To celebrate the release of the new issue, I've made some simple wallpapers in the style of our cover. Click through past to jump to see/download them.

At StandUp, we love our thriving community online and our contributors to the site. So, we’d like to take a moment in the back of this issue to shine a spotlight on some of the top content from our web-site. To find more, go to www.StandUpUGA.org.

By Carrie Dagenhard

There is a shabby little cinderblock building on South Lumpkin Street. The building, which once functioned as both a bakery and a print shop in its thirty-plus years of existence, is now covered in asbestos. Termites have infested the outer layers and black mold has seeped into the dark corners and closets within. Rats have crawled through the holes in the aging foundation and chewed through the wires of the heating system. Rationally, the building should have been condemned and demolished years ago.

By Cody Boisclair

You’ve probably seen its public service announcements on TV or heard them on the radio: “The odds of some random occurrence happening are one in some ridiculously large number. The odds of a child being diagnosed with autism: one in 166.” You might have even seen one of its representatives interviewed on talk shows such as “Larry King Live” and “Oprah.” If you’ve visited a Toys ‘R Us store lately, you might have even seen one of this organization’s fundraising drives.

The organization in question is Autism Speaks, a non-profit group which, on its surface, sounds quite benevolent; the name practically suggests an advocate who will stand up for the needs of autistics. The truth about that organization, however, is somewhat less amiable toward autistics.

By Maggie Ohberg

Whether forking out $4.000 a gallon (on average) in Athens makes you panic about making ends meet or just makes you mad, you can change your driving habits to alleviate the pain your wallet is feeling.

By Maggie Ohberg

Since April, water usage in Athens has dropped by 35 percent. If people can change bad habits like letting the water run while brushing their teeth and taking long showers, what is it about America’s need for speed that prevents people from conserving gasoline? I don’t understand the dozens of people who pass me on the highway when there are five very compelling reasons for driving 55 miles per hour: it’s safer, it’s cheaper, it’s often the law, terrorists will hate it and it helps the environment.

By Devin Smith

According to a 2006 U.S. Census Bureau report, 31.1 percent of individuals in Athens-Clarke County (ACC) lived below the poverty level. With approximately 32,000 people lacking adequate sustenance, ACC is the 5th poorest county in the nation. Why is the poverty rate of this county nearly 20 percent higher than that of the national average? With the local unemployment rate on par with the rest of the country, it is not a question of whether or not someone is willing to work, but rather it is an issue of workers not being paid enough. Someone on a living wage is able to support their family’s food, housing and health needs by working a forty-hour week; sadly, this is not the reality for many residents of ACC.

By Claire Rice

The term “compassionate living” has different meanings for different people. Generally it entails making conscious compassionate choices that benefit the earth, people and animals. In order to explore the different meanings, I set out on a quest to discover how compassionate living manifests itself within the Athens community.

By Zaid Jilani

It’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning at the University of Georgia and I’m up. That would make things bad enough, but it just so happens I have a terrible cold. To top things off, I’m being dragged into a road trip to a town in Central Georgia, Macon, to see Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama give a pander-filled stump speech to an evangelical audience at Harvest Cathedral Church.

We had a chance to sit down and talk with Cindy Sheehan about why she decided to run against Nancy Pelosi and how she feels about the ideological spread in the Democratic party.