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Nuclear power is often billed as clean base-load electrical energy. However, few if any nuclear power proponents mention the unintended consequences or the externalized costs associated with this technology to support the unsustainable U.S. lifestyle. A crucial part of this story is told by Native Americans.
I have included three shocking, detailed articles outlining these unintended consequences impacting the Native Americans in South Dakota and neighboring states -- in particular the Cheyenne River radiation poisoning from nearby uranium mining impacting the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Regarding the nuclear power industry, unfortunately, I have a "horse" in this race -- my daughter and son-in-law, both engineers working on nuclear power plants. As a parent and activist who looks down the road to future generations, I suspect future historians will regard with contempt our ill-conceived and childish foray into nuclear power. I doubt history will judge us favorably. About some of the conversations my family has, as we are polar opposites -- let's just say the discussions are rather lively!
In the first article, Shelly Bluejay Pierce writes about uranium mining poisoning the Cheyenne River on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This 2007 article's issues have not been addressed (see the present-day update at bottom of this report). The uranium mining wastes have not been cleaned up from the river or surrounding countryside. The second article, written by Charmaine White Face, provides a brief outline of uranium mining -- calling it FACT SHEET: America's Secret Chernobyl.
While uranium mining tailings and wastes are not high graded into pure uranium, they nonetheless pose a significant health risk that will be with us for many hundreds of thousand years. Is this a legacy you want to leave to our future generations? I would think not! Contact your local, state, and federal representatives and demand action. There must be real clean-up and a stop to the mining, production, and use of these radioactive materials altogether. We must question our power "needs." - JG
Radiation warning signs were posted on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 in the small town of Red Shirt, South Dakota which lies on the northwest corner of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Several of these signs were placed warning people of the high nuclear radiation levels found in the Cheyenne River.
Several weeks ago Everitt Poor Thunder, a spiritual and community leader in Red Shirt, asked Defenders of the Black Hills, an environmental organization, whether the Cheyenne River water could be used to irrigate a community garden. A local well could not be used as it was found to be radioactive and warning signs surround that structure. The water well taps into the Inyan Kara aquifer that also contains the Lakota and Fall River formations, making up an extremely large aquifer of water supplies for many regions.
Residents of Red Shirt occupy a village site that is thousands of years old to the Oglala Tetuwan (Sioux) people. Many have lived here all of their lives, growing gardens with water taken from the Cheyenne River and fishing for catfish, bass, and turtles. In the summer months, the river is used for swimming and other recreational pursuits.
A water sample taken from the Cheyenne River was sent to a laboratory and the results revealed levels of alpha radiation above the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Maximum Contaminant Level. Alpha radiation causes harm when ingested hence the warning signs were placed to warn people of the dangers in the Cheyenne River.
The portion of the Cheyenne River Basin that lies in southwestern South Dakota drains about 16,500 square miles within the boundaries of the state. The area in this basin includes part of the Black Hills and Badlands, rangeland, irrigated cropland, and mining areas. After traversing the western half of the state from southwest to northeast, the Cheyenne River flows into Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River.
Previous efforts remove the radiation in the water at Red Shirt have been unsuccessful. Drinking water is piped in, or residents must drive 25 miles to the little town of Hermosa to buy water. The Cheyenne River has dried up approximately one mile from Red Shirt and tests of the river bottom soil by Defenders of the Black Hills are pending. Initial tests using a Geiger counter revealed more than double the amount of normal background elevations for radiation.
South Dakota news reports recently referred to a DENR report and stated that uranium is naturally occurring in that area which is said to account for the radiation levels in the water.
If that was the case, there would not have been villages there for thousands of years. There would have been no fish or any aquatic life previously in this river. We sampled the river with nets for aquatic life and found only 2 crayfish and about 10 minnows in more than 100 yards of the river. In essence, it's a dead river. There are two endangered species that use this River: the Sturgeon chubb, a small fish, and the Bald Eagle, explained Charmaine White Face, founder and Coordinator of Defenders of the Black Hills.
According to published information in the The 2006 South Dakota Integrated Report For Surface Water Quality Assessment the Cheyenne River water quality continues to be generally poor. The lower Cheyenne drainage, in general, contains a high percentage of erodible cropland and rangeland in west central South Dakota. Historical mining records for the state show more than 4,000 exploratory uranium mining holes, some large enough for a man to fall into, in the southwestern Black Hills with an additional 3,000 holes just 10 miles west of the town of Belle Fourche, SD. These mining holes go to depths of 600 feet.
At a meeting for the Defenders of the Black Hills on Feb 26th 2005, discussions centered on the radiation levels in some areas reported at a staggering 1,400 times higher than the ordinary background radiation on the Grand River in the Cave Hills and the adverse affects to the villages on the Standing Rock Indian Reservations. Also discussed was the high proportion of cancer related illnesses and birth defects especially in the small community of Rock Creek.
There are also hundreds of abandoned uranium mines in Wyoming whose runoff comes down the Cheyenne River, and also 29 abandoned mines in the southwestern Black Hills, all upstream of Red Shirt Village. One of the largest open-pit abandoned uranium mines in the southern Black Hills is a square mile and its runoff goes into the Cheyenne River, explained Charmaine White Face.
Most recently, a Canadian mining company, Powertech, began drilling uranium exploratory wells in the Dewey Burdock area northwest of Edgemont. Defenders of the Black Hills battled in court against the drilling permit allowing Powertech to drill 155 more exploratory wells at depths of 500-600 feet in the southwestern Black Hills but the Courts allowed the drilling after denying the appeal. Powertech currently has 4,000 uncapped, and unmarked uranium exploratory wells drilled previously. The mining company plans on doing In Situ Recovery (ISR) of uranium from the Lakota and Fall River aquifers. In Situ Recovery was formerly known as In Situ Leach (ISL) mining.
During the ISR process, a solution to dissolve the uranium is poured down the wells and the dissolved uranium brought back up to the surface. The uranium is separated from the remaining radioactive waste solution that is then reinjected into the aquifer after being held in waste ponds on the surface.
According to Powertech's mining application, each exploratory drill hole "will have a small excavated mud pit that will be approximately 12 feet by 5 feet" and 10 feet deep.
Among the concerns of the environmental groups are the possibility of overflow from the mud pits with the sudden rain showers that occur in the Black Hills. One of the aquifers empties directly into the Cheyenne River and is used by many ranchers to water their livestock. Among the deeper aquifers of concern is the Madison that provides water for many western South Dakota communities.
A list of uranium mining facts provided online by our organization, Defenders of the Black Hills, reveals a long history of abuses regarding uranium and coal mining in the Upper Midwest region. In an area of the USA that has been called the Bread Basket of the World, more than forty years of mining have released radioactive polluted dust and water runoff from the hundreds of abandoned open pit uranium mines, processing sites, underground nuclear power stations, and waste dumps. Our grain supplies and our livestock production in this area have used the water and have been exposed to the remainders of this mining. We may be seeing global affects, not just localized affects, to the years of uranium mining concluded Charmaine White Face.
In another article by Charmaine White Face, she provides a brief outline to uranium mining -- calling it America's Secret Chernobyl [below]. The term Chernobyl has an interesting origin. In Russian, Chernobyl translates to Wormwood. Wormwood relates to several aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia, especially A. absinthium, native to Europe, yielding a bitter extract used in making absinthe and in flavoring certain wines -- that is adds a bitter taste. In classical literature, wormwood was metaphorical for bitter sorrow. When history writes its review of our foray into nuclear power, will we be regarded with "bitter sorrow"?
Uranium Mining and Nuclear Pollution in the Upper Midwest: F A C T S H E E T America's Secret Chernobyl By Charmaine White Face, Coordinator Defenders of the Black Hills
1. Uranium mining in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota began in the middle of the 1960s. World War II, which ended with the nuclear bomb, introduced the use of nuclear energy for the production of electricity and caused the price of uranium to rise. As the economy of the Midwestern states depends primarily on agriculture, when uranium was discovered in the region, many get-rich-quick schemes were adopted. Not only were large mining companies pushing off the tops of bluffs and buttes, but small individual ranchers were also digging in their pastures for the radioactive metal. Mining occurred on both public and private land, although the Great Sioux Nation still maintains a claim to the area through the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868.
2. In northwestern South Dakota, for example, the Cave Hills area is managed by the US Forest Service. The area currently contains 89 abandoned open-pit uranium mines. Studies by the USFS show that one mine alone has 1400 mR/hr of exposed radiation, a level of radiation that is 120,000 times higher than normal background of 100 mR/yr. There are no warning signs posted for the general public anywhere near this site! It is estimated that more than 1,000 open-pit uranium mines and prospects can be found in the four state region from a map developed by the US Forest Service.
