Conference for Students On Haiti

I am passing this on from Audrey Huntington. Thanks, Audrey. It really sounds good. And, as Audrey points out, "...we all love Paul Farmer." Hope to hear your reactions.

CALLING ALL STUDENTS:

Dear students across the nation,

Dr. Jim Yong Kim will be leading an online discussion on *Tuesday,
January 26 at 5:30pm EST* on the national student response to the
recent earthquake in Haiti.

To access the online discussion at 5:30pm EST, visit:
http://act.pih.org/jyk-students

As President of Dartmouth College and a co-founder of Partners In
Health, Dr. Kim will speak about the earthquake, PIH's response, why
national student solidarity is critical to the response, and how
students from across the country can help.

The call is open to all students (graduate, undergraduate, high
school, middle school, etc) who are interested in learning more about
the situation and how to mobilize their school communities to respond
to the earthquake in Haiti.

Dr. Kim will be speaking via an online video stream and taking live
questions through the video player's chat feature. We will also be
accepting questions by email up until the talk begins. To send your
question in early, email sdhr@dartmouth.edu with the subject line "JYK
TALK: Your name, your school"

For Jim Yong Kim's bio: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~president/bio/

Lack of women in China

A number of Conflicts classes talked about the one child policy in China either as a class topic or as an individual project. Remember "The Dying Rooms", the video about abandoned baby girls basically left to die? Well, the policy's long term effects are really beginning to effect China with millions of men not being able to find wives and all the consequences of this. Check it out on this link:

http://www.sphere.com/world/article/shortage-of-women-in-china-poses-marriage-challenge/19311767?icid=main|main|dl1|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2Fworld%2Farticle%2Fshortage-of-women-in-china-poses-marriage-challenge%2F19311767

Happy New Year

Think how many times you've said or heard the phrase, "Happy New Year" in the last few weeks. But, what does it mean? Leave it to Nick Kristof to take on the issue of happiness on an international level.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/opinion/07kristof.html

What do you think makes a nation and its people happy? After all, Thomas Jefferson thought it was important enough to put in the Declaration of Independence. "... that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (We'll have the inalienable v unalienable argument another time.)