I write this from an Amtrak train, on my smartphone. I haven’t been on Amtrak since my cross-country train adventure almost two years ago. When I walked into the train a few moments ago, it evoked memories of all the amazing experiences I had then. But this time, I’m not getting off in Sandpoint, ID or Pittsburgh, PA, but in Dover, NH, where I’m going to my childhood friend’s bachelor party. This isn’t your stereotypical bachelor party; it consists of disc golf, dinner at a nice restaurant, and then a rousing game of dungeons and dragons. Tomorrow, it’s off to western Mass. I’ll be there most of the time at least through the month of May, because I’ve now finished grad school and have been elected to town meeting in Amherst. I’m also applying to jobs that would allow me to stay there. While my girlfriend Nicole is still finishing up classes for her art education masters and consequently I’ll be visiting her in Boston throughout the summer, Amherst is where I want to be.

It’s strange going through these transition periods! Just one week ago, I was finishing up both my classes and my two internships, at the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations and the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District. Those experiences were great, but they both felt like I was working on someone else’s projects. Working at a real job in Amherst will give me more of a feeling of ownership of my work.

Transition times are usually bumpy, but I feel like the hardest part is behind me now. The next stage will surely be challenging in its own way, but that’s a good thing. Keeps you on your toes, keeps you sharp, reminds you to enjoy the parts that are relaxing. Just like this train, life just keeps on moving forward, and the best we can do is make the most of the ride and enjoy it.

But what about the new folks, like myself? Some people I know, and some people I generally know the perspective of from quotes in the Bulletin. But what about for the rest of the people? Here’s what the internet says about the other non-incumbents in my precinct:

• Ray La Raja: Political Science professor at UMass. Student love him, and he’s been officially recognized as one of the best teachers at UMass. He went to Harvard undergrad, Harvard Kennedy School for a masters, and got his PhD from UC Berkeley. He’s been teaching at UMass since 2002. He’s an “expert in campaign financing and reform measures” and serves on the Academic Advisory Board of the Campaign Finance Institute. Looks like he got tenure in 2008 (that’s what “Associate Professor” means, right?) He was a policy analyst at the DLC in the early 90s. Sounds pretty cool.
• Sara Ross: I’ve met her, I think! She and her husband Gareth renovated a house on Cottage Street, which now looks very modern and sleek, which is very cool but also out of place among the more normal-looking houses around it. The roof is literally covered with solar panels (which is pretty expensive to do). They have a couple kids. The Gazette article about their house says they’re in their mid-30s, and they moved to Amherst in 2008. Sara grew up in Amherst! Sara has a solar start-up called Sungage, and spoke at Ignite Amherst 2012. Gareth works at Mass Mutual in Springfield.
• Judy & Kerry Strayer: Judy works at Amherst College in facilities, where she is the Furnishings & Equipment Coordinator. There’s not much more on the internet about her. They were both quoted in a Gazette article about Hawthorne Farm by the Preschool, saying that there hasn’t been enough public input. Kerry was cited in another article from 2009 as pressuring the Select Board to enforce the (now ruled unconstitutional) zoning bylaw limiting unrelated persons living together. Coincidentally, Mr. La Raja was also mentioned in that article as renting to a higher-than-allowed number of students while he was on sabbatical. Kerry also went to a 2010 Public Works Committee meeting to ask for a sidewalk at Chestnut & East Pleasant, where he asserted Wildwood students cross the street. Personally, if I were going to Wildwood from, say, University Lodge, I would cross at Strong Street. Kerry runs in marathons and road races, acted in Hampshire Shakespeare’s 2007 production of King Lear, and the 2005 production of Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Aaron Kropf was my 12th grade Physics teacher. I liked him a lot, and he told stories of his previous career in the music production industry.
• Simon Leutz is my next-door neighbor, and was my 9th grade World Civ teacher. He’s awesome, and has two young sons.
• Max Page is a Professor of Architecture & History at UMass. He teaches and writes about the design, development and politics of cities and architecture. He used to be President of the Massachusetts Society of Professors. He’s also a photographer, and grew up in Amherst. He’s been involved in homelessness issues, and other social justice issues. He’s really into public higher education. Adrienne Terrizzi conducted this mildly awkward (entirely because of her) interview with him on Amherst Media. Tells you everything you might want to know.
• Nancy Higginswas worried in 2010 about apartments proposed next to her property on Main Street at High Street. She attended an ARA meeting in early 2011 about Gateway, but did not speak. She is a member of the town’s Public Shade Tree Commission. Until recently, she was a circulation assistant at Frost Library at Amherst College. She is also a reverend at the Spiritual Healing Temple in South Deerfield.
• Charles Hopkins was chair of the Amherst Cultural Council in 2002. He is the director of Academic Support at PVPA. He is also one of the founders of Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School in Holyoke, which just approved by the MA Board of Education. The school’s link has all the professional information about him you could want.
• Ric McGinn works as a handyman and contractor. He now lives on Cottage St, but previously has run for town meeting from Canton Ave and also lived on McClellan St. Here he is loading Haiti relief items in his truck. He apparently has a daughter named Wyoming. I get a positive impression.
• Jerry Guidera is associated with Hills House LLC, an organization working to renovate a number of historic houses at the bottom of Gray Street. He’s also an Amherst native, according to this Boston Globe article (though he was born in Seville, Spain). He is also in charge of the Amherst office of family business the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies. He was a newspaper reporter for eight years. He, too, was interviewed on Amherst Media’s Neighbor to Neighbor, by Chamber of Commerce Director Tony Maroulis. Seems quite respectable. In the interview, he mentions he ran last year at the urging of Stephanie O’Keeffe after interacting with the planning staff & board in the rezoning process for Hills House.
• Rob Crowner has been involved in town government for years, most recently on the Planning Board. Previously he had also been on the Public Works Committee. Sounds like he’s leaving the Planning Board, and running for Town Meeting?
• Mathew Lebowitz is the founder & owner of MLCreative, a new media & design company. He’s from Connecticut. He likes Amherst Future on Facebook, and looks like he has a daughter in the Amherst Ultimate program.
• Michael Chesworth lives on Morrow Lane behind my house. I used to deliver the paper to his family when they lived in the Chestnut St house across from the Middle School. He’s an illustrator, mostly of children’s books.
• Sarah LaCour is a planner who works for Cinda Jones. She was a big advocate of the form-based zoning proposal in North Amherst. She’s married to Niels LaCour, former town planner, current UMass campus planner, incumbent Town Meeting member. I was a counselor at the Hitchcock center for their two kids back in 2007. They were sweet kids.
• Shavahn Best wrote a letter to the editor of the Gazette in 2007, upset with their coverage about two black men in the Amherst schools, Mark Prince & Talib Sadiq. She now seems to be involved with Occupy Amherst.
• Beverly Swihart seems to be a lawyer. Not much other information is available.

