February 2009 Archives

Recommendations submitted by the Treatment Action Group to President Barack Obama on ways to strengthen the struggle to end AIDS.

Demonstrate Strong Domestic and Global Leadership
TAG urges President Obama to make fighting AIDS a national and global priority through personal involvement, public speeches, and swift action. His administration must act immediately to implement a comprehensive national AIDS strategy and preserve the successful PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) program. The administration must be steadfast in its commitments to reducing HIV transmission, expanding testing and treatment, and protecting the civil and health rights of all individuals affected by HIV.

Put Research for HIV, TB, and Viral Hepatitis Back on Track
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) leads global research efforts against HIV and is the world's largest government funder of research on HIV and related diseases, such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis (TB). In 2008 the NIH spent $2.9 billion on HIV research but only about $160 million on TB, the leading killer of people with HIV globally. Even less was spent on hepatitis B and C, two devastating viral infections among people with HIV in the United States. New resources must be committed to the scientific struggle against these diseases.

Joel And Benjamin "Benji" Madden of Good Charlotte are well-known for their public lives. But they have a more serious side. They are leveraging their celebrity to raise awareness on the overlooked conflict in the Eastern Congo and the role that conflict minerals play in driving the war. It is, as Joel reminds us, "the deadliest conflict since World War II." They appeared on CNN's "Inside Africa" this weekend, announcing that they are writing a song about the conflict.

When I think "Raw," I think wrestling, but now I also associate "Raw" with some foods.

A Raw Food Diet consists of unprocessed foods that have not been heated above 115°F (46°C). Examples of foods that fit this category and overlap with veganism are fruits, vegetables, beans, tofu and soy products. Unprocessed -- OK. But microwave goodbye to the oven, stovetop, toaster and all their relations?

As you know, fire can be harnessed for both comfort and harm. Raw foodists, for the most part, claim that when you apply a flame to food, you create harm that overshadows any comfort. But many argue convincingly against this point.

One thought often associated with raw foodism is its longing for the simplicity as found with the early stages of man. The fact is we are not the same as early mankind, biologically or socially, and as much as one might strive to be, it simply can't be done.

Also, critics of raw foodism contend that heating food started far earlier than most raw foodists think. With longer exposure to cooked food, perhaps mankind has adapted anatomically to cooked food. Cooking food might not actually be so bad in the first place because heat breaks down food so its nutrients can be absorbed further. Not to mention, cooking simply makes some foods edible.

Based on info from a wide range of articles, raw food should definitely be included in your diet but most of all, just heed your body. Yes, raw food is wholesome and healthy in and of itself, but in many cases, as you eat only raw food you might, as it often happens, take away from your livelihood. And when your livelihood downsizes, so does your health, both mental and physical. How strange it is that healthy food might make for an unhealthy person.

After the break, check out an interview with a good friend of mine who transitioned from being a vegan to being a raw foodist.

If you're still wondering how subprime mortgages managed to take down seemingly the whole economy, check out this video, created by designer Jonathan Jarvis. The Crisis of Credit Visualized lays out in simple terms and clear diagrams exactly what went on and how it led to this mess.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

For something more in-depth, but equally more informative, listen to This American Life's episodes "The Giant Pool of Money," which delves into the housing crisis, and "Another Frightening Show About the Economy," which looks at how derivatives, credit default swaps and other financial products brought down the credit markets. There's even more on NPR's Planet Money blog.

Who owns the public sidewalks and staircases of America? The city, of course. So doesn't that mean they're public domain for anyone, or more specifically, anyone who pays taxes?

Not necessarily, as the case of a median strip in Santa Monica proved last fall. Residents of this tony enclave outside Los Angeles were annoyed by the droves of fitness buffs who daily flocked to the grassy island between two sides of 4th Street for their exercises -- tai chi, jogging, even a massage. Now you can get a ticket if you're caught doing crunches on the parkway.

And what about the famous staircase nearby, where hundreds of people come every day to run up and down for a workout in one of Southern California's most beautiful spots? Sure, it's public space, but these climbers are a nuisance to the local owners of private property.

As someone who is accustomed to being nearly killed by cars every time I go running, my sympathies are with the exercisers. But if I had a house where they exercise, would I feel differently?

[Image: Tom Punyasavatsut]

This past week I met a woman, Kirsten, who communicated that the state of our economy is affecting her family's livelihood. Immediately I considered that either her or her husband was involved in the stock market or one of the other linear businesses affected by the downturn. I then learned that Kirsten is the wife of an artist who sells his artwork in the streets of Soho down in the heart of Greenwich Village. Growing up in the Village, I understand how the presence of these artists were so influential not just in shaping the culture our neighborhood but the entire city. They also illustrated, to me at least, that one can take the path less traveled and earn an honest living. Maybe that's why her story really hit home and made these terrible economic events of the last few months so much more real. With all this being said, I checked out her husband Alexandre's website and was amazed by his work and encourage you to as well and support our art community.

See more of Alexandre's work here at sketchesonmatches.com.

Tonight sees the debut of a new series on Sundance Channel: EcoDocumentaries. The first installment is...

Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon
Classic case of man versus the man.

"For years, every graduating high-school student in Philomath was assured of a college scholarship endowed by a local lumber baron. However, when a new school superintendent from Chicago introduces some controversial changes, the threat of withdrawing the scholarship is used as a weapon to seek his removal. Appeared at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival."

Watch Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon on Sundance Channel Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 10pm or Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 5am.

