Well, I am back to 28 kids because although I got one new student from Puerto Rico, one of my Chinese boys left to go to a school in Flushing. The boy from PR told me he is glad he is no longer there because there were “a lot of shooting”. He speaks and understands english but clearly is not yet comfortable in it and is more comfortable when he can have things repeated to him in Spanish.

One thing I have noticed is I have a much wider pool of kids I can draw from to re-teach or partner up with others who don’t understand what’s going on. I like to rely on kids for that purpose for a lot of reasons – it’s like a mini-assessment for the re-teacher; I don’t have to repeat myself; they often feel less pressure with peers. And so, lately, that group of potential re-teachers has grown quite large – not because more understand what I’m teaching though that is true too, but because of growth in oral language skills. Pairing kids up, allowing talking at different times, and being patient in terms of initially having to repeat a lot all helped. It meant doing a lot of listening and coaching in, but hey who doesn’t need things repeated when they are learning it for the first time, especially in a new language.

One of the least obvious* things that has seemed to give the oral language a boost for some kids has actually been the sign language project! It is one thing they are all new to and it has given them a tangible way to learn new words.

I have a fingerspelling center for during readers that I think may help boost word recognition and spelling. Here is how it goes, each team has two partners – A and B. Each partnership has a list of high frequency words. One partner chooses a word off the team list and fingerspells it. The partner has to guess the word. If they guess correctly, they win 2 points. If they guess wrong, they lose one point. Whoever has the most points between the teams wins and gets to put their name on the “high scorer” list (like a video game). This really keeps them engaged and the whole class is far more quiet than before. I have another area for partner reading and my kids with the least language go on Imagine Learning English, a computer program, for part of the time and then spend the rest of their time within the groups partner reading, getting read to. I am trying to come up with a high-frequency word center that isn’t boring and is meaningful for kids who don’t know the meaning of the words yet but preferrably would learn them and their pronunciation at this center. Any ideas? I am thinking of maybe pairing them with kids slightly above them and doing a flash card game?

*Although there is evidence of using sign language to allow babies to communicate ideas and concepts before they have the capacity for oral language, I know of no research that says using signs can be useful for ELLs – as a bridge of sorts. It’d be interesting.

Michael Vaughan-Cherubin, a PeacePlayers International Fellow in the Middle East since 2006, ended his time with the organization last month. Below, Karen Doubilet, PPI’s Managing Director in Israel and the West Bank, explains what Mike meant to the organization.

The month is October, and the year is 2006: I (the 5 ½ feet tall new Managing Director, resembling a miniature) is greeted by three towering American basketball players, who were serving as full-time Fellows in the Middle East program. I should have been intimidated, maybe even frightened, but a bubbly exuberant giant named Michael Vaughan-Cherubin immediately assuaged my fears. At 6 foot 5 inches tall, he was hardly intimidating. I was immediately impressed by his charisma, intelligence, leadership, and, most of all, by his extraordinary ability to make you smile.

Mike works with a team from Beit Shemesh in the 2007 Jerusalem Girls' League

Immediately, Michael stood out as an initiator. The Jerusalem Peace League and Leadership Development programs are among the initiatives to his credit. However, what cannot be summed up on paper or in words are the relationships that Mike has built in the communities where we work: from children, coaches, teachers, principals, to the cashier at the local grocery store, Mike surely made an impression on everyone he interacted with. A team of PPI girls even threatened to quit when they heard that Michael was leaving. That won’t be happening, but even the thought speaks volumes.

Mike coaching a team of girls (who hopefully won't be quitting..)

Michael lived, ate, slept, and breathed PPI – ME for more than three years. He has been an inseparable part of the face and the soul of the organization. He always put PPI first — and I know that it was exhausting, but I also know that it reaped the greatest of rewards. Because of this, Michael can move on knowing that he made an indelible impression on thousands of children, coaches and their communities in the Middle East.

We wish Michael the best of luck in his future endeavours, and are certain he will be successful in whatever path he chooses. However, wherever he is in the world and wherever life takes him, Michael Vaughan-Cherubin will always be a PeacePlayer!

-Karen Doubilet, PPI – ME Managing Director

Everyone at PPI would like to echo Karen’s thoughts, and thank Mike for his inspiring service to our organization. Good luck, Mike!

