Redefining Green

Great piece by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times Magazine
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/magazine/15green.t.html?ex=1188619200&en=001bc45c59eacc19&ei=5070
- log-in required) about redefining "green." If we really want
environmental sustainability, it has to be cheap enough for the masses
(i.e. China) to pay for it. And the only way to get it that low is
through free-market capitalism.

It's a drum I've been banging in this space a lot, but let me say it
again: if you're screaming green and then talking about how free trade
is bad and capitalism is bad and Walmart is bad and China is bad, can
you really find a lever effective enough to make change? Or are you
just screaming green to make yourself look good?

Or are you willing to think through what it might take to blast green
initiatives on a very, very large scale. We're talking policies
that'll reduce the carbon impact of China's 1.3 billion people, we're
talking getting Walmart and McDonald's to drastically improve the
effect of their purchasing and selling, we're talking venture
capitalists figuring out a way to save a buck and save the earth.

That's what I want green to mean to my kids.

Thank God for My Nathans

In yesterday's sermon, the pastor referenced the prophet Nathan's
stinging words to King David in response to David's dual act of
adultery and murder, and encouraged us to find "Nathans" who knew us
well enough and care for us deep enough to call us out when we were in
the wrong. So I take this moment to thank God for the Nathans in my
life: over a handful of guys scattered across the country, all in
their 30's, all with wives and kids, and all of whom I've contacted in
the last six months to say, "Tell me if there's something wrong going
on, and I'll do the same with my life."

It can be tempting for old guy friends to just talk about superficial
stuff, and what catch-up conversation would be complete without
checking in on sports allegiances, cracking fart jokes, and busting
each others' chops. But life is too fragile, and I'm too human, to
not capitalize on having mature men in my life who can keep me from
making bad choices or spiraling into bad places, and I take seriously
whatever role I can play to keep them on the right paths.

And, best of all, my promises to and from all of these close guy
friends has not hypothetical: in each friendship, there've been very
real moments of vulnerability, of compassion, of trust. And so I
thank God today for my Nathans.

Young Black Men

A few years back, I took a bunch of kids from our youth program to
visit some local colleges. We visited a commuter school, a liberal
arts school, a Christian school, and a HBCU. At the HBCU, one of the
young men in my program pulled the male tour guide aside and asked
about the young women on campus. (I remember asking the exact same
question when I was his age!) The tour guide explained that the
campus was 90 percent female, so the odds were good.

It struck me at that moment what a profound crisis we are in the midst
of in our big cities as it relates to our young black men. For while
I knew women are the majority on all campuses, and suspected the
imbalance was even greater at HBCUs, the fact that there are nine
women for every man on campus - while perhaps good news for the young
man in my program - was a very, very clear sign of the problem facing
young urban black men.

This week's Philadelphia Weekly has a nice piece about a Washington
Post book called "Being a Black Man: At the Corner of Progress and
Peril." The author concludes his review of this new title by
encouraging all Philadelphians to pick it up: "Everyone in
Philadelphia needs to read Being a Black Man. Especially those who
write to me to ask mockingly, 'Why y'all keep killing each other?',
who see the city's violence as a black problem, who think racism is a
thing of the past, who fail to understand the complexity and humanity
of black men, and who accept their peril, and never fathom their
success. Maybe then black men would evolve in our consciousness into
something valuable."

When she was in college, my wife, who is Caucasian, decided to take an
African-American studies class with her white friend. They were
dismayed to find out on the first day of class that they were the only
non-black students in the class. It shouldn't be so, for the ones who
most need to get educated about the African-American experience (or
the Asian-American or Latino or women's or gay or whatever experience)
are those who do not themselves have to live it every day of their
lives.

For the second year in a row, the murder count in Philadelphia is
averaging more than one a day. A vast majority of the killers and the
killed are young black men. For that very reason, too many of us have
remained unmoved, maybe even a little smug. At best, many of us
express discomfort, the sense that something is not quite right, that
it is beginning to encroach into our bubbles, that our consciences
tell us we ought to feel something.

What we should be feeling is outrage. If we can summon feelings about
the Michael Vick case because of a sympathy for dogs, what is the true
assessment of our value of the young black man if we have calmer or no
feelings about their untimely deaths?

