Category Archives: Intentional Communities

[Editors note: This is the first in a Q&A series conceived and named by Rodney Blu, creator of AlreadyDTX.Hell sit down with a visiting artist of note long enough for them to drink two beers. We have David Redmon and Ashley Sabin of Carnivalesque Films to thank for this pilot, as David happened to be following Harris around for a forthcoming documentary on Sunday and offered us the footage.]

New York City writer and filmmaker Brandon Harris removes the political correctness, the new artisanal cupcake shop, and the glitz and glamour from the g-word gentrification in his new memoir Making Rent In Bed-Stuy: A Memoir Of Trying To Make It In New York City. Of course, images from Spike Lees Do the Right Thing move right alongside Harris story, and he introduced a screening at the Texas Theatre on Sunday. The landmark buildings in the center of a reimagining by developers thats sent home prices soaring.

I noticed Harris walk out of the theatre soon after the film started and followed him to the bar.

[Do The Right Thing] is, I think, more meaningful today than it was when it was made, Harris said. Were coming to a crisis point concerning the ways in which the police treat African-American men, the way in which African-American communities can or cannot grow depending on the desires of others who are from outside of those communities to control them economically, socially, and politically.

Your book tour has landed in the gentrification capitol of Dallas, pretty much, I offered.

Thats intentional, brother. That was intentional, man, and trust me, I adore this cinema, I adore the men that run it. I think they have nothing but good intentions, Harris said. Obviously its restoration and the type of individuals that normally come here are a harbinger of, in our current climate, in our current societal groundwork or framework, the harbinger of a change that will push people out of this neighborhood, that have called it home or made it their home.

Where is each of our culpability, and how do we change that? I think a lot of people are looking for answers to those questions. Certainly we can say that from the state, help has not been coming. One in four Americans that qualify for housing assistance get it. The majority of housing subsidies in this country go to people who make over $100,000 a year, through tax incentives and tax purposes and the benefits of home ownership in general.

Our hourlong conversation grew from that question Buggin Out asks Sal about the Wall of Fame in his pizza shop: Why are there no brothers on the wall? You can watch an excerpt of our talk in the video below.

Later, we looked on the Texas Theatres own Wall of Fame, and Harris had a lot to say about the different ways Black filmmakers make their mark.

Blu: As a culture, you know, we are concerned with creating things that hopefully open the eyes of those who are either intentionally or unintentionally a part of the system of oppression, we create things that hopefully have meaning and move someone to change as opposed to creating capital we want to inspire change in the hearts and minds of people

Harris: Have you read any Ishmael Reed? Do you know who he is?

Blu: No.

Harris: I think hes like the greatest black avant-garde novelist of his generation. Mumbo Jumbo is his most well known book, nominated for a National Book Award. Hes a guy who always fought against the cultural nationalists, who felt like they had to make art that was like, woke, or somehow important, somehow meaningful. Ive sympathized with that. I dont, as an artist who identifies as African-American, feel like I have to indulge in any sort of work thats like, trying to change anybody. I just want to make stuff thats meaningful to me, and to people who both identify as black and not, and naturally that work will speak to my experience

Blu: And our shared experience

Harris: I mean, look at Lemon over there. Motions to movie poster. I dont know if you know about that sister [Janicza Bravo], or her work. But its just a remarkable film, thats about, you know, that dude, that Jewish dude whos a bad guy thats not a film that if you looked at Janicza youd think, oh, shed make that movie. Looking at this wall over here. Motions to Wall of Fame, scans the photographs. Id want to make movies like Melvin [Van Peebles]. Thats a great picture of Melvin.

I once interviewed him and he was wearing white jeans and pink suspenders with no shirt smoking a cigar in his home. He has this paper mache hot dog in his living room, which is like massive, that Mario, his son, made when he was in high school. Hes got, like, the ass-end of a VW van and it opens and inside is a bed. It, like, juts into the wall.

Hes 80 years old, too, and hes got this massive apartment near Lincoln Center thats all paid for by Wall Street speculation money. People dont know this but he was one of the first black traders in the early 80s on the New York Stock Exchange while he was a film director he has this fascinating career, you know. He made movies in France because he couldnt make movies in the United states, no one would finance the movies in the United States, right.

So he made these shorts, and Amos Vogel, who [co-]founded the New York Film Festival, took Melvin to a festival in France, and then Melvin just stayed there. He just moved to France and stayed there for five years. These are, like, the prime years of the Civil Rights movement, mid-sixties, Melvin was in France. And he realized he could get financing from the state for movies if he just wrote French novels. So he wrote for like these French comedic magazines. He taught himself French, became a writer, published five novels in France, and if you published a certain amount of novels, you could get a card.

You had to get a card in the French system. The New Wave people were often working against that, they thought, like, the whole system of French filmmaking was too credentialist. And so Melvin got the card that also enabled him to get state financing for his movies by writing books. And then he made his first feature, The Story of a Three-Day Pass, which is the story of this black GI and his affairs with this white woman over a weekend, and how the U.S. military looks down on this, and what have you. Its a good movie, it might actually be his best movie.

By the time he got back to the states, there was this expectation that he should make black movies why should you feel obliged to make [blaxploitation precursor]Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Songand not The Story of a Three-Day Pass?I would hope to have the freedom as a filmmaker and would hope filmmakers of my generation would feel the freedom to engage in any number of stories.

Link:

Two Brews With Rodney Blu: Brandon Harris On Spike Lee And 'Making Rent' - D Magazine

News Release 17-082

A deeper, more intentional approach to accelerating discovery

August 24, 2017

Throughout its history, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has focused on addressing grand challenges within science and engineering. These challenges represent our greatest opportunity to strengthen the nation through scientific discovery, and meeting them will require sustained and deep collaborations across scientific disciplines.

Through its Growing Convergent Research at NSF portfolio, the foundation seeks to highlight the value of Convergence, the deep integration of multiple disciplines in order to advance scientific discovery and innovation. The Foundation has issued the first set of Convergence awards, supporting workshops, summer institutes, and Research Coordination Networks (RCNs).