It's Not Easy Being Green, Season 2
If you can't commit, Kermit says to record the show on your DVR or TiVo! This show's green engineer has the most outrageous walrus mustache you can find at Medieval Times. What a treat! Treat yourself:

"After chronicling Dick Strawbridge and his family's quest to be self-sufficient and environmentally responsible in the first season of 'It's Not Easy Being Green,' this second season of episodes follows Britain's favorite do-it-yourself green engineer as he assists others in achieving an eco-friendly lifestyle."

"In the opening episode, Dick helps a family with a ground-source heat pump and wind-turbine. Later, assisted by son James, Dick helps another family grow and cultivate fresh fruit and vegetables for a child with multiple allergies."

Watch the debut of the second season of It's Not Easy Being Green on the Sundance Channel Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 9pm; Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 4am and at noon; or Thursday, Feb. 26 at 6:30am. To see more information and a couple photos from this season, click here.

A year ago it was clear to the least delusional amongst us that we were in a recession. But considering that our economic plight is usually "self-fulfilling," nobody would formally declare it as such for fear that when they did, it could likely reflect that we were in, or on the verge of, a depression.


As bad as it is, many feel today that whatever you call it, the other shoe still hasn't dropped — an event of which they seem to be awaiting nervously. (Never before have so many been so attentive to what I do for a living). People are running for COVER — many to cover their ASSets, while we are trying to cover their backs (and other body parts).


The irony is that things aren't going to get better until we all believe that they have already gotten better. Although this situation is clearly affecting most of our incomes, I believe that it doesn't necessarily have to affect our outcome. In tough times one invariably finds the greatest opportunities.


The mantra of the day is CHANGE. What worked before isn't working now, and may never quite work the same way again. The economy will turn and businesses will get better, but all are being forced to learn how to do more with less. The realities of a more efficient, responsive and productive business model isn't likely to go away.


With that said, in the interest of self preservation, perhaps we have to go back to being "clothes minded"? If you look good, you'll feel good about being in your shoes, and probably increase your own interest rate. Being an accessory to change may even reward you with the chance to share your own stimulus package.


In that things are usually how they appear, we need to return to our half full glasses, renew our perspectives, and remember that, as we have said, "you can change your outfit, you can outfit change, or both." After all, it's no longer about looking subprime, it's time to believe that THE FUTURE IS ABOUT TO BE REDRESSED.

I want to share a story with those who fight temptations to the end.

When I was 16 years old, I realized I had a problem. It started with candies from my mom's closet and made its way to stores on the streets. In short, I was a shoplifter, an addict. However, G-d had his own plans on how to help me stop, it wasn't fun but thank G-d that for showing me a way out.

It was Friday afternoon and I was at a Kenneth Cole store. I found myself face to face with this magnificent leather jacket that was very expensive (I think $350). The following week I returned to the store and found one without a security beeper and stole it. I purchased one of the jackets and then returned to the store, receipt in hand to get my money back for the one without a security beeper. Sorry again, it was wrong.

Five years later, I was at a VIP concert with Matisyahu which took place at the Kenneth Cole store at Penn Station on 42nd Street. I see Kenneth at the event and approached him. I confessed to what I had done in my youth. I hesitantly told him about the jacket and asked if there was a way to pay him back. His response to me was surprising: He asked me to send him an email disclosing as to how I stole the item and that he would think about how to best repay him and get back to him.

He called a few weeks later and said that if I wanted to truly repent for this act, he suggested that we find a way to help someone less fortunate than myself -- someone more deserving of the coat than I. He then told me that he would like me to chronicle the process on his blog so that others could benefit from my journey. I thought to myself, There are many people that are barely surviving each day, people without homes, those are the ones that need it.

In the next couple of days I will be setting out on a journey, looking for someone that can truly benefit from the coat (Mr. Cole has since offered to give "The Chosen Person" a new jacket.) I will also chronicle this experience, as suggested, and photo document it as well. I welcome comments to this article, and have established the email account coatfessional@gmail.com for anyone who reads this and would like to reply privately.

43-year-old Victor Mooney of Queens, New York is making his second attempt at rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, from Goree Island, Senegal to the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge to raise awareness of AIDS and global warming. His eight month journey begins from the former African slave colony, crossing to the Caribbean (3,000 miles in 90 days), then veering north to culminate at the Brooklyn Bridge (another 5,000 miles in 120 days).

Mooney's first attempt at this dangerous voyage three years previous via a boat built in his garage -- John Paul the Great -- ended in a timely rescue by the Senegalese Navy. But he is determined to raise global consciousness about global warming and AIDS. One of his brothers died from the disease and another is HIV positive. This time, armed with donated satellite equipment, the latest nautical equipment and, we cannot fail to note, a new rowboat designed by Composite Yacht -- his idealism meets with technology (not unlike this blog). Mooney will be keeping a written and video blog of his journey on the high seas for his noble cause.

This week Mooney donated a symbolic penny at the HSBC bank in downtown Brooklyn to encourage people to donate a similar amount for every mile of the 8,000 mile trip. The estimated cost of the trip is $100,000. Corporate sponsors like Snapple and TD Bank have covered some of the cost, but he needs $50,000 more. At post time donations total $9,930. Donations of any amount can be made here.

[Image: Goree Challenge]

Apparently, this is National Condom Week. I had no idea until I saw mention of it in a short post on the Media Consortium about Bristol Palin's recent appearance on FOX News. "Everyone should be abstinent, or whatever, but it's not realistic at all," she said.

National Condom Week started last Saturday and lasts until tomorrow, but that doesn't mean you can't observe it year-round. In fact, I'll wager the folks in Berkeley, California who began the week devoted to condom awareness and education would prefer it if you did. I think that's the point.

