Dear Virginia,
I am proud to be a Virginian. I’ve not been a full time resident for a while, but I miss it immensely. Many of my family and friends are there, and I have so many fond memories of my childhood, youth and college. It’s a beautiful state, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Appalachian Mountains, and it has a rich history. Jamestown was the first permanent English Colony in the Americas, Revolutionary and Civil War Battlefields dot the state from border to border, Northern Virginia remains an important center of national government, as the Pentagon is there, as well as number of Federal Agencies, NGOs, lobbyists, and similar organizations. The map of the state is dotted with institutions of higher education to the point that it looks more like New England than the South: The University of Virginia, William and Mary, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University… The state does not do enough to highlight it’s artistic heritage, which is rich. Among those born in or who hail from Virginia are Ella Fitzgerald, Sandra Bullock, Jason Mraz, Ruth Brown, Patsy Cline, Dave Matthews Band, Wanda Sykes, Shirley MacLaine, Perry Ellis… No less than 8 presidents were born in Virginia, including some of the most influential. Where would the US be if not for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison or Woodrow Wilson?
And yet my state has a dark history, as well. It’s ironic that Stephen Spielberg is filming so much of the movie Lincoln in Virginia when the Richmond, VA was the Capitol of the Confederacy for part of the Civil War! Virginia was solidly on the wrong side in that one. We’ve been on the wrong side a lot! And when it was, it was often in a big way, as a recent post from BuzzFeed by Matt Stopera graphically illustrates with “five maps that show which states had the right idea, and which ones had the very, very wrong one.”
Here, for your consideration, are the first and last.
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Tag Archives: Virginia
SAR Academic Freedom Media Review – January 7-13, 2012
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
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Texas Can Regulate Secular Matters at Religious Colleges, Opinion Says
Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/13
US teachers offered support for climate change lessons
Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, 1/13
Free Speech and (Offensive) Art
Daniel Grant, Inside Higher Ed, 1/13
Stormy waters ahead as ‘disruptive forces’ sweep the old guard
Sarah Cunnane, Times Higher Education, 1/12
Independence, transparency key to research work of ESRI
Frances Ruane, The Irish Times, 1/12
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The Steel Wheels Coming to Town
If you are fortunate enough to live in or near Marlinton in Pocahontas County, WV, make your way to the Opera House this Saturday, November 12 to see The Steel Wheels in concert at 7:30 pm. I’ll be there! I’ve been a fan of these guys for a while now, but this is the first chance I’m getting to see them live. I can’t wait. I learned about them from Bicycle Times magazine’s June 2010 issue which reported on their pedal-powered, seven night, concert tour. They strapped their instruments and merchandise to their bikes and headed from town to town, covering nearly 300 miles. This wasn’t some stunt, followed by a support vehicle in case they got tired and needed a lift; this was a genuine concert tour on bicycles. In fact, they did another this year. As I read I learned that they were based in Harrisonburg, VA, a place I knew well having gone to James Madison University for my first two years of college.
Those two things alone were reason enough reason to like these guys. They hail from Virginia, and they tour by bicycle. (Not always, of course. They have a national following, and a bicycle tour across the entire country is impractical, at best.)
They were praiseworthy, but were they any good? Now I had yet to check out the music.
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Why is Virginia Really Challenging the Health Care Law?
What is wrong with the state government in Virginia? Last week the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond threw out Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act, but now he and Governor Bob McDonnell have vowed to appeal.
Why are the Republicans in Virginia against ensuring that everyone has access to health care? As I understand it, the law is being attacked as un-Constitutional because it compels everyone to purchase insurance, and the federal government does not have that power. What, then, is the solution? A national system in which the government is guarantor is fine by me, Medicare for all. However, that is not palatable to the right, for one reason or another. It’s costly, inefficient and unlikely to remain solvent, or so they say. My interactions with Medicare have generally been favorable, and wonder about these characterizations. Even if they are true, can’t these things be fixed? Wouldn’t expanding the pool of participants in medicare with healthy, younger people be a way to do that. But the Right is not particularly interested in solving these issues because their real concern is ideological, and they think Medicare is a form of socialism. (Click here to cue ominous music!)
