A Share Fair

Successful Share Fair Kick-Starts Local Movement
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July 26th, 2011


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Credit: Kathy Simon/WikiMedia

By Kelly McCartney

The first-ever Fifth Street Share Fair was hosted by The Share Exchange in downtown Santa Rosa, California July 10th. The Share Fair was centered around three themes – kids, art, and sharing. Artists, merchants, restaurants, vendors, inventors, artisans, and others participated, and the wealth of items offered up included books, clothes, electronics, and housewares. A mere $5 entry fee allowed around 2,000 folks to bring and take as much as they wanted.

One visitor, Ben Zolno of neighboring Sebastopol, California, told a local reporter, “Probably the most ecological thing you can do is not buy so much new stuff.” His girlfriend, Jenni Perez, added, “It means so much more to take things from someone who doesn’t want them anymore.” Among their found treasures – a food strainer, computer bag, camping backpack, and teapot.


The Share Exchange’s co-founder Kelley Rajala felt the event was a resounding success: “The community stuff swap and share area rocked and the art throughout the fair was spectacular! We had a 50′x 50′ sculpture garden in the middle of Fifth Street & Mendocino Avenue which is the main road through town. It was great to close the street and transform it into a sharing, caring, creatively fun mecca!”

In addition to community building, the Share Fair did more than its fair share in terms of keeping things out of the waste stream. Not only were goods swapped, but Rajala’s team implemented other sharing / product service strategies into the event, as well. She enthused, “One really neat thing was in our beer area we borrowed durable, stainless steel rent-a-cups from Lagunitas Brewery & Heritage Salvage to eliminate disposable cups. It took people a minute to get the concept, but once they realized how much plastic they were saving compared to most festivals and fairs, they were thrilled with the idea…we did a similar thing at our water stations where durable cups were used and walked over to our local restaurants who washed the cups in their commercial dishwashers, then walked back for use again. No plastic bottles were used!”


Because things went so well, Rajala definitely sees a bright future for the Share Fair franchise: “I think we will continue doing Share Fair events, but will likely make them smaller and do them more frequently – maybe quarterly. We’d rather that people get familiar with the sharing culture by doing it more often than throwing a giant street fair once a year. But, I must say, it was an awesome way to get the movement kick-started.” Rajala and The Share Exchange team also plan to create Share Fair toolkits empowering other communities to hold fairs and support more community sharing.

In addition to Share Fairs, The Share Exchange provides a multitude of programs to the community, all of which are geared toward creating and supporting a new local economy. The idea is simple: “share, reuse, and exchange resources amongst neighbors to promote a friendlier world.” To this end, The Share Exchange provides a co-working space for green entrepreneurs, a marketplace for locally made goods, a health and wellness cooperative, a timebank, and an urban land share hub.


http://news.yourolivebranch.org/2011/07/26/successful-share-fair-kick-starts-local-movement-2/

The design of work and the workplace

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/beyond-the-cubicle/

Just one example of an universally organic pedagogical learning environment

Go Green!

Ferndale celebrates renewable festival

2nd Live Green Fair has food, ideas, info

By MEGHA SATYANARAYANA FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

   Lyndsey Sleek and Dave Ristich said they know a lot about living a sustainable lifestyle, but walked away Saturday with two new ideas — home delivery of organic produce and a rain barrel.

   Sleek, 26, of Royal Oak and Ristich, 24, of Waterford were among those who took to downtown Ferndale on Saturday on the second day of the three-day Live Green Fair. It featured eco-conscious art, products and food for those seeking sustainability and something fun for a sunny afternoon.

   “It’s a simple idea, and it’s good,” Ristich said of the barrels, which were shown at the festival by multiple companies.

   The fair is in its second year, said co-organizer Bart Loeb. He said Ferndale is a good choice because the city itself thinks green.

   “Affirmations is LEED-certified,” he said, referring to the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center and its certification through a sustainable building program. “The library is LEED.”

   Vendors included those selling home improvement products with a green edge — such as recycled insulation, energy-efficient windows and rain barrels — to those selling art made from reclaimed materials.

   Others offered tastes of vegetarian and vegan foods, which many say are easier on the planet because they don’t require the same land and water and don’t create the same waste that raising animals for food does.

   “Whole grains, good ingredients — that’s one of the greenest things you can do,” said George Vutetakis, author of “Vegetarian Traditions” and former head chef of Inn Season Cafe in Royal Oak. He manned a booth at the fair to talk about his book.