We’ve written before about Kate B. Reynolds Schweitzer Fellow Alex Stovall — the first Schweitzer Fellow from Winston-Salem State University (WSSU).

Like Albert Schweitzer, Stovall made a dramatic mid-career decision to dedicate himself to serving others. His unique path to becoming a Schweitzer Fellow; his dedication to making physical therapy available to low-income Winston-Salem residents; and his commitment to building bridges between his school and the community have resulted in dramatic impact.

In fact, WSSU — which featured Stovall as one of three standout students from its fall graduating class — writes that:

Because of Stovall, nearly 400 low-income east Winston-Salem residents have received free physical therapy treatment, with an estimated value of nearly $50,000.

As his Schweitzer project, Stovall established a physical therapy clinic that serves un- and underinsured community members who may have received primary care for their injuries, but still risk decline and debilitation without physical therapy:

“For me, the greatest satisfaction from this year has been that Winston-Salem State University is giving back to the community, and that means we are also establishing relationships and connections,” said Stovall, who is classified as a non-traditional student, having left a management position with a major company to move into a new profession.

In addition to his volunteer efforts with the clinic, Stovall also served as host for a regional Schweitzer Fellows Symposium held on the WSSU campus in November. All of this activity was in addition to his classes and the clinical rotations he had to complete for graduation.

Here’s to Stovall — who, as WSSU’s press release notes, graduates today — for making his life his argument.

Where did everyone go today? My office has been without Internet for two days, that’s my excuse …

Tufts-Schweitzer Fellow Taiwo Oshodi has developed a nutrition education program for Boston residents living with HIV/AIDS.

This holiday season, TheBostonChannel.com is featuring inspiring stories of health and hope from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).

BIDMC is ASF’s host institution, as well as the official sister hospital of the Schweitzer hospital in Lambarene, Africa. It’s also where current (and very busy) Tufts-Schweitzer Fellow Taiwo Oshodi works as an ER tech — that is, when she’s not studying for her master’s in biomedical science at Tufts University, and completing her 200-hour Schweitzer service project (a nutrition education program for Boston residents living with HIV/AIDS).

In TheBostonChannel’s feature, Oshodi discusses her deep commitment to Boston’s HIV-positive community — and the ways  her Schweitzer project addresses its needs:

Oshodi’s Schweitzer project consists of a series of hands-on cooking classes specifically tailored to the health needs of Boston’s HIV-positive population, emphasizing everything from nutritional plans that address secondary ailments (like diabetes) to effectively navigating grocery stores.
“The class members’ response has been incredibly fulfilling,” Oshodi says. “Sometimes it’s hard to get BLC members to come out for programs—but we already have a waiting list for the next class cycle, which starts in January.”

When it comes to juggling her various responsibilities, this student/Schweitzer Fellow/ER tech is working to make “service” their common thread:

“Exams are important, but it’s being out there, working hand in hand with the community you seek to serve, that reminds you why,” she says.

Over the past 13 years, the Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows Program has supported more than 350 service projects throughout Chicago and DuPage County — equaling over 70,000 hours of service to communities in need.

Yesterday, they posted a video providing an up-close glimpse of one of those Schweitzer service projects: 2009-10 Fellow Sara VanKoningsveld’s therapeutic movement and exercise-based program for homeless women in the Chicago area.

VanKoningsveld, a Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling student at Columbia College Chicago, wanted to bring the therapeutic benefits of dance to Chicago women who are experiencing homelessness. So for her Schweitzer project, VanKoningsveld partnered with Rebecca Johnson Apartments, part of the Deborah’s Place organization.

“They’re experiencing homelessness for various reasons, whether it’s poverty, loss of employment, they’re displaced from their home because of domestic abuse,” VanKoningsveld says. “Through dance movement therapy, the women are offered an opportunity to not only be physically active, but also to express different emotions and feelings, and possibly to build a stronger community here, as well as feel more empowered as individuals.”

Watch the video by clicking the screenshot below. All of the featured women are remarkable, but we’re especially taken with with Rosemary at 3:08!

The following is a guest post by Jennifer Ngai, an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at Legal Aid DC. This post originally appeared here.

