Since Obama is convening a jobs summit and soliciting suggestions on how to put people back to work (that don’t involve the dirty word “stimulus”), we had Dean Baker and John Nichols put their heads together and talk about ways to create good, meaningful, well-paid jobs and rethink the way Americans look at work.

Nichols, author of Tragedy & Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy calls the unemployment crisis a “social, economic and political threat,” writing of the growing sense of urgency within an administration facing a purported recovery that hasn’t extended to everyday people.

Baker, an economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research and author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy wrote:

Even with the prospect of extended benefits, unemployment is still a crisis for the families affected, as they struggle to pay their mortgage or rent and cover other essential expenses. Millions will end up falling behind, losing their home — in some cases leading to homelessness and/or family break-ups.

They came up with plenty of suggestions for Obama. You can leave your own in the comments!

Designer Mike Rohde created the “sketchnotes” technique to improve his note-taking techniques at talks and lectures he attended. He told us:

The idea behind the sketchnote technique is to capture talks in real-time using a Moleskine pocket sketchbook, because ink won’t bleed through to the back of the pages. I love typography, so my sketchnotes include lots of type along with drawings and handwritten text notes.

Because I’m doing these live and real-time, I was forced to make on the fly decisions about what to capture and what to leave out. This active filtering makes me part of the process, determining what is most interesting or valuable in the talk.

What I’ve learned is, sketchnotes are very attractive for those who also attend events I capture, but even more surprisingly, are fascinating and helpful for those who weren’t even at the events! I think it’s the condensed nature of the notes, and hand-drawn illustrations that combine to create a fun artifact of information and ideas.

The sketchnotes have become quite popular, netting Rohde design and illustration gigs all over. We loved his sketchnote of Clay Shirky’s appearance on GRIT so much that we asked him if we could post it on the site. You can see more of his sketchnotes on his Flickr page.

Antonino D'Ambrosio joined us this week on GRITtv to talk about the history of protest music, the myth of Johnny Cash, and why music is one of the best ways to carry a progressive message. Then, in a special performance, he was joined by Anthony Roman and David Milone of the band Radio 4 to perform Cash's song "Apache Tears" live. Since it's Friday night, we thought we'd repost the performance here for you.

Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare collects essays from around the progressive media analyzing the mysterious appeal of Sarah Palin. Richard Kim of the joins us along with contributors Rebecca Traister of Salon, Max Blumenthal, Daily Beast contributor and author of Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party, and Shannyn Moore of Smart Radio in Alaska to talk about the books, the Right, and why Palin just won't go away.

Salvador Reza, U.S. Air Force veteran, community organizer and renowned immigrants rights activist, joins Laura for an exclusive interview on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's ongoing mistreatment of his community.

In honor of the National Book Awards, today on GRITtv we discuss other books we loved. From a biography of progressive icon Molly Ivins to Tracy Kidder's tale of a young medical student from Burundi, Jeannie Vanasco of Lapham's Quarterly, Julian Brookes of the Progressive Book Club and Sir Harold Evans, of The Week magazine and former president and publisher of Random House trade group, talk about the books that they think deserve more recognition.

Adarsha Shivakumar used his proceeds from winning a spelling bee to co-found a project growing sustainable jatropha, a plant that can be used as biofuel, in India. His work provides an ecologically friendly and economically profitable crop for farmers who would otherwise grow tobacco, a much more harmful plant. This video from Rikshaw Films shows the impact Adarsha and his project have had around the world.

Brave New Films has been a tireless advocate against escalation, with the film Rethink Afghanistan exploring the problems there and proposing peaceful and diplomatic solutions and a responsible exit strategy. With this video, they bring together U.S. military veterans to ask Obama not to send more troops to continue a war that is on its way to being America's longest in history.

According to New America Media, "federal experts estimate that at least 1.6 million juveniles leave or are put out of their homes each year. Other research has found a 40% spike in the number of homeless youth over the past year."

In honor of the release of Palin's book (and Nation editors Betsy Reed and Richard Kim's response book, Going Rouge), our Got Docs feature this week is Return to the Wild: A Modern Tale of Wolf and Man from MoFilms.