‘Change’ gives partisan advice

Article published in The American University Eagle on November 15, 2009. The article can also be found at http://www.theeagleonline.com/scene/story/change-gives-partisan-advice1.

‘Change’ gives partisan advice
Generation Change: 150 Ways We Can Change Ourselves, Our Country and Our World
GRADE: B

     You’re young, politically-inspired, electronically-savvy tweeters ready to change the world. According to Jayan Kalathil and Melissa Bolton-Klinger, the authors of “Generation Change: 150 Ways We Can Change Ourselves, Our Country and Our World,” you are “Generation Change.”
     The authors joined forces while working together at VH1,Kalathil in public affairs and Bolton-Klinger, a writer-director with a film background, on the creative side.
     “We were both inspired by President Obama’s election, but more so we were inspired by the movement that it created with young people,” Kalathil said. “Watching him connect with younger voters and young Americans in general and watching them get involved in the political process — it showed that with the right message and technology, people can really be galvanized and get on board with a political campaign and causes in general.”
     Bolton-Klinger was hoping that the book could jump off of the “change” platform that was touted during the campaign.
     “We were bombarded with change, change, change […] We’re hearing this message but when he gets elected — well, now what?” Bolton-Klinger said. “Maybe we can pick up the baton and not make change become another slogan, but write something so it can feel tangible.”
     The book reads like a guide of 100 tips — its very own SparkNotes.
     “The way we write it is very casual; the ideas are pretty universal to everyone,” Kalathil said.
     The book is broken into categories including mind, body and soul; neighborhood issues; the nation; fighting poverty; human rights and the environment. The book reads like a conversation, suggesting places for information dealing with whatever issue one may be interested in.
     The book is littered with quotes from President Barack Obama. The authors explain their inclusion that “peppered throughout we’ve added quotes from the president to keep you inspired.” Some tips cross the line between helping to change the world and becoming an Obama follower. While tips like learning how to cook, knowing what’s going on in the government and laughing and smiling more are tips we can all agree with, numbers 23, “Obamify Yourself,” and 85, “Send President Obama a Thank-You Note” seem preachy. Though this may alienate some conservative or apolitical readers, the goal of the book is bipartisanship. The authors wanted the book to be something everyone can take away from.
     “Granted we use the president a lot, but I think the ideas and issues we bring up don’t really fall under political partisanship,” Kalathil said.
     Bolton-Klinger noted that the tips are mostly accessible to everyone.
     “You should still read our book because [advice like] flossing is definitely bipartisan and we should be doing more of that,” she said. “I think change is something for everybody, not just liberals.”
     The best tip for college students is using their voice, according to Bolton-Klinger.
     “You have something you need to say more than anyone because this is a time in your life when you’re exposed to new things and have new thoughts and you can take advantage of that voice, and they should do that as much as they can,” she said.
     “Generation Change” outlines some great ways on how to become sustainable and how to research things one has always wanted to do. The boasting of President Obama can be overbearing, but if one can get past it, the tips and resources will help one achieve goals and connect with others on issues they care about.
     “We’re at a place in history where we can connect to each other and it has never been easier to get involved in a cause that interests you,” Kalathil said.

#     #     #

Play shows ‘heart’ of war in Vietnam

Article published in The American University Eagle on November 11, 2009. The article can also be found at http://www.theeagleonline.com/scene/story/play-shows-heart-of-war-in-vietnam 

