Happiness at Work

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On-site exercise equipment. Paid volunteer time. A wall of baking tools you can borrow. These may sound like the perks some flush tech companies extend to their engineers.

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Parents: Raise Your Children to be Artists and Entrepreneurs

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From the book, Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz:That is the great question about bureaucracies. Why are the best people so often mired in the middle, while nonentities become the leaders? Because what gets you up the ladder isn’t excellence: it is a talent for maneuvering. Kissing up to the people above you, kicking down to the people below you. Being smooth at cocktail parties, playing office politics, picking a powerful mentor and riding his coattails until it’s time to stab him in the back. Continue Reading

Solidarity is not a Crime. Response to Rowley Sarfehjooy Article

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 As members of an organization committed to peace and justice, the Minnesota Committee in Solidarity with the People of Syria (CISPOS), it was disheartening for us to see an article in Huffington Post that falsely alleges that we are working “in sync with neocon warhawks to produce and sustain a perpetual state of U.S. war.” Coleen Rowley and Margaret Sarfehjooy’s article “Selling ‘Peace Groups’ on US-Led Wars” does not provide insightful analysis and is constructed on unfounded claims.The article is fallout from the widespread controversy in the peace movement over how to respond to the brutal war in Syria.Many anti-war pundits and activists have bought into U.S. propaganda that the U.S. is actively supporting the Syrian rebels to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria. They point to the 1997 Project for a New American Century plan for regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. They believed Hillary Clinton in 2012 when she said the Assad regime must go and that the international community stands with the Syrian people.  In fact…the U.S. has given very little training, small weapons, and funds to very few rebel groups.  Congress recently dropped $300 million for the Syrian rebels from the defense bill, almost completely cutting what the Syrian opposition already saw as paltry support from the U.S.  On the other hand, the CIA has long had a working relationship with Assad, sending him numerous terrorist suspects to torture as part of their rendition program. Assad has provided Israel with a secure border.Talk with Syrians and you’ll learn that U.S. aid was never enough to counter Assad’s MiGs, attack helicopters, Scud missiles, heavy tanks, chemical weapons. They repeatedly state that the U.S. bombing of ISIS has helped Assad – the bombing has sometimes targeted groups aligned with anti-Assad forces and never hit the regime. Continue Reading

EMERGE Career and Technology Center Grand Opening Success

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Over 400 people celebrated the Grand Opening of the EMERGE Career and Technology Center (ECTC) on Thursday, January 22nd. Hands-on demonstrations in EMERGE training rooms were popular, and it was standing-room only for the 5 pm program. The ECTC is critical to EMERGE’s mission of helping people maximize their potential and launch careers. In addition to housing Leadership and Development teams, these are the activities and teams that will be housed in the ECTC:Computer literacy training will help close the ‘digital divide’ between people who are computer literate and those who are not. An open access computer lab on the lower level will allow community members to practice skills, search jobs online, create resumes, and otherwise use computers, particularly for purposes of seeking employment.Industry-specific workforce training will be delivered in training labs on the lower level, which will house EMERGE’s training department. EMERGE’s youth programs, focused on education and employment, will be housed on the upper floor. EMERGE is committed to providing quality, paid work experiences to youth who would otherwise not have employment opportunities.Designed to be a clearing house of partnerships, three key, initial partners will be onsite:Hennepin Technical College (HTC) will base an auxiliary campus in the center, with a manufacturing assessment lab in one of the three training rooms on the lower level.Minnesota Computers for the Schools will staff a new satellite site in the ECTC providing a variety of IT-related trainings for youth and adults.Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON) will provide entrepreneurial workshops and trainings.A highlight of the evening was closing speech by Lydia Johnson, former EMERGE participant. Said Lydia, “Education and jobs can break the cycle. When one person makes it, other people start to believe. Continue Reading

Student documentary explores media portrayals of women

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This documentary explores how the media portrays women and how that affects how women see themselves. It specifically links media portrayals with body issues and eating disorders in women. Through interviews with students and professionals, the video dives into the root of the issue to discuss how everyone can work to lessen the impact of these media portrayals.This video was directed by Alaina, Maddie, Morgan and Taylor in the VOICES class of 2014-2015. VOICES stands for Values, Options, Issues and Choices Explored in Society. Students in the VOICES class create social issue documentaries with the guidance of teachers Delainia Haug and Laura Lanik and Teaching Artist/videomaker John Akre. Continue Reading

DEWATERING the CHAIN of LAKES: Can Calhoun Recover?

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The federal funding formula for the proposed Southwest LRT could require almost a billion in Minnesota money. Met Council and Hennepin County Commission estimates assumed a 50-50 split in the $1.65-billion-plus projected budget. However the new recipe looks more like 40-percent federal money, 60-percent state and local.The long-planned but constantly morphing SWLRT, with a “shallow” tunnel in the Chain of Lakes corridor, is the priciest public works project ever proposed in Minnesota. According to Met Council studies the cut-and-cover tunnel plan would dewater about 24,000 gallons of groundwater per day between Cedar, Lake of the Isles and Calhoun. Now a new plan for a “push through” tunnel is being researched but the Environmental Impact Statement is incomplete. Continue Reading

Teen Pregnancy Center keeps young mothers in school

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The TAPPP, Teen Age Pregnancy and Parenting Program, is in three of the seven major public high schools in Minneapolis. The program supports teen mothers so they can continue their education.This video was directed by Shannon, Sam, Mai Lia and Lucy in the South High VOICES class of 2014-2015. VOICES stands for Values, Options, Issues and Choices Explored in Society. Students in the VOICES class create social issue documentaries with the guidance of teachers Delainia Haug and Laura Lanik and Teaching Artist/videomaker John Akre. To see all of this year’s VOICES documentaries, visit http://johnakre.com/teachingartist/voices/voices14.html. Continue Reading