College Credit for Service Trip to Cambodia

A very good friend of mine, Lori Halverson-Wente, (Communication Instructor at Rochester Community and Technical College in Rochester, MN), has asked that I share the following information with anyone who might be interested in this trip. She and her husband have been making this trip for several years now. I have met and talked with her children, whose lives have been changed by this experience. I previously posted a story here on Naomi's project, One Toilet at a Time. More is posted at Doors2Cambodia.

Please share the following information with anyone who might be interested and able to make this trip.

COME TO CAMBODIA

Winter Break 2008-2009

Spend this winter break “in class” while you travel, serve and learn in Cambodia. American and Cambodian college students work “elbow-to-elbow” building bathrooms for rural school children with our RCTC initiated “One Toilet at a Time” program. Help provide safe water for rural villages. Teach conversational English workshops. Craft your own service project to develop your portfolio and resume. Work on issues of human rights, child-trafficking, international development, and education—all while gaining COLLEGE CREDITS! Our sustainable partnership with Cambodian college students has received awards for excellence from the US State Department, the MN Department of Education, the MN Lt. Governor’s “Red Wagon Awards” Program, United Way/KTTC, Olmsted Co. Youth Commission, the US Congressional Awards Program and internationally by the Mercy Corps…you too can join us in making a difference!

We do experience the highs and the lows. You will see the poorest of poor and the most beautiful sites too – making life-long friendships that span the globe along the way.

We do more than work hard, we play hard! Swim in the Gulf of Thailand. Hang out on the beach…try new food! Visit miles of ancient temples, cultural sites and rural villages. Experience city life and also stay a night in the “floating village.”

During this trip of a lifetime, we will learn about Intercultural Communication together as we experience it….together.

•Trip Dates: Dec. 29, 2008 - Jan. 13, 2009*
•Transferable College Credit: Internships & Independent Study Available
•Open to All: From post-secondary to traditional to adult learners—audit or grade options.
•For More Details visit www.cambodiarctc.project.mnscu.edu

*final dates/price will be determined once flights are locked in.




This video puts into words and images the experience of a lifetime as told by 2006-2007 student, Pat Mohs. Video by Kim Sin and Justin Richardson. It is narrated by Meghan Lockhart.

The Devolution of McCain

Bob Woodward has written thoughtfully about the changes in McCain evident in this campaign. It is hard to give the full flavor of this article by just an excerpt because what's good about it is the full, detailed picture it gives of someone who inexplicably has gone against everything he has claimed to believe and lived by. It's not a snarky or even ourely partisan statement of flip-flops - it's an honest, almost anguished dismay.

Here's just a small part:

Above all, the John McCain I covered in 1999-2000 was -- he said -- convinced that two factors were undermining the interests of the United States: its cultural wars, causing political gridlock in Washington and civic discontent across the land; and the unbending agenda of the right-wing of the Republican party that, in his view, had been captured by the Christian conservative movement and bore disproportionate responsibility for the poisonous state of American politics. Exhibit One: the scorched-earth campaign that George W. Bush was then waging against McCain's insurgent run for the Republican presidential nomination.

Yet, McCain, is, in fact, running the kind of campaign against Barack Obama that George Bush ran against him in 2000, which he regarded rightly as dishonest, dishonorable and diversionary in terms of the truth about him and about the nation's problems.

Bob Woodward, The Palin Pick - The Devolution of McCain, Huffington Post.

Bring in the second string quarterback

This would be funny if it were not for real.

Palin Speaks

Watch CBS Videos Online

"I'll try and find some and bring'em to you."

Now I feel better.

Just make sure you keep them on the back cover

Christian bookstores removed a magazine featuring women pastors on the cover. I wonder what they would have done if they had seen all these bishops.

For the story, see "Commentary: Christian Bookstores Shameful Actions" by Roland S. Martin at CNN. He says of the bookstores' removal of the magazine without even any notice to the publisher: "This is the kind of nonsense that drives more people away from religion." No kidding.

Serious news - Violence against Alaska native women

Alaska Real reports on Palin and Sexual Abuse Politics. An excerpt:

Alaska is the number one state in the country for rape, and has been for 23 out of the last 30 years.Alaska’s reported rate of rape per capita is 2.6 times the national average.

Anchorage has the ninth highest sexual assault rate of any city in the United States, and Fairbanks is ranked first. (Not the best top ten list to be on.) Fairbanks’ rape rate is 4.7 times the national average.

AK’s Child abuse rate is six times higher than the national average.

The stats get even grimmer if you look at how Alaska Native women fare. If you really don't want to sleep at night, take a look at Amnesty International's report, "Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the USA".

Read it all for more about this serious problem and what Alaska politicians like Palin are (or rather are not) doing about the problem.

Alaskan bloggers continue to do a great job reporting and daring to speak about important issues like these that the MSM (mainstream media) does not want to explore.

Fun in Alaska

(courtesy of mamadance).

I'm posting it for no good reason other than that Mad Priest rejected it (as he does all my suggestions). Just goes to show that he has high standards of taste. I just thought that the Viking theme might resonate with Anglo-Saxons. OCICBW.

McCain Pulls Out of Debate

"John McCain suspends campaigning to work on economy, requests postponing Friday debate; asks Obama do the same." CNN news alert.

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all I can say.

P.S.

Funny thing, yesterday people were concerned about hiding Palin.



Now it's McCain, as well.