Ethos, The Weblog
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Support the Austin Eastside Community Center
Fellow Friar and UT alumnus Graham Davis has seen great success with his non-profit organization, The Eastside Community Connection. I hope that you all can find time, money, food, or clothing to help with his cause. Visit the link below to get more information on the services offered and volunteer opportunities available.
Eastside Community Connection
Monday, September 29, 2003
Since I have yet to do anything productive with my photos from the Alaska trip, I thought I'd include a link to Logan's site which features most of his shots as well as Victor's picks from the trip. I believe that a couple of mine are in his gallery. So, for those of you eagerly awaiting to hear about the trip, these galleries should whet your appetite...
Alaska Road Trip
A friend forwarded me an interesting article about the marketing of breast cancer. Business 2.0 takes an interesting look at now corporations take advantage of such charitable opportunities, noting that most companies allocate money from their marketing budgets, not from their philanthropic projects. This quote excerpted from the article sums up their point very well:
What's behind corporate America's love affair with the pink ribbon? While it stands
for a deadly illness, its color renders it nonthreatening and feminine. It's "a do-good
kind of seal," says one merchandiser who's eager to put it on his new line of fabric
softener sheets. Other diseases -- notably heart disease and lung cancer -- kill far
more women than breast cancer, but they aren't linked to one of society's prime
symbols of womanhood. What's more, breast cancer is free of sin, not clearly tied to
overeating, sex, or smoking, and can strike the young and beautiful. And no woman
is untouched: Everyone either has had the disease, fears she'll get it, or knows
someone who has. "If you can translate that emotional response to a feeling about
your business, that's powerful," says Joanne Mazurki, who helped develop Avon's
campaign.
The Selling of Breast Cancer.pdf
Monday, September 22, 2003
Hey all,
I'm back! I will hopefully get back to posting tomorrow, but I thought I'd include a link to more on our Alaska trip. The site is Victor's blog, and the Alaska notes are a day or two down.
rockpark.com
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Alaska - Day 2 Anchorage/Talkeetna/Lake Eklutna
The morning started at the hostel in Anchorage as we all packed up and made
our plans for the day. Someone had suggested trying a local place called
the Snow City Cafe to eat their renowned crab omelettes, so we made our way
to downtown Anchorage in search of their grub. The customers seemed to be
a mix of both local town denizens as well as just a few visitors. The wait
came to be about 30-40 minutes, so we took some time to have a cup or two
of coffee while Logan and Charlie went in search of phone cards to call
home. Tung of course raved about the feeling of such a local place and
surely dreamed of owning his own cafe. As we sat and talked with our
waitress, we soon discovered that we all were ordering the same entrees --
crab omelettes and salmon cakes -- to be split between two people. Sadly,
they didn't have any white bread despite the urging of Tung and Logan, but
Rishi did find himself the off man out, literally. He went for the huevos
rancheros, which came really to be huevos with a small side of salsa.
After breakfast we started our journey north, stopping for gas and
groceries. About 30 minutes north of Anchorage we detoured off to Eklutna
Lake and had a great 2-3 mile hike through the park. Walking up the
mountain gave us time to wish Logan was walking slower...and captured some
great scenic views of the surrounding mountains, foliage, and lake below.
Before we left the park, we walked to the lake shore to skip rocks and
admire Rishi's naturan, green beauty. The drive from the lake to Talkeetna
was a bit hazy for me, since...well...I slept the whole way. However, when
I woke up near the town's edge, I could instantly tell that I was going to
enjoy the night. Talkeetna is a wonderful little town near the edge of
Denali, with hints to tourism but marked more by the local people and
quaint pubs and restaurants. Victor had arranged lodging at the Talkeetna
Roadhouse, and we all instantly fell in love with the host, her little
cafe, and our rooms for the night. We unpacked the cars and then started a
short walk around town looking for a place to eat. We decided on West Rib,
as they had a good selection of real Alaskan food and beer. We waited for
our table over a few pitchers of Alaskan Amber and college football
highlights (damn Greg Davis). Once again, the majority of us ordered the
same dish -- a filet of halibut. I went for the caribou burger and their
Alaskan seafood
chiveche.
After dinner we came back to the Roadhouse where a mixture of dessert
eating, card playing, coffee drinking and talking with some local girls
(Kate and Sarah -- Sarah is actually starting her own Fair Trade Tea
business) filled the remainder of the evening.
Thursday, September 11, 2003
just back from Dallas...about to leave for Alaska
A friend's dad forwarded me this site which features photographs from Yann Arthus-Bertrand's "Earth From Above" exhibition in Paris a little while ago. I'd classify this collection as aerial landscape photography, but the prints are much more stunning than I could have imagined.