Michael Nutter was criticized for calling himself "an outraged black
man" over the violence in our city, and other politicos are similarly
accused of pandering to votes when they chime in on the subject.
Whether they are or aren't, perhaps we should stop tsk-tsking public
figures for expressing anger and start tsk-tsking ourselves for not
joining them.

http://www.phillyweekly.com/articles/15279

PRAY FOR CHINA'S SOUL

I finally got around to reading the March 2007 survey on China in
Economist. As with all its survey, this set of articles was
well-written and spanned a diversity of angles at the main topic; in
this case, topics such as diplomacy, North Korea, and the environment.

The survey concludes with an article contrasting China's stated
intention for "a peaceful rise" with the skepticism of other nations
over its military build-up and environmental mis-stewardship. And
yet, for all the talk about economics and politics, the Economist
diagnoses China with a distinctly spiritual perspective:

"As the Dalai Lama puts it: 'Mr Hu's constant emphasis on a
"harmonious society" suggests that something is missing.' China is
wracked by social inequality, environmental damage and government
corruption. Beijing's preparations for the Olympics are a
heart-rending metaphor for this. The games have provided a pretext for
an orgy of official corruption and cultural vandalism which in a few
brief years has all but destroyed a unique historical city. A few
scraps have been left for touristic consumption. Beijing's inhabitants
have been shunted into tower blocks on the city's edges. In their
place rise vast bombastic structures, architects' and politicians'
self-indulgences with no civic context.

A constant theme heard from thoughtful Chinese is that China's rise
lacks a moral underpinning, and that a moral vacuum lies at the heart
of Chinese life. The Dalai Lama puts the blame on the Communist
Party's 'radical atheism' and predicts that 'sooner or later, a
spiritual or moral culture will have to come to fill an internal
emptiness; externally, there will have to be rule of law, democracy,
freedom of the press.'"

In other words, pray for China's soul. As they go, economically and
politically and militarily and diplomatically and, as the Economist
points out, morally, so goes the rest of Asia and the rest of the
world.

http://economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8880832

Are You Ready For Some Football?

I know I am. Although the thought of the Raiders having an even worse
year than last - new coach is sick, new QB hasn't shown up - is
terrifying. Oh well, at least I'll have new footage to run on the
treadmill to. Some predictions:

NFC N - 4 Lions
NFC S - 1 Saints
NFC E - 2 Cowboys
NFC W - 3 Rams
NFC WC - 5 Eagles, 6 49ers

AFC N - 4 Bengals
AFC S - 3 Colts
AFC E - 1 Patriots
AFC W - 2 Chargers
AFC WC - 5 Broncos, 6 Jaguars

WC round - Rams, Eagles, Colts, Broncos
Divisional - Saints, Rams, Patriots, Chargers
Super Bowl - Chargers over Saints

Philadelphia Means Quality

If you ever wondered why they call it "Philadelphia" cream cheese,
here's an excerpt from Kraft Foods' website to learn you:

"Cream cheese originated in the United States in 1872 when a dairyman
in Chester, NY, developed a 'richer cheese than ever before,' made
from cream as well as whole milk. Then in 1880, a New York cheese
distributor, A. L. Reynolds, first began distributing cream cheese
wrapped in tin-foil wrappers, calling it Philadelphia Brand.

But why did he call it Philadelphia? The name 'Philadelphia Brand
cream cheese' was adopted by Reynolds for the product because at that
time, top-quality food products often originated in or were associated
with the city, and were often referred to as being 'Philadelphia
quality.'"

And not just food: we were the city that made Stetson hats and Baldwin
locomotives and William Cramp and Sons ships. This was a city that
had a population of over 2 million in 1950. Since then, we've bled
down to under 1.5 million and our manufacturing job loss is in the
hundreds of thousands. If you ever wondered why North Philly is
largely a wasteland, populate a neighborhood in Sim City with
warehouses and with workers walking to their shift jobs, and then
overnight take away all the jobs and see what happens.

Where did those jobs go? Geographically they went mostly nowhere:
machines made manufacturing less labor intensive by a factor of ten or
even a hundred. And not only did our economy require less labor
inputs to make stuff, but our economy began to lean more heavily on
services instead of stuff.

