Social & Community Affairs : Editor's Choice
by Eugenia Johnson

Covington's Homeless: A Documentary
www.iia.org/~deckerj/profil es.html
John Decker has captured the despair and humiliation, as well as the toughness, of the homeless population living in Covington, Ky. His poignant online photo-documentary extols the dignity of those who must live without proper shelter, sometimes without food and always without humanity. The presentation tells the stories of a few people living along the Ohio riverbank in a "hootch" community of makeshift homes -- like the one "Backpack Bill" has constructed from scraps and debris he collected on the roadside.

You'll also meet Patty and Art, whose story embodies the strength of the human spirit and its ability to overcome the most desperate circumstances. Having met on a freight train while riding the rails, the two fell in love and now make their home together in the hootch. Take some time to visit these residents of Covington, and let this site be a reminder that when things get tough, they can always be tougher for someone else.

Elderhostel
www.elderhostel.org/
If you are 55 or older, expand your horizons, unbutton your mind, sharpen those scholastic skills and stand in line to experience an exceptional educational adventure. This organization, hosted by educational institutions around the world, offers a vast array of inexpensive mind-expanding challenges for seniors. Elderhostel has grown from tiny groups in New England colleges to a quarter of a million people enrolled on campuses in every American state, Canada and 45 countries around the world.

The motto: "Studying there is half the fun." As a participant, you might find yourself in the old city of Jerusalem studying aspects of the Torah, or knee-deep in a desert experience in secluded foothills of the Superstition Mountains. If sampling Acadian cuisine is your current crave, try a class held at "Le Village" on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Registration information is only a click away.

Kwanzaa Information Center
www.melanet.com/m elanet/kwanzaa/kwanzaa.html
A seven-day festival which strikes up each year on the day after Christmas, Kwanzaa is a unique celebration of African-American heritage. The holiday was established to provide African-Americans with a greater understanding of and connection to their cultural roots, and its rituals recall a way of life once lived by the ancestors of present day celebrants. It's a festival of the spirit, a joyous occasion that magnifies the goodness of life, using clearly defined principles, practices and symbols to reinforce unity in the black community. This informative site outlines those principles and symbols, and lists schedules for various celebrations and activities. The Internet Living Swahili Dictionary is on hand for those who want to delve into the language, and the site's virtual bazaar hosts a gallery of Kwanzaa ceremonial items.

The Mountaineers Home Page
www.cyberspace.com/mtneers/
Lavishly illustrated with exceptional photographs of the mountains, forests and water courses of the U.S. Pacific Northwest, the Mountaineers Home Page speaks for the third largest outdoor recreational organization in America. Founded in 1906, and currently 15,000 members strong, the group has been instrumental in developing several national parks, and safeguarding the history and tradition of the Pacific Northwest area.

Mountaineers promote good fellowship among those who love and respect the great outdoors, and offer training courses in climbing, skiing, kayaking and nature study. The organization also holds seminars on wilderness etiquette and environmental activism. Fiercely protective of the wilderness that surrounds them, the Mountaineers Conservation Division acts as a watchdog for wildlife in the Cascade and Olympic mountains. Learn all about the dynamic organization here, then turn to the on-site bookstore for mountain-climbing instructions and a list of the 100 best hikes with children.

Turtle Trax
www.io.org/~bunrab/
No, Bobby, you can't take this turtle home in a shoebox. (It would probably take a moving van.) Turtle Trax is devoted to marine turtles -- the enormous, prehistoric, endangered type -- and is dedicated in particular to the memory of Clothahump, a young Hawaiian green sea-turtle whose unfortunate home was wedged between a sewage treatment plant and a concrete channel. Befriended by the Turtle Trax Webmasters in 1988, Clothahump eventually developed fibropapilloma tumors, an obvious result of "wastewater" contamination to her habitat. Soon after, she disappeared, never to be seen again.

Turtle Trax tells her story and illustrates the plight of these remarkable creatures in their daily fight for life. The site is a true adventure, with glorious photographs and assertive graphics which take visitors to faraway places. The romance of the marine turtle is bound to capture you as you read the stories, both tragic and comic. Learn of bills brought before the U.S. Congress that endanger all marine life here, and find out what you can do to can help.

Water Birth Information
www.path.net/user/karil/
If it's good enough for your friendly neighborhood porpoise, then it could work for you. The concept of birthing babies underwater may be a new one for 20th century moms, but from all accounts it may be more comfortable -- and certainly more peaceful -- than the tortuous way we humans have been going about it for the past several centuries. And that's what many enlightened physicians, humanist psychologists and parents-to-be are excited about.

San Francisco filmmaker Karil Daniels has produced an award-winning video, "Water Baby," which examines the practice of waterbirth, and the sensitive and illuminating film is highlighted here. It's a remarkale narration of a gentle birth in water, and a must-see for health care practitioners and those awaiting delivery of a new baby. Along with information on the video, Daniels' site provides an assortment of facts and photos that, if your birthing days are history, may make you wish you had the chance to do it all over again.

Whale Adoption Project
www.webcom. com/~iwcwww/whale_adoption/waphome.html
Over the centuries, humankind has had an insatiable fascination for these mysterious behemoths of the sea. Books have extolled their rare characteristics, and science has discovered an abundance of interesting facts about their lifestyle and hunting preserves, and the fertilization, birth and care of their young. It has been firmly established that whales do talk, at least to one another, and that they have well organized communities which they aim to protect. This online adoption project gives participants a chance both to satisfy their curiosity, and to become instrumental in helping the humpback whale preserve its rights to ocean habitat. The extensive site, loaded with photos and reports, also features the online version of "Whalewatch," a quarterly newsletter which examines the horrors and the beauty of the global marine community.

Wombats on the Web: Women's Mountain Bike and Tea society
www.wombats.org/
Ever since the turn of the century, women have fought to take their rightful place alongside men, both in the workplace and as social equals. But nowhere could the fight have been more "uphill" than breaking into the testosterone laden, gnarly sport of cycling.

Mountain biking, with its macho lingo and emphasis on techno-junk, can be especially unnerving for women. But since 1984, Jacquie Phelen has worked tirelessly to help other women get involved in the sport, targeting gals who can't keep up with their menfolk on a two-wheeler, and those who put on their helmets backwards, but who don't mind looking a little foolish while learning the techniques and the trails. This cycling network encourages women's interest in cycling, proving to them that they don't need a Y-chromosome to "manhandle" a mountain bike. Stop in for some virtual tea and enjoy the whimsical graphics and pithy articles. For women who love mud, Camp Winna Wombat awaits.

Worldwide Cemetery
www.cemetery.org/
No traditional headstones mark these plots; nor are there grassy verges edged by gravel walks. Still, hundreds of people around the globe have felt relief from grief by posting memorials for their lost loved ones at the World Wide Cemetery. Grief affects all of us in different ways, but most of us need to express these feelings in some way to ease the pain of loss.

This site may be the ideal place to share the biography and accomplishments of a cherished friend with the rest of the world. You can even leave flowers. Memorials are furnished by category (AIDS, Cancer, World War I), and monuments can be visited many times over for a brief lift of the spirit. These virtual memorials remain untouched by the ravages of weather and the passage of time, and many will walk these paths in wonder at the diversity of talent and achievement of those that are remembered here.