It's Okay To Say That

I'm starting a new business

2012-01-19T11:42:00.001-08:00

Hawthorne Boulevard Brewing, LLC.

www.hawthornebrewing.com

More to come, soon.

We Need to Stop SOPA & PIPA

2012-01-17T12:49:00.000-08:00

SOPA is not something the precocious PIPA uses to get clean. Rather, it's a pernicious set of about-to-be-laws in the United States that will limit, if not outright prohibit, the (cue booming voice) Internet as we know it. A lot of people are writing, blogging, talking, and otherwise rabble-rousing about this issue and these bills in particular. Wikipedia and Reddit are both promising to go dark soon as a form of protest to alert their users of the importance of this pending legislation and the detriment both will likely be for anyone posting just about anything on the Web.

Here's the statement from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation:

“Today Wikipedians from around the world have spoken about their opposition to this destructive legislation," said Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. "This is an extraordinary action for our community to take - and while we regret having to prevent the world from having access to Wikipedia for even a second, we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world."

And Wiki is not alone - Reddit, Google and others will be either broadcasting opposition to SOPA or blacking out their sites for a limited duration of time as a signal to the rest of the world what messing with Internet freedoms could result in if taken too far. I believe them when they say SOPA goes too far.

Reddit, the community of the moment on the Web, has this to say on its most recent blog entry:

The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy. Congress is considering legislation that will dramatically change your Internet experience and put an end to reddit and many other sites you use everyday. Internet experts, organizations, companies, entrepreneurs, legal experts, journalists, and individuals have repeatedly expressed how dangerous this bill is. If we do nothing, Congress will likely pass the Protect IP Act (in the Senate) or the Stop Online Piracy Act (in the House), and then the President will probably sign it into law. There are powerful forces trying to censor the Internet, and a few months ago many people thought this legislation would surely pass. However, there’s a new hope that we can defeat this dangerous legislation.

It's time to act, even if you're simply content using the Internet to watch Hulu and check your email. At its core, this is an issue of the interests of the few (corporations) being trumped up as more important than the freedom of the many.

* * * * *
Here is a summary of what SOPA aims to do and would likely result in for the Internet and its users.

Is It Really 1715?

2012-01-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Is it 2012 or 1715?

Read up on Phantom Time Hypothesis and decide for yourself.

We Can Hitch a Ride to Rockaway Beach

2011-12-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

Spent the weekend out at Rockaway Beach recently and snapped this great photo of Twin Rocks just off the Oregon Coast. Loved staying at Spring Lake Beach Retreat while there. Full disclosure, I'm part owner of this place. If you're interested, let me know.

so begins the fall of Paul

2011-12-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

Now that he's leading in the pre-election polls in Iowa, GOP "frontrunner" Ron Paul (R-Texas) will be taken down by the media-machine determined to oppose him and pave the way for Romney's nomination. The USA Today leads the new charge.

Screen-grab of Google News on 12/21/2011 @ 4:53 PM
"Paul's Story Changes on Racial Comments"

This is in no way an endorsement of Ron Paul or any other candidate, GOP or otherwise. They're all crazy enough in their own ways.

Okay.

No more politics.

I'm looking at you, Internets.

2011-12-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

This is really scary and cool. Thankfully, this thing won't be lurking beneath the surface when you dip your toes into the ocean this Winter.

I really enjoy it when something goes wrong, you're caught red-handed doing something... well, illegal, and then you have the gall to ask for your ball back so no one will discover its secrets.

At least this is actually happening. It is happening, right? I certainly hope so. For real.

I understand everyone thinks Amazon is the shizzle in the hizzle or some pizzle like that. They are hitting the news like so much shit right now, being held up as the exemplar par excellence, but to me it seems like a sad truth of our hollow economy that this company is the new "It" crew. Here's a recent Forbes article extolling the virtues of this sell-it-all middlething:

Unlike the other big companies that symbolize our times — Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft — Amazon did not rise to power by inventing a new product or service. It came to power by systematically taking down an entire existing industry. It is a story that called for strategic depth, not technical wizardry, design brilliance or sheer energy. In the technology world, nobody holds up Amazon engineers as extraordinary geniuses or its designers as Da Vincis. They are good, but not great. Yet, time and again, Amazon wins.

Amazon, it's been real, but I'm through with you. No, for real. Seriously, stop playing with my hair. It's over. I'm not kidding. At least there's some hope for us die-hards out there: we still love books.

I'm looking forward to 2012 - travel, graduation, travel, wedding, travel, possibly new career, travel... the future appears bright ahead and that feels good. Thanks for reading, Internets. I'm still going to talk to you next year, despite my empty threats to break up with you for good. I just can't quit you, baby.

Make it a... Cheeeeezeburger.

2011-12-05T23:40:00.001-08:00

This is the sad, sad, sad depressing truth.

Here I Am by Lyle Lovett, console us.

Crazy Doesn't Get You Off

2011-11-29T17:57:00.001-08:00

This is - if what they report turns out to be true - an utter crock of shit justice if ever there was. Bring clinically insane should not absolve you of personal responsibility. If he was "sane" enough to be a "Christian" - then he's sane enough to know the Ten fucking Commandments.

Thanks be given

2011-11-22T00:06:00.001-08:00

Thankful I have ten fingers and ten toes.
I'm thankful for my two legs that work,
And that my big old nose still blows.
I'm thankful for a lot things,
and more I could list here.
But tonight I'll end with one more thanks,
and that's for one last beer.

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate & Grass-fed Beef

2011-11-20T14:39:00.001-08:00

A few of my favorite things. Red wine, too.

Can't Seem To Walk For Trying

2011-11-14T00:09:00.000-08:00

He can't seem to walk for trying.

Outside the winds blow by, 

Minds flapping open like shutters,

Inside cold fires burning.

He can't seem to run for crying.

There's somewhere else he wants to be,

Bodies at rest, arms, legs and breasts,

Take out the trash tonight.

He can't seem to talk for flying.

Up there it's too thin to breath,

Souls gasping, coughing, sliding,

Grasp at leaves wet on pavement.

He can't seem to try for failing.

Downtown, homeless people whisper,

Dreams of whiskey, warmth, comfort,

Claws curled inside, shaking on cardboard.

He can't seem to walk for trying.

This side never goes back, unasked,

Thoughts shudder, sputter clack and clamor,

Tears scar cheeks, forget the pain.

Intensive Loss

2011-11-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today is my brother Mark's birthday - or it would have been, had he lived to see it. He died a little over a month ago following a long battle with cancer. I'm still - we're all still - grappling with this loss and his absence in our lives. Born on November 4, 1956 in Memphis, Tennessee, the world he entered, as well as the one in which he grew to maturity, is mostly a relic of a bygone era. We live in different times now, even if our understanding of the degrees of difference still lacks cohesion.

Being a student at BGI, I come up to Bainbridge Island from Portland once per month for a 4-day "Intensive" study session with my fellow MBA-Candidates learning about sustainability, marketing, finance, systems thinking, operations, management, strategy, leadership, social justice and entrepreneurship. They call them Intensive for a reason, as the demands put on your brain, body and spirit can sometimes feel almost more than you can bear. But, you do.

This month we have many special guests and other new additions to the community with us, including: Hunter Lovins, Joel Soloman, John Perkins, BG Nabors-Glass and David Korten. We're so fortunate to have these (and other) brilliant minds with us this weekend. The challenge, of course, is finding one on one time in a group of 150 other equally interested and enthusiastic learners eager to listen and inquire with these people.

A fellow student asked me, in all honesty and curiosity, how it feels to lose someone close to me. I answered that it feels bad, which is obvious and not very informative. What does it feel like? Yes, I do feel loved and remember the good moments in my life that I shared with my brother. But, describing loss to someone who has never experienced anything like it felt somewhat like telling someone who's never been swimming what it feels like to be wet. It's... wet. It is what it is. Pain feels like... pain. I don't have a better answer for it. At least, not yet. For now, I'm just wet.

Movember Plus

2011-11-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again - Movember - and it's especially relevant to me this year more than ever following my brother Mark's death from prostate cancer on September 29th. I'm asking you, dear reader, to hoist out a credit card and donate a few dollars to support a lot of good organizations. Give what you can afford.

PTH at the beginning of Movember 2011

Who gets the scratch, you ask?

The Movember Effect: Awareness & Education, Survivorship, Research

The funds raised in the US support prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. The funds raised are directed to programs run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Together, the three channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programs in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.

It's a worthy cause deserving support. I'll be posting updates here and on my Movember page throughout the month as the 'stache takes place. Thanks!

* * * * *

PLUS!

I've just learned that a few BGI women are pledging to not shave their underarms throughout the month as a show of support and solidarity - and to help drive the fundraising efforts - for men's health and prostate cancer research. Support their efforts on our BGI Hybrid MBA Movember page. Or - donate to a Movember team for someone you know - it doesn't matter, just give.

The New Mob Rule

2011-10-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

"For all the meticulous legality and diplomatic decorum of this war's start, its end was as dirty as they come: the former leader of a nation hauled off the back of a truck and shot by an angry mob that was appointed by no one and accountable to nothing. It's an inauspicious start for what the interim Libyan leadership also said was the same moment that formal political transition began."
- Max Fisher for The Atlantic

Here's the rest of Fisher's piece: Qaddafi Was Captured Alive - Who Killed Him?

I'm not here to say that the military assassination of OBL by BHO back when that went down directly led us all, concordantly, to a moment when mob rule carries the day. MQ (or is it MG?), one time friend to many of the world's elite, met his doom at the hands of 42 years of pent up righteous anger. It should have been sooner. Here's a video of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laughing about the man's torture and death. Her predecessor, Dr. Condi Rice, visited him just a few years ago as an official representative of our government.

We (and by "We" I mean explicitly the U.S. government and the people supporting it, including myself as a taxpayer) have created a new normal for society where torture, assassination, state sponsored murder are all accepted as the most effective ways to resolve differences. Might makes right and we are the mightiest; a tactic not at all different from the boot Qaddafi had on his people for so long. Human Rights matter, even for really bad people. Without them, no one is safe from the violence of the mob.

You Should Know Your Net Impact

2011-10-18T10:43:00.001-07:00

The 2011 Net Impact Conference will be held in Portland, Oregon on October 27th to the 29th. For the uninitiated and in its own words, "the Net Impact Conference is the world’s largest and most inspirational event for students and professionals using their business skills to create social and environmental good." I, along with every other current student at BGI, have a student-membership in this organization now holding its 19th conference with over 2,600 people anticipated to be in attendance. The conference gathers together diverse people all doing good work in the wide spectrum of fields associated with sustainability.

For myself, I will seek out other professionals and students interested in international development, using technology in innovative ways to improve education, public health and environmental protection. The conference Website offers social networking opportunities for MBA students, faculty and other professionals to connect prior to the frenetic events next Thursday through Saturday. I hope to see you there.

Related Links:

What Will Your Net Impact Be? @ Engaging Volunteers
Browse the Net Impact hashtag #n11 @ Twitter

Here is a short promo video from Net Impact.

Net Impact Conference from Net Impact on Vimeo.

We Need More Tums

2011-10-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

Don't eat 'em myself, but feel free to enjoy
such chalky refreshment yourself, dear reader.
Used to, suppose I could say.
Car rides, mostly; back seats. Rolaids; Tums.
Junior Mints if I was lucky.
Always preferred lucky to
good, this guy.

Rookie mistake. You don't go into detailed plans in the first
half of the damned game.
Not in love.
Not in sport.
Not in life.
And definitely not in fucking politics.

This no doubt costs HC the top spot, setting
up the showdown for MR+HC or
MR+MB for the GOP nomination facing off against
he who shall not be named.

If you, tender reader, can read any of that
shit and know its meaning, you follow
US politics more closely than I, so kudos
and huzzahs all around to you. You.

Perspective is good. For instance,
when I complete my MBA in Sustainable Business from BGI
in June of 2012, I will owe a significant financial amount
to the US government in the form of subsidized, moderately high interest student loans.
If things break right, I pay them back on time or early.
If they don't, well, after all, one must eat.

Things being what they are in the world today,
who knows what Fall 2012 looks like at this point?
And no I'm not going all Mayan on your ass.
But, being what they are on the other side of flip,
information like this helps bring today's system
into sharper relief to the 1950s and 1960s.

Harken back, fair reader, to a time when working just
under a full day paid at minimum wage
was enough to afford college tuition.
What would that look like today?
Difficult to imagine.

Rode by Occupy Portland on bike today.
To and from work through downtown.
Such as it is. Definitely a work in progress.
Both the city and the protest encampment.
Wondering, just as they, what their future
holds for us all.

Coining a term: Sustainadaptability

2011-10-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

Sustainability
Noun - Capablity of surviving and thriving without damaging future generations' chances of doing the same.

Example in a sentence: The organization demonstrates its commitment to sustainability by integrating the Triple Bottom Line into its financial reports to investors.

Adaptability
Noun - Capable of being or becoming adapted (to make fit, as for a new use, typically by modification)

Example in a sentence: The organization must leverage its adaptability in order to navigate this new, adjusted marketplace.

Sustainadaptability
Noun - Ability to adapt more sustainablity into ones current attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.

Example in a sentence: The organization exhibits high sustainadaptability, but the proof will be in the organic pudding.

My brother lived

2011-10-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

My brother Mark was a unique man of many and varied talents. His passion for planning, urban design, architecture, real estate, cartography and creating new projects big and small knew no bounds. His singing talents began in church choir (or was that me?) and on to the Purdue University Glee Club; eventually, the Portland Gay Men's Chorus in the 1980s and 90s. His voice for those of us in his family was legendary; especially if on the phone or in person on your birthday.

Personally, and best of all in my opinion, were the times I heard him sing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes or Blue Christmas during any of the several evenings spent together at various Karaoke bars throughout Portland over these last several years. When I was little, like in this picture, he would play songs on demand for me on the piano. Mostly, I just picked the Entertainer because he knew that one best.

My sister Cheri gave me this photo a few months back. By my estimate, it's from about 1977 when I was 5 and he was 21. There I am in my favorite captain's hat and fringed jacket, my brother Mark, mother Janey and father Paul. We've lost all of these beautiful people in the past two years; most recently in Mark's death from Prostate Cancer on September 29, 2011 in Portland, Oregon. I loved him very much and appreciate the lessons his life has taught me and will continue to teach me for the remainder of my days.

His whole family misses him terribly and hold each other in support. Our thanks extends out to all of our friends sending us their love and holding our loss in their thoughts, prayers, hopes and dreams. We appreciate you all so very much and draw strength from your healing touches, near and far.

The family is holding a small memorial on Sunday October 9, 2011 in Mark's home on Hayden Island on the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon. In lieu of flowers or anything else sent to the family, I personally ask those out there in the world reading these words and so inclined to please donate what you can to any organization promoting healthy, livable communities respecting and protecting the rights of all people equally.

Rain and car repairs; signs of Autumn

2011-09-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

The rains have arrived in Portland. So, appropriately, have the car repairs. Routine service turned into shocks + struts replaced. There goes that $800 you could have used for, oh I don't know, pretty much anything else that would have felt more... enjoyable. Perhaps this, or this or this. Ah, well. Hopefully, it'll be a noticeably smoother drive when I pick it up this afternoon.

