Proud Member of The Moms Clean Air Force
Print This Post
Nov
28
13 year old’s suicide leads MO town to make online harassment a crime
Filed Under Blogging, Civil Rights, Parenting, Social Issues, Tech | 8 Comments
From the Citizen Media Law Project:
City officials in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri unanimously passed a measure on November 21 making online harassment a crime, punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail. The city’s six-member Board of Aldermen passed the ordinance in response to 13-year-old Megan Meier’s suicide.
Meier committed suicide after a “boy” she met on MySpace abruptly turned on her and ended their relationship. It turned out that the boy was actually Lori Drew, a neighbor who had pretended to be 16-year-old “Josh Evans” to gain the trust of Megan, who had been fighting with Drew’s daughter, according to the Los Angeles Times. (In an interesting side note, the local media refused to identify the neighbor involved, so several blogs such as RottenNeighbor.com and hitsusa.com did some investigating and identified Drew and posted the Drews’ home address, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and photographs.)
[snip]
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “the ordinance outlaws harassment using electronic communication, which includes the Internet, e-mail, paging services and mobile phone text messaging.” The Associated Press is a bit more helpful:
The four-page measure defines both harassment and cyber-harassment, essentially making it illegal to engage in a pattern of conduct that would cause a reasonable person to suffer “substantial emotional distress,” or for an adult to contact a child under 18 in a communication causing a reasonable parent to fear for the child’s well-being.
Generally speaking, the government may ban speech in this context only if it will clearly cause direct and imminent harm. Because the Dardenne Prairie ordinance appears to criminalizes otherwise protected speech (for example, pure opinion), it is likely to be unconstitutional.
Oy.
Well – too far? not far enough? Who has gone too far? Or not far enough?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:03 am November 28th, 2007 in Blogging, Civil Rights, Parenting, Social Issues, Tech | 8 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
27
Did Club Isabella close?
Filed Under Culture, Ohio | 4 Comments
I am very bummed if it did. Does anyone know? Is it now called Vina Note? Is Vina Note closed too?
I’m so confused. I’ve called the number and the voice says it’s been disconnected, no other info. I can’t find any info when I google – but now I’m doubting my googling skills (the club comes up, but the number is the same as the one I tried that seems to be disconnected).
Nu?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:07 pm November 27th, 2007 in Culture, Ohio | 4 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
27
IRS 2008 Standard Mileage rates
Filed Under Politics | 7 Comments
The official announcement is here. It’s an important number for freelancers, among other kinds of workers. A little hard to believe it’s only going up 1.5 cents but I have never studied the methodology or logic behind the rate’s computation.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:
- 50.5 cents per mile for business miles driven;
- 19 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes; and
- 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations.
The new rate for business miles compares to a rate of 48.5 cents per mile for 2007. The new rate for medical and moving purposes compares to 20 cents in 2007. The rate for miles driven in service of charitable organizations has remained the same.
The standard mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile; the standard rate for medical and moving purposes is based on the variable costs as determined by the same study. Runzheimer International, an independent contractor, conducted the study for the IRS.
Runzheimer has a code of ethics you can find here. I couldn’t find a list of officers or board members. I’m just curious.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:03 pm November 27th, 2007 in Politics | 7 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
27
WSJ’s 50 Women to Watch 2007 report
Filed Under Business, Media, Women | 2 Comments
The portal to the Wall Street Journal’s 50 Women to Watch is here.
The article is here.
The sortable chart is here. Two women from P & G are on the list, but otherwise, no one from Ohio jumped out at me (there was no state category so I’m not 100% sure on whether there are others from Ohio). A couple of women from GE and the top woman is from WellPoint, though no other health care concerns contributed, unless you count Pfizer and DuPont. The finance industry is well-represented.
