Vibrant boosterism
Thomas Frank is the author of the bestseller What's the Matter with Kansas? and coeditor of The Baffler. I just came across "Dead End on Shakin
Say Hello To 5 Strangers Today
Here's a blog post from "One Green Generation" about community building that offers a specific suggestion: Say Hello To 5 Strangers Today. I've pasted part of the post and a few of the comments here. The consistent point, as you'll see, is that we have lost a sense of community that used to exist as a part of daily life. I agree that we can make a difference by changing how we behave in small ways (I've been experimenting, and will write about that soon), and there are regional and [...]
How to Build an Online Community | Cisionblog
Or not. This extract, "How to Build an Online Community," comes from a website for PR people, from a company that sells what is, I'm sure, a fantastic (and thus expensive) database of media people: A community is more than just a one-time marketing campaign. It
“Only connect. . .” – Howards End by E M Forster
I found an old copy of Howards End on my bookshelves after reading a reference to its epigram, "Only connect. . ." Connecting is on my mind, working on this project and on my company's ChinaConnectU.com, and of course in life, too. I remembered the green paperback amongst my myriad books, poetry and novels from my student days that I somehow got to England after college and to the East Coast when I returned to the States ten years' later. I began reading, was immediately engaged by the amusing opening [...]
‘Cash-Mob’ Creates Movie-Like Fairy Tale for Family Behind Ohio Hardware Store – ABC News
The town I live in ("some of the time," my neighbors might say) is known for efforts to promote local businesses as part of a sustainable regional economy. I've written about them and will be writing more. When I came across this article, which mentions the "sense of community," I wondered if such a thing could happen in Great Barrington. And I wondered if the good feeling that motivated the "mob" shoppers would keep them coming back, again and again. While Black has been fending media calls, Shutts and her [...]
Lewis Mumford on YouTube, talking about the city in history
Lewis Mumford appeared on the cover of TIME on 18 April 1938 (click here to view), after the publication of his first book on the city, The Culture of Cities. Read the review here. He published a second, The City in History, in 1961, reviewed in TIME with the title "Books: Necropolis Revisited" (read here). I spent many afternoons in the Mumfords' country house and got to know Lewis through long conversations with his widow, Sophia, and I've read his books and gone through many of his letters and photographs. [...]