Psychologists at the University of Sussex have found that collective actions such as political demonstrations may be good for your mental and physical health (see <http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/01/1561887.php>). Here's an opportunity to unite natural and social sciences in a program to promote mental health, physical fitness, and political participation. Much of what activists have to do takes a lot of walking: chalking, putting up posters, handing our flyers, collecting signatures, going door to door for a political campaign, etc. Ads for the program that feature our contemporary left-wing celebrities who look glamorous and physically fit -- e.g., Arundhati Roy, <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/images/1025-02.jpg> -- in addition to such perennial poster boys as Ernest "Che" Guevara may not be out of place in this image-conscious age.
The only drawback of the program is that walking a lot while doing activism doesn't tone your muscles -- it does, however, burn up calories and probably gives you a healthy thick skin. -- Yoshie
* Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>