Here’s the White House Project‘s take on the implications:
The Wall Street Journal has released its list of the 50 Women to Watch of 2007, women they believe “have the potential to make a significant impact on business in the year ahead.” We want to congratulate two of our SheSource.org experts who are among this prestigious list of movers and shakers: Erin Callan, who will become CFO of Lehman Brothers, a Corporate Council founding member, on December 1, and Anna Burger, Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union.
The WSJ’s list includes Presidents, CEOs and Executive VPs of major corporations, which makes the omission of women on another recently released list hard to ignore. Only one of Fortune’s 25 Most Powerful People in Business is a woman–Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo and speaker at our 2007 EPIC awards-and as the WSJ reports, the number of women in top executive jobs has remained stagnant in recent years. Women still hold only 16.4% of Fortune 500 corporate-officer jobs — positions of vice president or higher that require board approval.
The White House Project’s Corporate Council is working to reverse this trend. The Corporate Council is our innovative initiative to close the leadership gap in the corporate arena, bringing together senior executive women who are active agents of change within their organizations. The Council builds on the urgent need of companies to identify talented women leaders for top positions by making visible the extraordinary group of women who are ready and able to transform the way business is led in the 21st century.
As for why we need women in these roles, I swear I am going to finish that post’s draft this week!
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:23 pm November 27th, 2007 in Business, Media, Women | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
27
Hattips to Ohio blogs
Filed Under Blogging, Cleveland+, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Social Issues, Statehouse, Women, Writing | Comments Off
Because even when they tell me I’m prolific, I know that, alone, none of us can do it all. Luckily, we don’t have to.
To wit:
I suspected that Emily’s List might be involved because of the area code on the contact info here and how things unfolded for Betty Sutton and Jennifer Brunner getting support from the same group. That 202 might still be a coincidence, but it’s the kind of question I ask as soon as I see the big money being asked, Tubbs Jones attending and…a 202 area code. Thanks, Jeff.
From Jerid, we get all the phone numbers and names we need to help convince the folks we need to that the unpaid maternity leave bill should be approved. Why? Because:
The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) is finally hearing the rule change proposal at their next meeting, Monday December 3rd at 1:30pm. The business community is coming out hard against this proposal, so we would like to make sure that the members of the committee hear from supporters as well. If you (or someone you know) has had an experience where they were not given enough time off following the birth or adoption of a child, and would be willing to testify (either in person or via submitting written testimony to the committee) please let me know and I can get you all of the details of what you would need to do.
Here’s the list (they are on JCARR and I highlighted the names I know best):
Rep Ross McGregor- 466-2038
Rep Clyde Evans- 466-1366
Rep William Batchelder- 466-8140
Rep Fred Strahorn- 466-2960
Rep Sandra Stabile Harwood- 466-3488
Senator Tom Niehaus- 466-8082
Senator Robert Schuler- 466-9737
Senator Timothy Grendell- 644-7718
Senator Capri Cafaro- 466-7182
Senator Sue Morano- 644-7613
Oh well – the secret is out, via Adam Brandon at Brewed Fresh Daily. Not that we haven’t been trying to get it out for decades. I’m telling you – the news is that housing prices in Ohio are down only 4.5% while down near double digits in places like Phoenix and Florida. As I wrote to Carole Cohen within the last couple of days: Ohio is either up 4 or down 4, even when the rest of the country is swinging wildly. That’s how it was 15 years ago when I decided to settle here.
And it’s a big reason as to why I did. And for those who still think there’s just too much bad going on around here, I have spent a lot of time in the Cleveland schools lately for some writing work and I have to tell you, it’s just like the Plain Dealer: the talent within these institutions is more than adequate – even, on average, way above average. But the total package – that final paper at the end of the driveway or the numbers the state or some non-profit churns out – just doesn’t seem to resemble what I know is there – in the newsroom, with the editors, in the teacher’s lounge and the classroom.
I can’t figure it out. But when someone does, watch out.
I don’t have any best guess as to how long it took Bill Callahan to write this post, but it is absolutely unbelievable. I never knew how many lightbulbs I had in my head until I started reading Bill, among a few other bloggers, regularly (when I’m not trying to cheat and e-mail him to get the quick answers without having to do the research myself).