So to stay above water, even with a quarter less people, Philadelphia
has had to reinvent itself and be about financial services and health
care and higher education and biotech. And as business moves faster
and the competition gets more nimble, we're going to need even more
creative types pushing us all to higher and higher levels of
productivity. And maybe one day, somebody will invent the next killer
app and call it the "Philadelphia" process, because that label'll be
synonymous with innovation and quality.

Philly Photos

I took five minutes out of my work day while I was downtown and
stopped in on the Art Institute of Philadelphia's month-long display
of old pics from Phillyhistory.org. This one was my favorite.





That's 12th and Market, today a bustling corner that presently boasts
an NBC studio, two hotels, and a Hard Rock Cafe, and 90+ years ago no
less bustling, but then with rail passengers spilling out onto the
sidewalk and trolleys criss-crossing the streets. Check out the cars,
the horse-drawn buggies, and the formal dress. My favorite is the
sign in the middle that says, "Danger: Run Slow." I guess
Philadelphians back then liked to jaywalk too.

Here's another, sentimental favorite, since it's close to where I
live:




This was only 50 years ago, but I'm familiar with this intersection
and you have to look carefully to notice any resemblance. Doesn't
this just say "50's" to you for some reason?

I guess that's one of the things I like about living in an old city
like Philly: that every day, you see a little old peeking out from the
new. Today, at a photo gallery, I got to peek directly at the old,
and it was very, very cool.

Working With the Enemy

Nice cover story in this month's Fast Company about greenie Adam
Werbach, who told off the activist community for losing its focus and
then promptly signed up to work for Walmart. He's currently working
with their VP of Sustainability to infiltrate the Walmart culture
towards environmentally sound practices.

Though vilified by some for "working with the enemy," I believe he's
on to something. After all, if you really want to effect change, and
the biggest company around is offering you a lever, why wouldn't you
take it? Or are other greenies less interested in actually making a
difference and more interested in heaping judgment on the bogeyman?

Second, from a pure numbers standpoint, you could hold Walmart
accountable to achieve 1 percent of its green goals and do more than a
hundred lifetimes of teaching individuals and small companies how to
minimize their impact on the earth. Or, again, are you more
interested in looking busy doing the right thing than in doing lots of
the right thing?

Finally, Werbach has taken flak for pushing personal sustainability
issues like not smoking and watching what you eat. But he has
correctly surmised that people care first about themselves, and the
best on-ramp to making modifications to your daily behavior is
suggesting modifications that help yourself.

Just 34, Werbach has shown a lot of moxie in telling off his peer
group and then in pushing his chips forward with the perceived enemy.
Best of luck to this gutsy activist.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/118/working-with-the-enemy.html

Public Safety and Personal Privacy

Nice piece on Governing.com's website about the bind future mayor
Michael Nutter is in as far as his response to the growing murder
count in Philadelphia:
http://governing.typepad.com/13thfloor/2007/08/in-a-conversati.html#more.

Those who are not immediately in the crossfire (I mean this
literally) can muse in theory over whether more police and more
intrusive policing is the solution or if it causes a bigger problem in
the form of loss of civil liberties. Those who are immediately in the
crossfire are directly affected on both counts. Not surprisingly,
from those in the latter camp, there are strong opinions both ways -
"Yes, we need more cops to keep us safe" and "No, we don't need more
'stop and frisk.'"

I personally am in a tweener neighborhood - reasonably safe, but not
without its low-level violence, and geographically proximate to places
of high-level violence. Our closeness to the Penn campus means we're
in the halo of their stepped-up uniformed presence, which is a comfort
for me walking home late at night and a particular comfort when my
wife and kids are walking home late at night. But then again, I don't
know what it's like to be pressed up against a concrete wall and felt
up by the po-po's just because of the color of my skin.

A solution to the dilemma of more invasive or less invasive policing
is to do things that improve the quality of the policing, GIS-based
Compstat being one. Largely credited for steep drops in crime in New
York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, the real-time accountability and
deployment tool has fallen out of favor with the current
administration, and one hopes the new administration will resurrect
its use as well as peg a new police chief who will give it some teeth.

