Obama has stated: “I will open the doors of government and ask you to be involved in your democracy again.” So Change.org, MySpace, and other social networks and non profits are partnering to take him up on his offer, with their new campaign “Ideas for Change in America,” in an effort to get ideas from Americans to turn the broad concept of change in America into real policies. 

According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women site, no less than one in three women or girls are victims of violence in their lifetimes.  Although there has been progress in deeming violence against women unacceptable, the problem has reached pandemic proportions and continues to persist throughout the world.  

Go to the unifem.org site and add your name to the list of the network of supporters who are fighting to end violence against women, and find out more about how you can become involved.
 

The New Yorker has finally made the entire contents of the magazine available online. Just go to NewYorker.com and register an email account and password, and you can view PDF's of back issues for free.

Are you a campus leader who is trying to engage students in new and exciting ways?  Then start working with Student Voices to bring the message to your campus. 
 

In college, I had a girlfriend who, upon learning that she was being overcharged for her apartment, packed her books and chose to sleep for two weeks on a D.C.-area park bench while, in a suburb three metro stops away, her parents kept her bedroom lovingly preserved. She smoked American Spirits, dyed her carpets the same custom shade as her walls, and labeled anything she liked tres chic. Eventually, she broke into my house, and, after draining a twelve-pack of wine coolers and throwing up on the toilet, refused to leave. The fashion industry reminds me of that girl.

Why else would fashion writers be pushing the idea of "Recession chic" at us with such enthusiastic force?

The last two years of hard work and perseverance have paid off for the former Senator from Illinois.  Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States in a landslide against Senator John McCain, making history as the first black president to serve in the White House. 

With a promise of change and inspiring hope in millions of Americans, Obama accepted the enormous challenge ahead of him in front of tens of thousands of people in Chicago, and millions across the country and around the world, late November 4^th.

Share your stories and reactions from the momentous evening here at Student Voices.

Student Voices released the October issue of their online newsletter, “SV Top 5,” recounting some of the most popular user contributed content from October.  

October generated content about everything Election 2008 and the recent economic crisis.  Revisit how the Latino and youth vote are projected to affect the outcome of the race, and how solutions to the falling economy will affect you!

Do you have some great ideas for the November SV Top 5 issue?  Remember all content is user generated, so submit your videos, articles, and opinions today, for consideration!

The Election Day we’ve all been waiting for is here!  If you haven’t already voted during early voting, today is the official day to brace yourself for long lines, cast your ballot and participate in one of the most historic elections to date!


 

As PBS' Bill Moyers has noted, if you watched the 2008 Presidential Debates expecting to hear a meaningful discussion on immigration reform, you were likely disappointed. Though much has been said about the potential significance of the Hispanic vote in this year's election, neither Senator Obama nor Senator McCain seems particularly keen to make immigration reform--an issue which barely a year ago was the second-most important to American voters after the Iraq war, according to Matt.org--central to this race. That is likely because neither candidate anticipates any benefit from doing so.

So if you're with most Americans, and want to know the real arguments from Republicans and Democrats, where do you turn? I began by reading each party's official 2008 platform, which you can find here (for the "Immigration" section, turn to page 46) and here.