I had an interview recently; and one of the questions asked of me was, “What is on your Refrigerator?” My first thought was A LOT of crap. I tend to keep things that should have been thrown away weeks or even months ago. So, I quickly scanned the front of my refrigerator, and the first thing that came to mind was a 5″ x 8″ mailer advertising the new production at Playhouse Square, titled the “Jersey Boys.” I actually got the ticket as a birthday gift; so that was my response. I love going downtown and patronizing all these wonderful events that Cleveland has to offer.

Some of the other things I have strategically placed on my refrigerator are: a black and white magnet of New York City’s street signs, a miniature white wine bottle magnet and my dentist’s magnet business card. I was going to give that as a gift; but I decided to keep it. I also have a “Seeds of Literacy” magnet clip that I have attached the Cleveland Museum of Art’s new opening gala event that was this past weekend. It is still on the refrigerator. I also have a few other post cards from galleries that are beautifully designed that I can’t seem to part with.

I would say, my refrigerator is an ideal place where I can put stuff away from the counter or dining room table so it looks like there is a logical “out of the way place” for this stuff.

I also posed this question to another colleague; and, he simply said you could describe the functionality of the refrigerator and why you choose it can be another “answer” to this interview question.

Now that I have absorbed this question for a few days now, it definitely says a lot about a person likes and dislikes. But more importantly, how organize is this person. I always thought of myself as an organized person, but, if you look at my refrigerator, maybe not. I am happy to report, the interviewer didn’t ask me to send them a digital photo of my refrigerator because, and they might be in for a rude awakening.

So, what is on your refrigerator?

The Arts Collinwood Arts Experience is offered to only 40 children. With two teachers, two teachers’ aides and a small group of junior counselors, we are able to group the children by age (five to eight and nine to twelve), and match our teaching to their abilities. Here’s a pdf with more info: Arts Collinwood Arts Camp PDF

Our new book will be out next week! Pre-order your copy and receive a PDF preview. For more on the book and to order yours, visit Designing Life Books.

Several NEO bloggers have ordered theirs. We’d love to hear their thoughts on it.

The future of wind power may be off-shore and far off-shore.  Here’s a link about some current projects around the world.

I want to ask a simple question. Who likes it when friends, family or acquaintances just drop by unannounced without calling first? I do not know why, but after the first of the year, a friend of mine does just that. She just stops by because she is in the neighborhood. I think she thinks she is being friendly, or perhaps she has nothing else to do on a Saturday afternoon around 6PM. I am sorry, but I am a busy person. I like a certain amount of structure and privacy. One instance in particular, I was transferring my groceries from my trunk into the house. And what do I see out of the corner of my eye, that annoying green car pulling up my drive. Doesn’t she see that I am busy? No, not at all! I was so irritated, that I told her specifically, “I can’t talk now.  I need to cook and finish putting my groceries into the house.” She gave me this hurtful, perplexed look. Then, I felt bad and talked to her for about 10 to 15 minutes. After she finally left, I was upset with myself for talking to her when I had things to do.

This is not an isolated incident. She stops over and gives me bread, grapefruits and spinach. She even stops by on Monday night, and then she leaves me a strange message on my cell phone wondering where I am. I have gotten text messages that simply say, “Where are you?” Creepy!  I am never home on weeknights before 8:30PM, I am either tutoring, at the gym or at an after work event. When she does call, it is on a Saturday Night around 9:15PM and wants to know if I can come out and play. Sorry, but I usually have plans by that time. I don’t know why this is driving me crazy lately. She is not getting my subtle hints, so I took the chicken’s way out. I admit, I do not like confrontation; therefore, I elected to write a detailed email describing my irritation. It has almost been a week now, and I have not heard from her.

I have gotten different responses from men and women. Women particularly do not like it; but men on the other hand, can’t understand why I’m getting so upset. I am curious what others think on this matter.

My favorite part is of the email Netflix sent out last night is where they tell you to move movies in your profile to you main account. Nice idea. Too bad they don’t give you an easy way to do that (such as a drop-down where can select which queue you want to movie to go to). I looked for it when I first set up a second queue. I wonder how many customers use that feature?

I’m thinking this is going to go into the record books as one of the epic business screwups unless Netflix changes it’s tune fast.

Hacking NetFlix : Netflix Eliminating Account Profiles - Update

Unless I get some more RSVPs for tonight’s meetup, I’m probably going to cancel it. Anyone interested?

