Statistics on youth STDs and youth AIDS are astounding.
Some quick facts:
In the USA
* As many as one-third of those infected with HIV do not know they are HIV positive.
* At least one-half of all new HIV infections are estimated to be among those under the age of 25.
* Although African Americans and Latinos represent 12 percent and 14 percent of the U.S. population respectively, in 2002, they accounted for 50 percent and 20 percent of newly reported AIDS cases.
* Women are estimated to account for 30 percent of new HIV infections.
* African American women account for 64 percent of new HIV infections among women and Latinas account for 18 percent.
Throughout the world
* The global HIV/AIDS pandemic has claimed over 20 million lives.
* Every 7 seconds someone contracts HIV.
* Forty million people are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.
* Every 11 seconds someone dies from HIV.
* AIDS is now the fourth leading cause of death worldwide and the number one cause of death in Africa.
* Women make up a growing percentage of adults living with HIV/AIDS around the world, rising from 41percent in 1997 to 50 percent in 2002.
* Young people ages 15-24 account for 42 percent of new HIV infections and represent almost a third of the global total of people living with HIV/AIDS.
It really makes me fearful for all the students I teach when I (over) hear stories of their weekends, or see one guy get with a girl (or vise versa) right after the girl was with a different guy the week before. I also worry about all the people out there who are just not thinking smart when it comes to getting tested or who are doing things for a few moments of pleasure rather than thinking about themselves or the partner/needle etc. they are with at the time.
Rates of infection in the African American community and in various communities in nations in Africa.
Some sites to check out:
* World Vision - Building a better world for children
* World AIDS Campaign - Stop AIDS. Keep the promise.
* US Department of Health and Human Services - HIV Awareness Days: Educate, motivate, and mobilize against HIV/AIDS
* AIDS.gov - Serves as an information gateway to drive traffic to Federal domestic HIV/AIDS information and resources.
* National HIV Testing Resources - Find an HIV testing site near you
* World AIDS Day - HIV: Let's Get Talking
* UNAIDS - Uniting the world against AIDS
* AIDS.org - Information. Education. Action.
* World AIDS Day -Yahoo site. Allows you to go over nations and see how many in each have HIV
30 November 2007
Allow me to vent
I can't stand when people act/are ignorant. How can you have worked somewhere for more than 15 years doing the same thing year in and year out -- multiple times through out the year-- and still not be able to understand a concept? Why must you waste 40 minutes discussing issues that are basically irrelevant causing me to miss 40 minutes of my only prep period during this day? That is my time to prepare, veg, and feel like an adult. Now I'm pissed leading into the hardest stretch of my week -- afternoons on Fridays. I get no break and I have to deal with several annoying kids for a long stretch.
Thank goodness for weekends.
Thank goodness for weekends.
27 November 2007
The Church of Stop Shopping
The name of an actual church run by Reverend Billy. He recently made a movie produced by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) called What Would Jesus Buy. You've got to see this dude. He is wild. Not your typical preacher-man. I would like to follow this man just because of the entertainment value. He was on Democracy Now last Wednesday and it was ENTERTAINING!! Homie would com
plete a sentence to Amy Goodman and say Amen. He called her sister Amy. He is hilarious.
But his message is good.
"We exorcise the cash registers, we drive the demon monoculture out of that cash register, sister Amy. You've got a billionaire at the top of that company and impoverished, as Charlie would tell you, impoverished coffee families at the bottom. We just ask that some of those dollars start blowing in the other direction. Amen."
He basically wants people to stop buying so much without thinking about their purchases. Especially at holiday time. I should have put this message out before Black Friday, but there is still time. His message is not just a message of stop buying, but also of buying local and supporting businesses that are being run out by places like Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and Target. Read the excerpt in the transcript of the interview from the men's clothing shop in Traer, Iowa. Sad. And avoidable if only Wal-Marts and malls would stop popping up all over the place.
