Premiere! And MLK Day

Okay, I've done it, I've actually completed a New Year's Resolution: join the techno world and start a blog. After all, I'm in the business, sort of. I teach journalism/mass communication, including freshman writing at a private Mid-West college.

So, what do people talk about here, and why would anyone read this? It's a journal, right, but one with no locks, no codes, no secrets. It's open, exposed to the world, the air.

Today is MLK Day - We had a guest speaker on campus talking about social justice, specifically migrant workers and immigration rights/wrongs. Approximately 60 students and staff attended, and were silent throughout. I was one of only two questions during the Q&A and I really don't like speaking up or out - I see our gatherings as student-centered, so students should be engaged and engaging and profs should zip it. But today, there was a distinct air of dis-interest. It could have been the cold, wet and ice outside. It could have been the cold room we had to suffer with. It might have been a weariness of another unimaginative way to celebrate this day. It worried me a bit. There are so few remembrance days that we truly "celebrate."

This day above all cries for action, reaction, shouts of pride, outrage, defiance. Where are they? And where are they if not on our college campuses? Yep, I witnessed the 70s - I was actually a year or two later - the anti-war and continuing civil rights riots and marches. Where have they gone? Is it just Wii, not me or you today? Who is speaking up and out? Folks such as our 60-year-old speaker. They won't be here forever. Then what, or who?