I’ve decided to cancel tonight’s blogger meetup due to low turnout. Sorry!

The Cleveland Weblogger June Meeting - The Cleveland Weblogger Meetup Group (Cleveland, OH) - Meetup.com

Before you throw your full support behind biofuels as an alternative to oil, make sure you consider the land requirements.  Here’s a quick calculation:

Our total yearly energy consumption from oil for transportation is equal to 1,360 GW of thermal energy (for comparison, a typical large power plant may generate 3 GW of thermal energy).  It takes about 0.45 square miles of land to produce enough biomass to generate 1 MW of thermal energy (assuming the land is used sustainably).  So to replace all of our oil consumption with biofuels will require about 612,000 square miles of land.  The entire continental United States equals 2,960,000 square miles, so we would have to set aside about 20% of our land for biofuels.

Or on average, we would need to devote 10 entire states to biofuel production.  This would be an incredible challenge.  On top of that, we’ve already seen food price increases due to increased use of corn ethanol.  And the science is clear that biofuels currently require just as much energy to produce, mostly coming from fossil fuels, as the energy we can get out of them–it doesn’t matter if we’re talking corn ethanol or biodiesel.  Ultimately, unless science can change the energy requirements, biofuels end up producing just as much pollution as oil because of the energy inputs.

Unless we see a major technological breakthrough, biofuels are not the direction we should be going.

Instructions is on its way to the publishers. I’ve added an pre-order form on DesigningLife.com. If you pre-order the book, we’ll thank you by sending a pdf version of the book. From Jack’s site:

An intentional model of conversations is built around questions that have power to engage people’s gifts in ways that matter. They are conversations that connect people in new ways, so they can collaborate in co-creating a future that attracts them. The model is an introduction to the deeper work of Peter Block’s “A Small Group” methodologies.

Conversations that build community have 4 qualities. They inspire dreams, initiate small acts, engage gifts, and create invitations.

In the old conversations that have no power, we mandate consensus, blame, problem-solve, give lip service, and talk about deficiencies. They keep the community isolated and fragmented in its efforts. In the new conversations that have power, we declare our dreams and gifts, we take and share ownership, we invite others to build community.

For more, visit IntentionaModel.com

Pre-order your copy of Instructions from the Cook: Recipes for New Conversations (and receiving a pdf preview of it for ordering)

Designing Life - Main.Books

Out in Steamboat attending the 6th annual Economic Gardening gathering. This approach to building economies from the inside out has been around for ten years or so. It’s gaining momentum. About 100 people are here, and presentations are from all over, including Japan and Australia. Economists call this approach “endogenous growth”, and practitioners in the UK and Asia are focused on this approach to building economies. (U.S. economic developers are still overwhelmingly geared toward recruitment.) Georgia uses economic gardening as the basis for its statewide strategy to support new business starts.

The Lowe Foundation — which also supports our work at I-Open’s — is a strong supporter of Economic Gardening. Indeed, they are here to announce the availability of a powerful, (free) new tool for regional economies. Your Economy.
Economic Gardening strategies vary, but at their core they combine two components: one-on-one business development guidance with sophisticated market and competitor intelligence.

This morning, we listened to how one of the national labs is using this approach quite effectively. They focused initially at forming business development networks. They are now moving into market intelligence.

The Lowe Foundation’s new tool adds to the mix. We’ll be showing the tool at I-Open’s workshop at Lowe Foundation next week. We’ve got regions from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin coming to learn about Strategic Doing, how you do strategy in networks.

The beauty of economic gardening is that it can span the range of businesses. Here’s a couple of interesting web sites from people attending the gathering:

Growing Local Economies
Your Economy
Tools for Success

From That Girl on Cleveland Love:

michelle and i are talking when suddenly we stop. because we hear this singing coming from four of the girls at the table behind us. they’re doing some old gospel-sounding song, splitting off into four-part harmony and while they’re trying to find the pitch the first time, it sounds beautiful and i’m almost crying because with the sounds of the wind and the waves and the storm, it sounds divine.the guys come back from the washroom and say they want to sing too. at first they’re rapping some top-40 stuff, but shift gears quickly into motown. they’re singing marvin gaye. when they see me sitting there mouthing the words they get all excited and tell me to come over and sing with them, my dismal white-girl rhythm and all…

Cleveland Love: i got sunshine…

The Ohio House passed HB 477 a couple of weeks ago. It is a bill that would make English the official state language of Ohio. Blogging in Tongues is an effort to demonstrate and explain why HB 477 should be opposed, for many reasons. Ohio blogs that are participating in this effort reach more than 10,000 readers daily.

