February 28, 2005
Weep for the children
Weep for the language, weep for the future of our land.Found in my classroom while i was proctoring my exam. Yes, folks, this is a college student.
February 23, 2005
Petition: marketing Food to Children
Major food companies, such as Kraft, Kellogg's and General Mills, have joined with the advertising industry to form the Alliance for American Advertising, a lobbying group "to defend the right to advertise to children."In response, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has drafted a Statement on the Rights of Children, Families, and Food Marketers. The statement has already been endorsed by leading experts in child development, nutrition, and public health, as well as more than 40 organizations that advocate for children.
Please take a moment to add your name to the statement. Go to http://www.commercialexploitation.org/actions/statementonrights.htm and join the growing alliance of those who value children more than the bottom line.
The statement will be sent your representatives. It is important that we gather as many signatures as possible to demonstrate the strength of our movement. Please forward to concerned friends, family members, as well as relevant organizations and listservs.
In response to the growing call for restrictions on marketing to children, major food companies, such as Kraft, Kellogg's and General Mills, have joined with the advertising industry to form the Alliance for American Advertising, a lobbying group "to defend the right to advertise to children."It is alarming that, in the face of mounting evidence of harm associated with advertising to children, industry leaders are choosing to emphasize their rights without a commensurate focus on their responsibilities.
There is no absolute right to advertise to children. Children, as both common sense and the law recognize, deserve special protections because of their developmental vulnerabilities.
Children are bombarded with marketing every waking moment. Marketing is a factor in childhood obesity, eating disorders, and a wide range of other ills affecting children.
We believe that children have the right to grow up in a safe and healthy environment; that parents have the right to raise their children without being undermined by corporate marketers; that schools, communities, and nations, if they deem it necessary, have the right to restrict commercial access to children. Marketers do not have the right to exploit children for profit.
Advertisers and the marketing industry should focus on their responsibilities to children. We call on them to dissolve the Alliance for American Advertising and we pledge to step up our efforts on behalf of those who value children more than the bottom line.
To sign the statement, please visit http://www.commercialexploitation.org/actions/statementonrights.htm
Children and Media Event
CCFC’s 4th Annual Summit Consuming Kids: How Marketing Undermines Children’s Health, Values & Behavior
Howard University, Blackburn Center, Washington, DC
March 11-13, 2005
Register today at http://www.commercialexploitation.org/events.htm
Special rate for students; scholarships available.
Never before have so many activists and scholars gathered to discuss the commercialization of childhood . . . and what can be done to stop it. Do not miss this unique opportunity!
Moderated by Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint. Presentations include:
Sacrificing Development for Dollars: The Corruption of Child's Play Michael Brody · Gun Play and Greed: The Marketing of Violence to Children Nancy Carlsson Paige · So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualization of Childhood in the Commercial Culture Diane Levin · How Consumer Culture Undermines Children's Well-Being: Evidence from a Survey of 10-13 year olds Juliet Schor · Life Lessons from Marketing: If Values are Right, than What's Left? Susan Linn · Government: Hand-Maiden of Commercial Exploitation of Children . . . And What To Do About It Rep. Sean Faircloth · Promising Approaches for Reducing Junk Food Marketing to Children Margo Wootan · Protecting Children and Free Speech Angela Campbell · Youth of Color: Commercialism's Challenges to Health and Wellbeing Velma Lapoint, and Carlota Ocampo · The 90-Minute Commercial: Using Feature Films to Sell to Kids Nell “The Movie Mom” Minow · Children in Poverty: A Target for Food Marketing Fern Gale Estrow · Building Resilience to Consumer Culture through Community Involvement Tim Kasser · Safeguarding Children in the Digital Marketplace Kathryn Montgomery · Hidden (In Plain Sight) Persuaders Rob Walker · Kid Can Make a Difference Larry Levine
Plus presentations and workshops by Jeff Chester · Enola Aird · Joan Almon · Patti Miller · Rob Williams · Frank Vespe · Makani Themba-Nixon · CCFC – Quad Cities
And a special screening of Jean Kilbourne’s Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies & Alcohol
Seating is limited. Register today at http://www.commercialexploitation.org/events.htm
More in link
March 11-13, 2005
Register today at http://www.commercialexploitation.org/events.htm
Special rate for students; scholarships available.
