Anti-Immigrant Fervor Translates to Terror for Women

Written by Guest Blogger

By Melissa Nalani Ross

Originally printed in On The Issues Magazine

I was contacted recently about a woman without documentation who worked at a fruit stand in the northeast. A male customer approached her and asked if she had any waitressing experience, as he needed servers at his restaurant. Seeing this as an opportunity to make a little more money to support herself and her family, the woman agreed to stop by the establishment for an interview. When she arrived, instead of sitting down and discussing a job opportunity, the woman was met by a group of men who took turns raping her. They then told her that if she went to the authorities,… Read more

Politics

Geert Wilders, the Dutch Anti-Immigrant Microphone

Written by Stephen Piggott

When you ask the Average Joe what they know about Holland, the answer you get is almost always the same; a country that is one of the most liberal in the world whose capital Amsterdam is famous for its Red Light District and its relaxed laws on drugs. The Dutch people are often thought of as carefree men and women who don’t like to mix work with pleasure. With this mental image it is hard to picture the Dutch as a nation getting upset or angry over a single issue and blowing it totally out of proportion. However this is exactly what they are doing regarding the issue of immigration and more specifically immigrants… Read more

Welcomed Home: Part 3 (finale)

Written by Guest Blogger

The farm has always been my home.  Even after the years of California sun has tanned my skin and bleached my long brown hair to sandy blond.  Even after the years of going home to a house that was surrounded by dozens of other houses, that looked exactly alike, even when move after move has left me disoriented and lost.  When I close my eyes, I go home.  Home is where my grandmother works in her garden of tomato plants, and tall green corn stocks and carrots that are pulled from the dark brown soil with a single, tug of her hand.  Home is where we sit and shell peas and watch the swallows shoot… Read more

The ‘Proximity Effected’ Fan

Written by Guest Blogger

Many people like rooting for a sports team because of the proximity effect; they live in or near a city and therefore feel the need to root for that team. This, I believe, is possibly one of the stupidest reasons to root for a team.

I must preface this article by saying that I live in a major metropolitan city with two professional teams on the verge of heading to the playoffs and I hate one and feel indifferent to the other. I am a fan of one of these team’s rivals which often results in me getting perturbed looks and jabs. Aside from maybe rooting for a team… Read more

The Scary Side of Genetically Modified

Written by Katie Bezrouch

In Cudahy, Wisconsin, Sister Luigi Frigo conducts the same experiment with her second grade class every year. The children keep a group of mice in the classroom, and for four days feed them highly processed junk food (containing genetically modified ingredients and preservatives). On the first day the students notice a dramatic difference in the mice’s behavior. They become lazy, antisocial, and nervous. In a similar experiment at a high school in Appleton Wisconsin, the mice “destroyed their cardboard tube, were no longer nocturnal, stopped playing with each other, fought often, and two mice eventually killed the third and… Read more

Politics

“What About Illegal Don’t You Understand”

Written by Eric Ward

Every so often when I am speaking or writing about the issue of immigration someone will inevitably say to me “what is it about illegal that you don’t understand?”  This “gotcha” statement is usually stated with an underlying smugness and finality that I suspect is supposed to undercut the very foundations of my main two arguments.  One, that each person in our society has a fundamental right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and two, that it is impossible for every American to achieve these inalienable rights with a broken immigration system that denies individuals and families fundamental civil and human rights in the United States.

I’ve heard that the argument… Read more

Politics

Floods, Drought, & a Population on the Brink

Written by Jill Garvey

Several years ago my Dad said something rather prophetic during a family conversation about living in California. A few of us were expressing our reservations about ever moving to a state that was a couple dozen earthquakes away from falling into the ocean. He said “Californians are going to sink themselves long before earthquakes do.” He was referring to the housing market there, where lenders were handing out mortgages like candy. Of course many who followed the financial markets knew what was coming, the writing, as they say, was on the wall. But ordinary Americans were blissfully unaware and lenders liked it that way. The bubble unfortunately hasn’t burst in one catastrophic moment, it seems… Read more

What Consumers Need to Know About Organic Food

Written by Katie Bezrouch

In Eastern Oregon resides the headquarters of a major beef conglomerate, Beef Northwest.  They produce meat that is sold under the “Country Natural Beef” (CNB) label. The cows raised to produce this beef are brought up by small family farmers who allow the cattle access to pasture for the first 16-18 months of their lives. After that, they are sold to CNB. They are shipped to a feedlot, and fattened on a mix of corn, potato, and alfalfa feed (which cannot be guaranteed to be GMO free) for the remaining three months of their lives.

These feedlots have been under scrutiny in the past by organic food advocates, for administering illegal… Read more

Welcomed Home: Part 2

Written by Guest Blogger

Inside, I shut the door and run my hand over an antique desk where She used to sit and do her make-up. The tainted mirror reflects my image and behind me, I can almost see her standing, searching in the closet for one of her rarely worn evening dresses. Her scattered fragrances fill my senses. Her powders and forget-me-nots still occupy the drawers, dresser and closet. So many times I have wanted to touch these things, to investigate their mystery, they seemed so foreign and strange to me these useless pretty nick-naks and fancies. I will not be shooed out tonight; there is no one here to defend her properties that she so intimately kept.… Read more

podcast

Audio: September 2008 Blogcast

Written by Noah Chandler

Around the globe people have always immigrated from one country to another. The U.S. is a unique place in that our nation was founded on exactly that movement of people. Since day one a multitude of cultures and ethnicities have made the United States home. In my eyes, this mix of people defines exactly what it means to be American.
However, even with that history there remains a heavy mythology around immigration, immigrants and national boundaries. But we don’t have to get caught up in the obsessiveness of those that want to make the issue seem more difficult than it really is.
With this idea of simplicity in mind, we hear from Ken… Read more