Race to Nowhere

Thank you Mother Jones for helping me find this great documentary about our education system. This documentary seems to highlight things that I have been saying for a long time. America's education system is so focused on product and not about solving problems or critical learning. Embedded here is a video of a discussion regarding the film that I feel touches on a lot of these problems directly.

Visit the Race to Nowhere site for more information and to watch trailers and clips.

Carbon Footprint Calculator

I watched The Age of Stupid last night and became intrigued the idea of carbon footprints and carbon offsetting. So here is a test. How do you measure up compared to the average American?

Carbon Footprint Calculator - What's My Carbon Footprint ?

Here is some information about The Age of Stupid

Note on the Blogesphere

"Blogumnetary" is a funny and engaging documentary about the power of blogs. It is long (1 hour) so sit back and pop some popcorn.

Paste this link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8920472176280937346#

I found this video on a Open CourseWare class through MIT titled Gender and Media Studies: Women and the Media. I have decided to "take" this course because I have been studying this topic in another class and think it would be interesting to incorporate my own personal research. 

Happy Monday,

CCosner

 

Education From Top Univerisities for FREE!

It has taken me a while to get around to writing this particular blog. Not because I was not excited about it. On the contrary! But rather, I wanted to do an adequate job of introducing such an exciting topic.

Self Education

Now lest you roll your eyes and think I am crazy, think again. Here are several things to consider when thinking about self-education.
1) "Education" at universities costs a ton of money. Half of that money will go toward supporting things that you may never take advantage of.
2) Secondly, while paying for said education you will have to take classes that you do not want to take or could care less about with professors who know how you feel so they themselves really don't want to be there either. What an awful situation for both parties and what a waste of time!
3) Traditional college kind of takes over your schedule and might not always provide "real world" experiences or require a tremendous amount of self discipline or hard work.

Now obviously not all of these things are cut-and-dried truths. I find incredible value in my college experience, but I see many people who don't. I feel that my college education will work as a spring board for my self education and that is when I come to this conclusion: If I do not desire to become a university professor than I do not need to consider grad school as seriously as I thought. I can rather begin to learn about the things I wish to learn about on my own time and dedication. It will pay off.

I typed "Self-Education" in the Google search box and I got some incredible hits, including colleges like Harvard, University of Washington and Yale, that provide free online classes. Yes, free classes from Ivy league schools. There are also classes available from organizations like BBC. Free online classic books and lectures as well as resources.

However, there is no such thing as a free lunch so there are a few stipulations. Some colleges provide only 5 free classes other provide far more. Some are just written lectures, others have video lectures, still others include assignments and reading material. There is no set structure, no grades, no "classrooms" and no diploma.

But, if you love to learn for the sake of learning than taking on a self-education project is not about degrees and grades. It is about learning new things and educating others. I see these classes as a way of supplementing my education and broadening my horizons. I plan to make a list of them and take them over time, likely this summer.

There are some areas that I would love to study but I have been unable to in college. Areas like Gender studies, journalism, classic literature, and humanities are things that I want to become more immersed in. But obviously the list of available classes trumps this puny one so I would encourage anyone with any kind of interests what so ever to check out the links I will post below.

One last thing to consider. Record all of the classes you take, all of them. Someday you might want to show it to an employer. They may ask about your education. "I have a bachelor's",  you can say, "and I also have this" and then you can hand them a list of self education courses. Not only does it look like you are dedicated and hard working but you also look like a bad-ass....or a know-it-all, or both.

Here are the links:
100 Best Self Education Sites
Self Education Resource List
A really sweet video series on American Cinema that I cannot wait to take.
The original Popular Science article that I read in 2009 which was intriguing and has not left my mind.

Cheers!
-CCosner

The Story of Stuff

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Weekly Wall of Shame

Jobless claims rise 25,000 this past week. It seems like our economy is going two steps forward and three steps back.

New York fashion week and it's collection of cloths-hanger-thin models. No surprises there.

