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Nov
23
H.S. student’s class secretary candidacy tossed due to blog, her mom sues
Filed Under Blogging, Campaigning, Civil Rights, Courts, Culture, Education, Elections, Parenting, Politics | 12 Comments
First, a big hattip to Lary Bloom, who writes Connecticut magazine’s Lary Bloom’s Notebook (not online). You can read more about Lary here, but the best parts: he is from Cleveland, a big Indians fan and was at the Akron Beacon Journal for many years.
It was his column in the December 2007 issue of the magazine, titled, “The ‘D’ Word,” which alerted me to Lewis S. Mills High School student (now senior) Avery Doninger’s lawsuit. The school is in Burlington, CT.
Avery used the “D” word in her livejournal.com blog. Specifically, according to Bloom’s column:
…Avery wrote in livejournal.com, a public forum: “Jamfest is cancelled due to douchebags in central office….” She urged readers to complain to Superintendent [Paula] Schwartz to “piss her off more.”
[Although Avery's case really doesn't have anything to do with the DB plugin, the word that got her in trouble reminded me of it.]
Here’s another very good, specific review of the situation, with a picture of Avery, from a cool site called, CT News Junkie: Because you need it. Bad. Love that tagline.
Here are some legal links from the Media Law Research Center:
Doninger v. Niehoff, No. HHB-CV-07-4014735-S (Conn. Super. Ct., filed July 16, 2007).
Status: Pending
The mother or a high school student sued the principal of her daughter’s school and the superintendent of her school district after they barred her from running for re-election as student secretary after she posted complaints to her blog about a student-planned concert that was cancelled by school administrators.
Here are other good posts:
The State of Student Free Speech 11/12/07
Avery Update: On Why Schools Exist 11/3/07
Event supports Mills high school senior 10/15/07
My biggest problem with all these actions against and between students and administrators is that it seems so antithetical to what adults should be hoping for: to raise people who think critically, aren’t intimidated and express themselves. Teaching people how and when to do that is, of course, also important. But with lawsuits? And shutting down candidacies? Why didn’t the school let the students decide – with their votes – as to whether they thought what Avery did was out of bounds?
What do you think?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:04 pm November 23rd, 2007 in Blogging, Campaigning, Civil Rights, Courts, Culture, Education, Elections, Parenting, Politics | 12 Comments
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Nov
23
Mike Huckabee
Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, Ohio, Politics, WH2008 | 6 Comments
I so wanted to write “Huckawho” since I really don’t know anything about him beyond what I’m about to link to, but then I googled and found that a few others had already called their posts “Huckawho” and if I called this post anything with “Huckawho” in it, well, then I’d be thinking about the name-calling thing and how I really don’t want to get into that, because I really dislike it when others do it.
So – with that preamble, who is Mike Huckabee, other than one of the GOP candidates for the presidential nomination and former Governor of Arkansas from Hope, like Bill Clinton?
Here’s what I’m working with so far:
Wikipedia entry and all its links
NJDC’s links/posts on Huckabee (National Jewish Democratic Council), most recently this one
BlogNetNews – Ohio – to see what my fellow Ohio bloggers have written
What else would you suggest someone read in order to be well-rounded on this candidate? So, far, I’m feeling not so hot about him.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:22 am November 23rd, 2007 in Campaigning, Elections, Ohio, Politics, WH2008 | 6 Comments
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Nov
23
Where the Jews are
Filed Under Education, Jewish, Ohio, Religion | 4 Comments
In college anyway. And why I didn’t go to Brandeis:
A survey in the Reform Judaism Magazine’s Fall College Guide reported that New York University had the largest population of Jewish students of any private American university, numbering 4,000, accounting for more than 20% of all undergraduates.
However, as a percentage of the student body, Yeshiva University (93%) and Brandeis University (61%) far eclipsed NYU. The University of Florida, with 5,500 Jewish students, took top place among public American universities.
Most recently, I read that Georgetown has about five percent Jews – but I wonder if that’s undergrad only.
Oberlin and OSU are the only Ohio colleges on the lists. The population of Jews at Oberlin is 800 or 26.7% while OSU is home to 3000 Jews, just 1000 less than NYU, but that population only makes up 6.7% of undergrad population there.
More information is here in the fall ’07 issue of Reform Judaism where I found these links (both charts are on the same pdf, I’m not really sure why there are two links).
College Choices 060: The Top 60 Schools Jews Choose (PDF)
College Choices 020: The Top 20 Schools by Percentage of Jews (PDF)
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:57 am November 23rd, 2007 in Education, Jewish, Ohio, Religion | 4 Comments
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Nov
23
Profiles, advice on going green & EarthWatch Ohio
Filed Under Environment, Jewish, Ohio | Comments Off
I don’t read enough about green activities, or Jewish activities, or green people or Jewish people because everything in this article in the Cleveland Jewish News was news to me. Ouch.
Some tips at the end, which the article indicates were “Adapted from: ECOTEAM n A Program Empowering Americans to Create Earth-Friendly Lifestyles, Tevacenter.org“:
Buy cloth bags and keep in the car for shopping trips.
Take your own mug whenever you go some place to buy a drink.
Take yourself off bulk mailing lists.
Use cloth napkins for meals.
Buy reusable kitchen cloths instead of paper towels.
Find a local secondhand shop. SELL AND BUY!!
Participate in a local garden or clean-up project.
Take a class at your local nature center.
Reuse food jars for storage of flour, sugar, pasta, etc.
Collect toilet paper tubes and give to a local school for art projects.
Have one day a month in your house where you try to make no garbage.
Buy a low-flow water attachment for your shower.
Plant some fruits and vegetables in your garden.
Put on a sweater before you turn up the heat.
Replace some/all of the light bulbs in your house with longer lasting
fluorescent bulbs.
Bike or walk to places that are close by.
Arrange carpooling with your parents and friends when possible.
Learn about public transportation, and take advantage of it.
Buy locally grown produce.
Join the Sierra Club.
Contribute to environmental organizations.
use eco-friendly cleaning supplies.
Make some of your own beauty and hygiene products.
Buy products that are not tested on animals
Eat one meatless dinner every month or every week.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:39 am November 23rd, 2007 in Environment, Jewish, Ohio | Comments Off
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Nov
23
With a nice picture too. I posted my Rabbi’s sermon here.
From the Cleveland Jewish News:
Bridges were built on the B’nai Jeshurun Congregation’s bimah Nov. 19, when the Conservative congregation hosted the 48th gathering of representatives of Inter-Religious Partners in Action of Greater Cleveland (InterAct Cleveland).
…
Joining Rabbis Stephen Weiss and Hal Rudin-Luria and Cantor Aaron Shifman on the B’nai Jeshurun bimah were representatives from Baha’i, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Unitarian and Episcopal congregations.
“I’m overwhelmed and profoundly moved that people of such varying religious traditions came together and prayed from their own traditions without watering down their prayers,” said Sister Donna Wilhelm, acting executive director of InterAct Cleveland.
…
During the social hour following the service, Sister Donna was delighted to see Rabbi Weiss engaged in a friendly dialogue with Iman Abbas Ahmad, president of the Council of Mosques of Northeast Ohio. “This type of conversation needs to be taking place throughout the world,” she said. “Maybe then people would stop killing each other in the name of religion.”
From the CJN: Members of the Guru Gobind Singh Sikh Society are flanked by Rabbi Stephen Weiss, left, and Rabbi Hal Rubin-Luria at InterAct service.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:33 am November 23rd, 2007 in Judaism, Religion | Comments Off
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