The National Harbor Casino

Plans have been in the works to build a high end casino in Prince George's County at the National Harbor . This would be a $1 billion dollar project led by Prince George's Executive, Rushern Baker III. Banker is looking to build a "high-end" gaming destination at National Harbor and believes that this project would lead to an increase in economic development and tax revenue for the county.

Currently the state of Maryland does have slot machine casinos, but Baker and supporters want a full casino including table games right here on the Potomac River. In interviews Baker discusses all of the Maryland and surrounding residents that travel frequently to Atlantic City for gaming purposes. It is his plan to attract these individuals, and visitors from across the country, to the future National Harbor Casino. This casino is said to gross nearly $50 million a year in gambling and these additional funds could be used in many facets including; housing and community based programs.

There have been and remain several road blocks ahead for this project to be completed. There are Prince George's elected leaders that are concerned that gambling preys on the poor, nearby home prices will devalue, and that gambling will disgrace the county's image.

It is clear that there could be advantages and disadvantages for the building of a high-end casino at National Harbor. From the prospective of a casino guest, the National Harbor is an ideal location and has several promising upsides, but there is no telling how this will affect the community.

So what do you think? Would you be in favor of an Atlantic City or Vegas style casino in Prince George's County? How do you think this will affect the community? Do you think it will happen in the next 3 years?

--Krystal

Read more about the proposed legislation & obstacles here

Updated news on objections for casino here

Selfism

We live in a society that for the past generation or so has put individualism and individual rights before the needs of the community. Since the 60's, We have taught our youth to "know yourself" and "be true to yourself" and we as a culture have begun to focus on cultivating a "self." We talk about self-image and self-confidence and reinventing oneself and we read self-help books.

We all are focused on getting ahead and marketing our selves, creating a particular image and "lifestyle" (shallower than a life) and we have put these individual desires over the community desires and freedoms.
A person would rather get in an argument with another and "be true to themselves" then let something go for the sake of peace and coexistence.
Persons in this nation exercise their individual freedom of carrying guns and weapons at the high cost of others in the community's freedom to feel safe in their homes and on the streets of their neighborhoods.

In a more trivial example, there is a great bar in my neighborhood with an outdoor patio. The patio fills up for happy hour most evenings after work. The clientele are eclectic, friendly enough, and young (between the ages of 22-35) working professionals. This past fall, a woman brought her two young children to this patio. As she sat with her friends at one of the long wooden outdoor benches, her children chased one another from table to table, picked up rocks, sat in the walkways, etc. It all culminated with the children fighting and crying. One of the  little boys ran shrieking back to his mother.
This woman is the epitome of our gluttonous american society: she wanted to have it all. She wanted to meet her friends at the bar, even though she had also made the choice to have children. She was infringing on the rest of the patrons at the bar's rights to relax, enjoy adult beverages and adult conversation, in a place without crying and the worry of children.

This is common in our society. We step on one another's toes to get ahead. We flaunt our individualism and go forth with our personal agenda's without thought of the community, and how by exercising our freedoms to their fullest extent we are imposing on others in society's basic rights.
Meyer says in Why We Hate Us, "We have now discovered that for all too many grown Aquarians and their children, liberation degenerated into narcissism. What matters most is Me: the sacred, discovered, reinvented center of the universe--Me. It is selfism."

This selfism comes at a time where many Americans are moving away from their traditions and their families and settling in cities far away. These Americans "reinvent themselves" and have no culture or traditions to build from.
Selfism is the quest for a self that no one has been before. We market these selves on our facebook pages, in the way we decorate our homes, and even with the ringtones on our phone. These selves become more important than the greater good, than living in harmony with others, or than respecting and passing on family traditions. Self-esteem and confidence, while important, have become the most important, which has lead to a narcissistic society founded loosely on individual's personal interpretations on morality and ethics. People look to themselves for answers more so than they do any standing institution, and this causes even more chaos, as individuals sense of morality will differ and will not have a source.