Oh, and here is a personal favorite. The Kardashian clan (which I incidentally know very little about for which I am happy) made over $65 million last year. Now this is all fine and well except they get paid to do things that no person should be paid to do. Personal appearances from $100,000 to $250,000 or $25,000 to tweet (yes, tweet) a brand name, the article says.  Not only is that the most tasteless way to make money, it is also a huge slap in the face for those who work their asses off full time just to make $30,000, roughly Kim Kardashian's tweeting fee. And with the above article stating that joblessness is pretty prevalent it makes me want to be a Robin Hood. Take the Kardashin's money and feed a few hundred starving Americans by providing a job or two. Sick and wrong.

Lifestyle Choices

With my new found ideals of minimalism and eating I am making some personal lifestyle choices.

The first of these changes is to remove unnecessary things from my life. Things I don't use, things I don't wear and things I don't need I have been selling, donating or giving to other people. It is such a liberating feeling to do this. My wardrobe has gotten smaller, my desk cleaner and my bookshelf thinner. But what this leaves me with is a respect for what I have. I am lucky that I live in a place where wealth is so accessible. There are many who own far less than I.

There are many ways to execute the minimalist ideals. Some go so far as to get rid of most of their possessions leaving them with a few cloths, a toothbrush and a laptop. I do not think I will be this extreme. As a student I always will have a endless supply of paper, pencils, notebooks, textbooks, and office supplies. I really see nothing wrong with this. These are tools that are expendable. Another thing that I cannot completely weed away is my kitchen and its supplies. I am a foodie and therefore I cook a lot. Whatever I have I use. I have to be able to cook things adequately with the right spices, pans, and tools. But there are some things I am working to narrow down and simplfy.

1) My personal care routine: The amounts of lotion, bath gel, bubble bath, shaving cream, bath salts, shampoo, conditioning agents, face wash and perfume, that I own are astounding. I rarely use it, which should be evident, and I cannot really get rid of it on a clear conscience. To throw it away seems wasteful. So I have gotten rid of some of it and am working on using the rest bit by bit. In the end I think that I will only purchase one at a time, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, razors, and a face wash. My soap will be in bar form and all of listed items will be made locally or at the very least, domestically.     

2) My wardrobe: I never wear certain things but I hate to get rid of them. I tossed them in a bag anyway. I usually get cloths from other people who don't want them or I purchase them at a thrift store. That will be the trend that I will continue. I will just make sure to weed more regularly.

3) My bookshelf: I feel like this is a bit of a sin but I do have books that I won't reread anytime soon or that I don't really care about so I have been selling them to a local and independent bookstore for in-store credit. I will turn around and use the credit to by birthday gifts or purchase more books for myself. I don't see it as much of a loss in that respect.

There is more too it than that but I hit the high points. It has been a good exercise for me to do this. It really loosens my attachment to "stuff".

My other personal quest is that of eating. I have made some diet choices as well. I am currently not shopping at a grocery store but once a month so I can eat up the last of the food in my pantry. Then I will start over fresh. Here are my new guidelines.

1) No shopping at Wal-Mart or Safeway if I can absolutely help it.
2) No food in cans except tomatoes, beans, and soup.
3) No out of season produce. Must be from Pacific Northwest or California at the worst.
4) This goes for other food as well, local is a must.
5) Organic if possible. But not fake organic like Amy's Organic TV dinners. Gross.
6) Simple foods such as veggies, fruits, whole bulk grains, and yogurt.
7) Eco-friendly packaging.

Now as I said before, these are guidelines. If I can hit all of these points than it would be wonderful but that can be very challenging. But right now I am in transition. We will see where I am in a few months.

These new lifestyle choices will take time. They are not something that happens overnight or in a month. I am gradually shifting to them which I think is healthier than going cold turkey.

For your personal enjoyment I found a great essay series by the acclaimed food writer Alan Richman on the ethics of eating. It is both humorous and enlightening. Enjoy.

