Kevin D. Hendricks

Famine in Ethiopia. Again.

It breaks my heart to hear the stories of starving children in Ethiopia. Thanks to drought, failed crops and rising food prices, Ethiopia faces a return to the 1984-85 famine that killed more than one million people. The Big Picture blog has stunning pictures.

• 4.5 million children are threatened with starvation.
• 75,000 children are currently suffering from severe malnutrition and need urgent care.
• 3.4 million Ethiopians will need food aid in the next three months.
• 6.8 million Ethiopians are at risk for malnutrition. (all stats via Telegraph)

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Barack Obama vs. James Dobson

During the Tuesday, June 24, 2008 broadcast of Focus on the Family, James Dobson talks about a speech presidential candidate Barack Obama gave about religion in June 2006 (CNN story). I’ve never been a fan of Dobson (being blacklisted doesn’t help), but the tone of this attack amazed me.

I wrote up seven pages of text analyzing what Barack Obama said and what James Dobson said. It was good stuff. Fiery and mad and pretending to be non-biased but so completely biased.

I was going to break it up into five or six posts and unleash it slowly, savoring the thrill of bashing Dobson. But then I was reminded of all that stuff in the Bible about not being so quick to criticize. I hate those passages. I always want to insist that it’s not being critical, it’s about justice and explaining what’s right and wrong (clearly I’m right, they’re wrong). But those are just excuses. So I’ll hold off on my blow-by-blow (at least for now).

I will say that I think Barack Obama’s speech was impressive. I think James Dobson found a way to criticize everything possible, even if that meant misunderstanding Obama’s intention. It’s that kind of reaction (the kind that finds something wrong with anything) that makes me hate politics. And that’s exactly what I was starting to do, so I’ll stop.

Instead you can read Barack Obama’s Call for Renewal speech and you can listen to James Dobson’s broadcast (the first third is about Tim Russert, then they get to Obama) and decide for yourself.

Day of Prayer and Fasting for the Global Food Crisis

Today Compassion International is holding a Day of Prayer and Fasting to combat the global food crisis. If you want to help, aside from prayer and fasting, you can donate to their Global Food Crisis Fund.

It’s hard for me to get my head around the fact that people around the world go hungry. I’m sitting here with four boxes of cereal on the kitchen table. There are two more different varieties in the cupboard, and when the Wheaties run out, there’s another box of those as well. When I get hungry, I eat. When I’m really hungry, I go out. When I crave chocolate, I can usually find it.

I am rich. And while it’s easy for my heart to go out to those who are hungry, it’s a lot harder for my actions to change in order to support them. I go back and forth from guilt and eagerness to change, to despair (how does giving up a Pepsi and eating PB&J make any difference?).

But today I suppose I can pray. I suppose I can eat less, maybe simpler. While it won’t change much, perhaps it will begin to change my attitude and that might begin to change my actions. Otherwise it feels like putting a bandaid on a severed limb.

The Top 100 Movies/TV Shows/Music/Books I Don’t Enjoy

Entertainment Weekly released lists of the top 100 movies, TV shows, albums and books of the last 25 years. It’s kind of interesting to check out the lists and see how many of the top picks I’ve seen/listened to/read:

• Movies: 42/100
• TV Shows: 28/100
• Music: 10/100
• Books: 9/100

Keeping reading for disclaimers and inane insights.

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High Bridge Power Plant Smokestack Coming Down

On Saturday, June 28 Xcel Energy is going to blow up the tallest thing in St. Paul’s skyline. The 570-foot tall smokestack at the High Bridge Power Plant is scheduled to be imploded on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. The old power plant is being replaced by a newer, more efficient plant. The smokestack will come down despite pleas by locals to preserve the landmark, which was built in 1923.

The party’s kind of early on a Saturday morning, but I’m thinking of checking it out. How often do you get to see an implosion?

Update: Read my entry about the smokestack coming down. And according to Nick Coleman’s column, the power plant was built in 1923 but the smokestack was built in 1972.

Twitter Recap

A friend commented the other day that I don’t blog anymore, I just twit. He’s right, the blogging has dropped off lately. Partially it’s from being busy, partially it’s from having Twitter as a release valve. But I haven’t forgotten about you. I do have several blog entries in me, they just haven’t happened yet.

Until they do, how about a little recap of the best stuff from Twitter…

• Wondered why Barack Obama’s web site has no search function. Either I’m dumb and can’t find it, or their web team is dumb and didn’t include one. The way campaigns pack their sites with info, I don’t know how you get away with not having a search function.
• Watched a couple episodes of Cleopatra 2525, a half hour, Xena-quality, sci-fi TV show, solely because it starred Gina Torres from Firefly/Serenity. Cleopatra has to be the campiest thing I’ve seen in a while. It was pretty bad.
• Pointed people to Cookie Monster’s appearance on the Colbert Report. Hilarious.
• Realized that Sandy Patti Cover Band and Steal My Catchphrase would be awesome band names.
• Noted more lost public art in the Twin Cities. This time around it’s the mural on the old St. Paul police station at University and Dale.

Bald Video

You can now watch me be bald:

The Bald & The Beautiful (short version) from kevinhendricks on Vimeo. Video by Josh Lewis!

The long version offers the mullet, the biology teacher and the mustache:

The Bald & The Beautiful (long version) from kevinhendricks on Vimeo. Video by Josh Lewis!

Shaving My Head

A few months ago I sent out letters challenging people that if we could raise $2,000 by June 15 I’d shave my head. As of today we’ve raised $3,935. So I’m bald.

A total of 38 families donated to the effort (some ear-marked their funds for the shaving of my facial hair). So on the eve of my 29th birthday I’m now balder than my dad.

A big thanks to everyone who supported us, including the many who donated outside the baldness campaign and those who have supported us in the many non-financial ways, which is just as important (if not more so).

You can also check out photos of the entire process.

Historic Poverty Data and Race

After I wrote this I was wondering about race and poverty. I made the comment that if you’re black you’re more likely to be poor and I wondered what data backed that up. So I found historical poverty tables from the U.S. census, ranging from 1959-2006. It’s pretty interesting stuff.

In 2006:

• 12.3% of all people were below the poverty line.
• 10.3% of whites were below the poverty line.
• 24.2% of blacks were below the poverty line.

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What’s Race Got to do with Test Scores?

A new batch of Minnesota test scores were released this week. Overall it sounds like good news with 75% passing the new test. But it gets interesting as the media starts talking about the various demographics (PDF). I was listening to NPR and they started talking about the various numbers, pointing out that 82% of white students passed, while every other ethnic group saw lower numbers (Black: 41%, Hispanic: 48%, Asian: 63%, American Indian: 55%).

What does race have to do with test scores? The gap between whites and other races is startling. My initial thought was that race has nothing to do with the results, that it’s more likely socio-economic factors. Meaning if you’re black and failed the test, you weren’t more likely to fail because you were black, but because blacks are more likely to be socio-economically disadvantaged, i.e., live in poor areas and attend poor schools. It’s generational poverty. But as I’m looking into it, it seems the black-white test score gap exists regardless of socio-economic factors.

Which is kind of disturbing. What’s causing that gap? Is it institutional racism? Is it more overt racism? I don’t know. My quick Google search and 20 minutes of reading is hardly enough to even begin making me look stupid, never mind coming close to any answers.