That, and using some good, clean humor to make the point stick. Here are some of the organization's slogans:

• Don't be silly, protect your willy
• When in doubt, shroud your spout
• It will be sweeter if you wrap your peter
• No glove, no love!

And here's Bristol Palin, whom I can't help but feel sorry for watching this. She's a teenage mom in the national spotlight, forced into the contradictory and uncomfortable position of being a poster child for both "family values" and the importance of abstaining. What teen could withstand that pressure?

On Friday, Feb. 20 at 8:30pm (check local listings), PBS's "NOW" collaborates with the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University to bring you an unprecedented broadcast investigation of teen sexual harassment in the workplace.

This investigative piece is building upon a report that E.J. Graff wrote in 2007:

In 2003, nearly 3 million high school students worked full or part-time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Add in summer jobs, and take in teens' entire high school careers, and "the percentage of teens who work at some point during their high school years surpasses 80 percent."7 Most teenagers work in low-wage restaurant, retail, or service jobs, where they're likely to be overseen by transient supervisors or managers who are themselves poorly trained, low-skilled, and poorly paid. Their bosses too often ignore sexually tinged behavior, dismissing it as harmless flirtation.

In debates about raising the minimum wage, teen workers are often thrown out as the reason not to raise it. Why should we pay teens $10 an hour to flip hamburgers? Now Washington state wants to lower their wages as a way entice managers to hire them instead of the recently laid-off bankers. Ironically today's teen may be more in a position to be adding to the family income than earning "fun money."

As Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune pointed out, we are in an economy that has killed our Starbucks dream. That also means that teens are also in a very tight job market. As stated in the "NOW" preview video, teen workers are a dime a dozen. Add that to the tight job market and we have fertile ground for worker abuse.

The young woman in the video was scared to tell her parents what was happening to her for fear they would make her quit her job. I understand that. I was harassed at work and school throughout my teen years. It always felt like it was my fault. Obviously looking back, I know it wasn't and it wasn't that young woman's either. Hopefully parents will view this program and instead of blaming their daughters or trying to save them, they will instead stand up next to their daughters and fight for their dignity at work. I also hope the young women out there watch this and know that they have every right to tell the office jokester to shut the heck up.

Here's a bold proposition to make on a blog: Blogs may not be the answer to mainstream journalism their proponents often like to proclaim. After all, where would most blogs -- including this one -- be without newspapers, TV news stations, magazines and other "traditional" media outlets? We need those outlets to have something to write about ourselves.

Despite Obama's decision to call first on Sam Stein of the Huffington Post over other journalists from more traditional outlets at a recent press conference, blogs maintain a relatively obscure status in the world of news. Because most blogs are not HuffPo, Politico or the new brainchild of Tina Brown, The Daily Beast. Most are struggling, independent ventures with no cash flow that exist thanks only to the pluck and diligence of their creators. And they're certainly not getting invited to the White House for a press conference.

In last Saturday's New York Times Op/Ed page, Edouardo Porter makes a strong statement, whose frequent truth I'm about to prove. "Rather than the citizen reporter," Porter writes, "the Internet has given us the citizen pundit, who reports on: newspaper articles."

In other words, without newspapers, all of us bloggers would suddenly have to do a lot more original reporting.

Last month, Ben & Jerry's celebrated Obama's victory as only Ben & Jerry's would: by releasing "Yes Pecan!" ice cream.

The flavor sold well, as you can imagine, so the company asked for suggestions from the public for flavors to commemorate George W. The suggestions became a viral email, from what I hear, though I've yet to receive it personally.

Nevertheless, here are some of the company's favorite responses. But don't just read and laugh -- offer your own ideas by leaving a comment. Surely, there's some gaff from the past eight years these ideas have left out.

• Grape Depression
• Abu Grape
• Cluster Fudge
• Nut'n Accomplished
• Iraqi Road
• Chock 'n Awe
• WireTapioca
• Impeach Cobbler
• Impeach Mint
• Heck of a Job, Brownie!
• Chunky Monkey in Chief
• George Bush Doesn't Care About Dark Chocolate
• WMDelicious
• Guantanmallow
• Neocon Politan
• RockyRoad to Fascism
• The Reese's-cession
• Cookie D'oh!
• Housing Crunch
• Nougalar Proliferation
• Death by Chocolate... and Torture
• Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
• Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
• "You're Shitting In My Mouth And Calling It A" Sundae
• Credit Crunch
• Mission Pecanplished
• Good Riddance You Lousy Motherf**ker... Swirl
• Country Pumpkin
• Chocolate Chimp
• Bloody Sundae
• Caramel Preemptive Stripe
• I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of thousands...with nuts

[Image: About.com]

I'm excited to be celebrating the one year anniversary of the Awearness Blog -- even though it helped turn me into something I never wanted to be: a political junkie.

See, I have a bit of a personal distaste for national politics — or, really, talking about politics. To me, talking politics is just as dangerous as discussing religion -- sooner or later tempers will be lost and feelings will be hurt. Especially in the polarized atmosphere of the past decade or so (since the Clinton era, really), nothing brings out the vitriol like politics. So I've avoided it as much as possible. As far as I'm concerned, your political views are a private matter, and as long as you don't force them on me, I'm happy to leave you to them.

The Awearness Blog's coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions got me started. It was my job to edit the posts coming in from our on-the-scene correspondents, which meant checking every link and reading every post. I started reading more and more of the election coverage, and making note of the ways the campaigns were reaching out to voters. I watched as Barack Obama energized a generation. But when I found the analysis website FiveThirtyEight, it was all over. I was hooked.