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Virginia's Attorney General and the Universities
Colleges and Universities in the State
The University of Virginia said Monday that it would continue to fight state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II‘s efforts to obtain documents related to a climate scientist’s work, just hours after Cuccinelli reissued a civil subpoena for the papers.The new Civil Investigative Demand revives a contentious fight between Cuccinelli (R), a vocal global warming skeptic, and Virginia’s flagship university over documents related to the research of Michael Mann, who worked at the university from 1999 to 2005. A judge blocked Cuccinelli’s first bid to obtain the documents.So without in a hospital and a treatment which is formal is got, more nutrition’s getting, more water’s drinking and more cialis without prescription raindogscine.com rest’s having are relied by patients only, but diseases will become more focused towards their weight gain goals. It comes in different flavors such http://raindogscine.com/tag/raindogs-cine/ viagra lowest price as strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, orange, apple, banana etc. Spammers have largely ruined the market with the hands of raindogscine.com sildenafil tablet. Excessive thirst accompanied with frequent urination is another signal for this disease. levitra best prices
Mann, whose research concluded that the earth has experienced a rapid, recent warming, works at Penn State University.
Cuccinelli has been trying to force the public university, technically a client of his office, to turn over documents related to Mann’s work since April. Cuccinelli has said he wants to see the documents to determine whether Mann committed fraud as he sought public dollars for his work. — The Washington Post, October 5, 2010
Academic Freedom Media Review
Academic Freedom Media Review
May 22 – 28, 2010
Below is the weekly compilation of news articles addressing issues of academic freedom that is put together by Scholars at Risk.
MLA Pushes for End to Ideological Denials of Visas
Inside Higher Ed, 5/28
Groups protest Israel denying US student’s entry
Jeff Karoun, The Associated Press, 5/27
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Global Connections and Exchange Program Combines Technology and In-Person Exchanges
Midlothian High School students planted trees in honor of their guests. | photo courtesy of Jamie Schlais Barnes
Two weeks ago, three men walked into Midlothian High School looking for a better understanding of American culture. Ten days later, they left having changed their own perceptions of U.S. citizens and their students’ perceptions of Arabic culture. Their challenge and that of the students at Midlothian High School is to continue spreading what they learned.
Abdulwahab Albaadani, a teacher at Ibn Majed in Sanaa, Yemen, Amine Slimani, a teacher from the Secondary School of Nedroma in Nedroma, Algeria and his pupil, Mohamed Belmeliami, traveled to the U.S. as a culmination of nearly a year’s worth of video conferencing, cultural lessons, and web logging with social studies classes at Midlothian High School…
A Television Viewing Guide: Lost, The State of the Union, and The Wanda Sykes Show
I’m a big fan of Wanda Sykes. This is a quotation from her show last week. Well put!
The good news, the White House has confirmed that the State of the Union will not be on the same night as the season premier of Lost. The bad news, Americans are more interested in a made up island than their own bleep-ed up country.
Ruffles and Flourishes
A quick addendum to my post on schools refusing to carry Obama’s speech. Back in the 1980s I was a student at a Catholic military High School called Benedictine in Richmond, Virgnia. We were taken to some sort of rally at which Ronald Reagan was speaking in Richmond. The rationale we were given was that Reagan was the President of the United States and it was important that we take this opportunity to hear him speak. But, unlike your getting viagra in australia chronological age, which cannot be altered, how old you are biologically is fundamentally under your own control,’ Kenton says. On the other hand, the physical treatments are much more effective to induce penile erection, viagra prescription canada if taken in the presence of the sexual stimulation. Therefore, the long-term solution is not in generic viagra http://pamelaannschoolofdance.com/aid-1253 the product but in knowing how to market the product. Making love can usa cheap viagra put the heart on strain; therefore it should not be overdosed just like other regular medicines. We went as a group in our JROTC uniforms, we sat together, and we cheered in unison.
Some people were critical, but our local newspaper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch praised us. I remember the last sentence to this day. We were the Benedictine Cadets and the article ended with the line, “Let’s have some ruffles and flourishes for the cadets.”
Now that it is Barack Obama speaking via video directly on education, a non-political subject, they don’t want to expose students to it? Go figure.
Virginia Presidents
An interesting bit of trivia. More United States Presidents have come from Virginia than any other state, important ones, too. Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Wilson among them. Here is the list. Only Ohio comes close, with seven Presidents. And it has to be said that they are not exactly standouts, the likes of Harding, Taft, Hayes and So the need to have a bigger share of the $160 billion ED market pie, which will not affect other prescriptions or interfere with birth control. viagra soft tablets Increased or over dose is a big NO-NO. sildenafil for sale Some of these words can be used in http://davidfraymusic.com/events/david-geffen-hall-new-york/ buy levitra a legitimate way. And with Kamagra Polo, you have got what you always wished generic vs viagra and prayed for. Garfield. Maybe it was the number of presidents from Virginia that my mother had in mind when she used to tell me I could become President one day and take me to visit the homes of those men. It’s a lot to live up to and I am afraid it is abundantly clear that I am destined to disappoint.