After all, in addition to the question of whether more cops make us
feel more or less safe, a mayor has to think about whether more cops
is worth the public expenditure. For when resources are scarce and
other services are necessary and people are calling for tax reform,
you want as much bang for your public expenditure buck as possible.
And in the fuzzy area between public safety and invasion of privacy,
maybe better policing will make it easier to make the tough choice
between more policing and less policing.

Paying For Nature's Services

Here's another "economics meets the environment" story:
Eco-Capitalists Save Mother Nature By Charging for Her Services.

That was the fetching title of an article in this month's Wired
magazine, which described a nascent fund that puts a dollar value on
the services nature renders to us humans: wetlands protecting against
floods, insects pollinating crops, and trees processing CO2. To the
extent that somebody is willing to pay for those services - whether a
corporation looking for a pollution offset or a government wanting
doing wilderness preservation - investors into the fund can make a
return on their initial investment.

It's still way early, but ten years ago so were carbon offsets, and
now we're on the precipice of a full-blown carbon tax. So keep an eye
out on this: maybe, just maybe, free-market capitalist dynamics can be
put into motion to preserve the planet.

http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/15-09/st_essay

Infrastructure

I'll keep this one short, since I think I just posted on this subject,
but I wanted to point out that a very large proportion of the nation's
major road and bridge infrastructure is in dire need of replacement.
The tragedy in Minnesota has governors and engineers alike scrambling
to identify which roads and bridges are structurally deficient, and
what maintenance is needed to keep them from falling apart.

But the fact of the matter is that some of them just plain need to be
rebuilt. I learned from some colleagues of mine at PennDOT that most
of the major highways that have been built in this country ought to be
completely reconstructed every 40 years, even if they've been properly
maintained all along in terms of resurfacing and what not. Well, a
pretty large proportion of highways in Pennsylvania, and I would guess
in many other states, was built in the 1950's and 1960's, when
President Eisenhower's Interstate Highway Act essentially gave states
a 9-to-1 match on dollars spent building highways; so highways built
during that era are now 40 to 50 years old. Plus the main funding
source for highway repair, the fuel tax, is not keeping up with the
increase in maintenance costs, since 1) it is not indexed to inflation
and 2) cars are more fuel-efficient than ever before.

Infrastructure is not a very sexy thing to spend on. Take it from me
on a personal note: the pipe that drains the shower on our second
floor sprung a leak in between the floors, necessitating a $1500
repair job, and trust me when I say there are about three dozen other,
more interesting home beautification projects that my wife and I can
think of that we'd rather spend that sort of money on. Nevertheless,
it is the prudent thing to do. And it gets you a pretty darn good
return on your investment - why do you think China and India are
throwing billions of dollars into roads and bridges? As the saying
goes, an ounce of prevention is worth of pound of cure. Let's hope
our politicians are thoughtful enough to spend that ounce on
prevention, lest we have any more tragedies like the Minnesota bridge
collapse earlier this month.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-08-03ng.html

My Tax Bill

I've written in this space before about property taxes, and was going
to chime in on the Inky's article last week about how notices were
about to go out announcing upcoming tax bill hikes, but just never got
around to it. Well, my notice arrived in the mail today, and it
proposes a 7.5 percent increase in my property value, after no
increases since at least 2000, when we bought the house and started
paying property taxes. So that translates to a 7.5% increase in my
property tax bill, due next February.

In fact, our property value has probably increased by 300 percent
since 2000. So, relative to others, I'm still under-paying. Not that
I'm complaining, of course, from a selfish standpoint. But, and I
won't get too comfy on my soapbox since I've made this point time and
again in this space, I do hope Philly'll really reform its property
tax assessment process, so that I'll pay even more in property taxes.

Yes, you heard that right - and you may know I'm a die-hard fiscal
conservative, too. But the way property taxes are calculated now is
very, very, very unfair to the poorest of neighborhoods. Hot
neighborhoods appreciate in value in the marketplace, allowing owners
to benefit from that run-up, whether by selling the property or
borrowing against it. But all the while, their property taxes do not
rise accordingly. Cold neighborhoods enjoy no such marketplace
benefits, and are stuck paying a property tax bill that, compared to
those of us in hot neighborhoods, is a higher proportion relative to
what is fair.

