I am proud to report that we have scored yet another Op-Ed about the Academy and this time it is written by me.  It was published this morning in the Marin Independent Journal, so cool!  Please take a moment to read it and please comment, forward the link, post to your Facebook, or tweet and re-tweet it.  AND THEN CALL YOUR REPS AND SENATORS.

As Shawn noted in his email blast to the YACer troops this morning, no you are not being “Punk’d” right now!  A little networking has turned into a Tweet from our new favorite public service advocate, Ashton Kutcher.  Ashton and his wife Demi Moore have had a high profile in promoting public service with Service Nation, one of the Academy’s biggest supporters.  Last night, he posted a Tweet to his Twitter feed asking followers to check out the Academy site with the note, “thought this was a cool org.”  I WILL TAKE IT!!!

Tweeters, please add him to your list and send him encouragement to really get behind the Academy!  I would love to see him rant in a video about THAT!

Today was the first day of the Service Nation Summit, currently being held in New York City.  It is a somber anniversary for America of course, but I cannot think of a better way to honor the victims and heroes of the 9/11 attacks than by taking action to invigorate public service in our country.

Since we are an integral part of the Service Nation Organizing Committee, the Academy is being well-represented at the Summit by Chris Myers Asch, David Soo, Daryl Levine, and Chris Lang (and other volunteers and YACers I may not know about!) with the rest of us holding down the forts at home.  (A shout out to Shawn Raymond, Chris’ other half, for sticking it out in Houston in preparation for Hurricane Ike.  Be safe!)  CNN is expected to be broadcasting the Presidential Candidates’ Forum, as well as other broadcast networks.  Both John McCain and Barack Obama will be there and our own David Soo will be asking a question of the candidates!  Please tune in at 8PM EDT and support the Academy and Service Nation.