Social Change

Margaret Hope Bacon's voice was failing her by 3:30 Wednesday afternoon. "I have a renewed respect for teachers and the long days they have," said Bacon - feminist, active member of the Central Philadelphia Friends Meeting and author of eight books - after a daylong visit with teachers and students at Abington Friends Upper School. Bacon also was getting over the flu, but her hoarse throat did not stop her from talking about her life's work - writing and speaking about Quakers and social change.

The assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968 was a turning point for Colin Diver, a young, idealistic student who was just finishing his final year at Harvard Law School. Ranked near the top of his class of 550, Diver had accepted a lucrative job offer from a prestigious Washington law firm. But in the aftermath of Dr. King's death, he decided to take a lower-paying job as an aide to Boston Mayor Kevin White, who would give him an opportunity to work on some of urban America's most pressing social problems.

Shira EtShalom is rarely without her knitting needles or her sense of social justice. Only 19, she's an accomplished knitter with countless scarves, sweaters and blankets to her credit. She's also fiercely antiwar, pro-workers' rights and fervent about making a positive difference in the world. And she thought it only natural to combine her passions. EtShalom formed "Sew What?! Radical Knitters" in September. About 30 members - ranging in age from 6 to 50 but with a core of 20-somethings - meet biweekly.

The poetry of Christopher Bursk may expose his soul, but the clutter of his office is all heart. A picket sign supporting farm workers' rights wedged behind his desk; jars of bubble solution lining a shelf; student papers he can't bring himself to throw away filling bookcases - all crammed into his college office, which barely has space left for two chairs. Pee-wee Herman and Steve Urkel dolls, a Lamb Chop puppet and cherished toys from his children's past find a home between textbooks, a stack of 45-r.

I GET IT. During a season when the Eagles have failed so miserably to meet their on-field expectations, it's hard for fans to get excited about their continued success off the field. When Philadelphia has been waiting for 51 years for the Eagles to bring home another NFL championship, the organization winning an international competition for commitment to community service and social change isn't going to inspire a parade down Broad Street. The award that Eagles Youth Partnership executive director Sarah Martinez-Helfman received for the organization yesterday in South Africa as the Beyond Sport Team of the Year has little resemblance to the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl champion.

Horace Russell was born and raised in Jamaica, and his face is the color of a well-roasted coffee bean. Beryl Russell is from England and has a fair complexion. Forty years ago at Oxford University, they met, fell in love and married. Yesterday, the couple spent their afternoon celebrating the birthday, and remembering the legacy, of one of their heroes, because, as Beryl Russell put it, "we believe what we have in our relationship is what the world should have. " Hundreds were gathered in that spirit at Bryn Mawr College yesterday, people of all races, ages and political affiliations, for the annual celebration of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "It's a pity we only do it once a year," Beryl Russell added, saying that recognizing Dr. King's legacy of tolerance and social change is needed more than ever.

Bob Edgar: Methodist minister, U.S. congressman, and now visiting professor of political science at Swarthmore College. Edgar announced his new job yesterday at a Washington news conference, quipping that "the voters of Pennsylvania elected me to search for a new vocation. " An ardent liberal who lost his bid for a Senate seat in the November election, Edgar said he would become the Eugene M. Lang Professor of Social Change at Swarthmore upon his departure from Congress in January.

"If King were alive, things would be different . . . I wish we had a rights movement, then we could do something . . . We need another King. " These are the voices of the students in my African-American studies class. Despite differences of race, gender and social class, they are upset and outraged when I explain the sobering statistics on domestic and global joblessness, infant mortality, homelessness and hopelessness. They want to eliminate poverty, inequality and injustice. But while they take Dr. Martin Luther King's vision to heart, these college students simultaneously feel that, when it comes to struggles for social change, they do not matter.

Joining "fellow members of the proud parents club," Vice President Biden told 150 graduates of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice Monday night that each can serve as a beacon of optimism in difficult times. "The thing that I love about you all . . . is that you believe in possibilities, the possibility that you can make things better," he said. He called that belief the "fuel" that has ignited social change. Biden's daughter Ashley Biden, 28, received a kiss on the cheek from her father when she went onstage at Irvine Auditorium to accept her master's degree in social work.

