Fiesta Fiesta

The Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst hosted an international civic society conference April 24, 25 & 27. The conference drew presentations from educators and experts of U.S., Latin American and worldwide origin.

Massachusetts-based Peruvian musicians Henry Geddes (UMass), Daniel Zamalloa, family and friends concluded the conference's first session with "jams" that got many out of their seats to dance along with.

The "mobile mural" featured in the background of this video was actually hung outside the Paradise Club in a Brazilian city. The mural was created and hung in hopes of inspiring citizens interests and activism in order to build a more inclusive city. Which also sought to incorporate more participatory art throughout the politically torn region.

Welcome!

The University of Massachusetts Amherst welcomed Derek Kellogg as the new head coach of the men's basketball team this week. Kellogg, a former Minuteman led the men's basketball team to great success in the early '90s and is proud to be back at his Alma mater, after several years as the assistant coach at Memphis University.

UMass also welcomed its newest undergraduate students, the Class of 2012.* Hundreds of prospective and accepted undergraduate students, most accompanied by family or friends, flooded the UMass Campus Center during this week's spring reception.

One young woman, UMass '12, traveled to Western Massachusetts from Puerto Rico. Along with her parents, she was here to celebrate her acceptance and get acclimated with the university's offerings.

*Thank you anonymous for the correction.

Amherst's Permanent Residents vs. Temporary Residents

A single response to a discussion regarding unkempt conditions on Amherst, Massachusett's Shutesbury Road led participants of the Amherst forum on MassLive.com to take off.

When one contributor said, "its to bad they cant require students to register and pay excise here. Think of all that cash going to other towns while they are using our streets the majority of the year." This inquiry prompted permanent, temporary and non-residents to offer suggestions on how everyone can support the town.

A frequent forum participant, Ryan, proposed a tax of $100.00 per student attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Ryan argued that students use the same services as permanent town residents and not requiring them to pay is granting them"representation without taxation." Ryan's monetary estimates concluded that a $100 tax on students at UMass and Amherst's Hampshire College would bring forth approximately $2,795,000 for the town of Amherst.

"Yes the students do bring economic stimulus to the town they also cost the town and the state a great deal of money. They are residents for 9 months of the year...," Ryan said.

One reader responded to Ryan's proposal, but suggested that the state of Massachusetts, not the students be taxed $100 per student. "Let the state pay that on top of the regular state aid to cities and towns," the reader said.

WWE: A Major Campaign Supporter

The latest debate between democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton appeared on the highly viewed WWE Smackdown television program in animated format. The match hoped to sway voters in Pennsylvania who remained undecided prior to hitting the polls for today's much anticipated Democratic primary.

WashingtonPost.com blogger, Mary Anne Aikers documents the campaigns' latest voter push and features video of the candidates in The Sleuth's "Wrestling In the Raw." The Portland Mercury also covered the outrageous events and posted video coverage of the evening's political impersonators.

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Happy Earth Day!

The Washington Post reported today, "Since the first Earth Day, in 1970, environmental laws have helped clean up rivers across the country, including the once-abysmal Potomac. The banning of the pesticide DDT in the 1970s helped bring back the bald eagle, which has now re-colonized Washington's urban core."

And, if ever visiting sunny Naples, Florida, the fifth hole at Foxfire Country Club is also home to a family of thriving adult bald eagles, recently welcoming two eaglets into their family nest. One winter tenant at the club resides on the third hole and remarked seeing the adult eagles fish in the nearby pond to provide food to their kin.

According to the club's general manager, "An annual tenant, has taken a series of home videos of the adventures of the two eaglets at Foxfire preparing for flight. He captured their misadventures with their parents who were doing the best they could raising a family at Foxfire."

Check out the eagles in flight and at rest in a public nine-part video series, here.

Readers' Two Cents

Today's most commented article on WashingtonPost.com is 'Bitter Is a Hard Pill For Obama to Swallow.' This story was first published on Sunday, April 13 and appeared on page A06.

With the much anticipated Pennsylvania primary set to take place in less than one week-Tuesday, April 22, the 1,231 comments following this story are understandable. What makes these comments unlike any others I have seen in similar articles is the great length readers took.

Thinker whose MyPost Page is self-described as, "Hillary vs Obama = WORKHORSE vs SHOW HORSE, HELP vs HOPE, PROVEN DOER vs DO NOTHING" and had this to say about the popular article.

uh, uh, uh

Obama says he has often used clumsy words
They are more than clumsy.

He means - Uh, oh, I made a big mistake. I said what I thought. I have to make a big speech. I have to minimize it. Do damage control. Say I didn't say it - even though I did.

oh goodie

he talks about
his brother
his sisters
are they white folk?

Question by Campbell Brown: How did Rev. Wright bring you closer to god?

his answer:

worked as an organizer
raised in non religious home
mother distrustful of religion
pastors said you should go to church
trinity
visited it
found ministries on aids, prisons were wonderful ministries
rev. wrights sermons spoke to the social gospel (oh yeah)
he found that very attractive
wasn't his spiritual advisor (hello? I think he said HISELF - no one put those words in his mouth) he denies this man now because it's an "inconvenient" truth about him!!!

he sits there and says Wright has only been his "pastor" nothing more -- minimizes, distances -- gee, I recall a speech where the whole country and world were watching and he went on for a half hour saying the guy was "family" and he could never disown him. He threw his "typical white person" grandmother under the bus for Uncle Jeremiah.