What ever did happen to driving around your city to shop in a store rather than the one-stop shopping of the department stores and the Super Wal-marts? Morgan Spurlock put it this way: "I think there’s no better time than right now to start asking ourselves, where do our products come from? Why am I buying this? Is there a better way to shop and live? I am in full agreement with a lot of people who say there are some people that need to shop there, that make a choice because they have to, based on their income. Most of us choose to shop at places like this out of convenience more than anything else. I think we have to take that step back from rushing in to make a purchase somewhere just because it is cheap and easy and quick, and saying what does this purchase really mean? Who is affected? How is it affecting my life, my community, the world at large? Who made this product? We don’t do that enough." People just do not care any more. It is all about the quick fix. Finding the product fastest, getting the best deal, being able to get back down to your couch to watch the latest reality show on tv, or even being able to watch your favorite sports program while you shop from the comfort of your fatty recliner.
The site has some links to shops that support a cause, are fair trade, and are not connected to sweat shops like the crosses some churches are selling that are made in sweatshops in China. But hey, I guess it's all about the profit and the message, rather than the processes involved in the making of the symbols, right?
Rev. Billy goes around to different malls and Starbucks to try and share his message of the Shopocalypseto the masses. He even went to Disneyland on Christmas Day. As he and his choir belted out songs of the Shopocalypse the security followed him urging him to leave. This line they gave is classic -- "This is not like the United States on public land where you are free to … sing." Granted, I understand that most places you go to are technically private property -- such as the mall, and many stores you go into, but come on now. Why you kicking Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir out of Disneyland? The land of fun. You can see the people Main Street rocking it out with the choir. Main Street -- which Rev. Billy points out is more happening that most Main Streets you see in American cities, due in part to the expansion of so many fast-shopping stores.
Lots to not really have to think about. Just shop smarter. Or do like me and shop less. I don't do gifts except for the secret Santa I do with the siblings and soon to be sibling-in-law.
And if you do buy, you should also shop smart for the environment.
plete a sentence to Amy Goodman and say Amen. He called her sister Amy. He is hilarious.But his message is good.
"We exorcise the cash registers, we drive the demon monoculture out of that cash register, sister Amy. You've got a billionaire at the top of that company and impoverished, as Charlie would tell you, impoverished coffee families at the bottom. We just ask that some of those dollars start blowing in the other direction. Amen."
He basically wants people to stop buying so much without thinking about their purchases. Especially at holiday time. I should have put this message out before Black Friday, but there is still time. His message is not just a message of stop buying, but also of buying local and supporting businesses that are being run out by places like Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and Target. Read the excerpt in the transcript of the interview from the men's clothing shop in Traer, Iowa. Sad. And avoidable if only Wal-Marts and malls would stop popping up all over the place.
What ever did happen to driving around your city to shop in a store rather than the one-stop shopping of the department stores and the Super Wal-marts? Morgan Spurlock put it this way: "I think there’s no better time than right now to start asking ourselves, where do our products come from? Why am I buying this? Is there a better way to shop and live? I am in full agreement with a lot of people who say there are some people that need to shop there, that make a choice because they have to, based on their income. Most of us choose to shop at places like this out of convenience more than anything else. I think we have to take that step back from rushing in to make a purchase somewhere just because it is cheap and easy and quick, and saying what does this purchase really mean? Who is affected? How is it affecting my life, my community, the world at large? Who made this product? We don’t do that enough." People just do not care any more. It is all about the quick fix. Finding the product fastest, getting the best deal, being able to get back down to your couch to watch the latest reality show on tv, or even being able to watch your favorite sports program while you shop from the comfort of your fatty recliner.
The site has some links to shops that support a cause, are fair trade, and are not connected to sweat shops like the crosses some churches are selling that are made in sweatshops in China. But hey, I guess it's all about the profit and the message, rather than the processes involved in the making of the symbols, right?
Rev. Billy goes around to different malls and Starbucks to try and share his message of the Shopocalypseto the masses. He even went to Disneyland on Christmas Day. As he and his choir belted out songs of the Shopocalypse the security followed him urging him to leave. This line they gave is classic -- "This is not like the United States on public land where you are free to … sing." Granted, I understand that most places you go to are technically private property -- such as the mall, and many stores you go into, but come on now. Why you kicking Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir out of Disneyland? The land of fun. You can see the people Main Street rocking it out with the choir. Main Street -- which Rev. Billy points out is more happening that most Main Streets you see in American cities, due in part to the expansion of so many fast-shopping stores.