If you would like to read about why HB 477 is bad law, please visit these posts:

• American Pink Collar (French)
• Bad American (Polish)
• bitter-girl :: musings (German)
• Blogesque (Korean)
• Blue Bexley (Dutch)
• Blue Ohioan (Korean)
• Bring Ohio Home (Czech)
• Bring Ohio Home (German)
• Buckeye State Blog (Italian)
• Glass City Jungle (Hungarian)
• Gloria Ferris (Spanish)
• Ohio Daily Blog (Croatian)
• Pho’s Akron Pages (Vietnamese)
• Plunderbund (Redneck)
• Rowsey Blog (Spanish)
• The Chief Source (Spanish) at The Point
• The Daily Bellwether (French)
• Tim Ferris (French)
• Writes Like She Talks (Portuguese)

And this blog, with all the English translations. For an explanation of the logic behind the effort, you can read more here.

Image by Kables via Flickr

Thanks, Judy, for posting this:

Most of us are blissfully unaware of the human cost of what we consume - whether it be cheap food, cheap clothing or cheap wine.

I am guilty of it too - right now a bottle of Two Buck Chuck sits on my counter.

Knowing what I do today though, I don’t think I will be able to drink it.

“On May 16th 17 year old illegal immigrant Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died. She had collapsed 2 days earlier after working 8 HOURS in the blistering heat tending vines for Merced Farm Labor, makers of Charles Shaw wine aka “Two Buck Chuck ” marketed by Trader Joe’s…”

It’s probably not a stretch to make the case for finding a locally-produced wine—one where you can get to know the vintner and his farming practice.

There Is A Reason It Is Two Buck Chuck « Five Husbands

Spent several hours with Jack last night, working on the cover for our upcoming book. Shot some images for the cover and conceptualized a metaphor that finishes it off rather nicely. Probably available to purchase in August.

jack/zen » Stone soup

Was messaged thru Facebook by someone Rob of PlanetNEO referred to me:

Leading Advocates (LEAD) of the Center for Families and Children is a group of young professionals (21-39) committed to supporting the mission of CFC through advocacy, service, community leadership and philanthropy.We’re seeking four community-focused and service-minded individuals to serve as volunteer officers of this revitalized organization. Working with CFC staff and Board of Directors, these officers will be key in designing LEAD’s governing structure, creating a membership recruitment plan and guiding the development of this new organization…

CFC Lead Advocates (LEAD)

Tags: Volunteer, Community Work

Received this press release about Parker’s donation:

Members of East Cleveland’s Shaw High School Marching Band will be donning sharp new uniforms and sporting shiny new horns when they visit China next month, thanks to a $50,000 gift from Parker Hannifin Corporation…

Parker Donates $50,000 for Uniforms, Instruments to Help the Shaw High School Marching Band Proudly Represent Northeast Ohio at the Beijing Olympics

It’s a trying time, being a Hillary Clinton supporter.  One part of you says that I shouldn’t even be writing this, and the other says that it needs to be said.  I shouldn’t be uttering words of concession.  Where do the boundaries of loyalty end and practicality begin?  The truth is, these thoughts have been with me since the Indiana primary, when I saw what every other political junkie witnessed that night.  As the point difference went from ten to eight to five to…….by 2am I had to call it a night.  Senator Clinton’s speech said it all-it was a surprise and I looked to her for how I should feel.  I know how I felt, but how did she want me to feel?  I felt defeated.  I asked myself, what could I have done to prevent this?  We expected a defining win and when that didn’t happen, it was just enough to get Chris Matthews going, and even Tim Russert.  I was anxious.  I awoke wondering what I would hear from the campaign-was this the day that so many people have been waiting for?  To my relief, Senator Clinton emerged composed and refreshed in West Virginia. 