3. The water runoff from the Cave Hills abandoned uranium mines empties into the Grand River which flows through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Three villages are located on the Grand River and their residents have used the water for drinking and other domestic purposes for generations. One village still uses the water for drinking and domestic purposes. The water runoff from the Slim Buttes abandoned uranium mines empty into the Morreau River which flows through the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. Four villages are located on the Morreau River; however no data is currently available about their use of the Morreau River water. Both of these rivers empty into the Missouri River which empties into the Mississippi River.
4. The following agencies are aware of these abandoned uranium mines and prospects: US Forest Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Bureau of Land Management, SD Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the US Indian Health Service. Only after public concern about these mines was raised two years ago did the USFS and the EPA pay for a study of one mine this year, 2006.
5. In Southwestern South Dakota, the southern Black Hills also contain many abandoned uranium mines. Nuclear radiation near Edgemont, SD, has already polluted the underground water of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation according to a study completed in 1980 by Women of All Red Nations. The US Air Force also used small nuclear power plants in their remote radar stations and missile silos which number in the hundreds in this four State region. No data is available on the current status or disposal of these small nuclear power sources.
6. More than 7,000 exploration holes for uranium have been drilled in the southwestern and northwestern Black Hills. More are being planned in Wyoming. These holes go to depths of 800 feet. The exploratory process itself allows radioactive pollutants to contaminate underground water sources. South Dakota currently has no regulations for In Situ Leach mining of uranium.
7. In Wyoming, hundreds of abandoned open-pit uranium mines and prospects can be found in or near the coal in the Powder River Basin. Yet plans are being made to ship more of that coal to power plants in the Eastern part of the United States. Radioactive dust and particles will be released into the air at the power plants as well as locally in the strip mining process. Federal tax dollars totaling more than $2.3 billion dollars as a loan are planned to be given to a private business, the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad, to increase the amount of coal hauled to the power plants. Two other railroads currently haul coal out of this area.
8. In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a secret Executive Order declaring this four State region to be a 'National Sacrifice Area for the mining and production of uranium and nuclear energy. This is the same area of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory, the final home of the Great Sioux Nation.
Summary This Fact Sheet regarding the past uranium mining and small underground nuclear power plants in the Upper Midwest region should give cause for alarm to all thinking people in the United States. This is the area that has been called the Bread Basket of the World. It is for this reason that we are bringing this issue to your attention. For more than forty years, the people of South Dakota and beyond have been subjected to radioactive polluted dust and water runoff from the hundreds of abandoned open pit uranium mines, processing sites, underground nuclear power stations, and waste dumps. Pollution does not stop at State boundaries so these places generating radioactive pollution to the air and water are also impacting the rest of the United States. Coal tainted with uranium and radiation that has gone and is going to Eastern power plants adds to the total amount of radioactive pollution. There needs to be a concerted effort to determine the extent of the radioactive pollution in the environment, and the health damage that has been and is currently being inflicted upon the people of the United States.
It is imperative that a federal bill be passed in Congress appropriating enough funds for the cleanup of ALL the abandoned uranium mines in this four State region. This harmful situation must not be placed on the end of the Superfund list of hazardous sites to be addressed in twenty years. The health of the nation is threatened. The cleanup of all of these mines and underground sites must occur now! Those responsible for this disaster must face the consequences, but the cleanup and health concerns of the nation need to be addressed first. We hope you will consider our request for concerted actions to be taken at the national level regarding these grave concerns. This problem of radiation pollution spreading throughout the United States has been allowed to quietly continue for much too long.
What you can do: 1. Contact your Congressional Representative and Senators by phone (202) 224-3121, through the mail, and email. Ask that they consider sponsoring a bill for the cleanup of all the abandoned uranium mines and prospects, and underground nuclear sites in the Upper Midwest Region of South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. 2. Also ask your Congressional Representatives and Senators to support the Expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to include also those harmed by abandoned uranium mines and prospects in the Upper Midwest Region. 3. Include the fact that federal tax dollars should not be used to help a private railroad haul potentially radioactive coal to Central and Eastern power plants. Encourage your Senators and Representatives to tell the Federal Railroad Administration not to give a loan to the DM&E Railroad.
Thank you Charmaine White Face, Coordinator Defenders of the Black Hills PO Box 2003 Rapid City, SD 57709
The following report is from Bring Back the Way: Revitalize & Preserve Lakota Way of Life
Crying Earth Rise Up!
Some day the Earth will weep, She will beg for Her life, She will cry with tears of blood. You will make a choice, if you will help her or let her die, and when She dies, you too, will die. - John Hollow Horn, Oglala Lakota, 1932
Authors Note: This report is based on the Lakota worldview that Water Is Sacred. Without Water There Is No Life.
For many generations, our Lakota people lived on the plains and followed the stars for ceremony. Our ancient Creation story teaches us that Tunkasila made all of Creation, woman and man and taught us to be a good relative to all of Creation. Mni, Water is a Sacred Gift of Creation. Mni is the Adornment of Mother Earth, Mni is the companion of Woope, the daughter of Tunkasila. Woope is the Law. Mni is our first home, when we arrive here on Mother Earth, the water of our mothers womb is our first dwelling. Water is our first medicine. Without water, there is no life. The Spirit of Mni is also in the Star Nation. In the form of steam, the Spirit of Mni enters the Human Body to nourish the Spirit. Mni is part of every daily and ceremonial aspect of Lakol Wicohan, our Lakota lifeway.
After the coming of the white man, and many years of war making, our anacestors- known historically as the Great Sioux Nation-entered into the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty with the United States.
In the Treaty, our ancestors retained a land base for the Lakota Nation that includes parts of what is currently known as North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, and Canada.
Our Treaty Territory contains our Sacred Land and Ceremonial Sites, and billions of dollars worth of Minerals, Plants, and Water.
Our ancestors and the United States government officials smoked our Sacred Pipe together and the U.S. Congress ratified the Treaty, so our people believe that the Treaty is true and binding, as long as the water flows and sweet grass grows.
Through Americas aggressive Treaty violations and the decimation of the Buffalo Nation, the Oglala Lakota were forced onto the reservation. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is located in southwestern South Dakota.
The Pine Ridge Reservation was originally known as Prisoner Of War Camp #344.
Pine Ridge Indian Agency (The official Bureau of Indian Affairs terminology)
The U. S. Department of the Interiors Bureau of Indian Affairs Census reports that there are now 48,000 Oglala Lakota people, with 25,000 tribal members currently residing on the Pine Ridge. 65% of our population is age 25 and under.
Drinking Water Quality Tests on Pine Ridge
On the Pine Ridge, Drinking Water Quality tests conducted from 1995 to the present by the United States Geological Survey, the Indian Health Service, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Rural Water Program and the Federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDDR) reveal contaminants in the groundwater. There are two serious threats to our drinking water, Arsenic, and Alpha Emitters (radiation emitting).
Uranium Mining and Water Contamination -- The Tests Reveal the Contaminants:
- Arsenic - Combined Radium 226 & 228 - Barium - Thorium 230 (not naturally occurring) - other Radioactive Alpha Emitters
The Environmental Protection Agencys MCL goal for Arsenic level is a measurement of zero, because the EPA cannot determine a true safe threshold level for Arsenic. Once Arsenic is released into the environment, it cannot be contained. It only changes form.
According to the Indian Health Service Arsenic Tech Team the water quality test results in 2005 on Pine Ridge reveal that 98 wells have Arsenic levels 2 to 12 times higher than the MCL determined by law.
The wells of these families have been capped and their drinking water source has been changed to that of the water piped in from the Missouri River. (Call the Indian Health Service Arsenic Tech Team at 685-6561 to ask for copies of the Arsenic Reports)
In past decades, Open Pit Uranium Mining occurred Northwest of the Pine Ridge in the area of Edgemont, SD on the outskirts of our sacred Black Hills.
The milling of the Uranium took place by the Cheyenne River, which flows to the Pine Ridge. The radioactive waste from that Uranium Mine has since been buried underground for storage.
The area around Edgemont and the Northwest area of the Pine Ridge is over the Inyan Kara Aquifer and the White River Group. The Arikaree Aquifer flows under the center of the Pine Ridge.
The USGS and OST Rural Water tests document that wells and springs from these Aquifers reveal that contaminants of Arsenic, Radium 226 & 228, and Gross Alpha Emitters are higher than the safe and legal Maximum Contaminant level.
Some Alpha Emitters and Arsenic are naturally occurring due to Uranium in the ground, others as a result of mining.
(Call the OST Rural Water Office in Pine Ridge at 867-1999 & ask for copies of their Annual Reports. The complete test results are in their reports)
These wells that exceed the MCL for Arsenic and Alpha Emitters have been closed and the drinking water is now piped in or trucked in to the community.
A summary of the OST Rural Water Reports and Indian Health Service shows that the Alpha Emitters from the following areas exceed the legal MCLs (highend range of composite tests) is on "Test Results" page.
Nuclear Waste Contamination?