"NSF has supported cross-disciplinary collaboration for decades," said NSF Director France Crdova. "Convergence is a deeper, more intentional approach to the integration of knowledge, techniques, and expertise from multiple disciplines in order to address the most compelling scientific and societal challenges."

The 23 newly awarded projects will foster Convergence to address grand challenges in the context of five of NSF's "10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments," a set of cutting-edge research agendas uniquely suited for NSF's broad portfolio of investments. Those five ideas are: Harnessing the Data Revolution; Navigating the New Arctic; The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution; Work at the Human-Technology Frontier: Shaping the Future; and Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype.

The new Convergence awards include support for a Quantum Science Summer School that will bring together students from materials research, physics, engineering, mathematics, computer sciences, chemistry and the social sciences. These summer schools will prepare transdisciplinary students to meet the challenges of the quantum revolution.

Among the newly funded RCNs are projects that will:

The Convergence portfolio co-funds projects with other NSF programs, such as Transdisciplinary Research in Principles of Data Science (TRIPODS). The 2017 TRIPODS awards bring together the statistics, mathematics and theoretical computer science communities to develop the foundations of data science. TRIPODS is NSF's first major investment in Harnessing the Data Revolution.

The awards in the 2017 Convergence portfolio, arranged according to their associated Big Ideas:

Harnessing the Data Revolution

Work at the Human Technology Frontier

Navigating the New Arctic

The Quantum Leap

Understanding the Rules of Life

-NSF-

Media Contacts Rob Margetta, NSF, (703) 292-2663, rmargett@nsf.gov

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2017, its budget is $7.5 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 48,000 competitive proposals for funding and makes about 12,000 new funding awards.

Get News Updates by Email

Useful NSF Web Sites: NSF Home Page: https://www.nsf.gov NSF News: https://www.nsf.gov/news/ For the News Media: https://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp Science and Engineering Statistics: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ Awards Searches: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

Researcher Jeffrey Hickman leads a project focusing on how autonomous trucks will affect workers. Credit and Larger Version

University of Michigan principal investigator Silvia Lindtner at the workshop "Hacked Matter." Credit and Larger Version

Brown University mathematics professor Jeff Brock teaches topological methods in data analysis. Credit and Larger Version

Pennsylvania State University's Heng Xu will lead a Convergence workshop on crowdsourcing research. Credit and Larger Version

The University of Colorado's Colleen Strawhacker, leads a project on co-production in data science. Credit and Larger Version

Pennsylvania State's Ming Xiao's project will focus on networking Arctic coastal erosion research. Credit and Larger Version

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NSF issues first Convergence awards, addressing societal ... - National Science Foundation (press release)

The two men wasted no time inviting her to one of the frequent gatherings they held at their house, an intentional community made up of eight members of the Episcopal Service Corps, a national network of young adults committed to living simply and serving their communities.

If the participants at these parties were churchy, the goings-on were not. Beer drinking and dancing were the norm. But the night Ms. Risch arrived, with a date, Mr. Sutter turned his back on the norm in favor of a semiprivate conversation with her. Anna and I found ourselves standing in the corner talking about books, for many hours, he said.

We enjoyed talking about books with her so much, Alex and I invited her to come to a sleepover, Mr. Sutter added. Sleepovers at their house were also a regular event for those in the church community, but they were less about having a good time than about meaningful discussion.

They were a time to talk about finding yourself, about our commitment to friendship as a community and where you were professionally, Mr. Sutter said.

When Ms. Risch arrived, it was with a caveat.

She said she was really stressed out with school stuff, and she didnt know if she could stay the night, Mr. Sutter said. Alex and I pestered her to stay. We told her everything would be fine.

Insomnia was one of the side effects of Ms. Rischs stress. By the time the rest of the party conked out on couches and the floor in the wee hours, Mr. Sutter found Ms. Risch wide-awake and alone. A knight-in-shining-armor instinct kicked in: He ran upstairs to the attic bedroom he shared with a roommate and returned with a book, Martin Luther 1521-1532: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, the second of a three-part biography, by Martin Brecht.

Ms. Risch listened to Mr. Sutter read aloud. It was so boring, she was asleep within two seconds, Mr. Sutter said.

Ms. Risch thought it was a sweet gesture.

I noted how comfortable I felt, something I hadnt felt in a long time while trying to sleep, she said. Brecht really cemented it for us.

After that first sleepover, Mr. Sutter and Ms. Risch became confidants about each others yo-yo dating lives. Though they had been immediately attracted to each other There was definitely a flame right away, Mr. Sutter said their timing was off. When one was going through a breakup, the other was with someone new. And when both were finally free in February 2014, a cloud was drifting overhead.

Ms. Risch had just joined the Episcopal Service Corps and moved into the intentional community Mr. Sutter had recently moved out of each class of eight corps members live together in the house for one year when she began to feel depressed.

I had had depression before, and really when I look back there were so many signs it was coming, she said. I was living in Cleveland in a tiny, run-down house with eight other people and no privacy. And it was the winter when we had those polar vortexes.

She had also taken a vow, as all Service Corps members do, to live in poverty for the year.

Its both an illness in my brain and also really situational, Ms. Risch said. That situation is what put me over the brink. After a lot of self-harm, including using needles and glass to cut herself, she was hospitalized and was told she suffered from cyclothymia, a cousin to bipolar disorder.

In the months that followed, Mr. Sutter, who was still in Cleveland continuing his studies and his work on social issues including poverty, watched as she tried several different medications and suffered more than a few relapses. His bedside manner may not have suited everyone in the fog of depression, but for Ms. Risch it was transformative. And healing.

He didnt coddle me, she said. He wouldnt acquiesce to what I wanted. If I wanted to stay home all day, he said, No, get out of bed and go work out. He says no to me a lot.

