tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712081610882920432024-02-18T20:37:27.224-08:00good night, and good luckElizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-89105125380535046742011-02-22T15:23:00.000-08:002011-02-22T15:23:21.271-08:00Borders clearance sale: Everything must go<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="timestamp">Posted at 3:13 PM ET, 02/22/2011</span> <!-- /date header --> <!-- optional kicker --> <!-- /optional kicker --><br />
By Elizabeth Flock<br />
<span class="entryhead" id="mainentry">Read it at the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-buzz/2011/02/borders_clearance_sale_everyth.html#more">Washington Post</a> </span><br />
<br />
After the news that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/16/AR2011021603930.html">Borders filed for bankruptcy</a> last week, bibliophiles across the nation <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-buzz/2011/02/after_borders_filed_for_bankru.html">mourned</a> its departure while the sarcastic <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-buzz/2011/02/after_borders_filed_for_bankru.html">asked</a> who didn't see this coming.<br />
<br />
Borders stores in the Washington region prepared to close, putting up garish red and yellow signs that read:"STORE CLOSING", "EVERYTHING ON SALE" and "EVERYTHING MUST GO" as their wares went on deep discount.<br />
<br />
At the 18th and K St. NW store location, which stretches an entire city block, the sales drew a hungry crowd. At lunch hour, the line stretched the entire length of the store. One customer remarked "Oh my god are they giving this [expletive] away?!" And another: "This is worse than a book signing."<br />
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The deals at this Borders are a bookworm's dream. All new books, bargain books and regular books are 20 percent off. (So are DVDs.) I picked up the newish novel "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092701840.html">Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao</a>" for just $12. The travel bookshelves look ransacked. Magazines are a cool 40 percent off. Calendars are going for just a dollar.<br />
<br />
The whole scene was sad, of course. The Borders cafe in which customers so often sat and lovingly opened the first pages of their new purchases over a cup of coffee now has chairs stacked upon tables, for good. Moleskin notebooks lay hanging off the racks in disarray. The employees told me they had nowhere to go from here--they'd all been let go. And the signs that papered the walls screamed its store's unhappy fate.<br />
<br />
But in some ways, looking at the line that stretched from 18th to 17th streets inside the store, two women talking about how much they loved a certain <a href="http://www.seussville.com/">Dr. Seuss</a> novel, a man holding a three-foot-high stack of <a href="http://www.mst3k.com/">"Mystery Science Theater"</a>, it gave me hope, too.<br />
<br />
Everything must go, but at least for many of the books, they are finding another home. <br />
<!-- byline --> </div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-1293607833873139052011-02-07T11:48:00.000-08:002011-02-07T11:48:14.234-08:00Egypt protests: Reports and audio from the ground, Days 12 and 13<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="timestamp">Posted at 9:45 AM ET, 02/ 5/2011</span><br />
<span class="timestamp"></span>By Elizabeth Flock<br />
Read it at the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/02/egypt_live_protests_audio_from.html">Washington Post</a><br />
<br />
<span class="timestamp"></span><i>Thousands of protesters still fill the streets of Egypt, demanding the immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. However, tentative signs emerged Friday that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020402698.html?hpid=topnews">a solution may be found in Egypt</a>. We'll continue to update you with reports from our correspondents in the field. </i><br />
<br />
Read the live blog <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/02/egypt_live_protests_audio_from.html">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-88656265996692971082011-02-04T08:04:00.000-08:002011-02-04T08:04:03.213-08:00"Demand Al-Jazeera in the USA" campaign<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span id="aptureStartContent"></span> <span class="timestamp">Posted at 10:19 AM ET, 02/ 4/2011</span><br />
<span class="timestamp"></span>By Elizabeth Flock<br />
Read it at <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/02/al-jazeera_on_us_television.html">the Washington Post</a><br />
<br />
Over the past 11 days, major U.S. cable news networks repeatedly began their breaking news reports with the words "al-Jazeera reports."<br />
<br />
The international news network headquartered in Doha, Qatar, and broadcasting to 190 million households around the world, has been the only media outlet with uninterrupted live video of the demonstrations. Al-Jazeera continued broadcasting even after Egyptian authorities stormed their Cairo office and detained several al-Jazeera reporters.<br />
<br />
Americans huddled around their computer screens to watch low-resolution video on the al-Jazeera site or saw the video replayed on American networks, because other than a few pockets across the U.S., including Ohio, Vermont, and Washington D.C., American cable carriers don't offer viewers the choice of al-Jazeera.<br />
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<div style="float: right; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; width: 454px;"><img align="bottom" alt="al jazeera" border="0/" src="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/graph.jpg" width="454" /><br />
<span class="blog_caption">Via <a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/how-do-you-say-all-the-news-thats-fit-to-print-in-arabic.html">Mondoweiss</a> (<a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/aljazeera.net">Alexa.com</a>)</span><br />
</div>Now, al-Jazeera is trying to change that. On Feb. 10, al-Jazeera is encouraging a meet up in 224 communities for viewers to demand the network on U.S. television. "This past month has shown us something that America can no longer ignore: millions of Americans want to watch our channel and better understand our region," Wadah Khanfar, director general of the network, wrote on the site.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Al Jazeera set up a page where a viewer can enter in their zip code, be led to a contact page for their local cable and satellite providers, and even send out a pre-written letter to their provider asking for the network. The letter states that "misinformed views about our content and journalism" continue to keep al-Jazeera English off American air waves.<br />
<br />
(Abderrahim Foukara, the Washington bureau chief of al Jazeera, will be taking questions online at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the protests in Egypt, the detention of journalists and what Americans don't get about the conflict.)<br />
<br />
Immediate calls to Comcast and Dish network were not answered.<br />
<br />
The view promoted by the Bush administration was that the al-Jazeera network is anti-American. Leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. Pentagon hired the Rendon group to target and possibly punish al-Jazeera reporters who did not stay on message. When al-Jazeera broadcast graphic footage from Iraq, U.S. officials called al-Jazeera anti-American and said it incited violence. Al-Jazeera was censored in the U.S. on several occasions after that.<br />
<br />
The past 11 days may alter that view. Alex Pareene of Salon wrote that "al-Jazeera's Egypt coverage embarrasses U.S. cable news channels." Major news networks are still prefacing their coverage with the words "al-Jazeera".<br />
<br />
A promoted Twitter hashtag #DemandAlJazeera picked up steam this morning:<br />
<br />
<div style="border-width: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="bbpBox33295700414435330" style="background-color: #a6d4e0; background-image: url(http://a2.twimg.com/profile_background_images/100729752/AJE_TWITTER_BG.jpg); padding: 20px;"><div class="bbpTweet" style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 18px ! important; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; min-height: 48px; padding: 10px 12px;">Like our coverage from <a class="tweet-url hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23Egypt" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="#Egypt">#Egypt</a>? Think we should be shown on US TV? It's time to <a class="tweet-url hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23DemandAlJazeera" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="#DemandAlJazeera">#DemandAlJazeera</a> <a href="http://aje.me/demandAJ" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;">http://aje.me/demandAJ</a><span class="timestamp" style="display: block; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/AJEnglish/status/33295700414435329" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Thu Feb 03 22:48:08 +0000 2011">less than a minute ago</a> via web</span><span class="metadata" style="border-top: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); clear: both; display: block; height: 40px; margin-top: 8px; padding-top: 12px; width: 477px;"><span class="author" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/AJEnglish" style="text-decoration: underline;"><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1113753453/AJE-orange-logo-fb_normal.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; float: left; height: 38px; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; width: 38px;" /></a><b><a href="http://twitter.com/AJEnglish" style="text-decoration: underline;">Al Jazeera English</a></b><br />
AJEnglish</span></span></div></div><br />
<div style="border-width: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="bbpBox33522188065701890" style="background-color: #c0deed; background-image: url(http://a3.twimg.com/a/1296525272/images/themes/theme1/bg.png); padding: 20px;"><div class="bbpTweet" style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 18px ! important; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; min-height: 48px; padding: 10px 12px;"><a class="tweet-url hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23demandaljazeera" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="#demandaljazeera">#demandaljazeera</a>: for coverage on egypt that so many followed online but couldn't watch on tv <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/demandaljazeera/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;">http://english.aljazeera.net/demandaljazeera/</a><span class="timestamp" style="display: block; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/StineEckert/status/33522188065701888" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Fri Feb 04 13:48:07 +0000 2011">less than a minute ago</a> via web</span><span class="metadata" style="border-top: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); clear: both; display: block; height: 40px; margin-top: 8px; padding-top: 12px; width: 477px;"><span class="author" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/StineEckert" style="text-decoration: underline;"><img src="http://a2.twimg.com/sticky/default_profile_images/default_profile_1_normal.png" style="border-width: 0px; float: left; height: 38px; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; width: 38px;" /></a><b><a href="http://twitter.com/StineEckert" style="text-decoration: underline;">Stine E</a></b><br />
StineEckert</span></span></div></div><br />
<div style="border-width: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="bbpBox33526450481008640" style="background-color: #c0deed; background-image: url(http://a3.twimg.com/a/1296755102/images/themes/theme1/bg.png); padding: 20px;"><div class="bbpTweet" style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 18px ! important; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; min-height: 48px; padding: 10px 12px;">USA...<a class="tweet-url hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23DEMANDAlJazeera" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="#DEMANDAlJazeera">#DEMANDAlJazeera</a> condems "gangs of thugs" that stormed their <a class="tweet-url hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23Cairo" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="#Cairo">#Cairo</a> office, burned with equipment inside it <a href="http://aje.me/egyptblog" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;">http://aje.me/egyptblog</a><span class="timestamp" style="display: block; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/Scrapsacorn/status/33526450481008640" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Fri Feb 04 14:05:03 +0000 2011">less than a minute ago</a> via web</span><span class="metadata" style="border-top: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); clear: both; display: block; height: 40px; margin-top: 8px; padding-top: 12px; width: 477px;"><span class="author" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/Scrapsacorn" style="text-decoration: underline;"><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1229696177/0ecfd214-f6c6-489c-8a02-ec3fcab590bf_normal.png" style="border-width: 0px; float: left; height: 38px; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; width: 38px;" /></a><b><a href="http://twitter.com/Scrapsacorn" style="text-decoration: underline;">scraps</a></b><br />
Scrapsacorn</span></span></div></div><br />
<div style="border-width: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 0px;"></div><br />
Although some still hold the view that al-Jazeera is anti-American:<br />
<br />
<div class="bbpBox33501373949681664" style="background-color: white; background-image: url(http://a2.twimg.com/profile_background_images/197387103/fairy_tale.br.jpg); padding: 20px;"><div class="bbpTweet" style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 18px ! important; font-weight: normal; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; min-height: 48px; padding: 10px 12px;"><a class="tweet-url hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23scariestwordsever" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="#scariestwordsever">#scariestwordsever</a>: <a class="tweet-url hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23demandaljazeera" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="#demandaljazeera">#demandaljazeera</a> as a promoted hashtag<span class="timestamp" style="display: block; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/bicaflor/status/33501373949681664" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Fri Feb 04 12:25:24 +0000 2011">less than a minute ago</a> via web</span><span class="metadata" style="border-top: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); clear: both; display: block; height: 40px; margin-top: 8px; padding-top: 12px; width: 477px;"><span class="author" style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://twitter.com/bicaflor" style="text-decoration: underline;"><img src="http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/1208245082/twit_normal.png" style="border-width: 0px; float: left; height: 38px; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; width: 38px;" /></a><b><a href="http://twitter.com/bicaflor" style="text-decoration: underline;">Bianca </a></b><br />
bicaflor</span></span></div></div></div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-28958043215997129472011-01-27T09:43:00.000-08:002011-01-27T09:45:44.534-08:00SPLAT! Snowball fight!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">By Elizabeth Flock<br />
Read it at the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/snowball-fight-tonight.html">Washington Post</a><br />
<br />
</div>The Capital Weather Gang is predicting a “snow thump" later tonight, with 4 to 8 inches or more of snowfall in the District and northern and western suburbs.<br />
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With those kind of predictions come sledding plans, pleas for days off from school and … a giant snowball fight!<br />
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The Washington DC Snowball Fight Association, the group that was responsible for the 2,000-strong flash mob snowball fight in Dupont Circle last February, has announced a massive snowball fight for 8 tonight in Dupont Circle. <br />