Have the nuclear waste tailings from the Uranium mines around the Edgemont area that washed into the Cheyenne River also get into the groundwater, thus traveling for many years underground to get here, under the Pine Ridge, into the Aquifer we drink from? Did the above ground tailings blow in the wind to our lands here on Pine Ridge? There has never been a definitive study across the reservation to determine possible sources of contamination.
Mni Wiconi Pipeline
The Mni Wiconi water line has only been here for a few years, prior to Mni Wiconi disconnecting our wells and connecting our homes to the pipeline, we drank groundwater for years, some homes that are land-based still drink from the groundwater, as they are not connected to the pipeline. According to the Annual Reports of Rural water, the drinking water they provide is groundwater pumped from 34 wells.
Practically the first sentence of the Congressional Bill which created with Mni Wiconi Program states that the drinking water quality available to the Pine Ridge does not meet the minimum health and safety standards, thereby posing a threat to public health and safety.
(Mni Wiconi Act PL 100-516 (H.R. 2772) October 24, 1988 and amended PL 103-434 (S1146) October 31, 1994.
According to the 2003 Health Consultation Report of the Sharps Corner/Porcupine area conducted by the US Federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry the private well samples studied in 1999 and 2000 for Radionuclides, the highest MCL detected was 75.9ugL, which is two and half times higher than the legal MCL of 30ugL. The sampling led the ATSDR to conclude that Radionuclides were the drinking water contaminant of concern for the Sharps Corner/Porcupine area.
Of the eight water wells sampled, 50%, or half, of homes MCL for Radionuclides exceeded the EPAs legal Maximum Contaminant Level for Gross Alpha Particle activity. In the Radon part of the study, the air was measured in these homes. One-third or 30% of the homes were found to have results of Radon above the legal MCL.
The results summarized that the folks in these homes were ingesting radioactivity through the drinking water, as well as being contaminated by Radon through inhalation, breathing it in as it is in their homes. In every one of these homes, at least one family member died from Cancer. The ingestion and inhalation of Radionuclides also has a quicker effect on the kidney--many individuals will suffer kidney damage and die from the effects BEFORE they get cancer.
The USGS recommends further testing of our ground water to determine a better defined source of radioactive contaminants. The tests would separate the source of the contaminants of the naturally occurring Uranium in our groundwater from Gross Alpha Emitters that may have been pulled out of the ground through mining activities, entering the Aquifers. (Call the USGS Office in Rapid City and ask where to purchase copies of the reports)
In a letter addressed to OST President Steele in 2003, Lorelie DeCora responded to his question posed regarding the definition of a contaminant known as Th-230 that he stated had been detected in groundwater quality tests conducted on the Pine Ridge. The Women of All Red Nations (WARN) Report issued a report in 1980 documenting water quality test results. Thorium 230 is a contaminant that results from Uranium tailings from mining. Thorium can be naturally occurring, but Thorium 230 is not naturally occurring. Thorium 230 will stay radioactive for 154,000 years. After 77,000 years, it becomes half of the value of its prior radioactivity. (Thorium 230=Th-230)
In Situ Leach Mining: ISL
Substances such as Inorganic Arsenic, Radium 226 & 228, Thorium 230 and other contaminants can enter groundwater as a result of mining. One type of mining that uses water is known as In Situ Leach Mining. ISL mining pulls Uranium up from the ground using Aquifer water, extracts the Uranium, stores the water in monitoring wells, and eventually injects it back into the Aquifer.
The ISL process also blends the contaminated water with clean Aquifer water to store it in the monitoring wells where the Radioactivity is measured after the Uranium is leached out to produce Yellow Cake. The water used to pull the Uranium out of the ground is also stored in evaporation ponds.
Radioactive Uranium and Barium Sludge Ponds and monitoring wells result from the In Situ Leach mining process. It takes almost 5,000 years for this sludge to lose half of its radioactivity, some estimates tell us, other estimate it at a much longer time period.
The ISL process presents the potential for leaks in the pipes that are used to extract the Uranium out of the ground. Such leaks would allow the radioactive water to seep out of the pipe and back into the groundwater, this has happened at ISL mines all over the world.
ISL Uranium Mine at Crawford, Nebraska
In Situ Leach Mining is presently happening in Crawford, Nebraska at the Crow Butte Resources, Inc. Uranium Mine, which is owned by Cameco, Inc., the multinational energy corporation headquartered in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Cameco, Inc. is the worlds largest Uranium producer. This Crow Butte Uranium Mine has spilled or leaked thousands of gallons of contaminated water into our land, air, and ground water.
The High Plains Aquifer that is under the Crow Butte Resources (CBR) Uranium Mine also flows under the Eastern portion of the Pine Ridge Reservation. The High Plains Aquifer contains portions of the Arikaree Aquifer.
The Crow Butte Uranium Mine is auhtorized to use 5,000 to 9,000 gallons of Aquifer water per minute the In Situ Leach method.
The CBR has at least three evaporation ponds where they store the contaminated water. The ponds are as big as a football field, lined with plastic and vinyl. And filled with radioactive sludge.
The monitoring wells where CBR stores contaminated water after the Uranium has been leached out are actually underground cement containers which hold the water for a period of time before it is placed in the evaporation pond.
The CBR Uranium Mine produces one million pounds of Yellow Cake per year at its processing plant onsite. This Yellow Cake is stored in 55-gallon steel drums until transported. Yellow Cake is used to power Nuclear Power Plants and to make Nuclear Bombs through production of the worlds most powerful and most dangerous element: Plutonium.
Crow Butte Resources well soon seek renewal of their existing license and is proposing to expand their Uranium Mine north of Crawford, Nebraska, to an area near Whitney Lake and Dam, and the White River. The names of these two satellite ISL mines are the North Trend Area and the Three Crow area. The existing mine currently has 4,000-8,000 wells at Crow Butte.
There is more information regarding the proposed North Trend Satellite Mine, which Owe Aku and others have filed, in November 2007, an intervention asking for a hearing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ISL Uranium Mining is also planned to occur in the Black Hills area near Edgemont, SD by the Powertech Uranium Company which is now drilling exploratory wells for their proposed In Situ Leach Uranium Mine, and at the Wild Horse Sanctuary near Hot Springs, SD by the Newtron Energy Corporation.
Impacts of Mining on Humans and the Environment
The scientific community has conclusively determined that Inorganic Arsenic and Alpha Emitters are cancer causing to humans. Arsenic and Alpha Emitters are pulled out of the ground during the mining process, entering the groundwater, people drink the groundwater and become contaminated.
There can be a 5, 10, or 20-year latency period of exposure to Arsenic and Alpha Emitters before cancer develops.
CBR proposes 20 more years of Uranium Mining near Crawford, Nebraska. The Cameco, Inc. website states they have a proven reserve of 60 million pounds of Uranium to extract.
How much water is that at 9,000 gallons per minute? 24 hours per day, 365 days per year for 20 more years What will the number of gallons increase to once the two new Uranium Mines are developed and running?
There are about 321 people diagnosed with Diabetes each year on Pine Ridge. Currently, of our 25,000 residents, 10% of our Tribal Members have Diabetes.
What will that number be after 20 more years of mining which has the potential of contamination of our groundwater?
Our people who are Diabetic patients seem to move to the Dialysis stage of the disease quickly, can this be a result of kidney damage sustained over many, many years of contamination of ingesting even low doses of Arsenic and Alpha Emitters?
The homes across the Pine Ridge whose test results revealed an illegal MCL of Arsenic now have filters provided by the Indian Health Service to filter Arsenic out of the water as it comes out of our kitchen faucet to purify the water we drink and cook with, but the water we bath our children in, wash our clothes with, water our lawns with, and shower with is not filtered. The Arsenic is still pouring into our homes.
According to the Indian Health Service official at the Aug 15, 2007 Environmental Health Tech Team meeting, this shouldnt be a concern because you have to drink it to be effected by it. I wonder what scientists from other parts of the world say about that? Western Science is not the only science who studies such matters, a German scientist states he has proof that a low dose over time can have a more dramatic result than previously understood.
With the Crow Butte Resources existing mine and two new proposed mines 38 miles to the southeast of Pine Ridge, and the proposed Powertech Uranium Mine 60 miles to the Northwest of Pine Ridge, In Situ Leach Mining for Uranium has the potential to contaminate all of the groundwater our people depend on for drinking water.
The Crow Butte Resources Uranium Mine has had leaks and spills every year since they have been in operation: License Violations at Crow Butte ISL uranium mine (Nebraska) (www.wise-uranium.org)
* Sept 26, 2006: Monitor well placed on excursion status * May 5, 2006: leak detected at Pond 4 * Jan 19, 2006: Monitor well placed on excursion status * Oct 27, 2005: Injection well leak detected * Aug 4, 2005: Monitor well placed on excursion status * June 28, 2005: Monitor well placed on excursion status * June 17, 2005: Monitor well placed on excursion status * May 2, 2005: Monitor well placed on excursion status * May 14, 2004: leak detected at Pond 1 * Dec 23, 2003: Monitor well placed on excursion status * Dec 26, 2002: Monitor well placed on excursion status * Sept 10, 2002: Monitor well placed on excursion status * April 4, 2002: Monitor well placed on excursion status * Dec 4, 2001: Monitor well placed on excursion status * March 2, 2001: Monitor well placed on excursion status * Sept 10, 2000: Monitor well placed on excursion status * May 26, 2000: Monitor well placed on excursion status * April 27, 2000: Monitor well placed on excursion status * March 6, 2000: Monitor well placed on excursion status * July 2, 1999: Monitor well placed on excursion status * Aug 7, 1998: Spill of 10,260 gallons of injection fluid * March 21, 1998: Monitor well placed on excursion status * Aug 12, 1997: Discovery of Pinhole Leaks in Upper Liner of Process Water Evaporation Pond