Design drives us

2011-09-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

We ride our bikes to work. Or, fuck it, drive our cars. It's mostly downhill all the way to downtown, where we work during the week. We believe unconsciously each ride is a unique design of our own creation. The route; the speed at which we ride/drive; the clothing we wear; the amount of cargo in our Timbuk2 messenger bags strapped to our bodies; the weather and time of day; our physical condition, what we ate for breakfast... we design each trip as it unfolds.

Some of my best memories of jobs past involve creating original designs, individually and collaboratively. Stories, images, icons, buttons, Web pages, Web sites, back-end architecture, wire frames, story boards, outlines, documents, how-to's, use guides, knowledge-base entries, doodles, sketches. Design drives entrepreneurial enterprises. Let's sketch out the future of life on this planet on a napkin and then go out and change the world. The best things in life maximize pleasure and minimize pain. The worst, I suppose, do the opposite.

We lack a healthy respect for good design, or so it seems to me, to the point of the blatant cultural design-erasure we see today. The man pushing his stolen grocery-cart down the street outside of my window designs his route through the neighborhood as much as Apple designs its messaging around the upcoming release (and pre-leaks) of whatever gadget they're shilling next.

Life is short, comrades. Get out there and design it while you can.

You Should Support StockBox Grocers

2011-09-02T09:59:00.001-07:00

This is a new enterprise started up by four good friends of mine, all recent MBA graduates from Bainbridge Graduate Institute. They are close to launching their first "prototype" mini-grocery store in a so-called "food desert" in West Seattle and could use your help. Kick in some scratch - even if it's just $10 - and be part of the solution.

Click here to support StockBox Grocers on Kickstarter.

Random Thoughts: End of Summer 2011

2011-08-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

The mornings are cool (again) in Portland, Oregon, and the bike ride is in that in-between-world betwixt needing a jacket and sweating too much by the time I get to work. Such is life in the (not too big) city of Roses at the end of Summer (all 4 weeks of it).
Tomatoes are finally ripening on the vine and we're beginning to harvest delicious Golden Nuggets and looking on with anticipation as the heirloom Brandywines turn.
Spent this past weekend visiting friends in Seattle, Washington, another wonderful (bigger) city with a lot to offer. We ate, ate some more, drank, drank some more, caught the Sounders game at the George & Dragon in Fremont, played croquet and noshed with friends, and generally ate and drank even more. It was a full (burp) weekend and a good reminder how easy it is to get away to another awesome place besides Portland.
Not following politics, or following it much less than I used to, feels pretty good. I'm not worked up over the crazy people running for President and I hope to keep it that way.
Still have a couple of half-posts on Cuba related topics in the works, but just finding it challenging to fit in the time to finish writing and editing them.
School is right around the corner as my third (and final) year at BGI commences in late September. This year will be the penultimate, year-long project focused on Entrepreneurship - ie, starting a new sustainably-minded enterprise from scratch with three other people. Not sure where this road leads, but very interested in driving down it with my teammates.
The launch of GoBox has me even more enthusiastic about downtown foodcarts in Portland. If you're not familiar, check them out and enroll in their program the next time you're eating downtown.
As competitive as the Portland Mayoral campaign will no doubt be in 2012, especially with the wide-open nature of it following Sam Adams' decision to ride off into the sunset on a well marked bike path, at least it's not as bad (or good) as Portland, Maine, where 16 people have filed to run for that prestigious office.

Even More Random Notes From Cuba

2011-08-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

July 9, 2011 - We've left Havana for a 2-day road trip to Pinar Del Rio to the West. Along the way we've stopped at an Eco-Tourist area to visit Las Terrazes and eat lunch at El Romero, the famous vegetarian restaurant in Cuba.

Unfortunately, to deliver a lot of information to a large group of people, we find ourselves listening to lectures quite often. While everyone packed into a hot room at the Ecological Center, I enjoyed watching the gecko and hummingbird action outside. Sitting under an awning in a lounge chair increased my enjoyment of this particular information session considerably. I rose only to take a photo of the ubiquitous Jose Marti bust nearby.

Lunch at El Romero was truly delicious. I discussed a possible entrepreneurship idea with Masai, our faculty adviser on the trip. She suggested that any concept that works to address Individual, Practice, Community and World will have a better path towards success. Show how your product/service connects with each of these areas and you will speak to people in powerful ways. As to the meal itself - lotus flower ceviche, black bean soup, quiche, quesadilla, seitan steak and guava ice cream. We followed all of this with coffee at Cafe De Maria next door.

We've now been in country for nine days. I'm feeling over the initial round of culture shock and past the doldrums of homesickness. I stand ready to explore this natural area and see some production operations of various agro-industial products.

July 10-12, 2011 - I was viciously bitten by a cat (el Gato) on my big toe and lost my mind. Also, we hiked some and sweated a lot.

July 13, 2011 - Yesterday ended with dinner at a Paladar (restaurant) and Bed & Breakfast run by a man named Giovanni and his family. The meal was delicious - lobster tails, crab and fish, black beans, rice, cheesy mashed potatoes and other wonderful homecooked delights.

Giovanni spoke English, Spanish, German and Italian (and even Greek - though none of us understood that one). He's run his own business for six years and charges 10 CUC for dinner (not including drinks) and 25 CUC for a room for one night.

Prior to dinner, Amy and I located a little record "store" with literally thousands of LPs for sale. We bought a dozen authentic Cuban records from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The owner was a very kind man who gave us many recommendations for good artists representative of classic Cuban styles of music from days gone by. We had a great time browsing through his collection and he was the epitome of a no-pressure salesman.

July 15, 2011 - Havana Airport. We arrived on our final day in Cuba around 10:30 AM only to find our 1:00 PM flight delayed indefinitely. We sat, drinking beers, eating junk food, playing cards and other impromptu games with food packaging to keep ourselves entertained. The joys of third-word travel, I suppose. We've all hit the wall and yet we must each endure.

The gate remains empty and what appears to be a tropical storm has descended upon us. Heavy rain dumps on us, reducing visibility outside to nothing. A few leaks spring forth, revealing the age and wear of the airport terminal roof covering our heads high above. Rum and beer sales will no doubt ease the pain on both sides of the counter, but this too shall be short-lived relief.

Thankfully, this is a better than average group to find myself stuck with today. Food and money and drinks are shared willingly and freely. Together, we keep the mood light and focused on what we can control, rather than all those things we cannot. A fitting ending to two weeks riding this wild alligator of the Caribbean.

July 16, 2011 - 36,000 feet in the air, sipping a soft-drink and watching television over the shoulders of strangers. I am content to have every minute draw me closer to home in Portland, Oregon. I used to drink beers on such flights, but the expense and now obligatory credit-card transaction involved has switched me back to the free stuff. On the screen, it's House. Another shows endless commercials to someone unwilling to pay for DirectTV in flight, but apparently also unwilling (or unable) to shut off the screen.

Two weeks observing daily life in Cuba - even from my Camera Obscura tourist lens - has me in a curiously enhanced mode of voyeurism. I feel nearly every interaction over the past fortnight has been from an observer standpoint, rather than an actual actor in the scene. The plane home is no different.

We managed to sail through Houston customs without incident, despite writing CUBA on our declarations page. It was, I must admit, rather anti-climactic to not have to make our case to the skeptical satisfaction of the gatekeeper. I had imagined a dimly lit room with cold, steel table waiting for me, questions coming rapid fire from FBI/TSA jackbooted thugs determined to catch me in a lie. Too much Law & Order re-runs rattling around in my imagination.

However, just a few minutes later my desire for evidence of police-state over-reach was fully satisfied once I "opted out" of the full-body X-Ray scanner. The body frisking that followed was a strange process, but Buron the TSA Agent happily explained the whole process as he placed his hands on different nooks and crannies of my body to protect the skies from Terror. I'm not positive when I will fly again, but at least Portland does not (yet) have these devices.

Cuba, as we experienced it on our tour, confuses and perplexes me. There is something very admirable in the stubborn resistance and resilience of its people. Yet, what I also see is a poor country on the brink of complete collapse. The system, by Fidel's own admission, is a failure. What will rise from these ashes? How can it ascend and also maintain the fearful grip of those currently in power?

Perhaps it's the ultimate Banana Republic (if that's not what the US itself could be called), so corrupt it appears business is being conducted. How can private enterprise ever take hold in an economy in which 40% of incoming hard currency is funneled into the hands of the military?

Cuba Reflections - Franco's Future

2011-08-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

The old taxi sputters through traffic, spewing black smoke and dodging pedestrians in the street with haphazard order and controlled indifference. Speeding and weaving until the destination, we arrive curious and only slightly nauseous.

Three hours looking at Art from Pre- and Post-Revolution Artists, most schooled and supported by the State, leads to lunching on lobster tails, plantains and rice with black beans. The flavors of each bite richer than the previous, washed down with rum, flan, coffee and cigars. We eat like Mafioso.

With the rum still spicing our cheeks, we speak of our understanding of things too abstract to truly appreciate. Our waiter advises us on a good jazz club to return to later in the evening. Outside and up the stairs, a little boy offers to share his scooter with us for a fun little diversion. His name is Franco and he is four years old. The world will be different when he's finally old and gray, but what will he have lost and gained in that time by being Cuban? What does the future have in store for Franco?

* * * * * * * * * * *
The 2011 BGI Global Perspectives on Sustainability study abroad experience took 24 BGI students, faculty and alumni to Cuba for two weeks. The trip was hosted by Global Exchange and sanctioned by the US Department of State. All opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or experiences of BGI, Global Exchange, the US Department of State or any other individual participant on the tour.

More Random Notes From Cuba

2011-08-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

July 4, 2011 - The Urban Organic Farm has left me with a warm buzz not unlike the sweet manure produced by the cows we saw up close and personal. Lunch was truly inspiring and delicious: rice, mangoes, avocados, lettuce, peas, black beans, kale soup and so on. The operation is not quite "Organic" by US standards (asbestos fiber-board raised beds?), but they truly walk the walk on trying to close the loop of inputs and outputs. Perhaps more than ever, the farm is the model for society.

July 5, 2011 - Cuba is a system that doesn't know what it wants. It believes its past dictates its future, that the wrongs of Colonialism warrant special status and justify the wrongs in pursuit of its goals over the past 50+ years. Though, I may just be ticked off at the three men who cut in line ahead of me to get coffee at the counter where the woman refused to serve me coffee because I had the wrong type of currency (no CUCs accepted here, Tourist!). A small moment of frustration, but also indicative to me of the "there are no rules here, just whatever I want to say is the rule at any given moment."

July 6, 2011 - After a light breakfast, a small group of us traveled into Old Havana to visit the Fine Arts Museum, which was truly incredible in terms of the style of Art being produced in Cuba circa 1950-1990. We enjoyed being carted around afterwards on a couple of 2-seater bike taxis before dining on a luciously rich lunch of lobster and shrimp. The museum was amazing, representing very unusual styles of paintings and sculpture, especially from the post-Revolution period 1959-1976. I bought a small poster in the gift shop. Later, following lunch, we visited the "Chocolate Museum" and supped overly sweet hot chocolates.

July 7, 2011 - Cuba: there is no dishonor in being true to yourself, even if it means you piss off the rest of the world.

July 8, 2011 - Because of the US Blockade there exists a black/white mentality regarding more than just foreign relations with America. Cubans believe they are justified and the US is not, just as Americans believe their nation is justified in its actions at home and abroad. Nationalism is the truly debilitating ideology that trumps all others and blinds us to the faults of "our side" and the plight of those we do not appreciate or understand. The Cuban 5 are either heroes or villains, martyrs or spies. There is no room for middle ground or complexity of thought, no admission on either side that the truth - if such a thing exists - is probably somewhere in between.

Two Systems: Modern Cuban Economics

2011-08-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

While in Taiwan during part of 2009, I felt obviously different as a foreigner, but also integrated into the flow of the community and local economy. There I was a tourist, but survived through adopting local customs and means of transport (scooter) while also walking further alone much more than most natives. I was part of the same system as everyone.

However, I felt that in Cuba I was viewed from afar by most Cubans. They might see a glimpse of me when whisking through their neighborhoods on the bus. Most casual interactions I had on the street were of the same variety I find in Portland, Memphis, Chicago, New Orleans or New York; hustlers, beggars, prostitutes, passed-out drunks, tourists, locals, police, plain clothes police, workers, entertainers and other assorted lost souls. Yes, we mingled, but without truly mixing.

The reason behind this is obvious, and if not intentional, then potentially beyond repair to the point of subdued acceptance. The split economic system, one for locals and another for tourists. The "Covertable Peso" (CUC - pronounced like "kook") has displaced the Cuban Peso as the preferred currency. The original goal was to bring the CUC and the Peso into roughly equivalent values over time following its 1994 issuance. The CUC opened at 5 Pesos and quickly shot up, inflating to the nearly 25 Pesos it is today. This has devastated the local economy and created the beginnings of an overtly two-tiered society.

This new class system, with those benefiting from the new Tourism economy, which accounts for roughly 50% of GDP, operates in ways that differ vastly from the previous societal order. In the old days, loyalty to Party and involvement with the Army was the difference maker. Now, it’s being able to get in on the vast amounts of income available through tipping from tourists.

My ongoing questions on this topic include:

How can the Cuban economy be sustained and diversified in conjunction with increasing Tourism, which already accounts for over 50% of GDP?
What impact would lifting part or all of the US Blockade have on the Tourist/CUC economy?
What plans are in place (or being formulated) to address the widening gap between those connected to Tourism and those on the outside looking in?

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The 2011 BGI Global Perspectives on Sustainability study abroad experience took 24 BGI students, faculty and alumni to Cuba for two weeks. The trip was hosted by Global Exchange and sanctioned by the US Department of State. All opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or experiences of BGI, Global Exchange, the US Department of State or any other individual participant on the tour.

The Modern American Traveler - Tourism & Privilege on Display in Cuba

2011-07-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

Travel to Cuba for those of us hailing from Los Estados Unidos can be tenuous, at best. Prior to leaving for Cuba with my colleagues from BGI and other schools, I had heard plenty of anecdotal accounts of American tourists entering Cuba illegally and taking their chances coming home through Mexico or Canada. Our tour, which was facilitated by Global Exchange, thankfully had us firmly planted in legal status and we traveled, we assumed, with a bit more legitimacy than our scofflaw compatriots.

Being legal with the US Department of State, however, does not protect one from the more mundane realities involving travel to a "Third World" country. Cuba, which is technically one such destination despite many characteristics and circumstances that make it much more First World than many places, presents many challenges to those accustomed to the conveniences life affords one in the über-wired USA.

We began our journey with the unexpected bonus of a $50 "departure tax" from Cancun. The tax, collected in cash by the men behind the counter of Cubana Airlines, no doubt went to a good cause like building schools or paying nurses to sit bedside for elderly cancer patients. Now, there are those who will say this tax is standard procedure in Mexico. While that may be the case, I did not experience the same treatment departing Mexico for the USA two weeks later, despite also staying over 24 hours in the country. It seemed the charging of the tax was more of a bribing of the airline workers to speed our check-in and assure our luggage joined us in Cuba.