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People love pelting the videographer with snowballs. Check it out at 20 seconds in: <br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="292.5" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DQsxKEejhHY" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="480"></iframe></div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-50192331984820934162011-01-26T12:53:00.000-08:002011-01-26T12:53:24.966-08:00Library of Congress hawk captured<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">By Elizabeth Flock<br />
Read it at the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/freethehawk-from-library-of-co.html">Washington Post </a><br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="270px" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://specials.washingtonpost.com/mv/embed/?title=Jefferson%20the%20Hawk%20finishes%20week-long%20reading%20vacation%20at%20Library%20of%20Congress&stillURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Fphoto%2F2011%2F01%2F26%2FPH2011012603407.jpg&flvURL=%2Fmedia%2F2011%2F01%2F26%2F01262011-27v.m4v&width=480&height=270&autoStart=false&clickThru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Fvideo%2F2011%2F01%2F26%2FVI2011012603378.html" width="480px"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Updated, 10:12 a.m.</b> Jefferson the hawk was safely captured at around 8:30 a.m. this morning by experts from the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Service. They laid a trap with two starling birds inside to bait the hungry hawk, which hadn't eaten since the frozen quail bait on Sunday. Jefferson swooped down to eat the starlings, and her talons quickly caught on to the trap's hooks. It took only 25 minutes for her to be captured.<br />
<br />
Jefferson was then put into a box with breathing holes for safe transport to raptor rehab at the Raptor Conservancy. The bird experts estimated that Jefferson is now the size of a male hawk--females are usually larger than males--so it was likely she had lost weight and is emaciated. They transported her out of the library quickly to get her to food and drink.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a> Library security guards, police, research librarians, and architects cheered the hawk's capture, and then mourned her departure after a week spent with her in the Main Reading Room.<br />
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<b>Updated, 8:40 a.m.</b> <br />
Post reporter Elizabeth Flock reports via Twitter that the hawk has been caught. Check back in a bit for a full report and video.<br />
<br />
<b>Original post:</b> The <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/hawk-in-library-of-congress.html">Cooper's hawk that took shelter</a> in the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/index.html">Library of Congress</a> last Wednesday night has <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/hawk-wont-leave-library-of-con.html">so far avoided capture by traps, bait or nets</a>. She's eluded the Raptor Conservancy of Northern Virginia, the Humane Society, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She's a plane, she's a bird, she's <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/name-the-library-of-congress-h.html">Jefferson the hawk</a>!<br />
(Jefferson was the name chosen after much deliberation by our readers, <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/name-the-library-of-congress-h.html">check out the other suggestions here.</a>)<br />
This morning, the bird experts gathered here say Jefferson may be hungry enough to take the bait, climb in the cage, and escape the dome of the Main Reading Room of the library at last. We're here shooting video of Jefferson the hawk's escape, and live tweeting <a href="http://www.loc.gov/index.html">@PostLocal</a> with the hashtag #Freethehawk. </div><br />
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<br />
Both visitors and residents ranked 35 U.S. cities on their culture, shopping, restaurants, nightlife, and other factors, and it's safe to say the two groups' feelings don't always jibe. This year, D.C. fell behind on everything but culture -- in the ratings by both groups.<br />
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Here's the worst of it: We are now the <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-rudest-cities">fifth-rudest city in the nation</a>, and we fell to <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/washington-dc">31st in friendliness</a>. A former intern in D.C. <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-rudest-cities">told T & L</a> about a time she passed out on the Metro and no one came to her aid.<br />
<br />
But it's OK, because we're pretty, right? No. Our attractiveness has fallen to <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/washington-dc">No. 30</a>, according to both residents and visitors -- 30 out of 35.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The only laurels we can safely rest on are our smarts. We say we're the <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/washington-dc">No. 1 most intelligent city</a> in the nation, and visitors <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/washington-dc">say we're fourth</a>. (It feels like a high school contest in which we've been dubbed both a nerd and ugly-duckling who compensates by being aloof. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/electionhunter.htm">Reese Witherspoon in "Election,"</a> anyone?) <br />
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Some more bad news: The glories of finger-licking <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/restaurants/old-glory-bbq,792031.html">BBQ </a>and a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/best-bets/pizza-restaurants,64328.html">good pizza pie</a> elude the District, with both categories <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/washington-dc">falling to the late 20s</a> overall. Our live music concerts are <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/washington-dc">way down there too</a>. <br />
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But hey, we've got one thing to hold on to: Our cultural edge. The <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/washington-dc">No. 1 ranking for historical sites and museums and galleries</a> remains ours. We're the second-best cultural getaway in the nation. The only problem? Survey respondents say <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/your-take/The%20District%20didn%27t%20get%20a%20rousing%20vote%20of%20approval%20from%20the%20nation%20in%20Travel%20and%20Leisure%27s%20annual%20survey%20%22America%27s%20Favorite%20Cities%22,%20released%20in%20T%20and%20L%27s%20last%20issue.%20Rankings%20of%2035%20U.S.%20cities%20on%20their%20culture,%20shopping,%20restaurants,%20nightlife,%20and%20other%20factors%20are%20voted%20on%20by%20both%20visitors%20and%20residents%20of%20each%20city,%20and%20it%27s%20safe%20to%20say%20the%20two%20groups%27%20feelings%20often%20don%27t%20jive.%20This%20year,%20DC%20fell%20behind%20on%20everything%20but%20culture.%20%20You%20want%20the%20good%20or%20bad%20first?%20%20Here%27s%20the%20worst%20of%20it.%20We%20are%20now%20the%20fifth%20rudest%20city%20in%20the%20nation,%20and%20fell%20to%2031st%20in%20friendliness.%20A%20former%20intern%20in%20DC%20told%20T%20&%20L%20about%20a%20time%20she%20passed%20out%20on%20the%20metro%20and%20no%20one%20came%20to%20her%20aid.%20But%20it%27s%20okay,%20because%20we%27re%20pretty,%20right?%20Umm,%20not%20really.%20Our%20attractiveness%20has%20fallen%20to%20the%20number%2030%20slot,%20according%20to%20both%20residents%20and%20visitors.%20%20The%20only%20laurels%20we%20can%20safely%20rest%20on%20are%20our%20smarts.%20Residents%20say%20we%27re%20the%20number%201%20most%20intelligent%20city%20in%20the%20nation,%20visitors%20say%20we%27re%20fourth,%20but%20still.%20%20Some%20more%20bad%20news--the%20glories%20of%20finger-licking%20BBQ%20and%20a%20good%20pizza%20pie%20elude%20the%20District,%20with%20both%20categories%20falling%20to%20the%20late%2020s%20overall.%20Our%20live%20music%20concerts%20are%20way%20down%20there%20too.%20What%27s%20up%209:30%20club?%20Get%20your%20act%20together.%20I%27m%20not%20even%20going%20to%20mention%20DC9.%20%20But%20hey,%20we%20haven%27t%20lost%20our%20cultural%20edge.%20The%20number%20one%20ranking%20for%20historical%20sites%20and%20museums%20and%20galleries%20is%20still%20ours.%20We%27re%20the%20second%20best%20cultural%20getaway.%20The%20only%20problem?%20Survey%20respondents%20says%20our%20hotels%20aren%27t%20cheap%20and%20it%20sure%20ain%27t%20romantic.%20%20But%20we%27ll%20keep%20visitors%20coming%20anyways%20by%20plying%20them%20with%20big%20name%20restaurants%20and%20better%20ethnic%20food.%20So%20take%20that,%20New%20York%21%20And%20visitors%20our%20public%20transportation.%20%28I%20have%20to%20ask,%20have%20they%20actually%20the%20ridden%20the%20metro?%29%20%20The%20best%20thing%20about%20this%20list%20is%20being%20able%20to%20pit%20two%20cities%20against%20each%20other.%20Yes,%20I%27ve%20already%20checked%20out%20us%20vs.%20New%20York.%20No,%20the%20results%20aren%27t%20pretty,%20with%20a%20big%20LOSER%20tag%20next%20to%20our%20name.%20Same%20for%20Chicago.%20%20But%20hey,%20we%20beat%20Orlando.%20That%27s%20really%20saying%20something.">our hotels aren't cheap and we're sure not romantic</a>.<br />
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We'll keep visitors coming anyway by plying them with more <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/washington-dc">big-name restaurants</a> and better <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/22/AR2010062205233.html">ethnic food</a> than ever before. So <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR2010121403119.html">take that, New York</a>! And visitors love our public transportation. (I have to ask, have they <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/12/dear_metro_i_hate_that_i_love.html">actually ridden the Metro</a>?)<br />
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The best thing about this list? Being able to <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010">pit two cities against each other</a>. Yes, I've already checked out the District vs. New York. No, the results aren't pretty, with a big LOSER tag next to our name. Same for Chicago.<br />
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But hey, <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/americas-favorite-cities/2010/city/compare/washington-dc/vs/orlando">we beat Orlando</a>. And that's really saying something. </div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-76298337396316977732011-01-20T10:43:00.000-08:002011-01-20T11:32:13.750-08:00America reCycled: cross-country by bicycle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">By Elizabeth Flock<br />
Read it at <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/01/america_recycled.html">the Washington Post</a><br />
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At this very moment, two brothers are pedaling their way across America on bicycles recycled from trash, documenting Americans who are trying in bold ways to relocalize their culture and communities. In some ways, they're documenting the search for America's lost communities.<br />
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The brothers are <a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/?page_id=2">Tim Hussin</a>, a young award-winning <a href="http://www.timhussin.com/">photojournalist,</a> and <a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/?page_id=2">Noah Hussin</a>, a Fulbright scholar. For this year-long journey, they're "digital hobos," as they call it, who will be eating out of dumpsters and sleeping under bridges and pulling out a notebook computer or microphone when they have something to say.<br />
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They were <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1042976249/reclaiming-america-a-journey-into-the-heart-of-mod">funded by raising money on Kickstarter</a>, a nonprofit organization that helps fund entrepreneurs. Since they hit the road on Nov. 6, the Hussin brothers have populated the <a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/">America reCycled blog</a> with stories about people <a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/?page_id=2">who say America has been losing communities</a> for 60 years to subdivisions and strip malls and the country needs to get those communities back. <br />
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Matty, a bicycle mechanic the brothers met in Asheville, N.C. who makes bikes only from recycled parts, says, "People have to get a connection back to themselves and the people around them. If everyone's doing that, it's this ripple effect. Change is gonna come from the ground up." Matty hopes to be part of that change.<br />
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Tim and Noah Hussin share a similar philosophy. On <a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/">AmericareCycled</a>, they write, "The modern American is so disconnected from those who make our lives possible. The farmers that grow our food, the artists who write our favorite songs, the manual laborers who build our homes...the very building blocks of our lives do not comprise our community. Rather, we find ourselves lost in an endless economy of strangers."<br />
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The Hussin brothers are documenting initiatives like eco-villages, urban farming, and reclaimed ghost towns across America. They're talking to people rethinking business models, such as the <a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/?p=293">Recyclery, which made the brothers' bicycles from waste</a>; and people reinventing living spaces, such as the <a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/?p=260">17-person urban homestead</a> they visited in Asheville, N.C., in which everyone lives cheaply and is free to pursue his or her creative desires. When Tim answers the phone for this interview, they are in the Bible Belt in Tennessee.<br />
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Through these people, the Hussin brothers write that a "new America" is being born. But what they also realize is that the "new America" really isn't new at all.<br />
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City dwellers today marvel at that earlier time, before mass media or urbanization, when people still got their food from their neighbor or sang songs with family around a campfire for entertainment. City dwellers marvel at it and sometimes try to replicate it, through small habits like attending <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/foodanddining/features/2009/farmers-markets/index.html">farmer's markets</a>, joining community groups, or <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/chefs/the-food-resolution-scott-drew.html">wasting less</a>.<br />
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But <a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/?p=308">America reCycled</a> is documenting something more than farmer's markets. "We're showing a different lifestyle than the American dream of career, house and family," Tim says. "We're showing people who live in another way than the production-consumption model we've all followed since WWII."<br />
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<a href="http://www.americarecycled.org/?p=260">The folks they've documented so far</a>, like the urban homesteaders and mechanic who works without waste in Asheville, have this in common -- they waste, spend, and travel far less than the average city dweller. Their lives are simpler.<br />
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When asked what the goal of America reCycled is, Tim doesn't say he wants every follower of the project to adopt these lifestyles. "We don't have grandiose plans," he says, and hesitates. "But if we can get even one person who's never considered this lifestyle to watch a short film all the way through, well, then that's something."</div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-84599834317589350412011-01-18T13:46:00.000-08:002011-01-18T13:49:07.170-08:00Byte copBrett Goldstein maps out Chicago’s crime-ridden spots with his predictive-analysis system.<br />
