Category: Band-aid for a heart attack

Small solutions for a major crisis or social problem. Ineffective methods to address issues.

Would YOU be able to survive on $15,000/year?

The U.S. federal minimum wage was first established during the Depression, and since 1933 has risen from 25 cents to $7.25 per hour.  As it stands now, three years will have passed since the last increase in the federal minimum wage, which is currently just over $15,000 a year for a full time worker.  Can …

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Housing First Model for Homelessness?

Is it time to start thinking differently about homelessness?  There’s a broad spectrum of approaches and opinions surrounding homelessness in the US and its assumed you are somewhere on that continuum.  The Veteran’s Administration and Barack Obama have declared to end veteran homelessness by 2015, although results and progress remain to be seen.  What if …

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So is Voluntourism the Road Better Traveled?

Voluntourism, as discussed in a previous blog, To Go Or Not To Go, provides a unique impact and scope compared to traditional donations.  The second part of the series seeks to uncover the road of donations as compared to voluntourism in terms of reaching the destination, community impact, and the values of overhead.  The analysis …

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Is Burma really on the path to Democracy?

The religious crisis in Arakan state, Burma against the Rohingya Muslims is escalating by the second. I had previously written about this subject in my blog posts, but I want to update everyone on what is currently going on. To briefly explain what the conflict is about, there are groups of Buddhist extremists and Burmese …

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Extreme Poverty in Lao PDR

Lao PDR has one of the highest growth rates in Southeast Asia with 6% increase every year in the last decade. Even the level of poverty has been declining. However, the country is still one of the least developed in Southeast Asia and the level of poverty is still largely apparent in this economy. Laos …

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Education Equality? The Color of School Closings

No more pencils. No more books. No more teacher’s dirty looks. A favorite song of mine, which I would often sing to myself every time June rolled around. The tune would play over and over in my head, as I would count down to the last day of school in a rush of projects, parties, …

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Ending Child Brides

There are many things that are stopping girls from being able to get an education, from lack of infrastructure to natural disasters. However, there is one large, looming obstacle that is keeping many girls from schools; child brides. It is estimated that in the next decade 14.2 million girls will be married before their 18th …

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The Extremist, Radical Box

I think a lot of people can call me the quintessential Jersey girl without the gym, tan, and laundry.  I have enough feistiness to account for the entire East Coast, and yet I am always meekly waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop.  Though I am surrounded by some of the most understanding people in …

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Border Clashes Create Anger in Turkey

It’s been a while since I’ve written about the Arab Spring, mostly because it’s not really the “Arab Spring” anymore. Egypt, Syria, Libya, and others, have been struggling for two years now, and there is little hope that the conflict will be resolved any time soon, particularly in Syria.   The violence in Syria has …

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What’s in a Name?

The Social Security Administration has officially joined the club. Better late than never, you could say. In August 2010, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed Rosa’s Law, which legally required the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” to be removed from all federal education, health, and labor laws. Just last month, the Social …

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