tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80348203802111033912011-09-30T15:46:07.561-04:00Bucking the mainstream (intelligently) since 1985.Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.comBlogger291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-10801382551486985142010-04-13T09:07:00.003-04:002010-04-13T09:50:16.656-04:00

It's not official yet, but speculation has been fueled, by a wayward email, that Andy Stern is retiring from the top position of SEIU.Whether you like Andy Stern or not, the best part of this news is in the potential candidates for his spot - They're both women, and either one would be the first woman to run SEIU. Anna Burger, current Secretary-Treasurer for SEIU, came from the ground up, and is

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-22587180462773069972010-03-29T09:23:00.002-04:002010-03-29T09:47:05.826-04:00

Earlier today, the Moscow metro (subway) system was hit by two female suicide bombers. The attack seems to be connected to Chechen leader Umarov, but -as always- it is unclear whether he is simply claiming them, or whether they were actually part of his rebel fighters.The bombers hit 45 minutes apart at Lubyanka and Park Kultury, killing 37. I'll be carrying a heavy heart today, thinking not only

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-89776864198276940802010-03-25T09:38:00.002-04:002010-03-25T09:52:50.856-04:00

Great post at Feministe about the Tea Party - not only the GOP's acceptance of violence, racism, homophobia, but also the media coverage that allows the extreme views of the party to have equal weight with the rest of the world. I commend my friends and some of the bloggers out there who are writing about times when the GOP wasn't so hateful, when you didn't have to go ape-shit about every little

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-30684910931885685892010-03-05T10:42:00.002-05:002010-03-05T11:03:48.525-05:00

It's early March, and for thousands of graduate school applicants, it's rejection season. Between the impersonal letters to the apologetic emails, AdComs have a thousand ways to let you know that this year, you just weren't on top.Coping with rejection can be difficult, especially when you're having recurring dreams about the committee having a good belly laugh over your credentials. Wallowing in

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-65215024912184768232010-02-18T08:37:00.002-05:002010-02-18T08:57:56.075-05:00

Sen. Buttars from Utah has proposed an unorthodox strategy to cut $60 million from the state's current $700m deficit*. Just take out the 12th grade. Everybody knows that senioritis kicks in, kids skip class, and the last year of college prep ends up being a waste. Utah could cut teachers, roll back funding to schools, and best of all, gain more laborers earlier. In fact, why not cut high school

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-22758098634166089952010-02-17T15:30:00.003-05:002010-02-17T15:49:13.509-05:00

Former University of Michigan Provost, Teresa A. Sullivan, will become the University of Virginia president (their first female prez!) this August. A great choice for U.Va., but a great loss for Michigan. Speaking of losses for Michigan, my alma mater's Sociology program seems to be coming up dry on their recruitment efforts this year. In the last few weeks, two candidates have declined, choosing

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-81575012793993057292009-07-27T09:13:00.002-04:002009-07-27T09:36:15.418-04:00

I am so bloody sick of taxes.Not taxes themselves. Taxes, I get. We need schools, social services, parks, cops (debatable). But could we PLEASE simplify the system?Last year, I was a resident of Michigan for the entire year. I worked in Michigan, but I also spent 3 months in Baltimore. Evidently, this time I was working in Baltimore created such a mass of chaos that I have still yet to escape

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-35037892846790381162009-07-24T17:32:00.005-04:002009-07-24T17:51:56.587-04:00

Black Professor wrongly arrested. Check.Al Sharpton gets involved. Check.President Obama says the officer acted "stupidly." Check.Union reps weigh in on the officer's conduct. Check.President Obama calls the officer to express regret. Check.So, was it racism in Cambridge? "Reverse racism" from the White House? Or just a big misunderstanding? I'm willing to bet that we're not quite through with

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-86199954349553213812009-07-22T20:17:00.002-04:002009-07-22T20:51:12.999-04:00

Just a quick note for a muggy Wednesday evening.Lately I have been increasingly interested in Economic Sociology and the empowerment of women.My recent influences have been:1. Three Cups of Tea/Greg Mortenson/Central Asia Institute2. The work of Kiva3. Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen4. The work of my good friend Theresa VanderMeer, who unfortunately does not have a website, but who is

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-58310255543231336732009-06-26T08:20:00.005-04:002009-06-26T08:40:03.303-04:00