   Loeb said he didn’t vet claims of organic, recycled or energy-efficient products from vendors and exhibitors. Some in the sustainability movement have said a lack of oversight and standardization of green products can lead to greenwashing, or promoting products or processes as eco-conscious when they aren’t. But Julia Jones, 4, was interested in only one thing, said her dad, Bobby. “Facepainting.”

Uma Devi Dasi, 24, of Ann Arbor plays an Indian drum during the Live Green Fair on Saturday in Fern-dale. Entertainment was part of the festival, which focused on sustainability and energy conservation.

MADALYN RUGGIERO/Special to the Free Press

The GELT-ART of the LINCHPIN!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.




LINCHPIN by Seth Godin





A linchpin, as Seth describes it, is somebody in an organization who is indispensable, who cannot be replaced—her role is just far too unique and valuable. And then he goes on to say, well, seriously folks, you need to be one of these people, you really do. To not be one is economic and career suicide. 

No surprises there—that’s exactly what one would expect Seth to say. But here’s where it gets interesting. 

In his best-known book, Purple Cow, Seth’s message was, “Everyone’s a marketer now.” In All Marketers Are Liars, his message was, “Everyone’s a storyteller now.” InTribes, his message was, “Everyone’s a leader now.” 

And from Linchpin? 

"Everyone’s an artist now." 

By Seth’s definition, an artist is not just some person who messes around with paint and brushes, an artist is somebody who does (and I LOVE this term) “emotional work.” 

Work that you put your heart and soul into. Work that matters. Work that you gladly sacrifice all other alternatives for. As a working artist and cartoonist myself, I know exactly what he means. It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it. 

The only people who have a hope of becoming linchpins in any organization, who have any hope of changing anything for the better in real terms, are those who have the capacity to do “emotional work” at a high level—to be true artists at whatever they set their minds on doing. The guys who just plod around the office corridors, just turning up for their paycheck.... Well, those guys don’t have a prayer, poor things. The world is just too interesting and competitive now. 

And Seth then challenges us, the readers, to become linchpins ourselves. To make the leap. To become artists. To do emotional work, whatever the sacrifice may be. It’s our choice, and it’s our burden. Seth won’t be there to catch us if we fall, but to become the people we need to be eventually, well, we probably wouldn’t want him to, anyway. 

Congratulations, Seth. You have penned a real gem of a book here. Rock on. 

--Hugh MacLeod

Creating Company Culture

http://www.beyondthepedway.com/learn-how-to-build-great-company-culture-from-4-of-the-best

BOOT-UP Scenario!

Y Combinator Is Boot Camp for Startups

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/05/ff_ycombinator/

YOUR NAME HERE...............

Student-Centric, Entrepreneurial, Innovative Empowerment (That's WHAT We're Talking About)

Snyder builds DPS a new model and hope

   
MACKINAC ISLAND — So, is DPS dead?

   Gov. Rick Snyder had an answer Thursday to the simple but daunting question posed in a Free Press story earlier this week.

   It was yes. And no.

   And despite the inherent tension in that reply, I think Snyder — who just appointed a second emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools — might be pushing the city toward its best possible hope for having sustainable, high-performing options in public education.

   Yes, DPS is dead in the sense that the current system is insolvent and unsustainable. The system is still hemorrhaging students and, as a result, millions of dollars. And no one could effect the kind of dramatic cuts to match falling revenues without destroying the district’s ability to deliver fundamental services to children .

   But no, Snyder also said, public education is not dead in Detroit. Far from it.

   What he hopes former GM executive Roy Roberts will do as EFM is redefine and, as a result, revitalize it outside the restrictive framework of the old-style school district.

   Encouraging innovation

   In Snyder’s ideal, all schools in Detroit would be created around sets of individual principles and ideas, by committed groups of educators, parents, community groups and whoever else wants to get involved. They’d all be “charter schools,” in the sense of being constituted around the models they chose.

   Some might be existing public schools. Some could be charters.

   They’d have remarkable freedom to implement their models, try new things, pursue innovation. But the key is that they’d be held accountable for student performance — either locally under a new school governance structure or by the state, if that’s where they were chartered.

   Snyder says the education reform plans that he announced last month will be tough on schools that operate under the state’s charter law, and if they don’t deliver, “they can lose their charters.”

   Focus on results

   This is what Snyder means when he talks about creating a “system of schools” to replace Detroit’s school system. He’s describing something that’s focused much more on results than on governance. It’s a system that would not look much like what the city has now.

