Category Archives: Uncategorized

Starving Artists Fed Up; Seek To Establish Industry Standards With Teamsters Local 705 (Chicago, IL)

ArtLeaks

Art School Graduates Seek a Teamster Local 705 Contract at Mana Terry Dowd 

Chicago— 04/08/14 Teamsters and artists may seem like an unlikely combination, but professional artists at Chicago’s Mana Terry Dowd fine art packers and movers are organizing in an effort to begin to establish income and benefit standards in their profession. The artists are set to vote on April 25 in an election administered by the National Labor Relations Board. Upon graduating with a degree in art, professional artists are faced with few employment options. Even after receiving debt-burdening advanced degrees, these highly talented and skilled artists vie for a professorship or to make it big in the art scene. In the meantime, postgraduate artist are typically faced with two remaining low-wage choices; to work as an assistant at an art gallery, or to become an art handler as with Mana Terry Dowd. These jobs often pay…

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#Ebola2014: On the Topic of Lab-Confirmation

Mens et Manus

As the current outbreak of Ebola in West Africa continues, 56 cases have been lab-confirmed out of 169 total (suspected + confirmed) thus far [CDC – 2014]. That’s around 33%.

A lot of folks have been wondering why that percentage is “so low”… But compared to other Ebola outbreaks? It’s really not.

For this particular disease, which requires a Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) facility to diagnose and has historically been constrained to some of the most economically disadvantaged parts of the world, 33% confirmation is pretty great. [Especially given that the outbreak is ongoing and not all samples have been tested yet!]

From 1976 til now, about 2500 cases of Ebola have been recorded throughout the African continent. Less than 25% of them were ever lab-confirmed.

Here’s to progress! – and to the men and women who risk their lives every day to make it happen.

—Maia Majumder, MPH

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Falling Into Grace

Image by John Elia Image by John Elia

A  – Z Challenge Day 6

Falling into grace.

Falling is associated with losing control. We miscalculate the distance and we trip. We overestimate our abilities and we fall short. We fall down and get hurt. We scrape our knees and, perhaps, bruise our sense of infallibility.

There’s a physical gracelessness to falling, but there’s also a spiritual grace associated with it.

When we fall — whether in the street or into the arms of a lover — we experience what it is like to see those around us coming to our aid. We’re banged up and bleeding, or we’re gobsmacked with joy, unable to talk about or think about anyone or anything, except our beloved. We’ve bonked our heads and we see things differently. The world seems to blur and soften as our hearts fall open.

***

Falling leaves. 

I remember my mom telling me that…

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Egyptian Aak 2014- Week 14 (March 31- April 6)

Nervana

Main Headlines

Monday

 Tuesday

Wednesday

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Egypt: The state, the army, and the future

Nervana

Following months of speculation, leaks, and predictions, Egypt’s army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has announced his resignation, paving the way for a long-awaited presidential campaign. Sisi’s resignation, speech, and candidacy are unique in the history of Egypt. Although the country witnessed a coup d’état in 1952, it has never witnessed a quest by a Minister of Defense to rule in such a way. However, the latest development is a clear indication of the spectacular deterioration of Egypt’s civil politics, which has ultimately paved the way for the increasing involvement of Egypt’s military in “fixing” the country’s chronic problems. Many compare Sisi with Nasser, Sadat, or both, but in fact, the ex-Field Marshal will only be himself, a new brand of autocrat, still polishing and updating his style and his plans for Egypt.

To understand Mr. Sisi’s thinking process, it is important first to look back at past…

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