November 18, 2011

There were 4 posts published on November 18, 2011 (this is page 1 of 1).

Time for OWS to embrace the co-op movement?

An op-ed on Al Jazeera looks at how the Occupy Wall Street movement could revive interest in cooperative businesses.

Head into Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan, and one is immediately struck by the self-governing nature of the “Occupy” encampment.

A community which adheres to non-hierarchical decision making, Occupy conducts General Assembly meetings which are transparent and open to the public. Meals too are prepared communally, and there’s even a public library. On the other hand, it’s not as if Occupy is putting novel ideas into practice, since the encampment harks back historically to the co-operative movement.

via Time for OWS to embrace the co-op movement? – Opinion – Al Jazeera English.

University, Inc.

I’ve often considered going back to college. Then I read stuff like this from NCSU Chancellor Randy Woodson, citing the reasons for a massive 29% tuition hike:

With classes in some cases growing from 200 students to 300, faculty members struggle against a growing tide of test grading and other mundane chores, Chancellor Randy Woodson told the trustees committee.

“It takes them out of the business of being scholarly, of doing research and of moving the economic engine of this state forward,” Woodson said.

Let me translate this for you: “Those pesky students who are trying to learn are keeping us ivory-tower types from trying to pad our resumes and the university’s coffers. They should fork over their money and just shut up.”

Is it any wonder I’m disillusioned with higher education? Is it also any wonder that these schools’ big-time college sports programs get away with what they do?

The other side of town: Southeast Raleigh’s problems and promise

The Independent’s Bob Geary takes a good, in-depth look at Southeast Raleigh.

It’s Sunday morning and I’m on my way to Martin Street Baptist Church in Southeast Raleigh. For two years, it’s been the high ground in the political fight for control of the Wake County school system: the church, as a gathering place for the defenders of diversity; and Southeast Raleigh, the historically black area of the city and the county with all its problems and its promise.

via The other side of town: Southeast Raleigh’s problems and promise | News Feature | Independent Weekly.

It’s the new vegetable

Alluding to the ridiculous news that Congress voted to make pizza a vegetable, a neighborhood wag replied to an email post about an upcoming event from the Raleigh City Farm with this:

“I wonder if the Raleigh City Farm folks will be planting pizza.”

Glad to know Congress is being so productive.

Looking deeper, the whole “four food groups” thing has long been manipulated by farmers more concerned about food sales than nutrition. No wonder we have an obesity epidemic in America.