The League of Young Voters

From Jaime’s Blog on ThinkMTV: Maine’s Republicans are set to vote in a series of caucuses set for the weekend of Feb. 1, 2 and 3. Bust what exactly is a caucus, anyway, and how does it work? Julie Ann O’Brien, executive director of Maine’s Republican Party, offers a practical “how-to” for first-time caucusers, and throws down the gauntlet to young voters. Next week, we’ll hear from the head of Maine’s Democrats. (And don’t ask me why the video screen shows a still of John Edwards for a video about Republicans …)

To view the video, scope out the cross-posting on our site!

The League is honored to have Choose or Lose Think MTV Citizen Journalist Jaime Mcleod documenting some of our rockin’ moves this year! To scope out all of Jaime’s projects, go to Jaime’s Blog!

For four months I, and 30+ other folks, will be residents of Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. We are long-term volunteers, some for only four months and others for 8 or even 12 months. We are lawyers, recent college graduates, non-profit administrators, ex-Ph.D students, mediators and, above all, folks who are finding our way through the confines and freedom of working at one of the nation’s leading retreat and renewal centers. We work in the kitchen cutting vegetables, in offices doing data-entry, outside – plowing now and mowing soon, and assisting the over 500 guests that are regularly in-house with finding their way around the maze of our building.

My ‘blog will be about my experiences at Kripalu Center – the joys, the lows, the crying jags and the wonder of watching god emerge through the blossoming of the flowers. I will talk about my hikes, my weekends away, the monthly volunteer cake and the parties. I will try to detail the physical, spiritual and emotional changes that happen to me throughout these months.

To read more of Kate’s adventures, click here.

My back-to-the-land parents wished to embrace the rural lifestyle as much as possible, so they moved from New York to a town of about 900 people in central Maine. Here they lived a peaceful existence as tree and vegetable farmers; they raised sheep and guinea fowl; they adopted a retired racehorse and – until the barn-raising – kept it in a stall attached to the house. I suppose that to them, trying to be self-sufficient was unquestionable after living in New York. In Maine, they are blessed with the land with which to grow and nurture food, the neighbors willing to lend a hand to a couple of greenhorns, and a community in which sharing is both a way of life and a necessity.

It was in this atmosphere that my brother and I came into the world and enjoyed our childhood. We were reared with an interesting conglomeration of values inherited from the community: part small-town conservatism (after all, we were the only people who lived on the Day Road whose last name wasn’t “Day”), and part drum-circle, potluck-party, mantra-chanting liberalism (a.k.a. my parents and their friends). But it didn’t take long for me to realize that a great mixture of these disparate types of folks often came together, cooperated, and even agreed – and not just at the annual home brew contest.

And speaking of race… Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is coming up on January 21st. It’s the 40th Anniversary of his assassination. For more information, go here.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Observance 2008
Building on a Legacy: The Construction of Social and Economic Justice

Interfaith Dialogue
Wed., Jan. 16, 7:00 p.m.
USM Glickman Library, 7th floor, Portland
Event details >>

Reconsidering Martin Luther King, Jr: A public conference on his role and legacy
Organized in partnership with the Maine Humanities Council
Sat., Jan. 19, 9:00 a.m.
USM Hannaford Hall, Portland
Event details >>

23rd Annual Music & Gospel Concert
Sun., Jan. 20, 6:00 p.m.
Merrill Auditorium, Portland
Event details >>

27th Annual Breakfast Celebration
Mon., Jan. 21, 8:00 a.m.
Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland
Event details >>

Eyes on the Prize
Screenings and Discussions
Mon., Jan. 21, various times
starting at 11:30 a.m.
Maine Historical Society, Portland
Event details >>

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Election time always makes me feel like it’s Christmas: I can hardly wait to find out who’s going to take over the White House on Election Day. There’s so much preparation that must be done ahead of time: you have to research the candidate platforms, banter with your friend about their candidate of choice while you watch debates, and get real excited (or horrified) at media coverage or candidate responses. And this year, the fact that there’s a diversity of candidates from different genders, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds vying for the Democratic presidential nomination is the most exciting part of this year’s primary. This is the first time we’re seeing a White woman and a Black man compete as front-runner candidates in a major party primary.

In previous elections the media talks about how demographics by gender, race, and age will vote for the amazing selection of (White heterosexual male) candidates, but never how the gender or race of the candidate impacts how these demographics will vote. Now that the media is talking about these issues it’s slowly becoming the most disappointing part of the election. It’s not the fact that we’re having this discussion about race and gender in our society that frustrates me, but how this discussion is played out. For those who aren’t sure what I’m referring to yet, it’s a new buzz topic in the blogosphere known as the “Oppression Olympics”: which is the more subjugated identity, race or gender?

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Last Friday was the Winter Solstice, when the sun and the earth are at the farthest distance creating the longest night of the year. It’s also one of the harshest nights of the year for those who are homeless. Statewide, homeless advocates and community members gathered to Homeless Persons Annual Memorial Vigil to pay respects to those who have died in the homeless community. So far this year, 29 people have died homeless in Portland.

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