Category Archives: Uncategorized

This summer was special because I was given the opportunity to travel to China. I went with my martial arts school, Huang Lin Bao Jian precious sword martial arts Academy, to visit the famous Shaolin Temple. Demetri Daniels, the owner … Continue reading →

IMAGINE IF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS sponsored a frank and contentious discussion about race, education, war, and the responsibility of globally-minded activists toward injustices in their own backyard. Imagine if among the participants were local citizens, and not only academic … Continue reading →

THE IMAGES ARE FAMILIAR: election-workers slowly, methodically, holding ballot papers up to the light, squinting, announcing their considered judgment — this one “Bush”, that one “Gore” — with party lawyers sitting by ready to debate ‘pregnant’ chads, while the world … Continue reading →

IS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE (EC) democratic? Yes, insofar as it is a means by which the declared preferences of the voting public are translated into selection of an elected representative. If the crux of democracy is that policies or representatives … Continue reading →

IN SPRING 2007, A GROUP OF URBANA CITIZENS decided to examine the vitality of our local electoral system. The health of a democracy can be measured by the number of candidates who run for office, the number of candidates who … Continue reading →

THE JOURNEY MADE by Richard Wright from son of a Mississippi sharecropper to internationally-known writer is a classic American success story. Born September 4, 1908, Wright would have been 100 this month if he had lived this long. Describing in … Continue reading →

ELECTORAL LAWS AND SYSTEMS have political consequences. Some encourage greater citizen participation than others. Some complicate the voting task while others simplify it. Some provide greater representation of racial, ethnic, and gender groups than others. Some encourage greater accountability of … Continue reading →

Tired of only listening to what the herd thinks is best? Every 3rd Wednesday of the month from 7PM to 10PM your local Independent Media Center located at 202 S. Broadway Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 (the old downtown Post Office) … Continue reading →

May 1st marks International Workers’ Day, an official government holiday in most countries around the world, with mass demonstrations, rallies and marches held to express labor solidarity and celebrate workers’ rights. Here in the U.S., May Day is not a … Continue reading →

Upcoming at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in June is Something So Horrible: Springfield Race Riot of 1908. Gathering photographs, news accounts, oral histories, artifacts and other materials, the library will present an exhibition exploring Springfield’s most violent racial confrontation. … Continue reading →

I discovered a dignified, ancient, elegant trade, one where I could own what I do and never have to have a boss again. –U. Utah Phillips Bruce Duncan Phillips, the man who went by U. Utah Phillips and whom others … Continue reading →

Common Ground Food Co-op has grown and thrived on these, the seven principles of the international cooperative movement, for 33 years. Now, about to enter into its 34th year, Common Ground is relocating for the first time in its history. … Continue reading →

Fuel prices are high, food prices are high, and the costs of both continue to rise while we look on, unable or unwilling to reconcile a lifetime of relatively cheap food and fuel with the current prices we’re seeing for … Continue reading →

…garden programs serve to further a vision of what should be in times when society is unclear about where the future is heading. —Laura J. Lawson, City Bountiful, A Century of Community Gardening in America (2005) As chronicled in City … Continue reading →

Food costs more. Fuel costs more. Metals and other raw materials cost more as well. But this is no traditional inflation. Labor doesn’t cost more; wage rates are not rising, at least not in the US, in the rest of … Continue reading →

The County Board passed in January a proposal for spending $6.81 million dollars on courthouse and tower renovations. Renovations have begun on the clock tower, but community concerns persist. Area residents, such as Chris Evans, still insist that “While we … Continue reading →

Nowhere is the “disconnect” of modern American life more apparent than in our relationship with water. We all know that water is necessary for life. We know that water is a precious resource and that our future requires the most … Continue reading →

Stories of those being exonerated are becoming increasingly common, with wrongly convicted men and women being released from prisons in the United States at a rate of approximately one each month. Many of these exonerations have come after the DNA … Continue reading →

Upon the recommendation of Assistant State’s Attorney Rob Scales, Judge John R. Kennedy agreed to a sentence of 100 hours community service for Brian Chesley. Chesley was convicted by an all-white jury of obstructing and resisting a peace officer. On … Continue reading →

PAULO FREIRE, THE WORLD-RENOWNED Brazilian educator, would have turned 86 years old this May. And although much has transpired since Freire wrote his seminal text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, what seems to have remained constant, or deepened, are the structures … Continue reading →