This opening salvo was a good omen for the trip, as one thing Cuba has mastered within the realm of its growing Tourist economy is the myriad ways in which a foreign traveler can be induced to fork over cash for services rendered. Tips were prevalent and, after two weeks, I was not alone in having grown weary of the requisite .50 or 1 CUC gratuity expectation waiting around every corner.

Many things in Cuba offer the US traveler opportunities to reflect on the relative luxury we enjoy every day back home. Housing, property ownership (including cars and consumer goods), freedom of movement and expression, our abundance of all things food related, etc. And, just as often, an example of some facet of Cuban society would surface demonstrating ways their system appeared to be addressing the most basic needs of the people. Health care and Education were usually cited as the obvious examples of this kind of thing, but there were other less tangible - but just as real and deeply rooted - areas where life in Cuba seemed comparably beneficial to human existence.

My point is not to dwell on those things the US has and Cuba does not, nor the opposite comparison. For me, the real learning came from observing the degree of difference that exists between the world I've come to know in the USA and that which exists in Cuba and thinking about how those differences manifest in the culture. What are we worried about? What can we control? What is out of our control? The box they've lived in for the past 50+ years, one largely of US making and enforcement via the blockade, has created systems that reinforce a spirit of ingenuity and creative thinking, while also one of resigned (happy?) acceptance. The hurricanes will always come, just as the way things are - both good and bad - are simply the way things are. Change will be slow and it will come from the dictates of the State. Often, it won't make any sense. The sense of melancholy was palpable to me at times.

Life observed from the confines of an air-conditioned bus can only reveal so much to the visiting traveler. We did manage to stop often and depart on foot for talks and lectures from biologists and sociologists and government bureaucrats, which helped break through the Tourist bubble. Likewise, every cab ride was an opportunity to question the (usually English speaking) driver about his life ferrying people like me to Old Havana and back. One such cabbie, the self proclaimed "oldest cab driver in Havana" shared that he felt Raul was worse than Fidel, if only for his increasing reliance on the military to run the government. He also said we should "keep politics off the table and out of the bedroom; for if you don't you will not eat well, fuck well or sleep well." Definitely a wise head.

While the tour itself was wonderful and introduced us to many people and aspects of Cuban society the normal US traveler would not have the opportunity to experience, I left with a lingering "what did I just witness?" question hanging over my head. I've never felt quite so separate from the land I was visiting as I did in Cuba, both economically and (to a lesser extent) culturally. The politics of Cuban socialism only came out a few times, like when we visited the CDR (Committee to Defend the Revolution) in a small town West of Havana. The economics of Cuba today, however, left me feeling completely separate from the "real" economy. This was by design, more or less, and worked to relieve me of my money quite effectively. I'll write some more thoughts on this topic in a subsequent post.

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The 2011 BGI Global Perspectives on Sustainability study abroad experience took 24 BGI students, faculty and alumni to Cuba for two weeks. The trip was hosted by Global Exchange and sanctioned by the US Department of State. All opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or experiences of BGI, Global Exchange, the US Department of State or any other individual participant on the tour.

Cuba Reflections: The Plan

2011-07-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

As I continue to go through my hand-written notes taken during two weeks in Cuba, I'm beginning to formulate a publishing plan for this blog. Here is a tentative outline of what I intend to share with the world on the topic of Cuba.

The Modern American Traveler: Tourism & Privilege on Display
An examination of the nature of travel in the modern world as an American citizen visiting a “Third World” nation as a special status tourist.

Thoughts on Traveling in Groups
An exploration of reflections on traveling on a group tour, something new to me and, I think, particularly interesting in Cuba’s emerging dual economic system and (relatively) sheltered and controlled interaction with foreigners.

Impressions of Cuba Today
My thoughts on life in Havana, food, music, Art, culture, and other topics relating to life in the capital city.

Two Systems: Modern Cuban Economics
A few experiences highlighting the unique (or nearly so) dual monetary system driving the Cuban economy, its reliance on foreign tourism and the rising inequities inherent in this evolving landscape.

Culture & (gasp) Politics
My from the hip analysis of the state of the Revolution in Cuba today, as well as a few thoughts on ways culture and political discourse are both flourishing and floundering.

Two Voices of Cuba: Daily Life From Different Perspectives
Recalling the thoughts of Cubans I encountered along with the perspectives of dissidents and other critics of Cuban style socialism.

Cultural Learning for Sustainable Business
Some thoughts and questions on what leaders can learn from the ingenuity, creativity and pragmatism practiced in Cuba under conditions of moderate to extreme scarcity of resources.

All of these forthcoming posts will be my thoughts alone, biased as they may be, and no doubt containing many holes, oversights, assumptions, false impressions and simply uninformed observations. I make no claims of expertise on Cuba. My interest is in sharing what I found as I traveled a small segment of the country, looking for opportunities to observe businesses in operation, meet Cubans and other travelers, and witness the mystery of this island first hand.

My goal is to post one reflection per week beginning this week and continuing through early September. Feel free to post any questions you have for me along the way.

** UPDATE: 11:26 pm 7/19/11 - Also thinking about a few anecdotal reports on the restaurant and food scene, urban agricultural programs, classic automobiles and car culture, the state of the environment, thoughts on the future and a short walk through the valley in near Viñales. And probably more.

Update: Cuba Study Tour

2011-07-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

A bust of José Martí

I have safely returned to my home in Portland, Oregon, USA, after spending two weeks touring Havana and other parts of Western Cuba with several other students and faculty from BGI and elsewhere. I will update this blog in the coming days/weeks with my experiences and reflections. For now, it's great to be back home.

I'm Going to Cuba... to Study Business

2011-06-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

Over the previous two years as part of my MBA in Sustainable Business program at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, I've studied many things pertaining to both business and sustainability. We've explored management principles, methods for getting the most out of collaborative teams, principles of sustainability, the Natural Step, the Triple Bottom Line, issues of social and environmental justice facing corporations and communities, finance and accounting, quantitative methods, organizational change, systems thinking and the list could go on. It has, up to now, been a good mix of theory and practice.

Franklin Reyes / AP

Manuel Cardenas repairs shoes in La Habanera state-run workshop in Havana, Cuba.
Raul Castro's government announced in late 2010 it will layoff at least half a million state employees
by mid-2011 and reduce restrictions on private enterprise to help them find new jobs.

In the hopes of upping the ante on the 'practice' side of the equation, BGI students are now in our second year of traveling abroad to see how sustainability works on the ground in other places. So, with one year to go in the program before I walk the MBA walk, I will join about two dozen of my classmates on a two-week study tour to Cuba beginning later this week. We will visit with governmental officials, educators, medical professionals, urban (and rural) farmers, permiculturalists, and especially many new entrepreneurs.

We'll be traveling with the amazing people at Global Exchange, who've been traveling to Cuba for about 2 decades and connecting people from the US with people in Cuba in ways that break through the rhetoric (on both sides) and establish deep bonds that promote real understanding. I've already been asked - and will probably be again - why a business school would travel to Cuba in the first place. I mean, aren't they communists there?

Yes, they are (technically, sort of), but they are also people living in a system essentially up until now devoid of what we in the US would call a "market economy" encouraging people to go into business for themselves for the (theoretical) benefit of the wider economy and society. This is changing rapidly in Cuba, as evidenced by the 2010 report that 500,000 state employees would be laid off in 2011 and encouraged to start new business ventures and help grow and diversify the economy. This represents just part of the tectonic shifts taking place in Havana and throughout the island as the Castro reign, seemingly, draws to a close.

We travel first and foremost to learn, to establish connections, offer our own insights to Cubans, deepen our understanding of the Cuban people's different perspectives and the lessons they've learned in a starkly different culture and economic system than our own, and (hopefully) begin an ongoing dialog about what makes a business both successful and sustainable, in terms of its own financial survival and its connection to the community that supports it in ways that transcend only financial concerns.

Personally, I am curious about the cultural components of Cuban society that will support (or discourage) new entrepreneurs to step up, roll the dice and take a chance on something new. How does a system with no history of (X) begin doing (X)? In what ways will the government interact with these new ventures? How will the emergence of an entrepreneurial class change the culture of Cuba? How will the culture (and economic system as it exists today) alter what we in the US expect of entrepreneurs and their start-up businesses? What can we learn about and improve upon in our system when compared closely to Cuba's?

Stay tuned for more (later in July) about these and other topics.

Gifford Pinchot III TEDx on the Future of Education and Learning

2011-06-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

This is a great talk given by Gifford Pinchott III, one of the founders (as well as the current President) of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Gif is a pioneer of learning and education for adults and in this talk he spells out some of the methods BGI employs to connect people together in deep and meaningful ways. I appreciate his leadership at our school and hope you'll enjoy this glimpse into some of the theory and practice behind our new approach to learning, community and entrepreneurship.

The Dawn of Department of Education Strong-Arm Tactics

2011-06-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

(Gawker) US Department of Education calls in S.W.A.T. Team to serve warrant on student-loan defaulters.

http://www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/images/pages/N212/swat%20lineopt.jpg

This is the predictable result of a hyper-militarized police force combined with the odd "special status" student-loan debt has in our system. Should we call it graduate school or debtor's prison?

Read more over at Reason.

Random Thoughts: 2011 BGI Graduation

2011-06-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

Robert Egger gives a damn fine speech, commencement or otherwise. I love his message of "you've got to go out and sell this cultural change" we all know is the only way to truly make progress. We need a message that meets people where they are, rather than where we think they should be. "Sustain" does not have to mean "Pain" if we talk about what we can accomplish together instead of what we must give up. His voice inspired all 62 graduates receiving their MBA in Sustainable Business from BGI on Sunday June 5, 2011. They also inspired those of us returning for another year of challenging learning and dynamic community. I look forward to walking across that stage next year, but not as much as walking the walk every day until that moment.

Friendship sometimes means telling your friends when they've done something to hurt you (or themselves). I don't think I hurt others in ways I used to when I was much more blind to my impact on their lives. But, I also know I'm still human and prone to mistakes and errors in judgement. It takes a big person to admit they're wrong and sometimes an even bigger one to accept an apology and forgive a transgression. While there was a lot of love emanating in the community this weekend, there were also some folks hurting from dreams unfulfilled, personal differences and disagreements, and even big audacious goals unmet. To those I've wronged, I apologize. To those who've wronged me, I strive to forgive.

Honoring those who've made the transition from graduate student to MBA this weekend brought out many tears of sadness and joy. We're sad to see them leave, those of us "left behind" and coming back next year. We're overjoyed to see them move out into the world and begin (or, continue) spreading the BGI story to their own workplaces and communities. BGI, if nothing else, teaches people how to see themselves within the group, how to learn through self reflection and how to persuade people in ways that touch them deep in their core. As one wise grad stated in our closing circle Sunday morning, the task of altering our current destructive trajectory may be impossible. But, maybe it's not. And even if it is, let's go ahead and try anyway.

I'm excited to see what this batch of graduates accomplish, just as I'm excited to begin my own year-long Entrepreneurship project with three amazing people (Eric, Tara and Brandon). Most of all, I'm excited to be a part of an incredible community of people who want to take thoughtful action to improve the condition of life for people all over the world. Thank you, BGI graduates, continuing students, faculty, staff, founders and board members. You each inspire me to keep fighting, singing, laughing, crying and most of all, believing.

Decline and Fall of the American Empire

2011-06-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

America clocked up a record last week. The latest drop in house prices meant that the cost of real estate has fallen by 33% since the peak – even bigger than the 31% slide seen when John Steinbeck was writing The Grapes of Wrath.

Unemployment has not returned to Great Depression levels but at 9.1% of the workforce it is still at levels that will have nerves jangling in the White House. The last president to be re-elected with unemployment above 7.2% was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The US is a country with serious problems. Getting on for one in six depend on government food stamps to ensure they have enough to eat. The budget, which was in surplus little more than a decade ago, now has a deficit of Greek-style proportions. There is policy paralysis in Washington.

The assumption is that the problems can be easily solved because the US is the biggest economy on the planet, the only country with global military reach, the lucky possessor of the world's reserve currency, and a nation with a proud record of re-inventing itself once in every generation or so.

All this is true and more. US universities are superb, attracting the best brains from around the world. It is a country that pushes the frontiers of technology. So, it may be that the US is about to emerge stronger than ever from the long nightmare of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The strong financial position of American companies could unleash a wave of new investment over the next couple of years.

Read the rest here: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

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My only realy qualm is the idea that 2011 represents the beginning of this decline. The USA has been stairstepping on a downward trajectory since the oil problems of the 1970s

Pots and Kettles

2011-05-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

"It is a strange form of democracy that produces political outcomes that reward the few and punish the many, despite the energetic protests of the many." --Paul Craig Roberts

Whoever Said Wisdom Rules the World?

2011-05-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

Krugman, New York Times.

It's complicated

2011-05-23T14:25:00.001-07:00

The calls for more offshore drilling seem to ebb and flow with every election cycle. Here's an interesting 350.org infographic demonstrating that there's no quick answer to lowering gasoline prices.

The Republic is Dead; Long Live the Republic

2011-05-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

Congress is about to authorize permanent worldwide war for the US military machine.

We've seen nothing quite as brilliant authorizing military force to be used at the Commander-in-Chief's discretion from now until eternity. A master stroke for the powers that be.

Apparently There's an Osama Bin Laden Exception

2011-05-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

Salon has the imestimable Glenn Greenwald continuing his coverage/opinion of the OBL ________.

To continue, pick your favorite term for the blank above:

justified military assassination
targeted-killing
totally not true. He's been dead for years
all macheavelian politics to support Obama against a field of Republicans absent a candidate reassuring enough to the Establishment to warrent a midterm switch
flaunting international law, human rights and due process
more of the never ending US War on Islam
righteously delivered justice (by the hand of your flavor God Almighty)
a US victory, not Oboma's (aka "he's just the commander in chief, not some guy in a flight suit")
only sorry you didn't enlist in the US Navy 10 years ago, vigorously train to be a Seal, fight your way to the top, and personally kick down the door and shoot the ratfucker yourself

Glenn, as usual, hooks me with his surely not unique point of view on these (and almost all other) matters. I hope he's not alone. Where one falls on the political spectrum, such as it is represented in various public opinions, determines your preferred term for what happened to the infamous villain of the moment. And an authentically evil bad-guy he turned out to be, complete finally in death, and with an all new conspiracy theory to feed an ever insatiably delusional pubic.

I particularly liked Glenn's coining of a new term:

"What Capehart and Cole are expressing is the Osama bin Laden Exception:

yes, I believe in all these principles of due process and restraining unfettered Executive killing and the like, but in this one case, I don't care if those are violated.

Like I said, though I strongly disagree with that view, I understand and respect it, particularly given the honesty with which it's expressed."

I imagine the "Exception" shall prevail as cognitive disconance becomes easier and easier for subsequent generations conditioned to accept it as normal. Much as I've said before, it appears the leadership styles embodied by Bush (unilateral decision making, police state ramp-up, military adventurism) continues beyond his 2 terms in office. Will we ever alter this trend, or is the nature of the position one in which relunquishing power is impossible? Either way, if evidenced by later events today in Yemen, it's here for a while longer.

