Listening to: Foster The People "Houdini" (Live) , Damien Jurado "Ohio," Gillian Welch and David Rawlings "Miss Ohio," and Karen O "Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” (cover)

Image: source (the ever-awesome Mel Stringer)

"Award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa sat down with Presente.org to preview her upcoming PBS documentary Lost in Detention which highlights the broken immigration system under the Obama administration."

For Teen Offenders, Hope in a Jury of Their Peers: "Youth courts help keep minor offenders out of the juvenile justice system and offer more chances for a better future."

2011 National Book Award Finalists Announced

"Congratulations, Television! You Are Even Worse At Masculinity Than Femininity" by the awesome Linda Holmes.

“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness — and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe. The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling — their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.” - Arundhati Roy

Oh man, still SO GOOD.

Do ittttt: A Field Guide to Closing Your Bank Account: "The description and goal of Bank Transfer Day is straightforward: If you currently have checking and savings accounts (deposit accounts) with a big bank, the organizers encourage you to remove all of your funds, close your accounts, and place your money in a new deposit account with a not-for-profit credit union. The organizers ask that you do this by November 5."

Image: source.

NYTimes: A Judge’s Education, a Sentence at a Time

Women urge others to go public about abortions: "Harriett Hills Stinson, 85, a prominent member of the wealthy San Francisco family that founded Hills Bros. Coffee, says it took a push by GOP conservatives to cut funding for family planning and abortion services to move her to reveal a long-held personal secret: She once had an illegal abortion."

Currently reading: Orient Express by Graham Greene and Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell - both excellent so far.

Interview: For Salvadoran activist, it is necessary to change the development paradigm (translated by one of my beloved friends, Maggie Von Vogt)

Very cool! "The USDA People's Garden Initiative brings you this series of training sessions on a wide variety of horticultural and garden related topics. There is no charge for registration and all sessions are open to the public."

Um, feeling a little star struck - somehow the awesome comic artists I mentioned yesterday saw my shout out - and, as if that wasn't enough, they also suggested some other ladies to check out! Very cool suggestions included Sara Drake, Leslie Perrine, Lane Nelson, Olivia Horvath, and Cathy Johnson. Thanks for the tips, y'all

Incredible. Pitch perfect: Ira Glass Sex Tape: "To conjure the supporting characters, Joslin trolled NPR footage, splicing Gross from nine 'Fresh Air' episodes including interviews with Jay-Z, Gene Simmons, Woody Allen, a dominatrix of unknown provenance and Keith Richards. And Glass is the only invented character, voiced by Joslin in a dead-on impersonation that's a sure sign of a "This American Life" fanboy. So here it is. The only sex tape that might actually shock the nation, because it's fancy enough to have 'two acts.'"

Image: source.

Some more canning love, as the season draws to a close. (This week I'm eating some of the last of my gardens fresh bounty. I threw together a makeshift casserole - one layer polenta, one layer shredded yam, and then a mix of black beans, lots of poblanos from the garden mixed with more garden-fresh sweet bell peppers and a few spicy habaneros. And topped with pepper jack, of course. It turned out pretty well!)

LGBT Couples Facing Increased Immigration Tensions

Really loving all the amazing women comic artists on the interwebs that I'm slowly discovering, including Ramsey at Everyday Pants, Kim Gee, Liz Prince, and, most recently, Emilja Frances. Despite their stylistic and content differences, their work is all so real, so relatable, and so beautiful.

Image: source.

I'm trying to get back into running, slowly but surely. What has helped me (even though the reality that I was a marathoner a mere 5 months ago and now feel totally out of shape is daunting), is (a) remembering how great it is to run in fall weather and (b) remembering that this time last year I ran my first 10K (6mi) - EVER. And a within 6 months, I ran my first marathon. So it's possible. It's possible to become a runner, it's possible to get fit during the winter, it's possible to train your body to be healthier and happier. As part of my self-encouragement, I signed up for three races, since races always seemed to help motivate and challenge me in the past. Specifically, the Monster Dash 10K later this month, and the Pioneer Road Run 9mi and Turkey Trot 8mi in November.

Very hard to read. From Kristof in the NYTimes: In This Rape Center, the Patient Was 3: "Sexual violence is a public health crisis in much of the world, and women and girls ages 15 to 44 are more likely to be maimed or killed by men than by malaria, cancer, war or traffic accidents combined, according to a 2005 study."

