What is community?

Bowling Alone

2006-05-10T21:51:00.000-06:00

To wrap up our semester, I have a book review for you to check out.

I have enjoyed having each of you in class. Thank you for a wonderful semester!

Leaders

2006-05-08T13:09:00.000-06:00

Click on this link to find a list of Time's ispirational leaders and revolutionaries. The site gives you the opportunity to read a small biography on each leader. Is there one revolutionary that stands out to you? Who would you want involved in your community? Who do you think did the most for the community he or she was involved in?

Tolerance

2006-05-07T12:40:00.000-06:00

Prowl around some at Tolerance.org and see what you can find for community support.

National Anthem

2006-05-04T11:23:00.000-06:00

I received the following email from my father-in-law today. I can't believe in all our talk on community we have failed to talk about the things that identify communities - i.e. flags, anthems, etc. Following the news article (that you'll see is from the Washington Post, only without a link) is Rex's commentary. Feel free to comment on any part of this you wish.

Nuestro Himno

O nap s-ap neid mo an ke:k s'alig tonlig ta:gio?

Thursday, May 4, 2006; Page A24

YOU DIDN'T recognize the first line of the national anthem, translated into O'odham, the language of the Tohono tribe? Don't feel bad: Two-thirds of Americans don't know all the words in English. Of the one-third who claim they do, only 39 percent, according to a Harris poll, can correctly sing the phrase that follows "whose broad stripes and bright stars" (answer: "through the perilous fight"). Written to a British tune that spans multiple octaves, Francis Scott Key's national anthem has always presented a vocal as well as a verbal challenge. Nevertheless, it has inspired patriotic immigrants and Native Americans to produce Finnish, German and Yiddish ("O'zog kenstu senh...") translations as well as O'odham.

As it happens, there are already several Spanish versions, including one written in 1919 and several published on the State Department's Web site. There are other kinds of interpretations, too: Jimi Hendrix is only one of many pop stars who have riffed on the tune, much as artists such as Jasper Johns have found new ways to use the American flag. Converting national symbols into new art forms is an American tradition, which is why the objections to a new Spanish-language recording of the national anthem -- hard to take seriously at first -- are rapidly ceasing to be funny.

Perhaps President Bush was speaking from his gut when he said, "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English." It seems more likely that he was speaking from the part of his brain that calculates how many Republicans dislike his immigration policy. We can't imagine any excuse for the silly resolution introduced by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), demanding that "statements of national unity" be read or sung in English -- never mind that Spanish teachers have been teaching their American students the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish for years.

Are Americans really so insecure that they can't bear to hear their anthem sung in Spanish? We suggest that readers take a moment to listen to "Nuestro Himno" -- a respectful, recognizable, stirring version of a familiar song -- before making up their minds.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

This was in today's Washington Post

It seems to me that whatever one happens to think about our immigration policy, the "outrage" about singing the national anthem in Spanish is really a bad sign for our country. If the anthem is sung in a mocking fashion, in any language, that's a different thing. But if people are seriously singing in tribute to our country (as this article shows many have, for years and years), I would hope we would think that is a good thing, whatever the language.

I assume that everyone by now has read the press reports that the anthem (as well as America The Beautiful) has been sung in Spanish at a number of Bush political events throughout his political career? I see no reason to doubt that, since he has consistently reached out to the Hispanic community. As well he should, in my opinion. Countless U. S. politicians over the years have participated in events which celebrated the culture and language of other countries.

So I hope we will all help to scale back the heat of the rhetoric on this. No serious problem I can think of has ever been solved by outrage and silly Congressional resolutions.

Rex

Museum

2006-05-03T12:25:00.000-06:00

Check out this cool idea for a museum.

Museum in the Community began in 1983 as a collaboration between the Huntington Museum of Art and a group of high school students. Under the guidance of their art teacher and with funding from the West Virginia Arts and Humanities Council, students from the Putnam County Gifted Art Program took on an ambitious semester project: to learn how a museum works and how an exhibition is put together, and then to present a real art exhibition in their own community.

From this modest start in a storefront in an old strip mall the Museum has expanded its programs to become an arts education and cultural center for visitors of all ages and interests. The Museum has presented over 100 exhibitions and more than 75 performances. Visual arts, dance, music and drama are all represented at its annual summer arts camp.

The website has information, a calendar of events and photographs. Do you think this is a good addition for a community?

Deaf Culture

2006-05-02T13:12:00.000-06:00

Usually, NPR provides just audio recordings of their transcripts, but for this special on the deaf culture they have also provided a written transcript. Either listen to or read over the transcript and provide your reflection of the community presented.

Boise Public School District

2006-05-01T17:19:00.000-06:00

Here's the community page for the Boise Public School District. Check it out as another definition of community. Or perhaps it isn't much of a definition, since it really only mentions the geographical location of Boise. Is that a defining factor?

Harry Potter

2006-04-30T19:56:00.000-06:00

This community for Harry Potter fans sounds like a pretty easy community to join. Are their requirements for community members too easy? Too difficult? Do the requirements to belong in a particular community change for the different types of communities people can belong to?

Community Building

2006-04-25T08:31:00.000-06:00

What is Community Building?

Community Building, as practiced in the context of FCE, is a group process where participants experience and practice communication skills that create the possibility for deep human connection.

The process was first described by best-selling author, Dr. M. Scott Peck, in his book, The Different Drum. He presented further information in a later book, A World Waiting To Be Born.

Participants sit in a circle. Brief instruction is offered regarding the guidelines for interaction. Supported by two facilitators, the group begins to interact with persons speaking as they are moved to do so. The work of Community Building belongs to the group as a whole. The facilitators do not teach or provide answers. Their role is to pay attention to the group process and give helpful feedback to the group as it does its work.

Generally, a group will cycle through four distinct stages. In the stage of Pseudo-Community, the group is characterized by polite interaction as individuals "test the waters" of relationship, operating on the assumption that group members have few differences that divide them.

As the group continues to talk, the previously unspoken differences begin to emerge. Typically, participants deal with the discomfort caused by the discovery of difference by seeking to "fix" others or to "convert" people to their point of view. In this stage, there is often limited listening, high emotional energy, and a significant level of frustration. This stage has been labeled chaos.

Groups regularly deal with the confusion of chaos by retreating to the stage of pseudo-community or by attempting to organize in some way. Neither of these avenues leads to a deep level of connection with others. A difficult, but effective way to transcend the barriers to relationship lies through emptiness. Emptying happens when individuals begin to notice what they are carrying within themselves that prevents them from being authentically present with the group and fully accepting others. As people begin to share what is real for them—personal experience of the present moment in the group, prejudices, stories of past pain or joy, unfulfilled expectations—group members begin to come together in a new way. In this stage, a group will often feel like it is dying but, in the painful struggle to let go of the barriers to relationship, there is opportunity for something new to emerge.

The process of emptying provides room for a group to receive the gift of Community. In this stage people experience a deep acceptance of others and find themselves accepted as well. Individuals come to know themselves and others in new ways. Differences still exist but they are transcended and celebrated rather than suppressed. The group is characterized by a sense of profound respect, appreciation and joy.

Each of these stages is part of healthy community. A group will not rest undisturbed in the fourth stage but continue to cycle through all the stages. A gift of this process is that people acquire skills to enable continued movement through the stages instead of being stuck in places of division. Community Building provides an opportunity for people to learn how to come together authentically and truthfully in ways that encourage wholeness in relationship.

Random Breakfast Stories

2006-04-23T12:58:00.000-06:00

This is an entirely random LiveJournal for people to write short stories about breakfasts from McDonald's. Check it out, maybe read some of the stories, and talk here about the community established on this LJ and how it fits what the creators intended.

