'Dead Man Walking' Author to speak in West Des Moines

Sister Helen Prejean, the author of  Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty, will make a special guest appearance next week as with Dowling Catholic High School students stage a play based on her book.

On Tuesday, she’ll make a presentation to junior class members who will have read her book, and then have lunch with the cast of the school play. That evening, she will speak at an open house for the general public, from 6 to 7:15 p.m., prior to the 7:30 p.m. Dowling production of the play.

"We are very excited to have Sr. Helen Prejean visit and present to our students and the community. She has a powerful message and life story that I believe will connect with and inspire us. Having the students read the book and then see the book acted out in the play gives power to her message. Sister's message of love and forgiveness should resonate with all,"  Jerry Deegan, Dowling Catholic High School president said in a news release.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

Botswana court grants women the right to inherit

GABORONE, Botswana (AFP) - In a landmark ruling Botswana's High Court on Friday affirmed women's inheritance rights for the first time, up-ending a male-dominated system that had prevailed in the thriving African nation.

The court ruled that local customary laws -- giving the youngest-born son rights to inherit the family home -- are not in line with the country's constitution, which guarantees gender equality.


"It seems to me that the time has now arisen for the justices of this court to assume the role of the judicial midwife and assist in the birth of a new world struggling to be born," said Justice Key Dingake.

"Discrimination against gender has no place in our modern day society," he said, urging the government to take all discriminatory laws off the statute books.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

Five reasons to eat Organic Apples

There are good reasons to eat organic and locally raised fruits and vegetables.  For one, they usually taste better and are a whole lot fresher.  Yet most of us can’t afford to buy all our food at the farmer’s market or natural foods store, and in many places, locally produced and organic foods are a struggle to find.
So if you can only buy a few organic fruits and vegetables – which should should it be?  Which single piece of produce could have the greatest impact on agriculture, the environment and your family’s health, all at once?

The data says: apples

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

BullyingCanada may close after November

An anti-bullying organization says it will cease to operate next month unless it receives donations from the public.

BullyingCanada, a nationally-registered charitable organization based in Fredericton, currently provides a 24/7 telephone support network, anti-bullying workshops and a scholarship program for youth.

“Without the financial support of citizens across Canada, we simply will not be able to keep up operations," co-founder and co-executive director Rob Frenette stated in a release.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

Pakistani Child Rights Icon injured by Taliban Attack

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack against a Pakistani schoolgirl who gained international fame for writing diaries about Taliban atrocities and attending school despite hard-line threats.

Malala Yousafzai is in critical condition after one or more attackers opened fire on her school van.

Essa Khankhel, a local journalist, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that Yousafzai was targeted on October 9 while returning home from school in Saidu Sharif, the capital of the northwestern Swat district.

Reports suggest one assailant asked which child was Yousafzai before opening fire.

In claiming responsibility, the Taliban called Yousafzai's work "obscenity."

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

Organic Solar Cells hold high potential with portable electronics

A new breakthrough in solar technology means portable electronic devices such as e-book readers could soon be re-charged on the move in low light levels and partial shading. Scientists from the University of Warwick, in collaboration with spin-out company Molecular Solar, have created an organic solar cell that generates a sufficiently high voltage to recharge a lithium-ion battery directly, without the need to connect multiple individual cells in series. Modules of these high voltage cells perform well in different light conditions including partial shade making them well matched to consumer electronic devices such as e-book readers, cameras and some mobile phones.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

Winner of 'Face of Tertiary' pageant embarks on anti-child labor campaign

Beautiful winner of 2012 edition of Face of Tertiary pageant, Esinam Amegbanu, is embarking on an anti-child labour campaign to help curb the menace of child labour in Ghanaian communities.

The campaign is dubbed ‘Save A Child TV Documentary’, and it will be in the form of a TV documentary.

It will be shown twice every week within 15 minutes on some of Ghana’s popular TV stations. There are 26 episodes.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

Man searches for stories behind faces of child labor photos

Photographer Lewis Hine is well known for his iconic pictures of workers high atop the Empire State Building. But before becoming famous for snapping pictures above the streets of New York, Hine worked as an anti-child labor investigator.

Between 1908 and 1924, Hine worked for a private advocacy organization, The National Child Labor Committee. Over the course of 16 years, he took more than 5,000 pictures of children working, often illegally, in mills and mines across the United States.

The photos were meant to shock Americans into reforming child labor laws. Almost 75 years after labor reform was enacted though, one man is still haunted by the photos.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

Matthew Shepard - The 14th Annversary

Just past midnight on October 7, 1998, one of the most horrific anti-gay hate crimes in American history took place in Laramie, Wyoming. Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old college student, was abducted by two men, tied to a fence, beaten with the butt of a pistol and left to die. A bicyclist found his body 18 hours later and on October 12 at 12:53 a.m. Shepard died in a hospital with his family beside him.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org

Anti-Salmon-Farming activist wins court victory

An anti-salmon-farming activist has won another victory against the global aquaculture industry, but also has been harshly criticized by a B.C. Supreme Court justice

Justice Elaine Adair has dismissed a defamation case launched by the salmon-farming company Mainstream Canada against Don Staniford over a 2011 campaign that included images of cigarette-like packages and statements such as "Salmon Farming Kills Like Smoking."

In her ruling published Friday, Adair said while the statements were defamatory and Staniford was motivated by malice, the activist honestly believed in what he was saying and animosity wasn't his dominant purpose.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit:  www.WeSurge.org