An acquaintance who wrote a gripping account of the failure of the global community to respond effectively to the HIV/AIDS pandemic has a new book out about the Marshall Plan. I think you will find it really interesting: http://www.amazon.com/Most-Noble -Adventure-Marshall-America/dp/0 743282639/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-39 96839-7770505?ie=UTF8&s=book s&qid=1186499109&sr=8-1

“A splendid narrative history of the Marshall Plan, perhaps the best foreign-policy idea America ever had…Behrman’s sure grasp of the geo-politics, his firm understanding of the Plan’s details and his deft portrayal of the men who made it work combine to forge a remarkable story.” —Kirkus Reviews, *starred review

“Behrman’s comprehensive study of the Marshall Plan could not arrive at a better time…It’s unlikely Behrman’s narrative force could be surpassed…[A] gripping tale.” —Publishers Weekly, *starred review

"The Marshall Plan was the most creative and inspired act in modern American foreign policy. It preserved the possibility of freedom and showed the potential for great leadership. There's so much we can learn from the boldness and creativity of Marshall , Acheson, and their coterie. Greg Behrman has captured all of this masterfully. In a beautifully researched and written narrative, he has produced a compelling tale that should be an inspiration as we face our new global challenges." –Walter Isaacson, co-author of The Wise Men and author of Einstein: His Life and Universe

“Behrman’s comprehensively researched and well-written history of the Marshall Plan - that, as much as the Allied victory, saved Europe as we know it – promises to be a definitive work.” — Dr. Henry Kissinger

“Every time our nation faces a crisis, someone calls for a new Marshall Plan. But few know the real story of the original: thrilling, inspirational, and relevant to the challenges of today. No one has ever told it better than Greg Behrman, who draws modern lessons while making this vital period come alive once again.” – Ambassador Richard Holbrooke

Quite a few of us have spent a significant portion of our online "life" here learning and collaborating at O.net. What does it amount to? I am 30mb for 3 years. Is that alot? If we share basic info - for example, length of time at o.net and archive size - we might come up with a snapshot!

What's yours?

I just signed up for shareideas.org which looks like a great effort, with some solid backing. I look forward to seeing where it goes, and hope to see you there!

A lot of strange things happen in Vermont. You should expect alot from a state that saw the last of the great glaciers that once extended to Manhattan only 10,000 years ago. A state whose forests are less than 100 years old on average. A state whose motto isn't, "Live free or die" but "Freedom and unity." We are state familiar with duality; extremes. We are a state bifurcated by a chain of mountains that produced distinct cultures. We are a state of 600,000 habitants with six distinct ecological regions.

We are now the state that produced one of the two girls behind the serial podcast, "50 States, 50 Dates." I only know about this because I happen to volunteer at our community justice center with her mother.

Click To Play

From the site: "This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, and to celebrate it properly, Bliss and Leary are hitting the road to find the perfect summer date.

50 dates in 50 states launches from Montpelier, VT on the fourth of July. The girls will zigzag their way up and down the states, documenting their dating and travel adventures through journal entries, videos, photographs, and a live map feed.

After traveling through most of the Lower 48, Bliss and Leary will take a week-long cruise to Alaska, fly to Hawaii for a few days, and then wrap up the trip with flights to Austin and Miami. The journey concludes in Leary’s home state of Maine."

Check it out!

Well, in the scheme of things, a very small day. For me, today marks the transition out of a 6-year relationship with AmericaSpeaks into new territory as a free agent.

Its kind of nerve-wracking to unplug from a stable employment situation, one that provides a certain amount material means to direct toward activities one cares about. Now, I'll have to be much more disciplined in my approach - to my art, education work, web work - and certainly meeting a bottom line for my family.

Anyway, my "dominant" shingle is MixedMedia - everything else falls under it for the time being. It has been fun to open a business checking account and attending to the small details of a free lancer's life. We'll see if it remains so!