Wendy Hoke helps us focus again on why writers push for their rights, all their rights and will most likely remain on strike for some time, unless the other side makes concessions.
And more blogs? No problem. It’s like having more kids – you think you can’t love anything as much as you love your first, and then comes the second, and you can’t think you’ll have any more to give, and then you have a third. It is, truly, amazing.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:11 pm November 27th, 2007 in Blogging, Cleveland+, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Social Issues, Statehouse, Women, Writing | Comments Off
Print This Post
Nov
27
Dec. 1 & 2– IRE presents “Money and Politics” in Columbus
Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Education, Elections, Media, Ohio, Politics | Comments Off
I really, really wish I could attend this program:
Dec. 1 & 2– IRE presents “Money and Politics” in Columbus
Investigative Reporters and Editors is offering a workshop, “Money and Politics: Follow the money trail in 2008 elections” Saturday, Dec. 2, at The Columbus Dispatch, Second-floor Conference room, 34 South Third St., Columbus, OH 43215. The workshop, made possible in part by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York, will emphasize money in local and state elections on the horizon, including the impact of “527 organizations,” tax-exempt political groups that do fundraising and advocacy related to political issues or voting at those levels. This workshop will be limited to the first 100 people who register.Original computer-assisted reporting training will be offered the second half-day. This hands-on, computer-assisted reporting class will build data analysis skills for reporters covering money and politics. This class will use federal and state-level data, including “527” data from the IRS. Instructors will emphasize story ideas generated by the analysis. There are only 14 spaces for CAR training, available on the first-come, first-served basis. Workshop fees, including a six-month IRE membership, are $40 for professionals and $20 for students.
For more information, go to http://www.ire/org/training/MIP/Columbus07
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:28 pm November 27th, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Education, Elections, Media, Ohio, Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Nov
27
For students: write how an author’s work affected you, win trip to D.C.
Filed Under Announcements, Education, Ohio, Writing | Comments Off
From this week’s Writer’s Week (through Society of Professional Journalists) and the Cleveland Public Library‘s Ohio Center for the Book:
Cleveland Public Library looks for young writers – Dec. 14 deadline
Calling all students in grades 4th through 12th! The Cleveland Public Library is sponsoring a letter writing contest. To enter, readers must write a personal letter to an author, explaining how his or her work changed their view of the world or themselves. Young readers can select authors from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic.The winner has the ability to win an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D. C. for themselves, their parents and their teacher. The trip to our nation’s capital is the national prize in Letters about Literature (LAL), a writing contest sponsored by the Ohio Center for the Book in partnership with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, with the Target Corporation as presenting sponsor.
Student winners will be selected in three competition levels: Level I – grades 4-6; Level II – grades 7-8; and Level III – grades 9-12. Ohio finalists at each competition level will receive a $100 cash award, Target $50 gift card, and $40 gift card from Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Legacy Village, Lyndhurst, OH.
State winners will be notified in March 2008. Each state’s first place winners will advance to national judging in Washington, D.C.
Two national winners will be selected in each competition level. Each of the six national winners will receive a $500 Target gift card and a $10,000 community grant to promote reading by children and young adults. Twelve national honorable mentions, four in each level, will receive a $100 Target gift card and a $1,000 grant for their community.
Submission deadline for all levels is Dec. 14, 2007. Entry forms and participation guidelines may be obtained at www.ohiocenterforthebook.org. Teachers, librarians, or parents interested in obtaining the required entry coupon, program specifics, teacher’s guides, lesson plans, black line masters and assessment checklists may contact the LAL Project Director at lettersaboutlit@epix.net. For more information, call (216) 623-2831.
Please spread the word.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:24 pm November 27th, 2007 in Announcements, Education, Ohio, Writing | Comments Off
Print This Post
Nov
27
Western Reserve Academy uses faculty, student blogs to attract applications
Filed Under Blogging, Education, Marketing, Media, Ohio, Parenting | Comments Off
A local example of embracing new media for old needs can be seen here.