Never before have so many activists and scholars gathered to discuss the commercialization of childhood . . . and what can be done to stop it. Do not miss this unique opportunity!
Moderated by Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint. Presentations include:
Sacrificing Development for Dollars: The Corruption of Child's Play Michael Brody · Gun Play and Greed: The Marketing of Violence to Children Nancy Carlsson Paige · So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualization of Childhood in the Commercial Culture Diane Levin · How Consumer Culture Undermines Children's Well-Being: Evidence from a Survey of 10-13 year olds Juliet Schor · Life Lessons from Marketing: If Values are Right, than What's Left? Susan Linn · Government: Hand-Maiden of Commercial Exploitation of Children . . . And What To Do About It Rep. Sean Faircloth · Promising Approaches for Reducing Junk Food Marketing to Children Margo Wootan · Protecting Children and Free Speech Angela Campbell · Youth of Color: Commercialism's Challenges to Health and Wellbeing Velma Lapoint, and Carlota Ocampo · The 90-Minute Commercial: Using Feature Films to Sell to Kids Nell “The Movie Mom” Minow · Children in Poverty: A Target for Food Marketing Fern Gale Estrow · Building Resilience to Consumer Culture through Community Involvement Tim Kasser · Safeguarding Children in the Digital Marketplace Kathryn Montgomery · Hidden (In Plain Sight) Persuaders Rob Walker · Kid Can Make a Difference Larry Levine
Plus presentations and workshops by Jeff Chester · Enola Aird · Joan Almon · Patti Miller · Rob Williams · Frank Vespe · Makani Themba-Nixon · CCFC – Quad Cities
And a special screening of Jean Kilbourne’s Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies & Alcohol
Seating is limited. Register today at http://www.commercialexploitation.org/events.htm
February 13, 2005
Ode to a Round Cat
(Reproduced without the consent of the author, hence anonymously.)Oh Shanti!! You ever-blooming tulip bulb
How you do put the stars to shame -
Those mere shadows with their finite density -
And make envious all angular creatures
For the eyes may easily follow the curve of you
And are saddend only for being unable.
To take in your full breadth of your beauty
How the rest of us do fall down
Before the weight of your glory
Teaching
Teaching is great, it is so good to be back in the land of adults and kids who dont have a crippling sense of entitlement. Makes teachingenjoyable again, thank GOD. However, i am so tired i have to steal from my own posts on the internet:<whiney-text>i definitely over-extended myself, as i knew i had, but the reality is more exhauting than the concept. What i did not bank on was how six months off of working the occasional 14-hour day makes you SOFT and WEAK, and i do it three days a week plus Saturday mornings. Oh, and it takes me an hour to get there, so ad on eight hours of train-time for a total of an additonal 20 hours to my week, prep not included. Prep time? A luxury! i really had better adapt soon, i don't want to keep sleeping through every Sunday.</whiney-text>
February 08, 2005
February 06, 2005
Washer Woman
Good Lord is it difficult to hand-wash a down comforter and hang it to drip dry!No wonder i do it once a century.
Coulter Exposed!
Ooh, while i was at Michael Moore's site for that last entry, i found THIS.If only she cared about things like facts. This will never make a dent.
Blame Canada, you neocon barbie nightmare? Did you not realize that South Park: BLU
was a joke? Moron.
Thank God Canadians are smart enough to see that she is an idiot. Or whatever the word for evil malicious idiot is.
School version of Supersize Me
coming
Sorry, i have been adapting (poorly) to my new schedule. i have been out of training for 14 hour days :) Teaching is great, though!
In other news, the educationally enhanced
version of Supersize Me
is now available, and they are looking for underwriters so they can donate copies to schools that cannot afford it. That's a damn fine cause, i'd say.
And it is so cool that they are nominated for an Oscar®. The fact that Fahrenheit 911 wanted to air on TV before the election rather than be eligible makes it worth hoping for a win. (That's OK, the peoples choice award is just fine too.)
A win for SSM is therefore probably going to be the only good thing to come out of the @#*% election, unless the Democrats also regroup.