What got me was not the political commentary (which was moderate-left, pretty much where I am) but the fantastic analysis of the multitudes of polls, which were weighted according to historic accuracy, sample size and recentness. The inside-baseball approach --the site's creator, Nate Silver, is a partner with Baseball Prospectus resulted in an incredibly accurate snapshot of how America was feeling about the election. I loved checking in for a dose of pure statistics, stripping out the heated debate (as long as you ignored the blog's comments) and looking at the numbers instead. Silver predicted 49 of 50 states correctly, after calling the election for Obama all the way back in March.

Election Night was a riveting, thrilling experience, and the good feelings carried on toward the Inauguration. But then local politics had to ruin it all. The Blagojevich scandal has been covered here in Chicago like nowhere else (despite Blago's appearances on every TV talk show possible), reminding me of all that I disliked about politics and making me wish I could stop paying attention again.

My sincere hope is that the politics of inclusion that President Obama campaigned on really does take hold, so that we can move away from the partisanship. That's definitely something to look forward to. Otherwise, politics will go back to being an off-limits topic with me.

[Image: FiveThirtyEight]

That's not a headline you're likely to see many places. Aside from Barack Obama's historic ascension to the Oval Office, this year's pretty much sucked. And I don't need to count the ways.

But it wasn't all bad. For some people, myself included, it was a fantastic year. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not gloating. But for me, 2008 brought a number of personal triumphs, professional successes, and perhaps the greatest sense of citizen involvement I've ever had. And a lot of it was thanks to this blog, which I began working on just over a year ago, before the official launch.

Never before have I felt more involved with the political process, been more informed about issues ranging from health to civil rights, or had the opportunity to publish my work on a daily basis. And I never thought I'd have the opportunity to cover the national conventions during a presidential election.

I also broke seven personal records in races from four miles up to the marathon, became an uncle, and for the first time since college, stopped living with roommates. 2008 seems to be the year I finally, at 33, became an adult.

But enough about me.

It's our first Awearniversary.

Here's a shocker: Clean air means longer life. This we've known for decades. But the New England Journal of Medicine has just released some good news, and something of a gold star for the efforts made by governments, businesses and everyday citizens across the country to go green.

Thanks to our collective advances in cleaner living, we have officially lengthened our lives, the Journal reports. And the more polluted the area, the greater the increase. In the majority of the United States, people can expect to live five months longer than they did 30 years ago, and in big cities like New York and Chicago, the average life span is now 10 months longer.

The Journal reports that a reduction in particulates -- minuscule bits of free radicals and other pollutants -- in the 51 cities that were part of the 30-year study is to thank for these added months.

Not impressed with a meager 5-10-months of life, especially since you'll be pretty old when you get to experience them? Keep going greener and we might see those months turn into years -- and not years confined to retirement homes and wheelchairs, either. With the right diet and enough exercise, there's no reason we can't be vital well into our 90s.

[Image: Regis Lansak, from the Australian Government website]

The first pair of Big Ideas for a Small Planet (BI4SP) ended up getting married. As for "BI4SP: Animals" and "BI4SP: Cities" I think there might be something brewing as well. These shows are definitely integrally intertwined as you will see.

Connections between This Week's BI4SP Episodes:
Many often call cities concrete jungles. Animals live in jungles. Jung is in the word jungle and this famous psychologist conceived of new ideas behind man's animalistic tendencies. Lipstick Jungle is a show that incorporates many of Jung's concepts implicitly. When drama goes down in the show, the animals in the characters break out of the cages. Cages contain many stray animals in the city, which, sadly, will be either saved or put down. Downtown surrounds the city's main police station, which houses several bomb-sniffing dogs... obviously the two episodes are greatly linked.

BI4SP: ANIMALS

From zoos to shelters to pampered pets, this episode of "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" explores how animals' diets and living environments are increasingly reflecting the "green-ness" of their human guardians.

Watch "Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Animals" on Sundance Channel Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 9pm; Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 4am; Wednesday, Feb. 18 at noon; Thursday, Feb. 19 at 6:15am; or Sunday, Feb. 22 at 8am.

BI4SP: CITIES

In this episode, a real-estate developer helps turn a polluted brown field into a sustainable community; an energy innovator submerges two turbines in New York City's East River; and a band of guerilla gardeners covertly beautifies blighted urban plots of unused land.

Watch "Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Cities" on Sundance Channel Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 9:30pm; Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 4:30am; Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 12:30pm; Thursday, Feb. 19 at 6:45am; or Sunday, Feb. 22 at 8:30am.

Fifty years ago, the modern folk legend Pete Seeger was asked to perform at a public high school in San Diego, but with one catch: he'd have to sign a statement denouncing communism first.

An icon of the burgeoning folk music scene in Greenwich Village, Seeger sang songs with a decidedly communist bent. And his personal politics were no less edgy than the tunes he crooned (he was a member of the Communist party until 1949).

In true rebel fashion, Seeger took a stand against McCarthyism and refused to sign the statement. He was allowed to perform anyway, thanks to a last-minute injunction by the American Civil Liberties Union. And now, 50 years later, the same school board that tried to prevent him from performing issued a formal apology to the 89-year-old singer for its actions in 1960.

But as the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Indeed, Seeger says the controversy may have helped his career. "This was the contradiction the poor blacklisters faced," he told the press. "The more they tried to target me the more they drummed up publicity for my concerts. I like to misquote Thomas Jefferson in saying, 'The price of liberty is eternal publicity.'"

[Image: Anthony Pepitone from Wikimedia Commons]

We've been hearing a lot -- too much -- about Darfur the past few years. For months, the International Criminal Court has wanted to arrest for the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, and bring a swift end to the genocide that's plagued Darfur since 2003. It hasn't been easy, and it hasn't been done.