Travelers, we find ourselves in real doublethink territory. If you look close enough, you can see where this road takes us all. War, it's the only economy we've got.

Okay, here's one for you. Will there be a TSA scan for your next trainride? All aboard!

Old Bin Laden With Banjo On My Knee

2011-05-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

"May 2. Like most people, I suspect that Osama bin Laden has been dead for years, and they've just announced his death (and conveniently buried him at sea) for political reasons. Basically his continuing value, to bring Americans together against an external enemy, is now lower than the one-time value of cashing him in. Also, someone on reddit has just pointed out that Hitler's death was also announced on May 1. If you think that's freaky, try converting every letter in the names "Adolf Hitler" and "Osama bin Laden" into the number corresponding to its position in the alphabet, and adding the numbers up. Both names come to 110. 5/2/2011 Ran Prieur

I'm not sure what to make of this, both its plausibility and its crazy. Together, it's what what brings me back to Ran now and again.

Sunshine on my shoulder

2011-04-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

A slow work day has me looking out the window. Perhaps a walkabout for coffee would do the body good this afternoon. Portland seems all the more enticing when the sun breaks through the clouds.

BGI Channel: Inserting Links Demo

2011-04-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

I made this quick screencast to help BGI students and faculty create hyperlinked text within their posts on the Channel, our Moodle-based Learning Management System.

You Can't Control Your Image

2011-04-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

I recently went into a barber shop in Portland and paid a very nice guy named Logan $30 (including tip) to cut my hair. It had been just about 2 years and I wanted to lighten the load a bit. After a few weeks of mulling, and possibly related to the 2 year anniversary of my father's death on April 3, 2009 (really, April 2nd, but officially the 3rd), I decided now was the time. Here's the result.

As you can see, it's short but still very curly. I'm enjoying a pint of Alameda's IPA at Beaker & Flask in SE Portland. If you've never been, go and enjoy some of the best food and barkeeping in town.

Later in the day, I posted the above photo to a little social networking site you may or may not be familiar with, Facebook. The usual "wow" comments ensued and I basked in the warm glow of virtual love from various friends and cyber-friends. Later on, a friend and fellow classmate at BGI, Patty Liu of Seattle, Washington, got into the spirit and shared this photo on my profile's "wall" on the Facebook.

She claims my new 'do makes me look like an actor portraying someone called "The Max" or "Max Nerdstrom" or something like that on a late '90s situational comedy television series known as Saved by the Bell. I am only vaguely aware of this show's existence, which to me is a sign of my sophistication and taste, if not my advancing age. To others, it's no doubt evidence of my geezerness and clueless grasp on the classics of Clinton-era pop culture. My friend claims this person bears a striking resemblance to me - my "doppelganger" - was the expression she used. I fail to see the similarity. At all.

Now, all of this would be an interesting little tale in and of its own right, except that I, late in the evening upon seeing the above "doppelganger" photo splayed on my wall and not exactly feeling flattered, decided to remove it. In a sense, I censored the comic styling of a friend of mine in a public manner. In trying to remove something from the Interwebtubenets - be it this image or even a video in which I claim that living on $174,000 a year is difficult (vote GOP 2012!) - I made the age-old mistake of thinking online censorship can actually control your image. It cannot.

So, to Ms. Patty Liu, I apologize for taking down your contribution to my Facebook "wall" and not seeing the benefits of being associated with a major icon for millions of Millenials out there tuned into just how cool "The Max" really was back in the day.

In closing, as Slater once said to Jessie, ""What I look like is not as important as who I am, Bubba."

Supply and Demand

2011-03-30T10:54:00.001-07:00

Thank you, Bill Watterson, for explaining our economic system so well.

You'd Rather Be Talking About Ken Jennings

2011-03-04T00:55:00.000-08:00

"You should be building colossal marble statues of your Jeopardy champions, people! We are your last hope in a world in which you have outsourced all your stuff-remembering to Google."

--Ken Jennings, aka WatsonsBitch. Ken represents the last best human Jeopardy Champion who, as our viewing audience at home knows, just lost to the 1.0 version of our future computer overlord hive mind: Watson

Here's a picture of them after the massacre. That's Trebek, Ken, Watson on the screen and... I'm guessing either Tom Cruise or Nick Cage, my eyes can't make that other guy out.

photo courtesy of a google-images found site from which I currently "borrow"

The point of all this?

KJ participated in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) over at Reddit that's every once in a while worth your midnight time. If you're looking for it, it's the WatsonsBitch link up above. Here's Ken's blog if you really want to nerd out.

Memeopoly

2011-03-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

This may be interesting to anyone wanting a summary of many of the current and past Internet memes all in one place. It's Memeopoly.What's your favorite? I like Dramatic Chipmunk, Star Wars kid and the Grape Lady.

Oregon Green Cabin

2011-02-27T00:54:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I did something similar to this in Southern Indiana. Might be nice to give it another shot one day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Just outside of Portland, Oregon, on a small local certified organic workers´ farm collective (that´s a mouthful), a small cabin is being built. Measuring just 16´x 20´ (small is the new big), it will house farmers during the harvest season. But what´s remarkable about the cabin is not what it´s for, but what it´s made of, and how it´s being made. As opposed to a lot of buildings that talk a big green game and don´t deliver, this little cabin has got it all (which effectively means it doesn´t have too much).

Read the rest of the TreeHugger article.

Who Controls Libya's Energy Reserves?

2011-02-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Libya holds around 46.4 billion barrels of oil reserves, the largest in Africa, and close to 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. In 2010, total oil production (crude plus liquids) was close to 1.8 million barrels per day. US Department of Energy - Libya information page

The UN has just issued sanctions against Gaddafi.

Fuck Monsanto

2011-02-25T15:37:00.000-08:00

G. Edward Griffin, author of 'The Creature From Jekyll Island', and numerous other books and documentary films, and Anthony Patchett, retired assistant Head Deputy District Attorney, Los Angeles County Environmental Crimes/ OSHA Division explain the consequences of the Monsanto contract in the video below.

Monsanto's Technology Stewardship Agreement shifts responsibility to growers for any and all losses, injury or damages resulting from the use of Monsanto seeds. There is no expiration date on the contract. The grower may terminate the contract, but: "Grower's responsibilities and the other terms herein shall survive..."

Read the rest over at Truth Out.

The Right to Africa's Water

2011-02-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

ScienceDaily (Feb. 8, 2011)
In many parts of Africa the management of scarce water resources is left to the local authorities. This is in line with international principles. But how does it work in practice?

Anne Hellum, Professor of women's law at the University of Oslo, heads a research project entitled "Human rights and gender dimensions of water governance in Africa: Actors, norms and institutions", which will be concluded in December 2013.

read the whole article here

Snow, Cuban Sandwiches and Other Dreams

2011-02-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

I am participating with three other BGI students in one of the many NetImpact business competitions going on this year. We're applying for a chance to compete in a supply-chain environmental sustainability scorecard creation contest. I believe something in the neighborhood of $5,000 goes to the winning team. More details will appear here as they unfold. Many other students are already competing - or soon will be - in Boulder and San Francisco. Best of luck to all y'all.
Paper writing has commenced in full force with an upcoming individual assignment for my Organizational Systems class due this weekend. I will examine the organizational structure of AFS Intercultural Programs, my employer since 2009, in light of five of the key metaphors introduced in Morgan's Images of Organization, as well as Galbraith's Star Model. I'm already 2 pages into it and finding the going enjoyable.
Teams, teams, teams. There appears to be team overload at BGI right now for the 2nd year students. It's a tough row to hoe, as the saying goes. How much is too much? And is too much actually part of the point? The learning never stops.
Lunch today was a special joy from El Cubo de Cuba in downtown Portland. Oh my goodness do I recommend you go there. Es muy bueno!
Work projects are picking up steam on many fronts. I've been leading the development of four new training modules for our online learning center that address new US Department of State regulations affecting all foreign exchange agencies in the country. We're now required to document that all 6,000+ volunteers have been adequately trained on particapant Safety and wellbeing, host family screening, conflict resolution and emergency response procedures.
It snowed... briefly... in Portland, Oregon today.

Monday Possibilities

2011-02-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't written a "random thoughts" posting rambling on about ideas, opportunities and chores and such for quite some time. Therefore:

I am 1/2 way through the sometimes rigorous, always challenging and never boring MBA program at BGI. I will finish in 2012 with an MBA in Sustainable Business (or possibly Sustainable Systems) and begin pursuing the next chapter in my life and career, perhaps in the arena of International Sustainable Development.
Despite writing these last words, I unfortunately must pass on an opportunity to travel to Ghana sometime this upcoming summer to participate in the International Development Design Summit. While I am extremely interested in attending, I recognize that it's not the right time for me this summer due to other opportunities, most importantly to go to Cuba with a contingent from my school. We hope to learn first hand about a society's transitions to sustainable systems in a variety of arenas, including food/agriculture, transport, education, entrepreneurship and health care. Unfortunately, I cannot attend both and must make a choice.
I'm learning about coaching by helping someone as a peer coach, while also receiving peer coaching from another fellow graduate student. The results thus far have been mixed. I find myself a more natural coach than coachee, which probably says a lot about me. Like, I probably could use some more coaching.
Who knew looking for wedding venues with your betrothed could actually be fun? We're narrowing in on a location and time for what ought to turn out as the biggest, bestest party of our lives. More importantly, it has not turned into a tour of fantastically overpriced wedding factories churning out robo-couples dressed to the nines every weekend of the year.
Writing papers for school used to be one of my favorite activities. I have to admit, it's lost some of its luster for me and become more muscle-memory and repetitive. Maybe that's the point, but it's not quite as thrilling to see what the professor has to say once you've cranked out as many as I have over the years. I can take it or leave it.
Group paper writing, however, brings with it the anticipated moments of struggle, but also helps me see team dynamics at play in a new way. I don't like the process, and especially do not see the 'real world' applicability of it with regards to the teams I've worked on professionally in the past, but it does condense and bring into stark relief many issues between people and opportunities to assess how you - and others - prefer to operate in collaborative, task-oriented settings.
I've taken the first, tentative step to establish a relationship with a medical doctor here in Portland after far too long not doing so. Insurance helps motivate. As does seeing your older brother come down with Prostate Cancer. I have orders for some blood work and will be visiting a lab soon to get them processed. Never too soon to check under the hood, especially as one nears the 250,000 mile mark.
I'm struggling to connect the dots between my current occupation in online learning development with my growing interests in sustainability and international business. While I possess many related skills, I also have a resume filled with small start-up firms most people have never heard of and, in a couple of cases, no longer exist.
Finding ways to be involved, without burning out amongst a sea of disengagement telling me - often in the eyes of people I assumed shared my interest - is an ongoing challenge for me. How much is too much? Must I always go out on a limb to accomplish what I want? Why is rallying support from seemingly like-minded people so difficult?
Teaching English taught me I have different ideas about teaching. Being a graduate student again in my late 30s also has taught me something: how to keep those ideas to myself. If there's one thing that's becoming plainly clear to me it's that teaching is difficult, but accepting criticism from those you're teaching may be even more of a challenge.
Speaking of criticism, I'm having a hard time following the ways of the world these days. It seems as if all the obvious truths are being suppressed in favor of the official story about this thing or that event. From Superbowls and their millions spent on television advertisements to riots in the street all over the world. Why we're doing what we do and what we're telling each other about why we're doing what we do see so misaligned and disconnected.
I may be a lot of things to many different people, but one thing that seems consistent is that I generally don't turn out to be what people expect. You can take that both up and down, positive and negative. I seem to be able to surprise people - sometimes the same people - each way.
Bill O'Reilly is a fucking idiot. Natch.
I haven't been able to figure out who I'm writing for here, nor do I particularly think much of what I'm saying holds much interest beyond idle, trivial curiosity.
Peace be with you, brothers and sisters.

Wikileaks Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

2011-02-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

OSLO, Feb 2 (Reuters)
Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian politician behind the proposal said on Wednesday, a day after the deadline for nominations expired. The Norwegian Nobel Committee accepts nominations for what many consider as the world's top accolade until Feb. 1, although the five panel members have until the end of the month to make their own proposals.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

There appears to be a problem with the mainstream meme currently being pushed by the US government and other opponents to bureaucratic transparency and freedom of information. How can an organization both promote a "terrorist" agenda and also receive the nomination for the highest global award calling out remarkable efforts in advancing peace?

Regardless of what you think of Julian Assange, who seems more interested in coming across as the next Bond villain than your typical journalist, the underlying truth remains: Wikileaks exposes corruption and deception on a global scale. The results, thus far, include at least a hand in the developing situations in Northern Africa and possibly beyond.

How will the critics reconcile this latest development with their absolutist and inflammatory rhetoric?

Who's Got Next?

2011-02-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

Tunisia

Egypt

Syria

Jordan

Albania

Yemen

Saudi Arabia (?)

Sudan (?)

Is this the beginning of mass revolutions feeding off of the examples provided daily through the Internet? Is this the demonstration effect playing out in the laboratory of the real world?

Metaphors are Like

2011-01-31T23:09:00.000-08:00

"The last thing a fish discovers is the water in which it swims."

-- Marshall McLuhan

As I make my way through Images of Organization by Gareth Morgan for my Organizational Systems class at BGI, I'm struck by the double-edged nature of using metaphor to understand systems (but then again, even a double-edged sword is literally like a double-edged sword). The framework of metaphor - seeing organizations as organisms, political systems of power, brains, machines, ad nauseum - provides my mind's eye with many useful, if theoretical, perspectives from which to perch.

The caveat so easy to forget: don't let the metaphor become the focus of the story you tell of an organization. The metaphor runs second to deeper understanding of what works - as well as what doesn't - in the systems humans create in the name of business.

Discovering the story of an organization comes through repeated story telling. The story leaders tell the "troops", which they in-turn repeat to themselves and others, becomes the story of the organization's mission, values and purpose.

Equally, the often unknown stories that circulate within organizations beneath the surface create strong internal memes about who we are and what we believe in (or don't believe in). How do leaders use story to shape their own and others' vision, both inward and outward?

IBM recently had this to say about its view on leadership:

"The ability to develop effective leadership, strategically build and deploy the workforce, and stimulate knowledge sharing and collaboration frequently hinges upon the information available to make evidence-based decisions regarding the workforce. However, for many organizations, this level of insight continues to be elusive." (10/12/2010)

Shifting strategies from offshoring to insourcing begins by redefining and reimagining the story that's dominated since the 1980s: globalization. Changing outlooks, for example from expand into cheap labor markets to retain top talent, shapes business decisions with cascading impacts on human interactions, operational goals and, ultimately, global economics.

A World of Readers

2011-01-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

Browsing through the monthly statistics on this little blog 'o mine, I'm struck by the places around the world that find people pointing their browsers my way. While I know a couple of people in Russia or Taiwan or even the Netherlands (not saying these visits necessarily come from them), I'm happy and surprised anyone in Slovenia, Sweden, Germany, China or Hungary find this to be a return-worthy blog. I'll keep doing what I can to keep it interesting, folks.