   There are already some promising examples — the schools that were taken over by the United Way in 2008; the new public charters announced by DPS last week. But growing such models to serve all the city’s children is more than a difference of scale; it’s also a question of substance.

   There is still very little market incentive for anyone to take on responsibility for educating the city’s poorest and most isolated children.

   This plan also depends heavily on Snyder being successful in changing how the state evaluates, rewards and metes out consequences for schools. Michigan does an awful job of that right now.

   If he can work through the kinks, Snyder’s vision could offer real hope for public education in Detroit.

   And at this point, it’s the only hope I see on the horizon.

   • STEPHEN HENDERSON IS EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR FOR THE FREE PRESS. CONTACT HIM ATSHENDERSON600@FREEPRESS.COM  , OR AT 313-222-6659.

Snyder: DPS may need to split

Empower schools, he says

By CHRIS CHRISTOFF and KATHLEEN GRAY FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

   MACKINAC ISLAND — Detroit Public Schools might be better off as “a system of schools” rather than a single, large entity run by top-down management, Gov. Rick Snyder told the Free Press on Thursday.

   Snyder, who appointed retired GM executive Roy Roberts as the emergency manager for DPS, said the district needs a radical overhaul — but, he said, it’s up to Roberts to enact changes.

   “The nature of the district needs to change,” Snyder said. “Structurally, it’s a failing format.”

   Snyder spoke to Free Press reporters and editors during the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual policy conference. His comments were among several at the conference that focused on how to better educate Michigan students.

   Snyder said a new format would not necessarily convert Detroit schools to charter schools, but rather have them be managed like charter schools, with more autonomy. He said the school board could focus on measuring academic results instead of dictating curriculums and school-by-school management.

   “You need to empower the schools more, rather than having a command-and-control structure of the district,” he said. “How do you give the administrator in that school and the teachers a team? You make it more entrepreneurial and innovative.

   “It’s like they’re a business unit, and they’re there to help their kids grow. Give them the resources to succeed, and then, how do you hold them accountable?”

   Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone, spoke at the conference and said public schools’ success rests solely with teachers, who should be fired if their students don’t go on to college.

   “If you get paid to educate a child and you cannot do it, then you should probably go into a different business,” he said.

   Harlem Children’s Zone takes a holistic approach to education, helping families in a 100-block area of Harlem so that children are prepared to succeed in school. More communities, like Detroit, need to adopt the model, Canada said.

   Canada said business owners should have a vested interest in helping produce better schools because eventually, they’re going to have to pick from the talent pool educated in public schools.

   In another forum Thursday, the Excellent Schools Detroit group talked about creating excellent schools and recruiting great employees. Their goal for 2020 is to graduate 90% of their students, with 90% of those students enrolling in college without remedial classes.

   The Michigan Future Schools Accelerator soon will open three high schools in Detroit: the Carson School of Science and Medicine, which is affiliated with the Detroit Medical Center; Detroit College Preparatory, and the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy.

   The schools, funded with $800,000 each in foundation and grant dollars, will operate with no more than 500 students per school. Teachers will be hired from an open pool, instead of from a seniority list, and each school must have a counselor and a college coach who can help students after they graduate.

   “And if the kids are off-track, it’s the educators who will have to change,” said Lou Glazer, president of the program.

Came across my screen............

HBO Brings 'Hung' to Royal Oak

There are bright lights on a dark day as the television comedy-drama shoots downtown this week.

By Judy Davids | Email the author | 3:02pm 

If all the rain has left you in search of a bright stimulus, look no further than downtown Royal Oak. There are plenty of bright camera lights at Hagelstein's Bakery today as HBO shoots Hung, the Detroit-based comedy-drama starring Thomas Jane.

Royal Oak police say the popular TV show is shooting episodes of its third season Thursday through Saturday at various locations throughout the city.

This morning crews were set up at the intersection of Lincoln and Washington. Scenes were scheduled to be filmed in Hagelstein's Bakery and the Thai Cafe. Jimi's Restaurant is an alternate location if the show runs into problems with the weather.

If you have see the Hung cast and crew around town, share your stories and photos with Royal Oak Patch. Send to Beth.Valone@Patch.com or upload your photos to the right.

http://royaloak.patch.com/articles/hbo-brings-hung-to-royal-oak?ncid=wtp-patch-image#photo-6261572

Ferndale- Metro Detroit's Urban Incubator

http://www.metromodemedia.com/features/ferndalenewurbanism0211.aspx

"Wanderlust" video by Bjork & Encyclopedia Pictura, a visionary Digital Media company also doing amazing things in their neighborhood

http://encyclopediapictura.com/about-ep - (read about what their doing with Forecast for the Future in mind - "The Future is a High-Resolution game" ;-))

Wanderlust from Encyclopedia Pictura on Vimeo.