The more we rely on our own individual minds and perspectives to shape "worldviews," "lifestyles," and ethics, the more self-centered and divided we get.

--Megan

Abundance and Choices

Just a musing...but for a nation with so much WEALTH and so many options, why are we all so unhappy?

Mardi Gras is a day of abundance in preparation for the observance of Lent. Abundance is not something that Americans are unfamiliar with, however.

It seems that the over-abundance feeds our anxieties. It is hard to feel free among dizzying choices.  Having to make decisions becomes time consuming, as there are countless options to consider. Then it becomes imperative to make the RIGHT decision or the BEST decision...You can see how this would eventually cause stress. 

Is it even possible to simplify? Is it possible to limit the choices that we have, even if done arbitrarily? Will that make us happier, really? 

In the spirit of Lent, I'd like to attempt to live simply for the next 40 days, and hopefully it will stick. (It only takes 21 to make a habit...) I want to see what ways I can cut back and find where over-abundance is causing me stress.  Lent is a time of reflection and meditation, it is a time of trusting God and breaking bad habits and fasting and de-cluttering and abstaining from things that you enjoy but might not be good for you. Or even if they are good for you, they might not be purposeful. Lent might be about re-centering. 

Hopefully I can find freedom within the realm I impose on myself. Now...how to go about that....

Happy Ash Wednesday! What ways will you celebrate Lent?

--Megan

"The Ride"

Some of you may have heard this story while it was occurring, but recently "The Ride" documentary has been released. Phi Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race, took on an extreme physical and mental challenge when he decided to travel from California to New York City, 3,500 miles in effort to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). But this journey wasn't just about raising money it was much more than that. For this long trip Phil brought a long friends and his father to take on the experience of a lifetime.

Phil took on this challenge as a prelude to his upcoming 40th birthday to prove to his father, his fans, and most importantly himself that he could complete this challenge. To prepare, Phil trained for 30 hours a week and to make it across the country the plan was to bike at least 100 miles a day, through sandstorms and rain, up and down cliffs, and along busy freeways with barely enough room for error. Along the way he met with several fans and even individuals with MS who wanted to participate in the journey. There were injuries, closed roads, and illnesses that impacted the trip, but in the end after 45 long days he completes his journey raising over $400,000 for MS research.

Watching this documentary makes you want to challenge yourself and get outside your comfort zone. Phil talks about how liberating it is to take a great adventure and do things that you never thought you would do. You learn it is important to focus on what you do have and what you can do rather than what you don't have and what you can't do.

I suggest everyone check out this documentary and think about a way you can challenge yourself and take your own personal adventure, push yourself beyond your limits and see where you end up. Then document your story and share it with us! I am sure after hearing about this documentary my blogging counterpart will want to plan a long bike trip of her own.

Below is the trailer for your viewing pleasure

--Krystal

Heart Attack Grill

Heart Attack Grill, an American burger joint in Las Vegas, Nevada, has received a lot of media attention recently after a customer had an apparent heart attack while eating a 6,000 calorie burger. There are so many noteworthy pieces to this story that I would like to discuss. First of all if you haven't heard of Heart Attack Grill you must check out their website and social media outlets. This restaurant takes pride in their outrageously unhealthy menu items with; servers dressed up as nurses, customers wearing hospital gowns, signs saying "cash only because you might die before the check clears", and allowing anyone weighing over 350lbs to eat free.

It is amazing that a restaurant with such ideals could even be successful today with all of the knowledge we have of healthy living and a balance nutritious diet. After the guest's recent heart attack while eating one of their famous Triple Bypass burgers many organizations are calling for the closing of this unique establishment. But the guests eating at the restaurant at the time assumed the heart attack was all a part of the act or some publicity stunt and many individuals were shooting videos and taking pictures of the man having the heart attack. Check out some video footage here.

When I first heard this story I assumed it was some sort of a joke. So what do you think? Would you welcome a restaurant like this into your community? Are you interested in trying one of their 6,000 calorie burgers? How will this publicized heart attack affect the restaurant's sales? 