Here's a look at the the top 10 places of origin for visitors in the month of January, in terms of (total page visits) to this site.

United States (321)
Slovenia (91)
Russia (56)
Sweden (33)
Netherlands (27)
Taiwan (24)
Germany (18)
Canada (11)
China (9)
Hungary (7)

Get ready for the Revolution

2011-01-25T23:30:00.001-08:00

"We want a revolution. We don't want Hosni Mubarak."
- Egyptian Police Captain in Cairo (from The Atlantic)

First, Tunisia sees its people (and Army) rise up to overthrow rule through outright corruption. No one seems to know what will replace it. Yet.

Now, the troubled northern African country teetering on the brink is Egypt.

One can only theorize on the nervous chatter taking place behind Momar Kadhafi's closed doors. He's already trying to land on the right side of one neighbor's kerfuffle.

Julian Assange - Terrorist with a capital T to some (or is it many if not most?), rogue spreader of evidence of widespread government and corporate corruption and collusion to (maybe just a few) others - seems poised to vicariously take some amount of credit for the events in Tunisia. Are we witnessing an unfolding unravelling of more "too big to fail" enterprises, only now at the nation/state level?

"While it would be a stretch to argue that Tunisia represents the first "WikiLeaks revolution," it's clear that some U.S. cables emanating from the American Embassy in Tunis severely tarnished the local government's reputation."

- Nicholas Kozloff (Huffington Post)

To those who lament these political upheavals, I agree only if your concern is for the loss of human life. To deny that this world desperately needs more Revolution denies the truth that we the people live within the tightening grips of a global ruling class disinterested in our needs, let alone our hopes and dreams for a tomorrow built on fundamental human, ecological and economic dignity for all.

Whether it's death through self-emolation or by the guns or hands of the police, no one deserves to die in standing up to the face of injustice, corruption and tyranny. We need more light shining in on the inner workings of all governments, less secrecy and espionage, fewer bombs and soldiers and more people willing to engage, cooperate and simply, plainly, peacefully talk with one another.

My heart goes out to everyone in Egypt tonight, as well as to all people living everyday under the force of more oppression than I'm even capable of imagining.

There's more than one way to __________.

2011-01-24T10:37:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time I believed political activism was the best way to have a positive impact in the world. Change, I thought, came through sustained movements over a long period of time striving for something undeniable in its truth and goodness, yet long denied by the powers enforcing the status quo. The different Civil Rights movements of the 19th and 20th centuries - women's suffrage, racial equality, the Progressive movement, organized labor - all appeared on the side of inevitable truth against the forces of injustice and denial.

My political organizing days, at the local and state level where I once built my sandbox, are now behind me. The 1990s and early part of the 2000s taught me the valuable lesson that politics is actually more about staying the same, rather than about change on the scale we really need. And I believe we do need to make drastic changes, so learning this lesson was bitter medicine. I drifted for a while after recognizing the embedded inertia of our political systems, from the local School Board on up to the US President. Those earnest and impatient believers in change who tired of Obama's track record in his first six months may have been new to this understanding.

What vehicle do we have at our disposal that can actually traverse the landscape before us? It's a disturbing road ahead of us, filled with new and unfamiliar challenges requiring whole economies to transition and transform, entire societies will likely come out on the other side looking different than before, and the rules of the road known all to well will now require new skills, attitudes and beliefs. The vehicle I see is business and the road is the path we must forge towards a sustainable (or, perhaps a for the moment, simply a less unsustainable) future. Food, water, health services, education, commerce, infrastructure, law enforcement - all of our interconnected systems show signs of massive strain, if not outright decline.

What choices can we make as we clamber and claw our way into future that will make the process of change more just and equitable for everyone? What can we do to demonstrate a desire for peaceful and cooperative enterprises across archaic national boundaries? How can we honor our differences while simultaneously building a new culture dedicated to protecting the environment while raising happy and healthy children?

For me, the first step comes in admitting what we're doing is wrong. On the macro scale, we must stop our out of control addictions to making War throughout the world. On the micro scale, we must begin to see ourselves in the eyes of our neighbors and work together to create livable and thrivable urban and semi-urban neighborhoods. Continuing to spend our money on warfare and corrosive entertainment only keeps us blind to the reality we face: a diminished planet and a starkly different future than most people have come to believe is their birth right.

Some references on testing

2011-01-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

Using Multiple Choice Questions Effectively in Information Technology Education
Link to article
Karyn Woodford and Peter Bancroft
Queensland University, School of Software Engineering and Data Communications

Multiple-Choice Tests and Student Understanding: What is the Connection?
Link to article
Mark G. Simkin and William L. Kuechler
University of Nevada-Reno, College of Business Administration

Multiple Choice Exams: Thinking Handcuffs
Link to article
Joe Bower

Systematic assessment of learning outcomes: developing multiple-choice exams
Link to Google Book
Mary E. McDonald

Multiple-Choice Test Questions and the No Child Left Behind Act
Link to article
W. A. Barret
San Jose University

Beyond Standardized Testing: Better Information for School Accountability & Management
Link to Google Book
George W. Elford

Guidelines for Writing Multiple Choice Questions
Link to article
Larry Birnbaum, PhD, FASEP, EPC

Writing Multiple-Choice Questions for Continuing Medical Education Activities and Self-Assessment Modules
Link to article
Jannette Collins, MD, MEd

Outside Inside Outside: A Poem

2011-01-22T00:09:00.000-08:00

The stone rolls,

roles stone me.

Outside dogs bark through

windows walking down raindrops.
Inside tonight we let

the wine do the talking.
Outside we laugh at each other together,

and throw out sly looks
on top of tomorrow's garabage and recycling.

The path leads,

leads pass me.

Tell me before you

cash that check.

Cancer hits home (again)

2011-01-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

My older brother, Mark Richard Hess, born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1956; a 1974 graduate of West Lafayette High School (Indiana); alumnus from the University of Oregon (BS Cartography/Geography '80, MS Urban Planning '83); current and long-time resident of Portland, Oregon; former resident of Sarasota, Florida; crooner/singer of songs and lover of authentic southern collard greens was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 fully metastasized prostate cancer. His outlook is not good. I'm hopeful he can live out his remaining time (months to years) in relative comfort and in the care of those who love him. My heart goes out to him and everyone afflicted by this horrible sickness. I love you, big brother.

Both of my parents, my late father Paul E. Hess who passed away in 2009, and my mother Janey Tucker Hess, who lives in the South near New Orleans, survived battles with cancer - prostate and breast. Do yourself a favor and get yourself checked. Soon.

What (sustainable) business is it of yours?

2011-01-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

Fielding ideas like fly balls, hoping for another pop-up. Entrepreneurship in today's marketplace may seem like a Sisyphean endeavor to some. To others, there's no better time to go into business than a down market scaring away the competition.

Sustainable business: words that to some may appear an oxymoron like Military Intelligence or Happy Marriage (I kid, I kid). What do practitioners of this new field of business mean when they say "sustainable" - and, perhaps just as important - what do people think upon hearing or reading those words?

What do we want business to be today and tomorrow? Are you someone who feels the way we're doing things now is working? Then to you, I'd wager the word sustainability probably sounds a lot like some new trend bound to fade, like Total Quality Management or 360-degree reviews. Or, are you someone who believes in the importance of improving our society's sustainability, but thinks business is the cause of - and most definitely not the solution to - our collective problems?

Many people have opinions about sustainability. There's no shortage of working definitions out there already. I would argue that most are fundamentally incongruous with business as we currently understand it. However, the intermediate reality facing us requires putting down our semantic differences and embracing a sustained drive to make everything we do more efficient, from the resources we consume to the methods we employ to make the stuff of life. Now is not the time to worry about words. We need action.

We cannot continue operating on the assumption that we'll never run out of raw materials. We must replace our economic systems based on creating growth through producing and consuming disposable crap destined for the landfill - or worse - the oceans of the world. We all live in the landfill now and it's time to start cleaning it up.

The Marshmellow Problem

2010-12-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

BGI Beat - Closing Remarks

2010-12-14T15:20:00.000-08:00

This post is the final installment of my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food and Portland Food Carts.

I set out to highlight some of the carts, as well as some of the challenges with, sourcing local, organic and sustainable food in Portland. The food cart phenomenon speaks to my heart in many ways and I appreciated this opportunity to delve into it and publish my thoughts. I started my food service career in 1992 as a dishwasher and ended it nearly six years later as a kitchen manager of a small, locally owned restaurant. Since leaving the heat of the kitchen, I've harbored dreams of opening my own little dive/diner serving my special recipes to happy customers. A food cart represents the ultimate new start up, to me, as it's essentially just a kitchen with a (usually) very reduced menu. The low cost of entry into the market and expanding slate of venues promoting and housing carts around town make it an attractive option for ambitious, but under-capitalized, entrepreneurs.

The issues I identified are not new - sourcing from limited supplies, the hard choices small volume businesses must make to keep costs down, interest or indifference on the part of customers, and all of the other non-food, but still sustainability-related decisions that must be accounted for, as well, including energy, waste, and packaging. More than one food cart vendor expressed a desire to see more sustainability-centered guidance from the City of Portland or another independent agency. Some have already taken steps towards collectively sourcing from area farmers. Others participate in cart-pods with a "green" mission. But, for the time being, the next step has not been taken because it can't be taken alone. And, as recent headlines and word on the street indicates, the City of Portland seems more intent on regulating food carts on their structures, rather than helping them source their tomatoes and bok choy from local farms.

As to the particulars of this Fall Term assignment, writing about a single topic related to sustainability, I end it satisfied with both what I've produced and the delicious nature of the work. I haven't written about a single topic in successive posts before and I found that to be an enjoyable endeavor. I also relished the opportunity to speak with so many cart owners about their food and their experience as entrepreneurs. From these conversations, I've gained a fresh and more seasoned perspective of life inside the food cart. I believe keeping this project focused on local, "real world" business issues helped keep my words and thoughts grounded and accessible. I remain open to reviving this Beat in the future, but - like many carts - will shutter it for the winter and focus on other projects.

Thanks for reading my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food at Portland Food Carts. I especially wish to thank the efforts of those foodies over at Foodcarts Portland, without whom everyone from cart owners to cart food lovers would be less well fed. And, thanks to all of the food cart proprietors who took time to speak with me and tell me their stories. I look forward to eating with you again, soon.

* * * * * * * * * *
Here's a link to the 2010 Food Cart Year in Review over at Foodcarts Portland. Bon appétit!

SW4SX Learning Journal 10

2010-12-12T21:43:00.000-08:00

This is the final Learning Journal for my Using the Social Web for Social Change class at BGI. Here's a link to everything we all produced online over the last three months.

Elluminate Sessions
After a year + a quarter at BGI, this is the first class in which I felt the Elluminate sessions rivaled the in-person time we experienced together at the three Intensives of the term. Despite the fact that I work in Instructional Design for online learning, I believe that generally, people learn better in face to face, experiential settings. But, online learning can be effective for a variety of purposes, and this class touched on many of those. I particularly liked the virtual circle, which if memory serves me, were slightly different each week - ranging from pictures of ourselves to images portraying our moods or emotions. I also liked the check-ins within a shared Google document with 24 students live editing together.

Course Readings & Work Load
It was a challenge to keep up with everything in the first half of this course. I appreciated the "pick one optional reading and make a slide" aspect of letting each student present to the whole class. This helped lighten the load and exposed us all to each other's presentation styles. I admit I rarely put as much time as I should have into making these slides sing with good design, often throwing it together at the last minute.

The overall workload, for me, was manageable, if a tad overwhelming at first. It took me a few weeks to get caught up after enrolling late. I imagine that for others with less experience using the Web in all its glory, it may have felt even more harried up front. Chris A warned the class was front loaded and it's no small task bringing all of the various threads of social media, social networking and the social web together.

Personal Branding
Just good plain fun and something everyone should do on a regular basis. Who am I? What are my values? Why am I here? What's my story? These questions and more extend into many of our LPD, Marketing, Creativity and other courses. Finding my voice has never been a problem, but honing it requires ongoing practice, discipline and refinement. I loved the post-it note exercise at the first Intensive and anticipate using it and adapting it with groups in the future. I felt this was a great way to prompt people into thinking about our online presence and how our choices shape other people's perceptions of us.

The BGI Beat Blog
This assignment spanned the bulk of the course and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In speaking with others, I believe my choice to go narrow, local and tangible made a big difference in my experience. Generating more material involved doing one of my favorite things - eating great food at food carts in Portland. Motivation never suffered. If anything, I had too many choices. I'm still waiting to decide whether to continue the beat. I have a few outstanding pieces started but unfinished, as well as some "I'm going to email you" promises from cart owners to follow up on. With Winter right around the corned and many carts shuttering for a month or three, perhaps I can take this topic up again in the Spring.

Social Bookmarking & Google Reader
I've never really been as big a fan of social bookmarking as I've felt I should have been. Knowing this, I didn't anticipate liking or finding much use out of Google Reader or Delicious bookmarks, but I set out to clear my mind of these assumptions and dive in. Here's a link to my Delicious page for the class, which shows 82 links marked and tagged. My problem is I generally never go back to these things once I've marked something. I put in quite a lot of time on this in October and November, but fell out of the habit near the close of the term. I think I made it a couple of weeks with Reader. I suppose I have too many "set in my ways" habits of online reading, along with an aversion towards anything that says I have over 1000 unread items to wade through.

Social Change Project
Nina, Darren, Bria, Suzanne and I scripted and produced a pretty cool little 3 minute pitch on sharing. I loved drawing out the sketches as time permitted, as well as working with Nina to produce the script one Saturday morning via a 2 hour Skype call. It was also interesting to see how the Facebook page, in its own small way, took off with people posting stories and other thoughts on sharing. I loved that there was room for me to express my creative side in more than just Creativity class.

Rapid Video Project @ December Intensive
I was not feeling super well, respiratory-health-wise, at this Intensive. Thankfully, this project really got my "have fun" juices going on Saturday afternoon and evening. I think my enthusiastic BGI-Night Live performances were propped up by the joy we shared as a group in SW4SX class making this. Big, big, big thanks to Julie, Julie, Brian, Kim, Suzanne, Peregrine, Michael and I'm sure I'm totally leaving out three or four other people. It was very confusing having Alumni in class, too, that day, plus my brain is a little frazzled after a 5 hour extra long drive home from Bainbridge Island. Our topic, more or less (I know I'm mangling it a bit): What "Cultural Artifacts" of BGI speak to you or are things that you think could help change the world?

Social Change Video - Share More Now

2010-12-09T11:17:00.001-08:00

I was part of a team that produced this short video about the power of sharing.

BGI Beat - Cartopia

2010-12-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

This post is part of my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food and Portland Food Carts.

I pulled up my chair this blustery afternoon for a conversation with Kelley Roy, one of the two authors of Cartopia, a new book telling the story of Portland's food cart revolution. While munching on a delicious Elk burger from Over the Top at the SE Division & 50th cart pod, I asked Kelley a few questions about creating the book, sustainable food at food carts, the state of the food cart scene in Portland, and where she sees this phenomenom going in the future. The following summarizes our conversation between bites.

