FEBRUARY 23, 2012

From The New York Times:

Ghastly Images Flow From Shattered Syrian City


During the sustained Syrian Army assault on Homs, videos of the violence are offering a stunningly vivid picture, sometimes live or at least in real time, of life in the city.

Watch the video:  http://nyti.ms/A04UlF

  

February 22, 2012, Updated | 4:10 p.m.  Marie Colvin, an American writer working for The Sunday Times of London, and Rémi Ochlik, a French photographer, were killed early Wednesday in Homs, a Syrian city under assault by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Listen/Watch her last dispatch: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/american-reporter-marie-colvins-final-dispatches-from-homs/?ref=middleeast

 

OCCUPY WALL STREET

Buoyed by Wall St. Protests, Rallies 

Sweep the Globe

Hundreds and in some cases thousands of people voiced discontent with the economy. In New York, at least 88 people were arrested.

Buoyed by the longevity of the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Manhattan, a wave of protests swept across Asia, the Americas and Europe over the weekend, with hundreds and in some cases thousands of people expressing discontent with the economic tides in marches, rallies and occasional clashes with the police. 

 FOR SLIDE SHOW AND MORE INFORMATION, CLICK THIS LINK -->

NEW YORK TIMES COVERAGE OF "OCCUPY WALL STREET" 

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Nobel Peace Prize Awarded 

to Three Activist Women

 LONDON — The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 was awarded on October 7 to three women from Africa and the Arab world in acknowledgment of their nonviolent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality.

Left, Leymah Gbowee in September; center: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian president, on Oct. 7; right: Tawakkol Karman in Sana, Yemen, on October 7.

 President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, center left, with her fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, center right, at the beginning of this month. Ms. Gbowee was honored by Riverdale last year. A Yemeni woman was also honored. Ms. Johnson Sirleaf is about to be declared the winner of a hard-fought re-election campaign for the presidency of Liberia.

WELCOME FROM MS. ALLEN!

I am pleased to be joining you at Riverdale this year! I am originally from Kansas, taught in Italy for a while, and then have been downtown in Greenwich Village for the past 15 years. Now I am lucky to be teaching you.

We'll be exploring the the physical setting, history, and cultures of New York City, as well as grow and learn together as both you and I settle into our new hill campus.

I love teaching, and I especially love middle school students.

I hope you'll join me on a journey of discovery as we uncover the past. Not every New York story is an easy one, but in the process of telling the truth, you'll emerge as expert historians and uncover your own abilities as thinkers, researchers, and writers.