Legal Aid recently became a Community Partner with public broadcasting network WHUT Howard University Television as part of a nationwide programming initiative to increase awareness about the current mortgage crisis and to connect homeowners facing foreclosure with various trusted community resources.  On December 1^st, WHUT announced the launch of its new “Facing the Mortgage Crisis” website, connecting Washington, D.C. area residents with local Community Partners that provide mortgage- and foreclosure-related information and services, including Legal Aid, Homefree USA, Manna, Inc., HUD, and the Greater Washington Urban League.  The website also contains downloadable community fliers in English, Spanish, and Amharic.

Legal Aid began handling foreclosure prevention work in September 2008 with the launch of its Consumer Law Program headed by supervising attorney Wendy Weinberg.  Legal Aid recently expanded its foreclosure practice in October 2009 with the addition of Jen Ngai, an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Recovery Fellow.  Legal Aid assists low-income clients facing foreclosure by litigating cases involving mortgage-related fraud, negotiating with servicer banks to obtain mortgage modifications, and conducting related community education and outreach.  The partnership with WHUT will help get the word out about this important anti-foreclosure work.

Hello to all loyal followers!

Sorry it took so long to get this post up I’ve been extremely busy lately working on projects.  Just so you all know next week I will be posting a number of videos up for your viewing pleasure.

I have two packages from Elon’s Sports Magazine Shot: Elon Phoenix Weekly on their way.  One of the pieces was a highlight of the Elon vs. Appalachian State Football game.  The other was a piece made for ESPNU “Campus Connection” about Terrell Hudgins after he broke Jerry Rice’s FCS record for receiving yards.  My role in the video was as an assistant editor.  I began the video and gave it a theme, all of the footage, and the special effects.  Then a fellow student came in and trimmed it down from 6 minutes to about 1 minute and a half so it could be usable by ESPNU.

I have been working a lot lately on a new television show that I am directing as well as helping as an associate producer.  I have played a number of roles in this television show including running camera, dolly, writing, and more.  I was also the Chief Editor in the project as I did all of the technical aspects with some assistance in terms of the content.  I will elaborate about the show when I post it, but here is a brief summary to get you excited:

It is called Haunted Oaks and is a combination of Unsolved Mysteries, and Ghost Hunters.  Basically the beginning of the show tells the story of a ghost or a haunting, in this episode it is the “Ghost of Mary” who apparently haunts the 3rd floor of West Dormitory at Elon University.  We recreated the legend of how her ghost  came into being.  Then we talked to a folklorist to evaluate and elaborate on the story.  We also talked to some students about their encounters with Mary’s ghost.  The second segment of the show focused on an investigation we did of the building with help from the Winston Salem Paranormal Society.  These professional paranormal investigators came into the dorm to try to find evidence of the existence, or the lack of thereof  of a ghost or spirit.  The project had been a very exciting but also daunting one.  I finished it up recently but will be making a few adjustments before posting it up here.

I have a few more finals to finish up then I will be headed home for Christmas Break.  Over break I will be posting the videos.  Stay Tuned!

The announcement of President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize caused a firestorm of controversy—not just in media circles, but also on this blog.

Obama addressed that controversy this morning from Oslo as he delivered his Nobel Address – and simultaneously hailed previous Nobel Laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer as a “giant of history”:

“Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize — Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela — my accomplishments are slight.”

Physician-humanitarian Schweitzer, an ardent advocate for nuclear abolition in the last decades of his life, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. In his Nobel Address, entitled “The Problem of Peace,” Schweitzer said, “Only when an ideal of peace is born in the minds of the peoples will the institutions set up to maintain this peace effectively fulfill the function expected of them.”

Supported by The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, hundreds of graduate students across the US are heeding Schweitzer’s words, each seeking, in his or her own way, to bring “an ideal of peace” to underserved communities.

As Obama said this morning,

…A just peace includes not only civil and political rights — it must encompass economic security and opportunity. For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.

It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine they need to survive. It does not exist where children cannot aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.

In working to address the health disparities that continue to plague our world, Schweitzer Fellows here, in Africa, and beyond are also addressing hope disparities.  In answering Schweitzer’s call to service (whether by empowering Hispanic migrant workers to take control of their own health, establishing Los Angeles’ first micro-health clinic for post-incarcerated youth, or empowering at-risk senior citizens with the tools to combat elder abuse), these 2,000 individuals are answering Schweitzer’s call to instill “an ideal of peace.”

Please read more about them — and support them — today.