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By Elizabeth Flock <br />
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Read it at <a href="http://magazine.uchicago.edu/1102/arts_sciences/byte-cop.shtml">the University of Chicago Magazine </a><br />
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When Brett Goldstein was six years old, he started writing programs on his parents’ single-circuit-board computer. In fifth grade he was teaching himself programming languages. At Connecticut College a professor told him he’d “maxed out” the curriculum.<br />
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In his early 30s Goldstein, SM’05, became IT director at <a href="http://www.opentable.com/start.aspx?m=3" target="_blank">OpenTable</a>, an online restaurant-reservation company. He had been an early employee at the start-up, founded in 1998 in San Francisco. By 2006 he had moved to Chicago, completed his computer-science master’s at the University, and was making six figures at OpenTable, when he surprised colleagues and friends by leaving the company to join the Chicago Police Academy.<br />
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It wasn’t his first foray into criminal justice. In 1999 he received his master’s degree in the field from Suffolk University, with the goal of working in IT security; part of his role at OpenTable involved network security. But he was inspired to do something different after the attacks of September 11, 2001. “I realized I wanted to be doing some kind of service that went beyond just volunteering,” Goldstein says. Unsure of which direction to go, on a whim Goldstein took the police-academy exam in 2004. “I like to take tests,” he says as explanation.<br />
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But his choice to actually enter the academy to become a beat cop wasn’t a quick or an easy one: “It was a big decision that required a lot of thought,” he says. “I became more committed with each step of the police screening process.” He knew that, as soon as he graduated from the academy, he’d be working a beat; that’s just how it was. But he “had high hopes” that he’d eventually be able to use his data-analysis and computer-science training for the Chicago Police Department.<br />
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In early 2007 Goldstein was assigned to the Harrison District, one of the toughest neighborhoods on Chicago’s West Side. (Goldstein, raised in Boston, now lives in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.) After 13 months, he moved to headquarters. While working on the West Side, according to an August <i><a href="http://www.homeland1.com/homeland-security-products/technology/articles/873224-9-11-led-chicago-tech-guru-to-design-crime-predicting-system/" target="_blank">Chicago Sun-Times</a></i><a href="http://www.homeland1.com/homeland-security-products/technology/articles/873224-9-11-led-chicago-tech-guru-to-design-crime-predicting-system/"> article</a>, Goldstein had “started thinking about how he could design a computer model that could replicate” an officer’s intuition. He had this in mind when he transferred off the street.<br />
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In 2009, with the help of a $200,000 National Institute of Justice grant, Goldstein launched his predictive-analytics project. The group would analyze crime data to focus manpower where trouble was most likely to occur.<br />
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The germ of the idea was born earlier, back when he was getting his master’s at Chicago. Computer-science professor Leo Irakliotis had Goldstein in his 2005 intensive data-mining course, where students learned to extract patterns from data.<br />
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The two worked together on a project to analyze call records from the Oak Park (Illinois) Police, to see who frequently called 911 and hung up. They then predicted the corners most likely to have hang-up offenders. <br />
It’s finding these patterns in seemingly random events that drives Goldstein’s work at the CPD, where he makes forecasts using the entire data system. Data analytics uses time and location patterns to calculate where crime might happen. Goldstein’s group, for example, might show “a wave of burglaries in one neighborhood,” says Irakliotis. “They would use the data to see how it might expand to another neighborhood.”<br />
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Although a number of U.S. police departments now use such figures to draw conclusions about crime, Chicago has one of the largest data sets in the country, with more complex breakdowns of crime details. The city, says CPD spokesman Michael Fitzpatrick, began collecting electronic data earlier than most departments, in the late 1990s, partly thanks to former assistant deputy superintendent Ron Huberman, AM’00, MBA’00. While working in information services, Huberman helped create a central database to house all police intelligence: in 2001 the department partnered with the Oracle Corporation to create <a href="http://gis.chicagopolice.org/clearmap/startpage.htm" target="_blank">CLEAR</a> (Citizen Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting). The system—now recognized by the U.S. Justice Department as a law enforcement best practice—is used to streamline processes such as filing arrest reports and provides officers with easy-to-access information.<br />
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Goldstein, teaming up with the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Rand Corporation, has helped take this data to the next phase. After about five months in beta, the Predictive Analytics Group officially launched in August 2010, with Goldstein as director. Not all Chicago cops, however, are enthusiastic about the program—or about Goldstein. In August a popular police-department blog, Second City Cop, reacted to the <i>Sun-Times </i>story about Goldstein, titling its post <a href="http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html" target="_blank">“Golden Boy Interviewed.”</a> It generated 173 comments, most negative. Concerns ranged from the unlikelihood of success to personal attacks on Goldstein and anger over his quick promotion—he’s been with the department for four-and-a-half years, and by age 36 he holds a director position.<br />
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Goldstein, named to the 2010 <i>Crain’s Chicago Business</i> <a href="http://www.chicagobusiness.com/40under40-2010/#goldstein" target="_blank">40 under 40 list</a>, stresses that the program is a tool for the officers, not a replacement. “You can’t underestimate the guys’ relationship with the community,” he says. He has invited skeptical beat cops to visit his office to discuss how it works. <br />
Part of the officers’ concern comes from the difficulty of evaluating the program’s accomplishments. “It’s hard,” says Fitzpatrick, the department spokesman, because “if there’s a likelihood for something to happen and it doesn’t, that’s a success. So how do you gauge that?”<br />
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Goldstein doesn’t claim his analytics would be the only reason for department successes or lower crime. Every day his group sends out intelligence showing the areas with the biggest potential for violence. Then the department that deploys officers produces its own information, based on gang conflicts and human intelligence. The two elements are combined with feedback from the patrol division to come up with that day’s patrol plan. The “key idea,” says Goldstein, “is to give the field commanders the latest and best information to be able to deploy their resources intelligently.Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-76561035802294783802011-01-14T10:56:00.001-08:002011-01-14T10:56:33.187-08:00D.C. wins popularity contestUnited Van Lines, the United States' largest moving and relocation company, has <a href="http://www.unitedvanlines.com/mover/united-newsroom/press-releases/2011/2010-united-van-lines-migration-study_000.htm">ranked Washington D.C. as the most popular place</a> to move in 2010, <a href="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/DC-Most-Popular-Place-to-Move-113450959.html">NBC reported today</a>.<br />
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The District has been bestowed the dubious title of <a href="http://www.unitedvanlines.com/mover/united-newsroom/press-releases/2011/2010-united-van-lines-migration-study_000.htm">“highest inbound” city</a>, with 64.3 percent of people moving in rather than out. <br />
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So, to what can we owe these laurels?<br />
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Could it be the torpid millennial youths flocking to a city where they can expect a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021003629.html">good deal of their work week canceled</a> whenever there's a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/03/AR2009120304322.html">flurry of snow</a>? Or to the rise of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092003815.html">Capital Bikeshare</a>, which calls to mind an <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dr-gridlock/2010/11/learning_to_ride_a_bike_from_t.html">insouciant city like Amsterdam</a>, free of political discussions and full of other highs? <br />
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It's got to be more obvious that that. The influx of people to our city must have been in tandem with the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/14/AR2010091402473.html">arrival of Mayor Vincent Gray</a>. And let's not forget that well-known art form that came with him: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/12/30/GA2010123001761.html#photo=1">hand dancing</a>.<br />
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Well, Mr. Gray, UVL says don't break out the champagne yet. Because it's the <em>third </em>consecutive year the District has won the popularity contest, and everyone knows you were <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/07/AR2010120705505.html?nav=emailpage">more concerned with your fence in the first two</a> years UVL dished out this prize.<br />
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Here's the real question: Why doesn't UVL talk about the people who've moved <i>out</i> of our city? Really, less than 33 percent have fled the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/snowmageddon/">snowmageddons</a>? Less than 33 percent left with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/12/04/DI2009120401886.html">Tai Shan the panda</a>? Doubtful. <br />
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Let's face it, in anticipation of the coming <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/11/obama_announces_pay_freeze_for.html">pay freeze</a>, we have no idea how many federal workers exited the District using just two guys and a truck. I know I would.Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-70616942250552386782011-01-11T14:03:00.000-08:002011-01-11T14:35:21.677-08:00Robbery at White Oak credit union<div style="font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 5px;">By Elizabeth Flock </div>Read it at <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/montgomery/moco-robbery-investigated.html#more">the Washington Post</a><br />
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Montgomery County police are investigating a robbery at the Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union in White Oak on Jan. 8, authorities said Tuesday.<br />
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Two male suspects entered the Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union at 11140 New Hampshire Avenue at 10:42 a.m. wielding handguns and announcing a robbery, police said.<br />
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Montgomery County Police detectives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI are investigating the robbery.<br />
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The suspects attacked the bank's manager, throwing him over a counter, according to police. The suspects obtained an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the scene in a small dark-colored sedan.<br />
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Police describe the first suspect as a clean-shaven black male in his early-to-mid 20's, standing 6' to 6' 3" tall, and weighing between 180 and 210 pounds. He was dressed in all black and was armed with a handgun during the robbery, police said.<br />
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They describe the second suspect as a black male between 35 and 45 years old, standing 5'10" to 6'01" tall, with a heavy build and goatee. He was wearing blue jeans, a dark jacket, sunglasses, and was armed with a handgun during the robbery.<br />
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Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 240-773-5100. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Anonymous tips can also be provided by texting "MCPD" and a tip to 274637 (CRIMES).<br />
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The Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union in White Oak is is offering up to $10,000, and Crime Solvers up to $1,000, for information related the robbery that leads to an arrest or indictment. <br />
This item has been updated since it was first published.Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-12203158891109430442011-01-04T08:00:00.000-08:002011-01-04T08:00:46.390-08:00New Va. prison has no prisoners<div style="font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 5px;"> By Elizabeth Flock </div><div style="font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 5px;">Read it at <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/virginia/new-105-million-va-prison-has.html">the Washington Post</a></div><br />
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</style> <!-- blogger thumbs --> <div class="entrytext"> A brand-new, $105 million prison in Grayson County, Va., has zero prisoners four months after its completion, the <a href="http://www.roanoke.com/272507">Roanoke Times reported Sunday.</a><br />
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The <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/assembly_looks_to_fees_to_clos.html?sid=ST2010031501317">state budget crunch</a> has kept the 1,024-bed complex empty, said Larry Traylor, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Corrections.<br />
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After the General Assembly did not appropriate money that the agency expected last year, the Corrections Department trimmed its $1 billion budget and got rid of almost 2,500 prison beds. Traylor estimates that the department is facing a fiscal 2012 budget reduction of $10.9 million. <br />
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Virginia's inmate population nearly doubled after the state passed Truth in Sentencing/no parole legislation in 1995, leading to tougher sentences. Last year, however, <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/around-the-nation/fewer-people-behind-bars-study.html">the state saw its first drop in inmates</a>, losing 195 prisoners for a total of about 38,000. <br />
<br />
Traylor said that the new prison could remain empty for two years or longer. Taxpayers will have to pay $715,000 this year to keep it running.</div></div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-3738832876533814122011-01-03T07:20:00.000-08:002011-01-03T07:25:43.544-08:00New Year's resolutions public figures did and didn't keep in 2010<div class="entryhead" id="entryhead"><h1><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/12/the_five_new_years_resolutions.html?hpid=talkbox1">Read it at the Washington Post</a> </span></h1></div><div style="font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 5px;">By Elizabeth Flock and Sam Sanders </div>From the enduring fame of <a href="http://www.mtv.com/shows/jersey_shore/season_2/series.jhtml">Jersey Shore's</a> Mike "The Situation" to West Coast Chopper's <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/04/28/GA2010042802191.html">Jesse James dropping Sandra Bullock</a> for a tattoo model, this year was full of surprises from actors, musicians, pundits and political figures. But if the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/18/AR2009051802837.html">mania over Glee's covers</a> teaches us anything, it's that as much as some things change, they also stay the same. <br />
