U.S. along with 5,300 small and independent breweries and the U.S. now being the number one destination for beer on planet earth. U.S. craft brewers have localized beer. Today more than ¾ of adults of legal drinking age live within 10 miles of a brewery. Craft brewers employ 129,000 full- and part-time jobs. In an era of job profit loss to overseas along with outsourcing of jobs and a race to providing the cheapest price for what we buy, in many industries here is an example of the exact opposite.

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History even just hired a brewing historian to document beer and craft brewers 1960 through today. Especially in the past 30 years craft brewers have innovated and taken the beverage to a place the world has never seen. They took old world beer styles and gave them new world twists like advancing the style of India Pale Ale. For any beer geek readers (you know who you are) let’s clink a glass to Sierra Nevada’s Hop Torpedo, the Dogfish Randal and Oskar Blues Crowler. Innovation examples abound including today’s range of flavor packed hop-centric, cloudy and murky New England Style IPAs. These may or may not be your thing, but to many, including me, they are glory in a glass.

Craft beer is grassroots, it’s people-powered, it’s hard-working small business owners.

Who you choose to pour into your glass matters. Prioritizing support of the innovative small will help ensure the U.S. beer scene continues to innovate and thrive all the while giving back to our communities, culture, beer loving palates and country. I’m stating the obvious to some and the new to others, but beer is about more than what is in the bottle, can, keg or growler. To many, it’s about the people who brewed it and who owns the brewery too.

Time to Beer It Forward

So this week beer lovers are encouraged to #beeritforward, the simple act of sharing a craft beer. Every time you do, you recognize that craft beer is grassroots, it’s people-powered, it’s hard-working small business owners that have a passion for what they do and continually push the limit in beer. So let’s grab a beer. Person to person, one friend to another, neighbor to neighbor, or even stranger to stranger.

While our craft brewers continue to ladle on the craft beer charm along with unprecedented community connections the only question that remains is — who will you share a beer with?

To find out more check out the official American Craft Beer Week calendar. You can also find a brewery to celebrate near you with CraftBeer.com’s Brewery Finder.

Julia HerzAuthor Website

Julia Herz is the Craft Beer Program Director for the Brewers Association, co-author of the free CraftBeer.com Beer & Food Course, as well co-author of Beer Pairing (Voyageur Press). She is a life-long homebrewer, BJCP beer judge and Certified Cicerone®. Despite her extensive experience, she will always consider herself a beer beginner on an unending journey to learn more about craft beer. Read more by this author

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“America first?” or “Donald Trump first?”

05/04/17 was my two years of homeless. I thought that Donald Trump maybe different from OBAMA because he can “make America great again!”  But actually has he “made America great again?” or “made America worse?”

A president needs not to have everything to lead a nation and can’t have everything. The most important is vision and leadership. Does he have good vision and leadership? Well, his 100 days performance is the solid answer.

1. Free press: Why he won? Because of free press and Internet.  However, when America media exposed scandal of his aide Michael Flynn, he blasted media treated him “badly and unfair” and made a nasty conclusion that “Media is American enemy.”  His nasty comments will possible cause America media chaos because everyone wonders the authenticity of “fake media”. So, that cost is very high.

Well, The Framers of the Constitution believed that liberty could not be maintained without a free press. A free press must serve as the public’s “watchdog” of the government. Exactly! I would say not only media but also public and opposing party must work together to keep him honest for the public good instead of his own good because we must keep government transparency and accountability. That’s why considered the greatest justice named William Brannan wrote his opinion in New York Times v. Sullivan that “The central right of First Amendment is the right to criticize government!”

2. Nepotism:  He always says “America first!” Really? If he really is, he should choose the most competent candidates for his cabinet but he chose inner circle as his cabinet.  The first example is Michael Flynn. He chose him as a national security advisor. Well, Michael Flynn was forced to resign shortly after appointment; the second example is Rex Tillerson. Well, let’s see Rex Tillerson own remark on “The Hill” and “Politico”—“I did not seek this job. I took this job because of my wife.” Does Rex Tillerson have confidence in himself? What’s his motivation to do this job? When he wants to make decision he must consult with his wife. To show his hypocrisy, Trump deliberated interviewing Mitt Romney but finally chose Rex Tillerson. Why? Because Mitt Romney slammed him as “frauds” during presidential campaign. If Trump is really a good president, he should welcome any comment, question, especially criticism. Did Trump make the right decision? The third is Steven Bannon as his chief strategist.  So, who is Steven Bannon? Well, he has experience in media industry. Why? Because Trump treats America as TV show. Based on Internet, it seems that Trump is not happy with Bannon’s performance, will Trump fire him? Possible not! Next why? Because Trump worries that “Bannon may spill the bean” if Trump fires him; the fourth is labor secretary from L.A, Trump finally abandoned his nomination due to another scandal; the fifth is Secretary of Commerce-Wilbur Ross who is 79 years old. Is there no other younger and better candidate to fill this position in America? One of qualities of leadership is energetic. Moreover, Trump often mocked other candidates “lack of energy” during presidential campaign.