Milford, NH

2006-04-21T08:40:00.000-06:00

Milford, New Hampshire sure sounds like a nice place to live, doesn't it? Why does this video only promote the town's material assets?

World of Warcraft

2006-04-17T10:03:00.000-06:00

Check out this community. Is this a good community? A viable community? A productive community? A useful community?

Starbucks

2006-04-14T21:04:00.000-06:00

Here is one community's mission statement:

Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity.

Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.

Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee.

Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.

Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.

Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success.
Understanding of environmental issues and sharing information with our partners.

Developing innovative and flexible solutions to bring about change.

Striving to buy, sell and use environmentally friendly products.

Recognizing that fiscal responsibility is essential to our environmental future.

Instilling environmental responsibility as a corporate value.

Measuring and monitoring our progress for each project.

Encouraging all partners to share in our mission.

Click here to find out whose it is. Then write about your response to your discovery.

www.whitehouse.org

2006-04-12T16:24:00.000-06:00

Does a community need subversion to be strong? Does subversion destroy community?

Some people see it as a necessity - that humor can keep things light and help people be aware of the current dominant situation.

Other people find it offensive.

Regardless of your political views and whether or not you take offense at government subversion, check out this web site and speak your mind. Remember - this is not about your particular political views. This is more about your critical thoughts on subversion (satire, undermining dominant power, etc.) and its effects on community, if there are any.

Bad Ass Coffee

2006-04-09T09:27:00.000-06:00

Take a gander at this article from Wisconsin. Does a store like this really degrade the community? Or are these people just being sensitive?

Coffee shop serves attitude with its java

(Columbia) April 6, 2006 - There's a new java joint in town, but it's not the coffee that's got people talking, it's the name.

It's coffee with a kick, named after an animal with an attitude at the "Bad Ass Coffee Co."

From outside it's hard to see where the coffee company is coming from, but the moment you step inside the story behind the name is apparent from the artwork. Owner Todd Wren explains, "The company is named in honor of these hardworking donkeys."

Legend has it the donkeys once carried heavy loads of coffee up and down the mountains of Kona, Hawaii - the place the shop gets its goods.

But the in-your-face name is stirring up trouble for some who live nearby. Ned Timmerman, for instance, has a problem with the name, "I'm disappointed, because I thought our community had more class than this."

Timmerman brings his family to Five Points after church. He thinks the name is naughty and he doesn't want his daughter to see it.

"This is right in the middle of our shopping area; right in the middle of our neighborhood."

And right where it has a right to be, according to the city. Mayor Bob Coble says, "Every city is under obscenity laws. I think without question you could not make an argument that this would fit under that."

Marketing expert Dr. Stacy Wood says the shock value could spike sales, "To take a social moiree like language, like swear words, and gently use them to tweak society, it can be a clever ploy."

Some will welcome the shop's play on words, while others, like Timmerman, won't, "I don't see the families of our church of our neighborhood becoming patrons."

But like any business, time will tell if Columbia is ready for this new mean bean on the block.

Reported by Angie Goff

Downtown Boise Association

2006-04-06T09:38:00.000-06:00

Would every (or any) community benefit from a team that manages the following?
(This is from the Downtown Boise Association website.

Maintenance & Service
Maintain a safe and attractive downtown

Review downtown crime statistics not less often than annually with the Boise Police and use this knowledge to recommend specific improvements
Arrange for all street level members to meet their COPS representative and know how to contact that person
Increase the seasonal flower program by adding new planters annually
Maintain the "Clean Team" and snow removal programs.
Increase participation in downtown public art (e.g. murals) with Boise Arts Commission.
Maintain bi-weekly frequency of ACHD street sweeping and add monthly sweeping of alleys
Increase member education on sidewalk and tree maintenance obligations
Benchmarks: Boise City crime statistics, Member and customer survey results, DBA Staff observations

Marketing
Market downtown as the destination for shopping, dining entertainment and living developing a vibrant feel downtown that is alive and full of people.

Select a marketing company to create a campaign positioning downtown
Work with the marketing company to leverage members advertising and marketing dollars through co-op programs
Monitor member's satisfaction with program
Benchmarks: Attendance at events, Merchant and restaurant participation at DBA sponsored events, Increased parking numbers, Gross retail sales, collateral tracking, Number of people living downtown

Retail Programs
Support and maintain events that bring people into the downtown core for shopping activities

Continue First Thursday
Continue Christmas in the City
Support an Active Retail Caucus & Business Forum
Continue Gift Certificate Program
Continue Annual Map & Directory
Support Semi annual Sidewalk Sales
Benchmarks: Increased downtown Retail sales, Increase visitor counts in public parking garages, Increased # of merchants staying open on 1 st Thursday, Increased # of merchants participating in semi annual sales

Events
Maintain events that attract people back into the core during non-work hours. Maintain events that support themselves financially. Work with other groups to promote quality downtown events.

Explore helping BCOG in shared management options for the Grove Plaza in regards to downtown community events.
Continue with Alive After Five (May - Sep)
Continue with the Holiday Tree Lighting Celebration (Nov 22)
Move the Bite of Boise to occur in September.
Work in Conjunction with Boise River Fest to promote quality downtown events.
Work in Conjunction with Gene Harris Jazz Festival to promote quality downtown events.
Work with the Women's Fitness Celebration to develop quality downtown events
Support Gene Harris Block Party.
Support City Arts Celebration.
Support other downtown neighborhood events (I.e Recognition of DBA support)
Benchmarks: Increased sponsorship dollars, Increased participation, Increased number of quality events in downtown.

Economic Development
Encourage a diverse mix of Downtown tenants by actively supporting the solicitation and expansion for development new interests that include office, retail, restaurant, entertainment and residential while ensuring the availability of adequate parking.

Develop a Partnership between key City agencies, property owners and managers, and the Economic Development Council.

Monthly (quarterly) meetings to discuss, and find solutions for, restrictions to Downtown Core expansion and development.
Support the recruitment of new business with active member participation
Monthly issues and answers news bulletin developed by block representatives and produced by staff.
Ensure continued parking availability

Quarterly updates by CCDC on current parking usage, trends and upcoming challenges.
Quarterly update by CCDC and Boise City on proposed new development and ratio of parking supply to new demand.
Support and actively participate in City agency review of alternate parking and transportation opportunities.
Continued support of education to the public regarding the parking opportunities located in the Downtown area.
Benchmarks: Measured changes in the requirements imposed by the various departments and agencies for those who currently do business, and those who wish to do business, in the Downtown. Development of Incentives. Cooperative development of anchor retail. Effective meetings with the community leadership resulting in a conscious shift creating a more positive, business friendly environment. Improved occupancy of Downtown storefronts. Improved financial position of the DBA (based on dues being paid by new merchants). Increased parking counts.

Financial Development
Create new revenue sources to fund the growing need for programs and services.

Diversify and increase revenue sources:

Create a task force to evaluate and recommend the next actions to expand the BID boundaries and improve the assessment process.
Increase non-assessment revenue by 2005. Sources include additional events, and increased sponsorship, advertising, and merchandise revenue.
Increase voluntary assessment revenue from $20,000 in 2001 to $30,000 in 2005. Additional revenue to come from local, state & federal government agencies, and residential development.
Benchmarks: Percentage of non-assessment revenue, add additional voluntary assessment revenue, completed BID task force report presented to Board of Directors. Presented to Boise City Council

Governmental Affairs & Advocacy
Create the place where downtown's many stakeholders gather to address concerns & challenges. Be an effective voice for our member's.