Lots to not really have to think about. Just shop smarter. Or do like me and shop less. I don't do gifts except for the secret Santa I do with the siblings and soon to be sibling-in-law.
And if you do buy, you should also shop smart for the environment.
05 November 2007
Hilarity
I am a lover of words. I constantly am looking up words I hear that I may not know. I also love to look for the origins of words to know why people use them the way they do.
Yesterday I heard someone on the television say that someone had "scared the bejesus out of" someone else. Of course I have heard the phrase, have even used it mockingly. But I have never really looked into the origins of the phrase.
Most dictionaries have the basic definition of bejesus being that it is an exclamatory term. All fine, but I wanted more.
I ended up coming onto this website. Which is hilarious. Absolutely had me laughing aloud with its explanations of bejesus and how to gain and lose bejesus. It is a bit long, but it flies by as you laugh and read and share with whoever is around you.
Yesterday I heard someone on the television say that someone had "scared the bejesus out of" someone else. Of course I have heard the phrase, have even used it mockingly. But I have never really looked into the origins of the phrase.
Most dictionaries have the basic definition of bejesus being that it is an exclamatory term. All fine, but I wanted more.
I ended up coming onto this website. Which is hilarious. Absolutely had me laughing aloud with its explanations of bejesus and how to gain and lose bejesus. It is a bit long, but it flies by as you laugh and read and share with whoever is around you.
15 October 2007
A few things
If I am ever teaching and a student comes to me after a school shooting telling the media that he was in the bathroom and saw the shooter loading his weapon, but just went back to class and forgot about it, I will literally kill said kid. How can you forget that occurred. I try to make class interesting, but was what I was teaching about blood diamonds or the Aztecs really so engrossing that you forgot that a fellow student is about to blow some students and potentially some teachers to smitherines?
And why did Kelli tell me today that a grown-ass, college educated woman, a teacher at that, has no idea of what apartheid was. No idea who Nelson Mandela is. What is really going on with the whitening of American education? This is why I teach African Studies. This is why I have discussions with students about historical topics unrelated to the material in the curriculum. This is why I talk about issues with friends. This is why I am going to have the children who swim out of my womb reading books at a young age and listening to NPR as I drive them to school or to their little kiddie practices after we go to the library and check them out their weekly, non-school related reading books.
To take my mind off some school mess and my fluid-filled elbow (this is what I get for deciding to work out after four years off) I decided to watch a little video. You can watch, too. Enjoy. Makes me smile, and giggle.
And why did Kelli tell me today that a grown-ass, college educated woman, a teacher at that, has no idea of what apartheid was. No idea who Nelson Mandela is. What is really going on with the whitening of American education? This is why I teach African Studies. This is why I have discussions with students about historical topics unrelated to the material in the curriculum. This is why I talk about issues with friends. This is why I am going to have the children who swim out of my womb reading books at a young age and listening to NPR as I drive them to school or to their little kiddie practices after we go to the library and check them out their weekly, non-school related reading books.
To take my mind off some school mess and my fluid-filled elbow (this is what I get for deciding to work out after four years off) I decided to watch a little video. You can watch, too. Enjoy. Makes me smile, and giggle.
11 October 2007
Homecoming times two
So we had our reunion which turned out to be cooler than I thought. People, for the most part, were much more relaxed and not as clique-ish. Some things changed and some stayed the same.
There was the “popular jock” crew who now instead of their letterman jackets all have their wives with the massive diamond encrusted rings. Everyone in the crew. Kind of like they all had to get a ring just as shiny and sparkly as their buddy. I guess you gotta keep up with the Jones even if it means you are deep in debt. This is also the crew who regularly dines at Bush’s Grove. A place where Brishen said the cheapest drink is around 7 or 8 bucks.
There was still the crowd that didn’t really socialize with more people than their cluster.
Some things were pleasantly refreshing. Like chatting with Don who is now really chill. And absolutely hilarious. Stories I could not imagine coming out of his mouth, obsessions I never would have dreamed, jokes that literally made me spill drinks. And it has to be funny for that, cause I’m not one to part with the liquor easily.