Deadline: 2009/12/15

Country or region: United States

As you know, each year Yale seeks extraordinary candidates for the World Fellows Program, our signature global leadership development initiative.

We look for rising leaders in virtually any field who have the dynamism and energy to spend an intensive four months at Yale learning, discussing, and sharing their expertise with Faculty, students, and the broader community.

We would be grateful if you could take a moment to think of a few superb candidates actively working in the sectors or countries you know well. They must be truly exceptional mid-career practitioners (in any field except academia), speak fluent English, and must hold non-US citizenship. Who are the most remarkable, mid-career individuals you know of in business, politics, government, the media, public health, or other field? Who is making a real impact on his or her industry, community, or country? Who has the necessary enthusiasm and charisma to take full advantage of and attract attention at Yale? These are some of the qualities we try to evaluate, and I would encourage you to ask the same questions of any candidates you may think of nominating.

You may nominate candidates online at https://apply.yale.edu/worldfellows/Nominate. To discuss the Program or any specific candidates in more detail, please feel free to email me or call me at 203-432-1916. For those who are selected, Yale covers all costs (including housing, health care, and transportation) and provides a generous stipend for other living expenses. For a full description of the Program, you may visit the website at: http://www.yale.edu/worldfellows.

Growing up in Michigan, Lisa Campion was a member of her state’s 4-H Youth Conservation Council, a program that gives teens the chance to explore environmental issues and present their findings to a state senate committee.

Campion’s 4-H membership solidified her desire to pursue a career in environmental law. And now, as a Vermont Law School Schweitzer Fellow whose efforts are being featured on the school’s website, she’s working to inspire area teens to do the same.

As her Schweitzer project, Campion has launched the Vermont 4-H Youth Environmental Council — which is dedicated to promoting youth leadership opportunities for the state’s teens, and supporting those teens in identifying, researching, and presenting their opinions on a Vermont environmental issue to the Vermont State Legislature.

Last week, thanks to Campion’s efforts, three members of the Vermont 4-H Youth Environmental Council did just that, arguing at the Vermont State House in support of H. 97:

The “no-idling” bill, which would prohibit trucks and other large vehicles from idling for more than five minutes at a time, would reduce carbon emissions and end Vermont’s dubious distinction of being the only New England state without such a law in place.

…

The three girls bolstered their presentation with a six-page report, “Vehicle Idling in Vermont,” which spelled out the impacts of needless idling and examined the difficulty of changing motorists’ behavior.

“Why do people idle?” posed 15-year-old Kathryn Tadio of Rutland County, who then proceeded to explain that most offenders are either in denial or they simply prefer the comfort of keeping the heat blasting on a cold winter day.

But the convenience comes at a price, her colleague, 17-year-old Kayla Ray said, noting that every hour of idling puts nearly 10 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. And Anya Rose, 16, offered various ways to educate the public about the dangers of needless idling.

Two legislators, including the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. David Sharpe, listened intently from the first row, while VLS student Lisa Campion, the girls’ coach and mentor, looked on with obvious pride.

Read Vermont Law School’s full article on Campion’s Schweitzer project here.

Teach For India Fellows are set to meet Gurchuran Das on Saturday, Dec 12th in Pune . Mr. Das will interact with  Fellows  for an hour, and then has invited them  for the launch of his new book  ”The Difficulty of Being Good” .

Gurcharan Das is the author of The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma which interrogates the epic, Mahabharata, in order to answer the question, ‘why be good?’ His international bestseller, India Unbound, is a narrative account of India from Independence to the global information age, and has been published in 17 languages and filmed by BBC. He writes a regular column on Sundays for the Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, Eenadu, Sakal and other papers and periodic guest columns for the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Newsweek. Gurcharan Das graduated with honors from Harvard University in Philosophy and Sanskrit. He later attended Harvard Business School (AMP)He was CEO of Procter & Gamble India and later Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide (Strategic Planning). In 1995, he took early retirement to become a full time writer. He is currently on the boards of a number of companies and is a regular speaker to the top managements of the world’s largest corporations. His other literary works include a novel, India Unbound, A Fine Family, a book of essays, The Elephant Paradigm, and an anthology, Three English Plays.

Inspired by her own formative childhood experiences with science and medicine, Schweitzer Fellow Tammy Pham (left) has launched an innovative program aimed at sparking a lifelong interest in those fields.