He did not say no, though, in June, when she felt healthy enough to ask him on a friendly outing to a jazz festival.

We rode our bikes, Ms. Risch said. After it was over I said, Do you want to ride home with me and have a sleepover? It was a reference to Mr. Sutters community sleepovers, but she was thinking of a sleepover with more than strictly spiritual conversation. The next morning we came down for breakfast, and someone said we had hearts in our eyes.

Those hearts had been trying to surface since the February hospitalization, if not before.

I was already madly in love with Noah, Ms. Risch said.

They said they tried to take things slow, because their friendship was far too valuable to risk losing. But a few weeks after the bike ride, Mr. Sutter asked her to accompany him on a backpacking trip to Yosemite. They returned from the wilderness decidedly as a couple, and have been so ever since. Around the same time, they also each began the process of discerning ordination to priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

But the mounting days and weeks of Ms. Rischs depressive darkness were still very much with them.

I was giving her a lot of care, and I didnt know if she would ever get better, Mr. Sutter said. I had no way of knowing who she really was, what her normal was. He carried on because of something Ms. Risch was in the habit of repeating. She would say, Youre so generous to me. That was my love language, those words of affirmation. They gave me the energy to keep going.

Her depression was a strain on Mr. Sutter as well.

I had to go to friends and get nourished, he said. I had to talk to my spiritual director. I had to go to Jane to talk about the tools I would use to keep Anna feeling grounded and loved. Jane is Jane McKelvey, a therapist Mr. Sutter and Ms. Risch saw separately. They now see her together.

Ms. McKelvey is impressed by the devotion Mr. Sutter and Ms. Risch have to each other. Their willingness to communicate openly has been a huge benefit to them, she said.

Mr. Sutter proposed during a party in St. Louis in May 2016 to celebrate the graduation of Elisabeth Risch, who is Annas sister, from college.

The new graduate didnt mind sharing the spotlight that day; she was just glad her sister was headed toward a happy ending. Shes improved so much, and a lot of that is thanks to Noah and his attention to figuring out her needs, Elisabeth said.

The couple were married before about 230 guests on July 22, 2017, at the Church of the Ascension in Lakewood, Ohio. The Rev. Canon Vincent Black, the couples priest for the past three years, officiated with the Rev. David Bargetzi giving the sermon.

In keeping with the couples passion for social justice, the wedding liturgy the form and readings used in the ceremony was developed by the Episcopal General Convention to include same-sex couples. Ms. Risch and Mr. Sutter chose the liturgy because they wanted to affirm the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples in the marriage sacrament.

Just before her wedding, Ms. Risch said she hasnt had a relapse in a year and half. She credits therapy, medication and Mr. Sutter.

We take care of one another, she said.

Mr. Sutter said: I fell in love with Anna because shes brilliant and strong. The way she fought depression showed her resiliency and how independent she could be.

Annas mental health, he added, has been a gift that has helped her empathize with so many people. Its helped us understand that mental illness is not an abnormality. We see it as something that needs to be accepted as part of being human.

Bob Sandrick contributed reporting from Lakewood, Ohio.

ON THIS DAY

When July 22, 2017

Where The Church of the Ascension in Lakewood, Ohio, followed by a reception at St. Johns Episcopal Church in Cleveland.

Fashion Sense Mr. Sutter, who wore a Calvin Klein suit, actually picked out Ms. Rischs dress, a floor-length ivory gown with a plunging neckline and slit skirt. Ms. Risch said she wears leggings, Birkenstocks and an L.L. Bean sweater most days, so she welcomed the fashion advice of Mr. Sutter, who is inclined toward crisp chinos and button-up shirts. The dress came from an online retailer called Reformation.

Rich in Love The couple enlisted friends and family to help make wedding decorations, including paper garlands and bunting, ceramic pots and signs. The names of guests were written on rocks pulled from Lake Michigan and used as place settings. Mr. Sutter and Ms. Risch also got into the D.I.Y. spirit themselves. Ms. Risch made mead, a honey wine, for after the ceremony; a group of Episcopal nuns had taught her how. She also sewed her four bridesmaids gray linen skirts. Mr. Sutter made 30 gallons of beer.

Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion, and Vows) and Instagram.

A version of this article appears in print on August 20, 2017, on Page ST12 of the New York edition with the headline: Coping With Depression as Love Wins the Day.

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Coping With Depression as Love Wins the Day - New York Times

I had a fun summer. I spent two months working with Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Over-the-Rhine as a part of the Center for Faith and Justices Summer Service Internship program, and oh man, did I learn quite a bit.

Im going to share a little bit of what I learned, mainly focusing on the one thing that has been a constant theme in my life: community.

So, communities are freaking incredible.

The Summer Service Internship (SSI, for short) was a cohort of 20 that all lived together in Brockman Hall and worked at 20 different non-profits in the Greater Cincinnati area, and it was an intentional community. An intentional community is when a group of people get together and say, Hey, lets live in community, so lets set these rules and follow them. Its having weekly dinners, where one group cooks, one sets up the area and one group cleans. Its always being there for others and listening to how their day went when you know yours was just as long. Its having one-on-ones and learning about the people beside you in a deep, intentional manner.

Outside of the actual living situations, I found some pretty great communities within the city of Cincinnati. I found a community of people through my work at Peaslee. I became involved with Black Lives Matter Cincinnati, and I wound up marching through the streets with dozens of like-minded people, all standing together for something we all believed in.

I also did my best to build community everywhere that I went. I spoke to everyone that I could. I learned peoples names, where they were from, what they loved, what gave them passion and how they thought. With the kids I was working with, I learned what Roblox is although, only kind of. Its apparently the new version of Minecraft for kids.

I also learned which kids were afraid of spiders. I learned which kids loved reading, and I learned which kids thought everyone viewed them as stupid. I learned which kids didnt think they had a voice.

I tried my best to help them realize the power that they all have. I tried to tell them that power is only their awareness of their intrinsic ability to enact change. I can only hope that a few of them believed me and now are able to recognize the power that they have.