Those are all of the new candidates for Town Meeting from Precinct 9. Hope this was helpful! And again, those descriptions are just what I could glean from Google searches, so I am doubtless making mistakes and leaving things out. If you want to help out readers of this post with more information, please post a comment!

My thesis is progressing quite well. My topic is mixed-use developments in college towns, and how the public process that goes into their planning can be managed well. The topic was inspired by the Gateway District in Amherst, where initial mismanagement of the public process may have contributed to the pushback from neighbors. In addition to Amherst, I am also using Storrs, CT as a case study. I am nearly finished with the first draft of the thesis, and I hope to defend during the last week of March. My courses go until the end of April, and then I will be done with graduate school!

In addition to my courses and thesis, I am working this semester at the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC). My internship there is focusing on three projects. First, I am collecting data on the utilization of minority contractors in Boston real estate developments, to help benchmark how CDCs are doing in this regard. As minority employment relates to the mission of these organizations, they want to do as well as the can, and this study is helping them create meaningful goals. The second project I’m working on is researching business improvement districts (BIDs) to see if there is any way that successful model can be connected to the community development organizations that we work with. Finally, I am improving MACDC’s social media presence by managing the Twitter and Facebook accounts.

You wouldn’t believe it, but there are even more things going on besides these big ones. I am working out a one-day-a-week internship at the Downtown Boston BID, the only one in the state’s capitol. I’m also dancing a fair amount, and continuing to participate in the organizing of NEFFA, BIDA, and Swing into Summer. Nicole & I celebrated the second anniversary of our meeting a few weeks ago at the Dance Flurry festival in Saratoga Springs, NY. I also have been paying close attention to the MBTA budget cut proposals, as well as national political issues such as the Republican primary and the various regressive pieces of legislation flying through the political air.

I’ll stop there, because too much more detail would I’m sure be taxing to your patience. But thanks for reading, and I hope you have a fantastic March!

