The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Want to learn our top eco-kinky tips for ‘greening up’ your sex life? How about the top 10 ways to take action against AIDS?  Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie:

Annie Lennox & Top 10 Ways to Take Action Against AIDS

Somewhere Over the Rainbow: American Idol & Yip Harburg

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Nicole:

Top 10 Ways to ‘Green Up’ Your Sex Life

Top 10 Global Warming Myths Debunked

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Giulia:

Mortified Makes Movies

What a Bunch of Boobs

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Gina:

Top 10 Immigration Films

Boarding Gate’s Empty Adventure of Capitalism

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Say Hello to Our Guest Bloggers!

Jon Popham wrote:

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Andy Kondrat wrote:

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Somewhere Over The Rainbow, was performed on American Idol by Jason Castro. Though Israel Kamakawiwo re-popularized this classic from the Wizard of Oz, it was the legendary lyricist and activist Yip Harburg who penned the song. In fact, Harburg wrote the lyrics to all of the songs in the Wizard of Oz. Born in 1896 of Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, raised in poverty on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Yip attended City College of New York where befriended his classmate, Ira Gershwin. Yip wrote over 600 songs including “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” “April in Paris” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” Known as “Broadway’s social conscience,” Harburg also wrote the lyrics to Bloomer Girl (1944) and Finian’s Rainbow (1947). Yip was even a poet and published two anthologies Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965) and At This Point in Rhyme (1976).

From 1951 to 1961 during the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations and the McCarthy hearings Yip was “blacklisted” for his political views from film, television and radio. “He believed that all people should be guaranteed basic human rights, political equality, free education, economic opportunity and free health services. He spent most of his life fighting for these goals; his songs “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” and “Over the Rainbow” express these universal cries for hope in hard times to all peoples.”

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