On Tuesday, April 1 at noon, supporters of the soon-to-be closed Holy Cow Cafe will hold a sit-in and costume contest in the EMU food court to protest the EMU’s decision not to renew the restaurant’s lease.

According to the poster for the event, everyone should participate because “taking political action is fun and rewarding. Don’t knock it ’till you try it. And, lastly, because this is a fight we can win!”

The poster also included a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. about the effectiveness of sit-ins and non-violent protest. However, the reason the sit-ins of the civil rights movement were effective was because a) the protesters weren’t supposed to be sitting there, b) their presence incited violence against them and c) this attracted media attention, gaining sympathy for their cause. None of these qualities will be met at Tuesday’s sit-in. Last time I checked, the food court was made for sitting in, and no one is likely to get violent unless the protesters block access to Panda Express. (Some people feel very strongly about orange chicken).

And a costume contest? Seriously, this is how you plan on sticking it to the man?

Muhammad Yunus’s banking plan is simple enough.

“I just have to look at what the conventional banks are doing and do the opposite.”

Yunus founded Grameen Bank in Bangladesh 31 years ago. He pioneered the idea of microcredit, and he and his bank were awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their efforts. Yunus spoke at the Bagdad Theater in Portland on Sunday, part of a tour for his new book, “Creating a World Without Poverty.” Yunus believes, “because poverty is artificially imposed on society, it can be removed.” (more…)

Poor college students. We are constantly being exploited, whether by Joe Francis, of Girls Gone Wild fame, credit card companies, or The Man. Now we’ve got another exploiter, in the form of internships.

Sonia Smith, a former intern, writes a terrible — TERRIBLE — piece of drivel for her former Mas’ah, Slate.com. This is some real sub-par high school journalism shit here.

 Slate was great (honest!), but I’d have much preferred a paycheck to the course credit. … But fulfillment won’t put money in your pocket. The credit I got for my internship was one of 19 that I accumulated above my school’s required number. And the credits are worthless for a lot of students: Because of the rise of Advanced Placement exams, savvy overachieving freshman (the same ones who tend to chase after internships) enter college with more credit hours than any previous generation.

 Yes, Sonia, that sounds awful. But here’s the catch: We’d all like to make vast amounts of money for the work we do. However, there are trade-offs that we make in life. These trade-offs can often be measured in opportunity costs. Getting an internship at a high powered company may not fill your pockets with gold bullion, but it will add an impressive line to your resume and allow you to network with professional mucky-mucks, some of whom might find some space in their on-line publication for your ignorant whining.

Smith isn’t the first to deride internships. Anya Kamenetz, author of the apparently abysmal Generation Debt, has been making a career out of it. Go to her blog and weep tears of anger. Anya Kamenetz is like an Ailee Slater with a book deal and professional cred. Will Wilkinson says all that needs to be said about Kamenetz here (hat tip: The Agitator)

 So I wonder, if internships are so terrible, why do college students apply for them? Or do I not understand Kamenetz and Smith’s point altogether?

Man, it’s, like, totally bullshit that we college students have to work within this capitalist system that exploits us so that these rich weasels can simply get richer. What we need to do is unionize the youth, and topple the power structures that feed the dominant paradigm … Oh, shit, I’m late for my brunch date with Jann Wenner at Le Cirque.

There must be people who read this blog who have gotten internships while in college. How were your experiences, and did you find them helpful in the future?

Click to enlarge.

As far as I can tell, this children’s book about two hippie (read: unfit) parents who teach their young child about marijuana is not an elaborate hoax. It’s still quite funny.

(Via Screenhead)