Play shows ‘heart’ of war in Vietnam
By Natalie Kirkpatrick
Eagle Staff Writer

     The American Century Theater’s performance of Shirley Lauro’s “A Piece of My Heart” exposes the human story that is typically left unexplored when telling the war element of Vietnam.
     Seven outstanding actors portray the truth about life in Vietnam, as depicted in oral histories told by 26 out of approximately 1,500 American women who recounted their experiences as civilian humanitarians, nurses and entertainers in Southeast Asia, in a play compiled by Keith Walker.
     Crafting plays about war can be quite difficult, as political biases are hard to ignore and keeping with the facts can be difficult. “A Piece of My Heart” tells the truth about these women’s experiences in Vietnam and their return to the United States, showing the good, the bad and the ugly. “A Piece of My Heart” highlights the real lives of women in Vietnam and not just the glory of volunteering.
     Vietnam is a war that society doesn’t want to talk about and the play does a good job of showing both the positive and negative aspects of the war while avoiding a political stance. Overall, the play educates.
     Stories from Holocaust survivors of World War II and experiences of slaves in the Civil War have been heard, but the stories of women who volunteered in Vietnam are ones shockingly untold until now.
     While all seven actors in “A Piece Of My Heart” had individual story lines, the other six acted as the outside characters in the others’ stories; no one character was stagnant or uninvolved throughout the play. The characters were aware of each others’ storylines and contributed to the personal connection in their histories. When one was in tears or in outrage, the others looked on and interacted, not maintaining their independent character. All actors had the unbelievable ability to change the inflection in their voice, the way they carried themselves and even break out into song. These performers are not just actors; they are talented singers, role players and dancers.
     The play was certainly not a comedy, but the hypocrisy of reality versus impressions led equally to laughter, tears and outrage. One character remembers when she was told to buy nice bras and panties because once she got to Vietnam trudging around in the dirt, she would forget what sex she was.
     The beginning of the play shows the eagerness of the women to help others, as well as their thoughts on Vietnam, up through the installation of the Vietnam Memorial and the war’s aftermath.
     The set, props and costume changes are all scarce and the costume changes are minimal, yet they offer a maximum output. The effect of using simple camouflage green and blood red are astoundingly powerful.
     Music was used as a transition with careful attention to content and context. Mary Jo, a southern performer who was sent to Vietnam to entertain the troops, acted as an onstage musical element, always keeping her guitar by her side. Having her on stage as musical accompaniment kept the audience involved in what was happening. During larger transitions, like before and after intermission, relevant music from the ‘60s played, including the Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye and Janis Joplin.
     Since the performance moved from Virginia to the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church on Massachusetts Avenue, the show will run until Nov. 21. The venue offers a personal and intimate connection to these actors and the stories of the amazing women they represent. “A Piece of My Heart” is a performance that should not be missed.

#     #     #

Giraldo’s humor only worth time on YouTube

Article published in The American University Eagle on November 11, 2009. The article can also be found at http://www.theeagleonline.com/scene/story/giraldos-humor-only-worth-time-on.-youtube

Giraldo’s humor only worth time on YouTube
By Natalie Kirkpatrick
Eagle Staff Writer

MIDLIFE VICES
GRADE: C-

     If Comedy Central-affiliated comedian Greg Giraldo was aiming to offend every demographic possible, he has done so in his recent comedy CD “Midlife Vices.” Just rolling through his track list is an introduction to those he plans to attack, including fat kids, people who are homeless, old, female, Chinese, handicapped, gay, asthmatic or Puerto Rican — emphasis on the female.
     Newly-divorced former drug addict Giraldo indulges in a number of slightly (yes, slightly) humorous tirades in his June 2009 New York City Union Square Theater performance. According to Giraldo’s Web site, he has previously done work on Comedy Central’s “Root of All Evil” and “The Gong Show” in addition to appearing on multiple “Comedy Central” celebrity roasts. Maybe Giraldo should stick to that type of late night comedy — bringing his type of humor out in the light of day is just flat out distasteful.
     Recording his performance in NYC lent itself to the introductory section on jokes for New Yorkers, beacuse in New York, there are parades nearly every weekend in the summer, creating traffic jams throughout the city. Giraldo’s choice of focus was the Puerto Rican Day Parade, which he claims offered empowering messages to women like, “You’re never too fat to wear a tube top.”
     The snippets that are appropriate enough to be repeated to friends without being pummeled for offending mass groups of people aren’t worth the time spent on the whole disc.
     Giraldo touches on a lot of recently controversial subjects such as stem cell research, the economy, athletes and steroids and gay marriage. He discussed homosexuality and how he doesn’t believe it’s a choice, just as his attraction to women isn’t a choice.
     “I don’t choose it,” Giraldo says on the CD. “I happen to be attracted to women. It sucks, but I don’t choose it. Every 10 years or so I have to give all of my shit away and start from scratch,” he said, referring to his divorce.
     Giraldo’s bits are amusing if one enjoys laughing at others’ expense, but not funny enough to spawn audible laughter — unless discussing which animals would be fun to have sex with forces you to laugh (Koalas? Kangaroos? Let’s talk about it for three minutes in great depth — Giraldo does).
     His bit on the female anatomy is revolting. When he describes his thoughts the first time he saw a nude woman, it makes one want to shut off the disc. Though that part is contained in the first half of Giraldo’s set and the second half of his performance proved to be better than the first, it still does not warrant the purchase of the entire CD.
     Some of Giraldo’s comedy is somewhat entertaining, specifically a track entitled “Texting/Technology/Wall Punching,” which almost produces audible laughter when he grapples with new rainwater windshield sensor technology in cars. Apparently we’re too lazy to twist the windshield wiper stick, but we can still text and drive. This routine is worth a listen — but just find it on YouTube.
     Giraldo proves that he is capable of clean, inoffensive humor when he finds a Jamaican man asleep in the dead center of his audience in the middle of his performance. He then mocks the man and tells a funny anecdote from his trips to Jamaica. It’s the kind of humor one can get from sarcastic friends after a family vacation.
     Though some of Giraldo’s material is funny, don’t waste time or money picking up this CD. Finding the best of his skits on YouTube or searching blogs for his highest-rated routines is a better option — it’s just not worth the purchase.

