SUMMER UPDATE: Paul Krugman

So this past Monday I had the wonderful opportunity to go into Cambridge, where Paul Krugman and Tom Ashbrook (of NPR) were having a Q&A about Krugman's new book as well as his thoughts on the economy. For those of you who don't know Krugman, he is a Nobel Prize winning economist, author, and columnist for the New York Times.

The Harvard book store event took place in the nearby UU church

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the line to get seats was dozens long, and the entire chuch was packed by the time the event was set to begin. Krugman, one of the more outspoken voices against passivity in our current economic situation, drew greatly from the intellectual community around Harvard Square.

He reiterated many of the points he argues in his weekly columns, such as the need for greater stimulus and the comparison that must be drawn between austerity in the stuttering European economies and the moderate growth in the US economy (which received a stimulus that he called "not big enough").

Krugman's book, End this Depression Now!, is an attempt to persuade the voters in a dysfunctional political grid lock to support increased government spending rather than cuts to help reduce the deficit. According to Krugman, the economic crisis in the US is "easy" to fix, but progress is being single-handedly slowed by starkly polarized leaders and excessive fiscal conservatism.

School Year is Over

DISCLAIMER:

From this point on, I will be reporting on only my own awesome, political adventures, and not those directly tied to the school. Obviously this is because I won't be on campus all year, but still blog during the summer. So my posts that don't directly have to do with campus activities will be labeled "SUMMER UPDATE." Cool beans, glad we did this.

Green Up Joins 350

This past Saturday was 350's big Connect the Dots day of action, which took place all around the world. People sent in their images of climate change in their lives from countries from Uganda to New Zealand to Brazil and beyond. You can see more images HERE

We drove a couple of vans to Waitsfield, VT, where the crowd of people heard from farmers and non-profits. At the end of the day, we gathered together around a giant "dot" and had an aerial shot taken for the site.

 

We spent much of the day enjoying the weather and listening to speakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Bill McKibben. It seems like the best place to see adorable dogs outside the shelter is an environmental rally. Of course, Ben & Jerry's had it's truck with free icecream, and of course, I went about three times. The Solar Bus was present to show support for alternative energy, which of course went along with 350's goal of bringing CO2 levels in the atmosphere down to a safe 350ppm.

Inside the Solar Bus

McKibben working outside the Solar Bus

Vermont loves their rallies!

Free Ice Cream!

So...many...puppies

A Sobering Display Wraps Up SVA Month

 

Few issues affect our culture more than those of sexual violence, and that does not mean exclusively women. Everyone is at risk, and the Center for Women & Gender wants you to be aware and active!

April is Sexual Violence Awareness month in the US, and the Burlington area of Vermont has been alive with activity, from the Dismantling Rape Culture Conference at UVM to the Take Back the Night rally in town.

The Gender Center has been tabling outside in the lawn in front of the Chapel with fellow gender groups RU12? (LGBT community group) and H.O.P.E. Works (sexual violence crisis group).

As I type this, I'm sitting with Julia who runs the Center for Women and Gender. We are maintaining the table so that passing students can stop and get information about resources and support. "I'm looking forward to doing more sexual violence prevention education," says Julia, who in the past year has helped bring the Center to the forefront of activism and support on campus.


Messages from survivors of sexual violence are written on shirts hung on lines strung between trees.

"I love and support you. I am here 4 you"

"When I go jogging, I shouldn't have to run for my life"

"Remember it is not your fault. You are not alone. You are not bad."

The messages are strong, melancholy, vicious, hateful, scared, loving, longing, and inspiring. People from all walks of life can be harmed at any time, and as the shirts make clear, many don't fully recover. 


This post may seem more of a downer than most, but as I sit here I am acutely aware that the unspoken crimes happen everywhere--on our campus and on every campuses, as well as in the "real world." The message of these groups is one of support, but also one that suggests perhaps the debate is somewhat misguided. Perhaps, we should focus less on telling potential victims how to be more careful, and focus more on teaching potential victimizers that what they do causes irreparable harm. Instead of sending your child out at night with a whistle, you should send them out with the wisdom that no sexual crime is worth committing. 

HOLY SHIfT IS OUT!

If you are on campus in the next week or two, pick one up as see what St. Mike's students care about!

Volume 1, Issue 3

May Day Occupy @ St. Mike's?

