Numb Numb Numb

This post over at Desiring God, "The Wine Jesus Drank," reminds me of the commitment Jesus had in his last days and hours to fully fulfill his life's purpose: not just to die but to suffer. How else to explain His rejection of the first wine offered to Him while He was on the cross, which would have numbed the agony, and His acceptance of the second wine, which sustained His consciousness longer than without? And yet how often do we, when faced with life's pains, running the gamut from the slightest discomforts to the deepest hurts, find ways to numb ourselves from it?

I'm not advocating masochism. But I am trying to be true to the example of the One I profess to follow. Suffering for Jesus was not an unfortunate but necessary side effect of fulfilling His life's calling; it was the fulfillment of His life's calling. And so I believe that there are times in our lives that we must not run from suffering, nor even relegate it to secondary status, but embrace it in the anticipation that God means good and redemptive purpose from it. Not in spite of it.

When we numb, we miss out on that blessing. When faced with the chance - twice - to be numbed, Jesus chose instead to endure and embrace the pain. We are the better for it, for the work that was accomplished in that enduring effort, and for the challenging example it provides for our own lives.

There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch: the Coffee and Tea Version

Earlier this year, for an assignment at work, I became well-acquainted with the local news coverage concerning budget discussions at several nearby school districts. Given the primacy of public education and the distressed nature of most localities' finances, these were no doubt heated discussions. Particularly in districts with highly regarded schools, tensions rose even higher; parents were indignant about cuts that might jeopardize the quality and reputation of their schools, while non-parents recoiled in horror at the level of some of the proposed tax increases.

Compromising, in cases like these, requires some empathy. Parents need to understand that it's not so noble to proclaim that they are willing to have their taxes raised in lieu of cuts, since they are the minority in these districts and the brunt of those higher taxes will be borne by others. And non-parents need to understand that they actually do have an interest in maintaining the high caliber of schools, since that is the highest correlate to high property values.

Alas, compromise and moderation are hard to come by nowadays. At a national level, we are seeing similar dynamics. One side demonizes the other for refusing to pay for things that seem obvious to them are worth paying for. The other side has decided to shorten the battle cry from Revolutionary War days - "no taxation without representation" - and has mindlessly and simply demanded "no taxation."

We've made things worse by gerrymandering our districts such that taking moderate positions is paramount to political suicide. What has been happening in California for years if not decades is now being played out on a national stage: upstart candidates outflank incumbents in the primaries by providing red meat to their bases, leading to polarizing choices in the generals. Resultingly, California's budget meltdown should be a cautionary tale for the US as a whole, for when one side refuses to cut spending and the other side refuses to raise taxes, you bring public budgets to the brink.

You may reply that unlike California, America can deficit spend. But that's no free lunch. All of Europe is paying for the unsustainable habits of a handful of small southern European countries that thought they could get away with unrestrained growth in public sector salaries and insufficient growth in the private economy, and the trillion dollar bailout and fiscal austerity plans that have resulted will yield years if not decades of slow or no growth.

I'm not a smart enough economist to know if the US is headed for the same fate. But I at least know that there's no such thing as a free lunch. If one side - let's call them coffee drinkers - wants lots of things, it has to know there has to be a sensible and sustainable way to pay for them. And if the other side - let's call them tea drinkers - wants to hold the line on taxes, it closes itself off to any discussion that might result in identifying some spending cuts that are bad and some tax increases that are good.

Jerry Seinfeld has a nice routine where he talks about friends going out to dinner. You sit around the table, stomachs rumbling, the whole menu laid out before you. You order lavishly, eat sumptuously, and revel in the abundance of it all. Then the bill arrives. You're full, the fun is over, and you pass the piece of paper around quizzically, wondering why you need to pay for this thing or that thing.

Ordering and eating are fun. Paying the bill, not so much. But that's part of the package. And, politically and fiscally, in small school districts and in the nation as a whole, the bill is coming due. Coffee and tea drinkers alike should know that when they are ordering the beverage of their choice, it doesn't come free.

Next American City, Now's American City Advocates

Being a big fan of what Diana Lind is doing over at Next American City, I was honored to be invited by her to riff with her Next American Vanguard group, which is a hand-picked class of urban advocates from around the country. The discussion I was to lead was transportation and sustainability, and I had a blast getting out of the way and letting these young'uns hold court on their ideas and activities.

Given the central importance of the topic, the diversity of how it plays out in settings across the US, and the need for many messaging angles to get one's point across to so many different kinds of relevant stakeholders, it was particularly informative for me to hear so many interesting concepts from so many types of urban settings. I was heartened to hear that there are good people and good ideas in Des Moines, Fargo, and Nashville, and that a stimulating dialogue could touch on those places in the same breath as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. And I was heartened to see intelligent and driven young people wrestle through issues of equity and affordability, optimal pricing of scarce resources, and the politics of paying for it all.

So kudos to Diana for assembling such an esteemed and motivated group. Our cities face much in the way of challenges, but with young leaders like the ones I got to spend yesterday morning with, my optimism seems well-founded.

