Ever noticed how sometimes a new pair of Nikes feels a little… sticky? Maybe your Forever 21 shirt smells a little like… sweat? Surely enough, your merchandise is tainted with the blood, sweat, and tears of many illegal immigrants, children, and workers overseas who get paid wages insufficient to meet their basic needs. They are not allowed to organize independent unions, while simultaneously facing health and safety hazards on a daily basis.
The main takeaway from the School of Public Affairs’ Political Theory Institute’s “Whither American Education?” inaugural conference: there’s plenty to be done in the field of education.
The conference focused on the goals, means and outcomes of education today, and explicitly noted different ways that this was possible.
D.C. bursts into pink clouds of petals once a year, thanks to Japan’s gift of 3,000 trees in 1912.
“Cherry blossoms are the symbol of Japan, so seeing them in full bloom in front of the Japanese embassy and downtown makes me feel incredibly proud,” said Japanese-American Ellie Yanagisawa, a sophomore at AU.
Two starkly different religious perspectives will congregate in DC this weekend, as the Rally for Religious Freedom and the Reason Rally will set up shop on Friday and Saturday afternoon, respectively.
More than 600 colleges in the United States ban smokers from lighting up on university grounds — and some administrators and members of the student body think AU should become a smoke-free campus as well.
The thorny issue of students smoking on campus is not unfamiliar territory for the administration. The school banned lighting up in the Tavern way back in 1998 (wait, you mean people used to smoke inside?) and stomped out smoking in and around residence halls back in 2003. The prospect of a campus sans cigarettes has faded in and out of debate since 2007.
AU came close to a smoking ban in 2008, when a bill to enact new guidelines on limiting smoking on campus made its way before Student Government; the bill passed the senate despite a veto from SG President Joe Vidulich. At the same time as the kerfuffle over smoking shuffled through SG, the University President’s council began investigating the feasibility of a campus smoking ban.
I remember watching Invisible Children for the first time as a freshman in high school; my mom picked me up from school after the screening, and I remember exclaiming to her, “Look!
More than twenty years ago, I read a study of junior high school students in Rhode Island that included one finding I’ve never been able to get out of my head.
Miss Representation, a documentary on the media’s misrepresentation of women, came to AU on Thursday as part of the React to Film College Action Network.
Written, directed and produced by actress and activist Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film explores how the exploitation of women in mainstream media directly contributes to the under-representation of women in government and other positions of power in America.
Bits of journalism and current events collected by AWOL editors.New York Magazine -- "The Kids Are Actually Sort of Alright": Noreen Malone on how the twentysomethings are making do in the recession of their generation.
SONG OF THE DAY courtesy of the Occupy Wall Street drummers -- and how their beats may be the loudest debate of the protests (via NPR).
The Washington Post says IBM just named its first female CEO.
The Economist -- "The Hypocrisy and the West: When to Celebrate a Death": "The assassination in Pakistan in May of Osama bin Laden, without the Pakistani government’s knowledge, let alone permission, and the Western-backed onslaught on Sirte which culminated in the death of Qaddafi leave an impression of double standards."
TBD: How the Occupy protests have spread to universities.
From The Chronicle -- The possible consequences of Mississippi's "Personhood Amendment, and why it's not just about abortion.
And finally: What is the Herman Cain campaign smoking?
EVENTS
The return of the Washington Psychotronic Film Society: The group that brings the weird, bizarre and unacknowledged films to Washington is back in full force with a free "Halloweenathon" at McFadden's in Foggy Bottom.
