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Those American Missionaries in Haiti
I have been very curious about those American missionaries who are currently locked up in a Haitian prison for allegedly trying to kidnap 33 children from that country, and take them to the Dominican Republic. It is said that everything is the fault of the leader Laura, and that the other nine didn't know that she didn't have the proper paperwork. Supposedly, they blindly followed her. Did they think it was possible to just go into a poor and devastated country, round up a bunch of children and take them across the border? I believe Laura does bear the major...More
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Add to NewsvineWhiteboard Report: Schools that Work
As the re-haul of the tragically misguided No Child Left Behind fiasco begins -- or begins, at least, in theory -- I increasingly hear the words "Our educational system IS NOT WORKING" being bandied about by politicians and theorists across the country. This has given me pause for thought. Since first being tossed into the public school educational ring at the vulnerable age of five-years-old, I have been pondering this question in one form or another. What am I doing here? Why am I doing this? What does this all mean? I still don't know the answer, but it...More
Sundance 2010 Comes to an End: What I Saw and What I Missed
This year’s Sundance Film Festival officially ended yesterday. The winners were announced on Saturday night, final screenings were held, and then everyone left town until January 2011. At this year’s festival I saw 14 films. Not too shabby, but I would have like to see more. I’ve long given up trying to see every film, and each year I carefully plan out my days to see as many films as possible (scheduling over five each day is impossible, and three is more realistic). So, here are the top ten films I wish I would have seen. 1. Howl 2. happythankyoumoreplease...More
Urban Migration: Searching for a Better Life
In 2008, the world reached an important milestone: For the first time in history more than half of its human population -3.3 billion people- were living in urban areas. By 2030, their number is expected to swell to almost five billion. Many of the new urbanites will be poor and their future will depend, to a large extent, on decisions made now. Rapid urbanization is related in part to population growth and also to migration--both domestic and external--that many countries are experiencing. Frequently, the causes are rural poverty, the search for better social and employment opportunities, or flight from political...More
Is There a Future for Haiti
“Did you see this?” My colleague asked me in a hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, in 2005. Regrettably, I had seen it. She was referring to a dead child covered by a sheet, flies buzzing around the corpse, seemingly abandoned in a hospital hallway. For days afterwards that sight was a recurring nightmare for me. It also was proof of the already desperate state of Haiti’s hospitals. I went to Haiti twice, first in 1993 as head of a UN mission to determine the effects of the UN embargo on the population, and again in 2005 to assess the Pan...More
Las Lágrimas de Haiti
¿Has visto esto? me preguntó mi colega Mariela Cánepa en un hospital en Port-au-Prince, la capital de Haití, en el 2005. Lamentablemente, lo había visto. Se refería a un niño muerto cubierto por una sábana, mientras las moscas zumbaban alrededor del cadáver, al parecer abandonado en un pasillo del hospital. Durante los días posteriores a la visita, esa imagen fue una pesadilla recurrente para mí. También fue una prueba de la situación ya desesperada de los hospitales en este injustamente castigado país. Fui a Haití en dos oportunidades. La primero en 1993 como jefe de una misión de las Naciones...More
Sundance: My Favorite Directors' New Movies
Two of my favorite directors, who happen to be awesome women, premiered their new films at Sundance: Nicole Holofcener screened Please Give and Lisa Cholodenko debuted The Kids Are All Right. • Catherine Keener and Oliver Plattat in Please Give. Photo taken by Piotr Redlinksi © 2008, Property of Sony Pictures Classics. • • The whole gang sitting down for lunch in The Kids Are All Right. Photo taken by Suzanne Tenner and courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival. •Holofcener writes and directs such amazingly complex female and characters, and Please Give is no exception! Catherine Keener is at her...More
Sundance: Director’s Cut
What makes Sundance so special is the access to filmmakers. My favorite part of the festival is the post-screening Q&As with directors and casts. There is just something so interesting about hearing the “talent” discuss their creative process, and a charming antidote about on-set tomfoolery never hurts. This year’s festival premieres two directorial debuts by two of my favorite actors: Mark Ruffalo (Sympathy for Delicious) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Jack Goes Boating). In both films, the actor/directors direct themselves. Ruffalo has a supporting role as a priest, and Hoffman cast himself as the film’s title character. Sympathy for Delicious is...More