Promote the organization as the primary advocate and voice for downtown interests:

Continue the government relations program.
Monitor issues and prepare positions on key items for the Board of Directors.
Improve our relationship with elected officials and government agencies.
Continue to develop a strong partnership with the CCDC on downtown programs & services.
Continue to monitor & support regional transportation initiative that positively impact downtown
Improve our relationship with the media.
Develop a relationship with the State of Idaho on a broad range of downtown issues.
Maintain downtown Boise as the most attractive place for the various governmental agencies and entities to staff their core operations.
Benchmarks: Issues monitored, positions prepared for Board consideration, positive changes achieved. Increased positive earned media.

Communication & Member Involvement
Create a member driven organization with an effective member input & communications systems.

Increase member participation and input into the DBA:

Increase attendance at Annual Meeting
Develop a neighborhood liaison and Visitation Program
Maintain the member visitation program
Continue the new board member orientation program.
Continue & improve the What's Up Downtown Fax.
Continue & improve www.downtownboise.org
Continue & improve the membership directory
Continue to survey members, and adding a statistically significant member survey.
Benchmarks: Initiation of new programs, number of new event participants, completion of statistically significant membership survey. Maintain a minimum of two DBA standing committees focused on pertinent downtown issues.

Human Resources
Attract talented volunteer leadership & executive staff.

Recruit & retain volunteer leadership & executive staff:

Harness the power of member's talents and influence to accomplish the goals of the organization.
Maintain a consistent and knowledgeable staff.
Initiate proactive succession planning at both the board and staff level.
Benchmarks : Number of members participating in committees and task forces, decrease staff turnover

Amazon

2006-04-03T15:53:00.000-06:00

Visit www.amazon.com and run a book search for "community." How helpful would the first three books that pop up be in learning more about community? I choose Amazon because it is a contemporary time capsule of sorts that knows what's hot - which may or may not mean what's right.

Also, I want to take the opportunity to encourage you to purchase your books for school on line. You can nearly always find used books that look new and cost less than the used books in the BSU Bookstore. To find out what books to order, either go the the BSU Bookstore or visit their website. I find the website much more convenient, personally. Conduct your book search on Amazon or one of the other book retailers (i.e. overstock.com or ebay.com) by ISBN number.

Definition of Community

2006-04-02T16:58:00.000-06:00

Here's one person's answer.

Development and Community: Definition of Community

For individuals to function to the best of their ability, they must be able to develop. There can be no undue burdens or barriers. Every individual's environment must consist of enablers that allow them to access opportunities and improve their current position in society. When there are structural impediments to a certain sect or cultural group, their ability to exercise personal freedoms is restricted and inequality results.

Social mobility has been defined as the "ability of the determined individual to climb the ladder of class distinctions-depends upon the economic and educational resources at the disposal of each individual as well as upon the barriers of privilege, discrimination, and exclusion he or she must face." For an individual to truly have social mobility, he or she must have the resources not only to keep them safe in their current situation but also to survive if their current situation changes.

"The advance of the economy toward greater flexibility and decentralization can go hand in hand with a strengthening of individual initiatives and capabilities. Instead of trying to give people something close to tenure in their present jobs, we should seek to assure them the means with which to thrive in the midst of change."

Paramount to ensuring social mobility is a thriving and supportive community. A community can be thought as a place of belonging.

"When the term community is used, the first notion that typically comes to mind is a place in which people know and care for one another...Communities speak to us in moral voices. They lay claims on their members. Indeed, they are the most important sustaining source of moral voices other than the inner self."

An individual needs a community in order to protect his or her rights within the larger contexts of the city, state, and country in which he or she lives. The community is more in tune with the hopes of its residents and can clearly address their inhabitants' problems. Many would even argue that "free individuals require a community, which backs them up against encroachment by the state and sustains morality by drawing on the gently prodding of kin, friends, neighbors, and other community members, rather than building on government controls or fear of authorities."

The concept of community has become more sophisticated due to the changing nature of business patterns and the fluidity of American culture. People work longer hours and move more often, making them more transient members of their residential neighborhoods. But people still look for community, and many get that feeling from non-traditional sources such as the workplace or another "third place." Ultimately,
"what we need now are communities that balance both diversity and unity. As John W. Gardner has noted: 'To prevent the wholeness from smothering diversity, there must be a philosophy of pluralism, an open climate for dissent, and an opportunity for subcommunities to retain their identity and share in the setting of larger group goals.'"

For sustainable change to take place in a neglected community, all players in society must band together. For barriers to empowerment to be removed, and enablers to be established in their place, a vast web of individuals, community-based organizations, government officials, and private industry must unite to enact real policy measures which bridge social capital and generate community competence.

Thin Mints can be cheaper by the troop

2006-03-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

Thin Mints can be cheaper by the troop
By Christine McConville, Globe Staff
March 26, 2006

It's an American tradition as homespun as Thanksgiving Day turkey and Fourth of July fireworks. But how much you pay for a box of Girl Scout cookies can depend on where your Girl Scout lives.

Every winter, eager Girl Scouts set up their cookie-laden booths in front of supermarkets, and the selling begins.

For buyers, getting a box or two of the Girl Scout-sponsored Thin Mints is about much more than picking up a snack; it's a nostalgic trip down memory lane. For the scouts, selling the cookies is a chance to learn valuable business skills, while making money for troop activities like camping trips and overnight stays at Boston's Museum of Science.

Cost is hardly ever a factor - until buyers find out that the same box of cookies is selling for less in the next town.

"We hear it all the time," said Renee Brogan, a troop leader from Billerica. On Saturday mornings, at a cookie booth in front of grocery stores, potential customers will comment on the price.

"People will say, 'Oh good. These are only $3.50,'" she said.

In neighboring Bedford and Concord, the same cookies sell for $4 a box.

The Girl Scouts national organization allows different councils - or regional groups - to set their own prices. Most councils charge around $3 or $4 a box, but there is one council in Tennessee - one with a very robust endowment fund - that sells the cookies for $2.50.

The Girl Scouts have two approved cookie bakers, but in the New England area, virtually all the councils use ABC/Interbake of West Virginia. The councils determine the price per box by calculating expenses - such as recruiting and training leaders and operating and maintaining camps - and revenues, which may include grants, donations from the United Way, and cookie sales.

Council leaders determine how to disburse the funds - some go to the baker, and some to the council.

The rest goes to the troop that sells the cookies.

In these parts, there are two Girl Scout councils.

The Patriots' Trail Council is based in Boston, but includes 64 other communities - including Arlington, Belmont, and Concord. It serves about 23,000 girls, and cookie sales average about 72 boxes a scout.

The Spar and Spindle Council spans Merrimack Valley and the North Shore. It serves 15,000 girls, and cookie sales average about 88 boxes a scout.

The Patriots' Trail Council charges $4 a box, because, according to Kace Wilson, the council's product sale coordinator, the council has significant expenses, including camps in Waltham and New Hampshire.

"These properties have buildings that need new roofs, and new drainage systems," she said.

Meanwhile, the Spar and Spindle Council charges $3.50 a box, said Nancy Tracy, head of community relations for Spar and Spindle. The council is hesitant to raise its cookie price, because "with every price increase, we can expect a 10 percent decrease" in sales volume.

In 2001, when the Patriots' Trail Council increased its price per box from $3 to $4, the Spar and Spindle Council had its "best year ever," Tracy said.

"We sold 902,000 boxes that year," she said.

This year, the council expects to sell about 750,000 boxes.

Meanwhile, sales at the higher priced Patriots' Trail Council have taken years to recover. Wilson said that this year, the council expects an increase in cookie sales for the first time since it raised the price. This year, the council will sell about one million boxes, Wilson said.

"When we changed the price, we took a big hit," Wilson said.

As cookie sales plummeted, the Patriots' Trail council was forced to make sweeping cuts in its programs, Wilson said.

But, she said, higher cookie prices were just one reason for the drop in sales.

"This was 2001, 2002, and people felt like the economy was fragile, and they were cranky about other things. This year, the weather has been better, so the girls can be out selling longer."

