3

Every moment of being alive
is a moment of telling ourselves stories
about ourselves, each other, and our world.

When we’re conscious,
we know that the story
we’re telling ourselves about reality right now
is just one possible story.

We are clear that other stories are possible.
When we know other stories are possible,
we are never limited to this moment’s
assessments or conclusions.

Gather several people together
to tell their stories about anything,
and we quickly discover that
even the past is unpredictable.

When we’re conscious,
we feel enormous freedom
to declare no story as the final story.

We know that the dogma of one true story
is the root of victimhood and violence.

The more conscious we are,
the more interested we are
in the poetry of science,
and the truth of poetry.

© 2007 Jack Ricchiuto

Order Conscious Becoming here.

To give you an idea of what was talked about:

• Jonathan Fairman on the conservative nature of the profession
• Piet van Lier on engaging parents
• Kristien Marquez-Zenkov on paying students, parents
• Multi-generational disengagement
• Piet van Lier on parent patrols and the Cleveland Education Commitee
• Kristien Marquez-Zenkov on drive-by critiques

For the entire podcast, click on the link below.

Meet the Bloggers » Colectivo Education Forum

Hopefully these will pique your interest for the full interview (linked below):

• Jack Ricchiuto on levels on consciousness
• Cleveland’s emerging leaders
• On leadership
• Summarizes all six of his books

Meet the Bloggers » Jack Ricchiuto, Author, “Conscious Becoming”

Moxie lady:

I would have signed it, but I never had a chance to. I wonder how many other people have the same experience…

moxie lady: 7.75 = $42 million

From an interview by Tim Zaun

I think there’s no better catalyst for Northeast Ohio’s potential than the Medical Mart/Convention Center Project. We’re in a very tenuous state here. Some people are saying we need to put the project on a Referendum and vote on the syntax increase. I don’t think people realize that if this happens, the likelihood of the two facilities being built isn’t good.

The benefits, I believe, far outweigh the negative aspects. Here we have a core competency in our marketplace with the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals’. They continue to show spectacular growth, positioning Cleveland as a medical hub. We have an opportunity to seize the mantle as a medical Capital. How often is it that a Convention Center can be built with private equity such as the Medical Mart as an anchor? Also, providing a steady stream of trade shows, adding to the economic vitality of our city’s core. The project could be the catalyst to attract people to invest in downtown Cleveland. I think this is an opportunity right in front of us and it just has to happen. I pray that it all works out and continues to evolve as we realize the vision.

We have some incredibly talented people like Fred Nance and Chris Kennedy who’ll work to make the best Medical Mart deal. Having lived in Chicago, I’ve seen what they’ve done firsthand with the Merchandise Mart. They’re the best in the business.

I’m hoping that the Medical Mart and Convention Center come to be the catalyst for our region’s renaissance. Ten years from now, we’ll be able to reflect and recognize that the project was the spark that engineered Cleveland’s turnaround and made it a world-class city.

CoolCleveland.com - Biz Tech Profile Cavaliers Prez Len Komoroski

• Best of City Xpressionz 2007 - a photoset on Flickr
  From Heidi Cool
  (tags: Photos)
• Made reservations for the 10/3 Tequila Dinner @ Momocho
  (tags: Food)
• A Jack/Zen word of the day
• New Orleans is dying
• JeffreyT on the Cultural Gardens
• Lake County Pushing Regionalism?
  Editorial from the News-Herald from Chris Thompson.
  (tags: Neo Blogs)
• The favorite Pizza Hut topping in Japan is mentaiko and potato, followed by ebi chili
  (tags: Food)
• Crain’s Cleveland Business: Ferchill nixes plan for Flats project
  The company told the county that high development costs and a changing housing market scotched the deal.
• New logo for Moko Coffee

“we’re webcasting with the Mayor this morning“

In response to a PeeD article:

A while back, there was a rumor out that Tim Hagan was going to push for legislation so that the banks would be bailed out of their foreclosure mess in a scheme such as this: The foreclosed properties would be condemned and demolished, new money would be let out to developers, new properties would be built, and new mortgages would be let out. They might call this a public-private partnership. Well, read the article at the link. It’s here. Banks, developers, unions, and developers seem to benefit, as we waste our way into oblivion.