How much of it is just PR and marketing? Probably a good chunk. But still, the school is using a tool that the kids they hope to attract already find curious and maybe even forbidden at home (WRA is 9-12th).
Check them out – what do you think?
Faculty:
Mr. Aguilar: Life Sciences
Mr. Bunting: Teaching Abroad
Mr. Cronheim: Languages – Latin
Ms. Kidera: Creative Writing
Students:
Callie: Senior Boarder
Cole: Senior Day Student
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:18 pm November 27th, 2007 in Blogging, Education, Marketing, Media, Ohio, Parenting | Comments Off
Print This Post
Nov
27
Upcoming events/announcements
Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Campaigning, Cleveland+, Ohio, Politics | 3 Comments
In alphabetical order:
2. Robin Weirauch – raising money in Shaker Hts. tonight – 6pm – RSVP to Meghan@robinforcongress.com or call 202-403-1660 – $2300 host/$1000 guest; hosts include Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Subodh Chandra, David Maltz, Susan Helper, Lana Moresky
4. Marie Wilson – speaking Monday, 12/3 Political $avvy Wins for Women, Windows on the River
5. Carnival of Ohio Politics submissions due by 9pm tomorrow night
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:47 pm November 27th, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Campaigning, Cleveland+, Ohio, Politics | 3 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
27
Field Trip announcement and Playaway update
Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Business, Cleveland+, Marketing, Ohio, Tech | 3 Comments
First, the update, from a comment left by the Plain Dealer’s Chris Seper (thank you, Chris) at this WLST post:
I’d say the Kindle and Playaway are dramatically different products. The Kindle is text, the Playaway is a self-contained audiobook.
I know there was talk of adding video to the Playaway line way back when, but never take over as an e-reader.
They’ve moved a lot of their production from Mexico and overseas to NEO, and Playaway has found a consistent spot in the audiobook space.
Then, Chris Celeste, founder and president of Playaway, left this information:
We have doubled every year since introducing the product in 2005 and will end 2007 having built and shipped out more than 400,000 Playaways from our location here in NEO. We have signed 55 publishers on board who have provided us with more than 1200 titles to date. And after two years of hard work by a team that now numbers north of 50 people, Playaway can be found in 1,000+ retail locations nationwide, as well as more than 6,000+ public libraries and schools.
And here’s where the field trip invite comes in: Chris invites us for a tour of their facility in Solon. As noted by Chris Seper, Playaway has “moved a lot of their production from Mexico and overseas to NEO…” and wouldn’t it be great to show support for such moves by checking it out and blogging about it?
Celeste says that mornings are best, Tuesday through Thursday, this month, next month, whenever.
If you’re interested, please leave a comment and/or e-mail me. Before the holidays is fine, especially if you’re a bookworm type or have people on your lists who are, but January works too.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:30 am November 27th, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Business, Cleveland+, Marketing, Ohio, Tech | 3 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
26
Do this! RFP for chapters of forthcoming book titled “Web Journalism: A New Form of Citizenship?”
Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Media, Tech, Writing | 2 Comments
The deadline for the proposal is 1/18/08 with a chapter submission deadline of 7/11/08.
Don’t you so want to do this!? I do.
Here’s a little bit more from the PJNet.org post about the project:
In particular, we wish to examine how interactive participatory media are transforming the relationship between the traditional professional media and their audience. It is intended that some chapters will be devoted to an examination of new Web experiences in the developing world, considering questions such as whether citizen journalists and bloggers will have an impact on decision-making with regard to policy issues, including conflict resolution, trade and environment.
We are open to suggestions, but among the areas we are interested in considering are:
- the democratic influence of the Internet on journalism; whether cross-border conversation challenges or bridges significant cultural and digital divides
- whether the early democratic promise of participatory journalism is becoming dominated by the corporate hegemony of market-driven journalism
- whether the public or the market are asserting control, with citizens being increasingly exploited as a free source of labour
- how participatory forms such as blogs, wikis, etc. have been perceived and adopted
- questions of veracity and objectivity in web journalism, such as whether the loyalty of a virtual news community depends on the transparency of the blog’s sources and bias etc.