Wilson said council volunteers teach girls in towns that border Spar and Spindle towns to explain the price difference to potential customers.

"When people think of the Girl Scouts, they don’t think of division and districts," Wilson said. "We ask the girls to explain that the money from the cookie sales goes to the Girls Scouts in this town, where they are being sold."

Once customers understand why the prices vary, they may buy the higher-priced cookies anyway, because they want to support girls in their own community.

"But we also teach the girls how to be friendly when a customer says, 'No,'" said Wilson.

Back in Billerica, Brogan said that when acquaintances comment on the cookie prices to her, she reminds people of why Girl Scouts selling the cookies.

"I tell them, 'This is a fund-raising event. My girls are in the sixth grade, and they want to go rock wall climbing and camping and horseback riding. Their cookie sales pay for that,'" she said.

Gay Ireland

2006-03-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

The topic of homosexuality seemed to spur some discussion a few posts ago so I thought I would fuel it a bit. I found this website for an Irish magazine that I thought was very interesting. My question to you: Would this sort of magazine work in our contemporary community?

The Fun Community

2006-03-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

The Fun Community is an article that addresses some of the same things we have discussed in class. Check it out!

Castle Rock Institue Blog

2006-03-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a link for another blog with a very interesting quotation.

Voters approve Boise school bond

2006-03-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Voters approve Boise school bond
$94 million will help rebuild or renovate aging school buildings

Bill Roberts
The Idaho State
Edition Date: 03-15-2006

Boise School District voters solidly approved a $94 million bond measure Tuesday that is part of a $116 million plan to renovate, rebuild or consolidate aging Boise school buildings.

Voters could see buildings such as a new West Junior High and East Junior High, along with two new elementary schools near Borah High and Fairmont Junior High open by fall 2008. A rebuilt Whitney Elementary could open by 2009 and a new South Junior High could open by 2010.

Neysa Jensen, a bond supporter who spent much of Tuesday at Front and 9th streets carrying a poster in favor of the bond for passing motorists, was thrilled with the outcome.

"It's nice to know your work ... is supported by voters," said Jensen, a Boise parent.

Final election results were 70 percent in favor and 30 percent against the bond. Twenty-eight percent of registered School District voters cast ballots in the election. Most of the polling places approved the bond by a two-thirds majority, showing broad support throughout the district.

The vote at Longfellow Elementary, in Boise's North End, was 79 percent in favor of the bond, despite criticism over a year ago about initial district discussions over closing schools in that region of the city.

The Boise school bond was complicated, and it had a number of factors for voters to consider including school consolidation, school renovation and community investment.

"The electorate of this community takes the time to understand the complete issues," said Stan Olson, Boise superintendent.

Under Idaho law, people have 40 days to contest this bond election from the date the School Board accepts the results, which is set for Friday.

Pat Larson said she didn't think she ever had voted in favor of a school bond before Tuesday when she cast a ballot supporting the district's $94 million building plan.

But then, she can't remember a bond that was ever designed to help her Bench neighborhood, either.

"This is the first time they paid attention to our area," said Larson who lives near South Junior High School, which is proposed to be rebuilt. Larson was among the more than 27,000 residents throughout the district who showed up at polls Tuesday to vote.

Jerry and Sallie Belden showed up at the Maple Grove Elementary School poll in Southwest Boise, but not to vote in favor of the bond.

The Beldens were recently annexed into Boise and saw their property taxes climb by about $600. They are among many people in Southwest Boise angry over the Boise's recent decision to annex them into the city, where they say taxes are too high. "We are living on a fixed income," Belden said.

Besides, school building funding should be taken off the property tax, Belden said. "The sales tax (should) take care of these things."

Many of the building projects are focused on the Bench, such as consolidating McKinley, Jackson, Cole and Franklin elementaries into two new schools. About $60 million would be poured into schools in the Bench area, a part of Boise that has seen little investment in recent years.

Across the district, schools held family nights on Tuesday.

Vince and Debi Mann came to vote at McKinley Elementary before attending a math night at the school with their two boys, who are in third and fourth grade. Both voted in favor of the bond.

"I think it's good to get a new school, Vince Mann said. "This school is a little bit older."

Around the district, many voters who talked with The Idaho Statesman Tuesday supported the school bond. Here is what they said:

Howard Belodoff, a North End parent, voted for the bond. He sharply criticized the district during 2005 discussions of school closures that could have included Washington Elementary, which one of his children attends. But when it came to the bond, he said, it's needed. Neighborhoods in areas where schools would be affected seem to support the bond and if they favored it, he said he would help support it.

Melissa Searle, who has a son at Franklin Elementary, said she voted for the bond because Franklin needs to be replaced. Both Searle and her mother went to Franklin, which was built in 1936. "It hasn't changed," Searle said.

Dawn Barnes also voted for the bond. "I think the schools are important and the schools are in horrendous condition," she said.

Tammy Anderson had two children attending South Junior High and even though preservationists want to save part of the school, Anderson said the building is in "terrible disrepair." Instead of worrying about the building, they should find ways to preserve the history students have made at the school, she said.

Louis Thompson, 85, never had children. But he was pulling for the bond to pass. "I think they need to do some work on the schools," he said as he walked over to Whitney Elementary School to have lunch with some school kids. Whitney is an 83-year-old building that could be demolished and replaced with a new school if the bond passes.

U.S. found guilty of violating human rights of Native Americans

2006-03-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

U.S. found guilty of violating human rights of Native Americans

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has urged the United States to "freeze," "desist" and "stop" actions or threatened actions against the Western Shoshone Peoples of the Western Shoshone Nation. This action challenges the United States' government's claim of ownership of almost 90% of Western Shoshone lands.

According to Shoshone spokeswoman Bernice Lalo:

The mines are polluting our waters, destroying hot springs and exploding sacred mountains--our burials along with them--attempting to erase our signature on the land. We are coerced and threatened by mining and Federal agencies when we seek to continue spiritual prayers for traditional food or medicine on Shoshone land.

And from spokesman Joe Kennedy:
...we have rights to protect our homelands and stop the destruction of our land, water, and air by the abuses of the United States government and the multinational corporations. He says "the situation is outrageous and we're glad the United Nations Committee agrees with us.

The land in question has been used for military testing, nuclear waste disposal planning, and open pit cyanide heap leach gold mining. The federal government has seized Shoshone livestock, issued trespass fines, and practiced armed surveillance of Western Shoshone. The Shoshone claim that the U.S. government has also dug up their ancestors' graves.

Gay Marriage in Idaho

2006-03-08T23:21:00.000-07:00

I found this article in the Boise Weekly. Check it out HERE.

"Heterosexuals Only"

Historically familiar signs provide a call to arms for Boise's embattled gay community

BY NICHOLAS COLLIAS
The Idaho Legislature may have had its say about gay marriage--a resounding "let the voters figure it out"--but Boise's gay community isn't ready to admit defeat.

Early Monday morning, a tiny group of activists fanned out across downtown Boise to spread a message that they knew would be misunderstood by many, and would undoubtedly piss off people near and dear to their cause. These activists adhered over 150 small white signs, each reading "Heterosexuals Only," to every bench and fountain they could find, and put one in each bathroom in the Idaho Statehouse. From the color to the typeface--sans serif, if you're interested--these signs were made to resemble the "Whites Only" and "Colored Only" signs that were a common sight in the American south just a few decades ago. The date of the act was also significant--it was the 41st anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma, Alabama, where hundreds of police officers wielding bullwhips and nightsticks tore into peaceful civil-rights protesters who were trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

On Monday afternoon, the exhausted planners of this local demonstration, a man and a woman who wish only to be known as "D" and "J," sat down with BW to discuss the historical significance of their signage, the implications of the Legislature's decision, and to challenge the local gay community and its friends to rise up.

