The Paw Print

    A friend once told me, “I decided to be bisexual because guys don’t treat me right.” A statement like that is common amongst generation Y; now-a-days, everybody seems to be claiming that they are gay. But what is the truth behind their statements? 

    Homosexuals are often treated negatively. Recently, society has been more accepting and more open-minded to their integration within the heterosexual community.  But is being gay the new trend among teenagers?

    Some people have developed the notion that being gay is a choice, so they decided to try it. And then there are others who are upset with their luck with the opposite sex, so they decide to switch over.

    It upsets me that some young teens are really not gay at all, but openly lie about it. I find no motive in people who only desire attention from the public fort heir sexual orientation. It’s not attractive; in fact it’s actually sad. To some teenagers, being gay or bisexual is like the new gladiator sandals for the summer: it’s a trend.

    I support the gay community 100 percent and by no means am I criticizing their sexual orientation. However, there are pretenders who claim that they are”gay” just to fit in. I think it’s like the new Coach bag: People want to buy it because they desire to be a part of a popular trend. 

    And it’s ironic because in the past, there was an immense animosity towards the gay community who were treated like outcasts. Yet, teenagers today want that feeling of “belonging” so badly that they lose their true selves within the process.

    In the process of growing up, teenagers experience conflicting emotions as hormones attack. I can accept teenagers experimenting because they are not sure as to what floats their boat. It is okay to question one’s sexuality. On the other hand, people are masking themselves, putting on an act and hiding behind the curtains. 

    As these desperate attention-seeking teens bow in the end, they are just overshadowing others who really are “in the closet” and want to come out. Why play another person other than the one who’s reflected back in the mirror?

    One’s sexual orientation is not a choice; rather it’s something embedded in one’sblood. So when a teen wakes up one morning and decides to be bisexual or gay, it’s nothing but a cover up or a target lifestyle. 

    Because more teens are leaving their comfort zones and confronting their identities, others feel the need to do the same. As followers attract more followers, it starts to become a“trend.” It’s nothing new anymore because everybody is doing it. It’s starting to be the “cool” thing just like other teenage activities like alcohol, drugs and sex. I just wish people would stay true to who they are and not blend in with the crowd. Just be honest.

Aim to be a bright neon pencil in a box filled with yellow crayons.

 

 

Like a game of Chutes and Ladders, same-sex marriage has been close to becoming reality several times before skidding all the way back. Now organizations on both sides of the issue are trying to decide what their next step will be.

Advocates of gay marriage face serious opposition, including the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a bond between one man and one woman. Thirty-seven states have passed their own Defense of Marriage Acts; however, it has not passed at the federal level.

Gay marriage has been approved in Massachusetts, Connecticut and several other states. It was legal for a short time in California. But last November, voters there voted to make it illegal once again with a bill known as Proposition 8.

Gay, Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), a New England group that supports gay marriage, has already made some progress, according to Executive Director Lee Swislow. He mentioned the success of one of GLAD’s cases involving Keith and Al Toney. Keith was able to get a passport using his correct married name.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) opposes gay marriage but supports same-sex unions. Brian Brown, Executive Director of NOM, believes that the issue will be simpler if same-sex unions can be recognized. “If the government just acknowledges same-sex unions, then this issue wouldn’t be as big as it is now,” he said.

For these organizations, gay marriage is not dead as an issue. And one day, one side just might finish the game.

Remember when Broadway was a busy street and the sight of vehicle traffic was a constant? Well things have changed since the Midtown street closings took effect.  Now the only traffic these streets see is the pedestrian kind.

In February, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced an experimental plan that is intended to relieve traffic congestion and make more room for pedestrians. The plan, which took effect over the Memorial Day weekend, calls for closings along Broadway from 47^th Street to 42^nd Street and from 35^th Street to 33^rd Street. City Officials said that if the experiment is deemed a success at the end ofthe year, it will become permanent.

