Job training at Skillpoint Alliance

Check out this article in today's Austin American-Statesman about local job-training programs available through Skillpoint Alliance.  According to Margo Dover, Skillpoint Alliance director:

"Texas is home to one of the largest veteran populations in the country and it will only grow as more troops leave Afghanistan. With few exceptions, they have the work ethic and drive to be excellent employees, but they often have a gap in the skills to attain jobs.


Transitioning veterans, as well as their dependents that also desperately need training and jobs, are a real strength of our region and we need to capitalize on it. It is important now more than ever that we start training them for jobs that exist right when they step off the base.

It is also important that those in the workforce, preparing to enter the workforce, and young people, the future workforce, are all aware of what jobs truly exist in the Austin-Central Texas market.

According to the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, one in three jobs in Austin are in computer programming and database management. Another 9 percent are in health care.

Jobs consistently exist in skilled labor, like electrical, plumbing, HVAC and welding. Austin is home to light machinist jobs. These are all perfect examples of skilled trades that do not require higher education degrees at their entry-level positions. Many allow for long-term growth without ever obtaining higher-education degrees ... People can be, or become, self-sufficient on these jobs. Most importantly, though, these are the jobs that exist in Austin. These businesses are in critical need of skilled, trained workers."

Documentary film exposes horrors of military rape

This film review was published in the print and online versions of today's Austin American-Statesman.  The documentary is showing at the Alamo South on South Lamar in Austin.  And, as demonstrated by the recent cases of military sexual assault by Air Force instructors in San Antonio against young recruits during basic training, this problem is common to all branches of the military. 

'Invisible War' tracks horrors of military rape

by Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times


Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 95 min
MPAA rating: Unrated
Austin360.com
Austin American-Statesman

The statistics brandished by the documentary "The Invisible War" are scandalous, but what makes this savage indictment of the epidemic of rape in the U.S. military so unforgettable are not numbers but the devastating personal stories of the victims of brutal sexual assault.

It's not that those numbers, all courtesy of U.S. government studies, don't have their power: 22,800 violent sex crimes in the military in 2011; 30 percent of servicewomen sexually assaulted during their enlistment; women in combat zones more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by the enemy. But the agony of those who live with the nightmare trumps even these.

People like the Navy's Trina McDonald, drugged and raped repeatedly by the military police in Alaska's remote Aleutian Islands. Or the Coast Guard's Kori Cioca, whose jaw was pulverized in an attack that is still so painful and traumatizing she does not leave the house without a crucifix and a fierce-looking knife. "You always have protection with Jesus," she explains. "But sometimes you need a little bit more."

As directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering, who did those powerful subject interviews, "The Invisible War" goes through all of this and more in classic muckraking fashion.

Veteran filmmaker Dick, whose previous work includes the Emmy-nominated "Outrage" and the Oscar-nominated "Twist of Faith," said before Sundance (where "Invisible War" won the audience award) that the stories he heard were "the most intense series of interviews I have ever been involved with." With the subjects as well as the men in their lives often in tears, he adds, "both Amy and I cried at just about every interview."

It is not just the detailing of the horrors of assault that makes "The Invisible War" so upsetting, it is its exploration of the before and after — an examination of what led these people to the military in the first place and what happened to them once they filed rape charges — that gives the film much of its power.

The story starts, fittingly enough, with clips from the Army-created 1950s TV documentary series "The Big Picture," showing the pride of the women who served back in the day.

It turns out that intense satisfaction in having served their country is what unites the people in "The Invisible War." They are all idealistic true believers who loved what they did. And, says filmmaker Dick, to a person they refused to be involved in this film if it was going to be anti-military.

In fact, many of the women had military fathers and thought that they were entering one big family that would always look out for them. This made the rapes that occurred feel like incest. What happened to these women after the rape often shocks and disturbs them as much as the physical act itself. More often than not, the charges are not taken seriously as a victim-punishing system treats them like criminals, not injured parties. At times even formally charged with adultery, these women are invariably forced out of the service.

