Several years ago, my family and I traveled to the United Republic of Tanzania, that magnificent country in east Africa. The trip was proposed by my cousin and her husband while they were training nurses in Uganda. They planned to hike Mount Kilimanjaro and safari the Serengeti before traveling back to the States and invited […]
August 8, 2013 By
Not Your Mother’s Mediation
I enjoy mediation. I think the artist’s position is often to mend the things we feel are broken. Whether that’s between two cultures or two thoughts. We’re always trying to reach, trying to expand something. —Singer/Poet K’naan For decades, great minds have been exploring ways to use mediation techniques to heal ailing institutions, faltering companies and […]
June 6, 2013 By
Design your Mind
Conscious Consumerism. Ethical Consumption. Fair Trade. All are powerful ideas. They are goals toward which many of us strive. We intend to make responsible consumer decisions, but we struggle to decipher irresponsible corporations from those we can trust. We work to reduce our carbon footprint but the jungle of global capitalism is difficult to navigate. We […]
May 23, 2013 By
Homefulness: A Landless People’s Movement
“Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.” Jean-Paul Sartre Guest blogger Soheil Rezayazdi reminded us several weeks ago that there are more New Yorkers without a home today than at any other moment in recorded history. Soheil and his coalition, United to End Homelessness, are focused on making homelessness a prominent issue in New […]
May 3, 2013 By
Workers Unite! Film Festival
This week, New York City rang in May Day through a series of demonstrations and events. Now you can continue the celebration of Global Labor Solidarity by attending the second annual Workers Unite! Film Festival, which runs May 10th through 17th at several locations in downtown Manhattan. The festival brings together worker voices from around […]
April 18, 2013 By
7Upper: Writing from Rikers Island, EMTC, Through the Fortune Society
Even the Stars Look Lonesome -Maya Angelou When Patrick Mathieu conceived of 7Upper: Writing from Rikers Island, EMTC Through the Fortune Society, he imagined a collection that would share with readers some of the magic that he has experienced over the years. Many moons ago, due to a misidentification, Mathieu found himself locked up on […]
April 16, 2013 By
#not1more
Tens of thousands of immigrants moved into Capitol Hill last week. With labor and civil rights organizations standing beside them, they called for humane reform of immigration laws and a path for citizenship for 11 million residents who are undocumented. New York activist Katherine Tabares urged the crowd: I want you to look around to […]
March 28, 2013 By
Equality Exhaustion
Social media exploded this week with a brilliant display of support for marriage equality. Red and pink equal signs abound. But some express frustration toward this movement. They worry that the gesture’s simplicity undermines the serious work being done to dismantle an exclusionary institution. They want our virtual support for human rights to translate into […]
March 14, 2013 By
Whole Foods and Living Wage
The Huffington Post has reported that Costco‘s profits jumped over $100 million dollars less than a week after its CEO Craig Jelinek pronounced publicly that he supported proposals to increase the minimum wage. This result brings into question most of what we have been taught about the ways in which bottom lines and worker salaries coexist. […]
February 21, 2013 By
Film Review: The House I Live In
My best friend is a death penalty attorney in Colorado. That means that the federal government pays her to provide criminal defense services to human beings who are on death row. In turn, she works to prevent the federal government from killing her client. It doesn’t make very much sense, but that is what she […]
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