Building community is something that I love. Its the most crucial thing there is. Community is the only way that we can all overcome the oppressive systems that are present in this world. Building community is one thing that anyone can do to make change. You dont have to be an insanely friendly person that knows everyone to build community. You dont have to have dozens of talents. You dont even have to be that good at talking to different people. All you need to build community is to be yourself and to be open to the ideas and thoughts of everyone around you.

By: Kevin Thomas~Campus News Editor~

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Let this be the year to build campus community - Xavier Newswire

ECOWEEK is returning this year to the Middle East with a one-week conference and sustainable design workshops on September 10-15, 2017. Aiming to bring students closer to the concepts of social and environmental sustainability and placemaking in diverse sites and locations, the ECOWEEK workshops will address sites from coastal hip Tel Aviv to the mountainous Holy City of Jerusalem.

ECOWEEK in the Middle East is closing a series of events this year, that included lectures, panel discussions, workshops and film-screenings from London to Mumbai, and from Tilburg to Athens. In collaboration with the 92Y Week of Genius program, The Bartlett UCL, KRVIA School of Architecture, URBZ, AKTO College of Design, and Holon Institute of Technology, ECOWEEKprograms reached out to more than 11 cities in 9 countries.

This year ECOWEEK also issued two publications: the first is the printed version of its book ECOWEEK Book#1: 50 Voices for Sustainability 50 renowned architects, designers and environmental leaders, from the ECOWEEK conferences and workshops around the world, shared their ideas and projects on sustainable design, green architecture, public space and environmental stewardship. Among them BjarkeIngels, Kengo Kuma, Francis Kere, MVRDV, and many more.

Link: http://ecoweekbook.org/

The second is the The Workshops presenting the creative work of ECOWEEK workshops during the period 2009-2016 in cities around the world.

Link: https://issuu.com/ecoweek/docs/ecoweek_catalogue_2016

At ECOWEEK in the Middle East, the participating students and young professionals will be encouraged to design placemaking initiatives in the public space. Includes temporary housing on rooftops opposite the Old City of Jerusalem, international Parking Day interventions and public interventions with the local community in downtown Tel Aviv, and raise environmental awareness inside urban shopping malls, guided by local and visiting architects, artists, and designers.

ECOWEEK is an opportunity for students and young professionals primarily architects, designers, engineers, landscape architects and from other disciplines to experience one week of inspiring lectures and interactive design workshops in real sites within cities, work with communities, address real challenges, network with international peers and learn about social and environmental sustainability through design.

ECOWEEK is hosted at Holon Institute of Technology, Model House at Jerusalem City Hall, the Dizengoff Center, and Jerusalem Cinemateque. Professionals and students join from Israel, Germany, Holland, Austria, Norway, and Italy.

ECOWEEK is also hosting special pre-screenings of the new documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power with Al Gore, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Link: http://ecoweekorg.wixsite.com/ecoweekme2017/film-registration

ECOWEEK 2017 in Middle East is made possible through the cooperation and support of the Norwegian Embassy, the Austrian Culture Forum, Holon Institute of Technology, the Municipality of Jerusalem, the Municipality of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem Urban Design Center, Joint Israel, Bina, Mishlama LeYaffo, Mutav Yahdav, The Platform Tel Aviv, Dizengoff Center, Merhav-Movement for Israeli Urbanism, Enosh, Sodot Yerukim Givatayim, Society for Protection of Nature, Green Cell, DETAIL, Jerusalem Cinemateque, and Lev Dizengoff.

Link: http://ecoweek.co.il/

Workshops W1: Dizengoff Center

Austrian artist, researcher and social designer Ruth Mateus-Berrand Israeli designer ZameretHarelKanot will lead the workshop at Dizengoff Center in Tel Avivtitled E-shopping mallsand will investigate consumer statements towards designing a mall as public space for the local population. How to identify shopping malls as public spaces, for various desires and needs of the local population, in possession of the citizens and children (if just for one day). The workshop will address solutions that can be partially or completely implemented during and after ECOWEEK.

W2: Green Roofs in Jerusalem

German architect Jo Ruoff and architect Yonathan Alon, with the team of architect Hana Gribetz and landscape architect Ishai Hanoon, and coordination by ECOWEEK founder architect Elias Messinas, will head the workshop that will generate ideas on creating temporary living and guest living spaces on rooftops. The workshop will focus on two sites: the roof of the Clal Center with possible additional site the roof of Abraham Hostel in downtown Jerusalem, opposite the Old City walls. These rooftops will provide spaces to for guest housing and urban agriculture, affecting the urban micro-climate. The project is part of a new initiative by the Municipality of Jerusalem, intended to be implemented.

W3: Enosh Center

Israeli landscape architect Galia Hanoch Roe director of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa communities for the Society for Protection of Nature and architect Braha Kunda lecturer at the Holon Institute of Technology,will engage the workshop team in design and hands-on interventions at the Enosh Mental Health Association Center for youth and teenagers interiors and surrounding garden. The workshop will produce prototypes for a real project intended to be implemented.

W4: Shapira Neighborhood

Norwegian architect Alise Pavina of PIR2 firm with architect Ohad Yehieli lecturer at Tel Aviv University, with the participation of green-building expert of the Tel Aviv Municipality Uriel Babzyk will focus on Mesilat Yesharim street in the Shapira neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv. Mesilat Yesharim street, in the heart of the neighborhood, was renewed in the past, with bicycle routes and lighting, but since has deteriorated. The street serves a mixed veteran and immigrant community and small businesses, who will be taking part in the planning process. A long-term renewal process by the Municipality is starting in parallel, enabling the workshop to focus on small, local interventions that can be integrated into the overall project. The workshop will include site visits with experts from the local institutions, the local community, local businesses, and experts from the Municipality of Tel Aviv. The workshop will work with the community to initiate interventions and changes that will improve public space, public services and will actively engage the diverse local community. This workshop is a rare experience in co-design, placemaking, hands-on design, to produce fresh ideas that are expected to be further developed and/or implemented.