The most critical part of the ISL process is to control the movement of the chemical solutions within the aquifer. Any escape of these solutions outside the ore zone is considered an excursion, and can lead to contamination of surrounding ground-water systems. Some of the most common causes of excursions, identified by international operations in the United States and across Europe, can be through old exploration holes that were not plugged adequately, plugging or blocking of the aquifer causing excess water pressure buildup and breaks in bores, and failures of injection/extraction pumps. ("An Environmental Critique of In Situ Leach Mining :
The Case Against Uranium Solution Mining" at www.sea-us.org.au)
Uranium Corporations say that ISL mining is environmentally friendly and safe, but according to researchers in the scientific community, The ISL technique can lead to permanent contamination of groundwater and can contaminate land which was otherwise good productive land.
According to news reports in Nebraska, Crow Butte Resources, Inc. experienced such a massive spill of more than 300,000 gallons of contaminated water that the area has been designated as unfit for future useit is now considered a sacrifice area. (Instate News) as they were unable to clean it all up.
How will 20 more years of injecting contaminated water into all of the Aquifers that our people drink from effect our coming generations?
Inorganic Arsenic crosses the placenta and can cause fetal death, it can be detected in Mothers breast milk.
Childrens bodies are more susceptible to the damaging effects of Inorganic Arsenic.
Are these contaminants connected to our high numbers of infant deaths? Of infant/children brain seizures? Of Down Syndrome babies born to young mothers? Of babies born with extraordinarily short umbilical cords?
In April 2005 the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council declared a situation of Eminent Threat due to test results of individual and community water wells exceeding the EPA Standard MCL of Gross Alpha Particle Radionuclide and Arsenic.
Oglala Sioux Tribal Council Resolution #2005-46 states that
Indian Health Service negligence in testing for safe drinking water has resulted in tribal members becoming ill.
Health on the Pine Ridge Do we need a comprehensive health study on the Pine Ridge?
According to the South Dakota Cancer Report of 2003, counties on the Pine Ridge have a significantly higher rate of cancer, diabetes, and infant mortality than the SD state average for the time period of 2001-2005.
SD health records also state that in the 2003 Study, the American Indian cancer death rate was 30% higher than that of whites in South Dakota.
The state records include the data that from the years 1999-2003 while the cancer death rate decreased for whites in SD, it increased for American Indians.
For the years 2003 through 2005, the American Indian infant mortality rate increased at almost twice the rate for the white people in South Dakota.
The report: Cancer in South Dakota, 2003 states that American Indians had the highest age-adjusted rates for Years of Potential Life Lost and that American Indians are dying at a much younger age compared to whites.
Why is this so?
"An In Situ Leach Mine is a Liquid Radioactive Nuclear Waste Dump.
The Oglala Lakota People and the people of Nebraska and the surrounding area deserve to be informed about what impacts the Crow Butte Resources, Inc. Uranium Mine and the newly proposed North Trend and Three Crow In Situ Leach Uranium Mines will do to our water, land, people, animals, plants and future generations. The Oglala Sioux Tribe can and should do the right thing: investigate and produce a comprehensive report on this energy companys violations and investigate how to hold them accountable to the EPA laws and other principles of respect for Mother Earth and our Sacred Water; and to hold the EPA and Federal Government responsible in upholding our Treaty and Human Rights to clean water, land, air, and health conditions based on a clean environment. By passing OST Ordinance 07-40 on August 7, 2007, this is the responsibility Tribal Council made a commitment to. Communities, towns, local governments can create Law that ban any corporate development that will produce toxic waste, can create Law that holds the producer of toxic waste liable, can create Law that acknowledges Mother Earth has a right to be contaminant-free. Interested folks and organizations in and around Nebraska -- or any community who wishes to protect itself from deadly poisons -- can engage in such work.
Indeed, this environmental issue truly goes beyond the boundaries of race, county lines, townships, state borders -- it effects all of life in this area, and can reach far into the future generations of all living things: the two-legged, the four-legged, the winged, the standing silent nation (plants), those that crawl and swim, and our Sacred Water, Sacred Land, and Sacred Air.
For the Lakota Oyate (Lakota People) a clean environment is a matter of life and death. To expose our people to the deadly toxins of uranium mining is a threat to our survival as a people, we have no island from which we can draw more membership, this is environmental racism.
Without Water There Is No Life.
In Speaking of Radioactive Waste: They have created something that cannot be destroyed Winona LaDuke
On August 7, 2007 the OST passed Ordinance #07-40 which recognizes the responsibility of the OST to protect the land, air, water, and people of the tribe and which criminalizes nuclear contamination on the Pine Ridge and within 1851 & 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty boundaries.
No Uranium Mining on Lakota Land
Research Conducted by:
* Rayette Camp * Victorio Camp * Aaron Price * Matt Rankin * Chris Soverow * The late Marlin Moon Weston * Debra White Plume
Source Materials:
* Oglala Sioux Tribe Mni Wiconi Program Annual Reports 1999-2006 (Rural Water) * OST Water & Sewer Program Reports * OST Ordinances and Resolutions OST Archives Office
* Environmental Protection Agency * Instate News (Nebraska) * US Geological Study 1992-1997 * Wise Uranium * Indigenous Mining * SD Dept of Health & Human Services * Indian Health Service, Pine Ridge Agency, Aberdeen Area Office
· The Case Against Uranium Solution Mining "An Environmental Critique of In Situ Leach Mining at www.sea-us.org.au
· Cancer in South Dakota, 2003
For info contact:
Owe Aku (Bring Back the Way), PO Box 325, Manderson, SD 57756
Debra White Plume, Director 605-455-2155
Owe Aku: Bring Back the Way
"We Do Not Inherit Mother Earth From Our Ancestors, We Borrow Her From Our Children." --Crazy Horse
_ _ _
According to website of the Defenders of the Black Hills, the SD Department of Environment and Natural Resources is making determinations on lands of critical interest to the native peoples. Additionally, the Defenders have recently had to
"...submit comments to federal agencies, tabling at Pow Wows, giving speeches, and attending a hearing in Pierre, SD... (regarding the) Nuclear Regulatory Commission GEIS Comments, Defenders submitted comments before Nov. 7th to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on their Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement for areas in Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and New Mexico. Our comments were specific to the area as delineated in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Craven Canyon Exclusion from mining - The US Forest Service filed an application with the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw 3,968.7 acres in Fall River County to protect the existing Native American petroglyphs in the Craven Canyon area from damage by mining. The site will be protected for the next 20 years. Defenders submitted comments thanking the Forest Service for their foresight and also supported the withdrawal of the land to protect and preserve this area sacred to many Native American nations. Presentation given to DIA - Democracy in Action is a womens group located in western South Dakota interested in legislative action. Charmaine (Whiteface) gave a presentation on Nov. 18th and spoke about the need for state and federal legislation. In this region of SD, WY, NE, she recommended a moratorium in SD on further uranium exploration and mining until the 230 open pit abandoned uranium mines and prospects in SD are cleaned up, and the more than 4,000 uranium exploratory wells are filled, capped, and marked. Three federal bills are needed to protect the public and the environment from further radioactive pollution. 1) A federal bill to monitor and regulate radioactive particles in the smoke from coal-fired power plants needs to be passed by Congress. 2) A federal bill is needed to regulate and monitor radioactive particles in oil. 3) A federal bill needs to be passed to clean up ALL of the abandoned open-pit uranium mines and prospects in the United States, and to seal all exploratory bore holes or wells.
Craven Canyon Exclusion from mining - The US Forest Service filed an application with the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw 3,968.7 acres in Fall River County to protect the existing Native American petroglyphs in the Craven Canyon area from damage by mining. The site will be protected for the next 20 years. Defenders submitted comments thanking the Forest Service for their foresight and also supported the withdrawal of the land to protect and preserve this area sacred to many Native American nations.
Presentation given to DIA - Democracy in Action is a womens group located in western South Dakota interested in legislative action. Charmaine (Whiteface) gave a presentation on Nov. 18th and spoke about the need for state and federal legislation. In this region of SD, WY, NE, she recommended a moratorium in SD on further uranium exploration and mining until the 230 open pit abandoned uranium mines and prospects in SD are cleaned up, and the more than 4,000 uranium exploratory wells are filled, capped, and marked.
Three federal bills are needed to protect the public and the environment from further radioactive pollution.
1) A federal bill to monitor and regulate radioactive particles in the smoke from coal-fired power plants needs to be passed by Congress.
2) A federal bill is needed to regulate and monitor radioactive particles in oil.
3) A federal bill needs to be passed to clean up ALL of the abandoned open-pit uranium mines and prospects in the United States, and to seal all exploratory bore holes or wells.
Bring Back The Way: Revitalize and preserve the Lakota way of life
Defenders of the Black Hills
Database: Nuclear power plants and other large nuclear facilities in the United States
Culture Change prior articles: Why a Nuclear Free World is Important Nuclear-power bailout blitz can be stopped - And it was! Nuclear Power - One of Humankind's Biggest Mistakes
Jeff Garritsen is active in Oregon with such projects as Portland Peak Oil, the cable access show TV Set, and Sail Transport Network.
This article is published under Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. See the Fair Use Notice for more information.
Culture Change mailing address: P.O. Box 3387, Santa Cruz, California, 95063, USA, Telephone 1-215-243-3144 (and fax). Culture Change was founded by Sustainable Energy Institute (formerly Fossil Fuels Policy Action), a nonprofit organization. Some articles are published under Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. See Fair Use Notice for more information.