CONGRATULATIONS Andy! (Once Again!)

Last Chance to Register for Live Band, Dinner & Drinks following the program

Two completely different STRATEGIES = opposite results and environments

Online commentary: What Detroit can learn from entrepreneurship in Nairobi

1:12 AM, May. 17, 2011 |

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BY ANNA CLARK

DETROIT FREE PRESS GUEST WRITER

• FILED UNDER
• Opinion
• Commentary

This is a tale of two cities. Or two tech towns, to be precise. Both Detroit and Nairobi host business incubators for technology entrepreneurs: Detroit’sTechTown and Nairobi’s iHub bring coherence and connection for start-ups in cities that aren’t (yet) widely known for high-tech innovation. While nurturing independent projects and businesses, both Tech Town and iHub are also redefining their cities.

But they’re doing it in very different ways.

I visited iHub as a guest of Ben Lyon and Dylan Higgins, co-founders of Kopo Kopo, a start-up designed to adapt businesses to the mobile money revolution. The two young and savvy Americans arrived in Nairobi just months ago. There was no question about where they would launch their business. “I was seeing what’s happening with mobile money in Kenya, and it’s the most excitingtechnology innovation in the last ten years,” said Dylan.

Ben gestured to the colorful, well-wired working space at *iHub, where at least 50 people were typing at their laptops. “This room, this building, is the epicenter for technology innovation in East Africa,” he said.

“Here, you get a cross-pollination of ideas you wouldn’t get otherwise,” Dylan added. “This is the crossroads for what’s going on. Anyone with any tangential connection to technology comes through here, and you can connect with them if you situate yourself here. That’s pretty powerful.”

iHub – it stands for “Innovation Hub” – is a space where primarily Kenyan technologists, programmers, investors, designers and media-makers congregate. Less than a year old, *iHub hit a nerve. Through tiered membership (free and paid), iHub boasts 250 people who use the community workspace (and drink lattes made by an in-house barista). It has a long waiting list and a robust online community. iHub is also on the brink of opening the mLab – a laboratory for members to test mobile technology.

iHub is guided by a five-member advisory board and funded throughUshahidi, the Kenyan nonprofit that created an open-source crisis mapping software used around the world.

While iHub was built from the ground up by Nairobi entrepreneurs, Detroit’s TechTown is top-down. It was founded in 2004 and imagined as a research and technology nexus spanning 12 blocks of Detroit’s New Center neighborhood.

It supports start-ups not only in technology, but also in engineering, life sciences, and alternative energy. TechTown is supported by the city’s most influential players: its first facility, TechOne, was donatedby General Motors. The Henry Ford Health Health System donated office space and materials. Top staff from Wayne State University, DTE Energy and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation are on TechTown’s board of directors, as is City Council President Charles Pugh. TechTown has about 220 tenants in its clean, professional office space, and, like iHub, it has a long waiting list.

Both TechTown and iHub are aware of how business incubators can reshape cities, but their visions are different. TechTown emphasizes itself as a literal builder of Detroit, on its way to transforming 43 acres of New Center. It doesn’t only mean for people to work at TechTown, but also to live, learn, and play in a mixed-use neighborhood. TechTown explicitly states in its vision that it intends “to become the world’s foremost business incubator, leading to an economic renaissance in the city, state and region.” TechTown means to create jobs and businesses.

iHub, meanwhile, is renovating space in the Bishop Magua mall in Nairobi with a floor-plan designed for connectivity—both the social and tech kinds. More than make a physical impact on Nairobi, it’s interested in creating “something to be proud of; really, a psychological thing,” according to co-founder Erik Hersman. “We can stand up to anyone in the world. The Twitter and Google guys can come in and we can feel good about what we do.” Part of the incubator’s platform statement reads: “The iHub is what we as a tech community make it.” iHub means to create technologies and community.

Are one of these incubators doing it “right” and the other “wrong”? No. But the stories of TechTown and iHub reveal how, in their different strategies and visions, they reach different kinds of entrepreneurs -- despite their common focus in technology. Neither way is the only way. Or, to put it in business-speak, there is a market for more than one kind of business incubator in each of these developing cities.