I left this blog when I ended Multimedia and Issues in the News. Documentary took over and I had to work over there. I highly suggest checking out the final product!
I graduated almost a month ago! I’ve been searching out some jobs so I’m using the work that’s on this blog, Weird Ithaca and Ithaca Week to hopefully lead me to employment and the real world!
Wish me luck!
http://www.ithacaweek.com/?p=3749 (The Circus Truck)
http://www.ithacaweek.com/?p=3656 (Cornell Break Dancers)
http://www.ithacaweek.com/?p=3614 (Chabad House of Ithaca)
http://www.ithacaweek.com/?p=3531 (Pumpkins in the Fall)
Link to Flash Drill
Video Camera Drill
It took some searching to find some information on trafficking from Salon. None of it is new. Only one has a first person narrative. A piece entitled “My pimp advertised me online” where a woman tells her story of being forced into prostitution. Most of them are just the reporters assuming how hard it is to be trafficked by using anonymous sources. Also, every single one is about sex trafficking. The only one that mentions that there could be other forms is one that mentions Estonia might ban trafficking (they did). But even that piece focuses on sex work and not really on things like making goods or farming. Still, it’s not surprising as farming or production is not sexy and it’s too real for people to deal with.
The Atlantic presents a similar problem. Their most recent article is from a month ago that tells us slavery does still exist. The difference is this one doesn’t focus just one sex slavery. This one focuses on everything that slavery involves. It also is the only one that has actual pictures of slaves doing jobs that aren’t sex slavery. The rest is just sex slavery and from last year and further back.
It actually is depressing how little slavery was focused on in both of them. You know, bashing other political parties during election season takes up a lot of space.
I have 36 slaves working for me. Welp, that’s depressing but less than I actually thought it would be. Off to find some fair trade bathroom products.
The city of Ithaca is expanding its sustainability efforts by installing solar panels on the buildings of the Ithaca Youth Bureau and the Ithaca Fire Department.
In addition, any energy generated by the panels that the buildings do not use will go back onto the city’s grid, providing more power for other buildings to use.
http://www.ithacaweek.com/wp-content/uploads/Dunphy_Dowd_Solar/
The city has already saved $523,057 in energy costs over the last three years through energy conservation and facility improvement measures on government buildings.
The Youth Bureau isn’t new to renewable energy. Two years ago, they started a solar hot water project in Cass Park, though the main building didn’t use enough hot water to implement the plan there. According to Ithaca Youth Bureau director Allen Green, that was when the bureau first started thinking about solar electric power.
“We have been interested in sustainability for a while,” said Green. “The IYB was a bit of a trail blazer.”
At the fire department, the firehouse currently buys its energy off the city grid. Once the panels are installed, it will be powered on its own. The most important part of the installation is that the department will no longer be running on the power created by fossil fuels on the grid, said Fire Chief Tom Parsons.
“The savings will be small,” said Parsons, “the bigger impact is that we’re using sustainable energy. We’re not relying on energy produced by fossil fuels.
The Town of Ithaca is generating ideas as well. A new community initiative started last week, holding forums where people can discuss energy alternatives to create a plan.
These ideas have included ways to possibly share solar energy, according to town sustainability planner Nick Goldsmith.
“Not everyone has enough roof space for panels,” Goldsmith said. That prompted one resident, at a forum last Tuesday, to suggest solar panels on houses that other residents could also use. The quadrants would allow residents to share with those who do have the space, said Goldsmith.
Solar power does come at a cost. The upfront cost for the technology is more than that of other sources, and many don’t find the panels aesthetically pleasing on buildings or houses. However, the price remains steadier for renewable resources because there are fewer variables, said Adam Rickel, project manager at Nextera Engery, which installs and maintains more solar panels and wind turbines than any other company in North America.
“You can set a price with a contract,” Rickel said, “You pledge to buy an amount of energy and that price is locked in. The reason is, we know what that fuel costs, it doesn’t cost anything. With natural gas, the price we pay fluctuates with the price of natural gas.”
Green and Parsons both feel that the benefits of sustainable energy technology far outweigh any down sides.
“Technology plays a huge role,” Rickel said, “as it gets better it’ll become less expensive for communities.”
Her 4-foot-10 frame held steadfast, staring straight ahead, until the music started. At the first low beat of an Egyptian drum, June Seaney’s dainty feet set into a grand step across the wooden floor of her living room studio. Her hands curled through the air and her long, amber hair created a path for the other dancers to follow. Olga and Jackie’s skirts swayed as they, too, took their first steps.
The Chandani Belly Dance Troupe’s routine had begun.
http://www.ithacaweek.com/wp-content/uploads/Dunphy_Miles_BellyDance/
Seaney, the troupe instructor, was always mystified by belly dancing, but never imagined that she would spend her life running a studio. Now, Seaney teaches beginner, intermediate and advanced levels of Middle Eastern and Romani dances at Cornell University and with her company, Moonlight Dancer.
Though high rent forced Seaney out of her studio in downtown Ithaca, she still teaches four days a week in her living room at home. She spends the most time with her troupe, Chandani. Some of the members have been dancing with Seaney for nearly 20 years.
“These people are fabulous. They’ve hung in there while we’re regrouping and finding another place,” Seaney said. “We all help each other.”