This week, according to the New York Times, the Court officially decided to issue an arrest warrant for President al-Bashir, though some sources report that the ICC has denied making any such move.

The facts will be straight soon enough, but regardless of what the ICC did or did not decide to do, at least one organization is stepping up for Darfur's future now. Save Darfur, a peace advocacy group, has issued a plea to President Obama to appoint a "high-level official with the stature, mandate and authority to be the U.S. point person in Sudan."

If Obama's campaign rhetoric on Darfur is any indication of his current position, Save Darfur shouldn't worry. In July, before he'd received the nomination, Obama said we "should support the immediate deployment of an effective international force to disarm militia, protect civilians and facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance in Darfur."

To make light of what has constantly been a desperate situation...

With an affectionate nod to West Side Story, filmmaker Ari Sandel presents an all-singing, all-dancing comic parable about feuding falafel stands &mdash' the Palestinian Hummus Hut versus Kosher King ("the chosen restaurant") — in Israel's occupied territory. Winner of the Best Live Action Short Oscar® of 2007. "A hoot." — San Francisco Chronicle

West Bank Story was shown at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Watch it on the Sundance Channel Saturday, Feb. 14 at 10:30am or Sunday, Feb. 15 at 1:30am.

Not since Mary Carey ran for Governor of California has the anarchic world of porn collided so lasciviously with the structured, tripartite world of American politics. Adult film star Stormy Daniels -- a Baton Rouge native -- is being drafted by mischievous Louisiana netizens to run against incumbent Senator David Vitter in 2010. Vitter, you will remember, was the ultra-conservative Republican whose name turned up on the list of the infamous "DC Madame." If Stormy decides to run she will not win but she will most probably draw attention to the hypocrisy of Vitter's newfound ultra-conservatism and that scandal in the not-too-distant past.

Vitter, we cannot fail to note, cast the sole vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee against Hillary Clinton's confirmation as Secretary of State.

The DraftStormy site reads: "A champion of entrepreneurism, a fighter for decency and the embodiment of pure libertarianism, Stormy Daniels will be a tireless champion for the forthright values of common sense and do-it-yourself individualism!"

Charmed, I'm sure. The Draft Stormy Online Petition is here.

I know we're supposed to be moving on and all that, but I have to say that after eight years of closed door presidential politics, having a blogging administration is wonderful!

If you haven't been to the new Whitehouse.gov site, you must visit The Blog first. It's updated fairly frequently and with some great information that you might miss on your local newscast. You heard that Vice-President Biden is leading a taskforce on the middle class, right? But do you know what the goals are?

• Expanding education and lifelong training opportunities


• Improving work and family balance


• Restoring labor standards, including workplace safety


• Helping to protect middle-class and working-family incomes


• Protecting retirement security

On the issue of delaying the transition to digital television, the White House blogger titled their post, "A few more months of rabbit ears." This gig at Awearness is pretty cool, but the ultimate blogging job has to be at the White House blog.

Now, there are some flaws to the blog. There isn't a comment section. I know, I can only imagine what would happen if people could comment on President Obama's visit to Indiana. A few friends and I mused about the idea of a community.whitehouse.gov where citizens could set up their own blogs to send their ideas directly to the White House, comment on policy or policy hold-ups. Again, such a dream...

This administration will be far from perfect, but at least we'll be able to get the latest updates on our RSS reader as well as from Bob and Carol on the evening news.

The financial crisis might not be so devastating after all. For decades, Wall Street firms have descended on the nation's top schools around this time each year to pluck a new crop of brilliant, young minds to come and work for them. The students are 21 or 22, not yet holding their Bachelor's degrees, and no doubt a little overwhelmed by the prospect of planning for a future beyond the next semester.

Wall Street has long been an attractive option for such folks. Instead of playing out the age-old pattern of post-graduate malaise -- think Dustin Hoffman in what may be the best depiction of life after college ever, The Graduate -- they get to waltz right into Manhattan's priciest neighborhoods and start saving up for that house in the Hamptons before they're old enough to rent a car.

Or should I say, they got to do those things.

Now, many of these would-be Masters of the Universe are having to look elsewhere, or else they're choosing to out of a newfound aversion to joining the ranks of America's bedraggled finance industry.

And if Wall Street doesn't get these folks, someone else will, namely non-profits and smaller businesses that could benefit even more from their intelligence and their youthful energy. We might begin to see a more robust workforce across the board, from education to NGO work. Restaurants might begin recruiting people with serious business knowledge, and learn to stay afloat even during dire economic periods. In short, everything might get a little better.

[Image: Linuxerist for Wikimedia Commons]

I read this joke in a magazine back in the mid-1990s:

Q: What do we learn from the movies?
A: All black men are either Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman or Samuel L. Jackson.

I'll add my own answer: Judging by the movies alone, it's safe to say that all black lives are either sexual, comedic or historically epic. Almost never do we see anything else, and rarely does a film depict black people in roles typically played by whites. Don't black people in America also lead regular lives, fall in love, have jobs, buy homes, go to indie rock shows, and generally do a lot of things besides open barbershops, sell drugs, arrest criminals and Change the Course of History?

Yes, and a new film now playing at the IFC Center in New York does such a beautiful job of proving it that I can't recommend it enough. Medicine for Melancholy focuses on two young black people in San Francisco on the day following a one-night stand. They wake up without knowing each other's names, have the kind of awkward breakfast familiar to anyone who's been in that regrettable situation, and proceed to learn quite a lot about each other until the sun goes down again. It's a raw, honest portrait of life for twentysomethings in the big city.