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subset: commoncrawl


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November 09: COVID19 shook the world and mankind to the core. The pandemic has raised many questions to mankind on how the survival. With lockdown implementation, markets were shut, and people were scared to go out to buy basic and daily need items. During this time, the only support what people received was from the Ecommerce Platform, which helped them to get the items at their doorstep. With the increase in demand of various items also raised one important question on the quality of food that we are using for our daily needs. Ecommerce platforms made it easy for all of us to get things and save time and money, but at the same time, the question remains the same.
The question is, are the products we are using in grocery, are they chemical-free, naturally grown or not? How nutrient are they? Will it help in boosting immunity? Etc., As we speak, today, we are much bothered on the quality of food we consume. Organic food and naturally grown food is good but doesn't have a wide online marketplace from where people can order.
At the same time, Covid 19 also resulted in many people losing jobs. Many of them relied on their hobbies and interests, converting them to business to earn money for their day-to-day needs. They started preparing masala powders such as Rasam powder, Sambar powder, Chutney powder and many more. Some started manufacturing chocolates at home, some cakes. But they all needed an eCommerce platform to reach a wider range of customers.
That is where a group of Professionals from Bangalore thought to start an online platform that has all the features such as online search, ordering, payment and door delivery that can help the buyer and seller to come under one roof and buy it. This is how Hypermartindia came into existence.
The Founders
Three people with the same mindset and determination started this.
Anantha Krishna – A veteran IT professional who worked in Wipro Technologies, Crompton Greaves, Patni Computer Services, Kirloskar Electric Company till 2007 and started own Information security, IT Service Management, and IT Governance consulting company by name Enable Excellence then onwards. Worked in different countries – United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Japan, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Kenya. Added a new interest and ventures on various large public service initiatives, one of them is an eCommerce venture www.hypermartindia.com
LinkedIn profile is www.linkedin.com/in/infosecandserviceexcellence
Srinivas Bhat – A veteran in Printing services in Bengaluru from the last 30+ years, providing printing and branding services to MNCs in Bengaluru and across India. Interested in adding a new Line of Business (LOB) and joined hands in www.hypermartindia.com. Another successful business he is running is Abbey Valley Resorts.
Murali Rotti – A veteran in events management in Bengaluru. Destination wedding, Theme wedding, charitable fundraising events etc
The Differentiator
Hypermartindia is focused on groceries such as naturally grown, naturally produced. They are serving not only created a platform to support organic foods, but they created an opportunity for all organic and naturally made product industries. The platform is serving under 13-14 categories to the customer in the Bangalore location. They are supporting the peripheral industry like a cottage industry, but the most important part is they are supporting homemade foods which are difficult to sell in open markets or online due to various rules and regulations. They are not only helping sellers to sell the product but also buyers to get the non-toxic item and keep them safe from hazardous chemically processed food that can bring various
Do check out more on Hypermartindia.com to avail better and quality products.


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From Lauterbrunnen to El Salar de Uyuni, from Monterey to Machu Picchu, approximately 150 Williams students crisscross the globe each semester, pursuing academic adventures that will inform the rest of their college experiences—and their lives.
The college offers more than 250 opportunities for study away, ensuring that students can find a program that sparks their intellectual curiosity. Read on about the two highly acclaimed programs run by Williams.
The Williams-Exeter Programme
Williams offers a year-long program of study at Oxford University in collaboration with Exeter College. As Visiting Students at Exeter, Williams students are full undergraduate members of the University, eligible to access all of its facilities, libraries, and resources. The Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford provides students with a unique opportunity to participate fully in the intellectual and social life of one of the world's great universities.
The Williams-Mystic Program
A one-semester interdisciplinary ocean and coastal studies program integrating marine science, maritime history, ocean policy, and literature of the sea, The Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport offers hands-on and discussion-based courses with an emphasis on original research. You may learn to forge iron, build a wooden boat and sail while making Mystic Seaport—the largest maritime museum in America—your campus for the semester.


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Tag Archives: Philly
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Glenn Lewis new single "Can't Say Love" produced by CertiFYD Production Group
Glenn Lewis new single "Can't Say Love" is part of his comeback album "Moment of Truth" slated to be released on August 20th, 2013. "Can't Say Love" was produced by CertiFYD Production Group and written by Corey Latif Williams. The album will be released via Ruffhouse Records / EMI. In addition to CertiFYD, the album Continue Reading
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STUPIDDOPE interview with CertiFYD Production Group
CertiFYD Production Group – We had the opportunity to sit down and chop it up with the production duo of the CertiFYD Production Group about the moves they are making and working they are putting in. Hailing from the most dangerous city in the United States, Camden, NJ, the brother duo have been producing tracks for some of the biggest names in hip hop and R & B. Their beats have been worked upon by Keyshia Cole, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, and Freeway, to name a few. They even had the opportunity to work with the late legend Heavy D before his untimely passing. We spoke about how they got started in their craft and how they have managed to make a name for themselves in such a short time span. You're probably more familiar with the duo than you think, but now would be a great time for you to become a little more familiar with the fellas of CertiFYD. Check out the interview below, as well as some video's from the fellas as well.
How & when did you get started making beats? Jay: We started really getting serious about music production in 2006. We started making tracks on the Yamaha Motif and Protools. Pi: I actually started on Fruity Loops for a little bit but after we got the Yamaha Motif and Protools the rest was history. -
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Beanie Sigel's track "Expensive Taste" produced by @CertiFYDmusic on "This Time" Ruffhouse / EMI album
Check out the @CertiFYDmusic produced record "Expensive Taste" featuring Corey Latif Williams on Beanie Sigel's 6th album, "This Time". To purchase go to: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/this-time/id547346740 "Beanie Sigel's sixth album "This Time," will relaunch Ruffhouse Records. Then come two weeks of promotion, emotion, commotion, and the Philadelphia rapper's off to do time – again. August 13, 2012|By Continue Reading


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Read an Excerpt of Alexis Ohanian's New Book 'Without Their Permission'
Excerpted from the last chapter of WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION : How the 21 st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed, by Alexis Ohanian, Business Plus, 2013, all rights reserved. Available wherever books are sold: Amazon , Barnes and Noble , iTunes and IndieBound .
The problem with the future is that none of it's guaranteed. I debated how best to illustrate my vision for 2025, but everything felt a bit forced until my brilliant editor suggested framing it as a commencement speech for someone just finishing college in 2025. Now, it feels rather presumptuous to expect to be speaking at a college graduation, but I went along with it-after giving you nine chapters of optimism, I thought it might be important to give you a grim look at what could happen if we do nothing over the next decade or so.
Although it is only mid-May, the summer heat is suffocating. Alexis Ohanian lumbers over to the lectern, wearing the drab gray smock considered fashionable in this era of stifled creativity. He wipes the sweat from his brow, clears his throat, and speaks.
Dear Graduating Class of 2025: I owe you an apology. We screwed up the Internet, one of the world's greatest innovations, and I'm truly sorry. Also, I'm really sorry about the climate change. Perspective is everything, though. I mean, look at how much more we appreciate the parts of the Eastern Seaboard that aren't underwater now. Besides, who really liked polar bears, anyway?
As for the Internet, we had a chance, with all the momentum we gained from pummeling SOPA and PIPA back in 2012, to educate our politicians about how important Internet freedom is to every single one of their constituents. Every member of the House and Senate represented a digital district-it wasn't a red or blue issue, but something that even the most divisive districts could agree on. Despite what you may've heard or read, it wasn't just Silicon Valley that cared about this; it was all of America.
I hope you've read in your history books about Silicon Valley and all the burgeoning startup communities around the country at that time. We were one of the few sectors hiring back then; in fact, we couldn't hire enough. Some of your parents might have even been part of that scene. Geez… hmm . . . this probably isn't what you need to hear right now, given the bleak state of the economy you're graduating into. Back in the day, software was eating the world, creating jobs and innovation, until we put protecting Mickey Mouse on a higher pedestal than protecting the free market. At least we've got that new 3-D version of Fast & Furious: Part XII. Seriously, they're still trying to make 3-D a thing?
Anyhow, we were on the verge of major innovations across multiple industries. For one thing, your educational experience might have been very different if you had had access to a free Internet, no matter where or even whether you went to college. Imagine being able to take free classes from the world's best instructors any time you wanted. That was happening. Nonprofits and for-profits alike were all engineering better ways for anyone with an Internet connection to get an education. It looked like universal Internet access for all Americans was becoming a priority for our politicians. I used to be able to look a person in the eye and say if she wanted to learn to become a programmer and build the next reddit, she or he could go online right now and get started. It was the same way Steve Huffman had learned much of what he used to build reddit and hipmunk. There were no gatekeepers.
But I can't say that today. To make matters worse, your tuition payments rose to levels that have left most of you deeply in debt. Keep that in mind as you toss those mortar- boards in the air. Or don't-actually, now that I think about it, I don't think you're allowed to do that.
But even if meaningful employment isn't on the horizon for many or even most of you, don't worry! One of the perks of unemployment is all the free time you'll have to surf the GoogleVerizonComcastNet©TM from your parents' basement. There was a time when we had competition and a flat Internet, where all links were created equal. We all thought of it as a sort of public utility back then-so quaint. Today, of course, the only search engine most of us can afford to use always gives us erection pill ads as the first page of results.
In case you find yourselves wondering what life was like back then, you can always fire up Gmail. Google hasn't had to update it in nearly a decade because there's no reason to- no startup can compete with them because they just block that competitor's website or bury them in litigation.
Now, I'm seeing some funny looks out there in the audience. Yes, it's true that bright young people like you used to build things all the time, and some of those projects turned into entrepreneurial endeavors-remarkable things that made the world suck less.
But I guess I'm really showing my age.
Just this morning I found a polite note in my Dropbox from the federal agent who investigated a "suspicious" photo I'd privately stored there from a family vacation. I'd done nothing wrong, of course, but he was just letting me know they had run a quick search. At least he left a note, right? Believe it or not, there was a time when we truly believed our digital storage was as private as our physical storage. Want to enter my home? Sure, get a warrant-same goes for my Dropbox. Those were the days. . . .
These days, of course, the government doesn't need any due process to read our e-mail or search any of those formerly private messaging services, because they decided that the Fourth Amendment applies only to physical mail. Hey, remember when we used to have post offices and mailboxes and letters? No? Ask your parents.
Seriously, people used to think that digital privacy was just as important as physical privacy. That concept might seem antiquated to you all now, but when I was your age, if someone was illegally opening your mail, it was customary to punch them in the throat.
Back when I finished my first book, Without Their Permission, I really thought we were going to make the right decisions, too. The open Internet, as a platform, used to embody so many of the highest ideals of this country. Our Internet was filled with the true spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship, helping yourself as well as others, and the freedom to connect whenever you want-as well as the right to privacy when you don't. We could have been real role models for the world. Our bad, guys.
Well, now I've got a flight back to Shanghai to catch. It's a shame I had to move my company there, but the level and quantity of science, engineering, technology, and math talent over there made it an easy business decision. It's sad because of how much I loved not only this country but also the freedom to innovate and tinker, which encouraged so many of us back then.
I'm truly sorry. We had a great opportunity, but we failed, and now it's you all, our future, who are left with the consequences. The irony isn't lost on me-we all let it happen without your permission.
Yikes. That would have been a terrible way to end this book. Let me try again.
Here's how we could do better. . . .
Go here to find out when "This Week" is on in your area