Recommended Reads, Second in a Series

Some of my faves from the past three months:

* A Well-Paid Slave (Snyder). The account of Curt Flood's legal fight to break Major League Baseball's "reserve clause" and become a free agent, as well as the man himself, was a lot messier than I thought.

* Patriotic Treason (Carton). A vivid and haunting portrait of a vivid and haunting figure in American history, abolitionist John Brown.

* Mastering the Rockefeller Habits (Harnish). I dig the management guru books but have high standards; this one fulfilled, and left me contemplating how to apply the concepts to the organizations I'm a part of.

* The 21st Century City (Goldsmith). Though over a decade old, this handbook from the former mayor of Indianapolis and the privatization darling of the governance world was still a fresh and relevant read.

* The Coldest Winter (Halberstam). Halberstam's last book is an excellent exploration into a largely forgotten war, the Korean War, and is long enough to sufficiently cover both life in the trenches as well as the influence and foibles of the era's big names (Truman, MacArthur, Chiang, Mao, Stalin).

* The Civil War (Burns). This companion to the DVD series, which I still haven't seen but now want to all the more, was an excellent flow through our Civil War years; I especially enjoyed reading about how hard it was for the Confederacy, having been built on state's rights, to unite those very states towards a common cause.

* People of Paradox (Kammen). An insightful exploration into the paradoxical aspects of the formation of an American identity, peppered with such delightful words and phrases as "syzygy," "biformity," "pragmatic idealism," "conservative liberalism," "Calvinistic Babylon," and "honest graft."

Go

I've been enjoying John Piper's series, "To Prosperity Preachers," over at his Desiring God blog. Yesterday's post, "Teach Them to Go," is particularly pointed. It is tempting for someone at my station in life to hunker down, set things up nice for my family and myself, and "nest." We Americans move to where our kids will be in good schools and where crime isn't a problem, we trick out our kitchens and entertainment centers, and generally do what we can to make home our home base.

Which is antithetical to what it means to be a follower of Jesus. His last command, you'll recall, found the last sentences of the gospel of Matthew, is to "go" . I have been told that the way it is written in the original Greek is that the command is "go," and everything riffs off of that: "go, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . . and teaching them . . ."

It can be easy once you move to the burbs to be completely detached from this commandment, or marginally better (or perhaps even worse?) to treat the commandment as an occasional, "check it off the list" activity, with periodic service-oriented forays into the nearest inner city or the overseas missions location of your church's choice. Here in the city, it is physically and relationally easier to have a lifestyle of "go," given the starker need and the existence of people from so many nations nearby. And yet the counter-tendency to be disobedient and to "nest" instead is great; perhaps we who have closer proximity to crime and chaos fight all the more to cleave to our own and to not venture out of our comfort zones to cross the street to cross cultures and break bread.

In short, where we live does make a difference when it comes to whether and how we heed the command to "go." But, far more importantly, it is our hearts that matter. Do they belong to the One who we call Lord and Savior, and thus when he says "go" we go? Or do they belong still to ourselves, and the call to "go" is warded off by a greater impulse to self-preserve, to comfort-seek, to build our own fortresses replete with reclining chairs and flat screen TVs and outdoor grills and stainless steel refrigerators?

As Piper points out in today's post, the Old Testament was about a physical and central place of worship and community for God's people, but the New Testament was about "go." And, with that last command of Jesus' still ringing in our ears, let us also, however we can, ourselves have a lifestyle of "go." For recall the final promise that was attached to that final command: "For I will be with you, even to the end of the age." If our hearts are His, then they believe and revel in the truth, even amidst the precariousness and danger and loneliness and struggle that can accompany a lifestyle of "go," that the fulfillment of that promise is better than any "nest" we can forge for ourselves.

Jews for Jesus

In light of the recent passing of Jews for Jesus' founder Moishe Rosen, I link to a post of mine from earlier this year on the Jewishness of Christianity. I don't know enough about Jews for Jesus or Mr. Rosen to comment on them, but I do know that while there are plenty of bad things we Christians have done to Jews over the years and into the present day, acknowledging the Jewishness of our faith heritage and of the one we follow is not one of them.

Lazy Linking, Thirteenth in an Occasional Series

I sure have been lazy a lot lately. Here's yet another set of links I liked:

* Here's your chance to manage the federal debt. (I was able to corral it to under 50 percent of GDP, so have decided I will be running for president in '12.)

* Josh Kopelman is as excited as I am about Minority Report-style spatially-targeted information technology innovations.

* What should you do about cul-de-sacs: make them illegal or charge them for the negative externalities they cause?

* Facebook fosters weak ties? Excellent, because Malcolm Gladwell says those are really powerful.

* That's right, ethnic studies are for all students, not just those of those particular ethnic groups.

* What should I be worried about will kill me?

* Man can create life forms: is this good or bad? Discuss.

* We still make as much stuff as we used to, proportionate to our overall economy; we just do it with far fewer people, thanks to mechanization.

