Ireland: Housing Boom

For my Spring Break this year, I left the US to visit Ireland for 10 days. It was a brilliant trip, and a lovely country. While I was overseas I noticed many cultural and economic differences and figured I could share some of them with you all. (Maybe a series of posts on Ireland...)

Most people are familiar with the Irish potato famine and the hardships the country and people have faced. However, what many do not know is that the economy of Ireland today is in a deep recession, like the US. Ireland fell victim to a housing boom. Contractors constructed a multitude of houses. On my trip I saw clusters of modern houses, all similar in style and size. The majority of the houses/building however were empty. Ireland spent a huge amount of money on this housing project leaving the banks in debt. For more detailed information on Irish finance news please visit http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1015142.shtml .

The debt was substantial leaving the Irish government to look for advise from other countries. The US prompted the Irish to bail out the banks, which has now left Ireland in a deep recession.
In my opinion, the US led Ireland astray.

Above is a chart where the increase in buildings constructed corresponds with a net migration (out of the country) likely due to the bad economic times Ireland is under- likely due to the housing boom and bank bail-out.

"We Are One"

Today, April 4, 2011 marks the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. This year a "We Are One" campaign is taking place in honor of MLK's dream of collective bargaining and equal rights. The event is occurring across the country where union members and their supporters are coming together to show their support for unions, the middle class, and workers rights. The decline of unions is curious, and especially prevalent today due to the events that have taken place in Wisconsin. More information about "We Are One" is available here: http://www.aflcio.org/splash_april4_live.cfm?continue=/commonspot/sync/packethandlers/do-packet-steps.cfm

Events, rallies, vigils, speeches and community meeting are taking place in every state. There is so much you can do to show your support for unions, and events are even happening in the New Trier Township. Tonight (April 4th) at 8:00PM in Wilmette at 1324 Gregory Avenue, "Teachers that believe in reducing the structural system/control of tenure (while upholding Union Rights)" are meeting for the  "Teachers of the Burbs" event as part of "We Are One."

Show your support for America's labor movement by signing the pledge to make a difference! Thanks!

HAPPY ST. PATRiCK'S DAY

Regardless of whether you're Irish or not, please take this absolutely gorgeous and warm March 17th to enjoy yourself!
I am from an extremely Irish family, and while we are of course preparing the typical corned beef and cabbage tonight, I am just finishing off a shamrock shake!

Every year I wait in eager anticipation for the return of my number one favorite treat. Now they come topped off with whipped cream and a cherry (hardly necessary but nice for you gourmets). If you've never experienced the delight of these delish minty milkshakes, I would 100% encourage you to pick on up, just for St. Patty's day! These green shakes have been around for a over 40 years, and I thought this brief history of shamrock shakes was pretty neat.

These McDonald's commercials are also pretty interesting...

They are all from the 1980's and all have a pretty different approach, it's interesting to see the difference in these commercials from the McDonald's commercials we see today advertising fancy almost "designer" lattes and frappucinos complete with whipped cream. (Notice any tokenism or advertising techniques?)

*I'll let y'all know if they have shamrock shakes in Ireland in a couple months.

Starting is the Hardest Part

On Monday, our American Studies class began Junior Theme, a research paper that is dreaded and talked about since freshman year.
The first step is picking a current issue/topic with a history in America. Wow. It doesn't seem too difficult, because there are thousands of issues and debates going on in the USA this very moment.

My initial topic list ranged from the emergence of the "Tea Party" to the bottled water industry.
Today, after three days of angst, struggling to choose a single topic, I'm still very much unsure of which direction to go in. At this moment in time, I've settled on the topic of unions. Why have unions declined?

I'm guessing that I will most likely change my topic for the umpteenth time within the next hour, however, unions are present in today's news (particularly in light of the protests in Wisconsin) and have a past. Unions grew in membership in power in the 1950's, they were challenged by many companies and government officials *cough, cough...Reagan* and continue to be part of today's economic structure despite shifts from an economy focusing on manufacturing to a service economy.

I'll keep my blog updated with any rash decisions, and hopefully will be able to report back that my research on unions is going well!

Happy Monday

Happy Monday. (sorry to those of you who regard this as an oxymoron). Regardless of how tired you may be feeling today, keep in mind that Monday's are the start to what could be an awesome week. The day is yours. Do with it what you'd like.

**I hope no one is freaking out about Junior Theme, we have plenty of time to work on it!

Token Tiana

Earlier this year I posted a positive comment regarding Disney's newest princess, Princess Tiana. I had not actually viewed this movie but recognized the token characters present in The Princess and The Frog to immediately be a positive improvement simply because they complete the racial spectrum of Disney princesses.
Since posting I have experienced Bolos and O'Connor's TV Tokenism presentation (available here) and i have also watched this new animated film.
Within seconds of beginning the movie stereotypical characters as well as tokens were apparent everywhere. The film is complete with poor, sassy, superstitious and stereotypical blacks who serve whites who are both well dressed, pompous, spoiled and wealthy. Tiana's mother is a seamstress, Tiana is working multiple low-grade jobs, and despite being black spends more than 90% of the movie as a frog! 

Token characters such as a "mystical minority" are also present in the character of Mama Odie (seen below)

Mama Odie acts as Tiana's fairy godmother and has a thick accent, and a knack for voodoo (something often associated with African Americans).

A second 'mystical minority' is seen in Dr. Facilier, the evil 'shadow man' who transforms the prince (Naveen) into a frog.

Overall, I believe that stereotypes are enforced through this new fairytale. It is true that Tiana is indeed colored, however she is merely a token. Despite all the hype regarding a "black princess", Tiana ends up marrying a prince who is extremely white-looking.

Fear

Fear is a natural emotion that seems to paralyze one of their ability to stand up for what they believe.

Fear is the one thing that stands in one's way of acheiving a dream.

Martin Luther King Jr. looked beyond the fear of arrest or mistreatment in order to acheive a larger goal. I believe that every civil liberty can be enforced if one looks past their own fears. Currently Maryland's campaign against gay marriage is being run by fear of change. http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=7712&MediaType=1&Category=26 Their fear is the same type of fear that rallied against equal rights for african americans and women. It is a fear that is both ridiculus and immature. If others combat those in cowardice of change, change can take place.

  Life is unpredictable, however if one does not take a chance and test the water regardless of the possible consequences one will not see the change they dream of.