Items
Date is exactly
2021-03-23
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2021-03-23
NDN Collective Releases Statement on Updates to Cases of Land Defenders Arrested at Mt. Rushmore
Last summer, 21 Indigenous people and allies, including Nick Tilsen, the president and CEO of NDN Collective, were met with force from the state police and arrested for protesting Trump’s rally at Mt. Rushmore. Though Trump and his group were violating multiple treaties with their presence, including one through the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Land Defenders faced multiple charges. Tilsen himself was facing a felony and up to 17 years in prison. Today, NDN Collective announced that the charges for Tilsen and all other activists arrested on July 3 will be dropped. This announcement comes after months of political pressure from grassroots groups, including petitions, social media campaigns, and local and national media coverage of the cases. -
2021-03-23
#JOTPYLesson from Darren McClelland-Urbanski
I’ve really learned nothing new: I already knew that people will ignore science when it suits their agendas. Such is the nature of the beast. -
2021-03-23
#JOTPYLesson from Sara Ramos
in the midst of such a trying year, it’s the kindness that always stands out. -
2021-03-23
#JOTPYLesson from Jordan Bizal
I've learned that I wasn't spending enough time with my kids and spouse. I have missed so many things this year, but I realized just how much I've missed by prioritizing life outside of my home. My kids are funny, kind, and so smart. It's been a great opportunity to pay attention to the things that they do while they're still little. I've learned that my extended family care deeply for me. The way people have called to check in and set up regular zoom meetings reminds me that in the same way I was missing small regular moments with my kids and spouse, I was also missing mundane conversations with people farther out in my circle. -
2021-03-23
#JOTPYLesson from Amy Evenson
I've learned that small acts of kindness, go a long way. When I lost my job due to the pandemic, as the only income for my family, I was beyond stressed. When my unemployment application stalled because of the huge number of people applying for assistance, I vented on Twitter. My friends picked up the thread, started an Amazon wishlist, and within days strangers were stepping in and sending my family food, cleaning supplies, essentials, and even toys for my dog. People continued to check in for months to make sure we were doing okay. For most people who helped us, it was a $5-10 purchase; for us it was a lifeline that kept us safe, fed, healthy, and supported. It made a terrifying time a bit easier and kept us afloat until I could find another job. -
2021-03-23
#JOTPYLesson from Iyen Vinson
I have learned that some work meetings can definitely be done virtually instead of everyone being together in a room. I have also learned that in person school is much more beneficial than online learning. -
2021-03-23
News Article: Here's how much vaccines are selling for on the illegal market
This article relays data gleaned from cybersecurity firm Check Point Software to a CNN reporter, Samantha Kelly, related to the illicit market for COVID-19 vaccines and proof of vaccination cards available for purchase through the dark web. -
2021-03-23
Where Are All the Kids?
Our school has never looked better - festive flags waving, campus clean and painted, welcoming balloon arches. We were ready to re-open. But then, no one came. The message we teachers had been whispering amongst ourselves for weeks, that kids and their families do not want to come back yet, had come to fruition. Out of my 172 students, only 31 will step foot on campus, the rest will continue to logon from home. That number, 31, is expected to continue to drop as more students revert to only Distance Learning. Knowing how few students were on campus, I was surprised to see our school social media posted first day pictures. I know it was supposed to be celebratory, but I couldn’t stop laughing at the insanity of a balloon arch welcoming no one. How could our social media exclaim that we were “so happy to see students roam the halls again” and then post pictures of a completely empty school? It looks like Chernobyl. At some point, I decided to take the images, a video of an empty classroom my friend took, and my attendance roster with almost all kids marked as “Distance Learning” and put them together in a video to try and capture the mixed emotions. I alternatively feel like crying and laughing when I watch it. I really think it captures the reopening, albeit in a slightly subversive way. Of course, I really hope my admin never sees it, because I’m guessing they will not see the tongue and cheek, ironic humor in this. -
2021-03-23
'The one way I can protect them': Parents enroll kids in early COVID-19 vaccine trials
No existing COVID-19 vaccine is approved for anyone under the age of 16. The companies responsible for the vaccines are working on getting another vaccine approved for children and have begun trial phases. Some Arizona parents have enrolled their children in the trials, not only so their children can get vaccinate, but also as a way to help the community. -
2021-03-23
"Asian and Black Americans experience racism differently. But we need to unite against hate"
In this editorial in the Los Angeles Times, Black female staff writer Sandy Banks poses the question "Now the question is: Can we join together and move forward, with white supremacy — not each other — as the enemy?" She reflects on the years of tension in Los Angeles between the Black and Asian American communities. However, she sees a common ground between the two communities in light of the anti-Asian racism and shooting of six Asian women at the hands of a White male, whose crimes were justified by a police spokesperson who was found later to have made anti-Asian social media posts. -
2021-03-23
Pandemic TikTok
With talk of everything going back to "normal" with vaccinations and whatnot, mass shootings are coming back. -
2021-03-23
Mash trash #23
Mask near the construction site at 5th and Ash in downtown Tempe. -
2021-03-23
Vaccine eligiblity
So apparently the State of Arizona is expanding access to the vaccine so that everyone 16+ is now eligible to receive it. I saw a news story about this, and they mentioned an interesting side effect of this otherwise positive news development. Thus far, the mass vaccination sites have had very little trouble finding volunteers to help run things, in large part because volunteers are usually offered the chance to receive the shot in exchange for their service. However, now that eligibility has opened up to all adults and some teenagers, there is less of a personal incentive to help out at the mass vaccination sites. This means that sites are now having more trouble finding volunteers. My first response to this is that they should come up with at least some money to pay people for their time, if for no other reason than to attract enough people to keep the sites running. Secondly, this has made me consider becoming a volunteer myself. I feel extremely fortunate to have gotten access to the vaccine so early in the process and want to make sure everyone else gets access to it as soon as possible. Of course, this is just talk at this point...we'll see if I actually put my words into action :) -
2021-03-23
The mask trash series
The mask trash series. Historical records come in many forms, and although history favors the written record, the current pandemic reveals ephemeral stories worth documenting. Globally, many people are wearing face masks daily, some are hand-sewn, others commercially made, and some are disposable. They are necessary, they slow the rate of transmission, but they also come with an environmental cost. Corresponding with this new public health trend is a rise in pandemic-related trash such as face masks littering driveways, streets, sidewalks, parks, and waterways. Face masks choke the landscape and harm wildlife. Disposable masks are spun from polymer plastic, meaning they won’t break down, but they will continue to split into smaller and smaller pieces, some of which will be ingested by animals and even re-consumed by other creatures in the food chain. The mask trash series seeks to highlight the increase in pandemic-related trash, and give space to a facet of history we often wish we could ignore: the waste we either intentionally or inadvertently discard.