W5: Park(ing) Day

Dutch architect Gie Steenput, Israeli entrepreneur Yael Shemer, and art director Roni Mero, will lead the workshop of Park(ing) Day, an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks. This event helps advance the critical dialogue around the use of urban public space and around social and environmental justice. By reclaiming parking spots into an intentional community space, students will take part in re-thinking about the meaning of urbanism and the local communitys assets. cities for people. The workshop will provide a practical experience of thinking outside the box as we aim for a future to improve our citys public spaces. The workshop will also include an installation based on tensegrity.

W6: Jaffa Neighborhood Renewal

Reut Popkin of Better Together and architect and ECOWEEK founder Elias Messinas will lead a real-project workshop on two neighborhoods in Jaffa, Yaffo G' and Neve Golan, and the street connecting them,with the aim to generate ideas, strategies, and hands-on projects of placemaking in the public space, to create exposure for the neighborhoods and bring pride to the residents. The workshop team will visit the site, will meet the local community, and will work with them and the local authorities and institutions towards identifying actions that will serve as generators for renewal processes in the neighborhoods.

More about ECOWEEK at: http://www.ecoweek.org

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Placemaking and Urban Renewal by ECOWEEK Students - The Jerusalem Post mobile website (blog)

Like other cities seeing an influx of residents and, along with them, rising rents, Portland, Oregon is a place that has many food and restaurant festivals. This year alone it will have hosted the Portland Beer and Cheese Fest, the Oregon Fermentation Festival, Portland Burger Week, Portland Pizza Week, the Northwest Food and Wine Festival, VegFest, Feast Portland, The Bite of Oregon, Portland Dining Month, the Portland Seafood & Wine Festival, Chefs Week PDX, and the Portland Bourbon and Bacon Fest, to name a few. And what so many of these festivals have in common, aside from their focus on food, is that without an intentional effort to reach out to communities of color, they often end up being overwhelmingly white-run and -centered affairs.

So when I got an invitation to observe the citys first Support Black-Owned Restaurant Days two years ago, I was excited. It seemed like a way for residents of the city that is contending with its past and present of displacing residents of color to mitigate a tiny bit of that harm and show support for local black restaurateurs. And amid the plethora of restaurant weeks and food festivals for any and every palette, black restaurant weeks, which have taken place all over the country, are created with civil rights in mind. They offer a type of consumer resistance that goes deeper than selling products like soaps and T-shirts to focus on investing in not only black businesses, but visible ones at that, owned by neighbors and friends.

Support Black Owned Restaurants Days was inspired by a similar event in the Bay Area. In 2014, National Black Business Month creators John William Templeton and Frederick E. Jordan Sr. ended the annual, August-long celebration of black businesses with Hands Up|Shop Black Week, inspired by protests in Ferguson following the police killing of Michael Brown. That week and the month were topped off with Black Restaurant Day, on which consumers were encouraged to patronize one of the nations many black-owned restaurants in support of their local black communities. The San Francisco Chronicle published a list of black-owned restaurants in the Bay area to promote the celebration.

Portlanders continue to observe what is now called Support Black Owned Restaurants Week every August, and each year residents of more and more cities are dedicating week or weekend to local, black-owned restaurants. In 2016, black restaurant weeks popped up in Madison, Memphis, Houston, Washington state, Chicago, and Milwaukee. By the end of this year, at least 15 city and region-wide black restaurant weeks and days will have been observed across the country.

Servers at MacArthur's Restaurant in Chicago hold a photo featuring then-senator Barack Obama. Templeton credits Obama with drawing attention to black-owned restaurants. Pigi Cipelli / Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

Event planner and community advocate Cynthia Daniels organized Black Restaurant Week in Memphis in 2016. Originally from Atlanta, she saw an opportunity to use her professional skills to support black-owned restaurants in food-destination city. Through the event, Daniels says the eight participating businesses were able to bring in $80,000 in profit. The events second year was even more successful, with 14 participating restaurants. Additionally, the increase in business gave some restaurants the opportunity to temporarily recruit and then permanently hire on additional staff and reinvest profits back into their businesses. One [restaurant owner] invested in a catering van. Now she has the additional capital to expand her business, said Daniels. So hearing those types of stories were really truly amazing to be able to help their businesses grow.

Daniels said she had never heard of other black restaurant weeks before she created her own, but she applauded the spreading movement to support black businesses. Templeton, on the other hand, believes annual celebrations of National Black Business Month, now in its 14th year, are to thank for increased focus on black-owned restaurants and other businesses. Speaking to The Outline via phone, he stressed the importance of situating the rise of black restaurant weeks in the larger, older nationwide movement to promote and celebrate black-owned businesses and black entrepreneurs in the U.S.

According to Templeton, the real pioneer of festivals celebrating black food in particular was George W. Davis, who started the Black Cuisine Festival in San Francisco in 1979. Davis, who died in 2010, founded the Bayview-Hunters Point Multipurpose Senior Center and started the festival as a way of showing off the culinary talents of the centers clients and sharing black food heritage with younger generations. So that's sort of the seed that got planted three decades ago, said Templeton. Now other people are saying, Oh I need to recognize black food in my city and that sort of thing. But he is the person that started that you know, because he saw that food was the connecting link for the community.

Newer black restaurant weeks build on the influence of longer-running, more localized black food festivals, responding to a cultural moment in which gentrifying cities are holding more lucrative food festivals and black entrepreneurs are persevering despite receiving fewer U.S. Small Business Administration loans and relying more heavily on personal finances. According to the Census Bureaus 2012 Survey of Business Owners, there are about 2.6 million black-owned businesses in the U.S., a 34 percent increase from 2007. But the number of black-owned eating and drinking businesses grew even more sharply, by 49 percent in those years alone, compared to other types of black-owned businesses. Nevertheless, black-owned restaurants remain underrepresented in local foodie scenes. If all of the current city- and region-wide black restaurant weeks, as well as those centered on immigrant communities of color, continue and thrive, they could help, in a small but meaningful way, address those discrepancies and shortcomings in the cities they serve. The most effective civil rights strategy has always been the dollar, said Templeton. Black restaurants and other black businesses are a mechanism to aggregate consumer spending. And so every effort that encourages people to visit them is useful.

Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem, founded in 1962, is one of the U.S.'s most famous black-owned restaurants. Raymond Boyd / Getty Images

Sylvia's restaurant founder Sylvia Woods died in 2012. In 2014, the corner of W. 126th St. and Lenox Ave was co-named Sylvia P. Woods Way. Mario Tama / Getty Images

Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem, founded in 1962, is one of the U.S.'s most famous black-owned restaurants.

Sylvia's restaurant founder Sylvia Woods died in 2012. In 2014, the corner of W. 126th St. and Lenox Ave was co-named Sylvia P. Woods Way.

Lack of access to capital, and by extension marketing dollars, are very real obstacles black restaurant owners face. While black neighborhood restaurants used to thrive on organic foot traffic in their communities, gentrification and other types of forced displacement have broken apart such neighborhoods. As such, another reason black restaurant weeks are having a moment right now may be that they employ a collective effort to leverage visibility for existing black-owned businesses while at the same time highlighting them as new centers for community. The restaurants actually fulfill the function that the churches used to do, said Templeton. And both he and Daniels mentioned that its not only black folks flocking to black restaurants during these promotional events. The first year we did [Memphis Black Restaurant Week] it was the most diverse clientele my restaurant owners had ever seen, said Daniels. They saw Caucasian, Hispanic, and Asian customers, and they have been able to keep a lot of them and that's something they'd never seen before.

Templeton emphasized his reluctance to focus on black restaurant weeks in particular, fearing consumers could then have license to somehow write off black-owned restaurants as novelties and the weeks as fads. Black businesses don't get covered in business news. But in San Francisco [the media has] been conditioned to know there's a lot of black restaurants [and] a lot of different kinds of black restaurants, he said. So that's kind of where we're trying to get to, where the black restaurant week is where you sum up things that you've been writing about all year. Business and food writing critiques aside, black restaurant weeks are exercises in local black community visibility in cities drowning in white-centered foodie scenes. And at a time when Americans want their spending to match their values, black restaurant weeks offer the convenience of consumerist resistance with resistance of direct action. Beyond that they involve good food. Youd have to be racist not to like them.

Original post:

The growing movement to celebrate black-owned restaurants - The Outline

wbur

August 15, 2017 Updated August 15, 2017 4:35 PM

Are you an "elder orphan?" Also called unbefriended adults, they are people aging alone, without kids.

But now, they have a Facebook group with about 5,000users since it began last year. You have to be 55 or over, live without a spouse and not have children. Or, if you do, they have to either be estranged or live far away.

Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with the founder of the Facebook group for elder orphans, Carol Marak (),who's also a columnist and editor at SeniorCare.com.

On her experience with elder orphans

"It kind of hit me over the head. It was like, 'Oh my gosh.' My parents demanded quite a bit of care, and my sisters and I provided that for them, and once they passed on, I realized, 'Oh my goodness, all that time, effort and resources it took from us, who will do that for me?'"

On the Facebook group she started

"Well, first off, most of the members are very grateful to have found us, and realize that there are so many more like them, and we all share the same grievances, the same hardships and challenges. And so, we all visit it, most of the time every day, just checking in. We give support to people who are going into surgery or who have had an emergency or some sort of medical event, and I cannot tell you how supportive that feels for the people who are going through an incident like that."

On elder orphans not being able to rely on children as caregivers

"What's remarkable, just recently, one of my members here that lives in Dallas, she just had hip surgery, and you know, she didn't have any visitors. A friend or two stopped by, but no one to check on her at home, except her brother, who occasionally did that. So, it is a growing problem."

On the health care system's assumption of family support

"That's what happened to this one individual here in Dallas. She couldn't find someone as a matter of fact, when she was preparing for the surgery and she was talking with her physician's office, they didn't even ask, 'Do you have someone who can help you at home?'"

"What's so wonderful is that when you start a discussion, you're always going to have someone participate."

On advice for those aging alone

"Just recently, I moved from suburbia into a highly urban area, where there is a metro, you know, transportation, buses, public transit. I'm also very healthy fortunately, but I do walk. I run my errands via foot, so I kind of kill two birds with one stone there, stay fit and run errands. And I live in a high-rise, because I want to surround myself with other people. I don't want to live in a home, isolated. So, we have to think about those things, how do we plan for aging alone."

On maintaining a social network while aging

"I would suggest, first off, just reaching out to the local area agencies on aging. Then, I would also reach out to senior centers. Just go where seniors hang out."

On adopting a family

"Well, I mean, think about it. How many families are maybe without an older individual, or maybe they've lost their parents or they've lost their grandmother? Of course, it requires a lot of forethought, and even some help with legal matters, but I think it's an option."

On renting rooms to elder orphansand others

"It's happening a lot. Let's say, for example, I have a large home in suburbia. I can either rent out a bedroom to a college student, for example, and in return maybe not charge them rent, but in return, maybe that they would run errands for me. I could even rent out a room to another person my own age."

On pooling resources

"Yes, that's happening in the co-housing communities, where it's intentional communities that are being built, with everyone having their own homes, potentially, or maybe a high-rise and they have their own spaces. But they do provide a separate space for a caregiver free of charge, so that caregiver can then take care of them."

On other things to consider

"Make sure that you know that you stay fit, and eat healthy food, that you do not isolate, that you do have companionship, that you reach out to the community and possibly volunteer to help another person, have purpose in your life."