Of course, more frequent reassessments would right this wrong. But
there are enough people in hot neighborhoods in mine, whose property
tax bill would double or triple or more, who are rallying against it.
And there are enough people in poor neighborhoods who have been
misinformed that more frequent reassessments would mean higher bills
(when in fact it would almost certainly mean lower bills), and they
are joining in the anti-reform movement. So it's uncertain whether
there will be any property tax reform, and that would be a real shame
and a real injustice.

(While I'm here, let's go ahead and address the problem faced by poor
people in hot neighborhoods, the classic example being poorer elderly
folk living on fixed incomes in "gentrifying" neighborhoods. Of
course, Philly already has relief programs in place for elderly who
meet certain income requirements, and such programs could be expanded
or tweaked as the case may be. Furthermore, AARP is sold on reverse
mortgages as a way for the elderly to balance the increase in their
property tax bill with the accompanying run-up in their property
values.)

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20070815_These_bills_will_hit_home.html

Green Branches

PNC ran a commercial this year about how it has more green buildings
than any other corporation in the US. That floored me, but sure
enough, today's Inquirer talked about the bank's aggressive push to
"green" its branches, putting them way ahead of their competitors on
this front.

All sorts of good happens when companies stretch to achieve various
"green" certifications. PNC can keep its branches open longer than
other banks without carrying more operating costs. Environmentally
sensitive practices make for more pleasant places to wait in line and
talk to a financial representative. And this kind of sound
stewardship sends an unmistakably positive signal to current and
potential customers.

Kudos to PNC for pursuing the other kind of green. Now that's what I
call a double bottom line.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20070815_GREEN_are_its_BRANCHES.html

Walk Score

Saw a link to this in the blogosphere: www.walkscore.com.

It
calculates how walkable a place is, based on proximity to restaurants,
grocery stores, and so on.

Surprisingly, my home address (92 out of 100), which is in a
residential part of University City, is more walkable than my work
address (89), which is in a commercial part of University City.

Where I grew up, in the suburbs of West San Jose, scores a piddling
54, while Amy's childhood house comes in suburban New Jersey comes in
at 43. Indeed, when we go for strolls around both places, we get
quizzical looks.

Whereas at home, we walk everywhere: to work, church, day care,
retail, subway stop, and park. I once asked Amy, if she could live at
any intersection in town, where would it be, based solely on location.
And she said where we currently are. And I agreed.

Better Than Artemis

You can infer a lot about the readers of the apostle Paul's letters
from the topics he concentrates on. I'm in the middle of his letter
to the church in Ephesus, and I can tell that this must have been a
place in which people were wrestling with issues of race (Jew vs.
Gentile) and grace (being justified before God by our good works vs.
His free choice).

And most of all, that the people needed to hear that there was One to
worship that was better than Artemis. The local goddess was a
prominent part of that region's spiritual, social, and even economic
life, widely and lavishly worshiped by resident and tourist alike.

Hence, Paul's incessant use of superlatives - God's surpassing
greatness, His glorious grace. These descriptors are no less true
today, nor is our need to hear them amidst the fervently worshiped
idols in our midst.

Like 1st century Ephesus, our modern-day cities are intersections of
many world views, vast material resources, and much political power.
But there is still one God who is better and greater and grander than
them all.

Letters to Cities

Last month, I finished my read through the first five books of the Old
Testament and have switched over to the New Testament and to Paul's
letters. For many modern-day American Christians, this is the sweet
spot of the Bible, in terms of quoting verses. And of course whatever
verse you want to quote is probably relevant to your life.

I'm reminded, though, that the original context and reader was 1st
century urban centers. Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae were
four prominent cities/regions back in the day, each with their own
economic, social, and spiritual issues, and each with their own
enclave of believers within that economic, social, and spiritual
context. We do well as 21st century readers to remember that context,
to make the effort to transport ourselves to that time's issues even
as we seek to transport that time's lessons to the present.

For those of us who live in and/or love cities today, these four books
offer perspective and material for our own urban discipleship. We can
hear Paul's exhortations afresh, as fellow urban dwellers: saying no
to the local deity and yes to a life of faith and obedience,
transforming urban systems with mercy in present suffering and hope
for future redemption, recalling a glorious, once-and-for-all victory
amidst what could easily be considered defeat and ruin.