The City believes that the plan will relieve traffic congestion because it will stop Broadway from crossing certain streets. The City also expects that airquality in the area will improve.

This and other projects around the city are part of Bloomberg’s overall effort to make New York City greener. Traffic has been replaced along these closed streets–or “pedestrian malls”–with lounge chairs, umbrellas, chairs and tables. So far, some seem to be happy with the effects of this current initiative, while others aren’t so sure.

“I think it’s great! Traffic is not too bad.What I like about it is that people relax and take it easy and that I have somewhere to sit and eat my lunch,” said Glen, 34, from Howard Beach.

 Others think it isn’t all a walk in the park.  Roy, 23, from Long Island does think it’s a nice place to relax. “I think that the delivery guys might have a problem though. The bad part [is] that there’s more traffic and you have to drive around”.

Small non-chain businesses around the area may benefit from the closings since there are more people on the streets. Some have reported that they have seen an increase in customers entering the store, but they haven’t seen a change in their daily revenues at the end of the day. 

    â€œWe do get more customers, but everything is about the same for us. The street closing hasn’t had an effect on the number of sales we get daily, positively or negatively,” said Mansi, 57, an employee at  the Vitamin Gallery Shop on 37^th Street and Broadway.

The new pedestrian areas may make exploring the city more enjoyable, especially for tourists. “I think it’s an excellent idea. Hard to say because I’m not from here, but now because the streets are closed, it offers a slow pace and maybe that’s what the city needs,” said Havid Rattman, 51, from Boston. “It would have a positive effect on the city because a slower pace feels like a little community. It would make the city feel more European.”

Valerie, 72, and Gerald White, 77, tourists visiting from London,agree. “The streets closing is wonderful, people are going to stop more, andwalk more and it is an experience to see the city more for us tourists,” she said. “And the air quality would be much better”.

           But with the good, there’s always a bad. Among the most affected by the closings are yellow cab drivers and delivery trucks that have had a hard times ince the streets closed.

“Because of the street closing there are fewer parking spots. Around the lunch time hours it’s a hassle because there’s a lot of people out and it’s difficult to get through,” said an Anonymous FedEx employee. “It has affected me negatively job-wise. I mean it is good for recreation and Summer but for us, UPS/ FedEx, it makes our jobs more difficult.”

To deliver mail, large carts must be walked to their destination, instead of pulling the truck up to the curb.

 â€œTraffic is very strong and very slow; I don’t like it. I try to avoid going through Broadway as much a possible. I imagine is going to be a lot worse when the holiday season comes around,” said Azid, 47, a NYC yellow taxi driver. “I think that the street closing makes no sense to me. [It] is better for you pedestrians but for us, [it] is a nightmare. I hope the mayor doesn’t even think to keep it in effect”.  

 Views on the success of the plan may still be split. But does changing the status quo mean changing something about the character of New York? 

    â€œI think the street closing kind of takes away from the city’s fast pace. The so-called plaza is not a New York kind of thing,” said Frank, 32. “We New Yorkers are used to the fast paced life and even though it might work now, it would eventually get old”.

 

    A lot of schools and teachers have found a way to torture their students over the summer without having to have us sitting in the classroom. But can summer homework be seen as a plus?

    Being outside the classroom takes away the boring lectures, the schedule times and the weekly exams that might take place and add to the freedom of when to either read or finish the work. But you can’t really practise you backstroke while reading “Nickeled and Dimed.”

    Although we all hate these assingments it also opens our eyes to other things that are out in the world and we may stumble upon some thing we may find interesting. $0$0But in the end, since the assignments do take away from our summer we don’t really get a real appreciation for them.

In Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, “All this happened, more or less.”

Vonnegut’s book recreates the devastation of Dresden through the fourth dimensional world of the Tralfamadores. These creatures seem to be nothing more than our everyday image of a green alien, shaped like toilet plungers with an eyeball in each of their hands. But in fact, they are powerful beings with the ability to shape the main character Billy Pilgrim’s perception of time, war and death.

