California's new budget

In light of our discussions about social programs, I found this article to be very interesting. Sounds like California is going to completely eliminate its welfare system, cut out most state-subsidized childcare, cut much of the funding that goes to caring for the sick and elderly, and cut the budget of community mental health programs by 60%.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/14/BA2S1DEV6K.DTL

Short interesting read...

You should check out this article....I found it by googleing "McMinnville, OR, homelessness"

http://www.newsregister.com/article/38018-homeless+woman+found+dead+mac

Native American Community on Linfield Campus

Okay, so last week, Thursday April 29th, a tipi was set up in Oak Grove. The tipi was donated to the Linfield Jan-Term art class. About a week before the tipi was to be set up, the art professor, Totem Shriver, sent personal emails to a few students. His email was directed to the registered Native American students attending Linfield. He asked that the students attend the event so that they could celebrate their culture and meet the other Native American students.

Attending such a small school, which is predominantly white, I was excited to hear that there are 28 registered Native American students on campus. In hopes to meet these mystery indians, I attended the event. My boyfriend also attended and was equally excited because he is also full blooded Native American. The event began with a short introduction by Totem, followed by a blessing, flute song, and drum song by Mr. Looking Wolf. It was a lovely event and it made me feel happy to be Native American.

I feel that it is important that Linfield hold these sort of events, especially those concerning Native Americans. We are a small and very underrepresented group and it can be hard when we feel like there is no one else like us around. Being at the event, and smelling the sage that was used to bless the tipi, I had a huge lump in my throat. I almost wanted to cry because it made me miss home so much. I love Linfield, and would not want to be anywhere else, but moving from Arizona to Oregon can be tough. It's hard because I don't see as many Native Americans as I used to, and I don't see much of the material objects associated with Navajo or Hopi traditions.

Attending this event gave me great hope that the small groups who attend Linfield will soon be better represented. I am part of the Linfield Community, but it would be nicer to see a stronger and larger Native American Community.

chalk to build a community

So, I found this page and thought it was really interesting.

http://www.psfk.com/2010/04/chalk-mented-reality-city-guide.html

Basically, there is a zine of sorts in London and Scotland that is for the homeless. It created a sort of code that the homeless could use to designate where is a safe or unsafe place to stay, whether there is food, etc. I think this is a revolutionary idea to help the homeless and make it that much easier on them. Plus, the fact that there is a magazine for the homeless is a good idea.

also, I stumbled on this page

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/03/bike_accessory_leaves_a_trail_of_ch.html

In both cases there is a definite and large community, but they do not always congregate together. Chalk is used for communication when physical communication is not possible. For the homeless, it is used to relate important messages while for the bikers, it is used to give a sense of the others in the community. I think it is important to do this because, especially for the bikers, that there are others biking instead of driving. This provides a sense of belonging and maybe even encouragement to keep biking.

Yeah, I know...

But I've got to recommend those of you who don't watch South Park to see the Wallmart episode. You can watch it online here in about 20 minutes:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/809/

While South Park is not a perfect representation, it does do a remarkable job of illustrating how small towns can be affected by big, cheap, corporate companies. The social commentary draws on similar parallels of what we talked about today in class. Notice that the elderly are a big part of their work force and the level of discontent those shopping there feel. The prices simply keep them from stopping to go. You also get a good look of what happens with other competitors in town.

Take it with a grain of salt, but South Park does do a great job with social commentary.

NewsRegister - Relevant Homelessness/Community Need Article

Hello Community!

Here is an article that was in Saturday's NewsRegister. It is very relevant to our class and basically goes along the lines of Rob's editorial...it is a good article to read as we begin to approach our needs assessment!

http://www.newsregister.com/article/43387-school+report+sends+homeless+count+soaring


Cheers,
Lacey