This is one of the most destructive, indecent, proposals ever floated. It feeds off all of us and the capital and equity we’ve built in our communities for years. It strips us of what makes us unique in the first place. It destroys properties that would otherwise be used were it not for the gangsterism of unregulated lending interests who set aside their fiduciary responsibility to the public, and were allowed to do so…

Tim Ferris: one of the most pernicious ideas ever

• Is NEO Unfriendly to Female Entrepreneurs?
  Good questions from Chris Thompson
• A really big day
  (tags: NeoBlogs)
• More from “The Professor” on PIOTB
  Kinda reminds me of The Professor on Gilligan’s Island.
• Z gets busted

Or should I say lack-of-progress report:

It just doesn’t make sense that the streets were torn up months ago and there has been very little work done. If they couldn’t schedule workers to repair the road they shouldn’t have torn it up months in advance…

Dan Hanson’s Blog

Everyone loves Plusquellic:

I’m not sure calling today’s Akron Press Club event a debate is honest. Sure, both Mayor Don Plusquellic and challenger Joe Finley were in the same room, on the same dais, and answering the same questions, but the discourse wasn’t exactly debate like…

Glad to have the ‘billies as part of the MTB network of blogs.

Psychobilly Democrat: Mayoral…Debate? [Video Update]

How is Northeast Ohio reponding to the challenges of STEM (science, technology, education and math) education?

Ohio is not producing enough workers educated in the STEM disciplines, and our supply of qualified workers is not keeping pace with the demands of an innovation and technology-driven economy.

Science and Mathematics A Formula for 21st Century Success: Final Report from the Science and Mathematics Education Policy Advisory Council

Download the report

Poverty in Cleveland: Special report

A reminder: State income levels are tied to education and innovation.

According to a study featured in the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s 2005 Annual Report, differences in state income levels can be explained largely by two factors: innovation and workforce skills. The study’s findings suggest that increasing a region’s knowledge base should be a primary component of economic development strategies.

Altered states: a perspective on 75 years of state income growth

Education levels drive income levels.

Educational Attainment and Metropolitan Growth

“The Pathways to Education Program is one of the most successful programs we have found anywhere in North America in enabling youth from low income neighbourhoods to graduate high school and attend college and university”, said David Pecaut, Senior Partner at the Boston Consulting Group and leader of the study.

“The results are dramatic for the students and their families. The payback to society as a whole is also tremendous. Our study calculated the total payback to society from the Pathways Program is a net present value of about $50,000 per student in the program. Based on our analysis, each charitable dollar invested in Pathways will return $25 in future benefits to society.”

Toronto Program Major Success In Preventing High School Drop-Outs

Download the BCG analysis here.

Got an email from Sid with this info:

BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! OPENS IN CLEVELAND FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7th

Director Guy Maddin’s (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD) latest feature film is a retro-silent thriller that excavates the longings and tragedies of childhood…

THIS WEEKEND ONLY!

Friday, September 7th 7:30 PM

Sunday, September 9th 8:55 PM

The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque
11141 East Boulevard
Cleveland , OH 44106

Guy Maddin (Sullivan Brown) reluctantly returns to his childhood home, an abandoned Canadian island, where his parents ran an orphanage. As Guy fulfills his dying mother’s request to paint the lighthouse which served as the orphanage, memories of strange events there overpower him. An undercover investigation by child author/detective Wendy (Katherine Scharhon) and a revolt by the repressed children, blew open a cover-up by Guy’s parents. Wendy disguised herself as her brother Chance and discovered that Maddin’s inventor father performed outré scientific experiments on the orphans. In black and white, with title cards, plus narration by Isabella Rossellini. In the film’s opening weeks, some showings included live narrators (such as Crispin Glover, Lou Reed, Barbara Steele), an orchestra, a castrato, and costumed sound effects techs.

I think I’ll check it out. You?

