Images of War...

"It is too dangerous to live near the water well in town, so I stay in the mountains under the trees with my children. I have lived in the mountains since the last attack. Over a month under the trees. It takes two and a half hours to walk here for the water. Then I must return."
- Amam Bohiger, one of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons in the Darfur region (Photograph by Adam Nadel).

For a while now, I've been meaning to go for one particular exhibit that Pittsburgh's Jewish American Museum has been featuring. So, this afternoon, I set out with a couple of friends for the photo exhibit that we've been wanting to visit.

The exhibit, aptly titled 'If My Eyes Speak', showcases 30 portraits and accompanying short interviews by Adam Nadel, a freelance photographer. What is most significant here is the common factor that encompasses each of these 30 portraits - war and genocide. Nadel's photographs capture the victims, and the perpetrators of three major modern-day events of mass massacre...one that continues into the present day:
Rwanda(1994), Bosnia(1995), Sudan(Darfur,2003-ongoing).

Beyond the sheer horror of the photographs and of the stories that they tell, and beyond the unexplainable pain that begins to surface within the eyes of each portrait's subject...lies the terrifying acknowledgement of what one human being can inflict upon another.

And so, I ask myself and I ask the readers...How are human beings evolutionarily 'superior'? How 'civilized' are we? Or is the only thing that is 'progressive' about 'modern civilization' the establishment of 'advanced' methods of wreaking barbaric havoc? Look around us...because the answer doesn't lie far away in Sudan or in Iraq or in Palestime or in Isral. It lies all around us.

For more information:
http://www.polarisimages.com/Nadel_exhibit.html
http://www.polarisimages.com/Portfolios/Photographers/Adam_Nadel/
http://www.benton.uconn.edu/hr/darfurgallery.htm

For folks in the Pittsburgh area:
'If My Eyes Speak' is on exhibit until Saturday, February 23rd, at the American Jewish Museum in the Jewish Community Center (5738 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 - at the intersection of Forbes and Murray Aves). This free exhibit is open to the general public, and can be visited during regular JCC hours.

West Philadelphia

Ban Ki Moon picks Chief-of-Staff

Vijay Nambiar is picked as UN Secretary General's Chief-of-Staff

James Brown Dead on Christmas Day---- Soul Legend Will Live On

No James Brown, YOU'VE got the power!!

Association for India's Development (AID) and its One for India (OFI) campaign

Readers,
This post aims at introducing/re-introducing you to the efforts of the Association for India's Development (AID), and to our year-end drive toward raising funds to support our projects in India.
Association for India's Development (AID) is a non-profit volunteer movement committed to promoting sustainable, equitable and just development. In solidarity with non-violent people's struggles, AID supports grassroots organizations in India and initiates efforts in various interconnected spheres such as education, livelihoods, natural resources, health, women's empowerment and social justice. AID was founded in 1991 by students at University of Maryland, College Park. Today, AID has approximately 36 chapters across the United States, and 6 chapters in India.
For detailed information about AID, please visit www.aidindia.org. This website provides a wealth of information about the work that AID has done, and continues to do.

'One for India' (OFI) is AID's year-end fundraiser which brings people together on the web, to make ONE contribution to India that COUNTS during this season of giving. AID aims to raise $250,000 from this year's campaign to support its projects in 2007.

Join me at http://www.oneforindia.org/?r=taf
to make ONE contribution that will count and make a positive difference in India. You can donate to the AID common pool of funds, or to any individual chapter that you wish to support.

Please forward this appeal to your friends and family. I know that most of us are students, or have very recently started working, and money is tight at this time of the year. And so, I just wanted to add that ANY contribution is an effective contribution. Even an equivalent of ONE dollar can go a long way collectively! So, Imagine, Implement, Inspire...

Thank you, best wishes and Happy Holidays!!
-Amrita.

Miami Herald Article - Great American Teach-A-thon

MIAMI SOUTHRIDGE SENIOR HIGH

Guests teach classes to raise money

There was something different recently at Miami Southridge Senior High as students filed past the thick red stripe of Spartan Pride in the hallways. Not every classroom teacher was teaching -- but they had a good excuse.

BY STEPHANIE R. MAST

U/Miami News Service

In Joseph George's 7:30 a.m. precalculus class, about 30 droopy-eyed students sat at their desks waiting for the lesson to begin. Then George said the ''GS'' word -- guest speaker -- and a head that rested on an arm in the back row suddenly shot up.

George, a math teacher at Miami Southridge Senior High School for 18 years, explained that Bala Kattappuram, a power systems engineer at Florida Power & Light, would be filling in for him as part of a teachathon organized by the Education Fund.

The teachathon is based on teachers surrendering their textbooks and handing the class over to a local business professional to teach practical application of the subject. Approximately 70 schools participated in the Nov. 29 exercise that brought more than 200 business people to classrooms.

Once past the smudgy handprint in the middle of the door window of Room 031, Kattappuram, 23, showed students how to analyze population trends by using their graphing calculators. In his job at FPL, Kattappuram assesses the need for new power lines in the area, and to do so he must look at the number of people moving to Florida.

George, 49, applauded Kattappuram's ability to relate to his students by using relevant material.

''They don't see any purpose of what they are doing,'' George said of many of his math students. ''They often question when will they use it in life.'' Kattappuram, he said, was able to get across the message that they need to prepare for the future.

''It is just an investment you are making at this point in your life,'' Kattappuram told the students, referring to their classes. ''Life is exciting, and there are a lot of opportunities out there,'' said Kattappuram, who graduated from University of South Alabama eight months ago.

Giuliana Alcazar, 17, said Kattappuram's presentation was useful.

''It's more interactive; we are using real-life situations,'' Giuliana said.

Kattappuram was not the only business professional visiting classrooms at Southridge, 19355 SW 114th Ave., in South Miami-Dade.

Ken East, vice president of the school divisions at Coastal Construction, spent the morning working with students in Anna Carranza's business cooperative education program, a program that allows students to sample the work world.

The teachathon was implemented last year by the fund, a local nonprofit organization founded in 1985 to help improve the county's public schools. Business professionals solicit co-workers, families and friends for financial contributions, which are donated to the fund and to their assigned schools. Half of the money goes to the participating schools, the other half to Education Fund initiatives.

''It is the idea to show the people in the private sector how important it is to have quality teachers,'' said Gerry Scally, Ocean Bank Center's coordinator for the Education Fund.

In its first year, the teachathon's nearly 100 participants raised $20,000 for the cause.

This year, the 210 participants so far have raised $42,000. The drive ends Wednesday.

George plans to use the money to buy classroom supplies: transparencies, calculators and math-related posters.

''I might look for some software programs that could be utilized; it always helps to better the instruction,'' he said.

From Miami Herald
Dec 10th, 2006