Billy, an optometrist, father of two, prisoner of World War II and, most interestingly, a time traveler, breaks free from Earth’s linear time progression and learns to adjust his mindset to that of the Tralfamadores. In the book, events seamlessly connect and reveal a linear story leading up to Billy’s stay at the slaughterhouse of the title.

“So it goes…” This phrase is used among the Tralfamadores as their response to death. To them, death was simply an ordinary matter. Dead now but alive in another sphere – more specifically, in their sphere. Said with a shrug, Billy repeats this expression every time he sees a corpse. His green friends manipulate his outlook on death to the point where he becomes indifferent and has no love for himself or his life.

In addition to death, the book also addresses the relationship between time and fate. Through time travel, Billy is able to capture his past and future moments, thus giving him the supposed ability to change his fate. Yet, that is not the case. He uses his time traveling ability as an escape route to the virtual world of the Tralfamadores, where he does not have to deal with the slaughterhouse, war, his wife, or himself. Here, he adopts the alien theory that life is simply pieces of a puzzle without linear sequence. Having a jumbled life gives him the opportunity to put his life back in order. Thus, the Tralfamadores force him to reevaluate his life.

Billy’s occupation as an optometrist is a metaphor for a larger purpose than literally healing the human eye. In a figurative sense, he attempts to manipulate the human mind through the human eye, to implant in individuals the vision to see past death and “to accept the things I cannot change, have the courage to change the things I can and have wisdom always to tell the difference.” He hopes to grant his patients the eyes of the Tralfamadores, allowing them to accept death and see the perished lives in Dresden.

Because few are aware of the immense tragedy at Dresden, Vonnegut exposes the deaths that resulted from the bombing of that city in World War II. But he also refutes his point when he says “Poo-tee-weet?” He is right: there is nothing more to say about a massacre than a bird squeaking “Poo-tee-weet?”

Although not as conspicuous, Vonnegut actually plays a small role in the book, appearing sporadically. By incorporating himself as a minor character in the novel, Vonnegut expresses the impact the war had on him; in fact, it reveals something of his experience as a former prisoner of war. War did indeed sabotage his mind, leaving him like one of the Tralfamadores, able to explain the unexplained and rationalize the world beyond our scope.

And so it goes…

On a recent Thursday, ashes still clung to the storefront of Sunnydale Deli, and the windows of the flour-story edifice were charred around the edges. The building was quiet, except for the low droning of drills on wood that would eventually be scaffolding around the premises. But the silence was not always there.

The night before, a fire consumed the Bay Ridge building, sending dozens of families rushing out in to the streets. “Flames spread through all four floors, finally shooting through the roof in an inferno that lit up the night sky,”reported WABC 7, a news broadcast on television “Officials say dozens of residents were forced to flee, many with young children.”

The fire began at about 11:30 p.m., according to residents. Authorities were not notified until 11:44 p.m., when the blaze turned into a four-alarm fire. Five fire departments were notified. More than 160 firefighters from Engine Company 241, Ladder Company 109 and from three other precincts were called to the scene.

According to WCBS, Deputy Fire Chief James Leonard said the heat and humidity, and a delayed call to 911, made for a difficult night fighting the flames. Firefighters were able to contain the fire to two rooms in the building, but the smoke and heat led the fire to rise upward.

“When the roof caught fire, I just thought to myself, ‘Oh my god,’” said Michael Groysman, a bystander. “The firefighters didn’t care about the building anymore, [they came] with ladders and axes and were busy breaking all of the windows” to get the smoke and heat out.

Almost three hours later, the fire was finally put out, but at a high cost. The blaze destroyed all of the sixteen apartments. However, all residents were evacuated in time. Twenty-eight people—six residents and 22 fire fighters—suffered minor injuries according to fire officials.