Jacqueline Novogratz: Inspiring a Life of Immersion

Liz Coleman's Call to Reinvent Liberal Arts Education

This is one of the single most inspiring talks I have watched in a very long time. Please, watch it with an open and engaged mind.

Rising Food Costs and Eductation: Some Comments

Since I have been really busy this week I will leave you with some links to follow and think about.

It has been lingering in the news off and on the past couple of months that the cost of food is on the rise. This article by The New York Times says that the rising cost of commodities is to blame. This is quite understandable. "Foods like coffee, meat and milk, which are closer to raw materials, will probably show some of the biggest price jumps," says the New York Times. Of course well all know that rising commodities will affect just about anything and everything that rely on them. Fortune Magazine reports nearly the opposite of The New York Times saying that rice, meat and milk will not take as steep of hit, yet.

I can never claim to offering perfect solutions to problems but I will say this: the majority of commodities that we currently trade for or produce rely heavily on oil to harvest and transport them. This means that as the price of oil steadily increases we will see a fluctuation that will effect the entire chain of subsequent markets. I feel like some of this can be circumvented by purchasing sustainable food from local sources. Less transportation, less packaging,  less waste and less money for the quality of product.

Now I often complain on this blog about the deplorable state of the USDA school lunch program. However, I did find an uplifting article today about schools around the country who aim to grow some of the food that they are serving and work with local farmer to provide sustainable and healthy alternatives to ice-burg lettuce and chicken strips. This is the beginning of a great thing. It educates children about healthy food choices, enables them to learn where their food is coming from and teaches them to stewards of the earth. If all schools around the US could adopt similar programs it would be a huge step toward sustainability. I firmly believe that all change can come through education. 

But, do all of us, young teenagers especially, want to be educated. When I read this article about a Pennsylvania teacher who called her students, "disengaged, lazy whiners" , I had to laugh. Now on one hand, I realize that this is really unprofessional and probably not a smart thing. But when I think of my high school and my frustrated teachers I could not help but wonder about my generation. Do we truly expect everything to be handed to us? Education has become a passive brain-wash rather than an active pursuit in some schools. There are a variety of factors behind this which I think I had better save for another blog. But I will leave you with a Ted Talk that has some ideas about our education system.

Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms | Video on TED.com

Happy Wednesday
-CCosner

Pop Quiz

Which of the following is depressing me?

A) The amount of jobs on Craigslist.
B) I have five more months of school.
C) Tomorrow is Monday.
D) All of the above.


Huge hint: It's not the first three. >_<

Maybe I will have something relevant to post tomorrow. 'Night

Oregonian's Bi-Curiosity - Interesting Stats

State of Wonder

Is Oregon the most romantically flexible place in the nation?

By Zach Dundas

A red-to-blue heat map of the US made the rounds recently, documenting not the usual political divides, but love. (Or, at least, love’s goth sister, lust.) On this map, Mississippi isn’t Republican ruby, but frigid aqua. Vermont, ideologically indigo, appears as a hot-orange spark. And Oregon? The

Beaver State glows red, like a raging hormonal blemish on prom night.
Produced by the popular online dating site OK Cupid, the map is based on a survey of more than 250,000 site users who describe themselves as “straight.” The colors derive from these self-avowed heteros’ answer to a question: have you ever had—or wanted to have—sex with someone of the same sex?

The map thus gauges the tendency known to personal-ad writers as “bicuriosity,” and Oregon’s rosy hue marks it as the survey’s most bicurious state of all. A pulse-quickening 47 percent of Oregonian respondents reported contemplating switching teams. Boring Washington? 41 percent. Staid California stalled at 38 percent. Mississippi’s 28 percent makes it bi-Siberia.

Illustration: Courtesy of OK Cupid

Granted, this is not hard science. At all. OK Cupid editorial director Christian Rudder notes that the user base is younger and, most likely, far more adventurous than any statistically valid slice of the entire population. But the map does work as a snapshot of real human behavior and desire. And observers of our gender politics and romantic leanings say it captures a truth about both Portland (Multnomah County: 53 percent bicurious) and rural Oregon (Josephine County: 31 percent! Grants Pass—who knew?).