"The 99% Spring is Coming"

It would seem that some stray Occupiers have taken to the rooftops (literally), decorating the windows of Alliot's dining hall with pro-Occupy writings. Most of them focused around the coming MAY DAY, which, according to many Occupy media outlets and websites is the day when the 99% are meant to go on strike.

The idea is that the 1% cannot function as a dominant economic force without the rest of America, so Occupy has called for a "General Strike" on May 1st. "No School, No Work, No Banking, No Shopping," reads another window. If, the logic goes, most people refused to go to work and school and similarly boycotted shopping and banking, transactions would slow or stop. This is of course not meant to harm the economy, but to show that the massive majority of people being harmed by economic struggle have the massive majority of the power in the economy, they just have to realize it.

No obvious night prowler has emerged as having done the soft-core window painting (it is clearly not spray paint, for those who may be worried), but many students are interested in economic justice, equality, and government regulation. Groups such as Democracy Matters, SLAM, and Peace & Justice have shown interest in such issues, whether they support the May Day General Strike or not.

I cannot of course encourage anyone to participate in May Day activities via the blog, but if you are interested in exploring the message, find the link to the May Day page HERE

HOLY SHIfT Preview!

We've worked overtime to get the third issue of HOLY SHIfT out before finals, and it looks like after much struggle, we've done it. This morning I gave the files to the printer, and he says it is possible the issues will be in by the end of the week! If you're on campus visiting, be sure to check it out!

Now, this third issue is special because it has an exclusive story about the Saint Michael's staff and their efforts to unionize, written by our very own Student Labor Action Movement. I won't reveal much more, but know that this issue has been a long time in the making, and has a variety of issues and interests covered. Get pumped!

Big Names in Burlington

Tonight I had the pleasure of seeing Dan Savage talk about his It Get's Better Project at UVM. Normally I would be skeptical of him because despite being a prominent activist, he sometimes says things that I find to be inappropriate (as in bigoted, not just offensive). But, there I was, driving to UVM with four other members of Common Ground, not knowing what to expect.

And I could hardly have been happier. He was a spectacular speaker, and conveyed the most captivating mixture of humor, horror, and empathy. His honesty was sometimes shocking, and probably a testament to the fact that he makes his living as a men's sexual health columnist. He spoke about the creation of the project, the stories he had heard, the lives saved and lives lost, and his own history. He grew up in an ultra-catholic family and had his opinions on religion, Christianity, and those he calls fake Christians, such as the figure who runs the Family Research Council.

Savage in UVM's Chapel

Savage was the keynote speaker for UVM's LGBT month, which included several events to go along with Sexual Violence Awareness month. Other groups Savage encouraged listeners to support included The Trevor Project and GLESN.

Earth Fest: A Journey

Today was just about the best day ever. That's right, it was Green Up's annual Earth Fest. We had been planning it for months, and so it was great when Friday rolled around and we were pulling the last pieces together. We tie-dye'd shirts for the GU members (adventurous Friday pictured below), and then gathered most of the food.

Karri & Piper, two of SMC's most prominent artists

When I woke up this morning and got my mega-cool shirt on, it was time to get everything together, which mostly included gathering the food in the Ross Sports Center. Since we were letting people make smoothies via riding a geared-up bicycle, there needed to be a lot of fruit. As members of a non-hierarchical club, we of course all had to stuff our fridges with food.

so...much...fruit...

Buuut...put to good use (Lauren, the boss)

And thus the day had begun! We arrived at our location in Ross around 11 and worked until people started arriving at 2:30. We helped the Ben & Jerry's workers set up their serving area, helped the band unload their sound system, set up the grills, smoothie bike and food, and the tie-dye station. We placed Green Up stuff all around the room so people could see what campaigns we had going (Bottle Free SMC!) and grab stickers. We also had to prep basically all the food.

We go classy on the cheese

Then came the floods. I was not the only one doing excessive amounts of advertising, but I didn't expect the throngs of people to descend on us so fast.

Nice work Dom!

Eating vegi-burgers = smallest line

One of the biggest draws is always, of course, the free Ben & Jerry's. We had two awesome scoopers come for the day and produce a constant flow of ice cream for lines that were dozens and dozens of people long. As one Green Upper said, "It's the best because you can just get back in line over and over again!"

I went up 6 times. 6 beautiful times.

