Evelyn Rodriguez writes “[M]ost public education (to be differentiated from self-education) is geared toward the job mindset which doesn’t adequately prepare one for the present or future, including within a job.” Via Dane Carlson.

From Otis White’s Civic Strategies newsletter:

Ever hear of the Ithaca Hour? Believe it or not, it’s a local currency, printed in Ithaca, N.Y., accepted by about 400 local businesses and is, apparently, completely legal. (Taxes must be paid on goods bought by Hours, just like those bought by dollars.) The Hour is the brainchild of Paul Glover, who printed his first batch in 1991 as a way of boosting the flagging local economy. (To learn more, visit the Ithaca Hour web site by clicking here.) Slowly, the idea has caught on. Local currency boosters say there are now about 20 other cities around the country passing around some kind of home-grown greenback. Latest to consider it: The Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, where city council member Denis Dunn is pushing for a currency he’d like to call “the Kirtland,” after a prominent 19th century resident. What’s the benefit? Local currencies are intended to keep money circulating locally, and the more times a dollar “turns over” locally (that is, is used to buy local goods and services rather than stuff sold by out-of-town companies), the wealthier the community becomes, economists say. “Since this is money with a boundary around it, it bounces around,” Glover explained. “It shakes more hands than dollars do.” What does it take to start a hometown currency? Basically, a “bank” to exchange dollars for local scrip (a bookstore pays the role in Ithaca, Lakewood promoters want to use the chamber of commerce), a respectable number of merchants willing to accept it, and citizens willing to spend it. Nice side benefit, said Glover, is that people get to know their hometown businesses. “It helps weave people together as fellow community members,” he said. Footnote: So what’s an Hour worth? $10. It’s also available in Quarter Hour and Half Hour denominations. Why called Hours? In 1991, it was thought that most people’s hourly wage would be about $10.

Guess where I’ll be shopping this Saturday between 3 and 9PM?

Jack Ricchiuto writes:

Virgina Postrel’s The Future and Its Enemies suggests that people interact along a continuum between dynamism and stasism - people who thrive on change and learning and people who thrive on predictability and repetition.

I’m now seeing a new hybrid in the civic space, pseudo-dynamists. These are people calling for new projects and changes that further strengthen the status quo. Examples: industrial age convention centers, agrarian public hearing events, and stone age economic protectionist policies.

Here’s another reason why I won’t willingly quit blogging:

Amidst all the darkness, all the sorrow that has visited me lately - I found this posted on a blog where I now have the honour of being mentioned. Brewed Fresh Daily - a blog about NE Ohio. This was one of the recent posts there…

The reason why *I* decided to post this myself is because last year, right before the holiday season, when I was ‘finding out’ about what my husband had done to me - to us - to himself - to our marriage, a friend of mine (and a Yoga student of mine) sent me this link…I have now come full circle to that, and so I have put this up to remind myself and all of you out there - all the people I love, all the people I have problems loving, and everyone in between - that there is hope. There is always hope. There is always love and kindness deep within each of us - we just have to know where to look for it. And while I don’t want to get cheesy or corny I felt that this link conveys that message beautifully. I will post more later - but I want you all to think about this message from this link.

Be thankful. As a friend of mine said to me recently; paraphrasing a ‘prayer’ he had heard - we should be thankful not only for what we are given, but for what has been taken from us as well. It’s all an opportunity for learning, for healing, for forgiveness, and most of all for grace. May you all find the grace in your lives that will help you to live each day you have here on this earth to the fullest. You are exactly where you need to be right now.

Thanks, Collette. I hope we all find that grace too.

This link came from a friend. Click the view presentation button.

Last week at the Ryze mixer, I talked with Martha Loughridge about the Yoga@Work program. If I had a job, I’d love it if my employer did this.

But for us free agents who live downtown, Martha teaches a class on Tuesday nights at GOPA, 2512 Church Ave in Ohio City from 7:30 to 9PM. Drop-ins are only $12.

BFD readers in Cleveland Heights should check out this What’s Up Northeast Ohio post, particularly the action itme at the bottom.

Here’s a link to a post by Emily Gertz with notes from a conference on Sustainable Restauranteuring:

Ranging from international trade to community kitchens, the common thread woven through all these projects is the desire to feed people well in all senses of the word, do business more justly, provide opportunities for dignified employment (whether as a farmer, a food artisan, or in restaurants), bring people together, and ultimate transform food culture.

From HowStuffWorks.com, “How Stem Cells Work”:

“There are two types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells come from an embryo — the mass of cells in the earliest stage of human development that, if implanted in a woman’s womb, will eventually grow into a fetus. When the embryo is between three and five days old, it contains stem cells, which are busily working to create the various organs and tissues that will make up the fetus.

Adults also have stem cells in the heart, brain, bone marrow, lungs and other organs. They are our built-in repair kits, regenerating cells damaged by disease, injury and everyday wear and tear. Adult stem cells were once believed to be more limited than stem cells, only giving rise to the same type of tissue from which they originated. But new research suggests that adult stem cells may have the potential to generate other types of cells, as well. For example, liver cells may be coaxed to produce insulin, which is normally made by the pancreas. This capability is known as plasticity or transdifferentiation.