--Krystal

Polarized Nation

We are at a point in time where the political parties are most distinct and there is little overlap in ideology. People's beliefs are more extreme than ever before. The two major political parties of this nation have polarized. Persons either identify as Republicans or as Democrats and are not easily swayed; people tend to vote along the party lines with less regard for the candidates or issues. 

In Why We Hate Us, Dick Meyer points out that many have become extreme to avoid what is popular American "culture" today. People are finding themselves in countercultures because they despise the mainstream media-induced, celebrity-and-reality-show-obsessed, consumerist culture that tells us it's better to "express ourselves" than live peacefully within a community. Individualism has devastated community, high culture, and privacy. 

Despite the rise of the countercultures and the hatred people feel toward others that represent opposing political values, people generally want similar things. That is, they want things that our mainstream society cannot provide. 

For example, Rod Dreher, a religious conservative who writes a column for The Dallas Morning News, writes in his blog:

 "We need to in some tangible and consequential sense set ourselves apart from the mainstream...It's my view that our culture is pretty messed up in some fundamental ways, and I know that my wife and I can't raise our children without community. We are learning how to creatively resist the consumerist values of mainstream culture...
Broadly speaking, the best ways we've found to do it is to form communities of like-minded people...who I consider fellow travelers/fellow  dissenters from our consumerist paradise. I've also found it important to turn off the television, and not only to protect them [children] from the usual pop-cult crap, but also to teach them to love good books, good art, good culture."

Meyer notes that Dreher is arguing the same thing that many liberals tend to talk about. Similarly, Meyer notes that many who identify as liberal Democrats come off as traditional to the point of being Puritanical when they "rant against materialism or sexploitation in entertainment and advertising," which we generally identify with more conservative belief systems.
It comes back to the idea that Americans are fed up with the over-hyped, explicit, and in-your-face culture that has become so prevalent. Conservatives and liberals alike are looking for "high culture," and a return to traditions and values.

Republicans and Democrats are on the same team in the war against mainstream culture. Members of both parties think today's humor is crass, today's television explicit, today's consumerist obsession exhausting, and today's journalists, children, and Internet bloggers rude. Yet, members of these parties see one another as the opponent, and blame members of the "opposing" party for the failures of our society. We point the finger at groups that are not our groups. Because of this, people become hardheaded when it comes to the issues and the way they are presented by politicians not of the political party they identify with. Ideas aren't heard if they come from "the other side," and the parties polarize further. Americans might find what they are looking for by working together and against the true enemies found in marketing, advertising, media, and reality TV; while we are focusing our attentions on hatred of another, we ought to be seeking common ideals and coming together.

--Megan

America: SOLD

Anyone see The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (errr...I mean, Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold)? It's a Morgan Spurlock film entirely about advertising, marketing, PR, and how we as consumers respond, and it's entirely paid for by advertising.

The documentary points out all the ways that marketing and advertising are used in movies and television, but also how they're used around the world, in our every day lives, and how these ads and marketing schemes affect us. 

The film demonstrates to me the fact that in this country, you can buy anything you want. Money equates to power and then back to more money.
In any given city on any given day, we could look around and see giant billboards advertising products, we see people driving brand name cars and wearing brand name clothes or clothing that advertises a product. There are commercials in between segments of our TV shows, and there is product placement in the shows.
Nothing, anymore, is left unbranded. This method makes the consumer want. It's also given the corporations that run these ads and market to our citizens and our children control over our society. These ads tell us what it is that we want, how we feel about things, what our lives would be like if we had their products.
These corporations then take all this money that they turn into power and they can  virtually run this country.
During this election season, Stephen Colbert has started his "Colbert SuperPAC" to demonstrate that money can buy you power. He has used this SuperPAC to pay for attack ads against candidates, he's used the money to provide support to people he's interested in, and he's even used the power the money has given him to attempt to buy and "host" a primary debate. He nearly succeeded. He is doing all this to be funny, but also to point out that Americans believe that "corporations are people."
We have given corporations so much power over our daily lives. They influence our choices, they insert themselves into our daily lives, they advertise to us everywhere. Corporations can then use this power they have politically and socially.