Anyway, wish me luck - and feel free to send some work my way ;)

In reading up about the Arts for Social Healing conference in Boston help earlier this month, I came across the Zing Foundation and something they are a part of: the 50% league, aka Bolder Giving.

Here is their mission:

We live in a time of historic crisis and opportunity, when contributions of time and money could make a crucial difference. Yet most of us – even if well-off – give at a fraction of our capacity.

Bolder Giving's mission is to inspire us to give at our full potential by providing remarkable role models and practical support.

What I find particularly compelling about this is the way it unites a wide range of individuals within a shared values framework that promotes action and social change.

You can read more about this neat effort at Bolder Giving in Extraordinary Times.

Wanted to post this resource (from my colleague Matt Leighninger at the Deliberative Democracy Consortium):

The Case Foundation has just launched an exciting new grant program called Make It Your Own. It is designed to help grassroots leaders involve their fellow citizens in dialogue, deliberation, and action on community problems. This is one of those rare instances where a national foundation will make grants directly to local and neighborhood-level projects; it is even more unusual in that the decision-making process on who gets the grants will be made, in part, by citizens themselves (see “Foundation Lets Public Help Award Money” in the New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/2 6/us/26charity.html). This is a citizen-centered funding effort that will produce citizen-centered projects.

Many of you know grassroots leaders who would make terrific applicants for Make It Your Own (and some of you fit that description yourselves). Please check out the details at http://www.casefoundation.org/make-it-your-own and pass this email along to anyone you think would be a good candidate. If you know someone who is intending to apply, help them think through their proposed project and point them toward other organizations that can help (such as the ones listed at http://www.casefoundation.org/ma ke-it-your-own/take-action/place s).

The United States wants one. Israel has its own. India is planning to build the world's largest. In an era where many are celebrating pluralism, multiculturalism, and tolerance as the harbingers of a "new world" political reality is demonstrating something altogether different.

Perhaps it could be looked at this way: during the third wave of globalization ("colonialism"), distinctions were drawn across landscapes and peoples to describe the prizes and possessions of distant potentates. (The first wave I would describe as "exploration," the second as "trade"). Today, we have entered a fourth wave of globalization, which is market integration.

And I can't help wonder at the glowing (iron-hot) inconsistency: that as the global economy "integrates" in an ICT-driven revolution in the mobility of equity, there is a backlash of intolerance that takes the breath away.

It's not jihad vs mcworld. its self-identification run amok.

For years universities in the United States were imploring their staff and students to "embrace" diversity and celebrate the self. Half a world away, cause-minded revolutionaries were suiting up in the same lycra-tight rhapsodies. Except they had guns to prove a point.

We find ourselves at time marked by stake-outs. Hold-out training grounds and rise-up instigators. Everyone has a protest. The celebration of difference has ceded to its enforcement. Alan Bloom probably saw it coming, but I think its crept in on the rest of us.

World on Fire is a pop anthem for some, a way of life for others. If you really knew what it meant, would you still hum along? "Tolerance" is a colloquialism that seems to better describe humankind's relation to alcohol than to one another in the 21st century.

A representative of American Express (someone with a aexp.com email) has been in touch with me about the Peace Tiles project being a project they'd like to match with one of their Top 50 community-identified project areas.

I haven't followed this effort at all, though recall it got some traffic here on O.net. My question is, is this for real? Why would they be "doing research to match member ideas with organizations doing similar work?"

Spoke with someone who's caller ID was "AM EXPR" with a 212 area code 640-2000 number. Calling the nnumber gets you to a generic switchboard operator who doesn't know anything about a "Members Project."

So anyway, I'm always suspicious of people who dangle the prospect of some good thing and tell you that you need to let them know "your decision" by the end of the day...

Anyway, if you have any thoughts on whether this is some elaborate, nonsensical scam or something to take seriously I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

Imagine a high profile situation. A celebrity in a prison for youth. Cameras. Lots of cameras in tight spaces. You need real, personal interviews that will still resonate with their peer-set [know what reggaetone is?] with the youths without giving up their identities.

How would you do it?