But it's also much, much more than that. Medicine for Melancholy is a meditation on race and equality, disenfranchisement and identity, gentrification and the loss of diversity in our major cities. And not just racial diversity, either: one of the strongest scenes in the film depicts an actual meeting of housing rights advocates discussing the elimination of rent control in their city.

The cinema verite aesthetic of the film places you right there, allowing you to almost feel the warm San Francisco sun and smell the clean summer air as you bike down Market Street and sip espresso drinks in crowded cafes. You both watch and become part of the film, feel it wrap around you and whisk you away for a day, brilliantly distilled down to 90 minutes through some of the best filmmaking I've seen.

This is truly a little film that could, if only people will give it a chance. With just a brief run at IFC, not many will. But those who do will thank themselves for it, and will doubtless plead their friends to go see it, too.

Years after Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad brought droves of blacks north in search of freedom, a new generation of Southern blacks followed them, legally but not without great risk of a different sort. Known as the Great Migration, this movement consisted of 1.6 million blacks from the South hoping to find better work and compensation in prosperous Northern cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Pittsburgh. Some of this they found, but they also found that racism and bigotry were not confined to the southern cities they had just fled. Nevertheless, from 1910 until 1930 or 1940 (historians differ on the dates), the Great Migration marked the beginning of what would become the racially integrated patchwork of urban life we now take for granted.

There was a Second Great Migration from 1940 until 1970, which brought blacks from the Deep South to cities on the West Coast, largely for jobs in the defense industry. And in the latter part of the 20th Century, as urban centers in the North became more expensive and new opportunities cropped up in the South, a kind of reverse migration began, with millions of blacks returning to the cities of their forebears, such as Atlanta, Virginia Beach, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Today, blacks comprise 26.6 percent of the New York City population -- double the national percentage. The same is true in each of the major Northern cities listed above, and it goes without saying that if had not been for the Great Migration, each of these cities would have never developed the cultural richness that's defined them over the past century. We've still got a long way to go before equality in these cities is reached, but it's remarkable how far we've come in just 100 years.


Sundance Channel has started coupling Big Ideas for a Small Planet episodes. Gadgets most often go in your hand, and you go in buildings. Gadgets are to you as you are to buildings. This might be the logic for pairing these two episodes. Or maybe you want to build a good relationship with green gadgets to take care of the environment. No, you want to build green houses so that you can put green gadgets in them.

What do you think the intimate relationship between these episodes is?

Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Gadgets

This episode previews the technology, the products and innovators behind cutting-edge consumer gadgets that also help the planet. Featured segments include a look at circuit boards made from chicken feathers and shopping malls powered by the shoppers themselves.

Watch "Gadgets" Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 9pm, Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 4am, Wednesday, Feb. 11 at noon, Thursday, Feb. 12 at 6am, or Sunday, Feb. 15 at 8am.

Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Build



In this episode, a visionary architect works with clients to build their first "green" home; a designer demonstrates his real-life tree house made of growing tree trunks; and environmentally conscious ideas are introduced to low-income neighborhoods.

Watch "Build" Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 9:30pm, Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 4:30am
Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 12:30pm, Thursday, Feb. 12 at 6:30am, or Sunday, Feb. 15 at 8:30am.

Small groups of individuals working together can accomplish great things. Likewise, the government can enact legislation that can bring foundational changes in a society based on rule of law. Similarly, communities of faith can call congregations back to ideals on which we stand and beckon us to our roots so that the fruit we bear matches the seeds that were planted so long ago; but contrary to the popular but rapidly changing opinion, none of these gatherings can win the battles before us alone. It is only when we work in concert with one another instead of conducting our own symphonies of supposed busyness that we can bring all we have to the table that all might have an equal share of the world's misdistributed pie.

Contrary to what Paul writes in Romans 12, "we are many members but one body," our society has developed into a complex web of seldom crossing entities knowing less and less about the ones of which we are not a part - save the sound bites from Youtube, a forwarded email, and/or Fox News which suddenly make us resident experts on immigration, AIDS, climate change and the fundamentals of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

Despite sub-freezing temperatures, crowds turned out in huge numbers for the We Are One concert that kicked off President Barack Obama's inaugural celebration on January 18, 2009. People packed in around the foot of the Lincoln Memorial and along the Reflecting Pool. The thousands who didn't make it into the secured area gathered around the Washington Monument and watched the performance on several large Jumbotron screens.

What I found most remarkable about inauguration weekend was not so much the overwhelming number of people who descended on D.C. (though this was certainly memorable!), but rather the infectious tide of positive energy that rippled through the city. People were genuinely excited, optimistic, and happy, despite waiting for hours in the frigid cold just to stand on a postage stamp of grass and peer at a Jumbotron screen. Unbelievably, given the sheer number of people concentrated in such a small area, there were reportedly no inauguration-related arrests made all weekend. The vast majority of people took the long waits and crowded conditions in stride with a smile on their faces, just happy to be there and feel like they could claim even a very small part of such a momentous occasion.

Never before have Americans been more concerned with where their food is grown. In the past 30 years, a few restaurateurs have even become famous for their commitment to local farms, offering seasonal menus that not only taste great, because the ingredients are fresh and weren't shipped from 2,000 miles away, but that also help support the local economy.

Alice Waters, of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California; Danny Meyer, whose New York restaurants include the esteemed Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Cafe, and Tabla; and Laura and David Shea, who change the menu at their Park Slope eatery Applewood almost daily are among the elites in this growing family of local food enthusiasts.

Thanks to them, and to the farmers' markets that have cropped up across the country, interest in eating fresh foods from our proverbial back yards has extended to everyday shoppers too. With websites like LocalHarvest and the growth of specialty grocers like the Union Market in my neighborhood, we can learn about foods I'd certainly never heard of during my childhood in the Midwest, where supermarkets look more like airplane hangars than places to buy produce. Ramps, rutabaga, and kohlrabi are now among my favorite foods.

