Wise Words to the Pre-Tattooed Teen

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Our 21 year old took a summer job in a tattoo shop. It seemed perfect at the time because he was an alternative, artistic kind of a guy. That was until the night when “Oh hell, he came home with a ring of black and red bats tattooed around his neck.”
Guess what tattoo artists do when they’re bored and out of customers? Try new designs out on each other. After the open-mouthed shock wore off, my second thought was, “He’ll never land a job again.” Fortunately that last thought didn’t come true and he’s gainfully employed in an art design shop, working behind a computer and not up at the front desk waiting on customers, but what do people my age r-e-a-l-l-y think about kids with tattoos?

Kids’ Food Drive Kicks Off Mother’s Day in New York City

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Mother’s Day marks the first day of the annual Feed the Kids food drive in New York City by City Harvest, a food rescue organization dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry. Feed the Kids brings together companies, organizations and individuals to collect kid-friendly, non-perishable food during the month between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day – May 13 to June 17, 2012. City Harvest is also partnering with the New York Mets through the team’s season-long hunger relief program, Feeding the Big Apple Presented by Hain Celestial. Students from P.S. 12 in Queens will be rewarded for collecting more than 2,000 pounds of food during the 2011 Feed the Kids food drive, more than any other school, when the Mets drop by their school at the end of May to play catch. The Feed the Kids campaign helps stock shelves at community programs during the summer so children who depend on meals at school will not go hungry.

Kennesaw State University Awards Ruth Ann Harnisch An Honorary Doctorate

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Kennesaw State University awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to Ruth Ann Harnisch, a philanthropist whose foundation has supported cutting-edge approaches to gathering and disseminating news. The honorary doctorate ─ the 14th awarded in Kennesaw State’s 49-year history ─ was bestowed today during the university’s commencement ceremony for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Harnisch, a former journalist with more than 30 years of experience in print and broadcasting, is president of the New York-based Harnisch Foundation, which in 2009 awarded $1.5 million to establish the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State. “Kennesaw State University is pleased to award this honorary doctorate to Ms. Harnisch,” said Kennesaw State President Daniel S. Papp.  “In so doing, we are recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of an exceptional person, known nationally as a philanthropist who truly has made a difference, as well as a ground-breaking journalist.”

A self-described “recovering journalist” and “donor activist,” Harnisch is a proponent of creative philanthropy that produces sustainable social change.

Petition to Ban Shock Treatment at Mass. School Delivered to State Lawmakers

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A petition to ban the use of electric shock treatment in a notorious Massachusetts “special needs school” was delivered to state legislators Wednesday. Created by Cheryl McCollins, the mother of a boy who was given electric shocks in 2002 at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, and Gregory Miller, a former teacher assistant who once delivered shock treatments to students, the petition has received more than 215,000 signatures. On April 24, a settlement was announced in a lawsuit brought against the school alleging malpractice by McCollins on behalf of her son, who was 18 at the time of the incident. The terms of the settlement were undisclosed, according to CBS Boston. After delivering the petition, McCollins and Miller met with four Massachusetts state lawmakers Wednesday, including Speaker Robert DeLeo, Rep. Kay Khan, Sens.

lgbt homeless youth

NYC’S Homeless Teens at Risk Due to Budget Cuts, Says LGBT Advocate

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recently released executive budget could cut $7 million in funding to the city’s Runaway and Homeless Youth Services, effectively eliminating 160 beds from youth shelters across the city. According to a representative from the Ali Forney Center  - the city’s largest LGBT youth shelter - the need for shelter beds has increased dramatically in recent years, with the waiting list for the Center growing by 40 percent last year. The Ali Forney Center claims that there are only 250 shelter beds available in New York - despite an estimated homeless youth population of almost 4,000. Carl Siciliano, the Center’s executive director, told The Advocate he considered Bloomberg’s budget cuts to be “cruel, reckless and contemptible.”

“These cuts create an even bigger crisis for the LGBT teens who are thrown out of their homes and forced to endure homelessness on the streets of our city,” he said. “The Ali Forney Center and all those who work with and care about LGBT homeless youth will not be silent in the face of this decision, which offends us as a community and needlessly puts our young people in harm’s way.”

A New York City Independent Budget Office report from March predicted (on page 35) homeless shelter budget cuts, with the investigation identifying an increase in average shelter stay durations as well as the cessation of subsidy programs, such as Advantage, as the primary factors for budget shortfalls.

The Hidden Culture of Prison Violence

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I don’t remember when I first heard of The Angolite, the only uncensored prison publication in the country. It was sometime during the late eighties. Since 1976, prisoners incarcerated at Louisiana’s notorious Angola Prison produced the magazine without censorship. The writers revealed the horrible conditions of the prison, shedding light on sexual slavery, murders and corruption. The story that I most remember was about the gladiatorial games organized by inmates and supported by guards.

Joe Biden

Higher Education Must Be Kept Affordable, Biden Says

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Following the defeat by Senate Republicans of a bill that would have prevented student loan interest rates from doubling July 1,  Vice President Biden addressed students and representatives from higher education and youth-service organizations about the importance of keeping college affordable and accessible. His remarks were preceded by a panel discussion with policy experts from the Domestic Policy Council, the Department of Education and the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. Update:

This morning, Biden talked about how it is a “gigantic priority” for the President and his administration to make higher education affordable and to prevent interest loans from doubling on July 1 of this year. He began by expressing how much he and the President appreciate people for participating in “this critical debate.” He called making higher education affordable his passion and his hobbyhorse, saying that the first bill he ever introduced helped more people qualify for Stafford loans. He then talked about his “typical middle class life” growing up and how his dad was so ashamed when he couldn’t get a loan to send his son to college.