This is where the mixed emotions kick in.  I am a Democrat and never fail to see the full scope of the political climate.  No one does.  It’s there-and if you don’t see it, there are 1001 media avenues painting the picture for you.  Since Indiana, every time you see Senator Clinton’s coverage on TV or in print, it always comes with this harassing undertone of “oh, poor girl.  She’s still trotting along.”  This infuriates me.  Once my state’s primary was over, the paid team was gone.  The buzz was gone. All the people that came out of the woodwork went back in-and you have to struggle to find an outlet for your continued persistence to the effort.  The best you can do is long-distance phone banking and possibly travel to the other states, which is difficult in itself.  You have to hope that the local volunteers have the same passion you did when Hillary was in your state.  And you wait, watching the Senator’s appearances on TV, reading her coverage, diligently following the campaign’s movements.  All the while, you wonder if this is the right thing.  I secretly hope that Hillary stays in until the convention.  I secretly hope that by some miracle, the remaining uncommitted superdelegates will put her over the threshold and she will defeat Obama and win the general.  I know Senator Clinton would make the best president.  But I look away when they talk now.  I don’t know what to say when my friends ask me, what is happening with the campaign?  Black robes?  VP?  It seems as though Senator Clinton is the only one not getting discouraged.  That is why I continue to show my support-that is the type of President we need.  She gives me strength when it should be the other way around.

Political campaigning, when done right, is a momentous endeavor.  When you truly back a candidate or an issue, you put yourself out there as well.  It defines you.  When I say I am a staunch Democratic Clinton supporter, it defines me.  People judge me off of those words.  And I judge them off of theirs, too.  You have to be comfortable with that.  But the beauty of it is, you do find solace in knowing that win or lose, it was the reflection of our great Democratic society.  Win or lose, I know Senator Clinton is the best person to be our next President.  If the process decides otherwise, I will accept that. 

it’s the middle of the night, i’m wide awake. Just tuned into The.Ambient.ZzZzZzone - music for relaxation and sleep. i’ll spend some time reading random blogs using this link provided by Evan. The randomness of the internet is one of my favorite properties…

As you can tell by the post below, something is amiss here at BFD. A few days ago, the server this blog is hosted on took a dump.

While they’re working diligently to restore service, please head over to NortheastOhioBlogs.com, where’ you’ll find a stream of tweets and the latest blog posts from your neighbors, as well as the resurrected Northeast Ohio Blogroll.

I’m talking about the BlogWorld Expo. Have you made your plans yet?

Brain Shavings

Just now as I was reading all the comments and props George is getting for BFD being recognized as Cleveland Scenes Best Blog 2007, I thought about all the great people I’ve met and new friends I have now because of him. I think it’s time we all celebrate George so I hope you’ll join me at my first Cleveland Weblogger Meetup:

THE CLEVELAND WEBLOGGER MEETUP:
Wednesday, October 17th
The Happy Dog @ 7:00PM
5801 Detroit Ave Cleveland, OH 44102
(216) 651-9474

From Bob Aber:

Imagine a scenario where a currently empty building (located by public transportation of course) is configured to house local interns and is available for rent by the month. Just think about the impression our region would make when an intern arrives to find a fully furnished flat and is surrounded by other like-minded individuals for the next several months. Coordinating activities (sports, group outings, etc.) would be a breeze and local businesses would see added value knowing that their intern is getting a crash course in the region and networking with other young talent after work…

He’s asking for comments on how to get it done. Click thru if you have any.

Recruiting to Cleveland: Where do the Interns go after 5PM?

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I like Stephanie’s idea of getting on the phone with Postgreen, but I’m not sure that any of the orgs she mention would:

I came across 100khouse through the GOOD Magazine blog - wow. Sign me up.

It’s the brainchild of Postgreen, a real estate developer that specializes in modern urban green building. Working in collaboration with interface studio architects and Build it Green, they are attempting to build an environmentally astute, well designed house with two bedrooms and one and a half baths on an urban lot in North Philadelphia for around $100/square foot. The interior renderings look amazing.

Somebody - the Civic Innovation Lab, The Cleveland Foundation, Enterprise - SOMEBODY - needs to get on the phone with these people and figure out how to bring this to Cleveland…

I’d be happy to sit in on a conf call w/ them. Anyone else?

even*cleveland: 100k house

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Since today is Mother’s Day, I thought I would share some of my fondest memories of my mother. She past away a little over four years ago, and, I still remember the joy on her face when she unwrapped the gift my sister and I bought her. It was always new outfit that she usually wore on Mother’s Day morning for church services. My mother didn’t shop very often for herself but she knew, that my sister and I would buy her the perfect gift. After church services, we also took her to brunch at Pier W, which was always very crowded. As each mother entered through the church doorway, they received either a red or pink carnation pinned to their lapels. Mother’s Day used to be another favorite holiday of mine because in my mind it is one day where you can tell your mother, “Thank you for all the things you do but more importantly, for being in my life.” I can still remember the Spanakopita (Greek, Spinach and Feta pie) that she made baking in the oven, my mouth watering in anticipation of that first bite. She was the best at making the phyllo pastry dough from scratch, an all day affair. In fact, she taught all of her Greek friends how to make it.