Boise Weekly: Explain for me the inspiration for this particular demonstration.

D: If you think about it, what it seems to me is that the Legislature has decided that they're going to allow a majority of people to victimize a minority. There is a historical model for that in this country. It wasn't right in that time, but we did it in that time. And the Legislature has decided to do not what is right, not what is just, but to do what would be the most expedient thing for them, which would be to let a majority, a simple majority, discriminate.

J: And in terms of timing, today is the 41st anniversary of a civil rights movement milestone, the march to Selma. That's certainly not a new correlation.

D: The analogy to that historical period functions well, but I think people resist it because that issue is not completely settled in this country. There is not race-based equity in this country. And because it is an ongoing struggle, it feels personal to some people, and it might feel that we're stepping on some toes by adopting a language that's already established. I would say that this language doesn't belong exclusively to that struggle, although the icon that we selected, the sign and the letterforms, certainly belong to that period.

You can find many overt images of text-based discrimination. I'm from Texas, and one point in Texas, people older than me would have seen signs in bars and stores saying, "No Mexicans." My parents are from Massachusetts, and my mother's family, because they're Irish, would gladly tell you there were signs saying, "No dogs and no Irish." There is a broad history of that kind of discrimination in this country. This is a time when you'd think we'd be all past that, but the Legislature has just operated in that historical model.

J: And the proponents of this legislation use a slippery slope theory, saying, "If we allow gay people to marry, what's next? Then they're going to start marrying dogs and automobiles"--which is ridiculous. But this is a slippery slope theory on the other end. If we're denied the right to marry, what's next? What rights will we then be denied?

D: We can find a model for how this will happen in other states. Already there are proposals to bar adoption by gay people. There's no end of harm that can come by establishing this precedent.

So when someone who is opposed to gay marriage sees this, what response do you envision them having?

J: I would hope that they would see this and say, "That's just going too far." Then it might cause them to consider that the point we're already at--maybe that's too far. I mean, clearly, segregating bus benches and bathrooms is going too far. That's preposterous. At least I hope that's what they're thinking. I hope no one saw the sign and thought, "Well, that's a good idea!"

D: But there is a language that it's very effective for one side of this discussion to use. They would say that they're not discriminating at all, they're just trying to preserve an institution. So that allows a kind of language that is very dangerous. In my mind, there is no harm from human beings being allowed to love people. It doesn't diminish someone else's institution. So when people use that kind of language, and they feel like they're protecting something, I hope that when they see this text-based information, and they see that model, and they see themselves in relation to that, I hope they choose to step back from that. Because it really is a precipice. It's a dangerous place to leap into, and I don't want this place to go into that place.

When I was in graduate school, every time someone would meet me, the first thing they'd say is, "I've never met anyone from Idaho." Then they'd say the only thing they knew about Idaho is that there are potatoes and hate groups--because of the Aryan organizations. And I'd tell people all the time, "It's not true. It's an amazing place. It's beautiful. The people are lovely. And I feel like when things like this happen, I would be less sure in answering. If Idaho goes that way, if we go that far, it kind of validates the idea that the world has about us.

J: As I came down here for lunch, I saw that most of the signs had already been removed. Very few of them were remaining, and we had put them on all the benches downtown. I imagine that many of the signs were removed by queer-friendly organizations or individuals because they didn't understand the messaging, and it could have galvanized them. That's not what we wanted to do, but we knew that would probably occur. Mostly, we just wanted to open up a dialogue and encourage thoughts and encourage action.

D: It really is fine with me if somebody who is gay or gay-friendly looked at that sign and said, "No way in hell," and took it off. I feel good about that, because I think that it would be easy to be passive, since we don't have the right to marry now. It would be easy to say, "They're going to insult us a bit more, so what?" But really, I think that we, the people who have more to risk, have to take a stand. We have to understand that it is an attack, based on who we are as individuals, and that can't be allowed. And our allies have to do the same thing. Straight people need to come out of the closet and say, "I've got a gay brother, or sister, or father, or mother, or daughter, or friends or co-workers. And this attacks them, so it attacks me. We're a small minority as homos. We're not gong to able to fight this ourselves. We need our friends.

Is this the end, or do you have more action planned?

D: It's not the end of it. I think you're going to see a variety of above-ground actions--and by action, I mean, when a straight ally writes a letter to the editor, or when gay people out themselves and say, "Yes, you work with me, and you're attacking me." I think those are actions, and we want to empower that kind of action. And I think there are going to be some more interesting, covert actions as well.

Is this sort of underground action going to be more prevalent than it was 12 years ago, when Proposition 1 was creating a similar kind of anti-gay dialogue in Idaho?

D: I hope so, because this is a more insidious attack. It's dressed up in really challenging language, so we're gong to have to work a lot harder. That's the maddening thing: Why should you have to fight for your life? I have a busy life, and the idea of interjecting this into my existence is just painful to me. But what choice do I have? If this city or state started attacking people of color, or overtly legislating against women, we couldn't go along with our daily lives. We have to respond.

BSU Community

2006-03-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Check out this link for the Boise State University community page. What does this site say about the way our administration views the BSU community? Or how do they want others to view that community based on how this page is presented?

2006-02-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

In light of our discussions about "The Simple Life" and "Pseudocommunities," I thought I would provide you with this.

Facebook's Greek drama
Last modified: October 17, 2005, 9:48 AM PDT
By Zoe Barton
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

The campus influence of Facebook - from study session scheduling to late-night homework procrastination - has not gone unnoticed.

The outrageously popular social-networking site, in fact, features its press coverage prominently on its About page. But even Facebook's college-age officers seem unaware of how much the site is affecting the recruitment practices of a long-powerful networking tool on about 80 percent of the campuses it covers: fraternities and sororities.

This fall marks the first recruitment, or "rush," season for most colleges with Greek systems since Facebook's 2004 launch. Some organizations on the 1,240 Greek campuses counted by Greekpages.com are embracing the popularity of the site: "Want to be a founder of a diverse sisterhood at Northwestern?" one recent ad on Facebook's Northwestern University network read. "Be a part of the group that soon will be on campus," it said, linking to a sorority representative's e-mail address.

Others, however, are trying to curb the site's influence on recruitment.

Joining a Greek-lettered organization, or house, is intended to be a structured process of mutual selection--admittedly more so among sororities than fraternities. While sororities tend to keep prospective members out of their houses until the formal recruitment period, fraternities traditionally have done the opposite, organizing plenty of informal events for rushees early in the year.

For both camps, however, Facebook is taking a good chunk of mystery out of Greek recruitment. Without asking a soul, a freshman can find out which house that chatty junior in her political-science class belongs to, along with the allegiances of all her friends. In browsing through Facebook profile after profile, she can gather consensus as to which sororities are coolest or smartest or friendliest before rush even begins.

Facebook has become such a common pre-meeting tool--and such a force in undermining rush's ordered design--that Greek establishments are now restricting how their members use the site.

University of Miami senior Sara Lapham, for instance, was instructed to alter her Facebook profile this fall. In serving her sorority as an unaffiliated member, or Rho Gamma, to help guide women (with unbiased and confidential advice) through rush, Lapham was to keep her membership secret from all potential new members, or PNMs.

By Aug. 12, when disaffiliation was set by the school's Panhellenic Association to begin, all Rho Gammas were told to adjust their Facebook profiles' privacy controls "so that no PNMs had the potential to search for us," Lapham said in an e-mail interview. "We could still search people ourselves, and our friends could still see our profiles, but anyone not on our friends list could not see us," she said.

