International Women's Day

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 8, is International Women's Day. This year marks the 100th anniversary of when 15,000 female garment workers marched through New York demanding better working conditions.

This day celebrates the accomplishments of those women and the many others who have worked tirelessly for women's rights around the world.

So what can you do in Boston to recognize this gynormous day?

You could join me at the International Women's film festival at various screens throughout Boston. At this festival they are showing films ranging from comparing Barbie to the American Jew, to understanding the complexities of your name. Well, those films sound interesting to me... and a great way to celebrate the accomplishments of the "fairer of the sexes."

What are you going to do to celebrate the women in your life (or yourself)?

Photo courtesy of jillgilbert.com

That article on Student Loans in BostonNOW you're reading today?

Well, it's OYFP Boston material. No, they didn't steal it, we posted it on our blog, and then on our blog on BostonNOW... and they published us:

Okay, so this screenshot is a little hard to read. But it was us. I swear!

Check out the whole article (in legible PDF form) at the BostonNOW website. It's page 9. Yup. Page 9. At the top. The whole article.

Happy Friday, everyone.

The Other "First Friday"

Everyone in Boston proper has heard of the meat market for 30-somethings that is the MFA's "First Friday" event--for the price of museum admission, you're invited to shmooze and flirt in one of the museum's grand halls. But here are my gripes: there's selection at the cash bar is small, appetizers aren't worth their price, the crowd is kind of dull, and the art is always the same in that hall of the museum.

So, when a friend asked if I was up for "first friday" tomorrow, I said no thanks. I dunno, it's just kind of a trite evening.

HOWever, turns out she was referring to the OTHER First Friday, at the Boston Center for the Arts:

"First Fridays are an important event in the South End, showcasing the premeir performing and visual arts and artists of our time. Artists working in studios at the BCA include painters, printmakers, sculptors, filmmakers, craftspeople, writers, performing artists, and others."

The BCA also provides affordable studio space to local artists, and I believe that the FF open studio showcases their work (see samples lifted from the BCA website below.)


Did you say local_artist_community? with new featured works every month? Sounds like a winner to me.

If you've been to the BCA's FF, drop me a note to let me know how it is~

Touring Boston with Your Tongue

'Tis the season for tastings, and I for one couldn't be happier about it.

A few days ago I talked about the Taste of the South End event taking place on March 11 and benefiting the Aids Action committee. At $95 per ticket, the event's certainly not aimed at those of us trying to watch our pennies.

However... The 6th annual Taste of South Boston event is going on this Sunday, March 9 from 6 PM to 9 PM at the Seaport Hotel. Tickets are just $30. Proceeds from the event go to the O'Sullivan/Costello Rental Preservation Fund, which then gives them to the South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation, which works to ensure South Boston residents have access to affordable housing (is this a run-on sentence?).

According the press coverage, there will be live entertainment, a cash bar, a silent auction, and *free parking*. Unfortunately, neither the event nor the organizations have websites... so I can't provide many more details. Hopefully the delightful Sweet Tooth Boston will be present...

At just $30 per ticket, however, the event itself is quite affordable. I think most of us young professionals could afford $30 for a night out on the town. (In fact, it's probably less than we would normally spend, unless you happen to be extraordinarily gifted at obtaining free drinks.)

Unfortunately - you guessed it - I'll be out of town and unable to attend. It's probably good for my waistline that I'm missing all of these tastings... but my tongue is certainly happy that I won't be missing the second half of Restaurant Week.

Buy your tickets by contacting Donna Brown or Michelle Zenga at 617-268-9610.

Higher Education in Danger for Bay State?

I'm a proud graduate of UMass-Amherst, along with two of my brothers. My little sister is currently attending UMass-Dartmouth. Thanks to hard work, scholarships, and my parents' savings, we were fortunate enough to attend college and graduate with minimal loans. Now I have a great job doing something I love - and this wouldn't have been possible without my college edu-ma-cation.

"Duh," you might say. "College gets you ahead."

However, young adults in the Commonwealth may not be as lucky as we were. This morning WBUR (my local NPR station) had a piece on how the non-profit Massachusetts Education Financing Authority has not been able to secure any funding for its low cost college loans programs. That's zero. Zilch. Nada. No money for their loan program, which has been helping out students for over 25 years.

Bob Oakes, the interviewer, seemed taken aback by this. "Not a dime?"

They were looking to raise close to $600 million for student loans, and blame the credit crunch for their difficulty. Various politicians have written letters to other politicians, but we all know where that will go: Nowhere.

As the director of MEFA said, this problem is going to have an immediate impact on Massachusetts. If students can't get funds, they won't be going to college, which will mean we will have a larger uneducated work force, and potentially a larger drain on social services. Students and their families may leave Massachusetts to live in other states where more funding may be available, or state schools are more affordable.

Can anyone say, "Brain drain?" Massachusetts, currently a state known for (and proud of) its well educated workforce, could be on the road to a big fat nowhere.

Did you get loans for college? What would you have done if the money just wasn't there?

Will there be fewer ecstatic graduates in Massachusetts in four years?

Words for Sale?

I'm a shopper - but today was the first time I have ever bought a word. Wow. Just saying it makes me feel important. I. Bought. A. Word.

What word did I buy? Well - what do you think? "Volunteer" of course! And it links to this blog. At $1 per letter, "volunteer" didn't come cheap ($9! Cripes!). However, "Boston" was already taken.

OYFP's blog is now part of two Masters students from Northern Ireland's project to allow people to redefine words visually, through their websites. It's an experiment in viral marketing, social marketing, and the power of words. Either that or it's a huge scam to get people to give them money.

Either way, it's interesting. And I'll pay $9 for that.

My Word (Hands off! well, I guess you can click it):

This is the corniest image related to words that I could find.