We got to wondering what kind of resolutions folks would have made, and came up with a list of "resolutions" kept and broken in 2010.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><u>The five resolutions they kept: </u></span><br />
1. <b>Miley Cyrus</b>, of salvia bong and <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2010/10/miley_cyruss_new_video_too_sex.html">racy video</a> fame: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;">Become trashy.</span><br />
2. <b>Bill and Hillary Clinton</b>, power couple: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;">Rule the world.</span><br />
3. <b>Joaquin Phoenix</b>, who may or may not have <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2010/09/joaquin_phoenix_yes_it_was_a_h.html">faked his documentary:</a><span style="font-size: 1em;"> Become a method actor. </span><br />
4. <b>Snooki</b>, the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2010/09/romancing_the_shore_the_loves.html">mascot</a> of Jersey Shore: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;">Get famous, <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2010/08/john_mccain_and_snooki_take_th.html">become BFFs with John McCain</a>.</span><br />
5. <b>Glenn Beck</b>, pundit, author, rally-holder: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/30/AR2010093005267.html">Bring the word "nazi" back</a> into the national discourse</span><br />
<br />
<u><span style="font-size: small;">The five they didn't keep:</span></u><br />
1. <b>John Boehner</b>, new speaker of the house: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR2010121405773.html">Don't cry</a>.</span><br />
2. <b>Willow Smith</b>, soon to usurp her father as coolest member of the Smith brood: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;">Get Malia and Sasha to <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/10/whip.html">whip their hair</a>.</span><br />
3. <b>Wyclef Jean</b>, musician, record producer, politician?: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;"><a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/07/wyclef_jean_considers_running.html">Become president</a> of Haiti</span><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">.</span><br />
4. <b>Tiger Woods</b>, professional golfer and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/19/AR2010021902442.html">scamster</a>: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;">Be a role model.</span><br />
5. <b>Paula Abdul</b>, nicest <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/08/05/VI2009080501495.html">American Idol judge</a>: <br />
<span style="font-size: 1em;">Continue to convince America of my relevance.</span><span style="font-size: 1em;"> </span>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-30161007168268594382010-12-29T14:55:00.000-08:002010-12-29T14:55:35.787-08:00Masked 'Hillary Clinton' robs Va. bankA gun-toting man in a Halloween-style mask robbed a Sterling bank on Dec. 27, authorities said.<br />
It appeared that the man <a href="http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/man_posing_as_u.s._secretary_of_state_robs_sterling_bank_at_gunpoint/">wore a Hillary Clinton mask,</a> according to Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. <br />
<br />
Shortly after 9 a.m., the man walked into the Wachovia bank in Community Plaza, approached a teller, brandished a firearm, and demanded cash, according to Loudoun County sheriff’s office reports.<br />
<br />
<br />
The robber, who authorities described as a black male around 6 feet tall, then fled in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of cash. He was seen wearing a black jacket with a red shirt underneath.<br />
<br />
No injuries were reported, says Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, which distributed a surveillance image from the robbery.<br />
<br />
This robbery is not the first for the Wachovia bank in Sterling’s Community Plaza this year. On Nov. 20, authorities said the bank was <a href="http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/police_name_west_virginia_man_as_suspect_in_regional_bank_robberies480/">robbed at gunpoint by Benjamin L. Sebastian</a>, 32, of Inwood, W.Va.<br />
Sebastian was arrested Dec. 11 and <a href="http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/police_name_west_virginia_man_as_suspect_in_regional_bank_robberies480/">charged with six regional bank robberies</a>, including the Sterling Wachovia bank and an <a href="http://sterling.wusa9.com/content/west-virginia-man-charged-connection-two-sterling-bank-robberies">Oct. 6 armed robbery</a> of the Bank of America in Sterling’s Regal Plaza.<br />
He remains in police custody.<br />
<br />
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact Investigator K. Poland of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office at 703-777-0475.Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-8246898680430933912010-12-28T10:56:00.000-08:002010-12-28T10:56:51.883-08:00Even with missed storm, cleanup is priceyRead it at the Washington Post's local breaking news blog, <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/bylines/elizabeth-flock/even-with-missed-storm-cleanup.html">Post Now. </a><br />
<br />
After <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031604146.html">criticism</a> over slow response times to snowmageddon last winter, local jurisdictions and state transportation agencies weren't going to be caught unaware this time.<br />
<br />
A number of weather services predicted the first major snowstorm of the year over Christmas weekend. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) both issued preemptive <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/vas-mcdonnell-declares-emergen.html">state of emergency declarations</a>.<br />
<br />
And then the storm never came. D.C. was left with only a dusting of snow. A <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/12/washington_dc_the_snow_hole_of.html">Capital Weather Gang map</a> shows how close we were to getting pummeled.<br />
<br />
Preparation for the no-show snow didn't come cheap.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.virginiadot.org/default_noflash.asp">Virginia Department of Transportation</a> spent "well over a million dollars" in Northern Virginia over the weekend, spokeswoman Joan Morris told <a href="http://www.tbd.com/articles/2010/12/snow-fakeout-proves-pricey-for-local-governments-41365.html">TBD</a>. The department had about 1,700 trucks on the road.<br />
<br />
But with $33 million to spend on snow removal in Northern Virginia this year, <a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2010/12/salt-sand-molasses-region-ready-snow-removal">according to the Washington Examiner</a>, the Virginia Department of Transportation should be just fine. Both Maryland and Virginia increased their snow removal budgets this year.<br />
<br />
Karyn LeBlanc, a spokeswoman for the <a href="http://ddot.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/">District Department of Transportation</a> says the department estimated it spent more than $500,000 over the weekend, according to <a href="http://www.tbd.com/articles/2010/12/snow-fakeout-proves-pricey-for-local-governments-41365.html">TBD</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/real-estate/neighborhoods/Montgomery+County,+MD-neighborhood-details.html">Montgomery County</a> had 400 people and 375 trucks ready to go at 2 a.m. Sunday, though they went home 14 hours later. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/metro/va/arlington/">Arlington County</a> had about 150 employees out over a 24-hour period.<br />
<br />
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="412" id="flashObj" width="486"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=726392154001&playerID=180211731001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAGuN0bcE~,rS1wzGXkRNnKZBuQ4FRjFM7e28yVdmek&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=726392154001&playerID=180211731001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAGuN0bcE~,rS1wzGXkRNnKZBuQ4FRjFM7e28yVdmek&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-88942125058110060312010-12-17T08:46:00.000-08:002010-12-17T08:46:49.597-08:00Dear Metro, I hate that I love you so (#metroloveletter)<div style="font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; padding-bottom: 5px;">By Elizabeth Flock </div>Read it at <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/12/dear_metro_i_hate_that_i_love.html#more">the Washington Post</a><br />
<br />
I didn't know you three months ago when I moved to Washington from Chicago. I knew the El, which runs on time, doesn't <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dr-gridlock/2010/12/bag_the_metro_searches.html">do random searches</a>, and would never, ever tell me not to eat my breakfast on the train.<br />
<br />
I have to tell you something, Metro. You're late. All the time. This morning you stood me up when I had a meeting at work to get to. For half an hour I stood on the platform. You kept me hanging when the "Mad Men" finale was starting and my roommate disabled TiVo. I've fallen in your potholes <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111904012.html">you call construction</a> one too many times. I've broken a sweat on the way to a date when the Woodley Park escalator was broken, again. And that thing you call a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/03/AR2008110302100.html">SmarTrip card</a>? I'm onto you. I figured out pretty fast that that card charges me just the same.<br />
<br />
What about when I want to get home late at night, after getting better acquainted with your city's watering holes, and I need you the most? You're not there at all. You're shut, with cold metal bars blocking your entrance. Should you really expect me to keep coming back?<br />
<br />
But that's the problem, Metro. I will come back, because I love you.<br />
<br />
Ever since I met you, Metro, I can't get enough. I'm there every morning from Woodley Park to Farragut North, and every night I take you home.<br />
<br />
I could get to work another way. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092003815.html">Capital Bike Share</a> looks pretty tempting some mornings, with those glistening red bikes all lined up in a pretty row. I could walk, try the bus or drive. I don't. I take you. <br />
Because you're easy. And you're there. Your yawning ceilings make me feel small, but in a good way. Your <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR2010121406073.html">SmarTrip card</a> makes me feel important. Your <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/wrctraffic/metromap/front.html">scary octopus Metro map</a> has tentacles that go everywhere I want to go. I've read countless Express newspapers while hanging on to the overhead rail for dear life. And it turns out, by forcing me to eat breakfast at home, you make me a better person. These days, my dress stays coffee-free all day.<br />
<br />
I hate that I love you, Metro. But I do.<br />
<br />
A lot of us do. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/15/AR2010121507260.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010121502000">We're taking you more every day.</a><br />
<br />
<b>This is my love letter to the Metro. What's yours? Tell me why -- despite the delays, the broken escalators, the constant problems -- you still love the Metro. Write it in the comments or send a tweet using the hashtag #metroloveletter.</b>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-36068865238039325032010-12-13T18:18:00.000-08:002010-12-13T18:25:32.843-08:00Minerals in consumer electronic devices help finance civil war in CongoBy <a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/elizabeth+flock/" title="Send an e-mail to Elizabeth Flock">Elizabeth Flock</a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Washington Post Staff Writer <br />
Monday, December 13, 2010; 6:21 PM </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Read it at <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/13/AR2010121304571.html">The Washington Post.</a> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As you arm yourself with elec</span>tronic gifts over the next few weeks, you probably won't think about the minerals your new cellphone, laptop or digital camera runs on. But no matter which company made the gadget, it's likely to be powered using tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold, all of which are mined in Eastern Congo, where profits contribute to financing the country's bloody war.<br />
<br />
Rebel groups and the national army control many of Eastern Congo's mines. Over the past decade, more than 5 million people have died, and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped in the struggle for power, according to the <a href="http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/initiatives/conflict-minerals" target="">Raise Hope for Congo campaign.</a> While the Congolese government has expressed interest in tackling the multimillion-dollar trade in minerals, the involvement of its own troops has led critics to question their efforts.<br />
<br />
The West has long been aware of this problem, though hard facts are difficult to establish: A 2008 <a href="http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2008/myb3-2008-cg.pdf" target="">U.S. Geological Survey report</a> found that less than 10 percent of tantalum (the mineral used to make capacitors in most cellphones and iPods) imported to the United States is from Congo. But one human rights group, the <a href="http://www.enoughproject.org/" target="">Enough Project</a>, <a href="http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/can-you-hear-congo-now-cell-phones-conflict-minerals-and-worst-sexual-violence-world" target="">estimates</a> that Congolese armed groups make $8 million per year trading in that mineral alone.<br />
<br />
Electronics companies argue that the supply chain is nearly impossible to track: There are thousands of companies, they say, that leave little or no paperwork. Manufacturers use Congolese minerals, which cost only one-half or one-third the price of those mined in other countries - due to large quantitites of minerals close to the surface, lack of regulation and cheap labor - leaving the American consumer with no way of knowing whether their purchases are subsidizing warfare half a world away.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h4173/show" target="">Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act</a>, passed in July, seeks to change that, by <a href="http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/070110_Dodd_Frank_Wall_Street_Reform_comprehensive_summary_Final.pdf" target="">requiring</a> manufacturers to identify so-called conflict minerals and eliminate them from their supply chains.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExD8q763slgS3uYxu_shWJPUNdrsTORw77_MBV7goqeS9k6GD4XrLXqug5_jH7Z4EkIEGL3L-5LD78SgyDLfMi7Peag9iNLdTnCvRzpj2-hBQjvshM02B0dpDaNs_LHKvUs9LUm-RHgxA/s1600/3794907629_e3ddeb4d72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExD8q763slgS3uYxu_shWJPUNdrsTORw77_MBV7goqeS9k6GD4XrLXqug5_jH7Z4EkIEGL3L-5LD78SgyDLfMi7Peag9iNLdTnCvRzpj2-hBQjvshM02B0dpDaNs_LHKvUs9LUm-RHgxA/s320/3794907629_e3ddeb4d72.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> Image of a child miner in the Congo, via Grassroots Group's photostream on flickr.<br />
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In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it will come out with proposed <a href="http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/dodd-frank.shtml" target="">rules</a> on conflict minerals on Wednesday and final guidelines in April 2011. Electronics companies are scrambling to make their supply chain clean before then.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.itri.co.uk/" target="">ITRI</a>, a tin-industry group, isn't happy. Kay Nimmo, manager of sustainability and regulatory affairs for the organization, calls the deadline "rash, too strict and completely impossible."<br />
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"The requirements could force electronics companies into an embargo of the Congo's minerals if they cannot comply in time," Nimmo says.<br />