Or we can do as far too many Christians do, and not dig very far,
choosing instead to lift a verse here and verse there because it's
inspirational or poetic. I hope I'll have the time, energy, and
hunger to dig deeper these mornings, and I hope other urban Christians
will too. For these letters to cities have much to offer us in the
way of sustenance and insight and hope, initially spoken to 1st
century urban places but still fresh for 21st century ones.

Summer Reading List

After a flurry of books earlier this year, my pace slowed down
considerably, mostly due to the arrival of our second child. Still,
what's summer if you can't plow through some good works? Here's what
I've gotten to so far, all of which I'd highly recommend:

Blanchard - One Minute Manager
Goleman - Emotional Intelligence
Myra/Shelley - The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham
Bryson - A Sunburned Country
Friedman - Free to Choose
Carnegie - How to Win Friends and Influence People
Frankel - Wordcraft
Schlosser - Fast Food Nation

TO THE X-TREME

This year marked the tenth Business Boot Camp my old non-profit has hosted for teen entrepreneurs. Even though I couldn't stay long, I'd have to say this was the best yet. It was special to see young'uns (i.e. the attendees) devouring business knowledge, and a little bit less young'uns (i.e. the staff and interns) running things so professionally. If the picture below and my short dip this afternoon are any indication, the future is bright for entrepreneurship in Philadelphia.

Authentic Landmarks

One positive outcome from the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis
has been the heightened awareness of our nation's transportation
infrastructure, a topic I've studied at a local level for the past
year. One problem is that fundamentally, we tend to gravitate towards
building new stuff; maintaining old stuff just doesn't make front page
news, you know.

Living in Philadelphia, as historic a city as there is in America,
I've come to appreciate "old" as not a pejorative term but a neutral
and even positive one. Old and rusty as our rails are, lots of cities
across the country would kill for our transit infrastructure,
especially those booming places like Phoenix, Portland, and Denver,
which are trying desperately to orient their development around
transit to manage congestion and sprawl.

But if there's one thing I've learned about Philadelphia and
Philadelphians, it's that we tend to short-change ourselves. Far from
seeing our transit infrastructure as an irreplaceable asset, we starve
it from money and attention. And far from seeing the areas around
those transit stops as uniquely valuable for the mobility they afford,
we have systematically disinvested in them.

These sites are the oldest in town, since Philadelphia first developed
around its transit stops. Which means that absent development, these
sites are also the most physically decrepit. But it also means that
they represent a special opportunity to connect past with future if
they are properly and creatively maintained, updated, and invigorated.

46th and Market is at the intersection (no pun intended) of three of
my worlds. It's close to where I live, it's where I used to work, and
it's the subject of a couple of reports I'm working on at my current
job. It's a prime example of a site that could be denser, prettier,
and more utilized. And we're moving in that direction - keep an eye
out.

In the meantime, I hope you'll play your part in reminding the keepers
of our public infrastructure that it's just as important to upkeep
what you have as it is to build new stuff. And I hope you'll join in
the conversation that's happening in Philadelphia and in other, older
cities, about seeing our oldest neighborhoods not as the eyesores they
might currently be but the beautiful, authentic landmarks that they
could be.

Mayor of the People

Folks that have chastised Mayor Bloomberg for not being as much of a
strap-hanger as people think need to simmer down. The fact that the
New York billionaire uses mass transit at all is enough in my mind to
connect him to transportation issues and to the experiences of other
riders (which, in New York, means all people).

It makes sense for the mayor of the largest city in the US to get
driven around, not to distance himself from the people but to be more
efficient in the use of his scarce time. Plus he was getting tired of
the trail of reporters who would hound him, paparazzi-style, whenever
he walked the street to and from stations.

But Mayor Bloomberg did initially invite the media to tag along. And
this reminds me of another New York politician, none other than my
favorite present, Theodore Roosevelt. Before his ascendancy to the
presidency, TR was a state assemblyman, police commissioner, and
governor, all in New York.

And every single time, he allowed - no, demanded - that the media be
with him virtually all the time. Certainly some of that was to feed
his massive ego, but it was also to craft his public message and to
ensure utter transparency in his political dealings. (I can think of
another mayor, closer to home, who could learn a thing or two on both
counts.)

