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Week in Review

Bravery Media

Tourist season is in full swing here in D.C., and tourists are clogging up the sidewalks in every direction you try to walk. Families and school groups headed to the nation’s Capitol aren’t the only ones traveling lately as several of us here at TVP Communications have attended conferences and visited clients over the past week—and of course, Ali is still in the process of moving, which is why I’m filling in for the Week in Review (fingers crossed all goes well).
And travel season is just heating up, as several of us are also getting ready for vacations, myself included! In the mean time, if you’re on vacation, heading back home from one or need to space out for a bit while daydreaming about where you want to go (please don’t choose D.C., it’s crowded enough) scroll down to see what’s new this week.
What’s new this week:
President Karen Haynes of California State University San Marcos wrote a piece on regional public institutions as the great equalizers in higher education.
Higher One’s Vice President of Financial Literacy and Student Aid Policy, Mary Johnson, was quoted as an expert in an article on using apps to simplify budgeting.
Professor Megan Gerhardt of the Farmer School of Business at Miami University was quoted in a Desert News article on “Solutions to the millennial job search.”
What we’ve been talking about:
Ali Lincoln wrote a recap of one of her favorite EWA National Seminar sessions, and it’s not a surprise that it was related to student financial aid. Can FAFSA be fixed? Absolutely, and it’s been in the process of improving for years.
What we’ve been reading:
Kyle Gunnels
I have followed recent news about how North Korea opened its marathon to a select number of foreigners to participate. This article is one runner’s first hand account of his experience traveling to the reclusive country.
YouTube turned ten years old this week, which is hard to believe because somehow it feels now as though it’s just always been around–especially since video is now such a dominant part of the online experience. Celebrate ten years of YouTube by watching the first video ever uploaded as well as some of the classics, including the most watched video on the site, Gangnam Style with 2.3 billion views.
Ali Lincoln
I was glued to Twitter this week at the EWA’s seminar, and it’s definitely worth checking out #ewa15 to get recaps on all of the sessions and great panelists.
Additionally, I thought this article about female teachers sexually abusing students was fascinating, a dark side of improvement in gender equality. It’s a tough subject, regardless, but the “candy” comment from one judge was honestly shocking.
And in honor of Earth Day this week and my on-going efforts to be environmentally and socially responsible, enjoy this chart that Erin shared with me from Wired.com about produce to avoid to not put additional strain on the drought in California.
Kristine Maloney
This is an obituary in my local paper written by the deceased herself. I share it not to be morbid or sad, but instead as a reminder to enjoy life, to do what you love with the people you love and to focus on the positive, as this woman so bravely did.
This letter from a Sweet Briar alumna (and daughter of a longtime Sweet Briar faculty member) to the college’s board is long, but worth a read. I don’t know how much of what she claims is accurate, but that doesn’t matter as much to me. What I loved about it was that it was beautifully and respectfully written and it demonstrated the love and loyalty we all want our alumni, students, faculty and staff to feel. While the author’s efforts may indeed be too late, her letter is a reminder of how much our college experiences shape us all–even if we don’t realize it until it’s gone.
And then this was published—another interesting and empowering read.
Teresa Valerio Parrot
I was reading about Super PACS on the New York Times website and got sucked into a feature that was teased on a sidebar. The Block by Block series on the TimesVideo site was created to showcase real estate, but the features of the neighborhoods are fantastic vignettes of regional history and highlights civic pride. The results—I’ve decided I’d like to move to New York City ASAP and I’m thinking through how my own neighborhood should be portrayed in a four-minute clip.
Erin Hennessy
When I get home from this week’s travel, I will have two pairs of brand new TOMS shoes waiting for me. And I was planning to bask in the knowledge that my purchase would spur the donation of two pairs of shoes to needy people in the developing world…until I read this blog post, written by a volunteer who had the challenging and frustrating task of attempting to distribute a lot (27,000 pairs!!) of free TOMS in Kenya.
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