FILM REVIEW
Director Stephanie Soechtig teamed with narrator Katie Couric and executive producer Laurie David (An Inconvenient Truth) along with a host of other talents to produce a documentary on food that is spellbinding! There are several important messages in Fed Up, not the least of which is that food corporations favor the bottom line over the health of our children. Another is that the old model is false which says that with exercise one can burn off the calories that one ingests. The film mixes statistics with personal stories. The statistics convinced this reviewer that food corporations are implicated in both the obesity and diabetes epidemics. The personal stories reflect how hard it is for children and their families to break the addictive nature of processed foods. Read more
Anyone attending the women's forum on economic security at Tacoma Community College on Wednesday, June 18th was greeted by this spectacular View of the Equity Banner against the backdrop of The Mountain. Inside Building 11, an impressive collection of dedicated representatives from historically progressive groups told touching personal stories in their struggles to rise above second-class citizenship. Read more
As mandated by law, every 10 years the Charter of the City of Tacoma must be reviewed. Early this year, a panel of citizens was appointed to examine the City’s 'constitution' in order to make recommendations, if any, for potential changes to be considered by the City Council. These brave, selfless, committed souls sacrificed countless hours of family time, attention to their businesses, and opportunities for leisure-time activities to go above and beyond the typical civic duty. After more than 60 meetings, a number of proposals emerged. Not all had universal support, with strong feelings being expressed on both sides of most issues. Dozens of suggestions were forwarded to the City Council for consideration. Some could be seen as relatively minor, such as removing gender-based language from the Charter, while others were major, highlighted by revamping the City’s form of governance. Read more
Five more U.S. soldiers were killed in Afghanistan June 10. They were killed by a NATO airstrike, so-called "friendly fire." Who is to blame for these deaths? Certainly not Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who did not order U.S. troops into an endless and pointless war in Afghanistan. Veterans for Peace has had few opportunities to applaud the actions of President Obama. We are profoundly disappointed that the president has continued the aggressive foreign policies of the Bush Administration. But today we can thank President Obama for a couple of steps in the right direction. Read more
The issue of deportation has received a lot of press lately, as immigrant detainees have launched hunger strikes and demonstrations to demand improved conditions in detention centers across the U.S. This issue is very close to home, as the largest detention facility in the West Coast resides right here in the Port of Tacoma. On May 21 the City Club of Tacoma hosted a panel discussion on the Northwest Detention Center covering the history of immigration detention, legal issues and its operation by a private for-profit company, the GEO Group. Read more
After working as the band director at a charter school in Colorado for five years, and writing my master’s thesis on the structures and challenges for the performing arts in charter schools, I simply urge everyone to consider the research out there. NCSPE, CREDO, NCEO, and CRPE have generated a broad range of research results on charter schools. On the whole, the research suggests that while charters are sometimes not as terrible as opponents suggest, many models have not produced the results that proponents have promised. Some models have demonstrated promising results and may be worth replicating. Read more