What Am I Working On

Here's my quarterly update on new things I've been working on at work since the last update on February 20 (you can read past posts for my ground rules on these quarterly updates):

* Preparing a briefing report on the major demographic, retail, and real estate trends for a neighborhood commercial corridor

* Researching the tax increase and spending cut proposals of various municipalities and school districts to address fiscal challenges

* Providing recommendations to a municipal agency as to how to use performance dashboards to provide more internal planning data points and external accountability measures

* Developing a summary of utilization proportions of minority, women, and disabled business enterprises among major public and private sector procurers within a metropolitan region

* Summarizing best practices by agencies in cities across the US for increasing municipal utilization of minority, women, and disabled business enterprises

* Exploring if and how non-profit organizations that receive public sector contracts can be labeled as "minority, women, and disabled," in terms of organizational control and/or constituencies served

* Developing recommendations for ensuring that a major public infrastructure investment proposal and ensuing public and private sector investment will have significant participation for minority, women, and disabled business owners

* Listing and estimating the economic, health, and quality of life benefits that would accrue to a city if it built a fully connected waterfront greenway along its rivers

* Listing and estimating the costs of a city's present less-than-coordinated approach to vacant land management, and the benefits of more aggressively and efficiently maintaining and reselling vacant parcels

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact of a federal government agency's support of research that led to the development of a marketable product

* Estimating the economic and fiscal impact associated with various state and federal historic preservation tax credit projects within a state

What's College For

A recent article in University Business caused me to ask myself a question I haven’t had to ask about myself for 15+ years and won’t have to ask my kids for another 10+ years: what’s the value of going to college? Coming from a well-educated, Asian immigrant family, there is one obvious answer: to learn stuff. A distant second, whether for purposes of career advancement or for bragging about your kids to your peer group, is credentialing.

This second generation Taiwanese American urban Christian economist / non-profit thinker affirms the importance of those two reasons, but would like to proffer four additional reasons:

1. To build your network. People sort themselves by the school they go to; so, for example, getting your MBA at Stanford guarantees you’ll swim with tech-savvy entrepreneurial types for two years and then some, and saying you went to Penn State around here will lead you to have doors opened for you by other Penn State alum that you might not have otherwise had opened for you. Of course, many of my ilk, who ended up in technical careers, may not need to work the network as much as I do, since their trades are so scientific that it really is what you know more than who you know.

2. To learn how to learn. No one knows everything, and everything changes so fast nowadays. So learning stuff is inferior to learning how to learn stuff, if you want to stay with the times and make big contributions.

3. To learn who you are. College is most people’s first time to call their own shots – what courses they’ll take, who they’re going to live with, what time they’re going to wake up. It’s a phase that’s rife with possibility for self-exploration, figuring out what makes you tick, how you’re going to compose yourself for the rest of your life.

4. To have fun. Studious children of studious immigrants may act with horror at the thought that part of college is having fun, but within reason, it’s something to throw into the mix. After all, there’s a value to having unforgettable memories, hilarious stories, and lifelong friendships, right?

The University Business article was written by the president of a small liberal arts school, many of which are under siege financially in this increasingly pre-professional world, in which fewer and fewer of us are automatically assuming we’re going to carve out four years of our lives or our children’s lives to not earn any money, spend a ton of dough, and just learn stuff. And yet, he’s right; there’s value in that experience still. I would just like to note that I have six reasons, not just one or two.

Five Years Ago

Clearing out Jada's first floor bedroom and moving her up to her new third-floor bedroom has evoked some reminiscing on Amy and my part. For the last time the walls and floor of that first floor room was bare was five summers ago, before Jada arrived.

Five years ago this month, I was still working at The Enterprise Center. I was working insane hours as usual, and the month of May was particularly crazy for me because of our significant reliance on student interns: May and September are busier than usual because they are high work-flow times combined with old interns already gone and new ones not yet arrived or not sufficiently oriented.

To add to the chaos of that time, I was taking two classes at Fels towards my Masters in Government Administration: a public leadership class and a public management class. So May brought final papers and exams in both classes. And, I was trying to pass out of a third class, Statistics, by doing the final project - without having taken the class, and without the benefit of working on it a little by little over the course of the semester with the help of the professor. And, I was writing up an outline for an independent study concept I was pitching to my advisor to do over the summer.

So essentially I was working a full-time job at a peak time while juggling the equivalent of four grad-level classes. And, we were getting ourselves ready for Jada: home prep, adoption paperwork, travel plans, and emotional prep.

And yet, for all the craziness, I believe I was probably freer and saner then than I am now. So I look back on those days of work and school busyness and parental anticipation with a little bit of glow and poignancy. But, I do not prefer then to now.

Four Years Ago

I recently celebrated four years at Econsult, and though my performance evaluation is to come in the near future, I write this glowing post not for self-serving purposes, but rather to express gratitude. If you know me, you know that to draw up the perfect job for me would entail five sets of criteria (in no particular order, although sorting these sets of criteria would make for a juicy post, but that's for another time):

* The job has to work for me in terms of work-life balance. Pays well, reasonable hours, easy commute, not too stress-inducing.