Honduras, The Deadliest Place In The World For A Journalist: "Mini-documentary on the Honduran journalists that have watched 15 colleagues assassinated in 19 months under the Lobo regime, a government Barack Obama praises for its 'strong commitment to democracy'" s

Feminist Ryan Gosling (thanks MDR!)

The price of oppressing your women: "A recent Newsweek article listed the best and worst places to be a woman, and explained the disadvantages of oppression."

Image: source.

Camila Vallejo, Latin America's 23-year-old new revolutionary folk hero: "Chile has been engulfed by student protests – and their young leader has huge public support in her fight against the elite."

Check out the Move Your Money Project. I admit to being someone who has an account with a national bank (B of A, I curse your endless fees!), simply out of convenience. I've had it through moves to 4 different states, and multiple jobs. The convenience of having ATMs in various places, and the fact that my accounts are already linked to monthly bills/payments has made me hesitant to change to a local credit union...but this laziness is seeming like a pretty weak excuse, and I think it's time to explore other options.

Q&A: Jim Lommasson: The Portland photographer tells the story of Oregon’s Iraqi refugees.

“In this world of ours, a world of powerful centers and subjugated outposts, there is no wealth that must not be held in some suspicion.” - Eduardo Hughes Galeano

Utopia lies at the horizon.
When I draw nearer by two steps,
it retreats two steps.
If I proceed ten steps forward, it
swiftly slips ten steps ahead.
No matter how far I go, I can never reach it.
What, then, is the purpose of utopia?
It is to cause us to advance.

- Eduardo Hughes Galeano

image: source.

To be honest, I was having a hard time getting a handle on the Occupy Wall Street protests. I wasn't clear of the purpose - was it an action against capitalism? Against wealth and income disparity? What did the protestors want to see happen? I reached out to a few friends who have taken part and they all seemed to say that the purpose wasn't a clear platform of legislative change, but rather an act of public anger and suffering and defiance, a demand to be heard. I also found this article (Occupy Wallstreet: Generate Power) helpful and this website powerful (We Are The 99%).

Image: source.

Mmmm hmmm:The Bold Single Bride Who Married Herself: "Perhaps finding ways to strengthen our sense of self, before, during and after a romantic relationship, is the best path to true contentment, and doesn’t put the pressure of “making” us happy on a romantic partner."

Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S. Policy Project: "In the 1980s, popular movements in Central America attempted to democratize their societies and to direct a larger portion of each country's resources, in the form of food, housing, health care, and education, toward the well-being of the poor majority; at the same time the U.S. government, under the banner of peace, freedom, and democracy, sponsored wars that blocked local efforts for change. Two decades later, the poor of Central America continue to experience the effects of these wars and to struggle for basic subsistence with little hope that their children will have schools, health care, or even adequate nutrition. Many U.S. citizens still do not recognize the role the U.S. government played in stopping these movements towards democracy. From early 1985 through mid 1990, Paul Dix used his camera to document the effects of the U.S.-funded Contra War on the poor of Nicaragua. In 2002, from the thousands he had photographed, Paul selected approximately 100 Nicaraguans for follow-up."

‎"we know that the way we behave toward one another & toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe." source.

Great: a video from USAID's Feed the Future initiative and Matt Damon: The Important Role of Women in Feeding the World: "If we invest in tools, training, and tech for women farmers, we could see as much as a 30% increase in global food production. This means 150 million more people could have enough to eat each year."

Listening to: Florence + The Machine, Shake It Out, and Bon Iver, "With God on Our Side (Bob Dylan cover)"

Image: "“Freedom of Expression”. Lithograph, Adolfo Mexiac, done in 1968 for the Olympics held in Mexico City. Ten days prior to the festivities, over 300 student protestors were killed under the government of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, known as the Tlatelolco Massacre." source.

Love NUSL: Northeastern program will aid entrepreneurs on legal issues: "With a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce she is setting up a program at the Northeastern University School of Law that will provide free legal advice to small businesses while giving law students hands-on experience. The focus is on low-income and other underserved entrepreneurs, such immigrants who are in the startup phase or early years of their business." I know this has been a long time in the works, and I'm so excited for NUSL students and the clients they will be working with.

NYTimes: Crossing Over, and Over: "Migrant shelters along the Mexican border are filled with seasoned crossers: older men and women, often deportees, braving ever-greater risks to get back to their families in the United States — the country they consider home."