#     #     #

Photo Contribution

A photo I took at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC was used for an article in The Eagle:
http://www.theeagleonline.com/scene/story/bookworms-gather-in-d.c

Film shows new side of army life

Written for the Eagle and published on Monday, September 28th, 2009.
http://www.theeagleonline.com/

Film shows new side of army life

Brats feel consequences of base life
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK
September 27, 2009

“Where are you from?”

It’s a simple question. It’s one that is asked after learning a person’s name. But for five percent of the United States population, it’s a rather difficult question. Children with military parents end up jumping from one city to the next and are unable to associate with any place. As the documentary “BRATS: Our Journey Home” notes, “Home is not a place, but a state of mind.”

The documentary was the product of seven years’ worth of interviews and was initially released in 2006. Last Wednesday marked the launch of Operation Military Brat, which features free screenings across the country of the award-winning documentary. After the film viewings, writer and director Donna Musil hosts town hall meetings with those who attended the screening.

“Sometimes we get as many as 600 or [as few as] a handful of people at these screenings,” said co-producer Timothy Wurtz.

The documentary was a way to raise awareness about challenges that brats of all ages face, according to Musil. “It’s a documentary,” she clarifies, “not an exposé.”

The film itself, like any documentary, is a learning experience. The film boasts itself as “the first documentary about growing up military,” and it is easy to believe. The film explores the positives and negatives of growing up with at least one parent in the military, a seemingly unexplored topic in anything other than Pat Conroy’s novel, “The Great Santini.” While society directs focus to members of the military, rarely does anyone explore the health and well-being of the family members like it is done in “BRATS.”

While the concept of the film can easily be confused for one about the military, the writers took on the challenge of maintaining focus not on the military members, but rather on the children — the brats. The film explores “base life,” where things like clothing and housing are provided for brats for free or at discounted prices, but is an area surrounded by barbed wire. After the age of 18, the children’s ID cards are taken away and the brats are no longer welcome on the military bases, the only “home” they’ve known.

While the positive aspects to base life — the ability to travel, meet new people and transcend social boundaries — could make us civilians envious, the film also delves into the negative aspects of military life. The behavior of brats reflects directly on their parents. The expectations of these children are exceptionally high, causing low self-esteem and eventually leading to bigger issues. Even just the basic essence of a child — the desire to ask questions and to explore — is put on hold during base life.

The film focuses on the brats of Vietnam, the Cold War and World War II — dating it a bit — but the participants of the D.C. screening/town hall meeting and Musil noted how the brats of today’s wars are having a completely different experience. For instance, the families and brats of previous battles could not seek mental health maintenance without punishment and did not have the benefit of e-mail or current technology. Also different is that many of the current brats are more stationary than the brats of previous wars.