* The job has to be stimulating to my intellect. Stimulating assignments, stimulating co-workers, stimulating training and networking opportunities.

* The job has to grow my professional network and knowledge base. Lots of opportunities to be an expert, a participant, an advocate, and a learner.

* The job has to meld my personal interests. Urban, economics, analysis, the intersection of public and private and non-profit.

* The job has to yield meaningful outcomes. Making a difference, making advancements in key issues, doing substantive work.

Most people, whether their criteria are similar to mine or not, have a handful of criteria; and most people, as much as they want to find something that fits all of their criteria, find they have to settle for less than ideal in one or more of those criteria. A job is stimulating but brutally stressful, or rewarding but with low pay, or enjoyable but too narrowly scoped.

Thanks be to God, I do not feel I have had to settle in anything important to me concerning what I want in a job. The particulars work for where I am in life now. I find the work stimulating (I am constantly learning) but not overwhelming (I have to add value to my clients, so it can't just be me learning on the job, I have to contribute too). I get to run in circles that are interesting to me. I get to do work on topics that I am curious about. And our work matters in public and private circles.

I will not reiterate here what I have written before about what I have gone through and what I have learned in this and in my previous job searches. All I will repeat is that God is good and I am grateful, for what I have learned so far and what I am fortunate enough to have today, which is a job I enjoy.

Lazy Linking, Twelfth in An Occasional Series

* Like that Kerry and Lieberman are advancing a climate bill; don't like that it gives away most of the allowances and doesn't go "full auction" until 2035.

* Al Gore buying waterfront property that would be underwater if his doomsday climate change scenario happens: hypocrisy, hedging bets, or supreme confidence in mankind's ability to stave off his worst fears?

* Ta-Nehisi Coates on Obama "going Cosby" at Hampton U.

* Josh Kopelman links to a Silicon Valley Bank study that reports that smaller venture funds have had more success than larger ones.

* I predict that "not taking your star out of the game when he gets into foul trouble" will be the new "coaches should go for it more on fourth down" rant for sports stats geeks.

* A belated shout-out to Oakland A's pitcher Dallas Braden, whose recent spat with New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez landed him in the news and then whose perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays gave him immortality. He landed the requisite Letterman gig and composed himself well reading the "top 10 thoughts going on through my mind during my perfect game"; my favorite was #3: "Even I've never heard of me."

* Kudos to the City of Philadelphia for winning the third annual Siemens Sustainable Community Award. And a big "amen" to Katherine Gajewski, director of Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability, for this absolutely spot-on quote: "I would really like Philadelphia to start to redefine this green thing a little bit. It's not about just making new stuff and building stuff; it's also about investing in your existing assets."

Children's Church

One can hardly think of anything more important to church-going parents than the responsibility of spiritually instructing their children. And yet, at a church as diverse in age and faith upbringing as the one I attend, it is a challenge for me to determine how to balance the primacy of that responsibility with other, equally important considerations.

For example, my children have been known to be a little, shall we say, squirmy during morning service. And I have had to learn to be a little bit shorter on my leash with them. Because their behavior isn’t just a private matter between them and me, but affects others’ ability to be worshipful. So I have to subsume my individual responsibility (to be a good parent to my kids in that situation) within an overall context that includes the needs and preferences of others around me. For those parents whose leashes on their kids’ behavior are usually tighter than mine, it is easier for them than it is for me; and for those parents whose leashes on their kids’ behavior are usually looser than mine, I imagine it is harder for them than it is for me. But how our kids behave is no longer just a matter of them and us, or even them and God, but also them and how others near them may be affected by them.

Thankfully, most of my fellow congregants are generously patient with me and my rug rats. And those who have corrected me have done so with a kind and wise tone. Such is the necessary balancing act we diverse congregations face, as we manage the worshipping needs of lots of different kinds of folks. It is my hope that my kids grow up in the church with the understanding that they are important members of the congregation but not inherently ahead of others: neither to be shushed into a straitjacket, but neither again to be allowed to do whatever they want with no regard for the ways in which they may be distracting to others. Easier said than done, but worth working towards.

The Years are Piling On

This week is my 15th college reunion. Next year is my 20th high school reunion. Last weekend, I filled out a reference form for a friend of mine, and one of the questions was "how long have you known this person," and I realized I met him in junior high so we've been close friends for 25 years! 15, 20, 25 . . . I tell you, the years are piling on.

In a recent small group Bible study, which consists of all people around my age, we talked about this notion of growing older. We hopefully have many, many years of vitality left in us, but we're not in our teens and twenties anymore, in terms of youthfulness and bounce-back. Our bodies ache a little bit longer, wrinkles and gray hairs are popping up at a frightening pace, and our world perspectives have picked up a little bit of edge and caution rather than unfettered and wide-eyed enthusiasm.

Aging can be a wonderful process, but only if. If we define ourselves by our physical and mental vigor, and have trouble accepting the fact that we can no longer do all of what we used to, it can be a frustrating fight against ourselves and nature and God. But if we accept that God is good to us in all seasons of life, that we can compensate for our limitations with a depth of wisdom and perspective, and that even pains and limits are to be celebrated as reminders that in our humanness and vulnerability God can still do great and wondrous things in and through and for us, then we can age with grace and peace and dignity and happiness.

