To anyone who says Kansas City is behind the times: we concede. Exhibit A: A Man is Not a Financial Plan, a course being offered through Communiversity, UMKC’s adult education program. It’s apparently designed for the women of Kansas City who are a little more Carrie Ingalls than Carrie Bradshaw. From the course description:

“Are you one man away from a financial disaster? Have you confused marriage with retirement planning? Do you know how much income you will have in retirement or how much you will need?”

Perhaps local women would not be finding themselves in these predicaments had UMKC offered this fantastic $9 public service back in, say, 1981?

Unfortunately, the summer session has already happened. Here’s hoping it is offered again in the fall.

“Turn NOWHERE into NOW HERE.”
-GURU PITKA

Stay focused on the task at hand.

It doesn’t matter where you’ve been.

Don’t worry about the past.

Don’t worry about the future.

The power is in the present.



Ed Tseng will be at Communiversity today from 12:30pm-4:30pm in Downtown Princeton @ the Princeton Living Well Booth (in front of Olive’s Deli on Witherspoon Street) Come on by and say hi – signed copies of “Game. Set. Life.” will be available.

Geode Earrings, originally uploaded by antigenre.

Nu metal?  Not really, but a new shop devoted exclusively on my metalwork. I’m happy to announce that MetaGenre is now up and running! Recently, I’ve been taking a metalsmithing course at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan and have been learning and developing new skills and techniques. I wanted to create a space where I could showcase these and focus on new directions in my work.

AntiGenre, of course, will still be around and will be the home of my mixed-metal pieces, along with my vintage bead and freshwater pearl items. New pieces are being added to both shops on a regular basis.

In other news, I will be at Communiversity in Princeton on April 25th, and at Art Star Craft Bazaar in Philadelphia on May 30th and 31st. Please come and say hello!

A Communiversity Course beginning next week…
This course examines the history of gangs in Chicago through the lens of racism and social movements.  Rather than explain Chicago’s history of gangs as a one-sided story of criminality, the course looks at how gangs have played political roles in Chicago and have changed in response to local conditions.  Check out an intro video for this course HERE.

Educator: John Hagedorn is Professor of Criminology, Law, & Justice at UIC. Author of People and Folks: Gangs, Crime and the Underclass in a Rustbelt City, his most recent book is A World of Gangs; Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture. William Julius Wilson called Of People and Things “the most insightful book ever written on inner-city gangs” and “required reading for anyone seeking an understanding of gang activity in our large urban centers.”

Dates: March 23 – May 8
Place: online (with two in-person sessions)
Fee:  8 sessions, FREE for all ages

This course is open to all….

for more info (and registration information) click here

About the Communiversity:

According to Mia Henry, Communiversity events, facilitated by the Chicago Freedom School, seek to engage intergenerational audiences in the study of past movements and discussions on what we can learn from them…

Life And Death of the West Side: a Communiversity Course

Dates:  March 12 – April 30 (8 weeks)

A Community Theatre Project

In this course, participants will create an original theatrical stage production based on the Chicago West side Riots of April 6-8, 1968 (that were in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr). Participants concentrate on script writing, research, production, and set design. The project will end with a live community performance.

Facilitators: Sabrina Miller and Clarice Mills have over 20 years of collective experience in dramatic theatre and community activism.

Time:  Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Place:  Franklin Park Fieldhouse, 4320 W. 15th St.

Fee:  8 sessions, $25 for 21 and over, free for under 21

photos, Chicago Riots by Jo Freeman.

About the Communiversity:

According to Mia Henry, Communiversity events, facilitated by the Chicago Freedom School, seek to engage intergenerational audiences in the study of past movements and discussions on what we can learn from them…

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
8:00 a.m. – Noon
Mexican Heritage Plaza
1700 Alum Rock Avenue
San José, CA 95116

The idea of change was a powerful concept during the recent presidential campaign. The election of Barack Obama represented a great desire by the American people to create a new society that redefines the concept of personal initiative and community service. Yet, all change is local and it’s the responsibility of each community to define the change it wants to see.

As a step in this process, there will be a community viewing of the presidential inauguration on January 20th at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, providing us with a powerful opportunity to share in this historic event together. Afterwards, there will be a community dialogue to learn more about who is making change, what civic engagement mechanisms exist for us to further develop, what change we’d like to see, and how we will make it happen.

Included in this conversation will be diverse segments of our community including elected officials, community leaders, labor, business, students and others. The purpose of the dialogue is to share perspectives, identify the local initiatives that are making meaningful change, and strengthen the network of community change agents.

Planned Program

8:00 a.m.                Registration
8:30 a.m.                Welcome and Presidential Inauguration Viewing (Theater)
9:30 a.m.                Dialogue Introduction
10:00 a.m.             Small Group Dialogue Sessions facilitated by American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley (Break-out rooms)
11:15 a.m.             Large Group Presentations (Theater)
12:00 p.m.             Closing

Space is limited to the first 350 respondents. RSVPs are required.  RSVP to rsvpalready@yahoo.com

Thanks to our sponsors, this event is free.