The brats of today are a population of people to be studied and are now aiming to provide support for those with similar experiences and invoke change in the systems of the current wars.

For a fairly unappreciated percent of the population, the brats’ community now stays alive through the Internet. At the town hall following the screening of “BRATS” at the West End Neighborhood Library, the brats touted that the bases they lived on are closing and their pasts only live on through the Web.

One interviewee in the film noted that it is not only military officers that serve, but also the entire family.“My life is dedicated to you because my dad’s is,” he said.

For what brats would call “civilians,” the film explores a community that is rarely talked about but is in dire need of attention. “BRATS: Our Journey Home” is a good start. For fellow brats, the film is a shoulder to cry on, a friend to laugh with and a trip to the “place of mind” they call home.

Not Blue, Not White, But Green

Written for an Advanced Reporting course in the Spring of 2009. We were assigned to follow a beat of our choosing and write an article associated with our beat at the end of the semester. I chose the environmental beat and wrote about the influx of green jobs. Never published.

One year ago, green jobs were not considered an employment option for many. Green jobs were seen as a trendy political idea that was never followed through with. Now with an unstable economy and a troubling job market, more blue and white collar workers are taking green jobs more seriously.

The term “green” jobs is still being used loosely but its popularity is rising in the environmental sector. Presidential candidates John Edwards, and Hilary Clinton have spoken about the importance of green jobs in the past and now the Obama Administration is on board with creating a stable economy and a sustainable environment through green jobs. The administration passed the stimulus bill in February which included monetary support for green jobs

On June 24, 2008, then Senator Barack Obama said, “A green, renewable-energy economy isn't some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future. It is now. It is creating jobs now.”

The Sierra Club, a grassroots organization to improve the environment, is embracing a greener job market with the Green Jobs for America Campaign. According to the campaign green jobs are “Simply put, it’s work that helps us build the clean energy economy. And there are millions to be had, if our leaders stop making bad choices and start investing in energy independence.”

“Something that can create jobs that the product of the labor is contributing to the creation of a clean energy economy is a win-win,” said Special Assistant for the Energy Opportunity Team at the Center for American Progress, Sean Pool. “Just any old job, building an office building is a job, great, they are paying you but…not only is someone employed but the product of their labor is something we desperately need for the sustainable environment.”

“What makes these entirely familiar occupations ‘green jobs’ is that the people working in them are contributing their everyday labors toward building a green economy,” according to the June Report of “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments.” “We therefore consider and refer to the strategies examined in this report as green investments, in addition to global warming solutions.”

According to an article written by Dona DeZube, the Monster Finance Careers Expert for job search agent Monster.com, the solution for temporary or permanent unemployment is green.

“Whether you’re currently employed or out of work and looking for a stable job in a new field, stimulus spending on green initiatives could create your next position” DeZube wrote in the article titled, “Stimulus to Fund Thousands of New, Green Jobs.”

Some think that this giant push towards green jobs is due to President Obama’s Stimulus package.

According to recovery.gov, a web site created to educate visitors on the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act said the act, “specifically includes $7.22 billion for projects and programs administered by EPA. These programs will protect and promote both ‘green’ jobs and a healthier environment.”

“I certainly think there’s lots in the stimulus bill that’s going to try anyway to stimulate green collar jobs and open up new sectors in the energy field,” Paul Wapner, Associate Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics program in the School of International Service at American University, said. “Big questions are going to be whether you can monitor this money and watch where it goes.”

This trend isn’t a new one. A year ago, on March 26, 2008, Steven Greenhouse, a reporter for the New York Times wrote “Millions of Jobs of a Different Collar,” an article discussing the wave of “green collar jobs” and how while some are skeptical, some presidential candidates were promising an increase. The concerns then were that the jobs will not have the “staying power” to push through the economic struggles and that green jobs might not pay as much as the jobs they are replacing making them undesirable.