After the fire, the Red Cross arrived on the scene. Victims sought refuge at the Guild for Exceptional Children, a recreational center for disabled children, just a block from the incident. Others stayed at nearby hotels or with family members. Most residents lost their possessions in the building.

“I thought it was something small, that we were going to leave and we were going to come right back. I didn’t think it was this [serious],” said evacuated resident Rebecca Rivera. Many neighbors agreed that the damages are so severe that the building will most likely be condemned. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.

Saswat Pattanayak, a graduate of the University of Maryland’s School of Journalism, can be found clicking away on his camera at Central Park on a typical summer weekend. To anyone who looks his way, the 29-year-old journalist seems like an ordinary guy fulfilling his passion for photography. What strangers don’t know, however, is that Saswat has been a victim of cyber-bullying.

As the Internet becomes an increasingly dominant force in teen life, cyber-bullying is a rising issue concerning high school students. It began drawing serious attention following the suicide of Megan Meier. Two years ago, cyber-bullying turned deadly when Meier, 13, a Missouri teenager, killed herself after a boy she had fallen in love with on MySpace told her, “The world would be a better place without you.” It later turned out that the boy’s account on the Web site was fake, and had been created by a neighbor, Lori Drew, as a “joke.” Drew was convicted of misdemeanor charges in 2008, but a judge later threw out the conviction because there was no clear bullying law under which Drew could be prosecuted. Who knew this joke would cause a teenager to commit suicide? 

Cyber-bullying is an issue that affects a high percentage of teenagers. In a 2008 study conducted by Cyber Bully Alert, a company that sells software that documents threatening messages, 42 percent of those surveyed said they had been “bullied online,” but almost 60 percent never told their parents about the incident. The National Crime Prevention Center, a non-profit educational group, also discovered in a study that only 18 percent of cyber-bullying cases were reported to a local or national law enforcement agency. As in the Megan Meier case, NCPC found that 92 percent of teenagers who have been victims knew their cyber bullies.

Though MySpace is considered to be “a place for friends,” and Facebook claims to “give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected,” these sites are easily used for cyber-bullying. Anonymous accounts can be made through Facebook, MySpace and AIM, so no identity needs to be revealed, making it easier for cyber bullies to attack their victims. With the new application of “The Facebook Honesty Box,” people are able to express their feelings about others anonymously. Therefore, individuals have no way to discover who wrote the comments posted about them, whether the comments are positive or negative.

Denise Finkel, a Long Island teenager, filed a lawsuit in March against four classmates who had cyber bullied her through Facebook. The classmates created fake rumors about Finkel, saying that she used drugs, had “inappropriate conduct with animals,” and had contracted AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Feeling ridiculed and harassed, Finkel sued her classmates for $3 million and transferred from her original high school, Ocean High School, to State University of New York at Albany.

Saswat Pattanayak, the 29-year-old journalist, says he was bullied for because of his liberal political beliefs. “I maintain a political blog, and because of the progressive views I hold, I have been abused via comments and emails, and have been threatened various times. My comment sections have been hacked despite my using spam-proof systems.”  He says he was also cyber bullied when he was younger. “It’s way easier to cause someone greater distress through a relatively inconspicuous method such as cyber-bullying than through real interaction,” he says. Pattanayak still blogs daily and does not hesitate to express his feelings, despite receiving threatening messages. 

Some teens don’t see cyber-bullying as a big deal. Armani Clare, a 19 -year-old college student at Bronx Community college, says, “Only losers call it ‘getting bullied.’ You’re on the computer! It’s called being annoyed. It’s the Internet for jeez sakes…”

But according to psychotherapist Semyon Barash, a psychiatrist who has been specializing in adolescent issues for 23 years, cyber-bullying can severely affect victims. There are two primary reactions among victims. “One, frankly the most common, is significantly lowered self-esteem,” said Barash.Alternatively, “the victim can become authoritative, bossy, and may even cyber-bully others.” He added that “cyber-bullying is simply equivalent to that of normal bullying without the ‘direct’ physical threat.”