In this month of Valentine’s Day love and angst, OK Cupid’s map and the conversations it sparks suggest that Portland has sidled into a new sexual era. The country as a whole can still squabble over gays in the military. Our gay mayor still carries enough novelty that New York Times columnists solicit his thoughts about homosexuality in public life. But on the ground, we—some of us, at least—have moved on. To judge by OK Cupid’s map, the libertarian West is exploring a different kind of frontier.

“The West is definitely more adventurous,” Rudder says. And Oregon is leading the wagon train.

“There’s a fluidity in Portland that I do think is different,” says Kendall Clawson of the Q Center, a N Mississippi Avenue hub for Portland’s GLBTQ community. “There’s a freedom to explore here, without getting hung up on labels.”

Bisexuality, in general, is a culturally and politically elusive phenomenon. If—perish the thought!—something were to happen to Governor John Kitz-haber, Secretary of State Kate Brown would become the nation’s first openly bisexual chief exec. But Brown—who declined to comment—captured her tribe’s ambiguous status when she once wrote that when she came out, her parents told her, “It would be much easier for us if you were a lesbian.” One local activist calls bisexuals “the rare white rhino” of queer politics. Socially, writer Patrick Alan Coleman reported last summer in the Portland Mercury that he “found nary a blog or a support group … for bisexual men and women.”
But this quietude may actually be the sound of freedom. After the modern gay-rights movement began with New York’s 1969 Stonewall Riots, “sexual minorities” felt compelled to be loud, proud, and definitive. Maybe now, in Portland, not so much.

“There’s a fluidity in Portland that I do think is
different. A freedom to explore here, without
getting hung up on labels.”

“If you come to a party at my house, most people will have had some experiences with both sexes,” says Talia J., a 28-year-old Portlander who has had relationships with both men and women and identifies as queer. “Not all will call themselves bisexual, gay, or queer. What I find remarkable in
Portland isn’t my queer friends’ experiences—it’s my ‘straight’ friends’ experiences. Here, you can have an identity, but also have experiences outside that identity.” (It may help that Oregon, according to census data, is home to the nation’s second-highest percentage of all-female same-sex households, after Vermont. Gary Gates, a researcher at UCLA’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law, says that two-thirds of self-described bisexuals are women.)

This is the limber state of affairs—ahem—captured, albeit crudely, by OK Cupid’s map. “We’re starting, slowly, to get to a place where people recognize these things aren’t set in stone,” says Paul C., a 47-year-old Portlander who experimented with men in college, was married twice, to women, for a total of 15 years but decided, after his divorces, to try guys again. “I thought, what the hell? It’s Portland.”

Paul subsequently decided that his hetero side wins, at least for now. The point is, he felt free to find out. In its typically off-kilter way, our state is nurturing its own parallel romantic reality, where effervescent whims of body and heart trump standard labels. “Portland culture is defined by quirkiness and self-expression,” Talia says. “Sometimes that means you decide to learn glassblowing. Sometimes it means you sleep with another girl.”

State of Wonder -- Arts & Entertainment


Read the entire study!

The Power of Wind Energy

This video is about the community I grew up in. I think it is a true testament to the good of wind farms.

Weekly Hall of Shame

Weekly Hall of Shame: Dedicated to the sad reality of our culture. 

According to a study by University of Central Florida, nearly half of the 3- to 6-year-old girls said they worry about being fat. About one-third would change a physical attribute, such as their weight or hair color.

Normal healthy people are still being called "Plus Sized Models" on the runways of New York Fashion Week. Just because her thighs touch does not mean she is fat! As least there are a few that agree.

Two more reasons not to eat factory farmed meat, both confined swine and chickens.  Both are have higher disease risk and chickens are becoming genetically mortified. Save your money and your health. Purchase your meat from local ranchers.