“There have been far more articles pointing to the idea that green jobs are if not as evenly distributed between high and low paying jobs, they are equal or even more high paying jobs,” Pool said. “These jobs are generally more stable and more secure just as high paying as jobs available with a normal average non-green job.”

Some skeptics have noted necessary training for “green” jobs as a downside for those seeking employment but opportunities range from entry-level green jobs working with energy efficiency, construction and renovation jobs, landscape architects, landscape designers, grounds and greenhouse maintenance workers, contractors, managers, gardening, plant studies, lawn care, and many others.

Some of the attention to green jobs can be attributed to the slump in the job market and a hike in unemployment rates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site, “Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia recorded over-the-month unemployment rate increases, while all 50 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates than a year earlier.”

The founder of Green for All, an organization that advocates for job creation and training in a green economy, Van Jones was appointed as a special advisor for green jobs within the White House's Council on Environmental Quality in the Obama Administration in March.

There are big goals including turning around the unemployment rate and creating an influx to greener jobs to create effect on the job market and later the economy and how they are achieved is still in the works.

A report entitled, “Green Recovery – A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy” put out by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts under the commission by the Center for American Progress, outlines a “green economy recovery program” including how this job creation can occur.

“By accelerating the implementation of these polices, we address our immediate need to boost a struggling economy and jumpstart our long-term transformation to a low-carbon economy. This green economic recovery program would spend $100 billion dollars over two years in six green infrastructure investment areas,” the report detailed.

“There is rising unemployment, 9 percent, at the same time we have so much work that needs to get done and we really need to do a lot to change our economy to something more sustainable,” Pool said. “The time we have to do that is getting lesser and lesser.”

The report also outlines how this green recovery plan can directly result in more jobs.

“There are three sources of job creation associated with any expansion of spend­ing—direct, indirect, and induced effects,” the report stated. “We estimate…from spending $100 billion in public funds in a combination of our six green investment areas… the number [of jobs created is] 935,000 million direct jobs, 586,000 indi­rect jobs, and 496,000 induced jobs, for a total of about 2 million total jobs created.”

While this seems like a large number of jobs earned, the jobs lost have been great as well. The report noted that, “As of July 2008, there were 8.8 million people officially unemployed within the U.S. labor force of 154.6 million, produc­ing an official unemployment rate of 5.7 percent, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta­tistics.”

A year ago, doubters of green jobs thought it was another empty campaign promise, but with the new administration, the idea seems to have stuck as more than just a temporary trend to environmentalists.

“Some skeptics argue that the phrase ‘green jobs’ is a little more than a trendy term for politicians to bandy about,” Greenhouse wrote a year ago, but is that still the case? After the storm of the 2009 presidential election has cleared, can the nation embrace green jobs as an option?

“I think it is already changing in a sense that Obama clearly seems to understand what’s at stake,” Professor Wapner said. “He’s looking at the economic crisis as an opportunity to move ahead on energy, renewable energy, and these issues are much more profound than any human being is possible of addressing and understanding.”

“The economy has become this issue that we talk about. What has become a low hum is now resonating with people. Especially now when people are losing their jobs,” Pool said. “Long run is every job will be a green job one day because we’re going to transition to a more sustainable environment and more people will be working for companies and services that will help our environment and not destroy it.”

Fantom Comics Profile

Written for my Reporting class last semester. Never published. 

     Washington, DC -- X-Men, Captain America, and Batman are common names heard in Tenleytown’s superhero haven called Fantom Comics. Stuck behind corporate giants Best Buy and the Container Store hides the independently owned comic book store, a place for anyone to hang out.
      The triangle shaped store can only be found if you follow the series of signs with the logo and one huge arrow pointing towards a crick in Wisconsin Avenue. The white walls would seem dull if the bright colors of endless stacks of graphic novels didn’t pop off of them.