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Here's what happened in my NetSquared gig in December/ 2012.
Happy New Year!
I'm looking forward to supporting your local community activism in 2013 and I'm delighted to welcome new members to the NetSquared local organizer team. In fact, I received more than five new organizer applications over the holidays and several inactive groups including Seattle and Montreal are also planning to relaunch.
Let's use the new year to commit to holding frequent NetSquared local events and if you know anyone who might be a good prospect for launching a new group please refer them to me!
Here's an update on our latest activity:
Highlights from the NetSquared community blog
The NetSquared community blog is alive again! We welcome your contributions. Use the blog to promote your upcoming events, share your nonprofit tech thoughts, or show off (don't be shy!) with highlights from your meetups. We welcome your blog posts, photos, storifys, videos and more!
Top posts from December:
- NetSquared organizer Tierney Smith shares lessons learned from NetSquared Camp Toronto.
- TechSoup's Jim Lynch reports on last year's NetSquared Camps on the community blog.
- NetSquared Camp Downunder unleashed the power of a four-city event.
- Keep abreast of social change and philanthropy in Asia and Africa with Tiffany Pintor's weekly recaps of the top stories.
- We offer tips on what makes an ideal submission for the Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest
The eleventh of the NetSquared platform is now live. Highlights include the ability to add non-meetup events to your user profile and projects. We have improved the local organizer map to make the pins bigger and easier to navigate. The local organizer profile pages have been fixed and now show your city and link to your group pages.
Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest
The Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest invites both new and seasoned developers to create an app for "social good" – and you could win cash prizes to help fuel your dream and keep it going!
The contest is open to pre-existing applications, so if you know of a Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 app that meets our definition of social good please encourage the developer to register.
Note: the contest is only open to residents of the USA. But anyone can vote and share!
January events
So far 14 events have been scheduled in January, with several still in gestation. Are you planning an event that didn't make it onto this list? Let me know!
- Denver, CO: Engaging Stakeholders with Interactive Annual Reports
- New York: Make Your Nonprofit More Efficient with the Best Cloud-Based Tools
- Vancouver, BC: Tablets, Smartphones, iPads, iPhones: Gadgets for Good?
- New Orleans, LA: Resolution Solutions PLUS the First Crowdfunding Festival for Creators
- Philadelphia, PA: Making Your Website Mobile-Friendly: What, How and Why
- Boston, MA: Mass Innovation Nights
- Guatemala: #CampusTec: Informe de visita a Silicon Valley
- Honolulu, HI: Hacking for good nights
- Toronto, ON: Tech trends of 2013 and what your nonprofit needs to know
- Washington, DC: What's on the Horizon for 2013 – Panel Discussion
- Morrisville, NC: Data Mapping with Google and WordPress
- Melbourne, Australia: Growing netsquared in 2013
- Paris, France: Comment sortir des énergies carbonées et fissiles?
- Auckland, New Zealand: TBA
Image: JUAN RAMON RODRIGUEZ SOSA on Flickr.


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NOT MUCH TO LOOK AT YET HERE, so I'm looking back at old photos instead, from spring 2008, our first year online. I know, not very Buddhist or in-the-moment of me, but a lot more fun than looking out at the mud and traces of dirty snow.
By the way, I also highly recommend the winter-garden walk (speaking of looking backward in time), if you haven't seen it already. For spring 2008, though, click the first thumbnail to get started, then toggle from slide to slide using the arrows beside each caption:


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Length 12.2 km (7.6 miles), terrain flat
NOTE: If this route is too long, just leave out the loop at the Bundestag or the Museum Island
Images courtesy of the creative folk Flickr CreativeCommons. Thanks!
Berlin Running Routes:
Best Berlin Running Routes: Overview
Historic Berlin Mitte
Tiergarten park
Kurfürstendamm, heart of West Berlin
Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin's coolest neighborhood
Grunewald West
Grunewald East
Potsdam Royal Residences
Ode to Berlin: my long-running love affair with this great city
For other running routes, see Route List. And if you're interested in an essay on what makes Berlin so special, take a look at this Ode to Berlin, written in the transition days after the Wall came down.
I have a strange emotional attachment to Berlin that's hard to explain. I first got to know the city when it was divided by a forbidding wall, the inevitable ground-zero for an ever-threatening World War Three. The city had a unique character, so political, so hanging on a knife's edge, like no other place on earth. You could jump onto a subway in West Berlin, ride through closed-down stations in the east, manned by machine-gun-toting policemen, then later get out in West Berlin again. Above ground, any way you went, you'd run into the wall sooner or later: end of the line, locked in.
NOTE: see the Destinations Tips page for tips about spending your free time in this great town!
Then came the sudden end of East Germany and the fall of the wall. After a flurry of activity rejoining streets, railroad tracks and neighborhoods, Berlin turned into just a normal city again. But it still managed to keep its own character. The eastern part of the city, once gray and lifeless, became the hub of hip new hangouts. The old city center, also in the east, filled back up with businesses and hotels to enliven the surrounding museums and monuments. It's well worth a visit.
Palace bridge and Armory (Zeughaus), photo by Umschauen |
We'll start the run in Berlin's busiest square, Alexanderplatz (or Alex for short). The square was named after a visit by Russian Czar Alexander I. It is the biggest intersection of Berlin's public transit, with an above-ground station for the commuter S-Bahns, the U-Bahns down below, and the tram lines that cross the square.
The shape and surroundings of the square have changed dramatically over the years. After Berlin was bombed-out during World War II, the area was rebuilt in East Germany's socialist style. But a construction boom after reunification has changed its face still again.
Start the run by standing at the World-Time Clock, from the East German period. I first stood here in about 1985, on a day trip to East Berlin while I was in town for the (West) Berlin Marathon. Here at Alexanderplatz, I ate a memorably bad meal with the world's most unfriendly service, after being totally ignored and refused service at another restaurant. My wife and I were pushing around a baby carriage, and the East Germans could recognize us as westerners immediately by our clothes and the style of the carriage.
As day-visa-holders, we weren't allowed to travel outside the center of town, but we risked getting in trouble and paid the 10 East-German pennies each for S-Bahn tickets to the green suburbs of Köpenick. It was much more pleasant than walking around the center, where machine-gun-armed guards were watching over missle-trucks waiting for the East German DDR Jahrestag national holiday "Peace Parade" the following week. I definitely felt ill-at-ease, wondering if they would arrest me for being an American spy.
In the newly restored Alexanderplatz, there are no more missle trucks. Everything is more relaxed these days, which is fine by me.
The clock with TV tower, photo by pAtzuo |
Neptune fountain and Rathaus, photo by music px |
Run west along the front of the building to turn left at the next street, Spandauer Straße. Turn right off of Spandauer Straße at the first little side-street, Am Nußbaum. This little lane brings you into the one last remnant of old Berlin, the Nikolaiviertel. Some of the houses are original, some were rebuilt during the socialist days, with varying efforts to keep the original look.
St. Nikolai, photo by Tania Ho |
At the river, turn right to run north, crossing Rathausstraße and running along the park again. In the middle of the park stand the statues of Marx and Engels, standing there a bit forlornly in the heart of this very capitalistic, modern city. To the left, across the river, is the never-ending construction site where once the Prussian royal palace (Schloß) stood. In the East German days, the bombed ruins of the palace were razed and a modern Palast der Republik was built in its place, with the East German parliament and a conference center.
After reunification, the Palast der Republik was torn down because of its asbestos walls, but Germans weren't agreed on what to put in its place, on this historic spot. Many wanted to rebuild the royal palace, but others wanted to look to the future and build something more useful for the population. They finally decided on a compromise, with the main facade to be rebuilt in the old style, but the rest as a modern collection of museums and venues. But the start was postponed due to the big governmental deficits in 2010, and it is scheduled to begin in 2014.
At the next bridge, turn left to cross the Spree and run by the Schloß site, with the domed-roof of the Berlin Cathedral across the street. You are now on the "Museum Island". Behind the cathedral to the right is a collection of world-class museums, beginning with the Altes Museum (Old Museum) just behind the park next to the cathedral. My favorite museum is the Pergamon Museum, with its beautiful Pergamon Temple and the astounding Ishtar Gate from Babylon, as well as a Roman forum gate. We'll run by all that later.
The cathedral, photo by mtroppa |
You quickly leave the island by crossing the beautiful Schloßbrücke bridge. You'll pass the old armory (Zeughaus) on the right, another museum where one of the failed assassination attempts on Hitler happened. The street is called Unter den Linden from this point, one of the most famous in Germany. In a couple of blocks it turns into a tree-lined boulevard. In the East German days, it was lined with representative offices for things like the Bulgarian Ministry for Heavy Industry, always empty of visitors. The only shop worth visiting back then was a book shop: one of the bright spots of East Germany was its printing industry.
The street is lined with one interesting spot after the other. Across from the armory is the old crown-prince's palace, then a nice café. On the right, you'll pass the small guards' house, the Neue Wache, with its memorial to victims of the Nazi regime. In the East German days, impressively goose-stepping soldiers stood watch out front.
Just past the memorial, you'll see Humboldt University on the right, named after the great German naturalist, who reformed the Prussian university system. On the left is the opera house, then the curving university library.
Frederick the Great, photo by Richard Seestedt |
Bebelplatz being attacked by alien Berlin Bears, photo by anthonioo |
Turn left to run straight south through the long square. The second church, the Deutscher Dom, was still a ruins when I first saw it in my first trip to East Berlin. You'd never guess it now.
Gendarmenmarkt scene, photo by een berlina |
Turn left on Friedrichstraße and run the four blocks to Checkpoint Charlie. Beyond that spot, West Berlin began. The Berlin Wall ran right down the cross-street, Zimmerstraße. The checkpoint that you see now was re-erected, after the original was removed, much to the dismay of the many tourists.
Checkpoint Charlie, photo by roger4336 |
Turn right on Zimmerstraße and run along the old path of the wall. After a block, a remnant of the wall will flank the street along the left side. When the city was still divided, this street was a no-mans-land.
To your right side, you are running behind the Finance Ministry and the Bundesrat (German Senate). The Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum is on the left.
The wall along Zimmerstraße, photo by snkitchen |
Turn right and run right to the Potsdamer Platz intersection, with its strange traffic light.
Turn left to run past the half-round Deutsche Bahn building, then turn right to run straight into the pointy glass-roofed Sony Center. Just run straight through the amazing space under the roof and exit on the other side.
Sony Center roof, photo by Odile Dufour |
After just a block, you'll come to the somber sight of the Hollocaust Memorial, with its sea of grey rectangular stones. It's a disturbing feeling walking through it, but fascinating.
Hollocaust Memorial, photo by SonicWiz |
Keep running the one block north to the Bundestag building, the German parliament. Turn left to circle around to the front entrance, which you'll see when you turn the next corner, to the right. There is usually a line of people waiting to get inside to tour the glass dome on the roof, and it is worth a bit of waiting.
Bundestag, photo by Liamfm |
Keep running straight, with the Kanzleramt on your right, until you hit the Spree River. To the left, you'll see a modernistic, oyster-shaped concert hall, once donated by the American people to West Berlin, along with a carillon bell-tower. For many years, it stood empty, with the roof threatening to cave in, but it was repaired and put back into use again.
Turn right here to run along the river, going behind the Kanzleramt. The river will curve to the right, tracing a half-circle, until you come to the backside of the Bundestag again. You'll see the new Berlin Central Station across the river.
Now, leave the river and run behind the Bundestag straight south back to the Brandenburger Gate.
Brandenburger Gate, photo by Berlin-bleibt-Berlin.de |
Great shot of Unter den Linden in the evening, photo by just a hero |
When you get back to the Armory and the bridge to the Museum Island, turn left before the bridge and run along Am Zeughaus past the museums across the river.
At the Bode Museum, photo by Ellzzett |
You will run under the S-Bahn tracks at the station, then turn right to get back into Alexanderplatz itself.