And of course, the band that performed, Mission South, was wicked awesome. They played an interesting combination of rock, blues, and a medley of pop songs in country/rock form. It was the most beautiful Hanna Montana cover I had ever heard. As a musician, it was great to see how much people appreciated them. Their email sign-up sheet was several pages deep with St. Mike's kids. And it as awesome of them to come up to Vermont all the way from Washington D.C.

Rockin' it, Green Up style

 As the day ended, and the band left, and Green Up cleaned up Ross, I was pretty satisfied with life. It was just the best day ever, and I try hard not to speak in superlatives when I don't mean them. What was great was feeling a truly positive vibe surrounding activism, because so much of activism concerns the worst things happening in the world. We had a great time, but we did it with local food, organic cotton, and a smoothie bike. That's just the best sort of time!

Oh, and if this Sunday needed a cherry on top (ha!), I won the raffle for the Outdoor Gear Exchange, and snagged this sweet backpack. Double win!

 

CHECK OUT THE NEW TAB ^ ^ ^

Hey everyone! Just made a new page for the blog about the SOCIAL JUSTICE CLUBS on campus! Just click above on the "Campus Clubs / Organizations" tab and see what you might be interested in! Feel free to ask any questions!

Gender Issues Matter @ SMC

Tonight was Take Back The Night, a rally in Burlington that called for an end to sexual violence against all people. This event happened in cities all over the country as a we approach the middle of Sexual Violence Awareness month.

A group of us met in the Center for Women and Gender (on campus) to collect our posters and then took a van to UVM. There we heard performances by two a capella groups and listened to several speakers. We marched from the theatre to the center of Church Street, where we entered the town hall for a story sharing event run by HOPE Works, the local rape crisis center.

The march reaches city hall

All in all, it was a sobering but important event. It was great so see such a mix of genders there, and the sort of respect between people was tangible. I plan to do some activities with the Gender Center later this month that involve educational campaigns relating to sexual violence. There's still plenty of days left in April, time to make it count!

LZ Granderson In The Common Ground Family

After a stressful rescheduling, the prominent journalist/activist/all around awesome guy LZ Granderson came to Saint Mike's for 24 hours of engagement and activity on March 28th. He didn't just give a lecture to a packed McCarthy ("Dare You To Move"). He attended meals with faculty and students, gave talks in several journalism classes, and spent the night in Burlington with the E-board of Common Ground. The larger population of Common Ground was lucky enough to attend the pre-lecture dinner with LZ and meet him in person.

Common Ground Crew with LZ

I can say that in all honesty I have never met a more down to Earth celebrity (if one would call him that). He could have done what most visiting speakers do and spent his free time in his hotel or eating food on the club budget. But he insisted that we fit as much activity into his time in Vermont as possible. As he said to Mark, Common Ground's adviser, "I'm here for the students."

His lecture had many layers and was a mix of his own experiences and excerpts from articles he had written for CNN and ESPN. He covered LGBT rights, sports, the Trayvon Martin shooting, passion, and sexual stereotypes in his 1.5+ hour talk. He spoke about life as an openly gay sports writer, a black man, a partner and father, a Christian and an ex-youth pastor, and a person who always tried to love rather than hate.

I had the good fortune of going to the famous breakfast restaurant Sneakers (in Winooski) with LZ and some members of CG. Seeing the personal side of someone who is definitely successful enough to sleep in on a Thursday morning instead of getting up early to hang our with some college kids was a fantastic experience.

I took a lot away from my experience with LZ. One particularly relevant thing he said to us was his advice for aspiring journalists and writers: "Just write."




PS: You can check out the CCTV video of LZ's visit here.

Exploring My Utah Service Adventure

During the last week of Winter break, I went on a trip to Utah through the Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts (MOVE) group on campus. Along with 8 other students and an RD, I flew to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, where homeless and abused animals from all over the country come to be rehabilitated and cared for.

I was fortunate enough to have my trip paid for by the MOVE office through the "How Are You MOVE'd?" scholarship. Today was the presentation required of every recipient, where someone from each trip gave a mixed media presentation on how they felt affected by the experience. I chose to speak about the truly incredible depth I saw in animals that I had previously not understood, such as with birds who use tools or harm themselves physically after severe trauma. I spoke about the so-called "invisible dogs," those who are so psychologically harmed from spending years in puppy mills (essentially dog factories), they want nothing more than to be invisible.

It seems that anywhere you look, you can find a cause worth fighting for.