On what happens in the Facebook group

"[People are] mostly just sharing what they're feeling each day. We discuss transportation options, emotional things that might be affecting us, how are we feeling about not having children although most of us are grateful to not have children, because we have members who have been really estranged from their families, which is hard. So, it's just a great place to come and feel accepted, and find friendship and connection. What's so wonderful is that when you start a discussion, you're always going to have someone participate. And you can also pull it offline if you wish, and private message someone, and then take it from there. Many of us are breaking off and starting our own face-to-face groups, which is really, I think, the next step for all of us."

This segment aired on August 15, 2017.

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'Elder Orphans' Facebook Group Creates Community For Adults ... - Here And Now

Christian monastic tradition stresses the importance of what it calls natural contemplation, or what other traditions might call nature meditation. This Christian tradition claims that one needs to learn to encounter God in all of creation, living or otherwise, if one truly is to grow spiritually.

For those of us living in todays society outside of monastery walls why might natural contemplation prove crucial to growing spiritually? For one thing I believe that creation itself serves as our monastery.

All too often we may think of monasteries as places where men or women go to escape from the challenges of everyday life. Monasteries would seem to offer a simple life where we can leave behind hassles, distractions, and troublemakers. The reality lies far from this simple view. Instead, living in close quarters with people with whom you work, eat, and pray for years on end offers countless opportunities for peoples shortcomings to rub up against each other, creating heat that easily grows into flames. These intentional communities provide a context where their members, guided by mentors schooled in the wisdom of centuries, must learn patience, open-mindedness, and humility among other things. They also offer guidance in prayer practices that help open their practitioners to the presence of God in all things, places and times.

Natural contemplation offers us similar opportunities, particularly if practiced with others. I remember dealing with the worst mosquito season in memory as I backpacked with an Opening the Book of Nature group in the Range of Light behind Yosemite. Swarms of mosquitoes attempting to bite every square inch of exposed skin provided wonderful opportunities for developing patience and learning to live graciously under difficult circumstances. Every time I face annoying gnats on my daily walk or irritating people at the office I remember the lessons I learned from the mosquitoes in Yosemite. Creation makes a wonderful novice master for those who would learn.

Contemplating nature also helps us develop what the monks call the spiritual senses, the ability to perceive a deeper reality or presence beyond what our usual senses present us. Jesus often said, You who have eyes to see, see. And you who have eyes to hear, hear. He called people to delve below the surface of things that they might encounter God there.

Its far easier to do this in natural settings where the distractions of our everyday life are few. Many people say they dont go to church on Sunday because they go out into nature and encounter God there. The woods are their cathedral. The Romantic poets like Wordsworth, for instance, point to this experience.

So, by contemplating nature we both learn to become more God-like and to experience Gods presence in all things, whether human or nonhuman. Like study abroad where one comes to appreciate ones own country by experiencing life elsewhere, we find that, by yielding ourselves to the discipline of the monastery of creation, we grow spiritually in our everyday work and home life.

Should you wish to learn more about our programs in natural contemplation, click on the links below. In a future entry Ill describe the book were working on to help guide people in this spiritual practice. So, watch for it in the next two or three months.

The Morning Email

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Nature as our Spiritual Mentor - HuffPost

A record number of babies born!

Twenty- and 30-somethings move home at rates not seen in decades!

Small town citizens raise millions to reinvest in their communitys future!

These are all headlines from Greater Nebraska in 2016. The ONeill hospital, for example, reported 174 births last year. Communities like Albion, Stuart and Pender all have many more young families living there than they did 10 years ago. Dozens of Nebraska hometowns big and small are coming together to raise millions through their unrestricted endowments, providing support to worthwhile causes today, and paving the way to a brighter future.

This isnt the rural narrative weve grown accustomed to hearing, but that may be changing.

According to U.S. Census data, populations in many areas of rural Nebraska are stabilizing. The Nebraska Community Foundation recently surveyed 6,000 Nebraska middle and high school students about their perceptions of their hometowns. Only 12 percent said their town is too small, and the majority can picture themselves living there in the future if career opportunities are available.

What do places like Albion, Stuart, Pender and ONeill have in common? Each of these communities has focused on a simple, asset-based community development strategy for success:

Shared vision; distributed leadership; citizen engagement and building an unrestricted endowment and using it to create magnetic communities.

This four-part strategy works like a magnet to attract young families.

People attraction is the new community economic development priority for building an honorable future for Nebraska. Telecommunications are making it possible for people to live and work wherever they choose. Today, the economic development question isnt one of jobs. The better question is: Why here? Why do I want to live, work, and raise my family in this community?

Nebraska Community Foundation is working with over 250 communities across Greater Nebraska to help people answer that question.

Community foundation funds are playing a critical role in these success stories. They are identifying their communitys unique assets, unleashing talent and resources, making a case for investing locally and, ultimately, taking action. Perhaps most importantly, these leaders are having optimistic conversations about the future with youth and young adults.

Community success is not preordained. It requires constant attention by many people, committed to relationships, well-being, opportunity and a hopeful narrative about our future.

This quarterly column in the Daily News, Good Life, Greater Nebraska, will shine a light on extraordinary communities doing extraordinary things. It will aim to change misconceptions about life in rural America. It will examine statewide, national and international trends in community and economic development. It will explore how communities can be intentional about their future, take control of their destiny, and create the hometown of their dreams.

Editors note: The author is president/chief executive officer of the Nebraska Community Foundation.

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Good life, greater Nebraska - Norfolk Daily News (blog)

[Article reprinted with permission fromOswego County Business Magazine]

A new Business Resource Center, the result of a unique public-private partnership knit together by and with higher education, now offers a broad range of services to entrepreneurs, startups and established businesses at the hub of downtown Oswego's east side.

Community partner Pathfinder Bank built out office space at 121 E. First St. for the facility, which recently opened as a productive outcome of forward-thinking collaboration among college, business and economic development professionals.