I am probably predilected to fight against growing old. Too much of my identity is wrapped up in competence and busyness and accomplishment. Growing old has meant going from doing everything to doing lots of things to being wise about what can and cannot be done, and that's been a hard transition for me. But, by God's grace, I am learning. Years from now, me complaining at age 37 about growing old will seem laughably naive and young. Hopefully, years from now, even if I'm physically or mentally less than I am now, I will still be happy, gracious, at peace, and still chugging along for and with my God.

The Next Supreme Court Justice Will Have to Be a Penn Grad

I typed in "alma mater of supreme court justices" into Google and this Hispanic Business magazine article came up first: "With Kagan, Supreme Court's Predominance of Harvard and Yale Alums Would Become a Monopoly." That's right, if Elena Kagan is confirmed, all nine will be alums of either Harvard or Yale. Or, as pointed out by a commenter at Megan McArdle's blog (see also here:

"With Kagan, Supreme Court will get yet more diverse: It will have Catholics from Harvard or Yale, an African-American from Harvard or Yale, women from Harvard or Yale, a Hispanic from Harvard or Yale, and a Jew from Harvard or Yale."

As a Penn alum, two times over, I'm not sure I can form a coherent and objective statement in response. Does anyone else know what this might mean for the nation's highest court?

Decisions, Decisions

I have sung the praises of my small group Bible study and its participants before, but with the conclusion of another school year cycle of meetings, I must again report on how meaningful this group and these gatherings have been. We concluded a discussion book on godly decision-making, and while the material wasn’t earth-shattering, it was solid enough that we could dig our teeth into it each session. Even better, individuals and couples really authentically put the material into motion, and confided some really weighty decisions into the group discussions. Within an eight-month period, couples made decisions about jobs, houses, moves, and kids; and at the last gathering earlier this month, we all sensed that God had watched over us as we agonized over these decisions, ever so gracefully guiding us along, giving us peace during and after the process, and knitting us together as a group that could be trusted with our intimate details and tough choices. My own take-aways from the lessons – confide in others, be in God’s Word, pray a lot – were reinforced by the actions and attitudes of my fellow group members and the way they approached their decisions.

In short, it was a really good year. Now, Lord, help us with our next big decision: what to study next year?

On Arizona's New Immigration Law

Amidst our information-deluged lives, the 24-hour media cycle, the never-off campaign cycle, R's and D's both drawing their lines in the sand in the run-up to another primary and general election, and continued pain in our job markets, Arizona's immigration law was bound to set off fireworks on both sides of the argument. At a thin-slice level, it makes for charged responses: jingoism, racial profiling, this is what's wrong with Democrats/Republicans/Americans/illegals.

The public sector is a tough place to work. Everything is under a magnifying glass, everything get's blown out of proportion, perception is reality, and good policy can get lost if the other side can claim victory in the sound bite war.

But you know? That scrutiny, that back-and-forth, that ardent dialogue, is what makes our political system great. Politics is, almost inherently, corrupting. Whether it draws a certain type of person or makes people that way, politics demands checks and balances, because it involves things, like exercising power over others or spending other peoples' money or making blanket policies about certain groups and situations, that we need careful and public oversight over.

I don't know what is the way forward for immigration policy in America. I certainly don't know what makes sense for Arizona and its police, governments, citizens, and economy. I'm sympathetic to Marginal Revolution commenter Josh, who writes, "I'm amused by watching the similarities in reaction to this law and the new Belgium burqa ban. It amazes me how quickly distant opponents are to throw out accusations of racism, intolerance, and hypocrisy when they share none of the experiences of those living in those places. I'm not automatically defending them, but if you have not lived in that area and have not experienced enough of what they have experienced to at least truly understand the fear that drives these laws, you should not be making such blanket and arrogant assertions." And I'm sympathetic to those who have made such opposing assertions, because even perception isn't reality, on another level, perception is reality, and so lawmakers must be mindful, in the protection of a law-abiding society, that this nation is great because of and not in spite of its inclusivity and tolerance and multi-culturalism.

Politics in America is a delicate dance, between Democrats and Republicans, between a citizenry that should remain informed but that also elects representatives who can devote themselves full-time to the task of legislation and execution, and between the rights of some versus the needs of others. Even with emotionally charged commentary, malinformed sound bites, and dubious policy, give me this country over any other.

Lazy Linking, the Stuck in My In-Box Version

Links to interesting articles I ripped out to read later, and then "later" became "much later":

* Green living shouldn't just be wealthy folks status-seeking, but rather a major component of affordable housing, so this LA-based development is a step in the right direction.

* Here's bottled water you don't have to get angry about; in fact, it could be a huge solution to a huge problem, that of potable water in the developing world.

* I remember in b-school when we studied how Japan ate the US for lunch by being humble and hungry when it came to improving manufacturing processes; it looks like it's happening all over again, and will we haughty Americans learn this time around?