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And no one wants an embargo - not Congo, electronics companies, human rights groups or nongovernmental organizations. It would be bad for American business and also leave many Congolese miners unemployed. So industry and NGOs have begun developing initiatives to improve transparency.<br />
<br />
One such initiative is a "<a href="http://www.itri.co.uk/pooled/articles/BF_NEWSART/view.asp?Q=BF_NEWSART_318425" target="">bagging and tagging</a>" scheme, in which minerals are placed in a bag with a seal and security-tagged at the mine so that the mineral can be traced from mine site to exporter.<br />
<br />
ITRI, which is running the initiative, estimates that since the pilot program started in June, 8,000 tags have gone on more than 300 tons of minerals. But NGOs say initiatives of this kind are an ineffective seal of approval, possibly worse than having no approval system at all.<br />
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"Bagging and tagging systems don't address extortion along transport routes: Illegal taxes can be levied without interfering with tagging, and conflict minerals can reach trading centers looking clean," says Annie Dunnebacke of <a href="http://www.globalwitness.org/" target="">Global Witness</a>, an NGO that works to prevent natural-resource-related conflict and corruption.<br />
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Enough Project consultant Sasha Lezhnev estimates that there are more than 20 ways to get a conflict mineral around the bagging and tagging scheme.<br />
<br />
Electronics companies protest that there are always ways to go around a system. Michael Loch, director of <a href="http://responsibility.motorola.com/index.php/suppliers/" target="">supplier corporate responsibility</a> at Motorola, says, "No matter what auditing scheme, there's going to be noncompliance. It can never be completely bulletproof."<br />
<br />
The same is true, critics say, for other initiatives, such as a "<a href="http://www.gesi.org/Media/PressReleaseFullstory/tabid/104/smid/503/ArticleID/57/reftab/61/Default.aspx" target="">smelter validation scheme</a>." Lezhnev argues that because electronics companies are approving their own auditor for the smelter scheme, it's not a system of independent monitoring.<br />
<br />
"They are not giving us details of how and what they were doing, citing 'commercial confidentiality.' How can you say you have commercial confidentiality in a war zone?" says Lezhnev. "This can't just be an industry process."<br />
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The Enough Project is set to release a report Tuesday ranking companies on their progress on conflict minerals, in the hope of shaming them into action before the SEC's April guidelines. Criteria included tracing, auditing and support for legislation. HP, Intel and Motorola rank at the top of the heap, while some other companies show no progress.<br />
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Until bigger changes are made, the Enough Project <a href="http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/comprehensive-approach-conflict-minerals-strategy-paper" target="">estimates</a> that armed groups will take in some $185 million annually trading in these minerals, while, according to World Bank <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTOGMC/Resources/treasureortrouble.pdf" target="">figures</a>, miners will make $5 a day mining them. And American holiday shoppers will pay as much as $500 for a new cellphone, with little or no knowledge of what went into making it. <br />
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<div id="article_body" style="padding-left: 10px;"><div id="body_after_content_column"></div></div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-88750189717164256742010-10-14T17:55:00.000-07:002010-10-24T13:58:42.169-07:00Whole Foods' Organic Capitalism<div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><div class="pdt5"><span class="t-16-gy-l">John Mackey’s Conscious Capitalism model has its share of dissenters. But the fiery Texan isn’t about to back down</span></div><div class="pdt10 pdb10"><span class="t-10-gy-l"> by <a class="t-10-gy-l" href="http://business.in.com/search.php?writer=Elizabeth+Flock">Elizabeth Flock </a> | Oct 9, 2010</span></div><br />
Read it at <a href="http://business.in.com/article/beyond-business/whole-foods-is-a-loose-cannon-on-target/18072/1#ixzz12NsjGFo0">Forbes India</a> or at <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/20/forbes-india-john-mackey-whole-foods-organic-capitalism.html">Forbes</a></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />
When John Mackey dropped out of his second university, his aspirations to open a natural foods supermarket looked shaky. He had no money, no business training, and no degree. He hoped to open a vegetarian store in the carnivorous state of Texas. His mother thought he was wasting a good mind to become a grocer.<br />
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But Mackey, an unmotivated student, had suddenly found a purpose in natural foods while working at a collective, and he wasn’t going to let it go. Along with his girlfriend Renee Lawson, Mackey rustled up $45,000 from family and friends to start the business.<br />
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Mackey and Lawson opened Safer Way in 1978, knowing full well that health food was a gamble. When the couple used their apartment to store food, they were thrown out and forced to move into the second floor of Safer Way, where they showered with a hose.<br />
<br />
But Texan customers embraced this unlikely supermarket, and Mackey soon had the confidence to merge with Clarksville Natural Grocery, partly by hinting to owners Mark Skiles and Craig Weller that he would put them out of business. Together, they opened a larger natural foods store in 1980 that would one day change the supermarket game. They called it Whole Foods.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLKskWJIkhC1HRFS1LWfXJa8yzBB33-UG7Bm1ShCN7pOo7CfQAD-XgbjqBTDbGJxXgO_39FPJKRZGpmhgGl4folf1sbfF2_L_L_o2zlwAsGTknxaEZfNncMTltPUzjh-hH4h90x66WedLE/s1600/johnmackey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLKskWJIkhC1HRFS1LWfXJa8yzBB33-UG7Bm1ShCN7pOo7CfQAD-XgbjqBTDbGJxXgO_39FPJKRZGpmhgGl4folf1sbfF2_L_L_o2zlwAsGTknxaEZfNncMTltPUzjh-hH4h90x66WedLE/s320/johnmackey.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(Flickr)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a name='more'></a><br />
</div><div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Today, Whole Foods is a $8 billion company with over 300 stores spread across the US and the UK. Many stores span an incredible 40,000 square feet. The organic grocery market is now so big that Walmart and other supermarkets have copied Mackey’s health food model.<br />
Most important to Mackey, however, is his personal mission of Conscious Capitalism, a philosophy of running a business not just for profits but also with purpose, that is starting to gain ground. Companies now understand that Conscious Capitalism doesn’t just mean ‘corporate social responsibility’, and it doesn’t mean short term. <br />
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But it didn’t happen easily; it’s taken nearly three decades for Whole Foods to get where it is.<br />
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The year Whole Foods opened, the entire store was flooded, all inventory was wiped out, and losses (they had no insurance) were at $400,000. But the supermarket was salvaged by customers, neighbours, creditors, vendors, and investors who quickly responded with aid. The moment would have a huge impact on Mackey’s thinking.<br />
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In 1985 Mackey set down a “Declaration of Interdependence” (see box on page 136), stating that Whole Foods would adopt a stakeholder philosophy. Instead of just chasing profits and working for investors, they would at all times keep in mind the needs of employees, customers, suppliers, the environment and community as well.<br />
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Mackey’s hope was that Whole Foods would work toward a “new business paradigm” of more responsible capitalism, though he wasn’t sure exactly what that was, or how to do it.<br />
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Mackey’s model wasn’t without dissenters. Co-founder Mark Skiles left Whole Foods in the mid 80s because he was worried about the business. “If we have guys who come in to buy a bag of sprouts and then sit around all day reading we’ll go out of business quick,” he told New Yorker Magazine in a recent article on Whole Foods.<br />
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But others were sure Mackey’s idealistic style of shop-keeping could work. Walter Robb, now co-chief executive officer and director of Whole Foods, who joined the company in 1991, says, “We began with the idea that we could change the world. Not that we knew what we were doing. When you’re young it’s very inspiring to think you are doing worthwhile work. The purity and intensity of intent was there from the beginning”<br />
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The funds certainly weren’t. Robb describes the early years as being always in “survival mode”, with no money to speak of. “We were scrapping, just trying to make it.”<br />
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By the late 80s, Whole Foods wasn’t scrapping so much. The supermarket expanded outside of Texas, including to Palo Alto, California, which provided the opportunity to drum up nearby venture capital. Whole Foods went public in 1992, raising $23 million to list on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. <br />
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Meanwhile, Mackey decided Whole Foods would adopt a non-traditional management model, in which decision making would be decentralised. He wanted to ensure even lower-rung employees would be able to make bigger decisions.<br />
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A blogger and former Whole Foods employee named ‘Tzimisce’ who has criticised Whole Foods admitted that the opportunities she got at Whole Foods were something she’d be unlikely to get at another corporate job. Employees also embraced Whole Foods’ benefits, which employees voted for themselves and included health insurance for even part-time employees. Starting in 1998, Whole Foods was on the Best Places to Work for the next 12 years to follow.</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Whole Foods soon became the United States’ first national “certified organic” grocer. But Mackey knew he’d have to present food in a desirable way to get not just hippies but also foodies in his store. Instead of the traditional crunchy-granola approach, Mackey set up Whole Foods aisles with gleaming stacks of fruits and vegetables, perfectly arranged exotic sushi stations, and glossy, overflowing cheese and chocolate counters. When the customer leaves a Whole Foods store, the smell of freshly baked bread follows them back to their car. Mackey says this shows Whole Foods commitment to its consumer; Forbes called it “food porn”. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">As Whole Foods mushroomed, Mackey became more fervent about and defensive of his new business paradigm. The company made a big commitment in founding the Whole Planet Foundation, in which Whole Foods would give micro-credit to whatever communities it traded in. “The narrow interpretation is that we’re taking shareholders money and giving money away. What they can’t see is how much that has improved the morale of our company, and made the team members who work for Whole Foods prouder,” says Mackey. “What Whole Foods has gotten out from these activities is so much greater than the amount of money that we’ve given away.”<br />
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Whole Foods also started “5 percent days” three times a year, where 5 percent of that day’s sales were donated to a charity; Mackey also created the Animal Compassion Foundation. <br />
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In late 2006, Mackey sent a letter to employees telling them that from now on he would take a salary of just $1 a year. He would continue to have the same benefits as other employees including health insurance, but would donate his future stock options to the Whole Planet Foundation. <br />
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Mackey is impatient when asked how his model fits in with the traditional business notion that tradeoffs are necessary among stakeholders. For example, if compensation is raised for employees, the belief is that customers will have to pay for it with higher prices. <br />
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“You can also make the point that if you raise compensation, you will get better quality people which will benefit customers and shareholders,” Mackey insists.<br />
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In 2007, Mackey found a kindred spirit after the publication of Firms of Endearment, a book on how businesses can profit from having passion and purpose. He read the book and was excited to find that the co-authors had a similar idea about the way business could operate. Mackey met author Rajendra Sisodia, and along with several other businesspeople and academics, decided to start holding meetings to attract interest in this yet-to-be-named movement.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiI2KENc_VdW_92GXHZJOFsFtQJsjdYkHfpiZaLnn3Ns7lDWtz5P4j7DlphXVepB-Uw611FGcFjPOLCNAmPtW7PodW2-weIL4ysYQwRts-Iik6EjrkCyCHmB-WOkxsx-3noPMAhFjk92V/s1600/wholefoods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiI2KENc_VdW_92GXHZJOFsFtQJsjdYkHfpiZaLnn3Ns7lDWtz5P4j7DlphXVepB-Uw611FGcFjPOLCNAmPtW7PodW2-weIL4ysYQwRts-Iik6EjrkCyCHmB-WOkxsx-3noPMAhFjk92V/s320/wholefoods.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> (Picasa)<br />
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Further motivated, Mackey pushed Whole Foods to start a “Whole Trade” programme, which meant Whole Foods would have to have better product quality, give more money to producers, provide better wages and working conditions for workers, follow sounder environmental production practices, and support poverty eradication. Whole Foods immediately began donating one percent of product sales to the Whole Planet Foundation. The company also announced that it would provide up to $10 million in low-interest loans to local producers; it gave its first in 2007.<br />
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All looked rosy for Whole Foods. That was until it purchased its largest competitor, natural foods store Wild Oats in 2007. The US Federal Trade Commission saw the purchase as proof Whole Foods was trying to create a monopoly over the “premium natural and organic supermarket”.<br />
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When the US Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Whole Foods, it found out Mackey had been writing on a Yahoo Message board under a pseudonym for eight years. His messages disparaged Wild Oats, praised Whole Foods, and even complimented his own haircut.<br />
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But the trade commission allowed the Wild Oats deal to go through. The problems did not end there. There was a maelstrom on the blogosphere over the number of Wild Oats employees that lost their jobs after the merger. Walter Robb insists that the merger was done in a responsible manner. “The way we brought the companies together was very conscious, we put the people first.”<br />
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Mackey continued to deeply involve his employees in decision-making processes. He conducted an experiment with employees asking them which of Plato’s three purposes for business Whole Foods fulfilled: Good, true or beautiful? Mackey took the liberty to add “heroic” to the list.<br />
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He got an overwhelmingly uniform response from employees across the country: Heroic. “Team members clearly were articulating something else across the country, that we were the heroic. I realised they were more conscious than I was. So I embraced the hero myth; that Whole Foods is trying to improve the world. I stopped fighting lots of other things, and things fell into place. That’s when I started the Conscious Capitalism movement.”<br />