The building houses the Small Business Development Center, the Workforce Development Board of Oswego County, and the offices of the director and several other key staff of SUNY Oswego's Office of Business and Community Relations (OBCR). The Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce will join SUNY Oswego in this space as a complement to the collaboration.

Pathfinder also built out space for community-relations units within OBCR -- including Leadership Oswego County and the Oswego County branch of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. They now make their home at 34 E. Bridge St., in the Pathfinder Bank Building. An additional collaborator in this space includes the Oswego Bookmobile's administrative staff.

"SUNY Oswego has a long history of commitment to the Oswego community and this move downtown is intentional in deepening that commitment," said SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley. "The OBCR team's mission is to serve as the conduit between the campus and the community -- it makes sense that its offices are located at the most visible intersection in Oswego along with student interns, the Chamber and the Bookmobile."

Pam Caraccioli, deputy to the college president for business partnerships and economic development, said none of the partners gives up its own identity.

"It's a true partnership," Caraccioli said. "Yet we are all separate organizations. This is an opportunity for new interfaces, new synergies and it's an important piece in the revitalization of the city's east side. These spaces are simply an extension of our campus and we invite campus departments to also use this space "

'Makes it all tick'

The impetus for the moves and partnerships came from the need for the space formerly occupied by OBCR in Rich Hall, the home of the SUNY Oswego School of Business. After a study of all the options, President Stanley made the call to move the office downtown, Caraccioli said.

The decision to move OBCR downtown already had a strong foundation in SUNY Oswego's strategic plan. Titled "Tomorrow," the plan dedicates the college to engaging and partnering with local, national and international communities to make an impact through research, community service and economic development "for collective prosperity, equity, resilience and success."

The college put out a request for proposals in early 2016, and of those that came in, one -- that of Pathfinder Bank -- fit the criteria for what became the Business Resource Center and the nearby Office of Business and Community Relations.

Tom Schneider, the bank's president and CEO, said public-private partnerships such as this are critical to aligning resources to build momentum for economic development and a vibrant community.

"The commitment the college leadership is making to downtown and to connecting its students to the Oswego community is significant and appreciated," Schneider said. "It's a move we wanted to be part of. All of this, working together, is what makes it all tick."

Oswego Mayor William J. Barlow Jr. pointed out that the move of the Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce to the new BRC opened the way for a related shift: The city Office of Community & Economic Development will move into the chamber's current space at neighboring 44 E. Bridge St.

"It is incredibly valuable to the City of Oswego and especially the east side of Downtown Oswego for SUNY Oswego to have a presence," Barlow said. "It will be extremely beneficial to City of Oswego residents to have so many resources under one roof and truly shows we are a united community with many different facets of our community working together to move Oswego forward. I am proud to include the City of Oswego Economic Development office in this partnership as we all work to revive the Oswego business community and serve our residents."

Regional clout comes to bear for the Business Resource Center, as well. For example, the Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce partners with CenterState CEO, the independent economic development strategist, business leadership organization and chamber of commerce based in Syracuse.

"Whenever we have achieved success, we have done so by thinking strategically and acting collaboratively. The new Business Resource Center advances these concepts for the benefit of the entire community," said Rob Simpson, president of CenterState CEO. "Through this new partnership and shared space, we can provide more effective and efficient service delivery to the businesses of Oswego that will only enable greater opportunities for our region."

Katie Toomey, the local chamber's executive director, said the notion of efficiency resonated with her in joining the Business Resource Center partnership.

"You often hear the phrase 'one-stop shop.' The BRC is a perfect example of economic development professionals coming together to provide resources not previously available in one place in the past," Toomey said. "Through this new collaboration, these partners can now better serve the county and its cities in a more meaningful way."

Eric Constance, who directs the Watertown regional office of the Small Business Development Center and provides for SUNY Oswego's affiliate office of the SBDC within the Business Resource Center, called the BRC "a win-win for all parties."

"I think it's a great location," Constance said. "It's going to be exactly what the business community needs to have available."

Complementary roles

The Small Business Development Center, long affiliated with the college's Office of Business and Community Relations, is part of a nationwide network administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. A major public-private partnership between government and higher education, the SBDC provides one-on-one services to small businesses and entrepreneurs, helping businesses plan and resolve organizational, financial, marketing, technical and other business-related issues.

"This move brings us closer to entrepreneurs and startups, and we also help existing businesses," Constance said.

The Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce provides its members opportunities to make businesses in the greater Oswego-Fulton communities more competitive through access to economic development support, advocacy, business resources, employee development. Through its relationship with CenterState CEO, the chamber accesses connections to nearly 2,000 members across the region.

"We want to be seen as the dot connector, a liaison, networking with and among member businesses," Toomey said. "We are currently reworking our entire small business offerings, making them more tangible."

The Workforce Development Board Inc. of Oswego County is a linchpin for identifying the workforce needs of businesses. It writes and obtains training grants for the private and public sectors, aligns training programs to meet the needs of the business community, and provides workforce needs assessments to area businesses.

As executive director of the college's Office and Business Community Relations, Chena Tucker also directs the Workforce Development Board. It's not only up to the partners to decide how the new center evolves and takes shape, it's up to those who need its services.

"I feel that as a brand-new business center, I'm also looking to the community to tell us what it wants these new offices to be," she said.

Tucker pointed with pride to features of both the BRC offices and the partnership's new community relations space, thanks to designers from Rowlee Construction of Fulton. The business center has a conference room that will seat up to 40 people comfortably, and the building retains an original stone wall along its southern wall. At 34 E. Bridge St., the conference room's feature wall in the conference room that, together with incorporating a vault evoking adjacent Pathfinder Bank, lends distinctiveness.

The Business Resource Center will celebrate its launch with an upcoming gala open house with representation from all of its partners and from business, government and community organizations.

For more information, visit oswego.edu/obcr or contact the Business Resource Center at 315-312-3493. The main community relations number for the college and its partner programs remains 315-312-3492.

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College's Office of Business and Community Relations moves downtown - SUNY Oswego