Fortunately, there are ways to prevent cyber-bullying which should be brought to the attention of teenagers. According to Kidscape.org, a Web site that educates kids on how to prevent Internet abuse, the best way to avoid potentially abusive comments is to ignore threatening emails. In addition, if a victim is constantly being cyber bullied, somebody should be notified immediately. A trusted adult is the best way to go. The soundest way to prevent cyber-bullying before it starts is to be educated about Internet safety, so cases such as Meier and Finkel can be avoided.

Sixteen-year-old, Karen Casidad, a senior at Baruch High School, has some advice for people who have been or currently are victims of cyber-bullying. Bullies are “just no-life people who have nothing better to do than degrade individuals who threaten them,” she says. “And in many ways, you’re superior. Relish it.”

 

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    When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was announced as the winner in the June 12, 2009 Iranian election, he might not have expected the massive eruption of protests that ensued inside his country. And with the world closely watching, support for the protesters spread to our own country.

    It has been two months since the election in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohsen Rezaee, and Mehdi Karroubi ran for president of Iran. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in a landslide victory. But Mousavi and his supporters disputed the election results, claiming fraud and corruption robbed Mousavi as the rightful winner. “Mousavi I think is better for the presidential job,” said Tarik Moussaw of Astoria, Queens.  

    Outraged, Mousavi supporters flooded the streets of Tehran. None seemed to heed previous warnings from authorities that violence would be used against them. These protesters took their time on the streets, shouting about how they’ve been treated and how the election was corrupt. Teargas cans were openly thrown into the large crowds and armed men were pushing people out of the streets. Luckily for some Iranian protesters, several store and hotel owners reportedly let them inside and locked out officers.

    Many protesters and those accused of encouraging the protests were arrested and the protests proved deadly for a number of Iranians. Sympathy for the Iranian protesters was soon displayed herein America.

    Social networking sites likeTwitter and Facebook were used to spread word of what was happening inside Iran. Iranians used Twitter to communicate and organize locations for protests and social networking helped pass information about the situation throughout the world. Soon, protests on the ground were happening in the U.S.  

    On Saturday July 25, 2009, flags and posters were being held up as 600 people chanted onto the concrete of Times Square. Most of the people were wearing green—the official color of the movement—as they walked all the way to the United Nations with a goal. This goal was to get the United Nations involved and help the Iranian people from their own government.

    These protesters demanded freedom, civil rights, and equality for the Iranians. They sat in front of the U.N as musical guests, such as Iranian American Fared Shafinury, played songs. 

    

    â€œWe as the Iranian resistance have always been asking for a free election under the auspices of the U.N,” proclaimed Nasser Razii of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.  The protesters all sang along trying as much as possible to make their voices heard. 

    For the protesters to make themselves truly heard, they not only chanted to the United Nations but also to the heart of the United States. In Washington D.C., hundreds of Iranian American protesters once again took to the streets near Capitol Hill. Most displaying green peace signs, they gathered in one large crowd. Soon enough, all the protesters started marching from block to block drawing in more and more people, until they finally reached the White House. They all halted and began raising posters that read  “free Iran,” “where is my vote,” and “united for Iran.”

    Just like at the New York City rally, these protesters wanted to make a difference. “All those people weren’t chanting for Mousavi, but for the rights of the Iranian people,” said Hafez Akbari who attended the Times Square rally. 

    Soon the protesters started chanting phrases such as “reject the sham elections, impose complete sanctions.” Mainly the rally was for the freedom of the Iranian people but the anger towards Ahmadinejad was evident as some people chanted “death to Ahmadinejad.”

    Aside from whether the election was hijacked, the real question is whether the Iranian people will be given their democratic rights. “The protests began in reaction to the election results,” said Nasser Razii, “but it soon became evident the Iranian people are against the totality of this regime.”