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As the movement took shape, however, it was rife with disagreement. Should it be called ‘Responsible Capitalism’ or ‘Conscious Capitalism’? Some people thought it was socialism. Others were cynical about the entire thing.<br />
<div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Nonetheless, Mackey soon became an evangelist for Conscious Capitalism, publishing essays, speaking about it at universities, building an alliance for businesses, and starting a Conscious Capitalism summit. The first Conscious Capitalism Conference was held in 2008 in Texas and is now expanding around the world. India held the conference in March 2010.<br />
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Mackey’s commitment to the Conscious Capitalism movement was again put to the test during the global recession last year. As salaries dropped in America, Whole Foods, which often sells high-priced organic and natural food, was re-dubbed “Whole Paycheck” by consumers. Whole Foods’ stock suffered and sales went down by more than half.<br />
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But Mackey says they responded quickly. “We didn’t cut back services, we increased them. We enhanced our value image. You used to see products like $10, $20 wine on display when you came into the store. Now you’ll see wine that’s $3.99,” says Mackey. <br />
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All executives were put on a wage freeze, more emphasis was put on its private and less expensive label, “365”, and it brought in more local fare.<br />
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In August 2009, Mackey publicly announced that Whole Foods was repositioning itself. He would take the company back to its original purpose: To sell healthy, nourishing food. “We sell a bunch of junk,” he told the Wall Street Journal, vowing to replace the likes of fried banana chips with more real bananas.<br />
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Several months later, Mackey appeared in WSJ once again, this time writing an op-ed to criticise President Barack Obama’s proposed healthcare reform plan. Though the article represented Mackey’s personal views, the title was The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare.<br />
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The same month, Mackey again angered liberals when he told a New Yorker writer he didn’t believe in climate change.<br />
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Alan Brochstein, principal analyst and founder of AB Analytical Services (who has bought stock in Whole Foods but doesn’t hold it currently) thinks Mackey’s comments go against the very idea of Conscious Capitalism.<br />
<br />
“He’s a loose cannon. The whole thing with the Yahoo board cost shareholders considerable angst if not money. We can all say what we want, but you don’t want a CEO to do that. If you want to be CEO, you need to not put your own personal needs above those of shareholders. If in Conscious Capitalism, everyone’s needs need to be balanced, why are his needs so high? He has an ego need, and it’s a big issue for the company.”<br />
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But Mackey has not been deterred by controversy; he vocalises the movement more fiercely now than ever before. Recently, Whole Foods donated more than $2.7 million for aid in Haiti. In January, it launched a healthy eating initiative in which more healthy employees and customers get up to 30 percent discount at the store.<br />
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Mackey says shareholders are also starting to understand that this new business paradigm is beneficial for the long term. He mentions that Leonard Green, a recent investor in Whole Foods, even attended a recent Conscious Capitalism Conference. “They know our culture and love it,” he insists.<br />
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Mackey and Ralph Sorenson, who is a director on the Whole Food board, also say they see many other companies moving toward Conscious Capitalism, especially as consumers became disgusted with corporate business practices during the economic downturn last year.<br />
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They rattle off a list of businesses that includes Walmart, Pepsi, Container Store, Costco and Staples. “It’s the next stage in the natural evolution of capitalism. But we have to make sure not to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” says Sorenson, emphasising that Conscious Capitalism is still very much capitalism. <br />
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“There is a lot of interest in it, but it is at an early stage. It hasn’t yet penetrated the mainstream. But I think Conscious Capitalism will start to move closer to the centre now,” says Mackey, with stoic confidence. In Firms of Endearment, the authors identify 30 companies that have followed Conscious Capitalism instead of focusing strictly on profits. <br />
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After tracking the long-term stock performance of those companies and comparing it to the performance the S&P 500, they found the companies following Conscious Capitalism did up to seven times better than the others.<br />
<br />
“This is no accident in my opinion. Rather, it is the result of all 30 firms creating a superior business model — the business model that I believe will become dominant in the 21st century,” writes Mackey. Coming from a broke, organic food-loving, college dropout who built an $8 billion business in a brand new market, Mackey might just be right. <br />
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<br />
<a href="http://business.in.com/article/beyond-business/whole-foods-is-a-loose-cannon-on-target/18072/3#ixzz12NtKxwnK" style="color: #003399;"></a></div></div></div></div></div></div><br />
<br />
<a href="http://business.in.com/article/beyond-business/whole-foods-is-a-loose-cannon-on-target/18072/1#ixzz12Nsv1yUw" style="color: #003399;"></a></div></div></div></div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-66450854591609739032010-09-06T16:27:00.000-07:002010-09-06T16:33:21.574-07:00Starting something in the great white city.I’m sorry for the long hiatus. Shifting cities and the end of summer can take a lot out of a girl. <br />
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**<br />
<br />
Since the first day I arrived in Washington, I felt an itch underneath the skin, a persistent feeling of something not right. <br />
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At first I thought it was entering a world in which people lived and breathed politics, a world where people talked about the tangled web of lobbying and elections at dinner parties. Or that everyone was transitory, so no one cared to make lasting ties. Or, as my dad put it, that DC was a small town made into a city just because the most important man in the world lives here. <br />
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But that persistent itch isn’t any of those things. This morning I woke up and knew exactly what it is.<br />
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I can’t find DC’s heart.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95X-LjFWVpFwJo91g7vz6r5CwrpcXBkcfvrrjfU9zavRi4jibFZQcKRKFjOirnIR6YZjN1qztovIanZNIOB0v_yu8j6PcF8LjT2QCZ5ilNa064A-dGinBPt2JiqVxEsM86XvU-oVzRaVF/s1600/3134820776_5bbe25022a_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh95X-LjFWVpFwJo91g7vz6r5CwrpcXBkcfvrrjfU9zavRi4jibFZQcKRKFjOirnIR6YZjN1qztovIanZNIOB0v_yu8j6PcF8LjT2QCZ5ilNa064A-dGinBPt2JiqVxEsM86XvU-oVzRaVF/s320/3134820776_5bbe25022a_z.jpg" /></a></div> (flickr)<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I’ve always felt that to get a pulse of a city you have to explore it when everyone is supposed to be asleep. You have to meet its insomniacs. You have to go to an underground Cuban dance bar in New York at 5 in the morning. You have to eat a greasy cheeseburger under fluorescent lights in a Chicago all-night diner as the sun comes up. Last night, DC at 5 am was drunk frat boys puking into a trash can. <br />
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Something else--I think a city without a native cuisine is troubling. Where’s the DC street food? Where’s the equivalent of the Chicago style pizza or the Manhattan clam chowder? The closest thing I can find is a “half-smoke”, a spicy cousin of the hot dog. But none of my Washington friends eat it. <br />
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Last night I went to U Street, the birthplace of Duke Ellington, a street which, according to the NYT housed a “multicultural slew of aging liberals and young antiestablishment types". I had high hopes, although my friend had warned me DC isn’t trendy, and so it’s awkward when it tries to be. He was right. The U Street I found is a series of bars much like any other, with small attempts at a hookah or jazz bar appearance, populated mostly by tame white Georgetown grads.<br />
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And the subways are empty, hollowed out. Even at rush hour they're dead quiet. The futuristic design makes it all seem very sterile. Somehow that's what bothers me the most.<br />
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**<br />
<br />
Maybe it’s because of the transitory nature of DC that it’s so hard to find the meat of it...because everyone is from everywhere, there is no one collective heartbeat,<br />
<br />
I know I’m not looking hard enough, or in the right places. And that I haven't been here long enough to know.<br />
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If you’re reading this in DC, can you show me its heart?<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg">Duke Ellington, "It don't mean a thing"</a>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-13264335104195988902010-08-06T19:34:00.001-07:002010-08-06T19:34:42.619-07:00David Sanborn in Naperville<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/t1gfCR8WMZ8&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/t1gfCR8WMZ8&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-86991458536414404172010-08-04T17:29:00.000-07:002010-08-04T17:41:29.389-07:00Kartemquin Films receiving Newberry's Altgeld Award<h2><span style="font-size: small;">Documentary company Kartemquin Films to be honored for defense of free speech</span><br />
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<br />
<div class="byline"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><span class="byline">By Elizabeth Flock, Special to the Tribune</span></span> </span><br />
<div class="date" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="dateString">July 30, 2010</span></span></span></div><div class="date"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/ct-x-c-kartemquin-film1-20100730,0,4556516.story"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="dateString">Read it at The Chicago Tribune </span></span></a></span><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the late 1970s, an unlikely mix of militant black workers, gay and lesbian activists, and <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/health/womens-health-HEPHC0000037.topic" id="HEPHC0000037" title="Women's Health">women's health</a> movement protestors gathered around a table in New York to talk about the problem they had in common: How to get their banned films on the air.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of those filmmakers was Gordon Quinn, co-founder of Kartemquin Films, best known for the award-winning <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/arts-culture/genres/documentary-%28genre%29-0100000004593864.topic" id="0100000004593864" title="Documentary
(genre)">documentary</a>, "Hoop Dreams." The film that was banned was "The Chicago Maternity Center Story," a documentary about women's health.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Over the 45 years we've been around, we've had our battles with freedom of expression issues," said Quinn from his Chicago office. "There were films that didn't get shown on television. But we were always aggressive about pushing them."</span></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><span style="font-size: small;">On Saturday, Kartemquin Films (KTQ) will receive the Newberry Library's 2010 Altgeld Award for Freedom of Speech. Named for former Illinois Gov. John Altgeld, who lost an election after pardoning three men convicted of the 1886 Haymarket riot, the annual award honors defenders of free speech and ideas.</span></span><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPoudbFL4EBwTvlNhdM6Gtp2C7GoLI6m2hQ4_69SV0Q37r_G3JkBFdY5I_QWXbuoJLdLnBvjwqSgCk2DexBc0EI3bhNi09FVIZQu7hkX61AErC45q7xS701k3iaBGmy9veRstHySXVsMqy/s1600/2912151445_313e2b577b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPoudbFL4EBwTvlNhdM6Gtp2C7GoLI6m2hQ4_69SV0Q37r_G3JkBFdY5I_QWXbuoJLdLnBvjwqSgCk2DexBc0EI3bhNi09FVIZQu7hkX61AErC45q7xS701k3iaBGmy9veRstHySXVsMqy/s320/2912151445_313e2b577b.jpg" /></a></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span class="toolSet" style="width: 345px;"></span></div></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">KTQ, the first documentary company to win the award, is being honored during the library's annual Bughouse Square Debates in </span><a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/washington-PLGEO100104900000000.topic" id="PLGEO100104900000000" style="font-weight: normal;" title="Washington">Washington</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Square Park. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Past recipients of the award include author </span><a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/arts-culture/literature/studs-terkel-PECLB004223.topic" id="PECLB004223" style="font-weight: normal;" title="Studs Terkel">Studs Terkel</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and the American Library Association.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rachel Bohlmann, director of public programs at the Newberry Library, said KTQ was chosen because it "is such a critical lens of American society" and often picks subjects ignored or misrepresented by the media. </span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Quinn, 68, did not set out to be a filmmaker. The college he attended in the 1960s, the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/university-of-chicago-OREDU0000151.topic" id="OREDU0000151" title="University of Chicago">University of Chicago</a>, offered no film courses. But he and two fellow students joked that one day they would start a film production company.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">A few years later, the joke became reality when Quinn was given the opportunity to work on the documentary "Home for Life," about two people at a home for the aged. Quinn learned to edit and shoot on the job, and soon after started Kartemquin Films with Jerry Temaner and Stan Karter. The three students used the first parts of their last names to form the name of their film company.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">KTQ's documentaries usually examine society through the stories of real people, because "we want our films to be story driven, having characters, <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/arts-culture/genres/drama-%28genre%29-GENRE000062.topic" id="GENRE000062" title="Drama (genre)">drama</a> and emotion," Quinn said. "And we care about the people in our films, we like and respect them."</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Justine Nagan, who replaced Quinn as executive director in 2008, said they are humbled to receive such an award.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">"I think we received the award because we make projects not to a particular party line, but to foster an independent voice," she said.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">That was evident in the 1970s, when the company took an advocate with such controversial films as "The Chicago Maternity Center Story," which was told through the eyes of a young pregnant woman.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">"That's the period when some people thought we were a feminist collective," Nagan said.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the 80s, KTQ's film "Taylor Chain II" expressed freedom of speech in another way: It was the first time collective bargaining had ever been filmed in the U.S.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">"We've continually evolved," Nagan said. "But what's stayed the same is that we have a Midwestern lens and work ethic. And we often reach an international audience."</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">That proved true in 1994, when KTQ made "Hoop Dreams," a nearly three-hour documentary about two boys from Chicago's projects who dreamed of playing professional basketball.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">"It got a lot of people to connect and see inner-city families, people who would never tune in to see public TV about poverty," Quinn said. "It broke down those barriers."</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ryan Jewell, executive editor of the Independent Feature Project, says KTQ has built a local following partly because of its support of the community.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">"They watch the films of independent filmmakers, give advice and fiscal sponsorship. They really want to build the community," Ryan said.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">KTQ will also contribute to the community through a diversity fellowship, recently created with the help of a MacArthur Grant. Its first fellow, Usama Alshaibi, is making a film about the perceptions of Arab-Americans after <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/terrorism/september-11-2001-attacks-EVHST000001.topic" id="EVHST000001" title="September 11, 2001
