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I just supported Speak Out For Haiti! on @ThunderclapIt // @ijdh

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sources: [1] [2] [3] [4]

also an addendum to the hunger games slide, when they put out a casting call for the role of Katniss, they specifically asked for only caucasian actors to audition, which left out any possibility for any amazing PoC actors to have been discovered.

i hope this was informational and i didnt leave anything major out. if anything is wrong or needs to be updated, message me and i’l fix any fallacies!

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Do bikers make better drivers? Or at least less stressed out drivers?

Now blogging bi-weekly at the Twin Cites Daily Planet- check out my first post at this link!

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photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/samchills/

Today's read is a long one. I mean, feature story in the New York Times magazine kind of length. The kind I normally read while eating pancakes on a lazy Sunday morning. Except this story is unlikely to appear anywhere in the thick paper that appears on my door on Sunday mornings, because it's about how the author's experience as a Latina reporter working for the NY Times was impacted by race. While the Times is known as a liberal-leaning news source, it's still firmly controlled by white people. The author's story reads somewhat like an anthropological account of the place, as she tries to understand how to interact with the white (mostly) males in charge. This is the kind of perspective that I just love to read--when the anthropological lens is directed toward a sub-group or institution most white people like me would see as normal and not worthy of study because it is a part of our culture. I especially love it when the account is more of a narrative like this one. It is an excerpt from the author's book, which I will definitely be reading in full. 

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America is Not For Black People

Police violence against black men is a systemic issue. This article breaks it down for you: http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/america-is-not-for-black-people-1620169913

Michael Brown is not special. In all its specificity, the 18-year old's death remains just the most recent example of police officers killing unarmed black men.

Part of the reason we're seeing so many black men killed is that police officers are now best understood less as members of communities, dedicated to keeping peace within them, than as domestic soldiers. The drug war has long functioned as a full-employment act for arms dealers looking to sell every town and village in the country on the need for military-grade hardware, and 9/11 made things vastly worse, with local police departments throughout America grabbing for cash to better defend against any and all terrorist threats. War had reached our shores, we were told, and police officers needed weaponry to fight it.

...

If officers are soldiers, it follows that the neighborhoods they patrol are battlefields. And if they're working battlefields, it follows that the population is the enemy. And because of correlations, rooted in historical injustice, between crime and income and income and race, the enemy population will consist largely of people of color, and especially of black men. Throughout the country, police officers are capturing, imprisoning, and killing black males at a ridiculous clip, waging a very literal war on people like Michael Brown.

Being engaged to a black man, this article hits home. It's always in the back of my mind that my fiance could be the victim of police violence, just for how he looks, just walking down the street. That's a pretty scary thought.

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Nice MinnPost article about street harassment and how it affects women in our ability to walk/bike/bus. Last night I biked about 6 miles from South Minneapolis to Northeast Minneapolis, crossing through downtown and utilizing multiple bike paths. On my way home at night, I went along a bike path with some lighting, but also some darker spots. The entire time, I was watching for anyone standing on the path, aware of my vulnerability. Even though no one harassed me, my heart was beating hard the entire time and I biked as fast as I could, especially through those dark patches. I let my fiance know what time I was going to get home so that he would know if something happened to me on the way.

I imagine that men who bike alone don't go through this same experience, or take the same precautions.  We have to make the city feel safe for everyone, consistently, to get more people out of their cars and into active transportation.

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Success in Colorado: Providing Access to Birth Control

My home state, Colorado, has seen a huge drop in teen pregnancy since a wealthy donor made it possible for the state to provide 30,000 contraceptive impalants/IUDs at low cost or free to low-income women. Check out this article detailing the success in making contraception available to all who want it.

After presenting the data showing the success of the program, the article of course lets the anti-contraception spokespeople air their own opinions, and they have the most hilarious arguments. Despite the fact that the program has resulted in a 35% drop in teen abortions, pro-life advocates are still against it, claiming that providing contraception sends the message that you can "have all the sex you want...When you teach children that they’re animals — that they have evolved from pigs and dogs and apes — then they act like animals." 

Hilarious. Always good to have a laugh on a Tuesday.

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Are bike lanes key to economic development? This article argues that they are--because they appeal to people of my generation, the Millenials. Apparently we all want to live in cities with good biking infrastructure. I can say that's true for me-I pick my apartment locations based off what will be bikeable, over all other factors. Biking around the Twin Cities is a big part of why it's fun to live here. My friends expect to bike to social events, especially in the summer, and there are a lot of good bikes paths to get us where we want to go.

