New York City’s plans to build a new series of playgrounds with trained play workers will provide the kiddies with an innovative approach to play—one that nurtures imagination, fantasy with among other things, interactive moveable parts. Their job: show the kids how to use the pulleys, ramps, waterslides, etc. on the new playgrounds.

The idea is to give children more training in social interaction and to nurture their imaginations through these fantastic new playgrounds.

As far as you listless college-aged young adults are concerned, however, there is now a job called a play worker, and it will train and pay you to facilitate safe and stimulating playtime. So, grab your imaginary pirate hats and hop on the ship. Ship sails in May!

Posted by Lauren Gaskill

Last Friday, October 27, a New York documentary filmmaker and journalist was assassinated by government officials in Oaxaca, Mexico while reporting on the conflict between police and the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).

Brad Will, 36, was working unpaid for the alternative media network of Indymedia. Will had gone down to Oaxaca to cover the violence that has blown up since the teacher’s union began protesting last spring.

There have been many disappearances, imprisonments and at least 13 deaths in this conflict, which has escalated into low intensity warfare as the Mexican military has occupied the city center. Will was an activist and solidarity worker who put himself in the midst of the conflict to get the story out.

Alternative media outlets such as Indymedia highlight the populist angle of more traditionally reported stories, and provide media attention in cases of political, military or governmental repression. Such attention is otherwise overlooked because of a lack of a wider desire to know about these struggles or perhaps the idea that if we don’t listen, the problem will go away.

The fact that he was shot by a group identified in a Mexican newspaper as consisting of a police officer, public safety chief and a city personnel director is disturbing. But it does not compare to the horror I feel in knowing that Will was holding a camera while he got shot and was obviously a foreigner working for the side of the social movement.

The Mexican armed forces are wielding fear and intimidation to their advantage. Just this past weekend it is estimated that approximately 50 people disappeared, and as the protesters outnumber the armed forces, someone up top is taking drastic measures. The message is clear: foreign journalists, especially the ones reporting from the side of popular movements, should be warned.

I imagine that for other journalists that support the people in Oaxaca, Will’s assassination comes as a rude awakening and the latest embodiment of the stand-off between this movement and the powers that be. For activist journalists, being there at the ground level in such a time of strife and mobilization, whether in Mexico or Sri Lanka or Sudan, means living the fight: “es la lucha, baby.” But when people like Brad Will are gunned down, one cannot help but think twice before hopping on that bus down south. Whether or not that second thought will keep us off the bus is the question that we all must answer.

Posted by Lauren Gaskill, Associate Editor

Hugo Chavez has been making waves in the international political scene, forging diplomatic ties with Iran and Russia, leading anti-American summits and using Venezuela’s oil money to aid Cuba and several other Caribbean countries. In light of his attempts to make Venezuela a world force to be reckoned with, many have wondered recently if he is doing all can to improve the social problems of his own country.

News that Caracas mayor and Chavez ally Juan Barreto is planning to expropriate the city’s three golf courses for low-income housing, through “forced acquisition,” is clear proof that actions are being taken at the ground level to directly benefit the citizens. According to The Guardian, there is a shortage of one million homes and this would make space for 50,000 homes.

The golf courses, one of which dates back to 1918, serve as centers for social networking, business negotiations and as a backdrop for other mysterious goings-on in Venezuelan politics. On the international stage, golf courses have acquired notoriety as the informal setting for such encounters, strategic as the huge open fields keep confidential exchanges out of earshot, and because the game itself provides much downtime for walking and discussing. We must look no further than the lobbying scandals of the last year, seemingly born on the golf course, that marred policy makers and government representatives alike.

While residents at the country clubs see the move as an affront to private property laws, the mayor’s intentions are to redistribute the land and the wealth in more equitable ways, in line with Chavez’s goals at the national level. Despite the negative opinions some have of such actions, Chavez still has an approval rating of over 60 percent in Venezuela.

It could be argued that such drastic measures (including talks of acquiring second homes) will alienate the rich nationals and internationals. In reaction they may avoid investment in Venezuela, resulting in capital flight to banks on other shores that are more accommodating to the wealthy. But it is arguable whether this will necessarily hurt the country.

For now Venezuela has a commodity, petroleum, that gives it the upper hand in negotiation. The country also has the largest supply of it in the world outside the Middle East. As long as there is a demand and the resource lasts, Venezuela will continue to dictate their terms of trade and world standing.