Attacks">9/11</a> called "American Arab."</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">"We saw the lack of opportunity for filmmakers of color in the Midwest and wanted to be a part of the solution for that problem," Nagan said.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">"We do make clear where our sympathies lie," Quinn said. "But in this period of history, we try to frame our documentaries to help people understand people better, not divide them apart."</span></div></h2>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-23099026426471682562010-07-24T14:35:00.000-07:002010-07-24T16:16:29.684-07:00Students draft a lesson plan of their own<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
<span class="pubdate" style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; font-size: small; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Youth Empowerment Project members go to D.C. to present ideas for keeping kids in school</span><br />
<div class="mod-chitribarticlebyline mod-articlebyline" id="mod-article-byline" style="border-width: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: inherit; line-height: 17px; margin: 15px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="pubdate" style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; font-size: small; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">July 23, 2010</span><span class="separator" style="border-width: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: inherit; font-size: small; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 5px;">|</span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">By Elizabeth Flock, Special to the Tribune</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-07-23/news/ct-x-c-youth-education-proposal-20100723_1_dropout-rate-students-proposal-schools">Read it at the Chicago Tribune </a></span></div><div class="mod-chitribarticlebyline mod-articlebyline" id="mod-article-byline" style="border-width: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 15px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,-webkit-fantasy; font-size: small; line-height: 18px;">Amara Brady's academic life changed when she transferred to Mother McAuley High School on the Southwest Side last year. She got better books, more passionate teachers and access to postsecondary education information she'd never had.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">"The schools aren't on a level playing field. And some systems are just set up for failure," said Brady, 16, who lives in the North Lawndale neighborhood, where many teens are faced with drugs, violence and a rising dropout rate.</span></div><div class="mod-chitribarticlebyline mod-articlebyline" id="mod-article-byline" style="border-width: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 15px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Deciding she wanted to do something about it, Brady joined World Vision's Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), which gives young people a voice to become what they call "agents of change." World Vision is a Christian organization dedicated to fighting poverty.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; line-height: 17px;"></span></span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Brady is one of 13 Chicago-area students who decided they wanted to do something about it. Each year, YEP students from across the country choose an issue that is most on their minds, then come up with a proposal on how to implement change and present it to their local leaders.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">After five months of community mapping, interviews, surveys and debate, the Chicago-area students from both public and private schools had a clear choice for this year's issue: education. They wanted to find a way to keep kids in school.</span><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGe-QRIGjDORctmiA0NWqloZvwWMhapykad501kvoX3nD9bSSwLiCmjvxQrlQUz9Ihzl8LySaZIPK2WbnfaHop5o0yThBvuwb4kTB_K37w-etrDXE6ZM8ZDVXpD3rCQTZWwTbujsTYZTp1/s1600/2635464194_2015f8e529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGe-QRIGjDORctmiA0NWqloZvwWMhapykad501kvoX3nD9bSSwLiCmjvxQrlQUz9Ihzl8LySaZIPK2WbnfaHop5o0yThBvuwb4kTB_K37w-etrDXE6ZM8ZDVXpD3rCQTZWwTbujsTYZTp1/s320/2635464194_2015f8e529.jpg" /></a></span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"></div><a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The students presented their proposal to local representatives in Washington this week.</span><br />
</span><br />
<div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">In recent years, violence has been a focus for the project and is still a top issue. But students said they realized that violence by and against youth is an underlying reason why many students drop out.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">"I have friends and family members affected by (violence)," said JaVée Howard, 18, who attends Morgan Park High School. "But we found another way to attack at youth violence without actually having to talk about it."</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">A recent study from the U.S. Department of Education shows that less than 75 percent of students nationwide got high school diplomas within four years.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">"The dropout rate is about violence, but it's also people, the teachers, the schools and the neighborhoods," said Howard.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">The students' proposal, which they presented to community leaders in Chicago last week, had four key recommendations:</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">The first is to level the playing field for all schools in Chicago by updating the facilities and materials. Howard said one of his friends is still using Windows 98 and a Math Busters program from the 1980s at school.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">The students also proposed that schools increase social support by asking for more parental involvement and adding extracurriculars.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; line-height: 17px;"></span></span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Carol Beal, chairman of the Block Club Association, who was present at the students' presentation last week, understood.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">"If you have nothing to do, you find something ignorant to do," Beal said. "If you don't want it to lead to trouble, it still might. They need resources and activities to occupy their time."</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Feedback from students in the form of quarterly and annual surveys was another suggestion. Both could help identify problems such as inedible food and inadequate teachers, students said.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Access to information on post-secondary education, which Brady found at Mother McAuley, is the final point. The teens want counselors who can provide students information on everything from the PSAT to how to fill out a job application.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Lack of funding and budget cutbacks are an issue, say some school officials.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; line-height: 17px;"></span></span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">"We had to reduce one of our major programs 'Graduation Pathways,' which monitors and guides students to graduate," said Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond. "If we had additional funding, it could help the deficits we're faced with."</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Better funding is part of the students' requests to Washington officials this week. They are also lobbying for the Youth PROMISE Act, legislation that advocates for more resources for preventive programs in education. The bill has 234 co-sponsors in the House.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">The Rev. Joe Huizenga, of Roseland Christian Ministries, said hearing the students tell their own stories had a huge impact.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">"The kids talked about friends who got into gangs, dropped out of school and missed the window. They all wanted to change this. They told us just how much they believed in it. It was pretty remarkable," he said.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">In Washington, the students were scheduled to meet with Sen. Roland Burris, Rep. Bobby Rush and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Before they left, they pitched the proposal to Sen. Dick Durbin's office, where spokeswoman Christina Mulka said it was "well-informed and well-received."</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Howard was confident their proposal will work in Washington because the ideas "came from the heart."</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">Brady, who hopes to attend Howard University after graduation, agrees.</span></div><div style="border-width: 0px; color: #292727; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;">"We often feel as a teenager no one will listen to us. But we want to make a difference," she said. "That's why this program is one of the most perfect opportunities. And if we don't make a change, well, who else is going to do it?"</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #292727; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,fantasy; font-size: small;"></span><br />
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</div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-78951221103462699532010-07-16T10:30:00.000-07:002010-07-24T16:03:35.499-07:00Fear and Loathing in Arizona<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-flock/fear-and-loathing-in-ariz_b_647841.html">Read it at Huffington Post</a><br />
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Posted: July 16, 2010 11:26 AM<br />
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The first of seven lawsuits against Arizona's controversial immigration law is being heard this week in federal court in Phoenix. The Justice Department will challenge the state for usurping federal authority to enforce immigration laws. Americans are <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/07/justice-department-sues-arizona-to-block-immigration-law-americans-still-divided-over-how-to-handle-issue.html" target="_hplink">divided</a> on the issue, as is always the case with immigration. Some worry the legislation will lead to police harassment of people of color. Others are busy making private <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0715/Arizona-immigration-law-heads-to-court-with-1.2-million-war-chest" target="_hplink">donations</a> for a defense fund of the law.<br />
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On the other side of the world, another battle over immigration drags on.<br />
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In Mumbai, India, the <a href="http://opinionasia.com/Indiasonofthesoil" target="_hplink">Shiv Sena and MNS political parties</a> continue to declare that Mumbai is a city only for Marathis (people from the state in which Mumbai is located). The parties enforce this notion with gangster tactics. In the past, party members have beaten up non-Marathis working in Mumbai, threatened Marathi celebrities who call themselves 'Indian' instead of 'Marathi', and attacked media offices. Just this week, the Shiv Sena told a radio station it must start playing more Marathi songs or <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/play-marathi-songs-or-face-the-music-bal-thackeray-to-fm-radio-channels-36756" target="_hplink">'face the music.'</a><br />
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There are fundamental differences between these two battles, of course. Arizona's law could be used to discriminate on the basis of a person's color. The Shiv Sena and MNS discriminate on the basis of a person's home state. Arizona's law attempts to control immigration from outside of the country, while the Shiv Sena and MNS want to control immigration from within. Arizona wants to do it legally, while the Shiv Sena and MNS resort to violence<br />
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What is common between the two cases, however, is fear.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdhF0ipV4ezbadh3I3yTIpfGA1VJvmU0ZAS1oTm27ae76_l3Jz8s9iqHIgxT8qV8HMsHYCfNDlL75p7ZrWmvGw1tZMexsN7akp9Cu8GbqGaafhWPGji1ej3Qwpvwms1-GLPSWfoc2uPV1D/s1600/2057532069_20ceda27ac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdhF0ipV4ezbadh3I3yTIpfGA1VJvmU0ZAS1oTm27ae76_l3Jz8s9iqHIgxT8qV8HMsHYCfNDlL75p7ZrWmvGw1tZMexsN7akp9Cu8GbqGaafhWPGji1ej3Qwpvwms1-GLPSWfoc2uPV1D/s320/2057532069_20ceda27ac.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<a name='more'></a>At a recent town hall meeting in Casa Grande, Arizona, televised by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgjP5c5WXN0" target="_hplink">CNN</a>, one Arizonan woman expressed her concern over immigrants in her state to Senator John McCain: "As a normal citizen what do we do? ...Besides sitting here, you know, worried and wondering and frustrated?" Another resident proposed a violent solution: "Shoot, shovel and shut up." The room laughed nervously. The fear of the Casa Grande residents, whose town sees around 80 percent of illegal immigrants pass through, was unmistakable.<br />
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In Mumbai, the Shiv Sena and MNS parties continue to warn the Marathi people that Indians from the north will come and steal their jobs, destroy their language, and dilute their customs. Most of the parties' rhetoric is laced with these kinds of fears.<br />
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In Robert S. Wistrich's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Demonizing-Other-Antisemitism-Xenophobia-Studies/dp/9057024977" target="_hplink"><i>Demonizing the Other</i></a><i>: Antisemitism, Racism, and Xenophobia</i>, he talks about how we demonize that which is other than us in part because we fear them. Our fear is used to fabricate images of the "other" as an enemy that must be destroyed.<br />
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Change.org last year put up a <a href="http://immigration.change.org/blog/view/2009_global_anti-immigrant_hall_of_shame_part_1" target="_hplink">Global Anti-Immigrant Hall of Shame </a>(a list which the Shiv Sena was on), and writer Prerna Lal pointed out that xenophobia was to blame. Xenophobia is defined as the uncontrollable fear of foreigners. That fear should not dictate the immigration dialogue any longer.<br />