     “It’s a teeny, tiny, hole in the wall comic book shop and there’s something really appealing about that.” said Tate Strickland, a junior at American University and occasional comic book reader.
      The store opened in Tenleytown in 2003 and recently opened another outlet at Union Station.
     “Location wise, it’s probably the safest and nicest area I’ve had to walk through 

to get to a comic book store,” said Regional Manager at Fantom Comics and AU Alum, Jordan Kessler. “Stores were never nice or easy to get to. DC has a great advantage. This is on the red line and the other store is on the red line.”
      Kessler said that the store feeds off of publicity from blogs or columns, most recently Tania Anderson’s column “Shop to it” featured on the Washington Post web site.
     “The area is also home to Fantom Comics, a 3-year-old store that sells comic books, graphic novels and manga, which are Japanese comics,” Anderson wrote in her column entitled Off the Beaten Path: Tenleytown. “The store, which gets a new shipment every Wednesday, invites all who read comics and even those who don't in a fun setting.”
     “I don’t think people come here and think of coming to shop. [Anderson] said that Tenle

ytown is a place for shoppers who know what they want,” Kessler said. “I need hiking boots; I’m going to Hiking Trail. I want the new Superman comic; I’m going to Fantom Comics.”
      “Fantom Comics is definitely the best place in the area to get comics and graphic novels,” said Dominic Lee in a comment on Anderson’s column. “Plus the staff will always have a cool new book that you should check out that you never heard of before.”
     Fantom Comics does it’s best to stray from the stereotype. Strickland thinks that this new literary medium gets a bad rap.
      “I think [comics] are really interesting and entertaining,” Strickland said. “People think comics and they see the comic book guy on the Simpson’s, or any other similar stereotype and it’s a medium that has a lot of breadth and depth there is so much to it, literary, entertaining, silly, you know, whatever.”
     “Are there still nerdy comic book guys? Yeah, they’re here, they come, and I’m not so arrogant to say that I’m not one of them,” Kessler said. “It’s an awesome clientele. We have the college student, high school student, dad, a good friend of mine, one of the owners, it’s very eclectic. A lot of women, we have a good sized female population.”

     Even though the nerds still exist, Strickland got a more modern feel from Fantom Comics.
      “They’re cool and really interested in comics, not in the way that they want you to be a customer but they’re excited that you read comics,” Strickland said. “They’re friendly and helpful. Definitely a cool place to go.”
     Although the store is small in size, that can be appealing to the common customer.
      “It’s small, a hole in the wall, nice, organized, surprisingly easy to find everything you need,” Strickland said. “It’s small and intimate, but not the way that’s creepy or sketchy but it occupies a small amount of space, you can get what you need and it adds to its appeal.”
     While the store has proven to feed off of the city it calls home, Fantom Comics offers something to the community as well.

     “I think one it gives it a bookstore. It gives you a place to hang out. There are not a lot of places to hang out that are not Starbucks or are not Angelico’s. There’s nowhere to go,” Kessler said. “I really want to eventually evolve the store to have seats and a table and to be somewhere where people can hang out.”
      Fantom Comics acts as a gem in a mass of corporate giants, for anyone, even mothers searching for the right gift for their kids.
     “I get the sense that Fantom Comics is an island, because there’s a big electronics store to one side, whole foods across the street and neither are very closely associated with the clientele that Fantom Comics attracts,” Strickland said. “I think it’s interesting that they chose 

Tenleytown as opposed to something hipper and cooler.”
      “I think we have built a lot of loyalty,” Kessler said. “I constantly hear customers saying, ‘well, I wanted to give you the business first.’”

     “We’ve become a store people can trust I really police the kids section and put great things in it remove things that aren’t so good,” Kessler said. “I think people can trust and want to come here.”
      The key word for Fantom Comics is acceptance. No matter who you are and what you’re doing in their store, judgments are left at the door. Kessler noted that he would never chase anyone out of the store for reading a comic like he’d find at other stores, and he’d never laugh at you for liking Wonderwoman.
     On the stores web site, http://www.fantomcomics.com/, they stated that one of their goals that says it all.

     “Fantom Comics is an open, inclusive store that welcomes people who've never read a comic book in their lives…whether you're a fan who want to talk comics, or a novice who wants to learn comics (or just look for the right gift for the fan in your life), our employees are there to help you.”

#     #     #