America is up for sale. The privatization of health care, the legality of SuperPACs, and the movies and music we like being entirely paid for by some outside corporation that wants to influence us being just a few examples. One with money can literally buy whatever he/she wants in this country. It's just another way that the rich and the poor are polarizing; those with money continue to get what they want and influence elections and political decisions, while having little or no money equates to the loss of your voice and at times your basic American and human rights.
Even our most sacred events like holidays, like Christmas, weddings, and birthdays have become a consumer craze. Christmas is secular and commercialized. We spend and we buy and we run ourselves ragged and stress ourselves out spending money and doing what ads and movies and marketing tell us the season about. Weddings are no longer about love and commitment; they're about wealth and status and making a statement with what you can buy.

We've let advertising and corporations into the most private and intimate details of our lives. We've let them take control of things that are meant to be  for everyone, and we've allowed them to pick our leaders.  When Morgan Spurlock signed on advertisers to be in the movie and ultimately pay for the movie, he was handed so many contracts and stipulations that had to be signed and agreed to. Many of the advertisers told him how to make the movie and what they wanted done for the movie quite directly. So it goes in many other ways that we let advertisers get involved.
Not only do they tell us what to think, they are advertising things in ways that ought to be unethical. Products that are known to be bad for us, products that market sex and money and partying to children and teenagers. The intimacy and privacy we've given up to these corporations and their advertisements is despicable, and the lies and the unethical way they manipulate our minds and their products is ridiculous.

This country runs more on money than on democracy, and the sale goes to the highest bidder.



--Megan 

A Microwave Society

The Microwave. Many United States homes and businesses have a microwave oven. We see the microwave as a quick and simple way to prepare our food. Some have used this to describe Americans' outlook on life. Americans want what they want when they want it and exactly how they want it and it better be fast.

Having this mentality is an issue. We expect for our leaders in business and in government to make their impact immediately and we assume any immediate results are affected by the person in charge. It seems that we are constantly prejudging elected officials prematurely. Now true many politicians deserve the quick criticism, but expecting immediate results then electing someone new to take their place will never get anything accomplished. Even  in work we expect because we have our degree we will be managers and directors with high paying salaries and flexible work schedules. Television, social media, film, and improper use of the internet are ways we live in a microwave.

I think many of us need to stop living in the microwave. Slow things down. Take time to do things correctly and they will be better and more enjoyed.

--Krystal

Invest in Literacy and make One City Possible

Mayor Gray has been promoting this idea of DC being one city. I am sure that the mayor and myself have different ideas on how to make this idea possible. The mayor will be having a summit Saturday February 11th where perhaps he will highlight his ideas and concerns, but I will address one of my main issues with DC which is its low literacy levels.

Everyone should have the opportunity to be an effective worker, family member, partner in their children’s education, and citizen. DC has the unique characteristic of a very polarizing community with one of the highest number of college graduates as well as one of the lowest literacy levels in the United States. One in five adults in the district lacks a high school diploma, and one in three adults cannot read a newspaper or a map, much less complete a job application. The need for adult education programs is great. It is our belief that there are connections between adult low literacy and many of the social challenges facing the District today. Adult Education strengthens the workforce and economic development with learners achieving significant annual wage gains within 18 months after leaving the program.  This increase in development helps to sustain the local economy.

Without the necessary resources it is impossible to make a significant difference in adult literacy within the District. Restoring $1.2 million to adult literacy can pay big dividends to the entire community. This renewed commitment to adult literacy by the government will return itself in greater DC achievements in the education of children and the increased workforce of the District. By promoting the value and benefits of an equally literate population in our community every day and advocating for increased investment in adult and family literacy programs we can improve our community as a whole and achieve our goal of making one city possible. 

--Krystal