Sister Helen Prejean continues to promote understanding of capital punishment

By |

It’s twenty years since Helen Prejean, CSJ, published Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. A decade after the book was published, a film adaptation was released starring Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. In recognition of the 20th Anniversary of publication of Dead Man Walking the book was re-issued with a preface by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and new afterwords by Prejean, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Continue Reading

All Hallow’s Eve – We have the Irish to thank!

By |

A few years back I tried to get in the spirit of Halloween;  my expressed goal was to escape the materialization of what was once an honored custom.  My strategy was to learn about the traditions that shape the ways we celebrate a day that must have had a life before the advent of flimsy (if fire repellent) costumes and nutritious (if yucky) candy.  Continue Reading

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks – What’s OUR stake?

By |

The first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind. Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world.”-Norman Borlaug

World Food Day 2013 was yesterday, October 16. Sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations the day sheds light on the global status and issues related 
to hunger. The World Food Day website (http://www.worldfooddayusa.org) serves as an excellent resource on the facts – statistics, organizations involved in reducing world hunger, events, background materials readily accessible to those who want to know more or to teach others. Focus of the day is on progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals to which 189 nations around the world agreed after the 2000 Millennium Summit. First among the eight agreed-upon goals was to “eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.” (http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/) Continue Reading

Open government vs. security – A question of balance

By |

Never since Agent Max Smart and his Cone of Silence have Americans been so enthralled with the complex world of secrecy. Snowden and Manning’s disgorging of NSA secrets has spawned a techie battle of the wits and a market flooded with encryption tools and snoop-repellent tricks. Just this week the HuffPost tells the market impact story. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/nsa-backlash_n_4092804.html) Assuming that the records of these troubled times are made public in time, Snowden and Manning will go down as espionage trendsetters. Continue Reading

University of Minnesota Press: Positioning the Press in an evolving “megacosm”

By |

Not only has the world changed – universities presses are used to that – but the cosmos has shifted, calling into question the place of presses not just in the university – again, a familiar dilemma – but in a far more diverse, fast-moving, and increasingly decentered system of scholarly communications. The issue at hand isn’t simply print vs. electronic nor even “Open” vs proprietary, copy-left vs. copy-right. These are economic and thus solvable problems. It is, to my mind, the emergence of more informal, iterative, and collaborative scholarly communications vs. formal, fixed, and author centered-literally: authorized-scholarly publishing. ~~ Doug Armato, Director of U of M Press. Continue Reading

Ideas + Collaboration = Solutions at CityCampMN and Hackathon

By |

If the mayhem in Our Nation’s Capitol does nothing else it does inspire one to face and possibly solve the problems right here at home – the little stuff that makes a difference in our daily lives, the sorts of challenges that people of good can and will work together to solve. Civic-minded activists who see the possibilities in technology should seize the chance to participate in these related projects set for Saturday-Sunday, November 9 and 10. Continue Reading

Passionate readers regroup during National Reading Group Month

By |

As autumn settles in and the world settles down, serious readers regroup. Passionate readers begin to hear the resonant voice of a debut author; they prowl the indie bookstores, comb the alternative media for book fairs and readings, check the library for what’s forthcoming in their genre-of-choice. Soon will come the crucial gathering of the minds when The Book Club will choose The Book, the tome that will ignite the group to delve into the syntax, symbolism and significance of a shared read. Continue Reading