Hours after the internet trickled out news about the death of Farrah Fawcett, it exploded with the news that Michael Jackson was dead.Personally, I mourned the death of the King of Pop long before yesterday's news. Those of us who grew up with greased up kids sporting a red jacket and white glove, choreographing dances to Janet's Black Cat and being terrified of the music video for Thriller,

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-10202850733388269892009-06-23T11:34:00.003-04:002009-06-23T11:53:57.812-04:00

Yesterday evening, at 5pm, a Red Line train near the DC/Maryland border, collided into the train directly in front of it, jack-knifing and piggy-backing on top of it. As of this morning, WMATA had reported 6 confirmed deaths and dozens of injuries, and rescue attempts were still clearing the bodies and injured victims.The National Transportation Security Board (NTSB) blames the Metro for

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-51657208647775177922009-06-15T08:13:00.002-04:002009-06-15T09:01:56.380-04:00

The last few months, I've had to really bite my tongue over government waste. I've been contracting with a Small Business Programs office at the Pentagon, and on Friday, they terminated our contract after a series of rifts between the company and the office.This office was like an elementary school playground. It had bullies, kids who picked their noses and slept through class, and crossing

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-77749659989384935522009-05-07T21:24:00.006-04:002009-05-08T07:45:36.008-04:00

Remember your European History class in high school? You know, the one where the coolest guy (in your extremely dorky opinion) was the one wearing the baggy black t-shirt with a rat screen-printed on the front of it? And above, in Gothic lettering, it read: "BLACK DEATH" and below: "EUROPEAN TOUR 1347-1351"?Okay, maybe that was just me, but you have to admit that everybody loved the stories of

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-38871675067391349642009-04-28T07:35:00.002-04:002009-04-28T07:47:20.459-04:00

Remember when you moved on your own for the first time, out of your parents' house? You thought, alright. Making decisions on my own -- FREEDOM at last.And then rent came due? And then utilities? And, holy shit, my internet connection costs HOW much?So, your first month's bills [almost completely] paid, you think, I will change companies and find a better deal. Fuck Comcast. Oh, wait, Comcast is

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-5064989973565589362009-04-26T13:09:00.002-04:002009-04-26T13:29:31.668-04:00

This will be a short blog about my suburbia paranoia.Revolutionary Road is a gut-wrenching novel written in 1961, long before mainstream criticism of the White Flight to the suburbs. Richard Yates' character development is impressive. At once, you simultaneously detest, empathize with and cheer for both Frank and April Wheeler. The fights between these two harbor an intensity that speaks to a

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-69478102205696843972009-04-25T08:13:00.005-04:002009-04-25T08:34:58.082-04:00

I promised myself I wouldn't write a blog about the housing market, but here I am. I'll try to make it interesting, at least.Tyler and I are looking to buy a house. Well, I'm looking. He's sweating, biting his nails, rubbing his beard thoughtfully and setting budgets. I, on the other hand, am panting over gardens and finished basements.And WHY you may ask? Why are we thinking about this when

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-6193970938917212402009-04-15T13:17:00.002-04:002009-04-15T13:48:05.058-04:00

Stumbling through the rain with a ridiculously large umbrella and two gloriously stuffed envelopes under my coat, I opened the hatch of that blue steel box and mailed my tax returns away. Away, I say!What a mess. Last year, I lived in Maryland and Michigan, worked in Michigan and Maryland, but not Washington, DC, collected non-taxable income, collected taxable income, and moved three times. Not

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-78534390288801617812009-03-19T08:46:00.004-04:002009-03-19T09:01:14.675-04:00

This week I take 10 flights in 6 days. I'm halfway through now, and with all of the travel, the time changes, (4 time zones in 6 days...) and the hassle of rental cars, expenses, conferences and weddings, I found that layovers are the perfect opportunity to get back into my comfort zone.No, it's not home. It's empty and full at the same time. Full of strangers: grown men crying over the loss of a

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-26842063102574507252009-01-21T08:17:00.004-05:002009-01-21T08:34:06.993-05:00

This morning, new President Barack Obama called for a suspension of trials at Gitmo.To be honest, I was a Michigan voter, I didn't get the chance to vote for Obama in the primaries. My vote went to Dodd. I worked for a labor union that endorsed Senator Clinton during the primaries, and, as part of my professional obligations, I worked in Indiana on her campaign. This is a wholly separate story,

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-47698391220288967282009-01-15T11:07:00.004-05:002009-01-15T11:24:29.418-05:00