Why can’t we have a transdiffentiation center instead of a convention center? The world comes here for medical treatment anyway, why not reinforce our stengths instead of fixing our percieved deficiencies?

I almost lost it when Jack mentioned this article to me last night.

“I want to get this convention center done,” says Mayor Jane Campbell.

WTF? Which millennium is she living in? Cleveland is named the most impoverished city in the country and her answer is same as it’s been since her husband floated it back in the 1980’s… let’s build a convention center. Only this time, we’ll get some casinos built along side of it.

Christ. No wonder Peter B. Lewis is all pissed off about the lack of innovation in this area. I am too.

Here’s an idea. Why don’t we actually study the market demand for convention centers and casinos today?

Last time I checked, the supply of convention centers was totally overbuilt, and my guess is the casino industry in this region is fairly close as well. What’s their strategy? To take business away from the Canadians and the Native Americans? That’s real economic development.

Isn’t it about time we stopped trying to copy the economic development strategies of other cities and started transforming the local economy into something that has a positive effect on the next generation of Clevelanders? I want to hear what the mayorial candidates are doing for the future, not what they’re doing to make up for mistakes made in the past.

I remember going to Campbell’s State of the City speech in 2003. She presented what was probably Tim Mueller’s strategic plan for the city. Not once was there any mention of a convention center or casinos or even attracting some “anchor retail chain” like NikeTown. So where has all this stuff come from? Here’s the ‘03 and ‘04 versions of her State of the City speeches.

What Campbell talked about doing in 2003 what focusing on five red hot initiatives: Attract major research centers, Establish ‘lighted’ schoolhouses as working neighborhood resources, raise community literacy rates, build economically vibrant neighborhoods with strong services, and Change the pattern of community re-entry.

What’s happened to those things? I guess someone’s going to have to explain it to me…

I should say, I disagree with Seth Godin on this one. He posts to his blog, “should the IT guys run your website?” Citing the Air Canada website as being “quite possibly the worst”, he exclaims “You ought to design your website with a pencil and paper or with photoshop and hand it over to the IT guys once you get the marketing part right.”

Here’s where I disagree. There are limitations to designing websites that a marketing guru might not have any idea of. Likewise, you ubercoder may not understand sound marketing principles. The best possible scenario is to have your marketing guy/gal and your tech guy/gal collaborate on the design.

Obviously, Air Canada didn’t do much testing on their site. Then again, the number of users using browsers other than Internet Explorer isn’t significant enough to cause deficency-minded managers to waste scarce resources creating a better user experience…

Jeremy Zawodny writes an excellent piece on how blogging helps smart people get jobs. Why? Because blogging combines what you say and who you know. An excerpt:

At least around these parts, it’s fairly well understood that some of the best job referrals come from friends, family, and past colleagues. In other words, the good job leads come from your social network.

This is not new–at least in the tech world. I’ve seen many examples of folks who got jobs because of contacts they made on e-mail lists, in newsgroups, and at technical conferences. And it’s common around here to see groups of people who’ve worked together in previous jobs. For example, there’s a group of engineers who all left SGI in the same timeframe and ended up at Yahoo. This happens quite often–especially with startups.

I also know of folks who are in their current jobs because of things they’ve said to largish audiences. They build up an audience by writing for a magazine, trade publication, or maybe by writing a book. In doing so they established their reputation and people began to see them as thought leaders in a particular field. That made them more valuable to the publication and more valuable to potential employers.

Traditionally, this type of publicity and opportunity has been limited to a much smaller group of people. There are fewer slots available and the barriers to entry are higher.

The interesting thing about weblogs is how they are able to enable both of those while lowering the barriers to them at the same time. By starting a weblog and sticking with it, you find yourself knowing more people who you’d have otherwise never met. But more importantly more people will come to know you. And at the same time, you’re writing and writing frequently. If what you say is interesting to enough people, that reputation builds quickly.

Exactly why I go around like a crazy fool telling people they need to start a blog or blog more often. So, who do you know, what are you saying, and where/how are you saying it?

Lou Tisler emailed and asked how Unchained America went. So I asked Phoenix Coffee’s CEO Sarah Wilson-Jones, who wrote:

It went great! I was so proud of my staff and of our customers, both of whom understood the spirit behind the whole promotion, which was shopping local and keeping money here in Cleveland rather than sending it out of town with the national chains. I would strongly encourage other local business owners to come up with other oddball, interesting promotions to do for next year so that we can promote Unchained America day. We have had some sales bounce at both our Cleveland Heights and our Lakewood stores, so that has been nice as well. I think Clevelanders do want to support us locals, they just need encouragement to do so.

As a result of this promotion, one of my brilliant baristas, Marcie, came up with a travel mug promotion which we are planning for January. We are getting travel mugs printed with the attached graphic on them. And when customers bring in mugs from a national chain and trade them in, they can get a Phoenix travel mug for half price. Then we are going to do something funny with the old Starbucks, etc, mugs, such as spray painting black Xs over the starbucks logo and putting them in a trophy case or something like that. Haven�t figured out that detail yet. But we are definitely going to do the trade in thing.