He also said areas he and Wright disagreed on are a distortion

This guy can't stop lying when he gets on a roll. Wow. Right in front of an audience.

He's pathological. Find it out now America. Really SOOON.

HELLO? This is just like Obama - neither he nor his spiritual mentor are responsible for the things they say. Terrible things they say - about God Damn America, United States of the KKK? Mr. Obama says white Americans are "typical" and "bitter" . If people are offended or outraged by the things he or Wright says - MR OBAMA DISMISSES THEM and takes no responsibility.

He is a real piece of work.

Mr. Obama thinks he can talk his way out of ANYTHING. He is a freaking crazy liar. His mother must have had a great time with him telling tales to get out of trouble. You can see this childish bad habit that's grown up with him. My God. He's like a kid.

What an Egomaniac. What a pathological liar. Why not - the crazy crowd clap when he does it. He's amazed. So are the other 50% of Democrats - the one's who are shaking their heads and NOT CLAPPING for his lies and his excuses.

NEVER ANSWERED THE QUESTION ASKED. JUST USED IT TO MAKE HIS EXCUSES FOR MR. WRIGHT

NEVER MENTIONED JESUS. NOPE - BECAUSE HE'S A BELIEVER IN MOHAMAD.

He sits there so cocky - like everyone wants to hear his story. Chuckles, smirks - telling us all what's what.

Four and a half years in Indonesia - when he was about 6 years old. Oh. Wow. He was assessing faith in Indonesia when he was six.

What a freaking joke this man is. His four and a half years in Indonesia when he was four to eight years old taught him foreign policy. That policy: Islam can be compatible with the modern world. Yes. Osama is a Muslim. All he could talk about was Islam. Never mentioned Jesus. Never does mention Jesus.

Mr. Obama is putting one over on Americans.

He went on to say he is careful and suspicious of those who paint Islam with a broad brush. Suspicious? Careful? Why?

In the entire twenty minutes to answer how Rev Wright brought him to Jesus - something he claimed in his book - Obama never once answered the question, he never once NEVER ONCE MENTIONED THE WORD OR THE NAME JESUS.

Just Islam. Promoting Islam.

Islam. Islam. Islam. Islam. It's all he could talk about. It's all he knows.

He went into kind of a Ronald Reagan highway clouded babble.

Islam. Islam. Islam. Never an answer about Jesus. Just an op to put down his "family member" - he minimized the guy he gave the big speech about a few weeks ago - defending him two weeks ago. Minimizing him on CNN - "never was my spiritual mentor". BS BO. You are really something. A real, wild, fantastical liar.

Watch out America. There is only one thing worse than a stupid president - and that's a lying president.
Mr. Obama hides things in his pockets. Mr. Obama is one to watch out for. He is crafty.

He was listing in that church.
God Bless America.

If you made it this far, it appears that Thinker is an active WashingtonPost.com commenter. Check out what else Thinker has to say here.

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"How To Lose Readers"

Although we can't see it for ourselves on the World Wide Web, Washington Post readers recently wrote in to the newspaper regarding format changes they were not pleased to see.

From reading Shankar Vedantam's fascinating Department of Human Behavior piece ["Hillary Clinton and the Action Bias," March 31], I can only conclude that your recent format changes -- which I find cluttered, simplistic, distracting and generally ill-conceived -- must have been motivated by "the desire to do something rather than nothing" in the face of declining readership. Post management has made a serious blunder here: If readers desire a dumbed-down, sexed-up USA Today-type format, they will simply subscribe to USA Today.

In the interest of good journalism, please run, do not walk, from this unseemly and unnecessary experiment. We loyal, dedicated readers deserve better.

-- Jim Hergen

Undoubtedly you expected crotchety, longtime readers to have adverse reactions to the recent changes you made to the paper's format. At 22, I don't know if I am old enough to be considered crotchety or a longtime reader, but I have been reading the paper long enough to be aggravated by the changes.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time until I get over the different fonts. However, the extra information blurbs at the top of certain pages are simply distracting and remind me of all the cluttered graphics and tickers of a cable-news channel, from which I always sought sanctuary in The Post.

-- Nicholas Prather

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This Just In-ternet

This week's headline that Virginia will be the first state to require Internet safety lessons for 11-16 year old children is a step in the right direction.

The announcement made by the Virgina Department of Education's office of educational technology ironically enough arrived after a YouTube video was posted and discovered by authorities which led to charges against eight Florida teenagers, between the ages of 14-18, in the "animalistic attack" against 16 year old Victoria Lindsay stemming from an alleged dispute on MySpace.com.

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Tibet vs. China

Today's rolling rally at the University of Massachusetts Amherst brought heated tensions amongst Tibetan and Chinese supporters close to home. The public debate between the two groups eventually led China's supporters to turn and walk in the other direction. But Tibet's supporters followed close behind and the walking demonstration continued to proceed throughout the UMass campus.