Taking a step back from the macroeconomic implications of such a move for the country, it is incredible that the three golf courses in the capital city may be appropriated by the government. I cannot imagine a large city with an international and diplomatic population that does not have a golf course. Country clubs with golf courses are the universal playground of the affluent. This move by Mayor Barreto is not only functional but packed with greater policy implications and a strong message to the patrons of such institutions. It seems they want the rich to hit the road, pack up their clubs and balls, and make room for the masses. And for now, the government has the cards in their hand to make it happen.

Posted by Lauren Gaskill, Associate Editor

So you just got a sweet bike. One of those hip road bikes, you know? The ones with the downward-curving handlebars and the skinny wheels, to go with your skinny jeans. You’ve got that messenger bag that sits high on your lower back when you cross it over your chest: maybe it’s recycled plastic, or maybe it has a revolutionary patch on it. You ride it to school now, even though you live five blocks away and walking never bothered you before. Now that you’ve got a bicycle, though, you can’t imagine how you ever did it. And sometimes you ride it around the city, maybe even in the street, and you chain it to a variety of sign posts and structures, to make sure no one rides off with it or, god forbid, carry it away.

And now the question arises … helmet? No helmet?

PROS of the helmet:

-If you get hit by a moving vehicle, if you tend to run into parked cars or if you are a dare-devil and like to cross highways on your road bike, that helmet strapped tightly under your chin will absorb the impact that would have splattered your brains across the road, a la “Red Asphalt” educational videos.

-You can decorate your helmet with a different theme every month. You might try glitter, a layer of fine feathers or small action figures tucked into the grooves (remember, it is best to leave some of the surface slick to enable sliding across pavement in the event of a crash landing).

-You can pretend that you are a NASA spaceship operator and your helmet is a rocket launcher that makes you go even faster down the streets of Georgetown.

CONS of the helmet:

-Even if people say, “hey, sweet helmet” they are probably saying to themselves within, “god, does she think she’s like, gonna get hit on the Georgetown campus?”

-Exceptional hairstyles, such as mullets, pompadours, ducktails and fauxhawks are prone to flattening under the tight grip of bicycle helmets, even the ones that look like rocket launchers.

-Wearing helmets may have the adverse effect of making bicycle riders brazen in the face of other vehicles on the road. This encourages running red lights and stop signs, and cutting off pedestrians with a swerve and optional apologetic cry over the shoulder, while already half-way down the next block.

So, avid Vox Populi readers, the answer of whether or not to wear your helmet lies within your agency. And remember, there are no rules to the game. You can choose to wear your helmet if only riding the streets of downtown DC, if you venture out of Georgetown, never, or even always. Enjoy and ride safe.

Posted by Lauren Gaskill, Associate Editor

A good fashion article has a way of convincing readers that if they pursue a certain sensibility in their accessory and apparel choices, they will have a more successful life. A bad fashion article dictates to readers exactly what the most current trends are, exactly what they should buy, and from where. Those most current trends are usually so very current that by the time the article goes to print, people are already moving on to the next big thang. This second type often even presumes to plant the seeds of addiction to material accumulation, in making such lists as “Fall Must-haves,” which should never be taken at their word.

But then there were cut-off jeans for boys.

This trend is not yet widespread enough to be considered mainstream, but the rapid turnaround of blogging enables a play-by-play take on its unfolding. “Cut-off jeans?” you say, “I’ve seen that… aren’t all the girls wearing shorts this season?” Why yes. But when we flip the gender, the context completely changes.

These cut-offs for men can be made in a variety of lengths, as long as the longest does not go beyond the knee. And they can be made to fall as high up the thigh as that man desires. The jeans are typically tight-fitting or at least streamlined, and should be cuffed for maximum expression of style. The great thing about these shorts is that every man already has them in his closet. They are already your favorite jeans; all it takes is a pair of scissors and some gumption. The second leg is always easier.

These cut-offs on men are not just this season’s way to cool down hot legs. These shorts mean so much more. Shorter and tighter clothing on men was avoided over the last decade as male wardrobes grew baggier, larger, and longer. The old double standard between the sexes became more pronounced, as women in more revealing clothes were judged more harshly on their bodily appearance than most men, who could hide behind bagginess. Now the tables are turning back, or at least leveling out, because now everyone’s legs and butts will be fair game.

Posted by Lauren Gaskill, Associate Editor