Giles and Choi
Syracuse University graduate students John H. Giles, Jr. and Eunyoung Christina Choi attended the 2010 Association of American Geographers meeting in Washington, DC last week.
Choi presented a paper titled: Everyday Practices of Bordering and the Threatened Bodies of Undocumented North Korean Border-Crossers.
Giles is a SIF Advisory Board Member.
Hon. Dave Bing, Mayor of Detroit
During the past quarter century, when you thought of Detroit, you couldn’t help but think of a crime-ridden urban wasteland thanks to film such as RoboCop, True Romance, Blue Collar, Assault on Precinct 13, 8 Mile and Grand Torino.
The Honorable Dave Bing wants to paint a new picture of Detroit. The Mayor and NBA Hall of Fame guard, who is a graduate of Syracuse University, spoke yesterday at Whitman Day. He talked about coming and playing at Syracuse and being drafted #2 overall by the Pistons. He also said he had to work during NBA off-seasons to make ends meet.
Working those summer jobs (in banking and the auto industry) turned out to be one of the best things to happen to Bing, who says in his first entrepreneurial venture he lost 1/2 of his NBA savings.
After that minor setback, Bing became a salient model for post athletic business success and has parlayed his business influence all the way to city hall (he was elected in 2009).
“I am where I am and I compete where I am,” he said.
Beyond the court and the business world, Bing hopes his Third Act will include leading an economic, political and psychological transformation for the motor city.
Your Brain Being Washed
Media personality and executive George Kilpatrick sent me a link to his recent interview with author Tom Burrell.
Burrell is author of a book about the myth of black inferiority called Brainwashed. In the book Burrell, an award-winning ad exec, tackles subjects such as Neo-Buffoonery, King James v. King Kong, Oscar- nominated films such as Precious, Fratricide, Hip Hop videos, and the cumulative effect of negative images.
To hear Burrell’s conversation on NIFTN, click here.
Kike Arnal’s book In the Shadow of Power reminds us that every city has two sides. He captures the ironic juxtapositions that can be seen daily in our Nation’s capital.
Steve Perry, Principal
For too long the education system has fostered schools that are failing and according to Steve Perry, principal and education activist, failure is no longer an option.
“We can’t call a school a school if it doesn’t educate,” he says. “We have to create schools that are designed to be successful.”
Perry gave a lecture Saturday at Bethany Baptist Church that was sponsored by the Say Yes to Education program. He heads Hartford Prep (CT) and was featured on the CNN series Black in America 2 with Soledad O’Brien. Perry has also been interviewed often by New Inspiration for the Nation’s George Kilpatrick.
For Perry education is a calling, not just a profession. He drives several of his students to school each day and says 100% of the students at Capital Prep go on to college.
Perry says that he has no problem getting this across to his staff, and because you have a degree doesn’t mean you are a teacher. “I’ve fired some great people, they just weren’t good teachers,” he said.
Citing the McKinesey Report, Perry said that a child without an education will be a challenge for society. He said parents, teachers and entire community’s share responsibility for schools that don’t work.
“I love kids too much to care about grown people’s feelings.”
Today I posted a sample of the images that have appeared on the SIF site this decade (2000-2009). View the photos.
During an interview, photographer Platon tells a great story about having limited time to shoot portraits of Heads of State in a studio he set up at the U.N.
I am reading a book by Dan Roam called The Back of the Napkin. The book discusses the 6 ways we see as well as visual thinking and presentations. I looked up his website and found this great slide show that explains the Healthcare (or Insurance reform) Debate using simple symbols, pictures and minimal text.