Solidarity is bringing writer and activist Barbara Ehrenreich to White Gravenor 210B tonight at 7:30.  Ehrenreich is the author of the books Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America and Bait and Switch: The Futile Pursuit of the American Dream.  Ehrenreich is also a frequent contributor to The Nation.

In Nickle and Dimed, Ehrenreich decides to give up her comfortable upper-middle class life and work for a few months as an unskilled laborer.  Leaving home with her car and $1300, Ehrenreich is exposed to the strenuous and challenging life of the working poor.  Over the course of the book she works in the women’s department at Wall Mart, tries to work as a waitress in a diner, and finds employment as as maid cleaning houses.  Despite all the advantages she had starting out (car, savings, work ethic etc.), she is never able to get ahead and achieve a sustainable standard of living. She even cleaned toilets and couldn’t climb her way up–no justice!

Photo from Flickr user David_Shankbone used under a Creative Commons license

David Frum

Political commentators David Frum and Bob Shrum (COL ‘65) appeared at Gaston Hall tonight to discuss the “issues and implications” of the Presidential election.  SFS Professor Jacques Berlinerblau moderated the discussion.

Frum, a leading conservative thinker, served as the current Bush’s speechwriter during his first term and even penned a book about Bush entitled “The Right Man.”

Described by the Atlantic Monthly as “the most sought-after strategist in the Democratic Party,” Shrum is well regarded in the Democratic establishment despite the Shrum curse–every presidential campaign he has played a major role in has failed.

Frum spent a great deal of time discussing the rise and fall of the conservative movement, arguing that the Gingrich Revolution of 1994 will remembered as the high water mark for the conservative movement.  Frum was also very pessimistic about the GOP’s chances in November, saying, “I don’t think there’s a lot of doubt about what the outcome of this election is going to be, and I think it’s time that Republicans talk frankly about this.”

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The Voice’s Concert Calendar has found new life on Vox Populi. Every Friday, we’ll bring you the concerts you don’t want to miss in the next week. Since this one has Saturday concerts, though, it runs today.

There are some great shows to check out in DC during the upcoming week.  You won’t want to miss …

Cold War Kids 

Saturday

The Cold War Kids are touring to support their new album “Loyalty to Loyalty,” and they’ll be at the 9:30 Club this weekend.  According the the 9:30 Club’s website, the show is sold out, but you can get tickets for the right price and the right wink.

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Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson, VP for Student Health Jim Welsh, and University spokesperson Julie Green Bataille sat down with student reporters this afternoon to provide an update on the norovirus outbreak:

• 212 confirmed cases of norovirus on campus, and seven new cases in the past 24 hours.  Two faculty members have contracted norovirus.
• Georgetown cleaning crews and temporary contract crews have been working through the weekend to keep public areas clean.  Thousands of wipes and sixty hand sanitizer stations have been placed around campus.
• Late night Leo’s should return on Wednesday as long as there is no significant change in the number of norovirus cases.
• DC Department of Public Health is conducting an epidemiological study to determine the cause of the outbreak.  The results of the study should be released in the next few days.  Food samples from Leo’s have been tested.  The cause of the outbreak is still unknown, but the study should provide some insight.

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With soul music blaring in the background, Michael Eric Dyson stepped on the stage of Gaston Hall this evening to address several hundred members of the Georgetown community. Blending humor and poignant insights into American society, Dr. Dyson delivered a lecture entitled “No Dreams Deferred?: Black Aspirations form Martin Luther King Jr. to Jay-Z.”

Dr. Dyson began the lecture with a reference to Martin Luther King’s dream for the “American experiment” and the obstacles that stood in the way for his generation. He went on to traverse the next forty of years of American history by incorporating literary quotations, rap lyrics, and historical insights.

The speech even carried a political bent as Dyson reflected on the significance of Senator Obama’s candidacy for President forty years after Dr. King’s assassination. By the end of his thirty minute speech, it was easy to see why Cornell West called him “the most talented rhetorical acrobat in the academy.”