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All Rights Reserved: This image belongs to the photographer (Kathleen Raymon). If you wish to use it for any purpose, you'll need to obtain written permission from the photographer.
Tulips at Reiman Gardens Spring 2012
Submitted by: Kathleen Raymon, Business Administration on May 2, 2012
Tags: Reiman Gardens, Spring
1 like 447 views


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I can't write that post, anymore. I've got it saved. Maybe, another day.
Here's the video, anyway, because why not.
I wrote a lot of other things about the song, musically, and then I wrote:
The song is so earnest. It's absolutely refreshing in a way, after more than a decade of irony-based, cynical, and occasionally nihilist culture being dominant -- but it also leaves out what makes the task of simulating all of human civilization itself so interesting and daunting.
And I said that for all that Civ tries so, so hard to mount a global approach, deliberately seeking out non-Western, non-colonial civs and non-white, non-male leaders to head them... the game is still very profoundly an American one, with an American outlook towards what civilization itself should be and is.
It is the march of progress, of science, of commerce and war, and the nexus where those meet. It is the forward, upward momentum of technology and social progress, inevitable even if you aren't leading the pack.
I wrote that all during the first week of November, before the U.S. election. That election has since transpired, and everyone in the world knows what happened.
America just made a series of interesting decisions, and chose to go backwards and take the world along with. Yes, the world -- because a huge percentage of the planet is buying our blue jeans and listening to our pop music. We've had the cultural victory in the bag for decades, and nothing that happens within our borders stays within our borders.
And culture is the hole. It is this -- that ability to go backward, to regress, to be done in not by external forces but by the competing tides of movement and counter-movement within your own society -- that is missing from Civilization.
The map on my screen is a sterile world, where social forces have no sway and rational economic ones are the only ones modeled. I have, in four games (three won, one lost) and twenty hours, already come to find it profoundly unsatisfying.
A war, in Civ, is always against external forces. It is a neighbor who wants land, a conquering force that wants your natural resources, a religious zealot who will convert by force.
Civ cannot account for the fact that within your real civ, people look, think, and act differently from each other, and may, too, come to war within their own country.
Progress is not inevitable. It is hard, ugly work, and it always comes with regression as its twin.
The two are inseparable. For every reformation, there is a counter-reformation. For every revolution, a counter-revolution. For every black president, someone literally endorsed by the Klan and actual, non-metaphorical Nazis.
Maybe if we made a computer model of the world, we could see how it turns out and convince ourselves there's a way. But it wouldn't be a "game" anymore.
I am not sure I would find it any more satisfying to find my play civilization suddenly regressing or entering a civil war with itself, to be honest. If that's where Civilization went, I think I would find myself spending more time in hero's journeys, where the dragons might be present but can always be beaten.
Truth be told, I might need to go home today and do that anyway; I am not above escapism, and we all have to care for our mental health in our own ways. Watching disaster unfold in real-time around me is hard enough.
Because right now, there are at least 50 million people out there who don't seem to understand that the actual course of human civilization -- the real one, the real thing, where people live and breathe and eat and fuck and shit and die and want and hope and despair -- is not a game. That it is not a set of interesting choices and well-sculpted tiles. That a "game over" doesn't mean you reset; it means extinction.


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Review Date:
Reviewed by: Eeeper
Released by: Digital Manga Publishing
Publishing Country: USA
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Age Rating: All Ages
Page Count: 200
Reading the "Astro Boy" comic book with his dad is Tsugio's one refuge from the bullies at his school. One day he finds an abandoned kitten, and names it after the robot hero to convince his family to keep it. But after a strange encounter with aliens honeymooning on Earth, Tsugio's shocked to find his cat can speak - and has all of Astro Boy's powers! Sworn to secrecy, Tsugio and Earth's tiniest hero together fight raging fires, awakened mummies, and more!
Tetsuwan Atom (first published in 1952) is one of famous manga author Osamu Tezuka's most prolific works. Translated as Astro Boy in the US, the manga was adapted into an animated series with a 193 episode count in 1963 which led to American audiences getting one of their first tastes of anime. Astro remains beloved in Japan as Tezuka's expression of innocence and of the power of the human spirit in the face of evil. Of course, being the man he was, Tezuka decided to remake his story in the late 1980's albeit with a slight twist. Atom for this version is four legged, has whiskers and has fur. In other words, he's a cat.
Found by often bullied schoolboy Tsugio as an ordinary kitten, Atom is at first the standard cat: he destroys curtains, leaves poop everywhere and digs up bugs, worms and frogs for the mother of the house. So, Tsugio's parents order him to take Atom away. While on their way, their bike is hit by a car. This being a Tezuka manga, the car owners turn out to be aliens who find Tsugio hurt and Atom dying/dead. Using Tsugio's mind (which is filled with his memories of Astro Boy manga that he read with his inventor father) they reconstruct Atom with Astro's powers: jets in his feet, 100,000 horsepower and laser guns in his butt. Though he now has the ability to speak, Tsugio and he hide his new powers and talents from Tsugio's school mates and Tsugio's parents. Tsugio's parents are typical Tezuka comedy types: his father is an inventor who doesn't invent so much as create weapons of mass destruction and his mother who defines a loving, cheerful, crushing, husband basher. Armed with his newform powers, Atom tackles bullies, demonic cats, forest fires and hoodlums. With his trademark artwork, Tezuka just decides to have fun and along us to have fun with him. There are no real stakes to fights for with his cast, just one adventure after another.
To tell the truth, there's no point in describing this what happens in this manga. Atom and Tsugio get into all kinds of scrapes and adventures and much merriment is had by all. Tsugio frequently relies on Atom to save him from the local school bully (with the nickname "Qaddafi" for some reason) and Atom sometimes forgets that he's an indestructible cat and not a regular feline. Where it is going is to be a parody of Astro Boy with constant recap pages at the start of every chapter from Astro Boy itself and then run into its story from there. It kind of reminds me of the adventure books of Enid Blyton with its angle of derring-do, though with a hundred percent less casual sexism and rascism. If I had to give an idea of what the tone of the story is, I would use Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump. In both, jokes are presented at lightning speed, people are thrown around the room by explosions and general destruction and mayhem plus the main characters often don't know what precisely is going on.
In the end, Atomcat is a happy diversion for the young at heart and fans of the original work. How well it would work on the children of today is anyone's guess. In any event, for the price of a coffee and cake at Starbucks, you've found your afternoon's distraction.
Rating: 7/10
This book is part of the Tezuka Unico Kickstarter organised by Digital Manga Publishing. Others in the same pledge include Triton of the Sea and Unico.
Affilate Links:
Buy from Amazon.com
Buy from Amazon.co.uk


