Archive for February, 2007
Recipe – Tomato Soup
Here’s a slightly modified recipe for tomato soup…
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
6 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 Tbs.)
1 14-oz. can organic diced tomatoes with sweet onion
1 14-oz. can organic plain tomato sauce
4 oz. silken tofu, mashed (about 2/3 cup)
1 low-sodium vegetable bouillon cube
1/2 cup couscous
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano
2 Tbs. chopped fresh basil
2 chopped tomatoes
White privilege in marketing
Let’s add one more item to Peggy’s knapsack…
- I can watch a commercial for the iPhone and see a lot of white people.
Samuel L. Jackson is the only person of color in this commercial. Who is Apple’s target demographic for this product…?
Racism as treasured tradition
While searching for the identity of a racist, homophobic, pro-chief hate e-mailer, I came across this gem of a statement from the University of Illinois Alumni Association’s President:
Statement from UIAA President Loren R. Taylor
The University of Illinois Alumni Association is supportive of the Board of Trustees in light of its difficult decision concerning the Chief Illiniwek tradition. We recognize the board’s responsibility to act in what it believes to be the best interests of the University as a whole. At the same time, we respect the emotional impact this announcement is having on the alumni and friends who treasure this longtime University tradition. Illinois loyalty has never been constricted to one issue or dependent on any one activity, and, as a community, I believe we will emerge from this period stronger, closer and more committed to our shared fundamental values.
Loren R. Taylor
President and CEO
University of Illinois Alumni Association
Translation: The University of Illinois Alumni Association respects the longtime racist tradition of chief illiniwek at UIUC and is sorry for the emotional turbulence that losing the mascot has caused to the dominant majority at UIUC. Our white privilege, racism, and othering of Native folks will continue to make us closer and more committed to our shared fundamental values.
Gender disparity in web conferences
Jason Kottke has an excellent post about the gender disparity amongst several of the most popular (successful?) web conferences and their featured speakers.
Women make up less than 25% of the featured speakers at the majority of the conferences (TED, PopTech, An Event Apart Boston 2007, Future of Web Apps – San Francisco, etc) that Kottke analyzes.
According to Kottke:
it seems to me that either the above concerns are not getting through to conference organizers or that gender diversity doesn’t matter as much to conference organizers as they publicly say it does. The Future of Web Apps folks seem to have a particularly tin ear when it comes to this issue. For their second conference, they doubled the size of the speaker roster and added only one woman to the bill despite the complaints from last time.
Here is a list of women speakers for conferences…
Glacéau + Racist Voicemail Redux
A week ago I blogged about Glacéau’s racist voicemail message. Upon publishing the post, which included an audio recording of the voicemail, I received an interesting comment from Lauren.
Recipe – Sweet Potato Bisque
Via the Vegetarian Times…
Sweet Potato Bisque with Shiitake Mushrooms
Serves 6 –The earthy flavors of wild mushrooms add depth and richness to this creamy soup.
6 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 medium-sized carrots, peeled and diced
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable stock
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 herb bundle (about 30 stems fresh parsley and 6 to 10 stems fresh thyme)
5 oz. shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean, stems and caps separated
1 cup tomato purée
6 scallions, trimmed and finely minced
1/2 cup heavy cream, or more to taste
1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne, or to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
The University of Tennessee Website
The University of Tennessee recently re-designed their primary web pages. The new page design is very accessible, user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing and it’s optimized for search engines. Pages were coded using standards-based design techniques. Their use of cascading style sheets to “style” the homepage is gorgeous and accessible for users with visual impairments. Kudos to the University of Tennessee and the Office of Creative Services! They have truly created a “web 2.0″ university website.
Chief Illiniwek Will No Longer Perform
UIUC has decided to discontinue Chief Illiniwek….
Absent from the official UIUC response is any mention of the ethical reasons for eliminating the “Chief.” Labeling Chief Illiniwek as a positive tradition, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees has done little to address the racism of this “tradition.” Chief Illiniwek may be finished. However, racism, stereotyping, and oppression seem to unfortunately be going strong amongst the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. The board seems more concerned with losing money from alumni and re-gaining access to lucrative post-season collegiate athletics.
This sends a terrible message to all white students at UIUC. The University and its Board have made it clear that listening to people of color and their allies does not matter. I’ve included the full text of the press release from the University of Illinois. Nowhere in the release is it mentioned that the Chief was a racist caricature that stereotyped Native Americans.
Co-facilitating a CSSA class
I co-facilitated a College Student Services Administration (CSSA) class at Oregon State University today. Jessica White and Chris White are teaching a course on Technology Issues in Higher Education. Jessica and I presented an edited version of our “Blogs and Student Learning” presentation. After an hour on blogs, blogging, rss, etc., Chris and I facilitated a discussion on podcasts / podcasting in a higher education context. I had a great time. The class asked a lot of questions and the discussion was lively. It felt good to be back in the classroom.
Enrollment Management Update 2/13/07
Podcasts:
Virginia Tech’s podcast site features news briefs, financial aid information, and student stories. Plus, the site design is terrific.
Podcasting is a service that allows you to receive periodic updates of featured audio content from Virginia Tech. As new features become available, they will be automatically downloaded to your computer and/or portable MP3 player.
Financial Aid Podcasts:
The University of Arizona’s Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships features a financial aid podcast.
OSFA on the Air is a podcast series designed to answer many of your financial aid questions. Each show contains 30 minutes of practical information to you obtain financial aid.
Admissions:
University of Wisconsin System regents voted Friday to adopt a new freshman admissions policy that requires officials to consider nonacademic factors such as race and income to increase diversity.
Tuition:
George Washington University acknowledges having the highest tuition in the country. And yesterday, the board of trustees voted to raise it again.
Tuition for next year’s freshmen will be more than $39,000, an increase of 3.8 percent.
Oregon State University:
Benny the Beaver has a MySpace page. Welcome to the era of viral beaver-based marketing.