Photo from Flickr user Rocky Mountain News used under a Creative Commons license

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) delivered an address at Riggs Library earlier this afternoon. While his remarks focused on the perils on the financial crisis and continued US involvement in Iraq, Hagel was asked at the end of the speech, “Who amongst the candidates believes in [your] vision for the future?”

“Everybody is going to want to hear this,” Senator Hagel announced. “Ralph Nader.” And with laughter and clapping in the background, Hagel left for a meeting of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee to work out the details of the Wall Street bailout.

Photo from Flickr user UNA-USA used under a Creative Commons license.

After the bailouts of Lehman Brother, AIG, and everyone else, Business School upperclassmen might be a little worried about future job prospects.  According to Businessweek, former financial titans like JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Bear Stearns are among the top ten employers of MSB graduates.

But all is not lost. The Wall Street Journal looked at the way top business schools are coping with unemployed recent graduates. The article also advises member of the class of 2009 to put that lucrative finance career on hold for a while:

Inside undergraduate career offices, staff members are also talking to alums displaced from the investment banks about alternative options–like corporate finance and investment management. Patricia Rose, director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania, deals with undergraduate business students along with students in other majors. She says she’s even recommending students look into technology or public service jobs, which are more plentiful than coveted finance jobs.

Since the US will almost certainly ride out the financial storm in the next two years, I guess it’s time for MSB grads to start looking toward grad school or an MBA. For those who have already graduated and find themselves out of a job, though, the Office of Advancement sent out a mournful email expressing its “deepest sympathy.”

Photo from Flickr user macronin47 used under a Creative Commons license

Anwar Ibrahim, the man poised to become Malaysia’s new prime minister, is profiled in today’s Voice.  The full text of the email interview with him has been reproduced below:

To start off, why are you attempting to remove the current government from power?

In a democracy, imperfect though it is in Malaysia, you need two legitimacies to govern: a moral legitimacy and a political one.

The moral legitimacy stems from your entire deportment whilst governing – transparency of conduct, rule of law, separation of powers, integrity of office bearers, and the like.

The political legitimacy results from your effective command of the electorate and its legislators.

The National Front of Malaysia, in power for 51 years now, has been oozing its moral legitimacy to govern for at least a decade now. The judiciary was corrupted, the police force became dysfunctional, the civil service was reduced to a rubber stamp, money politics infected political parties, and matters to do with race and religion became a minefield. The economy is sluggish, now approaching quagmire status and the government has offered no solution to the problem of widespread joblessness, rampant inflation and the decline in foreign direct investment. In sum a tragic state of affairs after 51 years of governance.

The National Front’s political legitimacy was premised on its command of a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Once before it lost that majority — in 1969 when race riots flared in the aftermath of that loss. Read the rest of this entry »

The new College Republican shirt for this year is a picture of Ronald Reagan and the text “What He Said” (similar to the one above). So, what did he really say?

“If you’ve seen one tree, you’ve seen them all?” (on forest preservation)

In 1976, he talked about working people angry about the “strapping young buck” using food stamps to buy T-bone steaks at the grocery store

“You can’t help those who simply will not be helped. One problem that we’ve had, even in the best of times, is people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice.”

He cited a Chicago “Welfare Queen” who had ripped off $150,000 from the government, using 80 aliases, 30 addresses, a dozen social security cards, and four fictional dead husbands. The country was outraged; Reagan dutifully promised to roll back welfare.

Charming!

Picture from Thoseshirts.com

US Senator Russ Feingold gave a speech at Georgetown today entitled “Promoting Democracy, Development, and Diplomacy: US Interests and Values.” Senator Feingold’s speech focused on the disconnect between the Bush Administration’s “freedom agenda” and the misguided policies that have been pursued to advance freedom.  After eight years of secret prisons, sanctioned torture, and unconstitutional wiretapping, this was a refreshing and welcome address.

Feingold also praised Georgetown professor Carol Lancaster and her recent book George Bush’s Foreign Aid: Transformation or Chaos.

From his lone vote of opposition to the Patriot Act, to his principled rejection of the War in Iraq, Feingold has remained one of the truly progressive voices in the US Senate.  It was a pleasure to hear from this passionate defender of the Constitution and American ideals.

Flickr photo from user aflcio2008 used under a Creative Commons license