A tourist in DC

Last weekend I had family friends visiting who were ready to tour the city. I wanted to share some of the pictures of their visit with you all. And pose the question to you, where do you take tourists when they come to visit you? Any favorite attractions?

Hanging out at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. This was one of my visitors favorite locations.

One of our favorite quotes from MLK Memorial.

We even saw Abe Lincoln walking down U Street.

--Krystal

Veterans Denied

After a vote last week, Veterans will not be getting a new jobs program, not from this Senate. Republican senators blocked a vote on the Veterans Job Corps Bill after generating excuses to oppose the bill exploited a technicality to deny thousands of veterans a shot at getting hired as police officers, firefighters and parks workers, among other possible employment opportunities.

Veterans Job Corps Act of 2012, sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), sought to lower unemployment among military veterans, giving grants to federal, state, and local agencies, which in turn would hire veterans -- giving priority to those who served on or after 9/11 -- to work as first-responders and in conservation jobs at national parks.

This bill was fully paid for, and entirely bipartisan. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) had his own set of ideas for the bill, and Murray incorporated all of them into her legislation.

And yet, all but five Senate Republicans voted to kill it anyway. Even Burr sided with his party to defeat the bill, and it was filled with his provisions.

I find this vote to be very interesting for a number of reasons. First being the fact that this bill was blocked so close to a presidential election. It seems that there are some conservatives are so against President Obama that they refuse to pass any bill that may improve his presidential term regardless of what the bill could do for Americans. I also find this interesting because the Republican party has traditionally been the party supported by veterans and military fans. It was noted by man that when reviewing both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, the Republicans failed to make the military and military families a priority while the Democrats included military families throughout the convention. What I find the most interesting about this decision is that no one is really talking about this.

How does it look when a representative helps write and construct a bill, but then doesn't vote for it? This bill was paid for and was to help the men and women who fought for our country get jobs, how does this not get passed?

--Krystal

A Culture, Not a Costume

Just wanted to briefly share this campaign I came across to get people to realize that dressing up in costume as a particular ethnicity, culture, etc, is offensive.
Ethnicities aren't just for trying on and pretending. By making costumes out of others' cultural traditions, we make light of them, make a joke out of them.
It is definitely an interesting thing to think about as Halloween approaches and people have fun with dressing up. Many people say things like costumes are just for fun and cause no harm--that others know that they recognize that it trivializes the culture. Like, as long as you know it's wrong, it's ok to do it.

Thoughts?

--Megan

Putting Down Roots in the City

Many individuals of the "Millennial" generation (approx ages 20-34) are moving into cities and starting careers in these places. Young people, naturally, enjoy living in cities for the many amenities and opportunities city-living has to offer, all within a reasonable distance.
Even more so, there is now a trend of these young city-dwellers to actually stay in the cities they moved to upon graduating college and starting their first jobs. They are putting down roots in these cities, and they are staying.
Is this trend because of the rising costs of buying homes and cars? Or is this movement a direct effect of the young culture and environmental friendliness (also a large "movement" at this time) of living in cities? It is interesting to ponder. Many young people are delaying marriage, starting families, buying homes, and "settling down" in the traditional sense. We might be seeing a new wave of "settling down" that happens in cities--people grow up and stay in a location that can offer them entertainment options, public transportation, and various amenities, such as access to an airport and train station. This delayed adulthood might restructure society, particularly as this generation begins having families--we might see improved urban schools, more diverse neighborhoods with older generations in the city, less cars on the road each day, and less urban poverty than is normal.

Read more at The Atlantic!


--Megan

'Never Forget'

Today, many politicians, teachers, radio and television hosts took time to remember and reflect upon the tragic events that took place on September 11, 2001. In honor of National Patriot Day both campaigns decided to put politics aside and did not air any negative political ads and avoided campaign rallies today. Putting politics aside, is what occurred in 2001 after the attacks as Americans came together in a manner that has not been illustrated since.

The attacks of 9/11 killed nearly 3,000 in the United States and was followed by wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. At least 1,987 US troops have died in Afghanistan and 4,475 in Iraq, according to the Pentagon. When looking at these numbers you can almost grasp the magnitude of how the terrorist attacks of 9/11 impacted and continue to impact our lives. We are still involved in war. The Department of Homeland Security was established. Lives are lost. And we are all affected.

It is nice to see politics put aside today for a common purpose, but it only makes you wish that this could occur more often when making decisions on the betterment of American people and our world. Make decisions based on the people rather than your politics.

Below is a short video clip with some of the services taking place today including that of President Obama.

--Krystal

Virginia's New Achievement Standards

I found the Huffington Post's article "Virginia New Achievement Standards Based on Race and Background,"  today and was shocked to hear of Virginia's new standards. The state has set different achievement levels based on race. This does not mean that students must get a different number of answers correct to pass, it means that certain percentages of different racial groups are expected to pass state exams. This is where the standards vary. For example, for math, "only 45 percent of black students are required to pass the math state test while 82 percent for Asian Americans, 68 percent for whites and 52 percent for Hispanics are required to pass." 
Holding students to different levels of expectation can be detrimental to their success in school. If students are not expected to keep up with their peers, they will continue to slip further away and the gap will widen. 
Setting the bar high for students of all backgrounds is important, and it is even more important that the bar is the same for all students. Traditionally, minorities, particularly black students and hispanic students underperform in schools. There are many contributing factors including background, US history, and socioeconomic status. This doesn't mean, however, that we ought to be accepting of this lower level of achievement. We cannot consider the school to be performing on par by lowering the expectation for the groups of students who traditionally do not succeed as well or as often.
With the standards set this way, not only do students in these groups feel that they are not being challenged or that they are being grouped off, but also teachers do not have to work as hard to engage these challenge students. 
When Virginia says that the traditionally better performing racial groups of students are all that are really required to pass the state exams to fulfill state requirements, this is further isolating and losing our at-risk students and sending a very powerful and strong message that it doesn't matter how black and hispanic students do. Students that fall into these categories might feel they are not as smart as their peers, when really it is a number of social factors that contribute to their lower levels of success. By coming to expect these lower levels of success, society is reinforcing them and it all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Let's not further alienate our racial groups and create more divides between our school-aged children and their peers. Everyone ought to have equal opportunity to succeed and equal expectation, regardless of race and skin tone. 

--Megan