UM's Panhellenic Association also told the women to remove all Facebook information tying themselves to their houses, in case rushees were to gain access to their profiles. "It would not be immediately obvious, though she could quickly figure it out...The fact that 80 or so of my friends on Facebook are Delta Gammas would be pretty obvious," Lapham said.

Rules were imposed on more than Rho Gammas. Affiliated women at UM and other schools, including Indiana University, according to a school newspaper, were "strongly encouraged not to accept a (Facebook) invitation to be friends with any PNMs, nor were they to poke or message any of these girls," Lapham said, because by doing so, "it may appear to others that we are 'dirty rushing.'"

At least one college is now preventing many of its students from using Facebook for any purpose. Partly due to concerns that a similar-looking site, called UNM Facebook, was creating confusion for students, the University of New Mexico recently blocked access to the facebook.com domain from its on-campus network, according to student newspaper The Daily Lobo. In a newspaper poll regarding the ban, 42 percent of respondents said the university's reasons "aren't valid." Although 9 percent felt that Facebook is risky and produces spam, another 21 percent voted that "even if it did cause problems, no Web site should be blocked by the university."

Along with "friending" and "poking"--which some liken to flirting--avid Facebook users also tend to create or join a large number of Facebook groups, ranging from "My name is not Mike" to "Red Sox Nation" to "I'm on Facebook to Get Laid Club," just to make their profiles a bit more dynamic.

Despite the new rules, designed in part so that planned social encounters with rushees would take precedence over online evaluations, Facebook lookups are becoming an integral part of how Greek houses are viewing their potential new members.

"The affiliated women are able to get a much better sense of who the PNMs are, based on their profiles," Lapham said. In narrowing down potential invitations during rush, Delta Gamma members "remember a lot better who they met because they are able to look at their pictures on Facebook."

The searches, of course, go both ways. Partly for that reason, Lapham said, "we are not supposed to have distasteful pictures or phrases (in our profiles). When someone does have something that is considered unacceptable, the (chapter) president or someone generally messages them, asking them to kindly remove it."

A Harvard offspring
Facebook itself has been noting profiles reported to contain inappropriate or offensive information, said Chris Hughes, the site's "Pressguy." Hughes is the only one of the four original Facebook contributors who has remained a full-time student

at non-Greek Harvard University since the site became a national student addiction.

Launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, then a sophomore at Harvard, Facebook was set up as an online, updatable replacement for the paper directories that freshman often receive their first week of school. Those directories often featured low-quality (or absent) mug shots and basic profile information of students.

"At the outset, Facebook was a project by and for Harvard students, but because over 6,000 Harvard kids signed up within the first three weeks, it seemed ridiculous not to open it up to a few other schools," Hughes said.After opening membership to almost anyone with a .edu e-mail address, Facebook gained more than 4 million registered profiles, spanning upwards of 1,500 colleges nationwide. In addition to photos, personal interests and quotes, member profiles are often stacked with digital-dorm "whiteboard" messages from friends and acquaintances, whether on-campus or remote. The latest fad in Facebook "wall" hangings is to post large old-style digital drawings, often of a somewhat sexy figure, made of typed characters (such as ^^ for cat ears).

Now backed by Peter Thiel, a co-founder of eBay's PayPal division, and by Accel Partners, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm, Zuckerberg on Sept. 2 launched a high-school version of Facebook that could catch on as quickly as its college-centric big brother.

"College users are inviting high schoolers to seed the networks. From there, high schoolers can invite their friends, and the network expands," Hughes said. Viral marketing like this has proven successful for programs such as Friendster and Google's Gmail.

Given how many people use the site as a regular means of communication, Greeks aren't the only ones learning to be mindful of what they post on Facebook. At Boston College, some freshmen were warned by their resident assistants that using the site as a dorm party announcement vehicle isn't such a great idea.

"Before school started, a bunch of guys on the first floor were planning this party for the first night and did it via Facebook," freshman Tori Buerschaper said in an instant-message interview. "In the message board on the invite, there were people talking about how they were getting alcohol and why it might be BYOB (bring your own beer)...but it ended up not happening because the RAs caught wind of it," she said.

The Boston College frosh quickly learned to spread party plans by word-of-mouth. Meanwhile, most Facebook members nationwide are staying out of trouble in their profiles and using the site for what it's worth. "The whole point" of Facebook, according to Buerschaper, "is to find people with the same general interests as you or who are in the same classes. It's not like a personal ad."

Buerschaper advises not posting anything "too personal--and preferably no alcohol pics." One of her hallmates took her dorm room number down from her profile after "random people came to our room...Maybe they were drunk and bored?" Or maybe worse.

Facebook's Hughes agreed that "students should share only as much information as they feel comfortable," though he emphasized one site feature designed to make members feel safe about keeping their profiles candid.

"Facebook, unlike most Web sites, works similar to a gated community: Only other students at your school (as well as those whose profiles are linked to yours) can see your profile," he said. "When signing up and putting up information, you're not giving that info out to millions of random people but instead only (to) the members of your own collegiate community."

Still, there's such a thing as Facebook etiquette. In an August column for Bowling Green State University's BG News, D.J. Johnson advised fellow students to "not put any information that you don't want computer geeks to take advantage of. In reality, just by having your e-mail address and a picture online makes the rest of your life pretty accessible to the entire school. Don't make it any easier by putting (up) your phone number."

Johnson also recommended that his readers not "create or join groups of which you wouldn't be proud to tell your mother you're an 'active' member. Being a member of 'Drink Irresponsibly...or Don't Drink at All' or 'I Like to Put My Hands Down My Pants' isn't going to help you pick up any women. It's just gross."

Made in America

2006-02-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

I received this as a spam email message from my mother. I deleted it initially, but then went back to it and reread it.

Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6am. While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG). He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) filled it with gas from Saudi Arabia and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN job. At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer (Made IN MALAYSIA), Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in AMERICA.

I see this as having two sides. On the one hand, this is saying that we need to be more aware about where American dollars and products are ending up and what we're using or consuming other than American products because people in America are out of jobs due to overtrading with foreign countries. On the other hand, this depicts a day in the life of a man who apparently lives in a world-gone-global. He had no problem purchasing his Japanese alarm clock or his German car and at the end of the day he relaxes with French wine, rather than an American drink like whiskey. Evidently, he (at least until he is disgruntled by the job search) is fine with the fact that everything in his life comes from a company on another continent.

Which side do you stand on? What do you see as the overarching message about community in this passage? Relate this to some of the essays that we have read for class.

Matfield Green, Kansas

2006-02-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

I found a link to the community web page for Matfield Green - the town Wes Jackson talks about in the essay "Matfield Green." How does the little bit of information on this place compare in your mind to what Jackson establishes in his essay?

Kid's Neighborhood

2006-02-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Click here to investigate an elementary teacher's guide for teaching kids about neighborhoods. What do you notice about the buildings you can click on? What is this page trying to teach kids about community or neighborhoods? To what extent do you think this is an effective teaching tool?

Olympics

2006-02-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Olympics are on! This is a time where people from nearly every country in the world come together in friendly athletic competition. What are your thoughts on the games as a whole? Do you think the Olympics affects our ideas of community at all? How do (or don't) the Olympics relate to the concept of a global community?

Global Women's Voices: Share Personal Stories

2006-02-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

I found this website while perusing the pages of my favorite feminist news source. It's a website dedicated to sharing women's stories about birth control and the like. Here's the caption from the front page:

At some point in our lives, most women have had experience trying to access family planning and reproductive health services - contraception, abortion, gynocological or maternal care.

If we keep these experiences to ourselves, they remain our individual experiences. If we share them, they become part of the global movement for women's reproductive rights.

Around the globe anti-woman and anti-abortion forces have put up social, economic and political barriers to reproductive healthcare services for women and girls. By contributing your story to Global Women's Voices, you help other women see that they are not alone; you help build a community of people who understand the real-world impact of restrictive laws and defunding of services.