I don’t have a travel mug, but I’ve got two ceramic $tarbuck$ mugs I’d like to trade in. I wouldn’t mind a couple of hand crafted Bridget Ginley BFD mugs…

Steve Goldberg excerpts an article on leadership from his alma mater’s alumni magazine:

A successful leader will:

• communicate his or her vision and values and come across authentic;
• demonstrate genuine concern and understanding for others in the organization;
• foster a sense of coherence and community in the midst of complexity and constant change;
• create confidence and enthusiasm so that individuals will want to do what’s difficult;
• give people what they need to succeed, including criticism and support, while also encouraging them to exercise their own best judgement;and,
• accept the mantle of leadership, recognizing that advancing the organization, not the leader, is fundamental.

Who do you know that’s fostering a sense of coherence and community?

Even though I need to pick up a few things today, I’m not going to the store. Why? Here’s why:

For 24 hours, millions of people around the world do not participate — in the doomsday economy, the marketing mind-games, and the frantic consumer-binge that’s become our culture. We pause. We make a small choice not to shop. We shrink our footprint and gain some calm. Together we say to Exxon, Nike, Coke and the rest: enough is enough. And we help build this movement to rethink our unsustainable course.

If we do have to consume, can’t we consume locally produced goods?

Here’s a post from feministing.com that resonates with me for two reasons: it’s about the evil empire $tarbuck$ and something that fellow blogger Sandy Piderit is advocating, breastfeeding:

Check out this article from Women�s eNews about the mothers’ fight to feed her baby in public. After writing a post this summer on the infamous breast-feeding protests at Starbucks, it�s sad to find that the lactating ladies are still having a hard time.

Despite the breast-feeding campaigns that have been spreading across the nation, and although over 30 states already have laws protecting breast-feeding in public, women are still continually being violated of their rights by being asked to cover themselves up.

Are there really so many people concerned with this �public indecency� of a woman, or does society have a hard time accepting the breast�s natural function due of its over-sexualization, as Mary Lofton of La Leche League International suggests? Both seem pretty evident to me.

After you check out the article, take a peek at La Leche International�s website. La Leche International is an advocacy group for breast-feeding. Very interesting stuff.

After our meal today, I sat with my uncle, who owns a greenhouse. He’s coverting it from natural gas to a furnace that burns shelled corn. That’s right, corn. He estimates that he’ll save more that $1000 a month on his heating bill. I asked him if anyone else in this area was doing this, and he replied no. Not only is he switching to a renewable energy source, but he’s also purchasing his fuel from one of the last farm co-ops in the state.

Since I grew up on a farm, I’d love to see more people using this alternative source of energy. It’s a good way to revive the agricultural industry and reduce our dependency on petroleum.

After spending the day with my loving family, I came home and took a look around the beautiful community of my friends and colleagues. Here’s a short list of my fellow bloggers that make me thankful they share their thoughts and feelings with the wider world:

• Dott Schneider: “I’m thankful that… I’m surrounded by extremely talented and intelligent friends.”
• Jack Ricchiuto: “[T]oday is the best holiday because it’s simply about gathering, feasting, and storytelling. It’s the celebration of this sacred trinity that sustains us.
• Lois Annich: “In this last year I’ve witnessed a number of happy, surprise endings to perplexing, even heartbreaking, situations. Thank goodness we are not in control, that our dire predictions don’t always come true, and that we don’t get what we deserve or expect. It really isn’t over ’till it’s over….”
• Sandy Piderit: “This year, I feel like my cup is overflowing. For the past week or so, I have been in a place where I have recognized the merits of slowing down, noticing the beauty around me, and allowing me to hold my sense of wonder in the center of my focus for a moment, before moving back to the unending to-do list. Will I remember how to get back to this place next week, when I go back into a grueling work schedule? Will I take the time to buy some extra food at Zagara’s and drive it down to the Cleveland Food Bank? Only time will tell. At least for today, I hope to stay centered in this feeling of gratitude and wonder. Life is good, and I am profoundly grateful.”

Perhaps my favorite post comes from Ed Morrison:

We had a small victory in East Cleveland this week. Some days ago, Vic Voinovich and I met with representatives of GE and Nela Park. Although they expressed concern about the long term trends in the city, their most immediate concern was far more mundane: fixing the traffic light at the end of their driveway.

Yesterday, Alfred Miller sent around an e-mail to let us know that the light had been fixed. After nearly six months of GE trying to get the light fixed, it’s done.

The light had become a symbol of how desperate East Cleveland has become. The City is simply stressed beyond limits. Day to day functioning cannot get done.

We can easily find problems and excuses. But on this day of Thanksgiving, we should set aside some time for deeper questions. What are our shared responsibilities, especially to the children of East Clevleand?

Thank goodness for small victories.

By one measurement, our city was declared the most impoverished in the nation. But with friends and family like these, our spiritual wealth in priceless.