A new Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ), biweekly feature “Chicago Matters: Beyond Burnham Visionaries” shows a glimpse into a diverse group of people right in our own backyard! The series profiles “visionaries with an eye on our region’s future,” but also draws connections to the international level. The people profiled run the gamut from a community developer to a cancer researcher to an architect. And, of course, the profiles are done in audio, which is fantastic. Angela Hurlock, of Claretian Associates, develops affordable ...

Connected through one continuous song, this video links street performers from around the globe (ranging from South Africa to Venezuela to the United States). The video is a clip from the documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music," and offers and excellent example of responsible media. It not only displays the talents and artistry of individuals too-often looked down upon (street musicians), but it also conjures a sense of connectedness and solidarity. Enjoy!

For almost a decade now, Macedonia has been trying to gain entry into the European Union. This process has not always been an easy one for the formerly communist nations that have, in the years since the fall of the Iron Curtain, tried to rebuild their standing in the eyes of the rest of the continent and the world. Macedonia's trials have been unique, though. The main hurdle preventing their entry right now is a dispute with Greece over the ...

Please join us at The OpenShutter Project's fall exhibit tomorrow at Engima Cafe, 1620 Orrington Ave (between Church St & Davis St)! The OpenShutter Project creates immersive media environments that move beyond simplistic narratives of people, problems and places. By increasing awareness of the world around us, transcending barriers of language and endeavoring to create the idea of a global community, we hope to inspire tangible action and positive social change.

On November 5, a lovely group of GES members and I headed downtown to Northwestern’s Chicago campus to attend a panel on childhood malnutrition, “The Global Crisis of Childhood Malnutrition: A Not-So Natural Disaster," presented by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University. Chris Day (a former facilitator for GES) introduced the panel, which included Will Reno, a professor of Political Science at NU; Dr. Marc Levin, an aid worker for Doctors Without Borders; ...

GES 2009 Nathaniel Whittemore Keynote: "A New Story About Our Generation" from Nathaniel Whittemore on Vimeo. One of the most important responsibilities of the Content Team is to select two keynote speakers for the conference: one who will talk at the opening banquet to the GES community (staff and delegates) and one who will close the conference with a speech to the entire Northwestern community. Last year GES hosted Nathaniel Whittemore and Premal Shah as opening closing keynote speakers, respectively. This ...

Embedded video from CNN Video The deadline for submissions for the fall OpenShutter show has passed, and photos have been selected. Guests to the OpenShutter show, which kicks off with an opening reception on Friday, November 13 from 6-8pm, are in for a real treat!  Please join us at Enigma Café! In the meantime, a fellow GES member brought to our attention a CNN video clip, in which Paula Newton reports on images taken by children at a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon ...

Who says texting can’t change the world? Or at least make a difference. When Josh Nesbit was confronted with a fundamental health care problem in Malawi, he turned to modern technology for a creative solution. With a simple text message, Nesbit was able to transform the entire organization of the hospital where he volunteered last year. Nesbit first traveled to Malawi in the summer of 2007 to volunteer at a rural hospital called St. Gabriel’s, which serves a quarter million people dispersed ...

GES has 12 teams, with 26 co-chairs, 66 staff members, and two directors.  That’s 94 people. And they all have midterms. It takes three days to respond to an email.  People are cranky from late nights in the library.  Starbucks cups are ubiquituous at our Tuesday night meetings.  Planning for a conference more than five months away is a low priority when a paper is due in less than five hours. GES’s greatest strength is its greatest challenge.  Sometimes it feels like GES ...

Even before the 2010 Summit begins, we are already learning from our promising international applicants. Looking through applicants' project proposals is always inspiring and exciting, and this week, through the project proposal of one of our applicants, we have learned about an incredible movement that is completely new to us: “hibakusha.” Literally translated as “those who were bombed” and is used more specifically to describe survivors of the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts. The death tolls were huge, and the ...