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Lal wrote: "Governments have the right to control their borders and numbers of immigrants but in a way that protects and safeguards human rights." Let's hope that Mumbai's government can find a way to deal with the Shiv Sena and MNS parties' concerns in a less violent manner. And that Arizona's law, however it may turn out, protects and safeguards both American and immigrant rights.Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-11272235463991058922010-07-05T14:28:00.000-07:002010-07-05T14:28:44.527-07:00Save Money, Live Better: The Case for Wal-Mart on the South Side of ChicagoRead it at <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-flock/save-money-live-better-th_b_630864.html">Huffington Post</a><br />
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Posted: June 30, 2010 03:24 PM<br />
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Wal-Mart may be coming to Chicago, and soon.<br />
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Union opposition has kept Wal-Mart at bay for the last six years, but when the company agreed to pay entry-level workers 50 cents above the minimum wage, unions were suddenly all ears. Last week, the City Council zoning committee finally signed off on a Wal-Mart store on Chicago's South Side.<br />
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It helped that Wal-Mart has estimated it would add 12,000 jobs over the next five years in Chicago, where the unemployment rate is more than <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/evans-wary-of-more-asset-buys-to-spur-growth-2010-06-30?reflink=MW_news_stmp" target="_hplink">10 percent</a>. There are plenty of debates going on over whether Wal-Mart is really the answer to unemployment on the South Side. One persistent argument against the company is that Wal-Mart is bad news for the mom-and-pop stores, and that the many job gains for the city will be offset by the fall-out for the owners of small businesses.<br />
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I have a family friend down on the South Side named Brenda, who is unemployed and on disability benefits because of several medical maladies. Brenda lives in West Pullman, not far from where Wal-Mart proposes to set up shop.<br />
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Brenda was recently wearing a brand new white jumpsuit. When she was complimented on the suit, she proudly said that it was "designer" and that she had bought it for $268. The suit was clearly worth much less.<br />
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Convenience stores, as well as mom-and-pop stores down on the South Side are known for charging obscene rates for clothing and other products, reeling in customers by putting flashy signs that say "Designer" or "Exclusive" next to cheap clothing. It wouldn't hurt for Wal-Mart to undercut a few of the mom-and-pop prices, so that South Side customers have a better idea of the value of a jumpsuit or pair of jeans.<br />
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The other issue plaguing the South Side, particularly African American residents, is that it has the most "food deserts" in Chicago -- areas where residents have no grocery store. A 2006 report by Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group showed that in a typical African American block, the nearest grocery store is about two-times further than the nearest fast food restaurant.<br />
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Food deserts on Chicago's South Side have shrunk some since 2006, and this has provided health benefits to the communities. <a href="http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago_news/Absence_of_grocery_stores_plague_South_Side,29370" target="_hplink">A 2009 Gallagher progress report said</a> that if a grocery store were added to 11500 S. Michigan on the South Side (just a block from where Brenda lives), 15.46 lives could be saved from diabetes, 58.39 from cancer, 111.81 from cardiovascular disease and 12.90 from liver disease.<br />
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While Wal-Mart has proposed to open stores of varying size, both its grocery store format and Supercenter format will be complete with produce, frozen food, fresh meats, etc. A grocery store of this magnitude, with both healthy and unhealthy options, could do wonders for the health of the South Side community.<br />
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Wal-Mart's slogan "Save money, live better" promises a lot. So does its entrance into Chicago. The city will soon see whether Wal-Mart can live up to that promise.Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-49799962177221097012010-06-27T20:44:00.000-07:002010-06-27T20:49:01.859-07:00Call of the Road<div class="pdt5"><a href="http://business.in.com/article/traveller/across-usa-the-call-of-the-road/14552/1"><span class="t-16-gy-l">Read it at Forbes India</span></a><br />
</div><div class="pdt5"></div><div class="pdt5"><span class="t-16-gy-l">The automobile and the USA — it’s been a long love affair. And what could be more American than a good old-fashioned road trip? </span></div><div class="pdt10 pdb10"><span class="t-10-gy-l"> by <a class="t-10-gy-l" href="http://business.in.com/search.php?writer=Elizabeth+Flock">Elizabeth Flock </a> | Jun 28, 2010 </span><br />
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</div><div class="pdt10 pdb10"></div><div class="pdt10 pdb10">"Road trip.” That’s all I needed to say to my friend Eileen. A week later, we piled into my 1986 Toyota Camry and headed out of Los Angeles. Destination: Home, Chicago, 2,112 miles away. The Camry was as old as I was — in fact, a mechanic had pronounced it incapable of making the trip — but there had been no question of whether I would take it with me. <br />
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The cult of the road trip in America boils down to this: We love our automobiles. A mere 8 percent of us don’t own a car. When automobiles first came out in the early 1900s, critics said it would be better to just get yourself a horse. But, as American political satirist P.J. O’Rourke has pointed out, the automobile did get a horse for everybody. My Camry was my horse, and I loved it deeply, for its automatic seatbelts, deep furry seats, cassette tape player, and the right-hand window that could only roll down halfway.<br />
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<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-right: 10px;"></table>H. Nelson Jackson, a San Francisco doctor, was another American who really loved his car. In 1903, he bet his friends that he could drive his two-cylinder Winston Automobile (he called it “Vermont”) all the way across the country. <br />
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At that time, the only modes of travel were horses and railroads. No one had ever done a cross-country road trip before. He set off with a friend who doubled as a mechanic, and a dog named Bud. Vermont got a gas leak in Oregon. They had to drag the car at one point, get it towed by a horse at another. But 63 days later, Jackson smugly collected his $50 bet. <br />
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The Great American Road Trip as it exists today is bound to be an adventure. The weird people you meet and the heartland food, the changing landscape, the car troubles, figuring out maps and managing the little money you have. And singing along to the music, loud, the whole way.<br />
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We hoped to make it from LA to Chicago in three days. That is, if we made it at all. Neither of us said it, but I knew we both thought the Camry wouldn’t make it. So when we drove the first 270 miles from LA to Las Vegas without a hitch, we laughed, delighted to be wrong. <br />
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Around the time Jackson finished his cross-country road trip, Henry Ford’s Model T cars started rolling off his famous assembly lines; more than 15 million from 1909 to 1927. Americans were happy to ditch the railroads for their own personal horse. The automobile became a member of the family. Like Jackson, Americans gave their cars names; I christened my Camry “La Cienega”, after a street I loved in Los Angeles. <span class="t-10-gy-l"></span></div><div class="pdt10 pdb10"><span class="t-10-gy-l"><br />
</span></div><div class="pdt10 pdb10">Driving La Cienega out of Las Vegas, Eileen and I imagined ourselves like the family in Grapes of Wrath, but setting out in the opposite direction, back from California, because we’d already seen the Promised Land. Or like Dean Moriarty and Sal in On the Road, though we didn’t have the guts to try the drugs or antics they did. No, we decided, we were more like Thelma and Louise. Two young women trying to escape our lives with a little bit of adventure. <br />
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Ah, adventure. As we entered Death Valley, the lowest, driest, hottest place in all of North America, La Cienega began to tremble. We should have known she couldn’t take the desert heat; we could have driven around it. But we were determined to take the speedy 15-70-76-80 interstate route, which cut straight through the valley. <br />
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Eileen and I kept pushing it. Brave La Cienega huffed and puffed until the middle of the valley. And then she went into a coma. <br />
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“S**t, I think she’s overheated,” Eileen said. “What do we do?” I asked in an unsteady voice, feeling for La Cienega as if she was my child in hospital. <br />
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We popped the hood and poured coolant in the engine. La Cienega didn’t move. We put in water. More coolant. Still nothing. We tried to wave down a car, a truck, anything, but there was endless desert around us. Some vehicles passed, but no one stopped. <br />
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After three hours in the sweltering sun, we stripped down to just our bras and shorts. Partly because we were hot, but also because Eileen pointed out we could better wave down a bus driver that way.<br />
We had made good time, having reached Death Valley from Los Angeles in just six hours. </div><div class="pdt10 pdb10"></div><div class="pdt10 pdb10">Alice Ramsey, the first woman to cross the country by car, took 59 days from New York to San Francisco in 1909. Then again, with only 152 miles of the 3,600 miles she travelled paved, it wasn’t easy. Not to mention changing 11 tires, repairing a broken brake pedal, cleaning spark plugs, and sleeping in the car after it got stuck in mud. But I’d bet she didn’t mind — it’s likely she was just as crazy about her automobile as Jackson or I was.<br />
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“Grrrrhhhph,” said La Cienega. “Grrrrhhhphhhhhppphh”, and she came to life. <br />
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<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-right: 10px;"></table>“I knew you could pull through!” I shouted, giving her a happy slap on her hood and jumping behind the wheel.<br />
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Colorado. Death Valley was a distant dream. We were surrounded by the craggy spires of the Rocky Mountains. We felt incredibly tiny in our already tiny car. And we were utterly alone. <br />
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“Wow,” I said, and could say nothing more. “I know,” Eileen said. “I know.”<br />
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I saw the hungry look in her eyes, and let her drive. There is nothing like hugging the curves of the mountain roads, feeling your automobile dip and rise beneath you. La Cienega was still jerky, spluttering at times, but it didn’t matter; this was bliss. By sundown we got to Boulder, haven for hippies and pot-smokers. <br />
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In the morning, we trundled back onto Interstate 76 and headed for 80 where we’d hit Omaha, Nebraska. We’d chosen 76 because it was faster and easier than Route 66. Not without a pang of regret: Route 66, after all, was the iconic road trip highway. <br />
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“It’s gonna be all flat land,” Eileen warned me, “Let me know if you’re about to fall asleep.”<br />
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I knew I wouldn’t get bored or sleepy. I was still enchanted by the endless stretch of open road. It wasn’t Route 66, but I found enjoyment in discovering the almost imperceptible changes in the land, in the small markers that displayed how many miles were left, in the funny town names. Rawhide! Valentine! Tincup!<br />
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We were deep into Nebraska now, and it was getting dark. “Stop?” Eileen asked, and it had been exactly what I was thinking. Your thoughts tend to collide when you’re in the car together for long enough. <br />
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We tried to stop in a local bar for a beer and some food to shake off the day of driving. But the bar was full of grizzled men with mullet haircuts, their eyes glazed from too many days in a row drinking. We ate at a greasy Midwestern America diner down the road instead — French fries, a greasy burger and fried chicken. We stumbled back to our hotel room in a food hangover, not caring that it smelled of smoke or that the bed’s sheets were stained from some earlier love affair. We collapsed into bed, content. <br />
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After threatening not to start at all, La Cienega spluttered to life. The airconditioner now barely worked. The music player went on and off. Performance was pathetic. Americans — men particularly — love performance machines with horsepower and muscle. I loved the Camry despite its lack of both.<br />
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Eileen and I were groggy, maybe a little hung over, eyes watering from the endless staring at the road. We joked less, the silences stretched longer. <br />
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At this point in their journey, the family in Grapes of Wrath were down for the count, with two dead, two who’d jumped ship. In On the Road, Sal had spent so much time with Dean he’d realised what a “rat” he was and they were about to separate. As for Thelma and Louise? On the run from the law, they were approaching their tragic end. <br />
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Eileen and I weren’t dead, separated or on the run from the law. But the last 1,000 miles and 15 hours were rough. I could feel La Cienega telling me she didn’t have much left in her.<br />
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When we finally pulled into my driveway, we were quiet. <br />
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Then: “We made it!” we both shouted, together, laughing. <br />
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There was just one thing left, an itch in the back of my mind. I had to go back to college in Boston in a few weeks. I turned to the passenger seat, and knowing La Cienega was listening too, I asked Eileen, “Up for one more road trip?” </div>Elizabeth Flockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06445828130842719478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-871208161088292043.post-43298348421337717112010-06-23T20:52:00.000-07:002010-06-23T20:56:52.115-07:00We live in public.The Stanley McChrystal <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/us/politics/24mcchrystal.html?ref=global-home">debacle</a> today initially reminded me of the response to member of Indian parliament Shashi Tharoor's <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Tharoor-tweets-apology-for-cattle-class-remarks/articleshow/5024756.cms">tweets</a> about not wanting to travel "cattle class". Both were fairly stupid moves on their part, considering McChrystal's somewhat tense relationship with Obama, and Tharoor's with Congress over his level of austerity.<br />
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But the real issue here, I think, is about a the image our public figures have to cultivate for the public, and what happens when they reveal a bit too much. <br />
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