As public servants, mayors are held to a high standard and scrutiny.
I appreciate TR's willingness to not only accept that but embrace it
and bend it to his good and his gain, and ultimately make himself a
more accountable and more effective politician. And you know he
would've not only ridden the rails but bounded down the street from
home to station.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/nyregion/01bloomberg.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=1186214068-juNuirU4ObWOw6ih0SXWKw

Just Another Day at The Enterprise Center

The non-profit where I worked for ten years and where I am now on the
board is known for its events, mostly that they attract such a
diversity of people. As my friend Jeff, who has worked there for nine
years, puts it: "Where else can you walk down the hallway and bump
into Katie Couric in the morning, teach a business class for inner
city kids in the afternoon, and host an awards banquet in the evening,
all in the same place?"

Still, even for The Enterprise Center, this morning's festivities were
unusually festive. Sunday is the fiftieth anniversary of the first
national telecast of American Bandstand, the original reality TV show
and the birthplace of rock and roll music and teen culture. It is no
exaggeration that an entire generation of pre-teens and teens gathered
around the tube at 3:30 pm every day to see what was going on at 46th
and Market Streets in West Philadelphia, and that whoever and whatever
was hot there became hot everywhere.

So Chubby Checker, Connie Francis, and Jerry Blavat were in the house;
the Mural Arts Program unveiled an incredible mural painted on the
inside of our Business Event Center; and teens from the School for the
Creative and Performing Arts bopped to 50's tunes. There were
"Regulars" (dancers from back in the day), entertainment folk, board
members, politicians, and entrepreneurs.

And lots of media (the first one has some nice pics from the festivities):

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/NEWS01/70802008/1006/news01

http://www.nbc10.com/news/13808448/detail.html

http://www.whptv.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=854ac59d-f835-43a5-954b-adba2e05dcbb

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-08022007-1387256.html

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/dan_gross/20070725_Dan_Gross___Gouging_the_concert-goers.html

In other words, it was just another day at The Enterprise Center.

Pre-Verbal

The only thing I remember about being four is that my cousin Evelyn
was five, so I wanted to be five too. But that doesn't mean important
memories aren't being formed before the age of four - far from it. If
anything, these are the years that leave the deepest imprint on a
person's overall psyche and emotional well-being.

To use a negative example, I'll never forget the friendship I formed
with a guy who lived down the hall from me during my senior year in
college. Somehow, when it came to him, I suspended my usual
unapproachability and insensitivity such that he felt he could confide
things in me. And confide he did, about bad things he was doing to
himself but that he couldn't seem to stop himself from doing.

And about past abuse that had happened to him at the hands of his
father, when he was but a toddler. With a deep, old perspective that
belied his relatively young age, my dormmate would tell me that the
hardest thing about getting over the trauma was the fact that these
things happened at an age when he didn't have the words to articulate
to himself or others what was taking place and how it made him feel.
These were known in the field as "pre-verbal memories."

When you or I go through trauma, we talk it out. Our memory of the
event or events is contained by our ability to explain it, to describe
it, to vent it. When trauma happens before the age of four, it gets
seared into your body. You feel it, react to it, can't explain it.
But it haunts you for a long, long time. I am lucky my dormmate
trusted me enough to let me in to his haunting, and I think of him
every once in a while and pray he's OK.

Of course, a childhood doesn't have to be that way. Amy and I have
two little ones in our household, with the prospect that a third will
arrive before Jada turns four. It's a handful, and not a little
stressful at times.

But while we worry about a lot of things - are we saving enough for
college, are the kids healthy, are they making social and cognitive
progress - our chief goal as parents is for our kids to have happy,
healthy, safe childhoods. That their pre-verbal memories are, as much
as we can help it, trauma-free, filled instead with things like
piggyback rides and Cat in the Hat and walks on the beach, and most of
all with lots of hugs and kisses from Mommy and Daddy.

And so while we're both pretty Type A, and I am particularly
susceptible to wanting to make sure our kids are hitting or exceeding
the usual developmental milestones, I'm reminded by my dormmate that
sometimes the most successful childhood is the one in which the child
can just be a child.