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces: "This witty and original film is about the open spaces of cities and why some of them work for people while others don't. Beginning at New York's Seagram Plaza, one of the most used open areas in the city, the film proceeds to analyze why this space is so popular and how other urban oases, both in New York and elsewhere, measure up. Based on direct observation of what people actually do, the film presents a remarkably engaging and informative tour of the urban landscape and looks at how it can be made more hospitable to those who live in it."

Image: source.

Thought Catalogue: Meet Your Perfect Match. This article was enough to push me into registering to be a bone marrow donor - so simple, and so potentially life-changing. Learn more here.

Companies Use Immigration Crackdown to Turn a Profit: "Still, Mr. Gibney and others say the pitfalls of outsourcing immigration enforcement have become evident in the past 15 years. 'When something goes wrong — a death, an escape — the government can blame it on a kind of market failure instead of an accountability failure,'. . . In the United States — with almost 400,000 annual detentions in 2010, up from 280,000 in 2005 — private companies now control nearly half of all detention beds, compared with only 8 percent in state and federal prisons, according to government figures."

My roomie's badass garden (at his parents house, a few blocks from our more humble abode) makes the local paper! Food and Family: 'Gardening is spiritual, physical, mental and emotional' for the Stout family

Find Mark: a Cycle Oregon volunteer has disappeared - if you are in the area, please stay on the look out for him, and spread the word: "Mark Bosworth was last seen by friends at the Cycle Oregon event in Riddle, Oregon on Friday, September 16th, around 11:00 p.m., near Riddle High School. His current whereabouts are unknown. Mr. Bosworth has recently been showing signs of disorientation and confusion. If anyone has contact with or sees Mark, please call your local authorities. If you may have seen Mark in the past or have information helpful to finding Mark, call the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at (541) 957-2099." A reward is offered.

Hard to watch, powerful: After War, From Wife to Caregiver: "April Marcum has joined a community of spouses, parents and partners who drop most everything in their lives to care for injured loved ones returning from war."

"Sheepless is a national web magazine designed to galvanize the radical small business movement, engaging with growing interests in cultivating local economies, understanding where goods come from, and nourishing our natural environment."

Image: Dr. Cornel West at the Occupy Wall Street protests earlier today. "If only the war on poverty was a real war then we would actually be putting money into it." Related: check out We Are The 99%.

Check out: Problems of Undocumented Youth, and think about some of the ways being undocumented affects peoples day to day lives.

Fourteen Examples of Racism in Criminal Justice System

The Food Movement: Its Power and Possibilities by Frances Moore Lappé

LGBT Deaths Plague Already-Murder-Ridden Honduras

Why immigrant rights are an LGBTQ Issue

Image: source.

On the mystery front, just finished reading Death At La Fenice (it was fine), just started reading Knots and Crosses.

“I actually attack the concept of happiness. The idea that - I don’t mind people being happy - but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really dangerous idea and has led to a contemporary disease in Western society, which is fear of sadness. It’s a really odd thing that we’re now seeing people saying 'write down 3 things that made you happy today before you go to sleep,' and 'cheer up,' and 'happiness is our birthright,' and so on. We’re kind of teaching our kids that happiness is the default position - it’s rubbish. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but they don’t teach us much. Everyone says we grow through pain and then as soon as they experience pain they say 'Quick! Move on! Cheer up!' I’d like just for a year to have a moratorium on the word 'happiness' and to replace it with the word 'wholeness.' Ask yourself, 'Is this contributing to my wholeness?' and if you’re having a bad day, it is.” - Hugh Mackay (source)

I don't know much about Elizabeth Warren but this is great.

I'm not a big theatre fan, but since moving home I've been making an effort to go see plays at OSF. This weekend I went with an out of town friend (hi Lauren!) to see Pirates of Penzance and it was so so fun. The play itself is sort of ridiculous but the staging was just so fun and energetic and enjoyable, it was a great experience. Almost all of the remaining shows are sold out but we went and waited in a short line for the box office to open the day of the play, and nabbed two good $20 tickets - if you're in the area, you should do the same.

Image: source.

10 Ways To Help Abolish The Death Penalty.

Added to the "to read" list: "High school is tough for almost every kid, but for new immigrants and refugees, it can be even harder. In The New Kids, journalist Brooke Hauser chronicles the lives of students enrolled in Brooklyn's International High School."

So interesting - definitely watch the video: My Family’s Experiment in Extreme Schooling. These kids are pretty impressive; definitely an argument for encouraging your kids to have challenging experiences, and to live abroad.