* I know this catchphrase is somewhat old now, but nice to see "embodied energy" uniting environmentalists, historic preservation advocates, and urbanists. After all, the greenest building can't be one you have to build from scratch, tearing down another building in the process.

* "Has 'Social' Peaked?" Umm, no . . . the reason why January-to-February unique visitor numbers are down is because there are 10 percent fewer days in February than in January.

* Welcome to the scene, Gen Z (born 2005 and on), the youngest of six generations of consumers; 2007 was the largest birth year in US history, and Latinos make up 25 percent of that (vs. 14 percent of total population).

* Belated props to my friends at B Labs; the City of Philadelphia and the State of Maryland are two entities that now recognize and/or incentivize socially responsible corporations as certified by B Labs.

* It's more complicated than this, but that doesn't take away from the pats on the back warranted for the Passyunk Square residents featured in this Inky article, who have decided that now that they are parents, rather than complaining about their neighborhood school or leaving for the suburbs, they are going to get involved and see what they can do to make the school work for their kids.

First School Portrait

I never had a school portrait I was happy with growing up. Between bowl cuts, buck teeth, and head gear, I was kind of a mess. But, one generation later, I can live vicariously through my delightfully cute daughter, whose individual and class portraits are attached here. These will be fun to do once a year, to see her grow up. Glad she's off to a good start, in terms of her first one having turned out so good.

Neighborhood Retail

One of the nice things about our neighborhood is the convenience of nearby retail. CVS is two blocks away, which makes prescriptions and greeting cards and personal care items really easy to get. Restaurants of all ethnicities beckon within walking distance. Where Aaron and I get our hairs cut is barely a block away. And there's a coffee shop right across the street from our house.

One place that we actually don't frequent that often, at least as customers, is the secondhand store, which is actually several stores all on the same block. But, walking home yesterday from an early-morning errand with the kids, I noted that the store was having a ten-cent book sale. So, when Amy's parents arrived, I took first her dad and Aaron, and then her mom, down the block to check things out.

Let me tell you: ten cents is a great price for books. I buy almost all my books used, at Half.com, and the lowest price there, including shipping and handling is about $2.75. Yesterday, I paid a little over half that in total, and got 14 books! My best find by far (well, actually my father-in-law found it, but graciously let me buy it) was an almost-new condition Colin Powell autobiography, signed by Powell himself. Not too shabby for one block away from our house, and for one shiny dime. What a bargain, and what a neighborhood.

Letters to Congress: Immigration

With immigration talk heating up due to a controversial proposal in Arizona, and with me due to write my semi-annual letter to my elected officials in Washington, I went looking for past posts of mine on immigration, and found this previous letter to Congress from May 2007. Despite the now-painful shout-out to Spain (their economy pretty much tanked from that point on), this has had a pretty good shelf life. A good starting point for a May 2010 version of what's on my mind on the subject of immigration. Maybe if I can unclog my brain for a few minutes, I could actually write such a version.

***

On the subject of immigration, I'm sure you've received your share of
letters. Some have xenophobically called for measures that run
antithetical to the way in which this nation was built and continues
to grow. Others have scolded any sort of hard stance on the law and
law-breakers as un-American. I'd like to propose that a more moderate
approach to the subject is the correct one.

To begin with, I reject those who would seek to keep low-skill and/or
high-skill immigrants out for fear that "they" will take "our" jobs.
This sort of protectionist sentiment is short-sighted and
self-fulfilling. It is short-sighted because in the long run, the
introduction of new labor and new competition necessarily spurs
greater economic growth, resulting in more opportunity for all. It is
self-fulfilling because in fearing that the economic pie will have to
be cut into more slices with smaller pieces for all, rather than
seeking to make the pie bigger, the pie will in fact not get bigger
and people will indeed be left with smaller pieces than before.

Whether it is those who are desperate for any sort of work and willing
to do the most menial of labor, or high-end engineers and researchers
wanting to be where the global action is in terms of cutting-edge
technology and science, we all do better and not worse as a nation if
we are welcoming. Spain is a good example of an economy that has
thrived due in large part to a willingness to accept immigrants who
will work low-paying jobs, freeing up local human capital for greater
productivity. And the Silicon Valley would not be what it is today,
with resulting economic and employment opportunity for many, without
the stimulation and innovation provided by immigrants.

Nevertheless, making legal immigration easier does not necessarily
also mean making illegal immigration easier. The "stick" of continued
border vigilance and penalties for law-breaking must be offset by the
"carrot" of higher caps and streamlined citizenship processes, but the
stick must be wielded nonetheless. We may be a nation of immigrants,
but we are also a nation under law, and that law must be upheld and
not allowed to be flouted without recourse. We have also tasked our
elected officials at the national level with the increasingly complex
task of ensuring national security, of which border patrol is
certainly a component.

I hope, then, that you will consider saying yes to the contributions
of immigrants who desire to obey the law, work honestly, and take part
in our market economy, and no to responses to the immigration topic
that either disturbingly jingoistic or naively cavalier. Thank you
for your efforts in this realm. I look forward to further
correspondence with you on this and other subjects.