Speaking of food, this blog brings up the same questions I have. Why do we not make healthy food affordable?

Viagra is covered by many insurance plans while birth control still seems to be left out of the picture. I do not get this! Having an erection is more important than preventing a pregnancy it seems. The article above is a few years old. This one is newer and not much has changed. 

-C

Minimalism : It Started in the Bathroom

One day a few weeks ago I peeked under my bathroom sink. I am not sure now if I was looking for something but as I began to rummage around I found that were tons of things that I was not using or that I was never going to use. Perfumes, lotions, hair gunk, the list goes on. "How much of that crap do I need"?, I asked myself. Hardly any of it. So I started tearing out the stuff I did not need and reorganizing what I was going to use in the next few months. It felt good...really good. It was kind of like a high, like I was making room for newer and more important things in my life.

Then this escapade moved into operation "weed shit out of my life". Our culture is so fixated on stuff. I am too young for that. I don't have a lot of stuff but I feel like I could have a lot less. I do not hoard stuff really. I just save it for later. It is that thrifty efficiency that is buried deep within my genetics. So I save yogurt containers, twist-ties, jars, plastic bags, the last little bits out of lotion bottles all in order to save a few cents and because I might need it for later.

Not to say I am giving up on that mentality. But there are things I can get rid of. Cloths and shoes I never wear,worn out office supplies, trinkets that were gifts and have never made it outside the box unread books. The list goes on.

So in the spirit of my downsizing I decided to look up the guy who founded the 100 Things project. As I looked through his blog I stumbled upon others all built around this one simple idea, minimalism.

It is in a sense both an old and new idea but it has been shown to be quite powerful. By living simply many individuals feel that their lives are more rewarding and better in general. There is no stress about the latest gadget or car. By living simply you spend less overall. Your life takes on new meaning because you look more toward experiences and realtionships rather than "stuff" to create your happiness.

I like that a lot. Given that I feel I need clarity in my life right now I believe that I will venture a ways down the road of minimalism. Now, I might not get to the extreme point that a few of my fellow bloggers will. But I think the essence of it with remain the same. Get less, give more.

Happy Friday.
-C

Minimalism: The Inspriation

Because I am very behind on homework right now I will write about this later. Right now I leave you with these links.


100 Thing Challenge 

The Minimalists

Becoming Minimalist

Minimal Student

Enjoy. :)

Nigel Marsh: How to Make Work-Life Balance Work

Work

I work a lot. It is safe to say I am a workaholic. I am a full time student and I have three less-than-part-time jobs. You know, little things that added up make me about $350 a month. It covers rent. Doesn't help that I can't make any more than $9 an hour in this town. The Recession sucks.

About that...I remember three years ago when I was a wee little freshman and I said to myself, "Thank goodness I am in college now because when I get out the Recession will be over and I will be able to get a decent job." Oh man. What was I thinking?

I went to the store today. I have spent $20 on food this year. Its a good damn thing because I don't know how I am going to feed myself once I graduate. At least I am good at starving.

Better sign up for more work hours.

Happy Monday.

Sunday

 

Sunday to myself. The meeting I had was canceled. I only have one homework assignment. Part of me wants to go up to the library and work to get further ahead in my classes. But its snowing outside and so I am pretty much unmotivated. 

My life is on hiatus right now. No, not really. I take that back. I am just unsure where I am going in the next year. That is both terrifying and thrilling. I am not sure what to expect. There are no jobs. I really want to stay in school. But I am sure two Bachelor's degrees in four years will be enough for a moment. That is until the next fall rolls around and I re-enroll at some community college because I can't seem to stay out of school. I know that is how it will be. I want to go to Grad school. I am not sure when or for what. I think I just need to take time to find out what it is I really love.

Weekly Wall of Shame

 The Weekly Wall of Shame

-School Lunches, Thank goodness the USDA is trying to fix this. Here are school lunches from around the world.