So, why Trump did that? Because he has no confidence in himself and does not trust any competent candidates instead of his inner circle.

3. Environment: Everyone is responsible for protecting our environment because we have only one earth. Moreover, there are countless examples men-made global disastrous. That’s why 144 countries have rectified of 197 parties to the convention of “Paris Climate Agreement” in year 2016 to protect environment. But Trump said: “That’s a hoax.” Moreover, he has slashed about 20 to 25% budget of environment department. He has insulted not only America scientists, international scientists but also international politicians. Do not talk too far, just America. There are many people die or get sick due to contaminated water (Michigan Flint water scandal is concrete example) and unclean air. Why? Because Trump wants to mortgage America future and global future for his own good.

4. Huger of power: People can check history of America presidents, who issued so many “executive fiats” during 100 days? But he has issued more than 66. Why? Because he has no confidence in himself how long to be a president. If he performs well, he will work in White House for eight years. See, what’s the result of his fiats? The facts are there.

5. America GLBT Community: After “Orlando massing killings” he promised that “He is friendlier than Hillary Clinton.” Really? See, he chose anti-gay-Mike Pence as his running mate; moreover, he chose another anti-gay-Jeff Session as Attorney General; in addition, he Rescinds Rules on Bathrooms for Transgender Students on Feb/22/107. Supposed “Civil liberty” should move forward, but apparently he wants to turn the clock back. So, what’s his next to America GLBT Community? Well, I would say his attitude toward America GLBT Community is under strictly scrutiny.

6. Legal setback: His first “travel ban” was blocked by Washington federal judge James Robart; his second “travel ban” was blocked by Hawaii federal judge; his sanctuary bill was blocked by San Francisco federal judge again; moreover, he accuses OBAMA administration wiretap on his tower without any solid evidence but just speculation. However, Court does not believe speculation only evidence. The whole “Department of Justice” belongs to him but he has such result. Not interesting?

7. Priority: A president has so many things to do. He must prioritize his goals step by step, especially economy and how to gain public confidence in America government in domestic and in international first. See, what’s his first top priority? Repeal ACT. I believe that there are so many flaws in this act because so many people have complained. If he really wants a “better” plan, he should work together with his GOP to check every term and condition, investigate complaints and have a national debate to concern people’s concerns and finally make a better plan (lower premium, more options and more coverage). But he rushed to repeal for political revenge. The result was failure. Now from Internet, he has worked with GOP to bypass Democratic to repeal the plan regardless “universal health care”. Another is building wall to secure border. Why? Because he can force Mexico government to foot the bill. If not, who cares? The losers are taxpayers. One more is tax plan. He wants to reduce corporate tax from 35% to 15% because America has the highest tax rate for corporate tax on earth. Well, I believe 35% seems too high. However, economic success or failure is progress not one day or two days (For example, some States have increased minimum wages to $15/hr. gradually based on fair inflation instead of suddenly because this policy balance and affect employees and employers, the policy makers have allowed sufficient times for them to adjust). Can his radical tax cut boost America economy and reduce deficit? How about huge deficit right now? Who cares?  Well, formally America was the biggest creditor on earth, but now it is the biggest debtor on earth, is it not the concrete proof that there is something wrong with America government system?

8. Protectionism:  He says: “Buy America first” for government projects. Well, if it is under the same conditions (price, quality and service), that’s good. However, if he abuses his power to force governmental entities to buy America products under different conditions instead of free market, it benefits in short term but from long-term that’s stifle fair competition and innovation. The labor cost of America is high, it does not mean America do not have opportunity to prospect. He can encourage government and private entities to do R&D and high value-added industries and services to sustain “Competitive advantages”. Globalization and free trade are global trend and nobody can stop it because we share different resources and expertise. Protectionism is an unsustainable strategy. People can image if other countries imitate his protectionism policy and boycott America products, what’s the consequence? From lone-term, it harms America economy, especially MNCs.

 Many people label Trump as “Racism”, “Sexism”, “Homophobia” and “Islamophobia” because the people is the host of “The Apprentice”, I would say “Donald Trump is perfect fit for flea market bargainer.”  

[theunicahijatumbles]

This is a joke I often made during my final year at university, but there was truth to this quip. Yes, I did spend six years to finish my degree, and no, I am not at all ashamed by this. To be honest, six is probably the least amount of years that anyone in my course has taken to graduate, so this is already an astonishing feat for me. Then again, graduating on time is a miracle in itself, especially in my university, and frankly, I have (almost) no regrets.

Now that I’m out in the real world, I often wonder why I was in such a rush to leave university. As difficult as it was, it’s nothing compared to being shackled by the realities of adulthood. Still, I’m thankful for having that chapter of my life closed, and now I have pearls of wisdom to take with me onto the next.

It was a tough row to hoe, but if I could give my sixteen year old self a kick up the butt to set myself straight, here are some of the things I wish I could tell her:

Your education should always come first*.

Graduation Day

I was quite lucky to attend one of the best universities in the country, and I was privileged enough not to worry about finances. If there was one thing I deeply regret doing, however, it was taking this privilege for granted. Unlike many of the people who went to my university, I had the means for a good education, and yet, I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have that I nearly let it slip through my fingers (read: kicked out).

