VOL. 5, No. 10;
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Dear Arthur,
Today's newsletter includes:
1.
Report on last Saturday's High School Discussion
Group.
2. Update from February
27th Middle
School M.U.N. teacher meeting.
3. Spring
Training Report.
4. New
survey on Nuclear
Proliferation.
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Civitas Home
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Discussion Group Last Saturday Controversial
and Enlightening
 Last Saturday, March 4, Civitas had
its first discussion group since the thought-provoking
"Reinventing the U.N." conference. Not only did a great bunch of
students show up, but we had a surprise visit from a Civitas
alumna. That's right; if you weren't there you missed seeing
former Maplewood-Richmond Heights student Crystal Williams (a frequent
contributor to our surveys with insightful comments).
Crystal now attends
Dominican University in Illinois.
You also missed a
really refreshing debate on South Dakota's proposed abortion law
and gay marriage. For such hot topics, all of the students
maintained very cool compositions. On the issue of gay marriage a
lot of compromises were reached; for example the majority thought
civil unions should be legal, but marriage ceremonies should be
left to each church to decide. The only things missing from this
wonderful discussion group were Arthur Lieber and Gloria Bilchik,
but Lisa Granich-Kovarik did a pretty good job of filling their
shoes.
Our next discussion will be
on Saturday, March 18 at Crossroads School (link to map below)
from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM. Hope to see you on Saturday, the
18th!
Map
and Directions to Crossroads School
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Middle School Teachers Meet To Select Resolutions For Spring
Sessions (Update)
 Nineteen Middle School Model UN
teachers met at the Creve Coeur Government Center on Monday,
February 27th to select resolutions for the six
sessions that will take place in April and May. Many of the
teachers brought resolutions that their students had already
authored with them; others came with the frameworks of
resolutions that their students were working on.
The
Spring sessions will be on April 5, April 26, May 3, May 4, May
10, and May 11. Each will have between 70 - 100
delegates. The teachers began the resolution process
yesterday so that the students for each session would know well
in advance what topics they would be discussing in their sessions
and what ideas have been put forth.
Lisa
Granich-Kovarik and Bobbi Clemons have been working on
organizing the resolutions and ensuring that they are "fit for
publication." Some of them are already on the web. Once the
others are ready, they will also be published on the
web. Printed copies of the resolutions will be distributed
to teachers well in advance of their sessions.
Any
Middle School teacher who has any questions about the
meeting or what their remaining responsibilities for the year are
should contact Lisa at 314-865-4704 or [email protected].
Photos
from Middle School Teacher Meeting
Middle School
Country Selections for 2005-2006
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Arthur Competes with Sidney Ponson as "Obese Pitcher"
on Cardinals!
 Civitas staffer Arthur Lieber has been
with the Cardinals the past few days competing for the "obese
pitcher" spot on the roster. His chief competition is
Sidney Ponson who has spent most of his career toiling for the
Baltimore Orioles. Tony LaRussa has said that he wants an
"obese pitcher" on the staff this year as a specialist to come in
against opposing team's "obese pinch hitters." Here's the
way that the competition between Sidney and Arthur currently
shapes up:
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Sidney |
Arthur |
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Most Major League Wins |
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Fewest Major League Losses |
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Most Strikeouts |
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Fewest Walks |
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Best "stuff" |
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Most
"feared" |
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Willing to
pitch for less money |
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| Most pound-for-pound
strength |
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| Fewest D.W.I. Convictions |
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Overall
Advantage |
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You can expect Arthur to be home this
Thursday! He intends to eat less and exercise
more!
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What To Do About the Spread of Nuclear
Weapons?
 President Bush traveled to India and
Pakistan last week. Among the topics discussed was
containing the spread of nuclear weapons (a topic that was very
central to last month's Civitas "Reinventing the United Nations"
conference. He was able to exact a few changes from India;
none from Pakistan. He offered no cutbacks on the part of
the United States.
Currently, the countries with
nuclear weapons include all five permanent members of the U.N.
Security Council (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom,
& United States) as well as India
(nuclear-tipped missile from 2004 parade pictured here),
Israel, and Pakistan. The
evidence is close to certain that North Korea
now has a nuclear weapon and Iran is working
feverishly to develop one. South Africa
claims that it formerly had nuclear weapons but has since
destroyed them.
Our question this week is,
"Which of the following steps do you support in trying
the contain the spread of nuclear weapons?" (You
may select more than one answer.)
a)
Have the United States try to "take out" the nuclear facilities
of every country that it does not trust. b) Ban the
importation of materials necessary for the manufacturing of
nuclear weapons to all countries that currently do not have these
weapons. c) Provide financial incentives to countries
to not develop, expand, or export nuclear technology and
materials. d) Turn control of all the world's nuclear
weapons over to the United Nations, as presently constituted. e) None of the above. Click
here for the survey:
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Previous Survey
Results!
Last newsletter's question was:
Is Mardi Gras
Your Way of Celebrating?
 KMOX
radio reported this morning that since Hurricane Katrina last
August-September, St. Louis has gained approximately $17 million
in convention and visiting revenue from New Orleans. A good
deal of that came this past weekend with the Mardi Gras
celebration in Soulard.
The media often
presents Mardi Gras as being synonymous with "a good time."
We wanted to see how a possible Mardi Gras experience would rank
for you as "a good time."
Today's poll is,
"Which, if any, of the following types of 'fun'
would you prefer to being at a Mardi Gras
celebration?" (You may select more than one answer.)
a) Informal socializing with friends.
6 (35%)
b) A "private party" as opposed to a "public party" in which
you know most of the people present.
-- 6
(35%)
c) A quiet night at home
reading, watching TV, or playing games. -- 2 (12%)
d) Going to a
sports event such as a Cardinal baseball game or one of your
school's football or basketball games. -- 3 (18%)
e) None of the
above.
COMMENTS ON THE ISSUE
Pat Minute; Teacher, Hazelwood Central High
School
I get a "high" just thinking about Cardinal
baseball. The best parties in town occur at sporting events with
fatty foods you don't normally eat, expensive beer you would
never buy on any other occasion, and camaraderie with complete
strangers because you are rooting for the same team. It makes no
sense but if you are a Cardinal fan you understand.
Tony Keel; S.L.U.H.,
2006
I don't really have anything to say
on this issue, but I wanted to keep up my record of writing
something for every survey. Now that we are on the topic though,
Mardi Gras is a little blown out of proportion. The beads are
cool, but you aren't really supposed to party the night away
before Lent.
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Additional
Links
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| Resolutions
(High School U.N.) for 2004-2005
| Checklist
for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution
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Reinventing U.N.Conference Home
Page
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