Cartopia & Elk Burger from Over the Top

How do you see sustainable food fitting into the Food Cart scene?

It's something that seems more difficult to do in a cart, compared to a traditional restaurant. People seem generally more accepting of "regular" food from carts, especially the ones downtown that serve the lunch crowd during the week. Sustainable food practices still seems like a luxery item, and not something people will be likely to demand as much when they're spending $5 or $6 on cart food. But, that being said, there are some carts that are developing enough of a following based on their product where people are comfortable paying for higher quality ingredients.

Has the Portland food cart scene peaked?

Yes and no. There are always going to be carts that get weeded out over the winter when business slows down. And, the increased competition and development of all these destination cart pods means that a great product becomes more and more important. In the end, it's all about the product you create and how people respond to that. But, as we're now seeing, with success comes scrutiny from local government. I'm hoping government can be a resource to encourage responsible business practices, rather than creating a hostile or antognistic environment.

What's the future look like for food carts?

I think it would be great if something a little more official could come into being, sort of a Food Cart Guild that could organize cart owners and advocate on their behalf. I think we may also see an evolution from carts to shared "micro" retail spaces as more and more landlords begin to realize there's money to be made from multiple tenants pooling their resources, rather than waiting for one renter to come along. The economy is changing and food carts are a symbol of that change.

How is the book being received by folks outside of Portland?

Really well, actually. We've had sales in 30 states so far. Places like Austin TX, Cleveland, D.C., Atlanta and others all have emerging or established food cart scenes. I think Portland's style of food carts may be uniquely our own, but it's interesting to see how these concepts get adapted and fitted to the cultures of other cities around the country. We're also working to get books into stores in New York and New Orleans, among other places. It's an ongoing process to get the word out and sell books.

Social Change Project Storyboards 6, 7, 8, 9

2010-12-03T15:23:00.000-08:00

4. Setting the Table

3. Not enough dishes

2. Grocery shopping

1. Let's host a meal together

Social Change Project Storyboard 5

2010-12-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

The smiling musician.

Social Change Project Storyboard 4

2010-12-01T20:18:00.001-08:00

The Musician @ the Gig

Social Change Project Storyboard 3

2010-12-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

The car.

Social Change Project Storyboard 2

2010-12-01T18:17:00.001-08:00

The keys.

Social Change Project Storyboard 1

2010-12-01T18:14:00.001-08:00

The lone musician.

SW4SX Learning Journal 9

2010-12-01T18:09:00.001-08:00

This TED Talk touches on many of the issues I'm seeking to highlight in my BGI Beat Blog about Sustainable Food in Portland food carts. Change depends on knowing what to do - as this video highlights in many ways - but also equally depends on people learning how to actually implement ideas into concrete actions leading to true change.

A Reflection on Trees

2010-11-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

Trees, alive and dead, give our lives and landscape their very essence. We, as humans, fundamentally belong to a tree-dwelling species of primates. Our family tree, so to speak. As we enjoy this brief dominance over the skin of the planet, we ought to stop and marvel at how it began when we discovered we could burn trees. Our built environment arises in many ways out of the dismembering and dramatic refashioning of trees. A landscape without trees feels barren and isolated; a life without trees unnatural and empty.

A while back, I spent a few years living amongst trees in a house I built on very wooded land. On occassion I arose early to sit outside and take in the morning. Sometimes I meditated. Most days I drank coffee. Each morning brought different sounds and silences. The creaking tree trunks and branches, rustling leaves, dropping nuts all gave the wind voice.

I cut down a lot of trees in the six years I lived on that land. I would wager pretty near every tree I’ve ever cut down in my life, spare a couple. Firewood, mostly. When first I came into the property, I bought a good Husqvarna chainsaw and taught myself how to care for it as well as I could. This machine provided my imagination a vast canvas.

I got to know each tree as I cut it with this metal monster in my hands. The chain ripped through the Sassafras, Maple, Cedar, Poplar, Red Oak, Wild Cherry and Quaking Aspen – all slash third growth filling in the gaps on this overlogged watershed. Each wood burns differently than another. Some make excellent kindling, others keep you warm steady and slow through night. The heat I feel from wood feels unlike mechanical heat; softer, warmer, healthier, alive.

Social Change Project - Sharing (Iteration #1)

2010-11-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

I created this quick and dirty proof-of-concept for my team project in Social Web for Social Change. We'll continue to iterate in our pursuit of a powerful 3 minute video telling a story and persuading you to share more, share often and share now.

SW4SX Learning Journal 8

2010-11-22T16:50:00.000-08:00

Where to next?

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means the end of the Fall term at school will be finished soon, too. We're hosting a gathering of about 16 people on Thursday here in SE Portland.

School continues to unfold in unusual ways for me this term. Accounting, the class I dreaded, has been challenging without being impossible. Creativity & Right Livelihood, the class I eagerly anticipated, feels somewhat hollow and directionless, with a few loose ends left to wrap up. Social Web for Social Change has pushed me to write and publish more than I have been doing recently, which I enjoy. But, it also has bogged me down in attempting to read and bookmark a lot of information, as well as learn to be a better blog reader (not just writer).

But, this term draws to a close and my immenant return to work at AFS approaches in mid December (I took a brief leave of absence to take a full course load at BGI this term). I am excited to get back to developing online learning for our volunteers, participants and staff, especially as 2011 will involve a shift in my role from being primarily a developer to more of a facilitator and project manager utilizing a budget to involve outside talent in the process. I believe this will have the dual positive effect of improving the quality of what I ultimately produce, while also not burning me out by the completion of the development cycle. Last year I designed, developed and delivered over a dozen stand-alone courses used by over 6,000 people. This year, we're tasked with some new State Department-mandated trainings, as well as rebranding all of 2009-10 content to match the new AFS brand campaign and several other additional courses for new and continuing volunteers.

I am eager to draw on many of the lessons I've learned this term in SW4SX, especially as a draw in more people into the creative process and include more voices in the finished products. Fostering a "fail fast and often" mentality will not happen over night in an organization with the history of AFS, but I'm willing to continue trying.

BGI Beat - Sip

2010-11-20T19:00:00.000-08:00

This post is part of my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food and Portland Food Carts.

Sometimes, you just have to let go and run out of things like organic pineapple. Sip, a favorite cart of mine for some time, walks the walk when it comes to sourcing the right way. If that day's volume of customers enjoying delicious smoothies and satisfying steamed juice creations used up the supply of tropical fruit, that's just how it goes. I admire a place that refuses to sacrifice standards in the pursuit of sales.

A good friend of mine plays a primary role in the daily operations of Sip (full disclosure) and I've been enjoying the "Tropical Greens" smoothie there for a couple of years now. On this evening's visit, I switched it up to a hot steamed drink, going with the Flu Remedy (apple, ginger, orange, lemon, cayene, honey) on a cold November evening.

The challenge of any food cart serving foods made from organic and/or local ingredients revolves around supply and how that supply affects menu decisions. You won't find many berry-based smoothies (ok - any) at Sip, though I seem to recall some seasonal specials over the summer. Their normal menu relies on smoothies with a base of organic greens like kale blended with steadily available tropical imports such as pineapple, orange and grapefruit. But even these items can run in short supply, as happened to us this evening when we went for a quick warming study break. Part of frequenting carts that specialize in good ingredients is a willingness to roll with it when they run out of something.

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Sip juice cart

Located in SE Portland by People's Co-Op

Serving Organic Juices, Smoothies and Other Lovely Drinks

Here's a review of Sip @ OnPDX

Let's Play Together

2010-11-17T23:02:00.000-08:00

To recap for those of you just joining us, Dan Pink opens A Whole New Mind by asking us to ponder:

Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
Can computers do it faster?
Am I offering something that satisfies the non-material, transcendent desires of an abundant age?

On the topic of "Play"

Sometimes I wonder if I just like playing with matches. Once when I was about seven I held a small firecracker in my hand one second too long. I didn't mean to do it and yes, it hurt fantastically. It was the first time I ever experienced ringing ears. I never had to re-learn that lesson.

But, I still play with matches; tonight it was in lighting a fire before DLM class online. I like the sound, smell and feel of the fire. During classtime in the living room with the laptop, doubly so. I relish the satisfaction that comes from building a fire. Primal smile inside. So fortunate to have found a rental with a working fireplace.

If Pink is right and play is the skill of the future, then my sense is we have a long way to go in most corporate workplaces. Here, play is often forced on people. And when it's not, its presence is undercut by tacit preference towards non-play (ie "work") time as the real purpose of our efforts. Play is extra-curricular only, sectioned off onto company softball or soccer teams, annual picnics and holiday parties. Play as a part of work? Not yet. Production mindsets don't just stop worrying about units and metrics overnight.

When I'm stuck these days, I just smile and think of the Dancing Banana and 'Peanut Butter Jelly Time'. It makes me chuckle and remember the early days of Web-land, when play seemed more possible and stories of start-ups seemed to excite enterpreneurs everywhere. When that GIF was still hot off of Geocities, I was starting work at a young company with the proverbial ping-pong conference table for meetings and Quake II shared across the network for intra office down-time shoot'em-ups. Play was common and it was widely accepted. Until the dot-com money stopped flowing in early 2002. Play at work sounds fanciful now as traditional MBA's tighten corporate belts and focus in on reducing overhead to maximize the last drop of water they can out of that productivity stone they've been juicing for the last two decades.

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I originally posted this for my Creativity & Right Livelihood course at BGI, but I wanted to preserve it forever out here on the public Interwebtubenets.

SW4SX Learning Journal 7

2010-11-17T16:50:00.000-08:00

Feed me!

This week's topic: Ambient and Immersive online environments. Consider it a spectrum ranging from a quick check of Twitter to living vicariously through virtual worlds like Second Life.

Lately I've been feeling overly immersed, or possibly overly ambiented, by the demands of school and life. These extend beyond merely attending weekly online classes or monthly Intensives. Tasks like lining up travel via Amtrak, coordinating meeting locations to socialize with other students prior to the long weekend on Islandwood, taking care of banking and bill-paying tasks from my friend's basement in Seattle, scouting out travel plans for 2011, watching movies, writing back and forth with members of my family and extended network, and generally conducting just about every major and quite a few minor tasks in life. The online side of my life seems to grow like... like...

The deal was supposed to be moving more and more of our life online into virtual environments would result in improvements to efficiency and the management of the daily tasks that go into modern "civilized" life. And, I admit, not having to write out checks and lick stamps has its appeal. Maybe I just need a larger monitor.

My new team working to produce a Social Change project has already met with the challenges of East Coast/West Coast on the Web, as well as the myriad possibilities for the schedules of five people not overlapping. We've utilized Doodle to plan our available times over the next three weeks and hope to employ the powers of Skype+Google Document this coming weekend to conduct a Creative Seassion online to hash out the topic and script of our (most likely) video.

Creative Session - Agenda

2010-11-15T16:53:00.001-08:00

I will be conducting a creative session in Seattle later this week to address this question:

In what ways might BGI promote and publish the story of sustainability?

I'll keep you posted on the results.

Leverage Points for Online Learning

2010-11-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

Online Learning often receives a bum's rap. People who "know better" often seem quick to relegate it to the dust bins of pedagogy, reminding anyone who will listen that it pales in comparison to the magic of "face to face" interactions. At its worst, online learning for adult learners can dampen enthusiasm to learn and participate in a subject or course. At its best, it transcends and surpasses what's possible in a "real" classroom and allows each learner to receive a customized learning experience, provided they meet the instructor halfway.

At BGI in our blended (ie: 1/2 online and 1/2 in-person) MBA program, we use Elluminate as our primary online learning tool, at least in terms of conducting synchronous learning events with multiple learners. Elluminate class sizes range from 20 to 70 depending on the course. Typically one to three instructors or guest lecturers lead a session for about one hour, though some classes last 75 to 90 minutes.

Here are some of my Elluminate Best Practices for both Instructors and Learners:

Instructors

Chunking: break the Elluminate class into 20 minute segments or "acts" and mark the break with some kind of engagement activity (small group discussion, survey, quiz, video, etc.)
Interactivity: use the full range of what the Web has to offer - audio, video, chat rooms can all be used to keep adult learners engaged and paying attention. Utilize the back-channel to redirect students' attention to course-related subjects.
Break-out Rooms: not only are these spaces good for promoting peer-directed learning, but it keeps each person honest (ie - they have to be at their computer) and participating.
Power(less)Point: no rule says you have to have slides, but an empty white board should be avoided at all costs. If there's no slide presentation in order, images can help hold attention on the topic. If you must use PowerPoint, check out this book.
Keep Time: the collected time of 50+ learners (as well as the instructors) is precious. If technical difficulties slow or stop the pace, move on to something else.

Learners

Be present: online learning with applications like Elluminate only work well if you are engaged and committed to participating in the class.
Be heard: there's no excuse to not have and use a headset and mic. Go get one and use it. Without one, you're not fully participating in the class.
Participate: don't worry about interrupting anyone - just click the mic button and speak up.

BGI Beat - Brown Chicken, Brown Cow

2010-11-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

This post is part of my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food and Portland Food Carts.

Brown Chicken, Brown Cow steams a good cheeseburger. I stopped by to check them out recently and was obliged when co-owner Heather shared some of her entrepreneurial story with me in North East Portland while preparing me one (of the chicken variety). She and Kevin opened the cart in May of this year and she admitted they're looking forward to a couple of months off over the winter.

One thing I noticed walking up to the cart was the up-front disclosure of food sources on the chalk-written menu. With a few exceptions, informing customers either what they want to know or what you think they ought to know, at least at the select carts I'm visiting, seems to be trending towards the "tell them more" side of the fence.

BCBC uses local suppliers for their beef, chicken and cheese. Believe it or not I'm not really interested in labeling anyone, but I know some may object to Tillamook Cheese being called "sustainable" and I'll stick with just calling them local (they do claim to use "artificial growth hormone-free" milk). The fact that BCBC won't guarantee that the lettuce or tomato on your bun on any given day is organic is another of the interesting and understandable trade-offs a low-margin business like a food cart forces people to make. Heather's take, "We wanted the main ingredients of what we make to be things we could stand behind and feel good about." The meat will be grass-fed and free-range without hormones or antibiotics. The brioche bun and cheese options will also be local.

It's especially interesting to me to hear Heather's story because it's now starting to become clear that the use of organic or local or "sustainable" food at carts may have more to do with the types of people opening and running these carts than it says about the people who frequent them. I know, I know, the sample size is still a wee bit small to start chiseling that theory into the stone. It has me wondering if I'm up for any "person on the street" interviews before this project is over to gauge what food-cart eaters have to say.

I left BCBC happier and less hungry. It's not super difficult to find a good, local/organic burger in Portland, as just about anyone here can tell you their top 10 places to get one. Heather and her partner Kevin seem to have carved out a niche with high quality ingredients and an unusual cooking method to produce a unique product. The chicken burger impressed me with lots of flavor, good texture and presentation, and a manageable portion size.

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Brown Chicken, Brown Cow (facebook page)

North Refueling Station

NE Killingsworth & N Greely

Here's what they say: "Steamed cheeseburgers hit the streets May 7th 2010. We are open Tuesday-Saturday every week (and some Sundays) We have the flavors you crave, come taste the love."