Chinese supporters handed out "The Tibet Facts" to those passing by which claims 10 reasons why the Free Tibet Movement is not a passion for freedom, but a distaste for peace and hope.

Powerful words were also exchanged between the two groups. "One China" could be heard amongst China's supporters who outnumbered Tibet's in their cry for, "No freedom. No Olympics" and "No staged violence."

Related WashingtonPost.com Articles of Interest:

• What They're Really Fighting for in Tibet
• China Blocks Reporting in Tibetan Area
• Olympic Official Criticizes Anti-Chinese Protests
• China Uses Heavy Hand Even With Its Gadflies
• Tensions high ahead of San Francisco Olympic torch run
• Buddhist Monks Call for Dalai Lama
  

Congratulations

Columbia University announced the winners of the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music today. Six awards were given to The Washington Post, marking the greatest number of Pulitzers awarded to the paper yet.

Articles written by journalists Dana Priest and Anne Hull chronicling the Walter Reed Army Medical Center throughout 2007 were praised for their work under the category of Public Service.

In a March 8, 2007 post, I looked at the history of the Medical Center after following the Post's online interactive coverage, now a Pulitzer Prize winner. Priest and Hull's"Walter Reed and Beyond" is still readily available at WashingtonPost.com.

Honor those who have served our country by doing them a service. Read the articles and view the interactive material included in the Post's 2007 series and learn about the realities our own people have endured following war.

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Paging All Pages

In an effort to "improve the overall effectiveness of the Program," the U.S. House of Representatives Page Board recently revamped their guidelines for employees when interacting with the House pages. The cause for alterations stem from a 2006 scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and more recently, a series of page expulsions from the program due to inappropriate conduct.

WashingtonPost.com blogger Mary Ann Akers posted, "Note to Lawmakers: Don't Feed the Pages!" on April 4 saying, "The new rules, a list of twelve commandments, spells out common-sense approaches on where and how to draw boundaries with the youngsters, and includes blunt language on rules against touching and entertaining pages."

The first three rules:

1. "To treat all House Pages with respect, integrity, dignity and consideration;"
2. "To offer appropriate mentoring to House Pages, being mindful of the need to maintain a professional relationship and appropriate physical and emotional boundaries;"
3. "To suggest, host, or take part in Page Program functions;"

Click here to view all 12 of the new guidelines.

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A New Newseum

Washington, D.C. will unveil the Newseum building on April 11 chronicling the media, then and now.







The WashingtonPost.com's objective pre-opening coverage identified the museum as one of the downtown's grandest architectural projects in the last decade. A multimedia piece accompanied their story and included a photo slide show, which is like taking a tour of the museum from the confines of your very own office.

Here is what some of the readers had to say about "Washington's New Landmark" in response to the Post's Howard Kurtz.

• llrllr wrote:
  As a 40-year journalist, I'd love to see the new Newseum. But at $20 a head, I think I'll take my wife to lunch instead. Ashame. I thought a Foundation ran this thing.
  4/6/2008 6:21:45 PM
• vuac wrote:
  The old Newseum in Arlington had free admission. It also had some most unusual artifacts that are missing from this one, which seems dominated by television monitors and cyberspace fads. A shame!
  4/4/2008 11:58:03 PM
• RaiderDan wrote:
  ``An overpriced monument to journalistic self-glorification.''
  
  No truer words were spoken. Firefighters cops and doctors don't give themselves similar ``look at us!'' venues.
• slowdream wrote:
  I wouldn't be caught dead in this disgusting monument to liars and traitors.
  4/6/2008 8:54:53 PM

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Backfeed

Western Massachusetts citizens are encouraged and willing to participate in conversations with local politicians and The Republican's MassLive.com enables discussions such as these through their community podcasts.

"Ask Mayor Sarno" is a podcast on MassLive.com featuring questions from citizens and readers, both named and anonymous, addressed to Springfield's recently appointed Mayor, Domenic Sarno.The Mayor's April 3 podcast addresses ongoing steps to improve the aesthetics of Springfield's downtown. Through the planting of new flowers and a general clean up, Mayor Sarno was confident in his city's face lift. Despite facing flu-like symptoms, Mayor Sarno sounded very appreciative of the opportunity to participate in the podcast and to address the listeners questions.

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April 1, 2008

Google has really taken April Fool's Day to a rocking new level.

First, I signed on to Blogger only to be introduced to the alleged up and coming Google Weblogs. Of course I wanted to learn more and followed a suggested video link, but to my complete surprise was greeted by Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video. I returned to the original page introducing the Weblogs and tried the video link and once again was directed to Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

I dismissed this oddity and went about my day until now when searching YouTube for viral campaigning videos and visiting the site's Featured Videos. Bunny eating banana caught my attention and I clicked the link and was perplexed once more when directed to Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

Looks like the jokes on us Google.

Check out the University of Massachusetts Amherst's t0mfoolery featured annually in the The Daily Collegian on April Fool's.

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