An amendment proposal, sponsored by Senator Robert Ford (D), was introduced to the South Carolina State Senate this week.The amendment would ban oral and written profanity basically everywhere outside the home, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or 5 years in jail, or both.I could make some comment here about their legal system, and that if they really wanted to fill up some vacant cells, they

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-44721143308851813442009-01-12T07:32:00.003-05:002009-01-12T08:55:45.859-05:00

There has been a lot of one-sided talk about EFCA. Maybe that's because my research is primarily on the very organizations that see it as a challenge or a threat.On Friday, the American Meat Institute (AMI, and don't be fooled, they represent the companies, not the people who work on the floor) along with Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW, an anti-union organization) sent a letter to

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-87080507828383922382009-01-09T14:25:00.003-05:002009-01-09T14:48:58.770-05:00

The House voted overwhelmingly (114-1) today to impeach Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. It was clear to most (evidently not to 1, see above) after Blagojevich was caught on tape soliciting bribes to candidates for Barack Obama's former Senate seat.This makes Blagojevich the fourth of the last eight Illinois governors to be arrested.1. Otto Kerner1961-1968Arrested for, surprise surprise,

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-44815862107370213632008-12-04T17:05:00.003-05:002008-12-04T17:24:49.704-05:00

Last night was the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of DC (YNPN) Networking Happy Hour at Mackey's. And, unfortunately, like nearly all young networking events, this one was full of unemployed young idealists.All cynicism aside, though, we met some great people.There's an upcoming forum on Nonprofit Fundraising in Tough Economic Times on Tuesday, December 16th, which I plan to attend.I think

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-41808139932660898142008-11-20T15:35:00.004-05:002008-11-20T15:49:02.510-05:00

California Democrat Henry Waxman was voted in as the Energy & Commerce Committee Chair in the House today. The 137-122 vote ousted Michigan Dem. John Dingell from the position. As a Michigan native, I have met and personally like Congressman Dingell, but this is an appropriate move. As the trifecta of crises (economic, food, energy) sweeps our way, the House must have an environmentalist willing

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-75073417222992625282008-11-19T13:28:00.003-05:002008-11-19T13:55:23.580-05:00

It looks like Senator Ted Stevens (R) has lost the race for his seat in the Senate. Mark Begich (D), the former Mayor of Anchorage (born and bred) edged him out by merely 3,700 votes. This year, a lot of surprising things have come out of Alaska. This race is clearly one of them. Since 1980, no Democrat has represented Alaska in either the House or Senate. I suppose it takes an 85-year-old

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-766131745485308702008-11-13T06:31:00.004-05:002008-11-19T13:28:19.304-05:00

A few days ago, I was following the story of civilians and sailors who were caught on a Russian submarine when the fire extinguishing system mistakenly went off, releasing Freon into the air, killing 20 and injuring another 21.Like a spinning prize wheel at a low-budget fair, the finger of blame clumsily went in circles, pointing at every possible cause of the accident and updating the details of

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-72634073104175977592008-11-08T22:04:00.004-05:002008-11-09T01:26:06.805-05:00

I've just come home from the Douglass-Debs Dinner in Dearborn, Michigan. The Democratic Socialists of America honored David and Judy Bonior and Judge Claudia Morcum.It's a shame that there's no wealth of information out there about either Judy Bonior or Judge Morcum. Both are powerful, strong, amazing women who have been invaluable in the progressive movement, both with roots in the civil rights

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-16986351472931992842008-11-07T07:03:00.006-05:002008-11-07T07:12:48.338-05:00

For someone whose early education was during the [Bill] Clinton era, to be talking again about the Congo feels strange. Hutu and Tsutis and Rwanda? Like some sort of deja vu. The "haven't we gone over this already" response.But here we are again, after 8 years of [admittedly] international tom-foolery, the Congo has our attention again. Just yesterday I read about the fragile cease-fire, and now

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8034820380211103391.post-92148654668742663642008-11-07T06:50:00.002-05:002008-11-07T07:02:30.074-05:00

Congratulations to all those who worked so hard, I know many of you, but even more exciting is that I don't know so many more.Let's hope that the change we've demanded for the last two years manifests in the white house.Now for the local issues:Michigan -- Way to redeem yourself from banning affirmative action and gay marriage in recent years. Stem cell research and medical marijuana passed with

Masha Masha Mashanoreply@blogger.com0