Here's a review of Brown Chicken Brown Cow on Food Carts Portland.

SW4SX Learning Journal 6

2010-11-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Finding your audience

This learning journal entry is a tough assignment to fulfill to my instructor's requirements. I guess I just don't spend a lot of time reading individual blogs out there anymore. I once upon a time did. A lot. But that was 2007.

I remember many days now long past spent reading Atrios, Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World (a comic before a blog) or Wil Wheaton Dot Net (now in exile on TypePad). FireDogLake, DailyKos (user ID# 548), Talking Points Memo and Gawker all used to be much more regular outposts for my politics-pop-culture-addled mind. Each of these sites began, in their respective ways, as more or less solo-blogs. Some stayed that way and others grew into large mult-user sites. And I've never been much of a blog reader, I guess, which probably says a lot about why my blog isn't very well read in its own regard.

Here are a few sites I'm reading and listening to lately as I work on my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food at Portland Food Carts.

Web site: www.foodcartsportland.com

Google Page Rank: 5/10

Similarities to me? Focused on producing original content centered on food and food cart enthusiasts, which matches up with my current BGI Beat series on Portland food carts using sustainable food sources.

Differences from me? Not really a blog, more a searchable information resource for people interested in Portland food carts. Much more "Portland" branded than I present this blog. Widely read and used as a resource for both businesses and consumers.

Web site: www.lizcrain.com/foodloversguidetoportlandblog

Google Page Rank: 4/10

Similarities to me? Portland, food, people loving food in Portland. What's not to like?

Differences from me? Liz Cain is a pro, no doubt about it, and her writing is professional and much more in depth about her topics than I am here. But, it's okay to say that. Cain's site is part of her overall brand as a writer and its primary purpose is to promote and sell her book The Foodlover's Guide to Portland. Her blog is much more visually appealing than mine and her posts incorporate images more often (and better).

Web site: www.savorpdx.com

Google Page Rank: 3/10

Similarities to me? A food lover talking about food in and around Portland.

Differences from me? Audio podcasts/radio show format broacast via Cascadia FM. Really very cool and something I'm thinking about adding to my blog. Lucy Vaserfirer was an inspiration in the most recent edition.

BGI Beat - Yogio!

2010-11-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

This post is part of my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food at Portland Food Carts.

Yogio! in North East Portland does not wear its sustaible food bonafides on its sleave. The concise menu boasts a lot of flavor and variety with only a few standard items - traditional Korean street snacks prepared completely vegan (meat options available) and gluten free. But, unlike many carts I've been encountering around town, Yogio! does not include the typical pre-disclosure of their food sources on their menu.

Noting this, before ordering I asked about their chicken sourcing and Ali happily informed me they use only Draper Valley for their meats and local farmers and backyard gardners for their produce - mainly spinach, cabbage, carrots and other vegetables. They hope to work more directly with farmers and growers as the 2011 season gets rolling next Spring. Ali shared their dreams of working with dedicated growers producing harvests staggered out over the course of the Spring, Summer and Fall.

Timber and Ali have been operating Yogio! for about eight months now, along with another cart next door. Putting in 60+ hour weeks includes a lot of time spent tracking down individual local sources for a variety of ingredients. Timber spells out their food philosophy on their Web site: "I grew up eating from my family's gardens. I want to keep with the traditions of old. Yogio seeks to provide the freshest local season ingredients available. The desire of this cart is to share a little bit of Korea's soul with Portland's heart and stomach. We are always looking for backyard farmers to grow produce for us."

When I asked Ali about the lack of advertised sourcing information on their menu, she replied: "My honest opinion is that most people just don't care. If they want the chicken, they want it whether we're sourcing from Draper Valley or not. If people want to know, they'll ask like you did. We like the good stuff because it's a better product, and it matches our morals."

As for the food itself, I ordered the "Scissors" vegetarian style (pictured above) and loved it. Spicy, chewy, crunchy. Perfect.

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Yogio! Korean Cart

North Refueling Station

NE Killingsworth & N Greely

What they say: "Yogio" means something like "I am here!" or "here I am!" depending on context. It is used to call waitstaff over in restaurants, as well as ask the taxi to stop or alert someone to your arrival at a shop. So, Hello Portland! and YOGIO!

Here's a review of Yogio! Korean Cart at Food Carts Portland.

BGI Beat - Net (Food Cart) Impact

2010-11-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

This post is part of my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food at Portland Food Carts.

Before continuing with another food cart serving sustainable-food profile, I want to stop and take a look at what another writer, Eric Hess (no relation to me that I know of), says about the Portland Food Cart scene. In his post Dining a la Cart published on 9/28/2010 at Sightline Daily.org, Eric examines the commonlyperceived pros and cons of food cart growth in urban settings. I found his look at Portland’s carts to be fair, but I want to highlight and expand upon some of his points.

Conventional Wisdom
I want to spend a little time exploring some of the "cons" Eric lists. I also want to remain conscious of the fact that these aren't his knocks against street food, just a kind of "conventional wisdom" summary itemization. Part of what I find interesting about the Portland scene is the evolving connection between traditional restaurant food service and food carts. Many - I estimate, most - food cart proprietors have spent some time in restaurants around Portland and elsewhere before giving their kitchens with wheels a try. And beyond the mere person-power fueling these enterprises, several Portland restaurants operate food carts, primarily downtown. It's definitely not a black and white "Restaurant vs. Food Cart" dynamic at work (though, that definitely exists in some circles).

Pods Eating Portland
Regarding the podification of the Portland Food Cart scene: granted, my sample size is small, but based on the anecdotes I've heard from locals in some of the 'hoods with cart pods, people really love it. Most of these places - SE 43rd & Belmont, SE 50th & Division, SE 12th & Hawthorne, NE Mississippi & Skidmore, NE Killingsworth & Greely - already support some form of commercial business in the immediate vicinity. Adding in a half dozen or more delicious, affordable and quick dinner/late-night options to your neighborhood's already busy street doesn't seem to be attracting too much opposition.

Standards… of Sustainability?
Eric writes about the Quality and Standards issue - what is the quality of what you are about to eat? is it clean? Is it safe to consume? etc. I want to take this point a little further. Because, while I agree Portland's food cart quality seems to be beating the common snobbery street food often suffers under, I also feel this is where the question of sustainable food - local, organic, natural, "real" - comes into play. In the hyper aware Portland food culture, is the quality issue ultimately bound to wrap itself up in sustainable food? What is the tipping point for local consumers demanding to know where that chicken – or even that tofu – comes from?

There seems to be several counter-balancing and reinforcing feedback loops at play in this dynamic. Down economic times suppress consumer tolerance for $8 or higher price points. Yet, equal demand for local/sustainable/organic/hand-cured-porcetta ingredients pressures those carts not offering that level of information (not to mention actual food quality) to their customers. If (when?) the economy ticks upward, will Portland see even more carts advertising the origin location of their ingredients before they reach the cart?

What is a Food Cart?
Food carts conjure up many images for people depending on location. For some, it just a cheap hot-dog or pretzel cart on the sidewalk. For others, it may mean gut-bomb "fair food" or blue-collar taco trucks. If you're a Portlander, you may think of the places you go to for a quick and cheap lunch taken back to the office. Or, just as equally, it may be the late night place you and your friends hit on the way home from the bars. Food carts have generally, whatever their form or place, been a place to get cheap food of a generally not overly healthy quality.

Somewhere along the way, a shift began to happen. I don't want to get into a discussion of who was the first "foodie" cart in Portland - or really even what "foodie" may mean to different people - but I do think its true that something different began to happen here between 2006 and 2009 as more and more carts opened with "real food" or "sustainable ingredients" as a calling card, more carts emphasized quality - in some cases gourmet - and consumers started seeing prices climb to match this evolution.

We're seeing a change - or maybe expansion is a better word - from a food cart palette offering a $3 Bánh mì sold at a cart operated by people actually born in Vietnam to one with $9 gourmet Asian-fusion sandwiches made with locally grown ingredients and hand-crafted to order by graduates of a Cordon Bleu culinary institute. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that. I’m not taking sides or saying one is better than the other – just noting the remarkable fact that Portland’s food cart scene is now apparently a big enough market to offer both.

I remain most interested in how sustainable food impacts a cart’s business operations, from costs to customer acceptance and/or demand. Next up, I’ll get back to looking at food carts serving up delicious sustainable food.

BGI Beat - Links to Local Food Sources

2010-10-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

This post is part of my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food at Portland Food Carts.

Options for sourcing food in Oregon and Washington continues to become more and more local. Here are some of the sources used by restaurants and food carts throughout Portland.

Produce: Organics to You

Bread: Little T American Baker

Turkey: Diestel

Pork: Carlton Farms and Hill Meat Company

Chicken: Draper Valley Farms

Free-range eggs: Stiebrs Farms

This is by no means an exhaustive list, rather a sample of some of the more commonly seen names on menus around town. Many establishments, both Food Cart and others, also source on a more micro-local level, with produce, meats and dairy coming from backyard gardens and farmers markets.

SW4SX Learning Journal 5

2010-10-27T11:12:00.001-07:00

The Meme's the Thing

Today's topic: memetics. When I read things like this, I am saddened by the knowledge that there are vast numbers of people out there afraid of all sorts of bogeymen.

When I learn about incidents such as this, this and this, several more pounds of disgust drop onto my mental scales judging all of the idiots out there.

Sometimes, the more I learn, the more I want to unknow. I've been participating in online forums since the days of USENET, and still I see half-thought ideas spark flame wars drowning out the few spots of logic and reason on the Web. Who in their right mind submits comments on news articles?

The Dancing Banana, updated from the old Geocities original

We know the Web is effective, but do we know if it is positive? What do we have to show after 15+ years of cultural surfing? Lots and lots of pornography of increasingly violent and dehumanizing nature. Lots and lots of ways to spend money on disposable crap. Lots and lots of sites to escape reality and game the night away. Many examples of ideological opinions replacing actual investigative journalism. The not so slow death of publishing: the modern newspaper, music and film industries.

So... what's good about this InterWebTubeNets that seems like more than just a passing fad? There must be more to it than a collection of blogs, porn sites and discussion threads detailing the latest on LiLo.

I use it every day for news and information - but to what end? I want to explore how we can use this massive communication tool for more good than ill, more change than conformity, more empowerment than power. When will Social Justice go viral?

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update: For whatever reason, I just secured www.interwebtubenets.com, .org, and .net through 2013.

BGI Beat - Give Pizza A Chance

2010-10-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

This post is part of my BGI Beat on Sustainable Food and Portland Food Carts.

I sat down to a couple of slices (Chanterelle/Goat Cheese/Garlic Aioli and Bacon/Walnut/Gruyere/Green Apple - both delicious) and a chat with Scott Davison, the proprietor* of Give Pizza a Chance located in downtown Portla
nd on SW Stark & 5th. I'm interested in learning about food cart entrepreneurs interested in supporting what Scott terms "Real Food" in ways that help their business.

Scott speaks about his holistic approach to life, business and pizza. He shares stories connecting his personal faith and experiences working abroad in places like Bangladesh with serving food and providing genuine hospitality to his fellow man. He begins every morning at the cart making fresh dough.

“Every day is a journey and every moment you ask ‘what next’? I really believe in getting up each day and doing the next right thing.” Scott views creating delicious food as an ongoing redemptive process, much the same as he sees every action in his life.

Some of the right things he does come in the way he sources the ingredients and materials used to serve his customers. But, as any business owner can attest, both the financial bottom line and meeting the demands of the marketplace also influence his decision-making. The example of pineapples on his menu illustrate his point. The Hawaiian-style pizza on his menu is called I Give In because of the compromise he makes providing a pineapple + ham pie in Portland.

“At no time in the year is there such a thing as a local pineapple here.” Just the same, he regularly sells out of the I Give In during his normal lunch business during the week.

The greatest challenge in “sourcing right” lies in knowing where to draw the line. Which is better: the expensive new corn-based disposable cups with a green mountain on the side or the cheaper wax paper cups that seem to break down and compost easier? Paper plates made from “sustainable timber” in Michigan, USA or the sugarcane-based compostable plates manufactured and shipped from China? The pork processing facility in Pendleton, Oregon providing the bacon on the slice I ate today is also relatively new to him and Scott wonders about that, too.

“I know what they say about how they treat the animals, but how do they treat their employees? What about their impact in their community?Should I drive out to Pendelton? I don't know.”

Scott continues on his journey, setting personal goals to incorporate more of his own produce into the menu next year, from eggs his chickens lay to mushrooms, basil and tomatoes he raises and harvests. He asks me a great question – one I want to continue exploring throughout this series:

“How do we create a system that helps food carts source their products in ways that support real food and our local economy?”

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Give Pizza A Chance
Located at SW Stark between SW 5th & 6th Avenues

What they say: "Our pizzas are made fresh every morning with all organic flour, many organic vegetables, and locally sourced, natural sausage, ham and pepperoni. We have been called New York or East Coast style, to us it is just plain good pizza."

* Give Pizza a Chance was originally eastablished by John Eads, who now runs the successful Pyro Pizza at the Hawthorne & 12th food cart pod in South East Portland.

SW4SX Learning Journal 4

2010-10-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

Camtasia Screencasts - Instant Gratification

Here is a quick (under 1:00 minute) screencast I created using Camtasia on my MacBook. A fellow BGI student asked me if I could show her how to record audio using Audacity, a free/open-source application available for Mac, Win and Linux. Camtasia gives you the ability to make quick recordings, either for instructional aids or presentations. I'm looking forward to getting more creative with it in the coming months. I can see lots of potential.

BGI Beat - Sustainable Portland Foodcarts

2010-10-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

A pile of words have already been written about the Portland Foodcart phenomenom over the last four years. Hell, they even have their own Wikipedia entry, so you know they've "made it", at least in terms of general knowledge in the public intellectual marketplace. The need for more writing and food reviews appears to be about as pressing as still another Paul Krugman piece reminding the world just how completely off the rails the US economy remains, as well as how inept the political solutions being considered will be, if they're ever even inacted.

Sip in SE Portland

However...

What I don't see out on the Web amongst the bloggerati is very much original writing - or even curiosity - about sustainable food and the Portland foodcart scene. Oh, sure, the Mississippi Marketplace (a pod of carts in NE Portland) was founded to be a group of sustainable food-serving carts. And while I love that place and the food offered by many vendors, the site hasn't been updated in over six months.

With my "BGI Beat Blog"- one of the projects I am tasked with for my Social Web for Social Change (SW4SX) course at Bainbridge Graduate Institute - I intend to dig a little deeper into which carts are offering sustainable food and explore some of their highs, lows and surprises doing so. My intended methodology will be:

identify foodcarts publicizing their food as sustainable
visit as many of these carts as possible to sample some of this sustainable food
inquire with the proprietors to find out: why they chose to offer sustainable food; what challenges they face in offering a sustainable food product; and, how such food products have affected their business, in either positive or negative ways, as well as how they feel their product offerings have been met by their customers, the foodcart-food eating public

I will publish my weekly findings here, hopefully every Sunday between now and December. Look for more this upcoming weekend.

