Consider This

Here's an experiment:
Step 1: log on to the internet and type in any candidate's name.
Step 2: count how many blogs written about why that person should be elected (don't worry you won't need two hands for this)
Step 3: click on any of the blogs and read one

By step 2, you should have already realized that most of the blogs are about why a candidate should not be elected. I was only able to find two blogs that supported a candidate. The first blog was written for Democratic candidate Rod Smith, Rodsmith2006.com/blog. The last entry was written by Rod Smith himself. You would think if anyone was going to convince you to vote for Smith, it would be the man himself- right? Don't be so sure. His blog lists the issues and then under each issue a one-liner describing how easily he's going to resolve it.

Rod Smith on teacher salaries: "I will pay teachers more so that Florida attracts and retains the best talent in our classrooms."
Okay, Rod how much more are you going to pay them? One dollar? Five-thousand dollars? And just where are you getting the money?
Rod Smith's plan to reform the homeowner's insurance market: "I'm going to fix the system and give the people of Florida peace of mind."
This guys a genius. The other candidates are all worried about plans and budgets, but not Rod. He's going to grant the people of Florida piece of mind; kind of like a magic genie.

The blog goes on for three pages that really make you wonder why a man with this much promise is behind in the polls.

The other blog supported Democratic candidate Jim Davis. It was entitled "Fed Up With FCAT Vote Jim Davis". Although this blog wasn't written by the candidate himself, it was slightly more convincing. The author known as "Smashed Frog" uses colorful images and fantastic alliteration to convey his message that Florida families are fed up with the "flunkin FCAT". To drive his point home, Smashed Frog sprinkled his entire blog with links to articles about the FCAT and the support its received from Republican candidate Charlie Crist. He also quotes Florida statutes and politicians who oppose the FCAT and tests like it.("Hey, Rod you could learn a thing or two from this Smashed Frog guy")

As for Republican candidate Katherine Harris: I searched high and low for anything written about her that was positive and I couldn't find one blog; other than her own website, which reads kind of like Rod Smith's blog. Even the conservative Christians she caters to turned against her. In a blog called The Moderate Voice one woman said Harris' remarks "were offensive to me as a Christian and a Republican." Wow, Katherine. If you were in primary school, you'd be the kid sitting in the corner by the trash can that everyone throws spitballs at.



I've read plenty of other blogs about this year's General Election candidates, but none worth mentioning. The only conclusion I can make from all my research is that most candidates and their supporters still haven't realized how important the internet is to the electoral process. They rather spend their campaign dollars on those ridiculous political advertisements that patronize and annoy voters.

Posted by Kristen at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments

Democracy In High-Speed



Almost 2000 teachers cut class on Wednesday, October 11th and hit the streets. They wore red shirts and carried picket signs that said things like, " I need more than an apple. I need a raise" and "How about no teacher left behind? "

United Teachers of Dade (teacher's union) and the Miami-Dade School Board are currently in negotiations over how much more teachers should earn over their current salary. Teachers are asking for a starting salary of $40,000, which would make their salary competitive with the salary of Broward County's teachers. The district is currently offering a raise that is $4000 less.

The demonstration was part of a week-long series of activities. Teachers handed out flyers at their respected schools and wore red t-shirts daily.

The teacher's union forbids any employee to organize, demonstrate or strike while on the clock. But these teachers were crafty, they took to their keyboards and began circulating hundreds of e-mails to fellow teachers, parents and administrative staff.

"I got involved through e-mail," said Jill Prince, a teacher at Gloria Floyd Elementary, "But you gotta be out there for it to work. I think the internet helps as far as getting people together, but you gotta get out on the street to make a difference."

The demonstration worked, in that it got the attention of every local news station. NBC6.net reported that they deceived dozens of e-mails regarding the protest as it was going on. The e-mails came from teachers and Dade County residents. All of the e-mails supported the teachers in their struggle.

"Helicopters flew overhead. I saw us on t.v." said Miriam Calderin, a first grade teacher who attended the demonstration held on Kendall Drive and 137th Avenue in Miami.

Calderin, like Prince, was told where and when to demonstrate through an e-mail she received, but she warns that the internet shouldn't be used as their primary tool.

"The fact that their having discussions using the internet does nothing. It just airs out their frustrations, but no one important is looking at it," Calderin said.

The mass e-mailing that lead to the Dade County teacher protest may not get them a raise, but it did raise a few eyebrows across the country. They made national news for a week straight and even got the attention of a few bloggers. Peter Rothberg, a writer for The Nation, wrote a blog on October 5th entitled "Teach the Children Well", about the protests and received 108 comments that same day. Most of the readers who commented sympathized with the teachers.

The teacher who organized the protest through Dade County Public Schools e-mail system, Shawn Bightol, was reassigned to the maintenance department just three days prior to the negotiation meeting between the teacher's union and the school board. The school board has yet to confirm whether it was a punishment or sheer coincidence.

Unfortunately for the school board, the damage has already been done. The debate over teachers' salaries has gained national attention. It has become one of the main issues of political candidates these past few weeks. During Tuesday's gubernatorial debate, the first question on the floor was whether or not teachers' salaries would be raised. Charlie Christ said that only teachers who are employed by schools who have scored in the top 25% on the FCAT should get a raise.

"Teachers salaries should be used to make sure they have the support they need to be a powerful teacher in the classroom, " said Jim Davis who is endorsed by the United Teachers of Dade.

Both candidates claim that they have a "plan" to raise teachers' salaries if they are elected.

