Connecticut
Post posts about what is happening in the State of Connecticut.
Connecticut NOW’s 19th Annual Feminist Awards Dinner
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 05/04/2007 - 11:13Last night, I attended Connecticut NOW’s 19th Annual Feminist Awards Dinner. The food was surprisingly good for an award dinner. The speeches were particularly long, but they were very inspiring. At one point, the woman next to me and commented about it being a pity that no one from the press was there. I pointed out that there were at least three bloggers there, Maura, Larkspur, and myself.
Maura and I were sitting at a table with Ned Lamont and Jim Himes. I had gone in Kim’s stead, since Kim had company visiting from out of state. She told me that it was important to make sure that Ned and others did a good job of introducing Jim around.
Jim was given a chance to say a brief hello to the crowd.
Ned was there to receive the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Political Activism on behalf of Women's Rights. I took a brief video of his comments. Unfortunately, I only had my Digital Camera, no lighting, and only thought to record his comments half way through.
Jim Himes addresses Fairfield DFA
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 05/02/2007 - 19:46
Jim Himes addresses Fairfield DFA
Kim and Fiona at the peace rally
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 05/02/2007 - 17:08
Kim and Fiona at the peace rally
Dealing with Teenagers
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 05/02/2007 - 15:17Next week, my thirteen-year-old daughter is going on a class trip to Washington, DC. She’s a good kid and I’m excited she is going on the class trip. Yet there are times when she doesn’t clean up her messes well enough, and I can easily imagine telling her sometime before the trip that she can only go to Washington if she cleans up her mess.
What typically happens when you tell teenagers to clean up a mess is that they promise to do so, but then rarely get around to it unless you constantly nag them about it.
When she is in Washington, her class will be meeting with Rep. Shays and it seems as if the topic of cleaning up ones messes provides a great talking point for her and Rep. Shays.
As you will recall, Rep. Shays, when challenged last year, said that he would favor a timeline for withdrawing from Iraq. Yet he has consistently voted against any sort of timeline. He argues that the timelines aren’t the right ones. That sounds an awful lot like a teenager promising to cleanup his mess, but not getting around to it.
So, I hope I don’t have a confrontation with my daughter about cleaning up a mess and that when she is in Washington she gets to say something like:
Rep. Shays: You’ve told the voters in Connecticut that you would favor a timeline for withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but when the issue comes up, you vote against it saying that the timing isn’t right. That sounds a lot like me telling my dad that I’ll clean up my mess, but not right now, because the timing isn’t right. That wouldn’t fly with my dad and your line about the timing not being right doesn’t fly with the voters. So, when will you clean up your mess and support a timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq?
(Cross posted at MyLeftNutmeg )
work. learn. live. (connecticut)
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 04/25/2007 - 09:07Ned Lamont was a volunteer teacher at Harding High School in Bridgeport, teaching a class on entrepreneurship. So, when he ran for U.S. Senate, many people with many different thoughts about education got involved and offered ideas.
One these people was Steve Wilmarth. Steve is very focused on the role that new media should play in education. He was very interested in the role it should play in Ned’s campaign as well, so we ended up spending a lot of time talking.
Steve runs The Center for 21st Century Skills. There mission statement states:
The mission of the Center for 21st Century Skills is dedicated to:
Creating innovative learning resources and programs that address education and industry needs for 21st century global competitiveness; business, economic, and technological literacy...
New media is an important component, including online digital video. When I helped organize a session on citizen filmmaking at the Media Giraffe conference last year, Steve came with a bunch of his students. Another educator that showed up was Julie Dobrow from the Communications and Media Studies Program at Tufts. We watched some of the amazing videos that her students had created.
This summer, the Center for 21st Century Skills and the Communications and Media Studies Program at Tufts are collaborating to create The Tufts Summer Media Literacy Institute. It looks like a great program, and I highly recommend it.
On Thursday evening, Connecticut Public Television is starting a series called work. learn. live. (connecticut).
In our first show, young adults from differing parts of the state and with differing backgrounds, share their experiences on the road to becoming model employees and students. It is our belief that we can learn much from these young people, each taking their own path to achieving the American dream, making it a reality.
It provides a great glimpse into the work that the Center for 21st Century Skills has been doing, and hopefully, motivation to people to get more involved education that meets the needs of a new generation, and perhaps even encouragement to attend the Tufts Summer Media Literacy Institute.