SW4SX Learning Journal 3

2010-10-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

A personal privacy experiment with social networking

I recently announced my engagement on the Facebook (as well is in analog real life). Below is a screen capture of my "wall" with some of the kudos and congratulatory karma comments coming my way.

To me, this represents the ease with which former word-of-mouth news about people has been replaced by the instant broadcast using social media, in this case Facebook and my connections to over 300 people in my network, as well as the people in each of those individuals network who, should they choose, could see my news through their friends who post on my wall or reply to my announcement.

Some people continue to find this level of openness unnerving, as evidenced by ongoing criticisms of Facebook and other social networks (or social networking services) and how they handle user information and assure privacy - whatever that term may mean to different people. As someone who's put my thoughts to words and published them on the Web since at least 2004, my comfort level and ability to personally reconcile my desire for privacy with my desire to maintain and cultivate connections with others - digital and analog - is now almost second nature.

SW4SX Learning Journal 2

2010-10-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

Jumping in feet first

I decided to enroll in BGI's Social Web for Social Change (SW4SX) course at the 11th hour, the day of the class on the first Intensive weekend. The opportunty to learn along side several c7 and c8 folks who I won't otherwise get a chance to take a class with, as well as learn from Christopher Allen, seemed like too much of a good thing to pass up.

In order to take on this additional course-load, already being enrolled in Accounting/Finance/Triple-Bottom-Line and Creativity & Right Livelihood, I immediately returned to work and initiated a conversation with my supervisor, Jim, about taking a leave of absence from work. Finding him very receptive, the past two weeks have been hectic, but with building anticipation to 10/22 (my last day until 12/17). Today, we met with a local company with whom we're already contracting for LMS services to do some e-learning development work in my absence.

My expectations for this class are to push me into new avenues of expression online; to recharge some of my waning interest in online development work after many years spent in the arena, professionally; and to connect me to other students interested in taking advantage of the social media diaspora to advance sustainability issues in the wider intellectual marketplace.

(Waste) Water Matters More

2010-10-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

I originally wrote this piece in March 2010 for my Social Justice and Business class at BGI and am publishing it here for the first time as part of Blog Action Day 2010 drawing attention to water and water related issues. I believe one cannot fully discuss water without taking into account the massive amounts of human and farm waste contaminating fresh drinking water supplies around the world.

BOOK REVIEW: The Big Necessity

Introduction
Today over 2.6 Billion people do not have access to a working toilet of any kind. This includes the flush toilet common throughout the Western, industrialized world, but also more simple devices such as a latrine, outhouse, bucket, or box. In The Big Necessity, journalist Rose George travels the world and uncovers some disturbing realities facing nearly 40% of its people.

Sanitation – or lack of it – directly impacts the health and wellbeing of people all over the world every day, yet solving this crisis will take more than sewers and toilets; it requires we recognize the complex combination of cultures, politics, infrastructures, religious attitudes, and tradition that together create our beliefs and assumptions on this all too taboo subject.

Key Learning

Sanitation solutions must recognize cultural, as well as logistical, issues.
Sanitation problems account for 80% of global disease.
The Western flush toilet is unsustainable and not scalable.

The Role of Waste in Public Health
Ninety percent (90%) of the sewage produced in the world ends up being dumped – untreated – into oceans, lakes and rivers. A single cubic meter of wastewater pollutes ten cubic meters of water. A single gram of feces may contain up to ”ten million viruses, one million bacteria, one thousand parasite cysts, and one hundred worm eggs."

Accidentally ingesting this cocktail causes 80% of all the sickness on earth. Over 7,000 people die every single day due to water-borne illnesses associated with poor (or absent) sanitation. This translates to a child’s death from diarrhea every fifteen seconds.

Toilet Culture
George introduces readers to many of the culture norms and taboos around the world surrounding toilets and human waste. Beginning in the sewers of London before traveling through public latrines in India; backrooms and bushes in Africa; foul smelling public privies in China; and gleaming technological toilets in Japan; George infuses her words with the overarching theme of waste being something we all talk about without talking about it.

Going a step further than pointing out our odd differences, such as whether one uses paper or water (e.g. – a bidet) to clean one’s self is more than an example of cultural quirks. For George it becomes a metaphor for how cultures view their own excrement, which has “downstream” consequences.

For example, the apparent personal openness within China may be contributing to that country’s successful implementation of human/animal waste digesters producing useful biogas in rural communities. A society able to recognize its waste issues without flinching can enact public works that, in less collective cultures, may otherwise seem impossible.

Unsustainable Systems
The most important learning from The Big Necessity is that the modern “flush toilet” we in the Western world have come to depend on daily is not a scalable solution for the rest of the world. The infrastructure of sewers and water sources alone necessitate alternative solutions. That this solution wastes water, increases health risks downstream, and ultimately requires massive amounts of fossil fuel generated electricity to treat combines to make flush toilets unsustainable in both East and West.

Add to this indictment the fact that the existing infrastructure - be it London, Paris or New York – is crumbling and not keeping pace with booming urban populations. George references the nearly daily dumping of untreated sewage into the River Thames as just one example of modern cities unable to effectively deal with their growing waste problems. Cities no longer have the capacity to add millions of waste-producers (i.e. – people) on top of 200-year-old (or older) sewers built for dramatically smaller populations.

There’s something fundamentally wrong with taking solid and liquid waste and putting it directly into our water supply. If anything, George argues we need new solutions that do not rely on the 19th Century water-based flush toilet. It’s not just that water-based flush toilets are not viable for the majority of the planet, it’s that they are not even sustainable for those areas where they are in wide use today, including North America, Europe and parts of Asia.

Technological Wonders: Japan
Today there exists no culture as fascinated with technological toilet solutions as Japan. Toilets take on personalities all there own in this technophile society. Heated seats, automatic flushing, deodorizing air fresheners, jetted bidet streams, soothing music, and other features have moved beyond the occasional odd gadget of the wealthy and entered into the middle-class household. Today, it’s estimated that nearly 70% of Japanese homes have a “Western style” flush toilet, with units manufactured by Toto making up the bulk of that number.

However, Japan’s seemingly effortless high-technology toilets run into the same problem as any water-based flush unit: where does the waste go? Problems continue to plague the small island nation when it comes to waste disposal and treatment. For all of the technical advances in keeping people clean and eliminating waste, there still persists fundamental shortcomings with regards to treatment and ground water pollution. One recent study estimates that 43% of the pollution in Tokyo Bay results from untreated household sewage.

Case Studies: India & China
The problems facing the world are no more apparent than in India and China. Combining booming urban centers straining existing sewer infrastructures, growing populations, subsistence agriculture and high rates of water-borne disease, each country represents a microcosm of the many human-waste related challenges societies face.

China has seized on sanitation in rural communities as an opportunity to improve health, increase access to cooking and heating fuel, and decrease deforestation. Today over 15 million rural households heat their homes and cook their food with Biogas harvested out of multi-household waste digesters. These enclosed, concrete boxes combine farm animal and human waste and capture the methane gas released through the decomposition process.

India faces many challenges in its slums surrounding major urban areas, many of which can be traced back to poor public health. George surveys many of the grassroots efforts in that country involving the construction of public lavatories and latrines offering people alternatives to the common practice of open defecation directly into community water systems.

The Future of Human Waste
Despite the dire situation she catalogs so well, George sees a bright future in terms of dealing with the problems posed in The Big Necessity. One such glimmer of hope is the rising global consciousness around the importance of sanitation as evidenced by the growing number of sanitation, toilet and “rest room” associations in Asia, North and South America, Africa and Europe.

In 1998 one man in Singapore started what has evolved into this new global movement. Beginning as the Restroom Association of Singapore and now operating as the World Toilet Organization (WTO), Jack Sim started as a local social entrepreneur seeking a way to elevate public discourse around sanitation and public health. The WTO and Sim have gone on to see the development of several other organizations in Europe and North America, including the American Restroom Association and the German Toilet Organization. His goal, and the mission of the WTO, is to raise awareness of sanitation solutions and increase resource sharing across national borders.

Sim helped convene the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) in 2007, bringing together over 100 sanitation organizations from around the world. Sim is also an Ashoka Global Fellow and was named by Time Magazine as “Hero of the Environment” in 2008.

Other organizations currently active in advancing global sanitation include the Global Water Challenge, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council; as well as a private firm out of the US, Global Sanitation Solutions. Each approaches the crisis from different angles and strategies, but with a common mission of improving access to sanitation infrastructure in urban and rural communities.

The Global Water Challenge (GWC) is a coalition of 24 leading organizations creating a global movement of transformational change around water and sanitation. GWC focuses on collaborative learning, connecting leaders, and investing in sustainable, scalable and replicable projects. Our goal is universal access to clean water and safe sanitation.

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) is a global multi-stakeholder partnership organization that works to improve the lives of poor people. WSSCC enhances collaboration among sector agencies and professionals around sanitation and water supply and contributes to the broader goals of poverty eradication, health and environmental improvement, gender equality and long-term social and economic development.

Global Sanitation Solutions, based out of Utah, USA, produces the ChemiSan™ incinerating toilet. ChemiSan dramatically impacts the spread of disease borne by water sources contaminated by human waste. The resulting product is a non-toxic humus-like powder that can be tilled into the soil.

________________________

References

[1] George, Rose. (2009). The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters. New York: Metropolitan Books, a Macmillan imprint.

[2] George, Rose. (2009). The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters. New York: Metropolitan Books, a Macmillan imprint.

[3] George, Rose. (2009). The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters. New York: Metropolitan Books, a Macmillan imprint.

[4] Ukita, Masao; Nakanishi, Hiroshi. (1999). Pollutant Load Analysis for the Environmental Management of Enclosed Sea in Japan. Tokyo: International EMECS Center, http://www.emecs.or.jp/joint4/joint-pdf/pdf/p121.pdf

[5] George, Rose. (2009). The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters. New York: Metropolitan Books, a Macmillan imprint.

[6] World Toilet Organization: About the Founder. http://worldtoilet.org/aboutus3.asp

[7] Global Water Challenge: http://www.globalwaterchallenge.org

[8] Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council: http://www.wsscc.org

[9] Global Sanitation Solutions: http://www.chemisan.com

Water Matters

2010-10-15T06:26:00.001-07:00

I will be attempting to participate in 2010 Blog Action Day and post something about WATER (just as soon as I'm finished with breakfast).

Click here to learn more.

Why BGI, PTH?

2010-10-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

A short self-shot film exploring some of my thoughts about BGI. Enjoy.

SW4SX Learning Journal 1

2010-10-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

You Learn About Yourself Best Through Others

My BGI classmates and I participated in a fun and insightful exercise in our Social Web for Social Change (sw4sx) class this past weekend at Islandwood. We began by writing out on Post-It Notes® a variety of words and phrases we felt aptly describe ourselves - our 'personal brand'.

Next, we gave ourselves 10+ minutes to wander the room and write out simple little statements about how we saw other people - smart, creative, strong, idealistic, able to solve big problems, emotionally connected (and so on...) - and placed these notes on their backs (no one wrote 'kick me' either, a sign of our collective maturity).

From there, we aligned ourselves on a spectrum of Extroverted and Introverted, Tech savvy and Tech resistant, and then matched up with one person on the opposite end of these polarities to break into 2-person reflective listening groups.

As Darren Guyaz and I organized and sorted our notes from other folks along side our own, several patterns emerged that I found interesting. First, some of my words matched exactly with how others see me. Second, some of my words found no matching partner. Third, many of the words submitted by others went further and were more effusive than I generally am about myself.

My favorite: "Dropper of F-Bombs. Healer of Hearts."

I found that other people see me based on my external actions, especially the dramatic ones. They (obviously) don't have access to my internal narrative and all of the additional self-criticism that runs within that current. They also only see a slice of the external me and must make their judgements based on that limited set of data points. Nothing new here, right? Everyone knows first impressions matter most and ongoing regard is built slowly through repeated behaviors meted out over time.

The learning, for me, came in the form of the generosity in the language other people used about my personal brand: Honest, Courageous, Cuts through bullshit, Strong, Interested in new ideas, Direct, Passionate, Creative, Visionary, Powerful, Compassionate, Emotional, Deep, Brooding Intellect. My own language had not been quite so direct in describing myself, which often comes through the filter of wanting to fit in, not sound pompous and full of myself, and also a desire to account for my many faults and weaknesses, as well.

In another class - Creativity and Right Livelihood - we went through a different sort of exercise in small groups designed to get us in touch with our "Greatest Gift" and our "Greatest Pain". In the latter, people seemed to share a lot of commonalities in their pains; not wanting to feel left out, unheard, devalued, unworthy. But in our "Gift" discussions there was great diversity of how we each saw ourselves and what we have to offer; humor, intellect, passion, calm, drive. We share unversal fears/pains and each have unique gifts to throw at the problems of the world. Our capacity to innovate and create comes from both places - the universal and the unique.

As I develop and refine and hone my own personal brand, I find myself bouyed by the words others wrote about me. I am playing around with the following as a my brand signature:

Dream > Create > Instigate

It moves from contceptual to actual. It describes my desire to combine creativity, art, and social action. I feel it captures the essence of nearly every project I work on, both personally and professionally. Fuck yeah.

AFS Returnees Sharing Their Stories

2010-10-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

A short film I shot back in August at the AFS Western Region Office in Portland, Oregon. Many AFS Returnees go on to volunteer for the organization, some even end up working for it. Here are a few of their stories.

Finding Your Right Livelihood Begins Now

2010-10-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

As part of my MBA program at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, I am participating in a Creativity and Right Livelihood course. Yes, it's true.

One of the immediate effects such a course - and the various activities and readings it quickly immerses one within - is the questioning of what you're spending your time doing every day.

For me, that means examining my "day job" developing online learning for AFS Intercultural Programs. After a year I've produced a catalog of content used in orienting and training host families and other volunteers, many in accordance with US Department of State regulations. I've also helped transition AFS to utilizing an online Learning Management System integrated into their existing online database called "Global Link", used by over 6,000 volunteers across thecountry - and another 25,000+ around the world. These efforts have saved AFS a significant amount of money this year, something that should be realized over and over as they move forward, which helps them focus on sending and hosting more kids on foreign exchanges around the world.

But... as one may infer, I've come to a personal stopping point on this journey, or, if not outright stopping, then one of transition, reflection and consideration of what else I could be doing with my time. In that spirit, I have requested and been granted a brief leave of absence followed by a negotiated alteration to my employment agreement with the organization upon my return. Though I'm not sure what that ultimately looks like, I am confident it will look like something that works better for my changing professional desires and still provides AFS with the services they require, while also helping them transition to a more secure place following my ultimate departure in 2011.

For me, this first step in finding my Right Livelihood, is making myself vulnerable and open to the possibilities that exist all around me; moving from a position of security and safety and adopting a stance of readiness and exploration. The unknown scares us and entices us. I'm ready to embrace it (with one foot still firmly planted on the ground).

Screencast Demonstrating the BGI Climate Calc Tool

2010-10-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

This is a quick/dirty screencast for my BGI colleagues yet to find comfort using the ClimateCalc tool in our Moodle LMS. Enjoy!