But eating locally year-round can be difficult in chilly climes like the Midwest and the Northeast. This video from Grist TV offers some pointers on how to keep the faith.

[Image: Ballard Sunday Farmers' Market in Seattle. Photo by Joe Mabel.]

I had to analyze this movie in German class back in high school. Apart from the confusion wrought by, at least for me at that time, a deafening, racing German language, the gist of the heroic story sure struck home. But if you don't care to improve your German skills or learn German at all, just watch the movie with subtitles. As you will predict from information given in the blurb below, this movie is disturbing and awe-inspiring at the same time.

Now regarded in Germany as a national heroine, in 1943 Sophie Scholl risked her life to distribute anti-Nazi leaflets among fellow students at Munich University. Filmmaker Marc Rothemund and writer Fred Breinersdorfer present a gripping, semi-documentary account of what happened when Scholl (played powerfully by Julia Jentsch), a member of the famed White Rose resistance movement, confronted a government that allowed no dissent. Moving and ultimately inspiring Sophie Scholl was nominated for an Oscar® award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Sophie Scholl - The Final Days airs on the Sundance Channel Friday, Feb. 6 at 4pm, Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7am, Sunday, Feb. 15 at 5pm, Wednesday, Feb. 18 at midnight and Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 7am.

I am sure by now everyone (who is anyone) has heard of Twitter (and hopefully you all know the Awearness Blog is on Twitter as well). The site has been around since 2006, but in 2008 it became more than just a virtual socializing tool when a group of Twitterers based in London decided to organize an event where the local Twitter community could socialize offline. They met the faces behind the avatars, enjoyed some entertainment, had a few drinks — the most inspiring part of this event was the tie-in with a food drive and fundraising effort for a local homeless charity.

The bulk of the event was organized in under two weeks — via Twitter, naturally — and utilized the talents and financial support of the local Twittersphere to make it happen. According to Twitter, around the world similar stories started appearing of local Twitter communities coming together and taking action for a great cause.

Based on this trend, Twestival was born — the vision was that if cities were able to collaborate on an international scale, but working from a local level, it could have a spectacular impact.

On February 12th, 175+ international cities will be hosting a Twestival to bring Twitter communities together in an effort to raise money for a charity near and dear to my heart, charity: water. Twestival is organized entirely by volunteers around the world and 100% of the money raised from these events will go directly to support charity: water projects. By rallying together globally, under short timescales, for a single aim on the same day, the Twestival hopes to bring awareness to the global water crisis.


Here is a video of Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water, speaking about Twestival.


You can support the Twestival efforts for charity: water by:

1. Attending one of the events detailed on the city sites listed on Twestival website.
2. Uploading or buying music at Twestival.fm.
3. Taking part in the t-shirt design competition.
4. Donating to charity: water.

I will be volunteering at the event here in NYC at M:2, and encourage everyone to get tickets! It should be a great time, and for a great cause — the headline act for the event will be Eclectic Method.

It was the toke heard round the world. Even Dr. Drew is drawing a distinction between full-blown marijuana addiction and the occasional recreational use. In an era of Ponzi scheming sociopaths and badly behaving bankers who have brought the global economic system to the edge of ruin it is hard to think of Michael Phelps, the Olympian swimmer, as Public Enemy Number One. In fact, the now iconic image went a long way in explaining why Phelps fiended after those 14,000 calories a day. To people of my generation -- and, frankly, to Boomers -- it is simply no big deal.

Phelps' corporate sponsors are not dropping the world-record holding swimmer over some spilled doobage. And why should they -- he is wearing their watch in the much-downloaded photo! The International Olympic Committee, aware of this singular athlete's vast potential social capital, has accepted Phelps' apology for the bong smoking. Has marijuana reform reached a tipping point? Or can we expect more of the same caviling over soft drug use by a consenting adult.

[Image: Gather.com]

Long before Spike Lee, John Singleton and Sidney Poitier, there was another black man in the movie business whose contribution made careers like those of the men named above possible. His name was Oscar Micheaux, an endlessly ambitious and prolific playwright, filmmaker, homesteader, publisher of books by black authors, and door-to-door salesman of those books.

Born in Metropolis, Illinois, in 1884, Micheaux moved to Kansas when he was a child, then to an all-white area in South Dakota, where he began farming. After a stint in Sioux City, Iowa, Micheaux settled in Chicago, which was a boom city in the movie industry then (many of Charlie Chaplin's first movies were made there). From Chicago, Micheaux would begin his filmmaking career, which included 44 features and brought fame to a handsome, strapping black actor named Paul Robeson.

Micheaux was a pioneer of what are now called "race films," movies with black actors and plots about black protagonists. One of his earliest films, Within Our Gates, was made to counter the racist depictions of blacks in the hugely successful Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith's first feature-length movie about reconstruction after the Civil War. How successful was that film? Think of Titanic, and you're still nowhere near it. Between 1915 and 1928, Birth of a Nation grossed $18 million -- adjusting for inflation, that's one pretty penny. Hard to believe now, for a movie featuring white actors in black face because Hollywood was too racist then to cast many real blacks in black roles, including the only "sympathetic" black character in the film, who is ultimately accused of raping a young white girl.

Micheaux's race films not only depicted blacks in a positive light and told the stories of their unlikely triumphs in a nation plagued by racism, they also inspired a generation of filmmakers to follow suit. White moviegoers were thus introduced to Lena Horne, Herb Jeffries and Bessie Smith on the big screen.