-Female Docs Fall Further Behind On Pay. Isn't this 2011?

-The White Stripes breakup. Seriously. How depressing.

Why Keeping Little Girls Squeaky Clean Could Make Them Sick

by Whitney Blair Wyckoff, NPR

There's a growing body of research showing that children exposed to lots of germs early in life are less likely to develop allergies, asthma or autoimmune disorders as they grow up.
But now there's a new twist on the theory, known as the hygiene hypothesis in scientific circles, and it's about little girls in cute little dresses.
In an article in the peer-reviewed journal Social Science and Medicine, Sharyn Clough, a philosopher of science at Oregon State University who studies research bias, says young girls are held to a higher standard of cleanliness than young boys, a discrepancy that could help explain later health differences.
  Girls are expected to stay squeaky clean while boys are encouraged to play outside, Clough argues. And that might explain why women have higher rates of certain illnesses.
Women have a higher rate of asthma than men — 8.5 percent compared to 7.1 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They're also more likely than men to have allergies. And the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association says autoimmune disorders affect women three times more often than men.
Now there are lots of differences that could account for those discrepancies. But Shots was intrigued by Clough's research and talked about it with her.Our conversation, edited a little for clarity and length, follows.

What makes you think there's a link between cleanliness and rates of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases in women?
I read about a study that was linking these large environmental patterns of hygiene and sanitation with autoimmune disorders. [The researchers] suggested the lack of exposure to parasites may be related to the increased rate of Crohn's disease in industrialized Western nations — and then they generalized to other autoimmune disorders. I happen to know among those who've got these diseases, women are overrepresented. So, it struck me as odd that gender was missing from the analysis.
Why don't girls get exposed to the same germs as boys?
In large populations, you can make generalizations about the differences in the ways we socialize little boys and little girls. We still dress little girls in clothes that are restrictive and not supposed to get dirty. Little girls are still way less likely to play outdoors than little boys. And little girls are supervised more often by their parents during their play, which is likely to keep them from getting dirty.
What exactly is in the dirt?
There are a variety of bacteria even just in soil. A gram of uncontaminated soil contains 10 billion microbial cells. Playing in dirt is a reliable way to ingest dirt. Playing in the dirt is highly correlated with eating it. And when you eat it, you know you're exposed to bacteria — all kinds and in high numbers.
So that exposure to dirt makes it less likely to have allergies or asthma later on?
Young boys actually have higher rates of asthma than do girls. So my thinking is that [at a very young age], boys are exposed to more of the allergens and things that inflame their immune systems more often than do girls. So boys will have higher rates of asthma early on. But then after puberty, girls have higher rates of asthma and then for the rest of their lives.
What about the fact that it's becoming more socially acceptable for girls to behave stereotypically like boys? More girls are playing sports, and fewer girls are wearing dresses to go out to play.
You'd think that this is changing but you'd be surprised. In a study from 1998 of American children in preschool, one-third of the 5-year-old girls came to school in dresses each day. Title IX and getting more girls into sports — that's clearly a phenomenon that's changing things. But I think for little girls, things aren't changing much.
Allergies, asthma and autoimmune disorders are increasing for everyone — both men and women in our populations in the North and West. So what that means — if the hygiene hypothesis folks are right — is that we're decreasing our exposure to germs all the time even though we have more girls playing sports. There are competing trends that affect boys and girls, men and women.
What should policy makers and parents take from your research?
I think if you've got a teeny kid — like an infant or a toddler — I think it doesn't hurt to get them dirty. But the jury is still out. We're only beginning to understand the relationship between bacteria and other kinds of organisms in our bodies. And the higher rates of diseases are unintended consequences of policies that are, for the most part, pretty good. It's actually pretty good that we have higher sanitation rates than we used to. But it turns out, we just weren't aware of how complex the ecologies of germs are.

 Read the original article here. 

Taryn Simon Photographs Secret Sites

Johanna Blakley: Social Media and The End of Gender