- the effect of automation and participation on the process of news selection and editing
- how organisational factors such as organisational culture, professional backgrounds, paradigms and systems, etc. have played a part in shaping the form that ‘online journalism’ has taken in the past ten years
- how traditional journalists have responded to the process of ‘going online’, including with regard to their perceptions of their role, newsgathering and the effect of their own blogging etc.
- the impact of participatory comment rejoinders on traditional media columnists
- the pressures for rapid content – what the impact is on traditional journalism if news is streamed directly from news agencies via phones, palm tops and even gaming consoles
- case studies that examine how online journalism technologies are chosen and implemented.
The Ohio ‘sphere could write every single one of those! (I have a lot of practice at being a proud mom-type person.)
Here’s what you need to do now:
In the first instance, please email a brief CV and an abstract of no more than 500 words, which can use bullet points, to garrett.monaghan@port.ac.uk. The final deadline for this is January 18, 2008 and the deadline for chapter submissions is July 11, 2008. (If you do send in a chapter proposal, tell them you heard about it at the PJNet.org. Thanks.)
Seriously, I’m going to think about doing this.
Any other takers??
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:51 pm November 26th, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Media, Tech, Writing | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
26
OPENERS now does a political blog round-up
Filed Under Blogging, Carnivals, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 6 Comments
Okaay (this is the link to check it out)…
Is it a mimic of the Carnival of Ohio Politics?
Is it a cousin to the Plain Dealer’s Blog 5?
Pho’s Phopourri?
Ohio Daily Blog’s News and Notes?
Psychohorsey’s Remainders?
Or my Remains of the Day?
I know it’s no replacement for Wide Open.
Looks like a whole lotta blog reading going on by those professional, ethics-minded journalists. Anyone read tea-leaves lately?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:14 pm November 26th, 2007 in Blogging, Carnivals, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 6 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
26
Zach Reed update (x2): Cleveland muny bench recuses self this time, why not all previous times?
Filed Under Cleveland+, Courts, Crime, Culture, Government, Ohio, Politics, Social Issues | 7 Comments
City Councilman Zach Reed, of Ward 3, was arraigned Monday morning on charges of DUI and a seatbelt violation.
Reed was not physically in court this morning because he was in a rehab facility. Reed’s attorney pleaded not guilty on his behalf.
The Councilman’s next court date is set for a December 18th pre-trial. All Cleveland Municipal Court Judges have recused themselves from this case..
The city now needs to get a visiting judge from the Ohio Supreme Court.
So – why didn’t Judge Synenberg do that the last time around? I’m assuming it has something to do with Reed being on Cleveland City Council? No? Then what? Why all of them?
The decision was made because all Cleveland’s judges know Reed, and he votes on City Council to set the court’s budget. “We’re really concerned that we don’t want there to be any appearance of impropriety,” Jones said.
The council also controls the purse strings for the city prosecutors; they have not asked to be excused from the case.
Cleveland’s Chief Prosecutor Victor Perez could not be reached for comment.
City prosecutors do not answer media inquiries without permission from Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office could not be reached to get this permission.
The court will ask the Ohio Supreme Court to appoint a judge from outside the city by the next hearing, schedule for Dec. 18.
When Reed faced a previous trial for the same charge, Joan Synenberg, then a municipal court judge, tried the case. This is a decision that judges make individually. “Judge Synenberg felt she could hear the case and she heard the case,” Jones said.
What is different this time around, Jones said, is that this is a second offense and with Synenberg now on the County Court rather than the municipal one, none of the sitting judges wanted the case. “I’ve talked to all the judges and all of the judges indicated they didn’t want to hear the case,” Jones said.