North Carolina Schweitzer Fellow Tammy Pham, a student at Wake Forest School of Medicine, has created “Project Spark,” an innovative program aimed at encouraging students at Kimmel Farm Elementary to pursue careers in science and medicine.

“There are clear discrepancies in the science scores and grades of North Carolina’s students when comparing various racial and socioeconomic groups,” Pham says, noting that North Carolina has a high school biology exam that students must pass in order to graduate, and that local educators have long speculated that this exam’s difficulty has driven many underserved and low-income students to eventually drop out of high school.

“My project came from the idea that if I could just give students the exposure to various fields of science that they normally would not have access to, they would find a niche within science that would eventually inspire them to excel in their vigorous science classes later on in their academic careers,” says Pham, whose childhood experiences with science and medicine had exactly this effect on her own academic journey.

Initially, Pham planned to work with high school students. But after consulting with her mentor, Dr. Ann Lambros of the Center for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Learning (CERTL) at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, she decided that she should work with elementary school students in order to plant the seed at an early age.

“The long-term goal,” Pham says, “is that the students will be inspired to become the future science leaders within their communities.”

Today, as part of ”Project Spark,” Pham is holding a unique event for 85 Kimmel Farm students at SciWorks — complete with experiential first-aid stations; talks with educators from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Forsyth Tech’s Nanotechnology Department; a hospital ambulance exploration; and even a planetarium show.

In addition to providing Kimmel Farm students with a hands-on, outside-the-classroom chance to experience science and talk with community members who’ve forged careers in science and medicine, Pham’s event is forging a valuable bridge between Wake Forest School of Medicine, Kimmel Farm Elementary, and SciWorks. In fact, approximately 30 student volunteers from the medical school will be pitching in  alongside Tammy today.

“Many of the student volunteers will be my classmates and friends, whose support has been invaluable,” Pham says. “Kimmel Farm has also been excited about my entire project — including me teaching throughout the year at Kimmel Farm) from the very beginning — so they have put their full backing behind the event.”

In fact, the food and T-shirts for the event are being donated by Kimmel Farm’s community sponsors. Those community sponsors aren’t the only organizations stepping up to the plate for Project Spark’s event: the Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh is donating its programming services and is providing a speaker for the afternoon sessions. The head of the Forsyth Tech department of Nanotechnology will be coming to speak at the morning sessions. And SciWorks has donated all of the space fees, as well as conducting a planetarium show and scavenger hunt for the students.

“My life and career goals would have been completely different if I had not had exposure to medicine and science at a young age,” Pham says. “To be able to provide that exposure and inspiration for students who perhaps would not otherwise have that exposure is incredibly fulfilling, which I hope the volunteers will feel.”

“I also hope,” she adds, “that the event reminds the volunteers of the idealism that originally inspired many of us to pursue medicine in the first place.”

For a flyer with event details, click here.

Established in 1973, the California Senate Fellows program is one of the oldest and most distinguished service learning programs in the country. Go to:

http://www.csus.edu/calst/senate

…and complete the online version of the application.  Due date for submission on all documents February 24, 2010.

Vote for justice! Here’s the chance to help fight homelessness, prevent foreclosure, protect immigrants’ rights – to battle injustices across the country. See what public interest lawyers (nonprofit attorneys) can accomplish with funding and support from Equal Justice Works.

You’ve read all about the 160 attorneys working in the field now on some of the most pressing issues facing poor communities – foreclosure, homelessness, access to health care. Now’s the time to join us and support our efforts to ensure justice for everyone.

Geology

See:   Yellowstone

Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is America’s first national park. Located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, it is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. Preserved within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world’s most extraordinary geysers and hot springs, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

I made another package for Elon Phoenix Weekly this week and it on my videos page.  For this package I traveled with the woman’s soccer team to UNC Greensboro for a Southern Confrence showdown.  The game was to decide who would be the Southern Conference champion.  In the end the Phoenix lost 1-0 to the Spartans in a well played game.  The video is intended to document the game and is titled “On the Road With Woman’s Soccer.”

Stay tuned because in the next few weeks I should have 2 more videos on the way.  One will be a promotional video for learning communities at Elon, the other will be a recreation of Elon’s ghost story.  They should be here in December so keep checking back

Equal Justice Works Fellow Cary Brege, an attorney at Legal Aid of North Carolina, is investigating suspension rates and challenging the school-to-prison pipeline.