Brand Upon the Brain! (2006) - Plot summary

• Hands off Gloria’s neighborhood
  My neighborhood too
• Jeff Coryell links to Palmer’s video re: Kucinich vacationing in DisneyWorld
  (tags: Politics)
• WoM on obesity report
  Kelly asks “how do we slow down, then stop and then reverse this obesity trend? How do we protect the health of our community’s children?”
• Callahan’s Cleveland Diary » Blog Archive » Cleveland population now below 400,000! Or not…
  Bill wonders if the PeeD has hit their limit
• News on the BOE retrial
  Adele Eisner keeps a watchful eye on developments.
• OSTN teams with Kucinich
  Too bad he won’t debate his primary challengers for his Congressional seat.
  (tags: Politics NeoBlogs)
• Making a mountain out of a molehill
  A press release from the Med Mart people makes it seems like they’re working miracles. Color me unimpressed.
• Another example of jawboning for the Med/Con
  Press release journalism
• Progress on the Shaker Lakes Nature Center
• Copyblogger asks…
  “Do People Really Want Transparency and Authenticity?”
• Pastor Allen of the Franklin Circle church keeps office hours @ Gypsy Beans
  No Need To Buzz - He’ll Already Be!
• A gas station sign advertises “No Cuy Co Taxes”
  From Chas Rich
• Bloggers calling for aid to Ohioan devastated by flooding
• michelle v on “no reservations”
  (tags: food)

The University of Akron is figuring this out…

By some definitions, ‘’open innovation'’ is an attitude, the shattering of traditional boundaries between universities, industry and investors in the desire to stimulate economic development for the benefit of all.

UA’s partners in research get space to think

UARF Launches New Innovation Campus

The University of Akron explores open innovation

From Cleveland Foodie Michelle V:

After working at several well-respected restaurants, including Michael Symon’s Lolita and Parea, Kitchen 22 and The Biltmore, Chef Jonathon Sawyer, a Cleveland native, has decided to open up his own place, Gastropub, the first nationally certified green restaurant in Ohio. While he is in the process of securing a location and hammering out the details, you can find him at Bar Cento, which will be adjacent to Bier Market in Ohio City this October, where he will be the partner/chef. According to Sawyer, the menu will be rustic featuring moderne & traditional brick oven pizza’s as well as entree selections. Cento will also offer ‘cento vino’ (100 wines) to accompany each dish.

cleveland foodie: q & a with chef jonathon sawyer

I know. It’s an ubersportsblog. But hey, I like this excerpt:

By time most of us were six, we were Browns’ fans for life because that was passed down to us from family and neighbors (most of you didn’t become Indians’ fans until 1995, so let’s leave them out of the discussion for now). If you didn’t like the Browns, there was something wrong with you, something so heinous that you would lead to you getting your ass kicked. Child molesters in prison lasted longer than some fruit on your street wearing a non-Browns football jersey. There was no such thing as rooting for somebody else because they had sharp uniforms or star players.

Well, things are different for my children. They live in a land where choice abounds — LeBron jerseys rival Kobe’s, and it isn’t because people are pulling for the Cleveland on the jersey. Sports fandom is so integrated here in Southern California that Steelers and Browns fans will share the sports bar on Sunday during the NFL season and behave in a civil fashion. My children haven’t had a sports legacy dumped on them that they have to accept with the same resignation they have with the cabbage that is served with the corned beef…

Growing Up Cleveland (From Afar) | General | The best Browns, Cavs, Indians, and Buckeyes coverage on the web!

• Why come to Cleveland?
  From Jeff Buster
• Drumming up some PR for the Med Mart
• Carnival time
  (tags: Politics)
• One more reason to shift to the more sustainable practices of meatless cuisine
  From Jack/Zen

This seems like a good career move:

The Chardon, Ohio area is about to get a new small business owner…

A local resident of Chardon, Phillip Peters, is opening up an Emergency Services Franchise next week.
The name: PuroClean of The Western Reserve {Nice job with the local name, Phil!}

Puro_logo_2

PuroClean provides services that help get homes and businesses back to normal after flooding, or smoke from a fire damages them. They also work with mold problems….

The Franchise King Blog: New Emergency Services Franchise Opening

Join Meet.The.Blogger* @ Midtown Brews for conversation with Michael DeAloia, Senior Executive for Technology Development, Department of Economic Development, City of Cleveland for “Edict of Development: The Wins, The Losses, The Joy, The Tears”.

A discussion of one young professional’s tour through the economic development landscape in Cleveland. A quick synopsis of where we are as a community and where we should have been. An honest and insightful conversation of the trials and tribulations of tech development - the successes and the hurdles. Bring your questions and get honest, provocative answers.

Date: Thursday, September 6, 2007
Time: 5:30 P.M - 7:30 P.M.
Place: Webtego
2530 Superior Avenue, Suite 600
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
Phone: 216-248-8700

Buy a six pack of your favorite brew to share, and add your voice to this important regional dialogue. A $5.00 contribution to Midtown Brews will help defray the cost of the delectable munchies we usually have.