          During the weekdays, 30-year-old Zach Pethoud is an ordinary New Yorker with a 9-to-5 job as a receptionist at a wealth management company. But when the weekends arrive, Pethoud transforms into a jazzy, soulful singer, serenading commuters with classic American songs on the busy platform of the Times Square-42^nd Street subway station.  

“I love the standards music of the 30s and the 40s,” said the singer. “I think that type of music needs to come back.”

Pethoud is new to the underground world of subway performers. He sang in the subway for the first time in July 2009 because he simply wanted to save up money for a vacation in Moscow in October.

           He’s not doing badly at all. Last Saturday alone, he made $86. His goal is to earn $1,000 by the time of his trip.

For Pethoud, though, it’s not all about the money.

           â€œThere’s always the monetary aspect, but for the two minutes that people are down there, if they had a bad day and I can make them feel good, then that’s all I really care about,” he said. He described a moment recently when an old couple danced as he sang. “The little things like that are really cool.”

One man wearing an olive green fedora hat came up to him and raised his hand up in the air, gently bobbing his head as Pethoud dove into the powerful chorus of “My Way,” by Frank Sinatra.The man then reached into his pocket and dropped a quarter into the red and black book bag lying at the singer’s feet.

“Sing it, white man, sing it,”the man said as he walked back to the edge of the platform.

Originally from Davenport,Iowa, Pethoud grew up loving musical theater and performing in shows. In 1999,he graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in Manhattan. He resettled in Iowa briefly, but returned to the Big Apple to find a steady job and raise a family, instead of pursuing a musical career.

“I miss singing all the time,”said Pethoud. “It’s my passion, but at the same time, it’s a hard life.”

The subway was the perfect opportunity for Pethoud not only to make money for his trip, but to return to the stage he loved .

           â€œI called my mom the first day I started during lunch and she was like, ‘I’m so happy you’re singing again!’” laughed Pethoud. “There was a part of me that was nervous, but it’s interesting because I really didn’t feel any pressure. In a few minutes, the people watching will be gone anyway.”

           The experience does have its difficulties.

           In a subway system infamous for its muggy heat during the summer, Pethoud still wears a black suit to perform. “The suit kind of fits the whole Rat Pack Sinatra thing,” the performer remarked. In between songs, he uses a damp towel to wipe away his sweat.

           But for Pethoud, it’s all worth it.

           â€œI have thought about continuing this, absolutely,” said the singer.

With his hands in his pockets and his face slightly red, Pethoud swayed lightly as he sang Frank Sinatraâ€Â

    On June 27^th 2009, Organizing for America began their largest grassroots campaign since the election of President Obama.  This summer, the advocacy group plans to use legions of volunteers and the innovative campaign methods used in the 2008 presidential election to convince legislators to back President Obama’s plan for healthcare reform.

    

    On November fourth, 2008, the newly elected President Obama made clear that he viewed his election as a step towards a greater goal.  “This victory is not the change we seek—it is only the chance for us to make that change,” he said. 

    The Obama team “created Organizing for America as a way of taking all this energy and using it to fight for the President’s agenda,” explained Allie Feldman, a 28-year-old former organizer at Kent State University who continues to volunteer in New York. 

    Organizing for America has a hierarchical structure, with headquarters in Washington and regional and state offices throughout the country.  “The people at the head of the organization have definite ideas of what they want to happen,” explained Alan Howard, a 68-year-old volunteer. They develop the organization’s priorities and strategies. Yet the volunteers have a large degree of autonomy, said Mr. Howard, using the organization’s Web site to plan their own events.