She recently helped one client – an eigth-grade student named Marcus Renkel – challenge his school and appeal suspension after he was disciplined for reporting a bomb threat he saw scrawled in a school restroom. Read more about Marcus’ case here.

Cary is an advocate for better discipline in schools. She recently co-authored an op-ed calling on Wake County’s school board to make some changes. Read the full article here and see the excerpt below.

Misbehavior results from a complex convergence of factors, some of which schools can’t control. Parents and communities must step up in an effort to alleviate the pipeline – as we’ve all heard, “It takes a village.” However, schools must also be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem…

…Other school districts and communities across the nation have pioneered successful ways to address the problem, while keeping schools safe and improving outcomes…[the] school board should follow suit by getting feedback from the community; emphasizing positive behavior management strategies; expanding services for the most at-risk students; creating alternatives to suspensions for minor infractions; eliminating “zero tolerance” punishments; ensuring the disciplinary process is fair and accurate; and creating more high-quality alternative education programs.

-Aaron

Greater Philadelphia Schweitzer Fellows offered screenings and health workshops to underserved Camden residents.

The Greater Philadelphia area may have lost out on a World Series title this time around, but luckily, it’s still home to a champion team of Schweitzer Fellows. OK, that’s a little cheesy (and probably not an enormous consolation to diehard Phils fans). But there’s no denying the fact that the current crop of Greater Philadelphia Schweitzer Fellows — whose service projects tackle everything from diabetes prevention to domestic violence outreach –  are dedicating themselves to giving the area’s underserved communities something to cheer about.

Case in point: last month, five Schweitzer Fellows held a service day at the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Farmer’s Market in Camden, which serves primarily underserved populations. Over 100 Camden residents came out for the event, where the Fellows checked blood pressures and blood glucose levels (see photo below).

Schweitzer Fellow Farhad Modarai carried out blood pressure and glucose screenings.

The Fellows also led a series of targeted prevention workshops:

• Usha Kumar and Alex Potashinsky (Drexel University) offered one-on-one counseling on preventive wound care. In addition to handing out hygiene supplies like  soap and nail clippers, they discussed reducing drug use, implementing better hygiene routines, and finding ways to exercise.
• Spurred by the CDC’s finding that falls are the main cause of injury death in  older adults, Hyun Ouk Hong (UMDNJ) manned a table on fall prevention. He distributed educational pamphlets provided by the New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging, and also offered workshops on the subject.
• Troubled by many Camden residents’ lack of access to healthy foods, Farhad Modarai (UMDNJ) manned a table offering fruits and vegetables (as well as educational materials on nutrition). Additionally, he held workshops focused on how to make eating healthy foods budget-friendly.
• Valencia Barnes (UMDNJ) and several UMDNJ dentists offered on-site oral health/cancer screenings for area residents — both children and adults. Children were screened for oral hygiene, tooth irregularities, and other pediatric dental issues; adults were screened for oral cancers, oral hygiene, and tooth decay.

Dr. Shawn Kelly performed oral health screenings on children and adults in attendance.

On Tuesday night I was thrilled to be a part of the TEDx Potomac event in Arlington, VA. 160 Equal Justice Works Fellows and AmeriCorps Legal Fellows joined legal services professionals and staff for a week of intense substantive issue-area training and networking. But what was best about this conference was hearing from the attorneys on the frontlines of social justice.

Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch and Christine Khalili-Borna addressed some of the issues that have been top-of-mind to these public interest attorneys this week: how to be a leader in the field. Christine, an attorney working on homelessness prevention in Los Angeles, discussed the importance of setting boundaries, defining success and coping with sympathy fatigue. Kate, an attorney with American Gateways, discussed the value of human connection in the struggle to fight injustice.

-Aaron

We blogged earlier this week about StreetWise, where a group of Schweitzer Fellows and Fellows for Life volunteered on Sunday, October 18.

That same day, another group of Fellows and Fellows for Life traveled to Skokie Lagoons, part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. They worked with Forest Stewards and FPDCC Staff to cut invasive plants and shrubs, as well as contribute to litter cleanup.Luckily, the weekend’s rain and clouds had dissipated by Sunday morning — so the Fellows’ time at Skokie was dry, sunny, and productive!