Whiteboard Report : Good Intentions
There are education critics out there who have what some might consider an extreme view on the intentions and damages caused by the public school system -- in both its present and past incantations. They believe that the education system is designed to break down innate creative genius, and replace it with the ability to follow directions, be subservient to authority, and learn to preform boring tasks with little to no complaint or questioning. I try not to think this way. Instead, I choose to believe that the task of educating billions of children -- all with their different needs,...More
Sundance: Just For Fun
• Matt Bush and Sean Marquette in HIGH School. Photo by Neil Jacobs, Still Photographer. Courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival. • Every year at Sundance • Michael Chiklis in HIGH School (note the hair and moustache). Photo by Neil Jacobs, Still Photographer. Courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival. • I try to see one film just for fun. Preferably, a funny, light, and ridiculous movie that I can relax and laugh my way through. I like the experience of watching my guilty pleasure movie with a packed audience of festival goers that are just as up for a...More
State Standards
The words "State Standards" will be appearing frequently in this blog. If these two words make you nauseous, I apologize in advance -- but State Standards are a reality that all public school teachers must live, breathe, and sleep with. Relationships have been known to crumble over teacher devotion to these Standards. Spend an afternoon with the right kind of teacher, and it soon becomes clear that many of them having been sleeping around -- with their book of State Standards. It's not pretty. The State Standards are insidious. We can not ignore them, no matter how much we wish...More
Sundance’s Creative Energy
Tonight, while walking down Main Street back to my hotel, I felt particularly inspired by the creative energy of the festival. There is something truly remarkable about seeing great art in a space with hundreds of other people whose reactions only enhance your experience. I love the sound of a crowd roaring with genuine laughter, or a collective uneasiness as everyone holds their breath fearing what will happen next. Seeing a movie with an engaged audience is an experience that cannot be mimicked watching a DVD at home alone, trust me. • Director Josh Fox in Gasland. Photo courtesy of...More
Is Democracy for Sale in the United States?
If anybody had any doubts about the influence of corporations in the United States political life, a recent Supreme Court ruling should dispel them. In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court decided, reversing itself, to allow unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns. The damage that this ruling will have on the country’s democratic process should not be underestimated. The influence of money on US politics is not new. Michael Bloomberg, New York’s mayor, was able to run successfully for office three times thanks in part to the personal funds he infused into his political campaign. The impact of this...More
The Challenges of Urbanization
The chaotic growth of today's cities can no longer be ignored. The great challenge is how to improve the quality of urban life by ensuring harmonious growth. Cities can--and should--learn from the experiences of other cities with similar characteristics. This effort requires not only the participation of urban planners but public health and environmental experts, politicians, and fundamentally, the communities themselves. Only when these actions are carried out will it be possible, perhaps, to reach that almost ideal situation heralded by Hippocrates some 2,600 years ago: a balance between the human organism and its environment. When observing the chaotic, burgeoning...More
Sundance: Real Celebrity Encounters
• Director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Cara Mertes; CEO of the Skoll Foundation Sally Osberg; Nobel Prize–winning economist Muhammad Yunus; and To Catch a Dollar Producer/Director Gayle Ferraro. Photo by Jessica Mosby. • It’s easy to get caught up in the glitz and the glamour of Sundance. While walking to the Canada party (as in a party to celebrate Canadian films at the festival), I had to walk around a crowd trying to catch a glimpse of The Runways’ stars, Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, through the Bing Bar’s large glass windows. Waiting outside in the cold...More
Sundance at Home
If you can't make it to Park City for the annual Sundance Film Festival, festival films are now available to watch home! This is so exciting! YouTube has partnered with the festival to make feature films available for $3.99 per movie. The films are available until January 31st. In addition to films from this year's festival, 2009 Sundance hits are also available - including The Cove! And for cable subscribers, additional 2010 Sundance films are available on-demand. I recommend the awesome documentary The Shock Doctrine. Now you don't even have to leave your house and brave the snow to watch...More