If I hadn’t wasted a few semesters slacking off, I might have graduated on time, but more importantly, I wouldn’t have squandered my parents’ money. It dawned on me that I had frittered away the hard-earned money that my parents worked night and day for in order to provide for me. I also realized that the best way I could repay them was to prioritize my studies and work hard rather than neglect it the way I did. Besides, this was all my parents ever asked of me, which is why it was crucial that I be able to give it to them.

Having said that, I understand that not everyone is as privileged. A lot of my friends had no choice but to work in order to pay for their tuition fee, so they had to balance school and work, while some ended up forgoing their education. Thankfully, with services like Earnest, which provides personal and student loan services, you can apply for financial aid and focus on getting that diploma.

*This obviously depends on your priorities in life at the time. For me, aside from my family, I knew that this was something that I needed to pour my heart and soul into achieving.

Going after your dreams takes time, but it’s worth it.

Handmade paper flowers we made for our thesis production

“Who in their right mind would pursue an arts degree, much less one in theatre? There’s no money in that!” is something I often heard (non-verbatim, of course) throughout my university life. People would think that our course was all about having fun doing skits and making props, but it’s so much more than that. I’ve been passionate about theatre since I was young, and I’ve learned so much – not only in the theory and practice of theatre, but also in life outside of the stage. My course was more challenging than it seemed, but every moment was a lesson and a memory that I would always be grateful for. I’m glad I took my time because it definitely was worth chasing after.

Your journey is different from the rest.

Midnight madness on campus. Yes, that is me.

In relation to the previous point I made, I figured that I shouldn’t compare my journey to someone else’s. They have different goals and other ways to achieve them, so instead, I should focus on my own path. At one point, when most of my friends (outside of my course) were posting their graduation photos, I was disappointed with myself because I was only halfway there. However, I realized that there was no use moping about it. That was the path I chose to take and that was where I was meant to be at that moment in my life, so I might as well savour it. What matters is you, and not them, so just focus on yourself.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

The face you make when you’re absolutely proud and happy

This leads me on to my last point (do you like how they all intersect with each other?). I had the best years of my life at university. Despite all of the crap I went through, I wouldn’t change a thing. Amidst all the stress and grief of group projects, assignment deadlines, and final exams, it was one hell of a rollercoaster ride because I had great friends, brilliant professors, and a supportive family who made my experiences so worthwhile. I don’t know why I was in such a rush to graduate; it was so much better there than it is here! (Just kidding mom, adulting is awesome!) In short, as frustrating as it can be, those moments will pass quickly, so don’t kill yourself over them. Make the most of your time there and don’t forget to have fun once in a while.

To follow what I wish I could tell myself, there are also a few things I’m thankful for doing. I may have made a few mistakes here and there, but ultimately, I made some pretty good decisions that made my university experience so much more meaningful.

It’s worth doing what you love. 

Aside from theatre, I was also passionate about learning British literature, so I’m glad that I took classes that I was truly interested in. I’m proud of myself for expanding my horizons and immersing myself in the works of Austen, Marlowe, and Chaucer. Not only that, I also took classes in French, American History, Environmental Science, Fencing, and so on! By taking those classes, I didn’t have theatre be the only thing that defined me. They encouraged me to embrace the diversity of academic fields, and inspired me to learn more about the world and what it has to offer. In fact, since I enjoyed my classes so much, not to mention the fact that my professors were absolutely inspiring to me, I worked even harder and got really good grades. So, if you have the freedom to choose which classes you can take, I highly suggest you find something outside of your field. I promise it’s going to make your semester(s) so much more exciting.

It’s worth having a great support support system.

The Fabulous Four

Without my friends, my family, or even my mentors, I don’t think I would have gotten through it, so I am honestly very grateful to them. They kept me sane, cheered me up, helped me during the rough moments I was going through, and motivated me to keep moving forward. When the weight of the world was bringing me down, they were always there to come to my rescue no matter what. Surrounding myself with good people and positive energy allowed me to progress, so I’m fortunate to have those people in my life.

Nothing worth having ever comes easy.

Sunflowers: The symbol of success in our university.

Remember, you reap what you sow, especially if you strive to make it happen. After going astray, I have since turned my life around. I have never been more focused and more diligent in my life than when I was in university. Obviously, I had my moments where I would procrastinate, but I always made sure I got the job done well. My studious efforts eventually led me to become a university scholar, which is a big deal for me as I had never had any academic achievements before that one. I was proud of myself, not just for having my efforts recognized, but for pushing myself to the point where I have something to show for all my hard work that I can give in return to my parents. Looking back at it now, I wonder why I didn’t do it in the first place, though I suppose it’s good to learn from our mistakes. Just remember that everything does fall into place eventually, and hard work is (almost) always rewarded.

For more information, find out how Earnest can help you by visiting their website here.

How was your college or university experience? Was it as ridiculous as mine? :)

Why Make College the Best 4 Years of Your Life When You Can Make it 6 This is a joke I often made during my final year at university, but there was truth to this quip.