Utah State University student chosen for exclusive summit in D.C., urges Sen. Lee and Sen. Hatch to support new bipartisan bill to bring private-sector funds into global poverty fight
SALT LAKE CITY— Ruth Jones, a ONE Campus Leader at Utah State University, was chosen to participate in an exclusive summit in Washington, D.C., focused on fighting extreme poverty and disease. At the three-day, invite-only ONE Campus Leadership Summit, students will come together, learn about The ONE Campaign and hear from subject matter experts. Participants will receive cutting-edge training on how to advocate for fighting extreme global poverty and preventable diseases, share their own ideas, and polish their skills for the coming year. The Summit will conclude with an advocacy day on Capitol Hill where students will meet with their respective Members of Congress to discuss how the United States can continue to lead the way in the fight against extreme global poverty.
"I'm incredibly grateful to be chosen to attend this year’s ONE Campus Leadership Summit,” said Ruth Jones. “Service is a core value here at Utah State, and my experience inside and outside of the classroom has challenged me to think critically about what I can do to help solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. One of those problems is the number of people living in extreme poverty, and there is no more powerful tool for fighting poverty than a good job. That’s why our lawmakers, including Senator Mike Lee and Senator Orrin Hatch, should support the BUILD Act which would put tens of billions of new private-sector dollars to work in developing countries building infrastructure, increasing first-time access to electricity, starting businesses, creating jobs, and ultimately reducing the need for American foreign aid. I’m excited to travel to Washington to meet with leaders, like Senators Lee and Hatch, to urge them to support the BUILD Act, and return home to Utah to apply what I’ve learned to the work I’m doing on my campus and in my community.”
Invitations to the Summit, which will take place from July 7-10, 2018, were awarded to a select group of ONE student leaders from roughly 20 college campuses across the country.
"At the ONE Campus Leadership Summit, the top ONE chapter leaders will have the opportunity to meet each other and share their enthusiasm about what ONE is doing across the country. The take-away from this Summit, in addition to friendships and restored enthusiasm, will be a lasting passion for activism," said Jen Fraser, Director of College Organizing at ONE. "These students are among the nine million members of ONE who believe that we can end extreme poverty and stop the spread of preventable disease. College campuses are laboratories for effective activism and ONE provides students with the lifelong leadership skills and tools necessary to tackle difficult problems and make the world a better place.”
About the BUILD Act
The bill, which is sponsored by Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Chris Coons (D-DE), and Representatives Ted Yoho (R-FL-03) and Adam Smith (D-WA-09), would merge several federal programs into a new “development finance corporation” (DFC) whose purpose would be to mobilize private-sector investments to support sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, and development through partnerships. The new DFC would make loans, invest, and forge partnerships with innovative entrepreneurs who want to do business in developing countries.
Learn more about the BUILD Act here.
Fast Facts About Extreme Poverty & Preventable Disease
The ONE Campaign is a non-partisan policy and advocacy organization of more than 9 million people around the world taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.
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Rome Hero Foxes
Premieres New Single
"Lost In A Room" via Substream Magazine
Sophomore Album
18 Summers
To Be Released July 27th, 2018
Now Available for Pre-Order: smarturl.it/18sapple
Recently Featured on The Noise
"["Lost In A Room"] finds Rome Hero Foxes blending together
indie-rock with a little bit of power popsprinkled throughout, with
a math-rocky inspired breakdown..." - Substream Magazine
July 3, 2018 - Houston, TX - Houston quintet Rome Hero Foxes is gearing up for the release of their sophomore album 18 Summers with second single "Lost In A Room," streaming now on Substream Magazine. 18 Summers will be released on July 27th, 2018 and is available for pre-order at smarturl.it/18sapple. For more information, please visit: romeherofoxes.com.
On the new single, singer C.J. Burton shares: "'Lost In A Room' is a nose dive right into the start of an endless summer full of familiar feelings of loss and confusion that we feel when a hard hitting love starts to become toxic."
Rome Hero Foxes named their sophomore LP 18 Summers, but it more accurately describes the band's beginnings. Shortly after graduating high school, the quintet was discovered in 2016 by Dance Gavin Dance's Kurt Travis and released For When You're Falling Backwards. As far as debuts go, its expanse melded the urgency of post-hardcore with an inward gaze offsetting any chaos. That introspection, bent over swirling guitars and mesmerizing vocal lines, led to reinvention. Instead of baring their teeth through arrangements that spiraled and warped, the band took a self-imposed journey into simpler territory. A pair of twin EPs, I/O and Horoscope, reset Rome Hero Foxes as a group indebted to surf rock and indie pop instead of gnarlier waves, with the latter predicting their shimmering follow-up. Enter the real 18 Summers.
"During this time of writing all of this material, it made me envision all these songs as this sort of time capsule-like void or world where time is slow but life keeps moving faster," vocalist and rhythm guitarist CJ Burton explains. With that definition in mind, it's easy to understand the varied warmth and speeds put to tape here. "Seattle Queen," with Andrew Hagan's percolating keyboards leading the way, places love's angled complexities behind a slice of bubblegum pop. "Chest Piece" splits its pathway between R&B schmaltz and vaulted pop-punk. Other fare, like the Black Mirror nod "San Junipero," heighten interpersonal highs to infectious, but experimental highs. It's the only track that reminds listeners of the band's darker roots, with flecks of mathy guitar flanking verses. This album is as concerned with love as it is with its absence in the face of growing older and growing apart.
18 Summers enters like a dream - abrupt and disorienting - before adjusting to this new state with enthusiasm. This eternal sunshine captures a world where time is relative: sit back, relax, and dive in. Because here, love reigns supreme.
Rome Hero Foxes is CJ Burton (vocals, guitar), Andrew Hagan (vocals, keys), Michael Fox (guitar), Emilio Garcia-Caro (bass), and Adrian Romero (drums).
The band will be celebrating their new album 18 Summers with a hometown album release show on August 3rd. Details to be announced soon.
For more information:
Website:www.romeherofoxes.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/romeherofoxes
Twitter: www.twitter.com/romeherofoxes
Instagram: www.instagram.com/romeherofoxes
18 Summers Track Listing:
1. Lost In A Room
2. Break Your Own Bones
3. Chest Piece
4. 18 Summers
5. Be Your Side
6. Don't Call My Name
7. San Junipero
8. Don't Close The Door
9. Seattle Queen
10. Good For You
High Res Press Photo: http://bit.ly/2sLoscU (Credit Natasha Bermudez)
Album Artwork: http://bit.ly/2JhnNLf
Cancel the 4thof July?
by Wim Laven
A year ago I asked, A Political or Apolitical 4thof July?This year is different.
A year ago I observed that the freedoms enumerated in the Declaration of Independence were under attack:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This year is different because in the United States freedom is losingthe battle.
President Wing Ithas managed to lie—3,000 in 466 days—at a pace that makes the term “gaslighting” fail, even Republicans are asking, “Why is my party gaslighting America?”The policies churned out by this administration, with their gratuitous use of cruelty, are an affront on America’s core values day after day.
President Short-Attention-Spanonly made it through the first half of the Machiavelli quote: “it is better to be feared than to be loved …” he missed that it goes on, “if you cannot be both.” His cruelty and corruption sit in obstructed view for everyone to see. We quickly forget his statements, and his intentions—even the highest jurists of the country ignored Trump’s tweets and campaign promises for a “Muslim ban”when they decided to uphold his travel-ban-that-doesn’t-specifically-target-Muslims… Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote, the president’s statements do not endanger the travel ban. Even if Trump’s sentiments contradicted core American values, the White House was within its rights to issue the ban under the justification of national security.
So forgive the layperson for being overwhelmed, the abundance of unnecessary maleficence is more than anyone could take. Trump’s sentiments do contradict the values this country was founded upon, and the legislative and judicial branches have failed to protect those values, what should we do? Should we cancel the 4thof July?
My take this year is the same as it was last year, “The 4th of July is not a day for ignoring tyranny, and this 4th efforts are everywhere and they are undeniable. More fundamentally we have to be political because we need life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans.”
Yes, it’s true, Trump’s dog-whistling to hate groups has worked, his tax-scam has passed, millions of Americans have lost health insuranceor are threatened to lose the benefits they need to survive, and so on… “all men are created equal,” travel bans don’t reflect this; “certain unalienable Rights,” children stripped from their families while seeking asylumdoesn’t reflect this; “Life” trying to survive on minimum wage in most U.S. cities is impossible; “Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” are threatened in more ways than can be counted.
The idea that people can do what makes them happy—to freely pursue joy—as long as you don’t do anything illegal or infringe on the rights of others isn’t uniquely American, but its elevation to a position of such distinction is. It is also the root—the foundation—of American hypocrisy.
“The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” is a liberty guarded in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Trump’s says football players must kneel for the National Anthem and makes calls for “civility.”It is the same claim that was made during protests for civil rights in the 60’s, or to resist Jim Crow, or to maintain the legal enterprise of slavery… Are we worse off today than when Frederick Douglass’ gave his 1852 speech “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?” We might be, or we might not… The current forays into fascism may speak of true intentions, bumbling incompetence, or something in-between. My guess is that it is just the machinations of a Presidency in crisis and turmoil caused by the painful reality that you’re not above the law, but I may be too hopeful.
The truth is that the U.S. is no less hypocritical than it was when the Constitution was written guaranteeing slavery and including “negroes” as 3/5ths of a body for the purposes of an Electoral College they couldn’t influence. There really should be no surprise that the electoral college designed to keep slavery in place as long as possible is the reason that Trump won the office after losing the popular vote by 3 million votes. But let us be clear, the pain for most of us isn’t the dishonesty and hypocrisy of it all—it is the regression. It is the loss of the rights so many have sacrificed for, and the worry about what’s next. Current speculation includes a reversal of the most important features of the Roe vs. Wade decision, among others.
On the 4thof July, just like every other day, we need to make the personal political. To stay hopeful in the unrelenting ugliness of Trump’s lunacy. He wants to steal your voice, but this strategy isn’t new—rise above it. You see him wreaking havoc on good families and those who still believe in the American Dream—be a hero, be the person who stands up to ICE and says they don’t have the authority. Think about the sacrifices you’re willing to make. Harriet Tubman had escaped slavery but made 13 missions back to free other slaves. Wonder if we’d have helped with the Underground Railroad? What are you doing today?
The truth is that we can always stay hopeful, because there have always been helpers. We can remember the wisdom of those before us, Anne Frank was a captive teen but she still saw a world full of possibility: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” because his vision of equality and justice was a spiritual one. These are the values blended into the moral fabric of America. No doubt the dream takes great patience and sacrifice, but all told Trump will barely make a stain upon these great values. His greed and selfishness providing the backdrop for selfless Samaritans to show that real value cannot be found in material things. On the 4thof July I won’t be celebrating a banner of self-serving-capitalism, I’ll look to a flag of stars and stripes and remember the democracy it represents and if we’re lucky we’ll find our moral compass before next year.
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Wim Laven, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a doctoral candidate in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University, he teaches courses in political science and conflict resolution, and is on the Governing Council of the International Peace Research Association.