Also chatting with Roo and wife and Brian and wife. Both of them are still cool. More open with me, or easy to talk to, than before. I always thought Roo was a bit standoffish after I started to wrestle. Both of them have really awesome wives, too. I actually think I talked with them more than their men.
I went back to the school and looked at the old sports picks. Really funny seeing me all skinny in the wrestling unis. And thinking I was all hard and fast on the track picks.
Reuniting with Brishen and Anna was cool. Haven’t really talked with them since school, but, with Brishen especially, it was like no time had passed. We were still cool. There were few people at the reunion that I had conversations with beyond “What have you been up to? Where are you now?” etc. I know it sounds cheesy, but the conversations that were real, were really real. And the people were all people that I was cool with before, but haven’t spoken with in fo-ev-ah.
Homecoming number two.
I don’t know why it is that Homecoming at the school I teach at typically has to have some scene that gets stuck in my head. Last year it was the big girl (BIG) running into the splits.
This year it was a girl who in the middle of her routine moved forward in front of everyone, putting her hands on the ground and raised her legs into the spotting hands of two girls. She then proceeded to booty pop on a handstand.
In case you don't know what this is, she gyrated like crazy while on her head. Very stripperesque. Looked like it actually took a lot of practice on walls or poles or whatever to learn to do that while balancing upside down.
Of course, the guys went crazy. My jaw dropped. They immediately cut off the music and ended their routine with that presentation.
I also decided to partake in a teacher v. student tug of war contest. Shouldn't have done that. Not only did we lose easily despite having seemingly fit faculty members on our team (hard to compete against a team with people who honestly outweighed our team by about 300 pounds, at least). I also got a rope burn on my obliques. And had my hands hurt for awhile.
All in all, two very memorable homecomings.
There was the “popular jock” crew who now instead of their letterman jackets all have their wives with the massive diamond encrusted rings. Everyone in the crew. Kind of like they all had to get a ring just as shiny and sparkly as their buddy. I guess you gotta keep up with the Jones even if it means you are deep in debt. This is also the crew who regularly dines at Bush’s Grove. A place where Brishen said the cheapest drink is around 7 or 8 bucks.
There was still the crowd that didn’t really socialize with more people than their cluster.
Some things were pleasantly refreshing. Like chatting with Don who is now really chill. And absolutely hilarious. Stories I could not imagine coming out of his mouth, obsessions I never would have dreamed, jokes that literally made me spill drinks. And it has to be funny for that, cause I’m not one to part with the liquor easily.
Also chatting with Roo and wife and Brian and wife. Both of them are still cool. More open with me, or easy to talk to, than before. I always thought Roo was a bit standoffish after I started to wrestle. Both of them have really awesome wives, too. I actually think I talked with them more than their men.
I went back to the school and looked at the old sports picks. Really funny seeing me all skinny in the wrestling unis. And thinking I was all hard and fast on the track picks.
Reuniting with Brishen and Anna was cool. Haven’t really talked with them since school, but, with Brishen especially, it was like no time had passed. We were still cool. There were few people at the reunion that I had conversations with beyond “What have you been up to? Where are you now?” etc. I know it sounds cheesy, but the conversations that were real, were really real. And the people were all people that I was cool with before, but haven’t spoken with in fo-ev-ah.
Homecoming number two.
I don’t know why it is that Homecoming at the school I teach at typically has to have some scene that gets stuck in my head. Last year it was the big girl (BIG) running into the splits.
This year it was a girl who in the middle of her routine moved forward in front of everyone, putting her hands on the ground and raised her legs into the spotting hands of two girls. She then proceeded to booty pop on a handstand.
In case you don't know what this is, she gyrated like crazy while on her head. Very stripperesque. Looked like it actually took a lot of practice on walls or poles or whatever to learn to do that while balancing upside down.
Of course, the guys went crazy. My jaw dropped. They immediately cut off the music and ended their routine with that presentation.
I also decided to partake in a teacher v. student tug of war contest. Shouldn't have done that. Not only did we lose easily despite having seemingly fit faculty members on our team (hard to compete against a team with people who honestly outweighed our team by about 300 pounds, at least). I also got a rope burn on my obliques. And had my hands hurt for awhile.
All in all, two very memorable homecomings.
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