Category: News

If you or someone you know has competed in an obstacle course race like Tough Mudder and Spartan you probably wondered, why? Why the heck would anyone crawl under barbed wire, jump over fire, literally electrocute themselves and get excited to do it again. And pay good money for it!

Our friend, journalist and filmmaker Scott Keneally, was wondering the same thing. Ever up for a gonzo challenge, Scott decided to suffer and write a funny story about it. He figured a self-described “pain-averse beta male” tackling a paramilitary assault course would make for a good story. Of course, he also wanted to score an “epic” profile picture so he could brag about it on Facebook and Insta.

While researching the history of Tough Mudder, Scott met some of the world’s most unique and interesting people, from the unusual and contrary English founder of the sport’s granddaddy, philosopher and athlete Mr. Mouse, to three-time champ and Apple lawyer Amelia Boone, plus repeat champion and former underwear model Hunter McIntyre. Scott stumbled upon a “Social Network”-style scandal… and quickly reinvented himself as an investigative journalist and his expose for Outside Magazine grew into a film, RISE OF THE SUFFERFESTS. It’s the first feature documentary about the muddy, masochistic world of obstacle racing. Simply put, the film asks WHY the hell everyone is suddenly paying for pain… and WTF it says about the world we’re living in.

What’s the deal. White privilege? Narcissism epidemic? Masculinity crisis? Loneliness in the digital age? A little scared, a little excited, and working from funds raised in two crowdsourcing appeals, Scott is about to become a father for the first time. Scared sh&tless, he goes for it. 

Scott Keneally recently talked to the OBSERVER about obstacle races and the psychology behind the OCR phenomenon. Read what he says about making the film and what he thinks about where the OCR craze is headed. 

You can also listen to him on ORDER OF MAN explaining what you can learn about yourself through participating in a race of your own.

The Lions of Zambia rise to their toughest vaccine challenge yet

Vaccines are hands down the best way to introduce better health to the world’s most vulnerable people. We recently interviewed Dr. Victor Mudenda in Zambia, who explained why.

“The biggest challenge is fear. Many parents believe immunization leads to HIV infections and other problems. They want to stay away. Our education program is aimed at forestalling those fears.”Dr. Mudenda says the social mobilization and publicity campaign for the current measles vaccine program also has to overcome social norms in Zambia, where there is no tradition of regular visits to a clinic and clinics are underfunded.

 “There is a low understanding in the communities here of the need for people to be examined by doctors on a regular basis, to assess whether they are sick or not sick.“

When it comes to the urgent mission to save lives in the world’s poorest countries, we know that vaccines work. The measles-rubella vaccine is cost-effective and abundant, but getting it to the people who need it requires organizations and volunteers along the entire chain: a committed network of private and public organizations, in-country health leaders, medical professionals, transportation and logistics managers, and volunteers on the ground to get the word out and make sure families turn out to get vaccinated. 

One important partnership –between Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Lions Clubs International Foundation — has helped save even more lives. Since 2013, these health leaders have led efforts for vaccination campaigns in 26 countries across Africa and Asia in need of this vaccine.

Gavi and Lions unique collaboration works by blending resource mobilization with advocacy and in-country social mobilization activities.

Now, as Gavi and Lions work in Zambia to help immunise children, they are focused on one major outcome: to sharply reduce child deaths and cases from measles and rubella.

Read more on their live blog: http://www.vaccineswork.org/post/150808035997/the-lions-of-zambia-rise-to-their-toughest-vaccine

Since winning the J.M. Kaplan Innovation Prize in November 2015, Coworker.org has supported worker petitions aimed at improving the workplace at companies and freelancers working in the gig economy. The J.M. Kaplan Innovation Prize is a grant that supports social entrepreneurs across the United States who are spearheading game-changing solutions to our society’s most urgent challenges. Coworker.org fits that requirement: it is a unique, DC-based, woman-owned nonprofit and online platform that provides a website and technology for individuals or groups of employees to launch campaigns that aim to improve workers’ conditions. Hundreds of thousands of people have joined Coworker.org efforts and successfully supported projects that implemented fundamental changes for employees in their work life.Often, this means giving far-flung workers a much bigger voice and say when it comes to policies that affect them.  There are many campaigns for a broad variety of causes on Coworker.org: better parental benefits, being able to show tattoos and wear beards or dreadlocks at work, getting a manager fired for assaulting an employee, or for professional women soccer players to not play on turf, Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays off —  anything that helps individuals or groups can happen when people organize themselves through platforms like Coworker.org.

One recent success: a campaign joined by thousands of Netflix customers and employees that led to the company expanding its paid parental leave for hourly employees. Employees in the streaming, DVD, and customer service divisions will now receive fully paid parental leave. Additionally, the new policy will cover paternity leave and adoptions. Many parents working at Netflix will be grateful for this significant benefit that was made possible with help from the Coworker.org campaign.

These are two other examples for winning campaigns on Coworker.org:

  Starbucks changed its scheduling policy to prevent “clopenings” (back-to-back closing and opening shifts) ensuring that baristas get enough rest in between shifts

  Jimmy John’s updated its dress code allowing employees to show tattoos and wear dreadlocks.