Councilmember Nora Campos

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

For more information, please contact Leon Beauchman at 408-493-7680 or leon.beauchman@att.com
or Teresa Alvarado at 408-278-2276 or talvarado@hfsv.org

Invited Organizations Include (but are not limited to):
American Civil Liberties Union of Silicon Valley
American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley
Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute at De Anza College
Center for Community Learning & Leadership @ SJSU
City of San Jose
City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley
Community Leadership San Jose
Communiversity
Generation Engage
Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley
Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network
Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley
Latino Leadership Alliance
NAACP
Public Allies of Silicon Valley
San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
Santa Clara County Alliance of Black Educators
Santa Clara County Office of Human Relations
Silicon Valley De-Bug
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
South Bay AFL-CIO Central Labor Council
The Interfaith Council on Race, Religion, Economic and Social Justice
Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley
Working Partnerships USA
100 Black Men of Silicon Valley

Along with buying Malcolm Gladwell’s new book “Ouliers” yesterday, I also found “Wikinomics: How Callaboration Changed the World.” Wikinomics, a term used to describe the collaboration of individuals to produce social networks like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube, and of course Wikipedia, is being embraced by the newest addition to college-focused websites, Communiversity.

They started following me on Twitter this morning, so I checked them out, and I was very impressed. The purpose of the site is this: Give prospective college students a REAL inside look at your school, and help them make a more informed college selection. How do they do this? By uploading pictures from Flickr, and videos from Youtube. People can sign up, and immediately begin posting photos and uploading videos onto their school’s page. Most of the pictures I’ve looked at are of the campus, the surrounding area, and special events (football games, etc). Its another great tool to connect with each other online. Wikinomics at its best I say.

They’re on Twitter, and I love to see that with a start up. They have embraced the social network machine!

They have a strong presence in California, but I encourage every high school and college student to check out this site.

It’s so nice to be home. We’re all sleeping really well. K’s still a little snorky with his cold and grumpy about the whole teething business, but doing much better all around. He’s loving being able to explore without us continuously rerouting him or putting things away. It’s amazing how much more freedom we have now that he’s back in a baby-proofed space. 

I am having a little withdrawal from the ETC. I think about everyone most in the morning… when I wake up to no smell of coffee and breakfast. Since K wakes up early, there were a few other early risers that we’d hang out with. There’s something sweet about spending time with friends in the morning. I also miss how dark it gets in the country, the stars – you could see the milkyway, the chickens scratching around…, being around other people that get excited about composting and birds. 

Speaking of composting, I had a major score yesterday in the manure department. We live right by the Plaza, a hoity-toity shopping district, and there are horse drawn carriages moseying around most nights. I called the carriage company and asked them if I could collect some of those nutrient rich nuggets of black gold. I was sure that other gardeners had already thought of this, but she said I could have as much as I want. I get my first load today! I plan to sheet mulch beds in the back and side yard to get rid of our weeds and prepare the soil for phase one of our urban homestead (sort of). I think the fam will also go to Loose Park today to play and collect pine needles for my sad little blueberry bushes. I’ll mulch the bushes with that to help acidify the soil without contaminating the other plants in the bed. Another free and easy idea for soil improvement in the city is to collect brown matter during the curbside yard waste pick-up and on recycling days (cardboard, newspaper). If any of you are interested in that kind of thing, Food Not Lawns has a group in KC – in fact they teach a communiversity class on reclaiming your lawn as garden space.

Another feature I want to add to our backyard to make it a little more inviting is a bathouse. Our mosquitoes are ferocious and on summer nights, I’m an all you can eat buffet. I’m not sure where we’d put it or if the bats would actually move in… Do any of you have any suggestions on getting rid of mosquitoes or introducing bats?  Once the blood suckers get thinned out, we’ll work on getting a sandbox and a swing in for K. That would give him something to do while I work.

This Fall I’m glad to announce that in addition to the traditional classes, I am going to have some experimental classes. In Portland, the traditional Beginning Freelance Writing Class will happen, and the traditional Advanced Freelance Writing Class will be offered in January.  Also in Portland will be a weekend Finding Your Niche in Freelance Writing, a one-day workshop, and, in January, a Mapping Your Writing Year Class, also a fun, creative one-day workshop.

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But then, there are some different classes. I am doing an online class – The goldenwordsmith Online Freelance Writing Class. We will have two phone conferences, one the second week of class, the other the final week of class. Everything in the original eight-week class will be offered, but will span twelve weeks, and offers more flexibility for those who wish to take an freelance writing class, but have ultra-busy lives. You can work at your own pace, be part of an online group, and get feedback and complete three articles and queries, just as in the regular class. The phone conferencing will also provide a short venue for reading articles – something I feel is essential to this class.

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I’m teaching a Freelance Writing Symposium at the University of Missouri in Kansas City (UMKC) in December, and one in Seattle the weekend after Halloween. Both of those require connecting with me through email, and doing some homework in advance. Next winter it looks like I’ll be back at the University of Washington doing this kind of class, and that’s something to look forward to.

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In the meantime, I am excited about returning to Seattle this fall to teach. I’m also excited to return to Kansas City to teach. Communiversity has been in my life, solidly, for twenty years.

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The schedule of the Fall Classes will be posted this week, so be sure to check back. If you have any questions, or to register, please email goldenwordsmith@yahoo.com

.~Kerri