Just another post

First off I need to be a fond farewell to Andy's I'm an Intern in New York blog. His last--and most ambitious post--is a Choose Your Own Adventure styled story of the day in the life of an intern (or, at least, a day in Andy's life as an intern).

On the happy, even miraculous, ecology front, scientists are taking the ivory-billed woodpecker off the list of extinct species (yes, you read that correctly). Proclaimed extinct in 1920, an ivory-billed woodpecker was found in the Big Woods of Arkansas, according to the BBC.

A personal request: on Sunday, May 1st I would appreciate if everyone would take a moment to rejoice that I will be paid! After years of financial mess, I have vowed to get myself on a budget, and this upcoming check will be the beginning of a new life. Long live money.

Saturday I'm going to a meeting to learn about the Eastern Service Workers Association. They don't have a webpage, so I can't link to one, but basically they are an organization to help those workers who aren't recognized under the National Labor Relations Act. These are people--families--who earn very low wages and have hard times making ends meet. They also have little access to healthcare and other social programs because they fall into that group of people who aren't poor enough. Habitat for Humanity families are often in this category. The Eastern Service Workers Association helps advocate for them also helps them stretch their income farther through food and clothing drives. I'm not so keen about giving up my Saturday, but it is an issue that concerns me.

--Oh for the love of God. When I googled "Eastern Service Workers Association" one of the pages that came up is Steven Alan Hassan's Freedom of Mind Center--a.k.a. "I can free you from the grip of a cult." What is it with me finding organisations accused of cult activities? Well I'm still going to the meeting on Saturday, but if anything feels suspicious you can bet I'll change my phone number and never go back. They're also identified as "communist" on the CommieWatch blog (although this blog is two years old and seems to be defunct).

Crap. How is it that I always get drawn into these things?