    What inspired so many Americans to continue volunteering after the election?During the Bush administration, many politically active liberals became disenchanted with the American political system.  During the 2004 GOP convention in New York, Gregg Ross, a 25-year-old future field organizer for Obama, was arrested while observing the protests.  After being held in a razor wire holding pen on Pier 57, Mr. Ross was reluctant to get involved in politics again.  Like many futur evolunteers, the inclusive message of Obama’s 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention won Mr. Ross over.

    â€œThe groundbreaking thing about President Obama is that you can be radical by using the system,” Mr. Ross said.  Ross believes that by working with Organizing for America, he has been able to successfully affect change on national and local levels.  

    â€œWhat motivated me was the different type of campaign he was running.  He wasn’t just asking for our vote, but our involvement and expertise,” he recalled.  “As an organizer, it was my job to state the principals that we all shared.This is what we are doing with healthcare too.”  

    Mr. Howard feels it is his responsibility as a citizen to continue volunteering. “Huge numbers think that all they have to do is vote and then wait until the next election,” he said.  “The problem with that is that while you are not doing anything, the special interests are.  People need to volunteer to shape political events.”

    The volunteers are currently circulating a petition to support the three principles of healthcare outlined by President Obama:  reduce costs, guarantee choice and ensure quality affordable healthcare for all.  Many of them continue to work with Organizing for America because they believe that healthcare is a vital right.  “Healthcare is a paramount issue of social justice,” said Mr. Ross.

    Most volunteers also believe that the private healthcare system is not just a social issue, but an economic one as well. “Our economy is suffering because of people not being able to afford healthcare,” said Mr. Ross.  In aletter to Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts and Senator Max Baucus (D) of Montana, President Obama predicted that, “without meaningful reform, one fifth of our economy will be tied up in our healthcare system in 10 years.”  

    Bill Horner, a 60-year-old volunteer, worries that if healthcare dominates the economy, Americans will have to choose between funding the armed services and healthcare.  He does not believe that Americans should have to make that choice. 

    

    When it comes to the nuts and bolts of the healthcare bill, volunteers stressed the importance of a public option.  “No public option, no change,” said Mr. Horner, shaking his head.  They also value the importance of a quality healthcare plan without catches hidden in the fine print. 

    As she handed out fliers at an Upper East Side farmer’s market, Dawn Helene, 48, said that she wants the same quality healthcare that her senators get. Right now, she has minimum coverage with a $50 co-pay and no coveragef or non-generic medication.  “Most doctors don’t take my insurance,” she added. 

         Mr.Howard outlined three steps that Organizing for America volunteers will follow to insure that healthcare reform is passed.  First, he believes that the Obama administration needs a foundation of support.  “We want to make sure when they communicate something to Congress, they have the numbers supporting them.”  

    Next, Mr. Howard stressed the importance of bringing the debate in Washington to the average American.   He recommends that those who support reform write letters to the editor of their local newspapers, invite the media to events and talk to their neighbors about healthcare.  Mr. Howard believes that people who have a huge stake in the outcome of the healthcare debate need to be involved. 

    Finally, Mr. Howard urges Americans to contact their legislators.  “The healthcare bill will only be passed if the heat has been felt and the numbers have been built.”  For this reason,volunteers are writing to Democrats whose representatives are on key committees or on the fence about the healthcare bill.  Their letters urge constituents to tell their representatives to support reform.

    In an email campaign, Organizing for America is asking individuals to share their personal experiences with the present healthcare system by speaking at organized even
ts and posting stories online.  They hope that showing the human face of the healthcare crisis will gain support for reform.  “It is one thing to talk about healthcare,” said Ms. Feldman,  “It is another to listen to people talk about their healthcare nightmares.”

    With healthcare legislation failing to reach the president’s desk before Congress’s August recess, Organizing forAmerica will continue its push for reform. Mr. Horner believes that the only way to counteract lobbyists from the health insurance industry is by making it clear to Congress that the voters want affordable, quality healthcare.  “We can’t compete on money, but we have voices,” he said.  â€œIf we’re quiet, it’s not going to happen.”