This week I attended the annual party/fundraiser for The Street Vendor Project, an amazing organization providing legal support and advocacy to the thousands of street vendors who line our streets with good food, accessories and artwork. They are one of the most remarkable elements of this city. Most are immigrants to the United States who face discrimination from the city government and police, as well as the hardships of sustaining a living in this city through small business. SVP fights on behalf of them.
The above video was presented at the event; trust me that you will enjoy it.
This has been all over the place but just in case you haven’t seen it yet, window washers dressed up as superheroes for their day of work at a children’s hospital in Memphis back in October. A heart melting idea.
Last weekend, the New York Times Magazine was devoted to a collection of essays titled “The Lives They Lived.” I found it very moving and an inspirational/educational way to reflect on the past year. Each essay is written by a different author, artist, critic, whatever. I encourage you to visit the interactive feature online and explore the collection fully. It’s also a beautiful collection of photography and artistic representations.
You click on the names along with these images to read the corresponding essay. There are many more names in the article but these were a few of my favorites. Enjoy!
Above, photograph of Italian actress Silvano Mangano by Eve Arnold.
The last of the holiday orders have shipped and we’re winding down the season here at Paperfinger. Feels good. Now for all those heartfelt gifts for our own friends and fam…
Dana Tanamachi is a lovely person and an extremely talented lettering artist. Her new prints ($60) are beautiful. Even more remarkable, through the end of 2012, 100% of the proceeds of this poster will go to Restore NYC, an organization providing long-term aftercare for women who are survivors of sex trafficking in New York City.
Stockings with Care works with families either living in homeless shelters or who are in jeopardy of becoming homeless and can not afford to celebrate their holiday. Social workers work with the parents to make their wish lists. These lists are passed on to Stockings with Care.
SWC makes sure that every child gets at least two things on their list and that each child has at least three gifts to open on Christmas morning by securing donations from people who sign up to be a Santa. Thousands of gifts are wrapped and delivered to the parents, empowering them to create magic for their kids.
Of course, lots of kids ask for what every kid wants – toys. But there are an equal number of requests for life’s essentials. Clothes. Books. Strollers, Diapers. One year, a child even asked for dog food so that they didn’t have to give up the family dog that they could no longer afford. SWC delivered a year’s supply of dog food.
My sister sent this link over to me and I put it on my list of Things-I-do-truly-want-to-do-But-may-never-make-time-for-Yet-I-remain-just-as-enthusiastic.
Open Yale Courses is an online resource created by Yale University to offer complete undergraduate courses for free through their site. The screenshot above shows you some of the courses offered, most of which are introductory and cover a wide range of subjects.
So cool! The classes include video footage from each class lecture, reading assignments, discussion materials, exams, etc. With a hearty amount of self-discipline, you can brush up on Physics, Social Theory, Music, Philosophy, Poetry…the list goes on. The new book club?
Open Yale Courses is funded through a grant from the Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative of the Hewlett Foundation.