The heart of the problem is that U.S. military justice mandates that charges like this are heard not by an independent judiciary but by one's immediate commanding officer. In many cases that is either the assaulter himself or a close friend, which is one reason the military itself estimates that 80 percent of sexual assaults are not reported.

The combination of these factors is why the women interviewed here are depressed, skittish, often fearful of going outside. The military reports that 40 percent of female homeless vets have been raped, and women who have been raped have a higher PTSD rate than men in combat.

It's especially heartening that shortly after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta saw "The Invisible War" at a special post-Sundance screening, he changed some of the systems that have made life hell for rape victims. It won't solve the problem, but perhaps some of this story's worst excesses can be considered things of the past. We can always hope.

Voice of Art video, part 3, Iraq Veterans Against the War

Check out part 3 of the Voice of Art video series made for Iraq Veterans Against the War, chronicling their NATO protest in May, when Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans led a 2.5 mile march through Chicago and symbolically returned their combat medals to NATO, stating to the assembled crowd their reasons for doing so.

 

Voice of Art, Part 2, Veterans who create

Check out part 2 of the video series from Voice of Art which focuses on ways that veterans are using art to process experiences of war:

Efforts at Reconciliation by Afghans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War

A video for Independence Day, by Iraq Veterans Against the War and Afghans for Peace:

This video features an exclusive interview with Suraia Sahar of Afghans for Peace (AFP) and Aaron Hughes of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) that was shot a day after the historic march for Justice and Reconciliation to end the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) occupation of Afghanistan and begin a process of healing and reconciliation.


This march led to a new growing relationship between IVAW and AFP that is sparking a new antiwar movement led by the most impacted communities, veterans and Afghan civilians. Currently the Afghanistan Veterans Against the War Committee of IVAW is working with AFP on a joint statement for justice and reconciliation.

Veterans speak: new Voice of Art video

check out the first installment of a new Voice Of Art video produced for Iraq Veterans Against the War by I Am Other:

Local Students Win Awards for Solar Designs

This article was published in today's Austin American-Statesman:

Austin Solar Day Attracts Students with Bright Ideas
by Farzad Mashhood

Some Pflugerville High School students are using the sun to power a light bulb that can eradicate microbes in water.

A senior at the Renaissance Academy, a North Austin private school, found a more efficient way to angle rooftop solar panels to maximize the cooling it gives a building.


And a group of Taylor High School students are powering a movie night — projector, sound system, Blu-ray player and all — in the city's Robinson Park on Saturday using a system of solar panels and batteries they built into the back of a green GMC Safari van.


Those were the two second- and first-place winners at the Austin Solar Day's high school photovoltaic competition. The engineers judging the field had a hard time deciding on the winner, so they ended up naming a pair of second-place winners and a pair of third-place winners out of the seven high schools represented Sunday at the Austin Convention Center.


"It's going to take this next generation of young people to bring their enthusiasm and hard work to bear on the scientific and engineering problems needed to make the third generation of solar technology a reality," B.J. Stanbery said. Stanbery, the founder and chief science officer of HelioVolt, an Austin-based solar panel manufacturer, chaired the Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, a weekend affair for solar industry professionals — in Austin for the first time — that puts on the annual public event to show people what solar power can do.


During Sunday's Solar Day, about 500 visitors perused the booths showcasing everything from the solar power-related academic offerings of Austin Community College to recent research on solar power by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. But the highlight for many was the seven schools — some with teams of about a dozen students — represented in the photovoltaic competition.


Stanbery, who helped pick the winners, said his personal favorite was a more scientific project that found a certain berry's dye can help solar panels generate more electricity.


"I inserted blackberry and raspberry dye into the cells and wanted to see which generates the most voltage," said Aditi Sharma, a sophomore at South Austin's Bowie High School. She found the blackberry dye, which is darker and more absorbent of light energy, was better.


Jessica Carr, a senior at Taylor High School who helped build the 36 solar panels on top of the van, said she was surprised with the first-place finish for what started in February as a school club doing mostly book work that eventually turned into a student-led project.


"The only word I can think of is ‘wow,' " she said.

--Austin American-Statesman, June 4, 2012