Care-giving for the Elderly

Interesting article that speaks a lot about care-giving with the elderly. It relates directly to SMILE (Students Moving into the Lives of the Elderly) which works to bridge the gap between generations and develop fellowship between students and seniors in New Orleans (contact Joelle Brown at jebrown@loyno.edu for more info).

The fact that the question is asked, who is taking care of our elderly?, is indicative as to where they stand in the priority of the American family. How can we better treat and care for our seniors? How do we better educate and prepare family care-givers to be adequate care-takers? Thoughts?

-j.

we think critically about... maps

Over the summer I was in a Ten Thousand Villages store in Alexandria, VA browsing around and found a bin filled with unusual maps.  Map projections have always amazed me - considering that there is no way to put the three dimensional contents of a globe onto the two dimensional contents of a map, something has to be distorted.  Where do we distort?  Why is the Atlantic in the middle of the map?  All questions I still have unanswered.

While the map with countries sized based on their population was cool (India, China = big; Europe, USA = small), I was most intrigued by the map that was inverted.  Antarctica was at the top, the north pole at the bottom.  I barely recognized it as the same map I've seen since grade school.

So for tonight's LUCAP meeting, I made flyers with that upside down map across them.  I this year in LUCAP that seasoned LUCAPers and newcomers alike have their beliefs challenged and learn about the way that others see the world.  This totally makes me want to print a bunch of upside down maps and distribute them to grade schools everywhere.

A found a short essay on the upside down map called Dreaming Upside Down and plan to discuss it tonight at the meeting.  Here's some of it:

In my dream, a cloud of anxieties closed around me. The United States was now at the bottom. Would we have to stand upside-down, causing the blood to rush to our heads? Would we need suction-cup shoes to stay on the planet, and would autumn leaves fall up? No, I remembered, an apple once bopped Newton on the head - no need to worry about these things.

Other things troubled me more. Now that we're at the bottom, would our resources and labor be exploited by the new top? Would African, Asian, and Latin American nations structure world trade to their advantage?

Would my neighbors and I have two-dollars-a-day seasonal jobs on peach and strawberry plantations? Would the women and children work from dusk to dawn to scratch survival from the earth of California and Virginia? Would the fruit we picked be shipped from New Orleans and New York for children in Thailand and Ethiopia to hurriedly eat with their cereal so they wouldn't miss the school bus?

Would our children, then, spend the morning, not in school, but fetching water two miles away and the afternoon gathering wood for heating and cooking? Would a small ruling class in this country send their daughters and sons to universities in Cairo and Buenos Aires?

A late look at guns on campuses

I know its a bit late to blog about this story, but I ran across a Loyolacentric article in the Gambit today regarding guns on campuses.  Louisiana House Resolution 199 proposed that Universities should no longer forbid the concealed carrying of weapons by licensed citizens.  This resolution was defeated and never became law, but it was contentious enough that Loyola University President Kevin Wildes, SJ took a public position on the matter (against).  

Apparently not all of Loyola was not in agreement with the President.  The article details the impending creation of a Students for Concealed Carry on Campus chapter at Loyola University with support from Dr. Walter Block.  Block was quoted in the article wondering why the pro-gun feminist voice was lacking from the discussion, stating that guns are a great equalizer in the physical differences between men and women and would decrease the number of sexual assaults on female students.  Dr. Marcus Kondkar pointed out that such a statement implies a fundamental misunderstanding of sexual assault on college campuses, as only 9% of sexual assault at Loyola occurred at the hands of a stranger.  

The article is a very interesting read indeed.

Lower your carbon footprint with factory farming?

Any casual environmentalist would tell you that local food is more sustainable than factory farmed food shipped from across the country.  And it makes sense - there's nothing eco-friendly about a soot-belching diesel semi blazing across the interstates of America.  

But is eating locally actually a less efficient and therefore more energy intensive activity than eating those delicious Chilean grapes in December?  

Art Carden of the austro-liberatrian Mises Institute thinks that is the case.  While Carden admits there are many reasons to eat locally, getting the lowest possible carbon footprint is not one of them.  He suggests that a more effective step in reducing ones carbon footprint would be to simply reduce consumption of meat and replace it with vegetables.  I couldn't agree more, Art.

Whole Foods Article

For all your Whole Foods-ers!

"The recall is the latest blow for a company already struggling with anemic sales growth because of the economic slowdown.
'The assumption is that for the extra money that you pay for most Whole Foods products, in return you’re getting something that’s safer, fresher and more nutritious,' said Gene Grabowski, head of the crisis and litigation practice at Levick Strategic Communications, who has handled several food-recall cases. 'And this damages that perception a great deal.'"

Do we always get better quality and fresher selection for the higher prices at WF?

-j.

New LUCAP advisor has arrived!

After months of facebook stalking (haha), I finally met the new LUCAP advisor and Director of Immersion trips Josh Daly. He's a Loyola and LUCAP grad from back in 2004 and I'm really excited to be working with him this year. I even found some Maroon articles mentioning him, so he's totally legit.

He'll be working for the last two weeks of July before leaving for two weeks to get married and go honeymooning.

Come visit him in the new University Ministry space in the Danna Center basement. That's the former SGA office.

Glad to have you, Josh!

New Loyola Website--Major Overhaul

Not only does the new website look pretty spiffy, but the first link under "Explore Our Jesuit Identity" (not to mention in a host of other places) is LUCAP! BIG THANKS to whomever made or helped make it happen!

Thoughts and comments?
-j.