Switching Focus?

Ugh, Politics is so stressful. I can't bring myself to post on the political goings on much anymore. Most stressful development recently: The supreme court's decision to overturn campaign finance regulations.

On another note, I have been applying to graduate schools and was admitted to CalTech yesterday. Now the question is, can I live in Pasadena/LA for 5 years at a school with a serious diversity problem? Despite CalTech's reputation, its ranking as one of the best schools in my field, I think I'm going to the University of Oregon (assuming I get in).

UOregon

Pros:
Supportive Faculty
2-3 Faculty who I want to work with
It's in Oregon
Faculty collaboration
Affordable Housing
Research I am already familiar with

Cons:
Lack of Diversity

CalTech

Pros:
Top Ranking/Reputation

Cons:
Lack of Diversity
Lack of affordable housing?
Research that I am far less familiar with (steep learning curve)

I'm also waiting to hear from UC San Diego and UC Irvine.

Massachusetts Resident? Get out and Vote for Martha on Tuesday!

I am returning to my blog today to ask all MA residents to please vote for Martha Coakley on Tuesday... Let us not allow Scott Brown destroy all the work that Ted Kennedy accomplished towards finally passing health care reform. Teddy wanted to make sure the children of this country have healthcare and accomplishing this was both his dying wish and just the right thing to do...And most of us don't need anyone to tell us that children deserve to be protected, that they deserve to have healthcare. But Scott Brown says on his website, "...I am opposed to the health care legislation that is under consideration in Congress and will vote against it. It will raise taxes, increase government spending and lower the quality of care, especially for elders on Medicare." What he doesn't say is that Medicare passed in 1965 despite staunch Republican opposition to that program too. That it is Republicans who dramatically increased government spending for most of the past decade. That you cannot lower the quality of care for the 86.7 million people who have no healthcare. To allow this senate seat to go to a person who is not willing to make healthcare reform a priority in the US today would be wrong...for all of us. Please make phone calls, vote on Tuesday, and remind others to do the same.

Yep, he's a Dick.

CPR training online

If, like me, you could use a refresher on how to perform CPR on adults, children, and infants, check out this website from the University of Washington. They have video demonstrations of how to perform CPR on each.

Need a Movie for Thanksgiving?

Hulu is showing a winner tonight, Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own. I think maybe I heard that the national Japanese team recently picked a girl to play pro baseball.

Have you Filled Out Your Obama Campaign Supporter Survey Yet?

"Someone's" Obama Campaign Supporter Survey:

OPTIONAL: How would you like to see this organization move forward in the months and years ahead? And how would you like to be engaged as a volunteer and organizer?:

I want to see and be a part of grassroots efforts to reform our education system, eliminate poverty in the United States, and provide national healthcare.

OPTIONAL: What first inspired you to join this campaign?:

Well, we needed to get rid of the Bush administration and all it stood for. Also, all of the momentum that the Obama campaign was generating through the participation of other young people like myself. And I had some students who were extremely enthusiastic about the campaign and made me realize that he might have a chance since young people were actually engaged and might get out and vote in battleground states like Ohio and Florid, I wanted to be sure that he didn't lose because people like myself didn't put all our effort into helping...so I did everything I could do while still working full-time, including blogging the truth and making phone calls.

OPTIONAL: What was the best part of your volunteer experience?:

When I started making phone calls, relatives joined in. It was good to know that my actions had a real effect on other people. I could especially see that I was having a real effect when I called one women in New Mexico to tell her where her polling place was and discovered that this was information that she really needed and also wanted. She was clearly enthusiastic about getting out and voting (for Obama) but didn't know where her polling place was and said she would have gone to the wrong location if I had not called. So, I'm certain I got at least two more people vote that day (her and her equally enthusiastic husband).

OPTIONAL: What could have been improved about your volunteer experience?:

The online tally of how many phonecalls you made was always wrong for me and inspired some bad feelings on my part. Everytime I logged in, and no matter how much calling data I inputted, it said that I had made just one call (or maybe 4 at one point) and I had made tens of phone calls each time. The online site for entering data also blocks you from editing the data you entered for each voter, it locks you out after you submit the information. This is frustrating if you realize that you haven't entered all the information you had or that you made an error entering the information. This happened the first time I made a phone call for the campaign.

OPTIONAL: What was your greatest achievement as a volunteer? What was your greatest challenge?:

I hate making phone calls but I called over 80 people...maybe a hundred (I don't remember). As mentioned to a previous question, I know for certain that I helped get out the vote in at least one state. I also got my sister involved. So making phone calls and having some really good conversations with voters was my greatest achievement and also a challenge. Maybe using the website was the greatest challenge though because of the incorrect data, the not allowing me to edit data I had submitted, and because it automatically generates a call list but then doesn't allow you to send these back if you know will be too busy to make calls.


OPTIONAL: Did you meet a fellow volunteer or field organizer who inspired you? How did they inspire you?:

No. Seeing all the people at the DNC convention and the very cool idea of texting to the campaign (I did this) and seeing Obama accept the nomination as the democratic presidential candidate...that was inspiring.