Early Nutrition

There was an article in the paper the other day about the effects of poverty on children in Philadelphia. As with such stories, statistics were balanced with stories, and one of the stories was about a local mother with two kids, including a three-month-old, and how their constrained financial situation spelled trouble for the little baby in particular, given the importance of nutrition in the early months.

It made me think of our little baby's early months. For those of you with children, imagine that your precious little one is apart from you for the first seven and a half months of her life. At three days old, she has spent at least one night abandoned in the cold. For the next several months, she is cared for along with nine other such babies, with almost zero physical touch and hardly much more physical nourishment. There is no bonding, and no response of comfort or concern when she cries.

Remarkably, children are resilient. And so while Jada has her delays and her issues, she looks all the world like a normal, healthy, well-adjusted little girl. There is nothing we can do to turn back the clock on those first seven and a half months of isolation and malnourishment. But we can be grateful for the chance to see her blossom since then, and mindful of what can be done for children like the three-month-old in the news story, whose nutritional deficits are likely to continue well into his childhood.

It’s a Small World After All

People like me tend to travel routinely to one of three places: work, church, and kids’ schools. Where you live, it is hoped, is close to at least one of those three places, and ideally a manageable distance to all three.

From this perspective, I am a really lucky dude, as all three places are, and have always been, within walking distance of where we live:

* I have been employed for 14 years. The first ten I had a four- to six-block commute, and the last four I have had a ten-block commute.

* I have been attending my church for 14 years. It has always been four to six blocks away. (It was fun to be able to walk there on my wedding day.)

* Where my kids will go to school from kindergarten to 8th grade will be two blocks away. Jada starts there this fall, and Aaron, who currently goes to school eight blocks from home, will enroll there in two years.

Not needing a car to get these places is magnificent on my psyche and on my wallet. No gas, no road rage, no parking. Yes to time walking with one or both of my kids to their school, chatting them up about some urban thing along the way, getting exercise and fresh air.

I wish I could say that I have made some huge sacrifice, for the purposes of the environment or of being committed to my neighborhood; because that would make me look nobler than I really am, and I like patting myself on the back whenever I can. But honestly, I haven’t had to settle; all three places were and are my first choices, so no compromises there. And if there’s been any intentionality on my part, it’s been a matter of convenience and frugality, not ecological or communal considerations. For me, it’s a small world after all, and I’m loving it.

Part-Time Opening at Church at 42nd/Pine

Our church seeks a new Director of Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Ministries. Please review the position description below, and if you or anyone you know
is interested in applying, send your resume and cover letter to jobs@woodlandpres.net, and we will respond to you regarding the possibility of an interview.

***

Job Title: Director of Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Ministries

Hours per Week: 15-25

Start Date: Negotiable




Overview of Position and Opening:

Woodland Presbyterian Church is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational church located in an urban setting at the intersection of campuses and community. We are a PC-USA congregation that was first formed in the 1860’s. Our Sunday morning worship service typically draws 100 worshippers, including 15-25 children. We believe that children, youth, and families are all important members of the family of God, and therefore their spiritual growth is an integral part of the overall health of the church and its mission to the neighborhood around us. The Director of Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Ministries works in collaboration with other staff, Session, and volunteers from the congregation towards that end. There is always more to do than the time allotted each week, so prioritization, efficiency, and delegation are important components of a successful CYF Director, as is the ability to work with a wide range of children, youth, families, volunteers, and staff members.

Woodland’s staff presently includes a full-time Interim Senior Pastor, a full-time Sexton, a part-time Administrative Associate, and a part-time Music Minister. The CYF Director position has been staffed on a volunteer basis since November 2009. It is our preference that we are able to fill this position in time for a September 2010 start date. If you are interested in this position, please submit your cover letter and resume to Lee Huang, Chairperson of the Personnel Team, at jobs@woodlandpres.net (email), fax (215 386-1725), or mail (42nd and Pine Streets, Philadelphia PA 19104). We will try to answer all inquiries and will contact you if we would like to set up an interview.



Responsibilities/Duties:

Leadership

• Connect the work of CYF to Woodland’s larger work, and communicate that work to congregants and to other stakeholders

• Serve as a public face, point person, and final decision-maker for all aspects of CYF

• Represent CYF and its agenda via interfaces with internal (worship, building and property, outreach, education) and external (partners, community, Presbytery) entities



Recruit, Train, and Disciple Members of the Congregation into CYF Ministry

• Encourage those with a heart for children and family ministries to get involved

• Recruit and support volunteer leaders

• Direct the training of volunteers in teaching and in working with children



Direct Ministry Responsibilities

• Supervise volunteers in the following programmatic activities and age groups:

 Sunday School for infants (0 to 18 months), toddlers (18 months to 4 years), children (4 years to 9 years)

 One-week Vacation Bible School summer camp

 Other offerings as mutually determined with staff and Session (examples: Christmas pageant, service opportunities, missions trips)

• Establish relationships with parents and families and be sensitive to their needs and concerns