Okay – well, I’m just going to hold myself in check on that there thing about how Judge Synenberg “felt she could hear the case.” Hear it – maybe. Judge and hand down the most appropriate sentencing? In check.
More from Henry Gomez here.
Update: Here’s the PD’s 11/27/07 print article. It says that last time around – which was the first charge, the prosecutors, not the muny judges, recused themselves and a special prosecutor was appointed. This time around, the article says, the prosecutors will not be recusing themselves and no special prosecutor will be appointed.
I’m out of my comfort zone here – why, the first time around, with Reed’s first charge, didn’t the prosecutors want to touch it but the judges were fine? Now, the second time around, the judges don’t want to touch it, but the prosecutors are fine?
Could be very simple – I have no idea. What do others make of this?
The PD offers this tape of Judge Larry Jones giving his reasoning for why all 12 muny judges are recusing themselves. Tuesday, 12/18, 1oam is the next court date.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:59 pm November 26th, 2007 in Cleveland+, Courts, Crime, Culture, Government, Ohio, Politics, Social Issues | 7 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
25
The Kindle versus Playaway – remember Playaway?
Filed Under Business, Cleveland+, Culture, Economy, Marketing, Media, Ohio, Tech | 5 Comments
The Kindle – is this anything like this thing, Playaway, from the NEO guys?
Variations on a similar theme maybe – I’m not sure that they are even the same theme, not exactly anyway. Except for the portability and the electronic aspects.
As for the remembering part? I just spent 20 minutes trying to dig up the Playaway – I googled audio, ebooks, invent, Ohio, Henry Gomez and several other phrases. In the end, knowing that the Plain Dealer’s blog lists are pretty stale, I figured I’d go to cleveland.com and sure enough, when I clicked on the “more business” off of the front page of cleveland.com? And then clicked on “bright ideas” underneath the lefthand sidebar called “Special Reports”? There is the Playaway Series – near the top of the righthand column.
And yet that series is almost more than two years old. The Playaway blog by Chris Seper ends on 11/14/05. Here’s info on the current Findaway Team. The Sedona Public Library is using them. This library too. And this one.
The “what they’re saying” is pretty old. But here are some “what we’re saying” links from the Playaway’s website.
Given the Kindle’s intro and the Playaway’s local angle, maybe someone should do a follow-up? Or something?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:02 am November 25th, 2007 in Business, Cleveland+, Culture, Economy, Marketing, Media, Ohio, Tech | 5 Comments
Print This Post
Nov
24
Annapolis Peace Conference – is even the name apt?
Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Politics | Comments Off
Doesn’t seem to me, when I read up on what few things we know about Tuesday’s meeting in Annapolis, Maryland re: the Middle East, that much about the title or the previously stated expectations for the event were ever apt, and are, least of all, apt now.
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner can agree to disagree. Bloggers can agree to disagree. Even neighbors who share a property line can agree to disagree.
But when it comes to the inhabitants of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, not even agreeing to disagree works.
Can anything?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:30 pm November 24th, 2007 in Foreign Affairs, Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Nov
24
RightyBlogs.com
Filed Under Blogging, Ohio, Politics | 13 Comments
RightyBlogs, from Dave Mastio of BlogNetNews fame, launched last month (10/15/07 according to this blog post).
In this interview, Mastio defines it as a balance to LeftyBlogs.com. I’ve never agreed with the perception that there are more lefty blogs than righty blogs, particularly based on my experience with the Carnival of Ohio Politics, but I could be wrong.
Kari Chisholm, care to comment?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:14 am November 24th, 2007 in Blogging, Ohio, Politics | 13 Comments
Print This Post
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
Print This Post
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
Print This Post
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
Print This Post
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
Voted into Top 25 Political Mom Blogs
Now on sale-WLST essay included!
Posts About Pepper Pike City Council2010 WE Magazine 101 Women Bloggers to Watch
Category Specific RSS
Pepper Pike Cleveland+ Politics Women Ohio Elections Law Jewish