Sundance: It Just Keeps Snowing
I say this every year, but there are just too many movies to see! Add the parties, press conferences, and discussions, and you barely have time to eat and sleep! Friday morning, it started snowing and it hasn’t stopped. I, thankfully, bought new snow boots, which makes trudging from place to place much easier. While other people walk around the slush and ice puddles, I walk right through without a second thought. • Snow falling on Main Street. Park City, Utah. Photo by Jessica Mosby. • The snow has also meant that fewer people are frequenting Main Street during the...More
Sundance: The Warm-Up
• Festival Director John Cooper and Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford at the annual press conference. Photo by Jessica Mosby. • Today marks the first official day of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. I am in Park City with my press credentials and new snow boots! Today was mostly spent tending to business. I picked up my press packet, spent hours finalizing which films I’m going to see, and attended the annual press conference with Robert Redford. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see any films. The two opening night films – HOWL and Restrepo – were both...More
Sundance 2010
Tomorrow (January 21) marks that start of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival! I will be there for the third year in a row. So, please check back daily for regular blog updates!...More
Secure the Water against the Starving - US Troops in Haiti
When you store your brains in your weaponry, then every situation is a security threat. US military in Haiti, hyper-vigilant about securing emergency relief, obviously missed the central purpose - get the supplies out to save lives. When the Wall Street Journal presents Cubans as heroes and US soldiers as paranoid idiots, you know the screw-up must be off the scale. "Benoit Leduc, operations manager for Doctors Without Borders in Haiti, on Monday said "hundreds of lives" were lost because five of its planes carrying surgical teams and equipment weren't allowed to land and were diverted to Santo Domingo. "Several...More
Architect of Misfortune?
Happy Belated New Year! I'm so happy you made it to the New Year. We should be thankful we made it because so many people didn't. It's the beginning of the year and as we all lists of New Year’s resolutions we hope to implement. I hope one of your new year's resolutions is to conserve water, go green/recycle and save energy. If you were not too concerned about how dire the global warming situation is, consider the following. 1n 1910 we had over 150 glaciers. We now have fewer than 30! The snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro will be gone...More
HAITI: A Ten-Point Progressive Action Plan & How to Empower Haitians
Our first impulse when we see a disaster of this magnitude is to help in any way we can as individuals. However, if we take a moment to assess the big picture, we can often have a much greater impact when we leverage our collective power to lobby governments and international bodies. I recommend Haiti Action as an excellent source of information and on-the-ground-reporting on grassroots organizing for justice in Haiti: www.haitiaction.net I've put together a ten-point list of progressive action for Haiti, based on the work of Haiti activists and progressive analysts. 1) Grants, not loans. 2) Keep corporations...More
The Desire for Freedom
I am Hanif and just became 29, No no! Don’t look down here, you won't find me! I am the one who’s looking at you from the blue sky I am a shining star in the darkest night And I am longing for the sun rise My heart is still burning from hotness of the bullet, The bullet which dressed me in red of my blood. I wonder, desiring for freedom is a crime today So I’m the biggest criminal! The darkness saw the desire flame in my eyes Now I am the star, watching you from the above The...More
Bringing Books to People
It is an unusual story of how a teacher is bringing books, and culture, to the children in a small community in Colombia. And how, through his personal effort, he may be changing a culture characterized by extreme violence into one of peace. Since the decade of the 1930s violence has been an inescapable component of Colombian society. From 1948 to 1957 the country went through a civil war known as “La Violencia” which left over 250,000 dead, the result of old rivalries between people from the Liberal and Conservative parties. These incidents created the framework for the extreme violence...More
Brief Encounter
It was a chilly morning in Manhattan late in March. I was on my way to a doctor’s office when I was stopped by a middle-aged black man leaning on a stick he was using as a cane. Although he was dressed in suit and tie, his clothes were dirty and wrinkled. There was a discrepancy between his appearance and the precise, elegant manner of his speech. “Please tell me where the nearest hospital is, aside from this one,” he asked me, pointing to the hospital that was just across the street. I told him that the nearest hospital was...More
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