Unemployment Among Vets a New Crisis

The unemployment rate last year for young male veterans, including those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, hit 21.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics... The unemployment rate for the general population in March 2010 was 9.7 percent, according to the Department of Labor.

http://www.truth-out.org/veterans-impacted-another-crisis-unemployment58683

This clip from a 1933 Busby Berkley musical, "Remember My Forgotten Man," is a moving reminder that some things never change:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQD3v4g1DEU

One Million Homeless Children in U.S. Schools

http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2010/08/26/one-million-homeless-children-in-americas-schools/

We're living in a system that eats its young and throws away its own future. What are we going to do about it?

Families: The Fastest-Growing Group of Homeless

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012683006_homelessfamilies29m.html

Fight Hunger With a Click

At this URL, you can click through the tabs to make no-cost donations for Hunger, Breast Health, Literacy, Child Health, the Rainforest, and Animal Rescue. It's easy to sign up for a daily link delivered to your inbox. And did I say it's at no cost to you? All you have to do is click.

http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1&ThirdPartyClicks=ERH_072810_THS

Link to order Kindle download

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VS0EB8

Other Works by Rita Weinstein

Something Fishy This Way Comes is a comedy of the occult, also a hilarious update of the classic "Hamlet" by Maestro Will Shakespeare. The main character, Harriet, is a young woman who cannot make a decision or a commitment. That changes when she meets the very strange Adrian, a handsome young man with psychic gifts. Because she believes in his gift, she believes in their future. But all of that changes when the ghost of Harriet's mother, Jocasta, appears the day before the wedding and demands that Harriet avenge her murder at the hands of Gertrude, Harriet's stepmother. Gertrude, desperate to finally see Harriet happily married, has been calling Madame Ophelia, the phone psychic, for guidance. Imagine everyone's surprise when Madame Ophelia turns out to be Adrian! Something Fishy has been performed by an ever-growing number of high school drama departments across the U.S.

Camelot Court is a coming-of-age drama set during the week of the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. Corryann Driggers is on the brink of sweet sixteen when it appears that the world will not be there by the end of the week. Her family and the neighbors in the Camelot Court trailer park, located in rural south Florida, all react in their own ways, according to dreams and plans that never came true--and some that do in that chaotic, terrifying week. With the racial tensions of the time simmering to a boil in her small corner of the world, Corryann takes a risk with a stranger and learns a hard lesson. The turmoil that defined the remainder of that decade looms ahead of Corryann as she takes to the road with her African-American friend.

Both plays can be previewed and ordered at www.histage.com.

Tom Joad of the New Millenium

A couple of years ago, a young man in an Irish cap and tattered clothes stood at my desk where I volunteered at my neighborhood food bank here in Seattle. He needed a gasoline chit for $10. He’d had no luck finding work here in Seattle and was trying to move on.

When he said, “If I can get gas, I can get to California to find a job,” I realized that standing before me was the Tom Joad of the new millenium. When the list of famous homeless people includes names like entertainers David Letterman, Shania Twain, and “Dr. Phil” McGraw, actors William Shatner, Daniel Craig, and Halle Berry, and entrepreneurs “Colonel” Harland Sanders and John Paul DeJoria (John Paul Mitchel Systems), you don’t know what might result from helping someone stay afloat in hard times. Being homeless doesn’t mean you haven’t been successful, raised a family, or had an education.

Ballard Food Bank

More than 1,000 Ballard, Magnolia and Queen Anne households receive food, clothes, hygiene items or emergency financial help each week from the Ballard Food Bank. We're there to meet our neighbors' basic needs. In 2009, Ballard Food Bank distributed over one million pounds of food. Donations and volunteers are always welcome. To donate or find out how you can help, go to www.ballardfoodbank.org.