E A R T H F R O M A B O V E
Also, be sure to pick up this month's issue of In Magazine. I have about 9 pictures in this issue, and I'll soon be the head fashion photographer for the magazine. Too bad I'll be out of town during this month's production cycle :-(
Monday, September 08, 2003
Re: My trip to Alaska
For those interested, here is a link to a similar itinerary, but in reverse. Thanks Victor!
Ellen Isaacs: Travel journal: Alaska
Copyrights for Digital Media
Going off the announcement today that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed 261 lawsuits against individuals for illegal filesharing, I thought I'd include some relevant links.
Research from The Berkman Center at Harvard Law School
Research from The Pew Internet and American Life Project
Article in the Washington Post
This Thursday, September 11, at 4:00 pm, The Population Research Center will present Marta Tienda, Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, for a Brownbag entitled "Planning for College with Admissions Guarantees: Oxymoron or Opportunity?" Please note that her lecture will be held in Room 136 of Burdine Hall.
For the full Fall 2003 BrownBag schedule, go to http://www.prc.utexas.edu/brownbag/brownbag.html.
GO VOTE!
Early voting for the Texas Constitutional Ammendments ends tomorrow, and regular voting will be held on the 13th. In all, there are 22 proposed ammendments, of which I find Propositions 7, 9, 11, and 12 to be interesting and/or controversial.
League of Women Voters Guide
FreeMarket.org Voting Guide (link provided by Akash)
I've uploaded an article from The Economist that has a great report on a widening inequality between the rich and poor in America. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the wealthiest 1% of America controls 38% of national wealth while the bottom 80% only controls 17%. Additionally, 85% of the stockmarket wealth is only held by 20%. Draw your own conclusions...
Would you like your class war shaken or stirred, sir?
The posts might be slim over the next two weeks since I'll be out of town until Monday the 22nd. I will do my best to leave a few notes while I'm gone, but I see this as a great opportunity for y'all to forward me things you would like posted. I'll post anything you send, so share whatever you feel like.
I'll be checking my e-mail every other day or so, but I should be reachable on my cell phone at most times.
ciao,
jw
I had sent this article out to a few of you all earlier this summer, but it is worth posting again. So far, this NY Times article is the best I've seen so far on the so called "metrosexual" -- the new term marketers have given to men that are "just gay enough". Well, in reality it refers to guys that wear nice clothes, have an appreciation for fine food, might use product in their hair, and just might be open to going to a day spa.
The article is definitely a great read, but this link below requires you to purchase it. However, if you have access to Lexis-Nexis you can read it for free. I have the text on my computer as well, so I can forward it to you if you're interested.
Metrosexuals Come Out
Here are some links to sites about education policy research...
The Boyer Report
--a report on how to better establish undergraduate education
The Civil Rights Project -- Resegregation
--research on segregation in America's schools
The Civil Rights Project -- Percent Plans
--research that contradicts the claim that percent plans are a good alternative to affirmative action
Harpers" In Search of the Educated American
--just a good article from Harpers about american education
Khalenberg on Class Based Affirmative Action
--an argument for class-based affirmative action
Khalenberg on How Class is the New Educational Divide
--an article about how socioeconomic status now divides students in America's schools (note: from a respected researcher -- just in a bad paper)
College Ranking
--an article on the college ranking system
UT System: Every Child, Every Advantage
--the website for the UT System's plan for better establishing a link between UT schools and the education system of the State of Texas
A note on several sites requiring you to log in...
The NY Times allows access to recent articles as long as you register, which is free.
The Washington Post is the same.
The Economist, though, does have several articles that are only part of thier premium service. I will do my best to keep the paid articles off the blog.
Several articles on Salon.com are from their premium service, but you can view them by watching an ad first.
In general, if I include a link to an article then access to it is free but you may have to register with the site.
Here is a very interesting article in the newest NY Times magazine about "affective forecasting" -- the term used by the group of researchers to describe how people predict, or forecast, how certain events or decisions will affect thier lives. Thier results show, of course, that people are poor predictors of these effects. Also interestingly, there is a tie to UT -- the lead researcher Dr. Daniel Gilbert used to be a professor here in the psychology department.
The Futile Pursuit of Happiness
Here is a brief interview with Jhumpa Lahiri in The NY Times. She is the author of one of my favorite books, The Interpreter of Maladies, as well as her new novel, The Namesake, which I am reading now. Her writings address the perspective of Indian immigrants living in American life and culture.
"Crossing Over"