The key to gaining national attention of this magnitude is to use the internet as a way to organize large groups of people for a single cause. E-mailing and blogging does nothing, if not proceeded by some kind of public demonstration. For example...

On January 21, 2003, Wired News uploaded the story, "Internet Strokes Anti-War Movement", on to their website. Wired reporter Leander Kahney credits the "organizing power of the internet" with the largest anti-war demonstration since the Vietnam anti-war movement.

The biggest difference between the Vietnam anti-war protest and the protest against the then "possible war in Iraq" was that Vietnam protests took years to reach the level that it did, while the protest against the Iraq War took just a few months. Anti-war websites and mailing lists spread information about the protest, which resulted in dozens of protests across the United States. Wired News states that the two biggest demonstrations were held in San Francisco and Washington, where about 100,000 protesters gathered.



Some websites, like InternationalANSWER, use the internet to organize protests on an international level. The acronym, ANSWER, stands for Act Now to Stop War & End Racism. The organization is planning a "Global Day of Action" for March 17, 2007. The demonstration is being promoted mainly through their website, which states that they are calling for mass protests in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Only time will tell whether their internet advertising and mass e-mailing will prove successful.

Posted by Kristen at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Kristen at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

There is one thing that Britney Spears and Paris Hilton have in common- they both make millions of dollars a year and neither one can sing. They are also both geniuses. That's right, I said "geniuses". You have to be a genius to captitalize on a talent you don't actually possess. They have found a way to market themselves so that consumers pay more attention to their image than their inability to sing. And they are laughing all the way to the bank.
If you want to actually make money in the music industry these days, you have to put down the instrument for a while and start studying business. Real musicians have to make it a priority to educate themselves in the business they are trying so hard to enter. The days of sitting on a street corner, playing music and waiting for a music producer to discover you are over.
I can't stand it when musicians say "I'm an artist, I don't do math" or "I'm an artist, I don't concern myself with economics". Those are the people who will be sitting on that street corner for the rest of their lives, just waiting to be discovered.
Music executives aren't the least bit concerned with how well you sing or play guitar. They are only concerned with the bottom line: how much money can you make the company. Someone that doesn't know how to market themselves, won't make very much money.
Take a lesson from the queen of marketing, Ms. Paris Hilton. She's been in movies and she can't act. She's sold a book and she can't write. And now she is topping the charts with her version of a reggae song and she can't even sing. I'm sure she's aware that she's not particularly gifted in any of these areas, but she is gifted in the area of self promotion.
Real music fans are acheing for some innovative talent, but it doesn't seem like we are going to get it any time soon. Musicians need to embrace the business side of their craft. They must realize that finding new ways to promote themselves and market their craft can be as creative an experience as composing a piice of music. If they don't, we are going to be stuck listening to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears for a real long time to come.

Posted by Kristen at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments

Generation Apathy

I awoke to fists being thrown at my door. Whoever it was had to be crazy to think I was getting out of bed. I had only gone to sleep two hours ago, tops. Then I heard Tati scream. Something in her voice told me this was an emergency. With one eye open, I made my way to the dorm room door and threw it open. Tati didn't say a word. She grabbed hold of my wrists and dragged me down the hallway and into the lobby. Everyone in Osceola Hall was standing in front of the big screen television and most were crying. Soon I was crying too.
It was September 11, 2001. It was a day that changed my view of the world forever and I thought it would have the same affect on my entire generation. But for some, no sooner did it happen, than it was forgotten.
In fact, we stopped by a friend's house that day after attepting to give blood at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and our friends were sitting around smoking weed like nothing had happened. They were aware of the atrocity that had just occured, but they were unaffected. They all seemed to have the same "well, there's nothing we can do about it mentality".
I had never been so ashamed of the people I associated myself with, so Tati and I left. As we drove down Tennessee Avenue towards our dorm, we spotted our friend Allie and stopped to give her a ride. "Isn't it great. They cancelled class. Now we have time to look for an apartment," she said as she smiled through my driver's side window. I couldn't hide the look of disgust on my face, so I drove away; leaving Allie standing in the middle of the road.
Recently, I spoke to my friend Elizabeth Repensek, 22, a student at Florida State University, who said "People in our generation have this idea or theory that nothing affects them. Even if it affects their neighbor, it just doesn't hit close enough to home for them". And if you've ever tried to collect money, signatures or support for a cause you feel strongly about, you would have to agree.
Two weeks ago, I tried to collect signatures for Amnesty International's International Women's Rights campaign. At the top of the e-mails I sent out I wrote: "All you have to do is type your name at the bottom of the page and press send to give a voice to women around the world who are being raped, beaten and unjustly imprisoned". I thought, maybe they won't care as deeply as I do, but they will at least take the time to type their names and press send. So far, none of my e-mails have returned.
Repensek worked the polls last Tuesday in Tallahassee for the primary election for governor. Only 30 out of 400 registered voters, under the age of 30, voted during the primary election that day.
"It was painfully sad for our generation," Repensek said, "the older people were so happy to see younger people working the polls and showing that they care".
According to CNN.com, only 17 percent of the presidential vote came from voters between the ages of 18 and 29.
Generation Y is apathetic, at best. Our parents' were united in fighting for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. Our grandparents lived through the Great Depression and World War II. Our parents and grandparents were made aware of the impact these political, economic and social catastrophes had on their lives because the effects were inescapable. Maybe we've just had it too easy. Maybe most of our generation believes that nothing will affect them because nothing ever has.

Posted by Kristen at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments