Several weeks ago, a small band of IPSers gathered to work on a project that is a small step towards improving food, sustainability, urban, and hunger policy reform: We planted a vegetable garden! Scott Thorpe and Kristina Hallez started off the project several weeks ago purchasing seed trays and soil to start off the little plants. Meanwhile, the land has been diligently processed over the last few weeks, including back-breaking weeding, soil churning, and adding fresh compost and top soil, as well as copious amounts of googling since we didn't really know what we were doing.

Whitney Moyer, Hong Gao, Chang Ke, Moses Pounds, Paloma Clohossey and Edward Galvez all threw in a hand to plant about 250 seedlings. Although we greatly appreciated the offer of help from the household canine, it was better for all of us that he sunbathed on the concrete and was distracted by the delicious grilled foods, and not sitting on the newly planted seedlings. We've had fickle weather the last couple of days, but we are keeping our spirits high that the plants will keep strong and grow.

Policy dork that I am, I can hardly watch a movie anymore without seeing something policy-relevant. From Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to last year's Ides of March, political stories have been a Hollywood favorite. But many great movie moments with strong political messages are often overlooked. Here's are the top five political movie moments that you didn't even know were political. SPOILER ALERT: READ THE TITLE FIRST, AND IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, SKIP IT.

After you've read the list: What are your favorite cinematic policy moments that you found in unusual places? Comment at the bottom.

[More]

Every month, IPS students gather informally to discuss issues in a number of  policy areas, including food, education, environmental and economic policy.  Participants from these gatherings will contribute their thoughts on the talks to the IPS blog on a regular basis.

A few weeks ago, six IPS students got together for the second-ever Food Policy Roundtable. Led by Kristen Cooksey (class of 2012), we discussed two main topics: first, the USDA’s new MyPlate icon (replacing the Food Pyramid), and its rival, the Harvard School of Public Health’s “Healthy Eating Plate”; and second, a study on the link between food deserts and obesity in Chicago.

[More]

IPS is hosting its inaugural career week, beginning today. Hopefully this is old news — students, IPS staff, and alumni have been hard at work with scheduling logistics, flyers, and food orders for the past month, if not longer. Any of the speaker events (say, for example, with Courtney Bettle of Baltimore City Public Schools or Paul Messino of DHMH) would count for a seminar credit.

If you have specific questions about Career Week, email Kristen Cooksey '12, IPSSA's alumni committee czar at cooksey.kristen@gmail.com. I'm listing the full Career Week schedule below. Before I do, however, here are a few other IPS-related events also scheduled for the week of March 5-9: 

[More]

What should be the future of our nuclear weapons policy? Should we seek a world in which nuclear weapons no longer exist or should we keep some weapons active for deterrence? Is "nuclear zero" even attainable? Does deterrence actually work? And how do we deal with non-state actors?

These are some of the questions addressed in last night's debate organized by the Alexander Hamilton Society between Hopkins Professor Daniel Deudney, who took the side of nuclear zero, and the Rand Corporation's Elbridge Colby, who took the side of nuclear deterrence. No matter which side of the debate you come down on, the discussion was likely to raise points and issues you hadn't thought of.

[More]

IPS will once again be forming a team to participate in JHU's Relay for Life! Relay for Life is an American Cancer Society (ACS) fundraising event to support cancer research, prevention, and patient and survivor services. The IPS team page is http://main.acsevents.org/goto/IPS. By clicking here, you can sign up to raise money, donate to the team if you are unable to participate, and learn more about ACS and the Relay. 

[More]

As you know, you can make amazing maps with ArcGis. But for those who do not want to spend the required hours to learn how to use the software, the library now subscribes to two new user-friendly mapping programs: Social Explorer and SimplyMap.

[More]