Mark Seifert of the East Side Organizing Project in an article by Pete Kotz:

Seifert tried to warn people. “Early on, when we approached elected officials, they thought we were crazy. ‘The banks would never do that. These people are deadbeats.’”

Stereotype made the problem easy to dismiss. On one side were black residents, who simply couldn’t handle their money, politicians theorized.

On the other side were the captains of finance — Key, National City, Bank One, JP Morgan, and Citicorp were all in on the scam. They were the kind who sat on all the important committees, broke bread at the best clubs, slapped backs at the finest parties. And they were dumping huge checks into campaign treasuries. It was easy to look the other way.

When Ohio cities tried to enact anti-predator laws, the legislature moved to stop them. Former Attorney General Betty Montgomery actually sued Cleveland to bar it from protecting residents. Her successor, Jim Petro, blamed the problem on stupidity. “We were told that people were not educated and he couldn’t do anything,” says Seifert.

Local pols weren’t any better. Though ESOP was compiling evidence of fraud by the pound, Prosecutor Bill Mason preferred to bag crackheads. It made for easier hunting, better headlines.

President Bush even named Roland Arnall his ambassador to the Netherlands. At the time, Arnall’s company, Ameriquest, was the biggest predatory lender in Cleveland…

Cleveland - News - Who Killed Cleveland?

He’s probably not alone:

It’s hard to take them seriously when they announce an update press conference on what is happening 1 day before. Gee, that’s the way to keep the public updated. What is it they announce? Why committees being formed to serve as advisory groups in finding a site, explain to schools what classes in hotel management should be offered , and who should be included in the discussion. This, apparently constitutes putting “the meat on the bone” for the convention center/med mart. Things that one might have thought would be already discussed and part of that vital business plan for the city and county — before passing a tax and start collecting money…

cleveland.com: Weblogs

Hope to hear more stories like these, so, as Chas Rich says, the “victors” can’t write only their side:

Tuesday, July 24th I received an invitation to attend a meeting at Gypsy Beans and Baking Company. I went. I think it may have changed my life. I thought I was through with my days of political activism. Turned out I was wrong. When I went, I did not know the reason for the meeting other than it had something to do with the last public hearing about the convention center/medical mart. Turned out PutItOnTheBallot.com was born that day.

A group of activists and others were concerned that the commissioners were bent on adding 1/4% sales tax to our state tax without a vote…

Gloria Ferris » Blog Archive » And So It Began

Susan Miller raises an important question:

Here’s a way for the elder poor to save themselves from the taxing maws of Cuyahoga County and make up for the loss of sales tax referendum. How do we get this news out to them?

Expanded Homestead Exemption

I can’t think of anyone more qualified to lead SchoolOne’s push into business services. It is a win-win for 2 people and a company I really like (and examples of action over talk). Congrats Tech Czar (you deserve this after being “pushed” despite the value you added). Smart move Micki!

Cleveland “tech czar” Michael DeAloia is joining one of the companies he recruited to the city.

Mr. DeAloia told CrainsCleveland.com today that he has resigned as senior executive for technology development at the city of Cleveland to take a management position at SchoolOne LLC, a Cleveland-based software developer and information technology services provider.

“I like his energy,” Ms. Tubbs said. “And, I’ve seen that energy over and over again. He’s had success (telling) his message.”

Part of his new job will be to help the company expand its service offerings beyond schools and into the business community, she said.

A spokeswoman for the city of Cleveland did not immediately return a phone message left this morning.*

*Surprise, surprise!

Crain’s Cleveland Business: ‘Tech czar’ going back to School

• Good point by Chris Thompson
  Why are there no Ohio schools on this list?
• The comment that won’t appear on the Med/Con blog
  Via Roger Bundy. I’d say the GCP’s foray into the blogosphere ain’t goin’ so well
• These people are elected
  (tags: Politics)
• Michael D leaves city, joins SchoolOne
  At least someone’s doing something about education
• JMZ doesn’t get the GCP
  Good questions
• Cleveland Real Estate and News: Can We Keep City Buddha In Ohio City?
  Carole campaigns to keep city buddha
• The Ohio Blog: Ohioans are Broke

“There really has to be product improvement by the city of Cleveland to be more attractive to people with means,” Hill said. “It means downtown housing. It means schools that will attract kids from middle-income families.”

Ohio Lags in Good Paying Jobs