• Become an active member of Woodland and participate in Sunday worship service periodically as a member of the ministry staff, for purposes of promoting and forwarding the ministry of CYF

• Explore and supervise ministry initiatives for pre-teens and teens, including connection to other churches to pool youth ministry activities

• Explore and supervise family ministry initiatives, including connection to other local resources to provide spiritual guidance to young families

• Commit to pray regularly for CYF leaders and volunteers, children, and families


Administration

• Attend weekly staff meetings

• File a quarterly report of past and future activities and accomplishments to Session

• Develop and enforce policies relating to all aspects of CYF ministries (for example, ensuring that the appropriate back ground checks are carried out on all volunteers working with children)

• Develop and monitor CYF portion of the church’s budget



Oversight and Support:

The Director of CYF Ministries will report to the Head of Staff and will attend weekly Staff Meetings.

The Session will ensure that the following support mechanisms are in place so that Employee is in the best position possible to serve in a way that is fulfilling to her and productive for the church:

a) inclusion in a staff team in which everyone's position description is known to one another so that staff members can better support and collaborate with one another,

b) 1-2 deacons assigned to pray for and support Employee in her work and to help advocate for the work of CYF in the broader work of the church,

c) Annual check-in sessions with the Personnel Team for purposes of receiving encouragement and advice as well as together clarifying the position description going forward.



Compensation:

Salary, benefits, and vacation are negotiable. Consideration will be given to funding and enabling various professional development avenues, such as books and conferences.

***

Musing About Not Musing

Been relatively barren of late when it comes to posting in this space. I wish I could tell you I’ve been musing all along, but just too busy to document those ideas. But alas, my brain has been just as unfertile as my blog lately. A confluence of busyness – lots of deadlines at work, a rush of church-related responsibilities and home improvement projects, and Amy crunching through her final paper and final exam meaning more on me in terms of kid coverage – has meant I have been in hyper-action mode for a good four weeks now. Those of you who have ever seen me in hyper-action mode know that it ain’t a pretty sight: for example, I have been known to literally work up a sweat at the office simply from the feverishness of typing, paper-shuffling, and neuron-firing.

Acting without thinking can be tiring for an introvert like me. It can also be dangerous for the soul. So I’m realizing I’m in dire need of some down-time. In fact, not having many musings is actually a pretty good litmus test for me that I’m burned out, because it means that stuff is going into my head, but I have nothing left in the tank to do anything with it.

Thankfully, I think I see a little light at the end of the tunnel. For example, I anticipate that this coming weekend the prospect of getting a nap is good, and boy, could I use a nap. And, after tomorrow night’s small group Bible Study gathering at our place, I do not believe I have any other evening engagements for at least three weeks, which means long and uninterrupted times of silence for me to stick my nose in a book.

But please excuse me if any downtime I’m able to access does not result directly in any blaze of insight. For though this post is about musing about not musing, if I get a breather I intend to turn my brain off, too; after four weeks of it being on auto-pilot, it needs a break in order to be back on again.

Lazy Linking, Tenth in an Occasional Series

It was a busy month, so I'm just now getting to some of my favorite sites. Enjoy!

* Church and TOD in a mixed-use urban setting? Delicious!

* The research proves what I had suspected all along: Prius owners are more interested in looking green than in being green.

* If KFC's Double Down sandwich (no bread, just two chicken patties with sauce and bacon in the middle) isn't enough goodness for you, here's what you can do: slice a Krispy Kreme donut in half and use that as your sandwich bread.

* Good to know I'm not the only self-documentarian out there.

* Ugh - the violence against Asian-Americans continues at South Philadelphia High School continues.

* David Brooks recommends a piece on conservatives, climate change, and carbon taxes.

* Keith Hennessey explains our current fiscal position by telling the story of the prodigal son.

* When will we price energy correctly enough to care that we are currently wasting 45 percent of it and figure out how to get that number down?

* I need to read more Prahalad - the Indian management guru who died last month featured heavily in my b-school education in the 1990's with his notion of "core competencies," and he's hot again now with his notion of "the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid."

30,000 Views on YouTube

Another social networking milestone: 30,000 views over at my video page at YouTube. Strangely enough, most viewed clips include "Mall Rides" and "Mascots." Hmmm. Anyway, given that YouTube was created to share vids with fam, I'm glad I've been able to use it do just that. Thanks for stopping by and gooing and gahing with us.

Huang Family Newsletter, April 2010

Kids - Aaron and Jada continue to chug along at their respective schools. We're thick into teaching Jada how to read and Aaron how to go number two in the potty. They sang in the church choir for Palm Sunday and Easter, had an Easter egg hunt at their grandparents', and did fun trips to downtown and the zoo. (Alas, a scheduled visit to Sesame Place was rained out.)

Adults - Amy finished her final final paper ever, and is studying for her final final ever, while tending to three virtual farms on Farmville (a Facebook app). Lee's busier at work as business is picking up, although still more is needed. We celebrated our 10th anniversary with a sorely-needed date night, Amy's parents graciously providing kid coverage so we could head downtown for dinner and a stroll.