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The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority signaled Tuesday that it may let the Trump administration shut down the Obama-era program that granted temporary protection from deportation to roughly 700,000 young people, commonly known as DREAMers.
Brought to the U.S. illegally as children, the DREAMers were allowed to legally work and go to school if they met certain requirements and passed a background check. The program, begun in 2012, is known as DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Until Tuesday the administration had consistently maintained that it had no choice but to pull the plug on the program because, as President Trump's attorney general put it in September 2017, the DACA program was "illegal" and "unconstitutional" from the time it was first put in place in 2012.
Three federal appeals courts disagreed and ruled that when an administration revokes a policy like this, on which so many people, businesses and even the U.S. economy have relied, the administration must provide a fully supported rationale that weighs the pros and cons of the program, the costs and the benefits. Faced with those lower court decisions, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, which seemed Tuesday to be on the verge of a contrary decision.
Can the Supreme Court even decide this case?
Solicitor General Noel Francisco opened the argument, telling the justices that they have no authority to review the policy change because DACA is a discretionary program under which the Obama administration used its prosecutorial discretion to defer deportations for certain qualified individuals.
The court's liberals pushed back. "There's a strange element to your argument," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the solicitor general. She pointed out that he was arguing that "this is a discretionary matter" and therefore "not reviewable because it's committed to agency discretion. But on the other hand, you say the agency had no discretion because this program was illegal.... So how can it be committed to your discretion when you're saying 'we have no discretion'?"
Ginsburg said that even a second memo, written after the litigation began, was "infected" with the idea that DACA was illegal.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed to Trump's conflicting remarks about DACA recipients, noting that the president told the DREAMers that they were "safe under him" and then abruptly ended the program.
"We own this"
But when the lawyers representing the DACA plaintiffs rose to argue, they got a fusillade of doubt from the conservative wing of the court.
Chief Justice John Roberts sought to minimize the number of immigrants covered by previous programs similar to DACA, dating to the 1950s. Other members of the conservative majority fired different rounds.
Justice Samuel Alito posed this hypothetical: Let's say an administration decides not to prosecute drug cases involving less than 5 kilos of cocaine, and the next administration decides to change the amount to 3 kilos. Would that be reviewable by the courts?
Lawyer Theodore Olson, who represented the plaintiffs, replied that DACA is different because of the huge number of people and industries and businesses that have relied on the assurances in the existing program. If the government wants to change such a program, he said, it has to lay out its policy reasons, and not just by fiat say that the DACA policy was illegal from the get-go.
"What more would you have the government say?" interjected Justice Neil Gorsuch. "What good would another five years of litigation over the adequacy of the explanation serve?"
Replied Olson: "We don't know what the administration would do." The Trump administration "did not want to own this decision." It was not an independent decision reached by the acting secretary of homeland security because DHS was bound by the attorney general's one-sentence decision saying DACA was illegal, Olson said.
In rebuttal, Francisco, the Trump administration lawyer, batted that down, saying the administration has decided that even if DACA was and is legal, Trump has decided to shut it down.
"We own this," he said.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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I thought about this in tandem with those bomb threats that raked across Jewish Community Centers this month -- dozens of them, coordinated, nationwide. It was, unsurprisingly, all over the Jewish media. Did it also resonate among our putative allies? I remember Carly Pildis' pleading tweet:
Did she find any? I don't know. There was a powerful statement from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. But it does seem exceptional. Maybe there were more. I do know that it scarcely even occurred to me to look for such solidarity. I've become conditioned not to expect it. It's not that other groups never have our backs, but it's a rare enough occurrence that it doesn't factor into my default strategies for protecting Jews.I am looking for ANY social justice/human rights/anti-racism/anti-oppression group to stand in support with our community today.— (((Carly Pildis))) (@CarlyPildis) January 18, 2017
I keep going. Researching this post, I Google "solidarity with Jews." The first hit is a link titled "Jews lead march for solidarity with Muslims." A noble undertaking to be sure, but that's not solidarity with Jews. Solidarity, apparently, is something Jews give. It is not something we receive.
I continued to think. I remember the email I wrote following the election to the UC-Berkeley Vice Chancellor of Equity and Inclusion, when her message to the community offering support to (a lengthy list of) threatened campus populations failed to include Jews. I remember how, just a few days after that dust-up, my union sent its own email standing in solidarity with an even larger group -- still managing to omit Jews.
Meanwhile, I came across an event hosted by the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists' Social Justice group featuring notorious antisemite Alison Weir. Weir regularly collaborates with neo-Nazis and White supremacists. She questioned the Garland nomination because there were too many Jews on the Supreme Court. She contends that the medieval "blood libel" -- responsible for countless antisemitic massacres across history -- is accurate. She has referred to Judaism as a "ruthless and supremacist faith." I know Unitarian Universalists -- including clergy who do solidarity work. In accordance with said solidarity, they have supported sit-ins in front of Jewish communal organizations who cut ties with the Movement for Black Lives after the latter accused Israel of genocide. Will they address the log in their eye?
Maybe. Maybe not. It's a busy time for folks combating hate, after all. So many groups need solidarity.
Of course, there's a pattern at work here. Berkeley doesn't publicize the fact that its printers are regularly appropriated to launch antisemitic Jeremiads. It not being publicized means that persons who might be receptive to a claim of solidarity aren't on notice that Jews are in need of it. Not thinking that Jews are in need of it, they don't view the absence of distinctively Jewish voices or campaign as a loss or gap. Indeed, being blissfully unaware of the continued fact of antisemitic oppression, they may think of Jews as in the category of those who should solely be givers of solidarity and support. The politics of Jewish invisibility continues unmolested.
This narrative may seem too innocent, though I would not be averse to citing some James Baldwin: "It is the innocence which constitutes the crime." Yet it is not entirely even criminal innocence. There are affirmative beliefs about Jews that contribute to the problem. Solidarity with Jews means breaking down the sense that Jews are already spoken for, are anti-discrimination winners, are if anything too greedy in what we demand from our fellows. It requires overcoming the deep Gentile Fragility (if I can appropriate a term) that has a hair-trigger around claims of antisemitism. It requires active work and active unlearning of established patterns. It requires acknowledging that antisemitism is not an external infection but emerges out of our own movements and our own practices. Opposing antisemitism will sometimes mean reassessing things precious to us. It will sometimes require costly grace.
Some might say that, until we are included as equals in communities of solidarity, we should not contribute our energies to the fight. Why should we fight for others who will do nothing for us? A tempting proposition, but not one that appeals to me. I engage in such a fight for self, because it's right, not because of what I expect in return. Nor does it mean I claim that Jews have it worse than anyone else, that we are uniquely threatened. Every group faces its particular set of challenges, the glass blocking the way is as always sometimes visible and sometimes obscure.
But let's be clear: Swastikas are appearing on campuses, on fraternities, in Jewish neighborhoods. Bomb threats are being called in by the dozens on Jewish communal centers. Jews are being compared to Nazis by persons on the right and left -- persons who will in the next breath loudly proclaim their allyship to the Jewish people. Social actors shun Jewish spaces, activists blacklist Jewish voices. In our own way and in our own context, Jews are among those groups under threat. We are not people that can be justly excised from communities of solidarity. We have the right to demand inclusion.
But we aren't included yet. Right now, solidarity is for goyim. A provocative indictment for solidarity activists to grapple with, but that is my charge.


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About this centre
The Kumon Maths and English Study Programmes enable children of any age and ability to build key learning foundations. Our programmes will not only help your child to become a confident learner, they go one step further than traditional maths or English tuition by equipping them with the skills to learn for themselves. Self-learning is an important skill for children as they journey through education and beyond, building independence and ability to progress without reliance on a teacher. Our study programmes provide an economical way to equip your child with the skills that they need to build a bright future.
After an initial assessment, your child will follow an individualised study programme with work set at just the right level. They complete daily worksheets building skills and fluency in small manageable steps, as well as attending tuition groups at their local study centre up to twice a week. An Instructor will monitor and guide your child's learning development to ensure work remains challenging. Kumon study does not follow any curriculum and work is set regardless of age, enabling children to revisit topics or advance far beyond school material without restriction.
Did you know, you can now study Kumon using digital worksheets? This study centre is proud to offer KUMON CONNECT. Click here to find out more.


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Life of Texas Governor (and Baylor alum) Ann Richards being retold on Broadway
This September would have marked Ann Richards' 80th birthday. Instead, the life of the Baylor alum and former Texas governor was cut short by cancer in 2006.
But her legacy lives on, most recently in a one-person play, "Ann," which debuted on Broadway last weekend. Written by and starring Holland Taylor (perhaps best known as the mother on Two and a Half Men), "Ann" received favorable reviews following its opening Thursday. [Click here to see video from "Ann."]
Taylor spent four years researching and writing the play, as detailed in this New York Times story. In three parts, Taylor-as-Richards recounts her life growing up in Texas, relives a day as governor (one of four Baylor graduates to have governed Texas), and her life out of office.
Richards, BA '54, is also the subject of a new book by Jan Reid. Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann Richards benefits from the author's long friendship with Richards, retelling her entire life story, from growing up in Waco through her final years.
Sic 'em, Gov. Richards!


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Summer is coming up, which means several of you may be gearing up for travel. How do you pack when you travel? I pack virtually my ENTIRE closet. Do you? I'm the girl that packs 4 pairs of jeans for a two-day trip. Don't get me started on how much of everything else I pack. Getting somewhere and not having what I need or want to wear is the worst feeling to me! I need options! Perhaps I should follow these wonderful suggestions the next time I travel so that I won't have to sit on my suitcase to get it to close... :)
Image via


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