I've found bikes to be more flexible than other modes of transportation, as my friends and I can meet at a central point, find parking easily and for free, and then bike with each other home until our paths diverge. Biking becomes a fun, social activity in a way that driving is not. If we all had our own cars with us, we'd have to deal with parking, paying the meter, and gas. If we carpool, we have to put more energy into coordination of timing and one person bears the cost of using her car. If I'm on my bike, I can choose to stay with the group, or leave earlier or later. It's the clear winner, in my mind. Keep those bike lanes coming!

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Recovery

I just finished reading this incredible interview with David Campbell, a DJ on Minnesota Public Radio, about his alcoholism and addiction and his recovery process. Worth the read-provides a lot of insight into the psychology of addiction. A really brave, honest telling of his experience.

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2014/08/hello-im-david-c-and-im-an-alcoholic-and-an-addict-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-myself/?WT.mc_id=01a057b138fed0894167a8914e20bf86

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An American Jew on Israel

Here's a good Salon article written by an American Jew about her thoughts on Israel as she reads the news about the current conflict. A refreshing read that helps me remember the diversity of viewpoints within every religion.

http://www.salon.com/2014/07/26/israel_is_not_my_birthright/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

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Bill has three goldfish. He buys two more. How many dogs live in London?

That's how comedian Louis C.K. described his children's math problems. The so called "new math" has raised controversy among teachers, parents, students and politicians.

When I saw my little sister's homework, which asked her to take a seemingly simple subtraction problem and turn it into a big process, involving breaking numbers apart and adding them back together, I was dismayed by "new math" too. I had no clue how to help her.

However, reading this NY Times Magazine has changed my opinion, and made me much more informed about what's going on with those Common Core standards I've heard about. While those of us who were taught the old school way of math may be uncomfortable with the changes in how it's being taught, the fact is the new methods, done well, will be much more successful in getting kids to really understand math in a real-world way and challenge them to discuss and discover math, rather than memorizing formulas or multiplication tables.

Definitely a long read, but so worth it! See if it doesn't shift your perspective too. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html

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Read it and weep

Since this week is officially Best Week of Bragging about Minneapolis Ever, I feel this article is appropriate. My adopted state is just killin' it. Kicking other states to the curb. What is Minnesota so great at now? This time, it's not about our parks, bike friendliness, new marriage equality law, or awesome public radio station, it's about our carbon emissions. MN is leading the pack on energy efficiency and renewable energy, and we're making it look easy, too. Here's the NY Times article where you can read about our domination. Read it and weep. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/us/politics/without-much-straining-minnesota-reins-in-its-utilities-carbon-emissions.html?ref=earth

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Awesome street art! Check out pictures from all over the world here: http://themindunleashed.org/2014/06/28-pieces-street-art-cleverly-interact-surroundings.html

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Stop interrupting us!

Girls just talk and talk and talk, and boys use words sparingly, preferring to grunt unless speaking is absolutely necessary. Right? 

Not so.

The Huffington Post article highlights socialized male speech dominance-or how girls are held to stricter politeness standards while boys are encouraged to interrupt and inject their thoughts into the conversation. While the stereotype may be that women talk more than men, in reality men dominate women in the area of speech. In general, men's words are taken more seriously. How many times have I volunteered an idea at work or school and gotten no reaction, then heard a man say pretty much the same thing with an immediate response? Turns out, that's a widespread issue. Read on-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/10-words-every-girl-should-learn_b_5544203.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

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Cleaner air across the eastern U.S.

It's not often that I get to post good environmental news, but today I read something that is cause for celebration. NASA released images showing significant air pollution reductions across the eastern half of the U.S since 2005. Yay! At the link below you can watch a quick animation showing how levels of nitrogen dioxide have dropped between 2005 and 2011. I keep playing it over and over, watching the air pollution levels drop around Minneapolis. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/06/26/nasa-showcases-major-decline-in-air-pollution-over-d-c-i-95-corridor-since-2005/

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Closing the Cloud Factories: Shutting down coal in Chicago

Not so much an article as a short book, but it's accessible for free online. Closing the Cloud Factories follows the story of those who helped shut down two coal fired power plants in Chicago. "The coal plants could be considered responsible for 2,800 asthma attacks, 550 emergency room visits and 41 premature deaths among Chicagoans each year, with the impacts heavily concentrated among the surrounding neighborhoods." A must read. 

https://midwestenergynews.creatavist.com/closingthecloudfactories