This clip is from the documentary Black Cinema: From Silent to Sound.

Snaking north along the Pacific coastline of Peru, the land begins to buckle and fold as we turn into the horizon. Mountains in the distance are like the aged hands of time, crinkled and warn in rugged beauty. The paved road becomes a gravel path as we ascend higher into the clouds. The air becomes thin and still we climb into a foggy haze. Potholes threaten to swallow what the dangling cliffs leave behind and still higher we rise.

Within the valley of these towering mountains lies the city of Huaraz; home to a people descended from a proud and ancient race. Their pre-Columbian ancestry has been dated to 1500 BC. These are people who hold within their eyes the wisdom of humanity lost in time. They possess the strength of the towering mountains, the serenity of the crystal clear lakes and the pain of long nights without food.

The American Family Association launched a boycott of PepsiCo in January for the company's longstanding support of gay rights. No surprise there -- the AFA makes a habit of trying to turn American consumers against corporations with progressive views on gay rights.

In the AFA's parlance, "PepsiCo has refused a request by AFA to remain neutral in the culture war. The company indicated that it will continue major financial support of homosexual organizations. AFA wrote Pepsi two times (on October 14 and October 29) requesting a meeting to discuss Pepsi's neutrality in the culture war. On November 17, AFA received a condescending letter (dated Nov. 7) from Paul Boykas, director, public policy, in which he refused to address Pepsi's support of the homosexual agenda."

To read more about the so-called "homosexual agenda" that the AFA is fighting tooth-and-nail, visit the association's website.

[Image:Michael Wall for Wikimedia Commons]

I could never be a doctor because I hate blood & needles. I'm a fainter. But give me a good "medical miracle" story and I'm all over it.

The latest story is of a baby born in the San Francisco area who has six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Now this isn't the first baby born with this "oddity," but the fact that all six appear to be totally functional makes it newsworthy.

This could be filed under the "what every pregnant woman has nightmares about," but rather it is presented as a feel good story. As a doctor in the story said, those extra functional fingers could mean he might be an amazing musician or a prolific typist. Of course, this is if he gets out of childhood with his sanity after all the name-calling he's gonna get. So I'm sending the parents lots of strength that they'll stand their ground about the extra digits. I love that, at least right now, his parents don't appear to want to remove the extra digits.

[Image: Drgnu23 for Wikimedia Commons]

It's hard to believe that Sid Vicious died 30 years ago today. If he were alive now, I wonder what Vicious -- born John Ritchie, in 1957 -- would have to say about the Bowery, where he played at the famed club CBGB's and bought heroin, home now to high-end condos and fancy restaurants. Or what about St. Mark's Place, in the East Village, where a Chipotle occupies a former punk boutique? An oxymoron, perhaps, but Search & Destroy was a destination for punk pilgrims from around the world.

A lot's changed in the past 30 years, and punk today isn't so much an ethos as a fashion statement. But in Sid's day, punk was pure politics: a bullish, anti-intellectual effort to thwart the whole system of capitalist society. That it ultimately became commodified, packaged, and sold to kids who weren't even born yet by the time Dead Kennedys front man Jello Biafra declared "Punk's not dead, it just deserves to die when it becomes another stale cartoon" in the song "Chickenshit Conformist" is the greatest irony of all.

I wonder what might have happened if Sid hadn't died. Would Johnny Rotten, who turned 53 on Saturday, have gone on to form PIL, and in 1996 offer his vocals to a commercial for Mountain Dew in a punkified version of "Route 66"? Or endorse something as banal as spreadable butter, as he does in the commercial below?

Everyone grows up in one way or another -- Facebook is teaching me that on a daily basis now -- but Sid Vicious remains embalmed in history as a perfect, uncorrupted, hardcore proponent of punk. And even though I've long grown out of my punk gear and can't tell you the last time I listened to my Sex Pistols or X-Ray Specs CDs, I take some comfort in that.

There's a wide range of notable programming today on the Sundance Channel. Here's a rundown of what's worth tuning in for:

Eco Documentaries Season 2: In the Pit
Mexican immigration has been a prominent issue in United States politics. On the human rights side, many are outraged by the mistreatment of illegal Mexican workers. This documentary follows Mexican construction workers as they toil on the infrastructure of a Mexico City highway. The injustice comes in with Mexico's lack of recognition for its own working class.

"Crane operators, masons and laborers in Mexico City -- largely anonymous to motorists who speed past them -- speak to the cameras about their lives, hopes and beliefs, and about their risky and often deadly profession. Rulfo's "absorbing" (New York Times) documentary won the Grand Jury Prize for World Documentary at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival."

Watch In the Pit on the Sundance Channel tonight at 7:30pm.

Black History Month isn't without its detractors. Plenty of good arguments can be made against designating a month to the millions of black Americans, when really, they should be honored as human beings year-round. "You're going to relegate my history to a month?" asked the actor Morgan Freeman on 60 Minutes in December, 2005. "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history."

But there's also the counter-argument, that if nothing else, each February we're a little more conscious of the tremendous strides made by blacks since they first arrived here, ingloriously, disenfranchised, enslaved.

This month we'll be posting a series of articles commemorating a few of the men and women whose achievements have helped this country -- and the world -- recognize that blacks are anything but 3/4 human.

This clip shows Jesse Owens's remarkable performance in the 1936 Olympics, held in Berlin so that Hitler could show off his city and prove the superiority of the Aryan race to the whole world. Owens bested his competition in four events, winning four gold medals and ruining Hitler's plan.

Even today, just months after Usain Bolt's electrifying races in Beijing, watching Owens run still inspires awe. That he also made a political statement makes this race, truly, one for the ages.