I GET IT. During a season when the Eagles have failed so miserably to meet their on-field expectations, it's hard for fans to get excited about their continued success off the field. When Philadelphia has been waiting for 51 years for the Eagles to bring home another NFL championship, the organization winning an international competition for commitment to community service and social change isn't going to inspire a parade down Broad Street. The award that Eagles Youth Partnership executive director Sarah Martinez-Helfman received for the organization yesterday in South Africa as the Beyond Sport Team of the Year has little resemblance to the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl champion.

SPENCER, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry stepped more deeply into the tricky issue of Social Security on Saturday, saying he was open to raising the age for receiving benefits and limiting them for upper-income people. The Texas governor told an Iowa audience "it makes sense" to increase the eligibility age because Americans are living longer. The age for full benefits is now 65 to 67, depending on one's date of birth. He also said it may be time to limit payments for higher-income people, known as means-testing.

How Moral Revolutions Happen By Kwame Anthony Appiah W.W. Norton. 264 pp. $25.95 Reviewed by Dwight Garner What are the rewards, on this earth, of a well-lived life? John Adams pared the answer down to six words: "the esteem and admiration of others. " For Adams, this was an animal and not an intellectual need. "The desire of the esteem of others is as real a want of nature as hunger; and the neglect and contempt of the world as severe a pain as the gout or stone. " Adams was writing about individuals, not nations.

Carmen Febo-San Miguel, executive director of Taller Puertorriqueño since 1999, has been named recipient of the 2010 Paul Robeson lifetime achievement award, given annually by the Bread and Roses Community Fund to honor individuals and groups involved in social change. Febo-San Miguel, 62, is a physician who grew up in Puerto Rico before coming to Philadelphia for her residency in family medicine at Hahnemann University Hospital. She was a board member of Taller, the Kensington-based Latino cultural organization, for 15 years before taking over as director.

Joining "fellow members of the proud parents club," Vice President Biden told 150 graduates of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice Monday night that each can serve as a beacon of optimism in difficult times. "The thing that I love about you all . . . is that you believe in possibilities, the possibility that you can make things better," he said. He called that belief the "fuel" that has ignited social change. Biden's daughter Ashley Biden, 28, received a kiss on the cheek from her father when she went onstage at Irvine Auditorium to accept her master's degree in social work.

Joining "fellow members of the proud parents club," Vice President Biden told 150 graduates of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice Monday night that each can serve as a beacon of optimism in difficult times. "The thing that I love about you all . . . is that you believe in possibilities, the possibility that you can make things better," he said. He called that belief the "fuel" that has ignited social change. Biden's daughter Ashley Biden, 28, received a kiss on the cheek from her father when she went onstage at Irvine Auditorium to accept her master's degree in social work.

As talk of a sinking economy subsides, this year's soon-to-be college graduates are begging for instructions for success. Armed for the task, many commencement speakers are spreading the same secret: service work. "Success is making yourself into a valuable tool," said Benjamin S. Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and a philanthropist, who will be speaking at Bucknell University on May 23 and Jefferson Medical College on May 24. "It's not the income or material goods, it's using your skills to change the world.

The public - the angry mob of aroused popular opinion - can be right even when it is wrong. The bonuses at American International Group Inc. , which have fed public outrage and congressional confiscation plans, aren't the problem. Stopping them won't fix AIG. The anger is a sign of bigger changes: a fraying of the social contract of the past generation, and the bonus culture that justified fat rewards to the traders, investment bankers, financial engineers, and executives who moved the world's money.

Stop us if you've heard this one already. A customer walks into a store and asks the manager, "Do you have any medicine for sale?" "Yes!" the manager says. "We have all kinds of prescription drugs available. " "How much do they cost?" the customer asks. "How much are you willing to spend?" the manager asks in reply. "I can't really say, but I know I can't afford what the guy down the street has been charging," the customer says. "Can't you just tell me what you'll charge for my prescription drugs?"