My question to you is this: Why? Why have a site like this? Why share these stories? What are the creators of this page attempting to accomplish? Why should a woman in America care about a story from a woman in Morocco?

Remember, this can be a sensitive topic for people to explore...but you can always still disagree.

Idaho Mom's Network

2006-02-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this website for Idaho moms. It's a local club-type organization for area mothers who are at home with their children full- to part-time. Tell us what you think about it after you investigate the site a bit.

Myspace

2006-02-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Click here to listen to a fascinating and recent NPR special on myspace.

Victoria

2006-02-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a page from a Canadian website.

Is this the government's job or purpose?

What is community strengthening?
Community strengthening is a sustained effort to increase involvement and partnership among members of a community to achieve common objectives. It involves local people, community organisations, government, business and philanthropic organisations working together to achieve agreed social, economic and environmental outcomes.

The Department for Victorian Communities helps build stronger communities by investing in a more linked-up, integrated approach to planning, funding and delivery of services at the local level. Read examples of successful community strengthening.

What is a community?

By community, we mean groups of Victorians who share a common sense of belonging, such as:
* people who live in the same place, such as a neighbourhood, suburb or town;
* people with common interests, such as sporting activities, type of work or environment; and
* people of a similar age, culture or lifestyle, such as young people.

Reducing disadvantage through strengthening communities

The State Government's social policy action plan, A Fairer Victoria, comprises $788 million worth of new initiatives to reduce disadvantage in Victoria. Many of A Fairer Victoria's initiatives are linked to community strengthening actions to achieve its five objectives of:
* improving access to the universal services;
* reducing barriers to opportunity;
* strengthening assistance for disadvantaged groups;
* strengthening assistance for disadvantaged places; and
* making it easier to work with government.

Changing the way government works

A Fairer Victoria's success requires new partnerships among communities, the non-government sector, business and other levels of government to improve the planning and delivery of services at a local level. Find out how government is changing the way it works to build stronger communities.

Promoting healthy and active communities

Go for Your Life is part of a cross-government effort to create healthy and resilient communities through promoting the benefits of increased physical activity, healthy eating and community involvement. Visit the Go for Your Life website to learn more.

What is community property?

2006-01-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

What is community property?

There are nine community property states - Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. In addition, Puerto Rico is a community property jurisdiction.

These states generally regard as community property all property that has been acquired during the marriage, other than a gift or inheritance. Even if one spouse earns all the money to acquire the property, all the property acquired is considered to be community property. While there are a number of differences in each state, all states have special laws that operate on the theory that both spouses contribute equally to the marriage; thus all property acquired during the marriage is the result of the combined efforts of both spouses. In community property jurisdictions, spouses equally own all community property (fifty percent owned by the husband and fifty percent owned by the wife).

Rent

2006-01-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

This is from the back of the soundtrack jacket for the movie Rent:

"We each live in a number of overlapping communities: a community of family, a commuity of friends, still another of neighbors...the people in our school, our city or town, our country, and - ultimately - the community of mankind."

What is community?

2006-01-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

This comes from a blog. Since this is essentially what we're doing, what do you think about the verity of the statements?

March 03, 2005
What is community?
Posted by Jennifer Rice

Jake at Community Guy writes about community:

People often think that blogs, forums, wikis, and other tools are community. In actuality, those tools are just that - tools. They can help you to build community, but they aren't actually "community." When we talk community, we're simply talking about an interaction, a connection. Blogs or forums are a way to initiate and sustain that interaction.

He defines community as:

A group of people who form relationships over time by interacting regularly around shared experiences, which are of interest to all of them for varying individual reasons.

Great definition. I agree that blogs, wikis and forums are tools. But I'm not sure if I agree with the qualification that it's about relationships developed over time. For example, I write a blog post that generates discussion: readers make comments on both my post and on other readers' comments. I've formed a community, but it will only last a day... 2 days if we're lucky.

I see community as a group of people who come together and interact based on a shared interest. But that community may not result in relationships, and it may dissolve in a day. Or an hour. The interesting thing about the web is that is facilitates dynamic engagements; there's an ebb and flow of connections that form, dissipate and reform into new configurations.

So let's form a community around this idea of community. What do you think about all this?

What is community?

2006-01-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some extended definitions from some well-known people.

What is community?
By Michael Krasny

Margaret Atwood
novelist/poet
The United States has promoted individualism so much that the responsibilities of giving to a community, and vice versa, have been trampled by rampant individualism. Canada hasn't gone in that direction of extreme individualism: my mortgage; my bank account; no pies when I hurt my leg, and I won't bring pies to you. Americans tried to weld some sort of fellow feeling in all of this--to shed their ethnic roots and be part of an American identity but, paradoxically, an individual. Community as once proposed meant all Americans. That was the myth. All were not included in it.

Richard Rodriguez
writer/commentator
America is not based on a communal notion. It's a low church Protestant culture whose major discovery was the individual face-to-face with God. Our greatest myth is about a boy who leaves home with a runaway slave, has no mother and a drunken father. We don't know how to share our individualistic culture. There's nothing more American than for me to say I'm better off because I'm Mexican, and I want to exclaim my distinction. If Mexicans, people of mixed blood, really want to be subversive, they should say "I'm going to marry you, or your daughter. You'll eat my food, and we'll be friends."

Susan Faludi
journalist/feminist
The ideal community for Americans is often an escape from political engagement. Europeans are so much more engaged. Community here is running away to the suburbs. The media has become our pseudocommunity. People don't belong, but if they're part of a sound bite, they feel part of a larger world. It's the false idea of the media as a public forum, an idea encouraged by politicians. People take their intimate stories on TV talk shows, replacing political engagement and community, which would actually bind people, with psychology and therapy.

E. L. Doctorow
novelist
Communities appear temporally rather than spatially. They form as circumstances demand, and when the emergency is over people go back to their semi-estranged mood. Communal expressions that really matter on a day-to-day basis are probably made by people who have no thought of community. A surgeon who only wants to make money and live well and has a lousy bedside manner still contributes. The Korean grocer on the corner who works hard trying to survive may feel a foreigner, but the store is a contribution to the neighborhood. I don't know if you can ask for more.

Noam Chomsky
political analyst/linguist
Community is PR bullshit designed in the 1930s by the corporations, when they became terrified by the collapse of their society brought on by the Wagner Act and the labor movement. They developed new techniques to control the population and inculcate the concept of living together in harmony--all Americans, all working together: the sober workman, the hardworking executive, the housewife. And Them--the outsiders trying to disrupt. Community is a bit of a joke. Only labor has succeeded. That's why business hates unions. They can create real community and democracy.

Ram Dass
author/spiritual activist
Our inordinate concern with individuality has marked our group identity. I'm part of the problem. The '60s were about individual freedom, and we threw out the baby with the bath. We're dealing with the effect of imbalance; we're so focused on separateness that we've lost interconnectedness, the inherent gregarious nature of humanity where we need others to give us meaning. The web of violence in this culture is clearly connected to the breakup of these types of systems. But look at the Crips and the Bloods, now meeting together as a new kind of community structure.

Amy Tan
novelist
My community was more like an extended family. My father was the minister of a Chinese church, so it was as if my whole world was Chinese. The sons of the women I called Auntie were like brothers to me. I know I can go up to a person on the street who is also Chinese and ask questions and get information, because there is a sense of community. We are both Chinese people in America: That's community based on being different. In China that wasn't true. It's too diverse, regional. I identified more with Shanghai people than with Hong Kong people, for example.

