Kossacks Under 35 is a weekly diary series designed to create a community within DailyKos that focuses on young people. Our overall goals are to work on increasing young voters' Democratic majority, and to raise awareness about issues that particularly affect young people, with a potential eye to policy solutions. Kossacks of all ages are welcome to participate (and do!), but the overall framework of each diary will likely be on or from a younger person's perspective. If you would like more information or want to contribute a diary, please email kath25 at kossacksunder35 (at) gmail dot com
Greetings from my favorite independent coffee shop here in Austin, where I am coming to you live joined by fellow Kossack lirtydies. We are both a wee bit busy working on this upcoming primary, so there is no cohesive diary or anything tonight.
But! Here are some young’un-related news stories.
Wis. College to Give Bikes to Freshmen
RIPON, Wis. (AP) -- A tiny liberal arts college here hopes it has found an answer to a nagging shortage of campus parking: a bicycle giveaway.
If incoming freshmen promise not to bring a car to campus for a full year, Ripon College will give them a Trek 820 mountain bike, a helmet and a lock -- a $400 value.
''We're a residential college with a beautiful, historic campus in the middle of a small town,'' said President David Joyce, an avid cyclist. ''Paving it over was not an option I was willing to consider.''
''We obviously live in a car culture. That's not about to change,'' Joyce said. ''But if a significant number of students learn that a car isn't a necessity at this stage of their lives, that's good enough for me.''
That’s a great way to educate young people about how to live a car-free life. I hope it is successful and becomes a model for other campuses.
In honor of Valentine’s Day....
Beauty Bias: Can People Love The One They Are Compatible With?
... The results, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, are revealing. Consistent with previous research, people with similar levels of physical attractiveness indeed tend to date each other, with more attractive people being more particular about the physical attractiveness of their potential dates.
Furthermore, people prefer to date others who are moderately more attractive than them.
Compared to females, males are more influenced by how physically attractive their potential dates are, but less affected by how attractive they themselves are, when deciding whom to date. Also, regardless of how attractive people themselves are, they seem to judge others’ attractiveness in similar ways, supporting the notion that we have largely universal, culturally independent standards of beauty (e.g. symmetric faces).
Yes, an academic study based in part on HotOrNot.com. I also like this very reactionary website! from the Jehovah’s Witnesses about the perils—nay, evils!--of online dating.
A ‘Fair Trade’ Approach to Licensed College Gear
... By 2005, Mr. Falcone had turned his disquiet into action. He formed his own apparel company, Counter Sourcing, which found its niche producing licensed shirts for 11 major universities, including Duke and the University of North Carolina.
The company pays 10 percent of its annual sales to factory workers as bonuses, and puts another 7 percent into medical, environmental or educational programs chosen by employees. Those sales reached $150,000 in 2007, Mr. Falcone said.
Last month, Counter Sourcing paid its first bonuses to some 2,700 garment workers at the Pride Group factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Each received about $3.50 above the typical monthly wage of $25.
(snip)
The concept of "fair-trade apparel," as Mr. Falcone calls his product line, also taps into the urge of students to make social change and do good even as consumers, whether by patronizing farmers’ markets or using renewable energy sources. On campuses across the country since the 1990s, student advocates have particularly pressured administrators and corporations, most visibly Nike, to sell only those licensed items produced without sweatshop labor.
While I doubt such benevolence will be coming to a University near me any time soon, this is a good move. It wuld also be great if organic cotton shirts were available, too. Best of all, UNC donates a big chunk of the licensing of that merchandise to supporting financial aid. It’s a great model that all public universities should consider. Especially gigantic ones in Texas whose color is burnt orange. Just sayin’. Mack Brown doesn’t need more money.
Student loans stung by subprime mortgage crisis
A state agency this week put the MI-LOAN program on hold because it could not borrow money to, in turn, loan to students at a reasonable rate, Tom Saxton, Michigan's deputy state treasurer, said Thursday. Saxton said the program -- intended to close the gap between what students get in loans from the federal government and actual college costs -- is stung by the subprime mortgage crisis.
(snip)
Suspending the MI-LOAN program might be troublesome for some college students, but operating in the current market would have required charging students interest rates of 15 to 20 percent, Saxton said.
The decision to suspend the plan until rates are more favorable was made by the Michigan Higher Education Student Loan Authority, a 15-member board appointed by the governor with consent from the Senate.
Yet another way in which young people are getting screwed by the student-lending racket and another harbinger of the financial disasters to come if we don’t engage in widespread and rigorous loan forgiveness.
Turn on / turn out young voters
They're more technologically savvy and less shaggy-haired, but American teenagers and college student may rival their 1960s counterparts for political activism.
The young adult vote has increased in almost every Presidential primary and caucus across the nation thus far - sometimes doubling, tripling and even quadrupling 2004 turnouts. Once considered fickle and unpredictable, now young voters are seen as a highly passionate group that might decide a close contest. Some analysts attribute Barack Obama's near sweep of the Great Plains and Mountain states, in part, to his ability to turn out young voters.
(snip)
The trick for communities, political parties and issue advocates will be to channel short-term election enthusiasm into long-term civic engagement. The rap on young activists of the 1960s is that when their protesting died away so did their political involvement. With 42 million Americans ages 18 to 29 - rivaling the all-powerful Baby Boomers - Gen X can be a political force to be reckoned with. It can also be a rich mine for new poll workers, party activists and political candidates.
I’ll let that one just speak for itself.
So, what’s on your mind, young Kossacks and those who just play one on the Internet?