Fungus and Diesel

Did you hear about the fungus that creates Diesel? A scientist, Strobel, found this fungus, Gliocladium Roseum, in the Patagonian trees and (after storing it in his freezer for a year) he discovered that this fungus creates real diesel...it's the genuine product and would run your car. Strobel is speculating that perhaps this fungus is responsible for some of the diesel that we have depending on, helping to process the biological matter from fossils... If we were able to use this fungus for commercial production of diesel fuels then it would mean that we were able to drastically reduce the carbon emissions created from the refining of diesel fuel. However, I wonder if this benefit would be undone by the increase in demand for diesel. If diesel is easily gotten goods and everyone starts burning more and more of it, who cares how cleanly we first came by it?

Studs Terkel: Oral Historian

The mainstream media (incl CBS, ABC, and NBC) only gave a brief summary of the life and passing of Studs Terkel. I think his work illuminating the struggles of working Americans deserves much more coverage. Here is more from BBC.

Super Obama

It's a Beautiful Night!

That quickly finished election was such an unexpected scenario for me. I am so much more optimistic about the world now than I was when I woke up this morning. Senator Obama not only won the election, and is therefore the president-elect now, but he won by an amazingly large number of electoral votes. Everyone did it! We did it! And after my disappointing phone calls this morning I was very glad to hear that he won Florida too. Thank you to all the people who believed that this could work and voted for Obama in every state. Today is beautiful and tomorrow will only be more so.

What to do on Election Day.

I made calls to Florida all day while at work...whenever I had a minute then I made another call. But it was really a waste of time. The people I called were clearly very conservative and probably most of the phone numbers were disconnected or otherwise changed. I also experienced this when I was teaching. The kids from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, the ones that most needed me to be involving their parents in their schoolwork, were the hardest to contact. They sometimes didn't have telephone numbers at all but even when they did they changed often.

Anyway, I am no longer following the election news...until there is an answer. I guess I'll listen tomorrow morning but even then I doubt there will be a definite answer. It is all so stressful. One of my sisters came over and baked an election day cake. Delicious. And we watched Wall-E, a movie I really enjoy.

What Have I Done?!

There's No One More Irish Than Barack Obama

Calling Party

I went to a voter call party... We used multiple pages of numbers from Moveon.org and called people in Tampa, Florida to ask if they could volunteer this Saturday or Sunday. We got a lot of answering machines but the people who actually answered their phone had all already voted (for Obama) except for one woman who said that she was having trouble voting because of the long lines. Unfortunately, I was the only one who got people to agree to volunteer...luck of the numbers I guess.

Check out this resource from PBS' Now.

Oh My

http://www.rickeypac.org/

Little Mosque on the Prairie

Can you believe some people are still saying that Obama is a Muslim? If they didn't equate Muslims with terrorists then this might not matter so much to them. Little Mosque on the Prairie is a television show making a real difference in how people see their Muslim neighbors. I have often wondered why we can't have television like this popular sitcom here in the United States... I hear, however, that an American version is in the works. Hopefully it will not lose it's intelligence and originality in translation.



It has an ongoing storyline and I think you can watch the show from episode I on Muxlim.com.


Rayyan, one of the primary characters on the show, is described on the CBC website as a "headscarf-wearing, forward-thinking, Muslim, feminist doctor. She's like a young, good looking Maude. Rayyan embraced her faith in university and is much more devout than her parents. She often prays she's adopted." Except for that last sentence, it's a very good description of her character. And her parents do often get in trouble with her for doing non-Muslim things like playing the lottery (gambling).

Will Your Vote Count?

Talk of the Nation will investigate whether our votes will be counted this time around. Listen in today at 2pm Eastern time on your local NPR radio station.

Tumult builds over alleged ‘Lose your home, lose your vote’ scheme

Botswana's former President Festus Mogae has won a $5m (£2.8m) prize to encourage good governance in Africa.

Click on the title of this post to find out more...A reminder to keep Botswana on my travel list. Not all African governments are corrupt, as one might be apt to think watching the limited coverage of Africa in the national media (whose stories are limited to the aids and violence that plague too many countries in the continent).

Ohio Decides to Make a Change

Yesterday was the last day for one stop registration and early voting (at polling place or by mail) in Ohio. So, I called several voters there in the morning and encouraged them to take advantage of the opportunity. One woman hung up the phone as soon as I said I was calling on behalf of Barack Obama but everyone else (whose number was still in service) said they were planning to vote for Barack Obama, though not early. I could usually tell before I asked if they would be able to commit to voting early. Almost everyone was taking precious time out of their workday or family life to talk to me and I really appreciate their generosity in doing so. One woman was feeding her daughter while she was talking to me. Another guy on his way to work said, when I asked him who he was planning to vote for, "No way am I voting for that old guy." I lived in Cleveland, Ohio for a couple of years when I was very young and I very much hope that this group of voters is representative of how Ohio will vote this time around. If Obama can win over the working class families of Ohio and get them to get out there and vote then I think he really does have a chance at winning this election.