The troupe, eight female members, gathers not just for practice, but performance. Chiandi has performed at several festivals in Ithaca and the surrounding area and during the months of September and October, the troupe performs nearly every weekend.
Tonight, in Seaney’s living room, the troupe members are in full, traditional costume to rehearse an Egyptian dance for Rakkasah East, a belly dance exposition in Somerset, N.J., this weekend.
“I drag them everywhere,” Seaney said, laughing.
Seaney believes that performance is the best way to spread the culture of belly dance, which is often misinterpreted.
Middle Eastern and Romani belly dance are traditional styles that focus on isolating different parts of the body, mainly the hips. Belly dance is usually performed by women and was popularized in the United States during the early 18th century to model Oriental harems.
Most often now, Seaney said, belly dance is only seen in restaurants and music videos.
Troupe member Olga Malysheva was attracted by the music during one of Seaney’s shows. Prior to seeing June perform Malysheva had thought belly dancing was “controversial” dance style. However, she was still interested in learning more about it.
“I saw June performing and I thought ‘oh my god that’s so impressive. I want to dance like that,” Malysheva said.
Maylsheva signed up for classes with Seaney almost immediately and has been with Chiandi ever since.
Emily Nowels, Ithaca College student and belly dancer, has danced with another local troupe called Mirage. Nowels, a native of Indiana, said that instructors like Seaney create a strong foundation for the local belly dancing culture.
“It’s always important to have someone who is so committed to spreading the dance,” Nowels said. “She and her troupe inspire other people to learn the art and to dance with her.”
Six new stores are coming to downtown Ithaca in the spring. Two local business owners who are transforming portions of the Ithaca Journal building into new shops on Green Street.
John Guttridge and David Kuckuk, partners of Urban Core, LLC, said they hope to bring new businesses into the spaces left abandoned in downtown Ithaca after many owners were forced to close during the economic recession in 2008.
http://soundcloud.com/nogrysko/local-business-owners-look-to
When they purchased the warehouse in March, Guttridge said they were encouraged by others employees in the building to demolish the area and build parking, but they saw the space as a place for downtown shopping.
The plan is to redevelop the alleyway into tiny retails stores measuring 265 square feet, as opposed to spaces found on the Commons that measure 1,100 square feet, Guttridge said. The alley will allow for open air shopping and conditioned spaces depending on the weather for a year round operation.
Though some residents said the plan seems promising, others are concerned about finding parking in the area near the new stores.
“I think it could be cool,” local Steve Gattine said. “It depends on what they end up putting there. The parking obviously isn’t wonderful down here.”
Their first store, Life So Sweet Chocolates, opened last week in the redeveloped warehouse.
Guttridge and Kuckuk are looking for tenants now, starting with a local café. They expect to begin renting in the coming months, construct during the winter and plan to open in spring.
Audio postcard: http://soundcloud.com/nogrysko/local-business-owners-look-to
Fourth grade teacher, Jen Wilkie, begins the English portion of her class. Wilkie was the recipient of the Lohr Award for Innovation in Teaching Science for her work of bringing the community to the classroom.
Erin Dunphy and Lauren Mateer
The Ithaca Public Education Initiative awarded the 2012 Raymond C. Loehr Award for Excellence in Science Teaching last week to teacher Jennifer Wilkie. Wilkie received the award at the Ithaca City School District’s convocation event September 4 for her work teaching fourth grade at South Hill Elementary School.
One of the main science projects Wilkie does with her classes is “Trout in the Classroom,” a collaboration with the Floating Classroom. Students raise trout from eggs and care for the fish to learn about their life cycles and environments before the trout are released in the spring at Lower Buttermilk Falls.
Wilkie said one of the best things about the project is teaching students the connection between the human lifestyle and the trout’s. She said she works to bring a sustainable message to her science classes.
“My hope is that these kids see how their lives are intimately connected to these trouts’ lives,” Wilkie said. “Their successes are also our successes, and their troubles are indicators of our troubles.”
IPEI Development Committee Chair Mary Grainger said that the award is given on behalf of the Lohr family to a teacher in the community who helps students foster interest in science. It is also to gain publicity for the importance of science education.
“We just want to make sure we make some noise in the community,” Grainger said.
Wilkie said she was honored to be included among the educators who have been recognized for the award in the past.
“I’ve sat in that audience for years and watched colleagues who I’ve seen do amazing work in their science classrooms, so that’s the vision I had of this award” Wilkie said.
Wilkie said she is grateful for the opportunities the IPEI provides for science teachers to reach out to community partners in order to further their education methods. The IPEI helps to fund the trout project at South Hill along with other projects.
According to Grainger, the Award for Excellence in Science Teaching is also a way for the Loehr family to give back to their community. The award was created in honor of Raymond C. Loehr’s 70th birthday.
“They felt it was a nice way to honor their father’s legacy in the district where they were raised and most of their children go to school,” Grainger said of Loehr’s children, who endowed the award.
Wilkie said that the award is appreciated not only by educators but also by students.
“Gratitude is my big thing,” Wilkie said. “The kids are grateful for these experiences, the families are, and it really does come right back into this community. Honestly, there are some kids who haven’t had an opportunity to go down to Lower Buttermilk, for example, and so they get the chance to do that.”
Wilkie said in the current school year she hopes to expand the way she connects her science classes to other subjects, including a project involving the trout, art and poetry, with help from the IPEI and the community.
Erin Elizabeth 