The other magnificent thing my mom did well was gardening. She had over twenty rose bushes that surrounded the whole perimeter of the house. The blooms of pink and red were spectacular against the white aluminum siding. She was out in her garden daily watering, weeding or walking in the early morning breeze. Not only did she grow roses, but also I will never forget her giant, plump tomatoes either. I haven’t had “real” fresh tomatoes since then. I did inherit her green thumb, but my ability to grow roses has not been good. In fact, my tulips, daffodils and day lilies come up every year wonderfully, but I have lost at least three rose bushes. I tried everything. I fed them, watered them, moved them to face the sun but to my dismay, they are not like my mother’s. Oh well, we all have our particular talents. Today on Mother’s Day, I want to thank my mother for always being there listening to all of my problems; but most of all I appreciate all the gifts she had given me.

So today, give your mom a hug and kiss and respect the fact that she is near when you need her. And by all means, don’t wait until Mother’s Day for your appreciation.

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At this year’s EarthFest, I picked-up a great flyer distributed by the good folks at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History detailing the best native plants with which to landscape your yard or vacant lot in the Greater Cleveland (Cuyahoga) BioRegion. The plants are categorized by soil condition (well drained, wet meadow, etc), plant type (small forest trees, evergreen ground cover, etc.) and function (shrubs to control erosion, shrubs to provide food/cover for birds, etc.) You can view an online version of this handy guide HERE.

Just in time for all the great plant sales happening this weekend….

Crown Point
Rosby’s
Shaker Lakes

As well as the annual River Sweep Clean-up taking place this Saturday at locations around our city.

I look forward to the day when every Cleveland neighborhood from Edgewater to North Collinwood to Lee Miles and everything in between has an annual native-plant swap meet!

Here’s to fun in the soil of life!

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The Audient Files: Not Worth 23 Cents to Me http://tinyurl.com/6ed8yu

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• HubBub Custom Bicycles: Can Cleveland Do This … Even A Little?
  “I don’t think Cleveland will EVER be a Portland, but it can emulate a lot of what Portland offers in the form of cycling as alternative transportation. Of course, people need to want to get off their collective fat asses and ride”
  (tags: Bicycling)
• Serving the locavore market | GreenCityBlueLake
  “Two years after five Case students took top honors with their virtual farmer’s market, Fresh Fork has 60 Northeast Ohio farmers and 40 Cleveland-area restaurants ready to buy and sell fresh, locally grown produce on its web site.”
  (tags: buylocal food)
• Cleveland, Youngstown, Pittsburgh — All Together | Advance Northeast Ohio
  The Cleveland-Pittsburgh-Youngstown Learning network is an opportunity for the three cities to explore common concerns, share best practices, and identify opportunities for collaboration. The first Learning Network session will be June 20, 2008 from 10 am

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• We’re Number One? | Pittsburgh Metblogs
  So Pittsburgh beat Los Angeles yesterday and no, not in sports. According to the latest American Lung Association report - “State of the Air 2008″ - that determines the nation’s most polluted cities, Pittsburgh has been named the “sootiest in the
• Save Our Land: Does Fear Trump Trust?
  “What is the aging process of these Nuclear Reactors? They are aging, but gracefully. When the nuclear reactors in America went on line, they were issued 20-year licenses. The last reactor that came on line was 1979.”
  (tags: energy)
• Search Insider » Blog Archive » Search — Where Supply Meets Demand
  “As a part of an agency that specializes in both SEM and direct response television (DRTV), I have seen firsthand the tremendous impact that television can have on driving a search campaign.”

