by admin | Aug 9, 2015 | Activism, Books, Civil rights, Education, Literature, Personal history, Political philosophy, Resilience, Writing
Just in case anyone out there is unduly impressed with my intelligence, I have a revelation: I flunked calculus in my first quarter of my freshman year in college. I was attending Cleveland State University on Kiwanis scholarship money, no less. Not that I really...
by admin | Jun 14, 2015 | Activism, Civil rights, Disaster, Environment, History, Housing, Travel, Urban Planning
There is something mildly disconcerting about visiting an intriguing city several times without having the spare time to go tourist. I first visited Charleston, South Carolina, in 2003, for a business meeting with the National Fire Protection Association, for which I...
by admin | May 17, 2015 | Activism, Books, Climate, Disaster policy, Resilience, Urban Planning
In recent years, there has been growing interest in and activity around the concept of resilience. For many people long involved in trying to make the world’s communities safer from disasters, the interest has been heartwarming. The underlying idea is that a community...
by admin | Feb 24, 2015 | Activism, Chicago, Homeless
If, like me, you work in the central business district of a major city, you probably cannot escape it. On the way from the CTA train station to the office, a four-block walk, it seems that I pass the homeless on every street corner. One part of me would like to do...
by admin | Jan 19, 2015 | Activism, Civil rights, Government, History, Movies, Political philosophy, Racism
On this weekend of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, my wife and I spent last night watching the movie Selma before going out to dinner. Produced by Oprah Winfrey, who also plays the part a Selma protester, the movie focuses on Dr. King’s leadership of the March...