View the full photo album from their time at Skokie (as well as at StreetWise) here.

Thanks to Chicago Fellow Amy Yetasook, who was on photo duty!

Mi e’ piaciuto il tratto elegante e deciso della mangaka Mori Kaoru fin da quando mi e’ capitato tra le mani uno dei fumetti di Emma. Indubbiamente il suo modo di disegnare e’ poi successivamente evoluto moltissimo tra il primo e l’ultimo volumetto della serie.
Adesso la Mori ha pubblicato il primo volume di Otoyome monogatari (Storia di una sposa vergine), opera pubblicata a puntate a partire da ottobre 2008 sulla rivista giapponese Fellows! con un grandissimo successo di pubblico. La storia (che piacera’ di sicuro al mio amico Davide) e’ ambientata nel diciannovesimo secolo in Asia centrale, piu’ precisamente nelle praterie vicine al mar Caspio e narra della ventenne Amil che si ritrova sposata con un marito dodicenne e delle loro avventure ambientate sulla via della seta. Il vocabolo “otoyome” nasce dalla combinazione delle parole “otome” (fanciulla, vergine) e “yome” (sposa) riassumendo la situazione della protagonista la quale, pur essendo sposata, non puo’ consumare il matrimonio visto la giovane eta’ dello sposo…

Per chi e’ interessato al disegno di fumetti, vale la pena osservare tutte le sei parti (una mezz’ora circa in totale) di questo video in cui si vede come la Mori realizza un’illustrazione in bianco e nero proprio per Otoyome monogatari. E’ da notare come spesso i mangaka giapponesi preferiscano lavorare su di uno schizzo a matita appena accennato senza realizzare un disegno preparatorio dettagliato.

Immagine: copertina del primo volume di Otoyome monogatari di Mori Kaoru, edito da Beam Comix.

Last Sunday, Schweitzer Fellows prepared a meal for approximately 60 StreetWise vendors.

As we mentioned in Tuesday’s FFL Conference recap, last weekend included the first-ever FFL Conference Service Day, organized by the 2009-10 class of Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows.

As part of the Service Day, a group of Schweitzer Fellows and Fellows for Life had the chance to spend their morning at StreetWise, an incredible Chicago nonprofit organization whose mission is helping people achieve self-sufficiency through gainful employment.

Fellows worked with StreetWise Executive Director Bruce Crane (second from left) to repair and replace the organization's bathroom countertops.

StreetWise Executive Director Bruce Crane — who came out of retirement to take the organization’s reins, and is pictured above — gave the Fellows an inside look at the organization’s approach to empowering Chicago’s most vulnerable populations out of poverty.

Each week, StreetWise (a member of the North American Street Newspaper Organization) publishes a full-color, sixteen-page magazine (tagline: Your City From the Streets) — which vendors purchase from StreetWise for 75 cents, and then sell to the public for $2. These vendors are Chicago’s poor, homeless, and disenfranchised; Crane describes them as “the people everyone else turns away.”

At any given time, StreetWise has about 180 vendors — the majority of whom view selling the magazine as their job. For many, it’s their first. But supported by the organization’s network of mentors and empowered by their new interactions with the community, many vendors begin to take serious steps towards self-sufficiency — taking advantage of the literacy, computer literacy, financial training, housing support, and job training programs that StreetWise provides.

Fellows collected and organized hundreds of travel-size toiletries for StreetWise's vendors.

Crane didn’t give the Fellows an airbrushed picture of StreetWise; he was very clear in telling us that not every StreetWise story is a success story. That wasn’t a surprise to the Fellows, who understand that even the most well-organized, well-executed, and systematic community work will encounter “boulders.”

But the stories that are successes speak for themselves.

One vendor used her magazine sales earnings to lease an apartment — it was the first time in 18 years that she had her own housing. Bringing her story full-circle, she now volunteers at the StreetWise office, and teaches vendors how to use computers and e-mail.

Another vendor — featured in a documentary about StreetWise — now works part-time at the organization, and is earning her master’s degree.

We were happy and humbled to play a part, however small, in helping out the organization that makes these stories of transformation possible.

Click here to view a Flickr photo album of our time at StreetWise. Thanks to StreetWise for hosting us, and to Chicago Program Director (and photographer extraordinaire) Ray Wang for shooting and sharing!