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• BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » What is Kos?
  “No, it’s more like Tammany Hall, a would-be powerbroker and kingmaker. And Kos is the would-be party boss.”
  (tags: election2008)

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I have been wanting to write about my once a week volunteer duty at the “Seeds of Literacy.” What can I say I love it? I am not an educator by trade and I was pretty nervous about my first time tutoring. I felt intimidated; plus, I did not want to teach someone the wrong idea/concept. How I got involved. I was listening to NPR one morning, and a spokesperson spoke about the “Cleveland Reads” program and a few volunteers spoke highly about their experience. It sounded to me, that is was a valuable way to give back to the community. I feel so fortunate that I am educated and the opportunities that were given to me by my parents who were not born in this country.

How Cleveland Reads work is they provide volunteer tutor with a tutorial of the basic skills the will need to begin their volunteer work. It is about a three-hour session for Children and another three-hour session for adults. I couldn’t decide what area I wanted to tutor, so I signed up for both sessions. For me, I feel much more comfortable with adults since I do not have children; and I am not entirely sure what type of instructions an individual child would need. After your session at Cleveland Reads, they will provide you a listing of all the organizations that are in need of tutors. Quite frankly, the list is very long.

Seeds of Literacy found me with a direct mail piece of their services. They, in turn, have their own orientation and what is expected from each of their tutors. I have been with them for over one year, and every tutoring session is different. My strength is reading and vocabulary because of my passion for books. On a few occasions, I will get a bewildered learned who needs Math help. I try to inform the Site Coordinator that I would prefer someone with reading help, but there are times when you need to be flexible. It is very rewarding when at the end of you two-hour session a learner just says, “thank you” or I got a “you are a good tutor.” It just brings a smile to your face every time you enter the site when your day was unpleasant from work.

If anyone has any interest in tutoring, I would highly, highly recommend it. There are so many agencies that really do need help

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I am excited about the emerging movement to bridge systems collaboration and citizen collaboration in action and believe that when these top down, bottom up synergies collide - community transformation will indeed occur. In fact, it is the only way improvement can unfold holisticly and with sustainability.

One of the areas of community change making I have been most impressed with is the art of CONNECTION MAKING at a community level. In particular, I am awed by the informal and formal social networks of women and their impact on community life. We see these networks emerging in the board room, among managers, within neighborhoods, in book clubs, among the poor, and in schools. These networks are the DAILY STUFF that keeps systems, neighborhoods and families going.

It’s easy to “not notice” the power women hold in communities, especially in our patriarchal society still rooted in outdated power paradigms. No doubt, the old boys networks still exists in Cleveland and dominates decision making. In spite of progress, women, even in Cleveland, still continue to make less then men and their presence in corporate, political and the community development industry is still imbalanced.

But that doesn’t mean women don’t have presence in community change making and, in fact, may even suggest we do it better without all of the bravado. We just tend to do it different.

To me, women, and their social networks, are the WEAVES IN THE FABRIC OF REAL COMMUNITY on an every day level - and this is a MUST consideration in the community revitalization dialogue.

In addition to being the primary managers of households and working, women tend to create the glue in relationships and community that ultimately influence quality of life. Here’s some examples of the power of women’s social networks I have experienced in the last few weeks alone:

-Women institutional leaders collaborating on projects using strategies of loving support and trust, instead of back stabbing
-Women meeting at Starbucks after work talking about their children with learning challenges
-Women walking together and supporting eachother when a friend has lost a job
-Women coming together in healing circles to resolve issues of abuse AND change the cycle of violence in their own lives and that of their community
-Women working on a theater and educational outreach production that spreads the message of violence prevention, sexual responsibility and personal growth
-Women meeting at church to create outreach programs for the less fortunate
-Women gathering together to incubate their vision for small businesses
-Women campaigning in their neigborhood to create a cooperative of support for other women in life transition (divorce, single parenthood)

Okay….that was just in the past two weeks.

All of this simple, but powerful, connection making is the real energy of community life. I know none of these women were noticed by the big HONCHOES at all the regional meetings; nor did they have any money to mobilize themselves. And nobody looked at them and thanked them for being part in mobilzing the TRANSFORMATION vision. These women JUST DID IT — for free — because they want a better life for themselves, their sisters and the children in the community.

In our revitalization dialogue, and the unearthing of grass roots efforts that bring vision into action, it’s important that we not forget the power of women. We may even want to consider making women’s social networking a priority in the action agenda.

In this sense, we expand our thinking of what it will take on a neighborhood level to mobilize true economic and community development beyond theory making and into the daily lives of people.

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