Frances Moore Lappe
activist/writer/political theorist
People are looking for community in all the wrong places. It's not goodwill and like-mindedness, it's daily experience in workplaces and neighborhoods and churches and civic groups. The Sonoma County Faith-Based Community Organizing Project is a prime example of concerned people coming together--farmworkers, African-Americans, whites of all classes, professionals, nuns, accountants, lawyers. They got together candidates for the school board, for example, and judged them on how well they listened to constituents' concerns. It's a two-way process of public officials accepting accountability and citizens taking an active role.

Barbara Kingsolver
novelist
There's no shame in depending on each other. There's heroism in ordinariness and connectedness and using relationship skills to get through difficult times, as opposed to the isolated heroism of the cowboy. Look at the things in your living room or refrigerator and realize they were made by thousands of people on different continents. The lemons we buy at the grocery connect us with a food chain, with people coming up from Mexico, being sprayed by pesticides. It's easier to see just a lemon, but only when we see the whole line can we feel connectedness and responsibility.

Harry Edwards
sociologist
We need a new definition of community. We're a nation of nations; we're not homogenous like Japan. We need to look at pluralistic reality in terms of all interests, including white male, while recognizing the concerns of those in the minority opinion. It's good business to have everybody involved in the national life. A black community should produce students who can go to the universities equally--without affirmative action or Head Start--and it's in our mutual interest to see that the competence and quality are there to provide that equal opportunity.

Ellen Goodman
journalist
There has always been a tension in the United States between individualism and community. The economy deals with us as individuals: You achieve success or you don't. We typically divided America into men as individualists and women as caretakers of the family and keepers of community--until women had to go to work and saw themselves as individuals rather than as members. The baby boom generation broke from family; there were so many of them it seemed like the whole country. Now that they have families they have more longing for community.

Theodore Roszak
historian/author
Our culture builds bigger and bigger--bigger forces, corporations, and trading alliances. The thrust toward the global in government, communications, and business goes against the human need for smaller, face-to-face communities. There is a disintegrative quality to reaching out beyond neighborhood and nationality lines. When computer networks are organized and we have 500 TV channels, common culture will disintegrate; we will have smaller enclaves for smaller groups. I can't predict what kind of community it will be, but the new community will be in reaction to the crushing bigness of systems.

U.S. announces $163M for Nigeria AIDS fight

2006-01-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

They say we're part of a global community. If so, how does this affect you?

U.S. announces $163M for Nigeria AIDS fight
Laura Bush wraps up a 4-day West African tour by promising U.S. assistance

ABUJA, Nigeria - First lady Laura Bush announced Wednesday that Nigeria will receive $163 million in U.S. assistance to fight AIDS as she heard a young woman at a small AIDS clinic tell how medications helped her avoid death from the disease.

Mrs. Bush, standing next to four cartons of anti-retroviral drugs, visited with health workers and AIDS patients at St. Mary's Hospital on the dusty outskirts of the capital. The four boxes - enough to treat 500 people - is the first U.S.-backed shipment of the drugs St. Mary's has received through President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Mrs. Bush sat under shade tree to hear the stories of clinic workers and patients, including Toyin Yomi, 26, whose frail body was clad in a colorful navy dress and shawl. She tested positive for HIV in 1999 and started her first round of drug treatment in 2003.

Mrs. Bush nodded as the woman, who spoke in a near whisper, told her tragic, yet uplifting story. When stocks of the drug Yomi was taking were depleted, she nearly died three times. Yomi, who has been hospitalized a number of times, started a second round of drugs in April 2004 and is back on her feet.

"It's really important for people who are HIV positive to reach out to let other people know that they can be tested, they can find out they can still live a life - a positive life, a happy life," Mrs. Bush said. "That's the message we need to get out around the world."

An estimated 3.6 million Nigerians are infected with HIV, according to the State Department. About 310,000 people die each year in Nigeria, which has one-fifth of Africa's population.

Nigeria is one of the largest recipients of funds from PEPFAR, but there is serious concern that testing, monitoring and health care systems are not adequate to reach people at high risk of contracting the disease. People in their teens and 20s account for most HIV infections.

First lady's West African tour
On the final day of her four-day swing through West Africa, Mrs. Bush met with Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo at his residence, and visited a public school where young people, dressed to represent different ethic groups in the nation, performed a welcome dance for her in a courtyard.

Walking past a sign that said "Remember that the girl child has a right to basic education," Mrs. Bush spoke with students who receive U.S.-backed scholarships that help pay for school fees, uniforms and supplies so they can attend school.

Her daughter, Barbara, at her side, Mrs. Bush advised the students, including one who said she dreamed of being a lawyer, to read many different types of books to prepare themselves for future education.

Before heading back to Washington, Mrs. Bush spoke at the National Center for Women's Development, the same place where President Clinton spoke about fighting AIDS in 2000.

Benefit raises $21,000 for restaurateurs

2006-01-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

The question I pose to you is this: To what degree do you think a community is responsible for supporting individual members?

Benefit raises $21,000 for restaurateurs
Nearly 1,000 friends, family and customers of Korea House owners Won and Okhee Chang showed an outpouring of support and generosity Thursday night at a benefit that raised more than $21,000 to help the couple get through one of the most trying times of their lives.

Won suffered an ischemic stroke Dec. 11 in the Downtown Boise restaurant on 8th Street and is recovering at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. The Changs have no health insurance and have closed the restaurant and put the business up for sale.

"I am so grateful," Okhee said. "I didn't know we had so many friends. Almost everyone there were familiar faces."

Tamara Cameron, the event coordinator for the Boise City Arts Commission, a cadre of Downtown business owners, the Downtown Boise Association and the Korean Cultural Center organized the event at the Rose Room. Ken Howell donated the space, local restaurants donated food, area performers entertained and the community did the rest, Cameron said.

"It way exceeded my expectations," Cameron said. "The generosity of this community is phenomenal. This is an amazing place to live."

Admission was a $5 suggested donation at the door, but people were dropping off $10, $20 and $100 checks. Many of the silent auction items, which ranged from fine art to gift certificates, went for their retail value and more.

"That never happens," she said.

The Basque Center's Euzkaldunak Charities donated $1,500. Students and faculty at Lowell Scott Middle School raised $275 for the Changs.

The money raised is not intended to pay the Changs' medical bills, but to help with immediate living expenses, Cameron said.

Mayor Dave Bieter, council member Maryanne Jordan and superintendent of schools Marilyn Howard stopped by, along with many of the Changs' fellow business owners.

"It's nice to see people giving back to these people who have given so much to this community," Cameron said.

The Changs have been a part of the Boise Downtown scene since opening Korea House 11 years ago. They founded the Korea Day celebration, helped found the Korean Christian Church, the Korean Dance Company and have been a presence at Alive After Five and hundreds of community events over the years.

The $21,000 will be added to the $3,000 raised at a private dinner last week. The funds are in a trust account at Washington Mutual Bank.

Won is paralyzed on his left side. He is working with therapists, but making slow progress. Doctors will re-evaluate his condition next week, Okhee said.

The restaurant will be sold, but Okhee plans to remain involved in Boise's cultural life, she said.

"People said they didn't want us to go away from Downtown. I will never go away" Okhee said. "We have a lot planned, and I'm going to do it. It might be more difficult now, but I'm going to do it. The world doesn't stop. I'm not going away from Downtown."

Community

2005-12-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

5 entries found for community.

com-mu-ni-ty: n. pl. com-mu-ni-ties

1. (a)A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government. (b)The district or locality in which such a group lives.

2. (a)A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community. (b)A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society: the gay community; the community of color.

3. (a)Similarity or identity: a community of interests. (b)Sharing, participation, and fellowship.

4. Society as a whole; the public.

5. Ecology: (a)A group of plants and animals living and interacting with one another in a specific region under relatively similar environmental conditions. (b)The region occupied by a group of interacting organisms.