What’s next for Coworker.org? They have been using their J.M. Kaplan grant to add to staff and their online tools and infrastructure to support current and new campaigns from Starbucks to WeWork to Uber drivers.

Yes, you can get a car seat for your dog! Read up: Our Silverbee experts Chester Jacinto and Kristina Eisele researched and put together this story on the best cars and habits when you have a Fur Baby On Board.

http://www.aarp.org/auto/info-2015/drive-with-dogs-safely.html

Dr. Mae Jemison inspires us because she has been resilient and has followed her own internal compass her whole life – but she has been very intentional about including others along her journey. When social norms said, ‘you can’t do that’, Mae said, ‘fiddlesticks.’  Here is a profile of Dr. Jemison we helped place in the September 2015 issue of REAL SIMPLE.

It’s lunchtime, it’s summer, and tomatoes are everywhere! Continuing the media momentum from our work on the documentary Food Chains,  we helped announce today’s news that Giant, Stop & Shop, Martin’s and the online grocer Peapod, AHOLD USA’s food retailers, have joined the Fair Food Program, which is going to bring Fair Food tomatoes to about 75 percent more shoppers along the populous region between Richmond, VA and Boston, MA. Read about it in Barry Estabrook’s post on CivilEats.

We’ve been working with the Hearing Resource Center for several months on this Washington Post HEALTH article.  Read Dr. Charlotte Yeh’s profound personal story about her father’s hearing loss that she mistook for as the onset of dementia for more than a decade.

Every time I walk into a coffee shop, I am struck by the buzzing atmosphere of people socializing, reading, knitting, and most of all, as far as I can tell, working— dozens of people engrossed in their computers or studying books or paperwork. If I am not similarly engaged I might amuse myself by wondering what each person is doing or making up a story about their work. Is the writer in the nerd glasses on his way to becoming a famous novelist for whom a table, chair, or the entire business will be named in a decade?  Is the dad with the baby who’s there again soaking up some scarce “me time” or is he checking his stock portfolio over a latte as his infant daughter sleeps on his shoulder? Or are these people part of a growing network of self-employed freelancer-entrepreneurs like me?

It appears the landscape of the so called “third places” — not your home, not your office — has changed a lot. More and more coffee shops that are NOT Starbucks have been popping up in our neighborhood.  Stylish but cozy locations with pour over coffee run by small business owners are not as hard to find any more as they used to be.  And they attract a wide range of people. According to a 2014 research by the Freelancer Union and Elance-oDesk, more than 53 million Americans work as freelancers which is 34% of the total population.  I find myself being one of them now, working many days out of my favorite third place, Swing’s.

Swing’s Coffee is located in the Del Rey neighborhood in Alexandria in an old brick warehouse, and it’s not only a coffee shop but also a roasting facility as you can tell from two blocks away by the delicious smell in the air.  While enjoying any drink of the big variety offered and always customized for your taste (decaf, half caf, skim, soy, whole milk, latte, cappuccino, Americano, iced, extra hot), you can watch the coffee roasting happening behind a big glass wall.  While the Del Rey location has been around for only a few years, Swing’s coffee has been part of the DC coffee culture since the early 20^th century when M.E Swing Co opened the first roastery on E Street and several decades later the famous Coffeehouse on G Street. Coffee lovers have been enjoying the still best selling Swing blend Mesco for almost a century (since 1918)!

The Silverbee team always enjoys the great service and excellent coffee, but we also think Swing’s deserves our support for other reasons. The company is committed to a sustainable, traceable and transparent supply chain management. They work with importers, exporters and farms that run their business based on family-farmed small holder coffee and sustainable growing practice, and support local communities. Furthermore, Swing’s brings its sustainability practices to a local level by composting their brewed coffee. Common Ground City Farm in DC, for instance, that aims to support low-income community members uses the coffee compost for their vegetable gardens.

Now, considering the amount of freelancers it’s not surprising to me any more that so many people are using places likes Swing’s as their third place. You enjoy a spacious office where you get the chance to socialize or even network, or you can just sit among people while working on your computer and sipping a good quality coffee (not to mention those tasty pastries they offer as well).

On top of that, coffee houses are getting the recognition they deserve when it comes to culture and history, everywhere from Colonial Williamsburg to a new book by Steven Johnson.  Coffee houses have long been an environment that stimulates creativity and innovation. In NPR’s TED Radio Hour episode “What is Original?” Johnson talks about the role of coffee houses during the Enlightenment in Europe when coffee started replacing alcohol (water was to dangerous to drink) and the fact that the switch from consuming a depressant to a stimulant contributed to the innovations of the intellectual movement. You can read more about his interesting theory in his book Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation.  Thus, we have another reason to be working out of third places when looking for an inspirational office.

So if you are looking for a third place because you are getting cabin fever while working from home, or need a change from staring at your grey, windowless office walls, or you just want treat yourself to a special cup of coffee, Swing’s is the place to be! And don’t forget to try the summer special!