Republican strategist Frank Luntz

I just read this article detailing the advise given to the Republican Governors Association by GOP strategist Frank Luntz. See the article for his full advise, but here are his basic points:

1. Don’t say ‘capitalism.’
2. Don’t say that the government ‘taxes the rich.’ Instead, tell them that the government ‘takes from the rich.’
3. Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the ‘middle class.’ Call them ‘hardworking taxpayers.’
4. Don’t talk about ‘jobs.’ Talk about ‘careers.’
5. Don’t say ‘government spending.’ Call it ‘waste.’
6. Don’t ever say you’re willing to ‘compromise.’
7. The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: ‘I get it.’
8. Out: ‘Entrepreneur.’ In: ‘Job creator.’
9. Don’t ever ask anyone to ‘sacrifice.’
10. Always blame Washington.
11. Don’t say ‘bonus.’ Say ‘pay for performance.’

I’m surprised (because Frank Luntz is deviously clever) how easy these talking points are to respond to. Here are my responses:

1. Republicans’ “economic freedom” means the freedom of wealthy corporations to behave as immorally as they wish. What they’re really talking about is a continuation of the sort of unfettered capitalism that’s gotten us into the mess we’re in. That doesn’t make sense.
2. It’s the responsibility of all Americans to contribute what they are able for the good of the nation. It is unjust for anyone to have to choose between paying for medical bills and paying for food. It is also unjust for some people to spend ungodly amounts of money on luxuries when that money could go to pay our teachers better. That just wouldn’t make sense.
3. There are lots of people who work hard in this country. But unfortunately, how hard you work has become divorced from how much money you make. The lower on the economic totem pole you go, the harder people are working for every dollar. Let’s not pretend that the wealthiest Americans have it as hard as the working poor or the shrinking middle class. This is unfair.
   

   To speak up against a broken status quo is the epitome of patriotism.

4. Everyone wants job security. Everyone wants ownership of what they do day in and day out. The spending cuts pushed by Republicans would force hardworking Americans to scramble for degrading minimum wage jobs while wealthy CEOs who capsize the US economy get paid millions on the way out the door. That is unfair.
5. It is a waste for financial firms exploding with revenue to be bailed out with the taxes of hardworking Americans. It is a waste for defense spending to dwarf education spending. It is not a waste to spend taxpayer money on ensuring an equal opportunity for all. It is not a waste for all of us to pay our fair share to secure America’s future. We need that honest investment in the future.
6. Compromise and cooperation are important, because there will always be disagreements, and to govern, choices have to be made. But the principles of equality and fairness cannot be bargained away. It’s okay to admit a mistake if your entrenched position is unjust. Everyone makes mistakes, but real responsibility comes from being able to admit them. We need responsible leadership to fix our broken system.
7. It’s wonderful that Republicans are starting to realize that their way of doing things is making people angry. But offering the same old solutions is not the way to make things better. As long as industry-backed politicians are still pushing for less regulation, lower taxes, and less investment in the future, you have to wonder whether they really “get it”. We need our leaders to actually do something good.
8. Good jobs are created by innovation and a level playing field. When the unregulated financial speculation brings the economy down around our ears, good jobs are lost. Further, it’s hard for young entrepreneurs to create the next big employer when they’re burdened with impossible mountains of education debt. We need a stable economy, and we need to invest in creativity.
9. Most Americans have sacrificed a great deal because of the irresponsibility of corporate practices. Unfortunately, those responsible have not sacrificed at all. Until wealthy Americans are paying their fair share, it makes no sense for hardworking citizens to sacrifice even more by giving up services we need. It makes no sense to continue with the same broken system we have now.
10. Wealthy politicians are as much to blame for the mess we’re in as wealthy executives. But getting money out of politics is the only way to solve the structural problem that allowed them to destroy our economy. As long as fundraising is a primary ingredient of campaigning, neither Washington nor Wall Street will be responsible. Until that changes, I will protest.
11. The performance of countless hardworking Americans goes unrewarded all the time. As long as big-money corporations are able to pay big-money employees big-money bonuses while many Americans are going hungry, there’s a big problem in this country. Until that changes, I will protest.

Make Friends – Moon Mullican (lyrics)

Make friends with the rich, make friends with the poor
Make friends with the high, make friends with the low
Even the little child, you oughta greet him with a smile
While traveling through this world, try to make friends

Make friends, make friends, make friends, try to make friends
While traveling through this world, try to make friends
Wear a smile, not a frown, don’t you put your neighbor down
While traveling through this world, try to make friends

Sometimes you may be weak, sometimes you may be strong
Sometimes talked about, and sometimes treated wrong
But you just can’t miss, if you just remember this
While traveling through this world, try to make friends

Make friends, make friends, make friends, try to make friends
While traveling through this world, try to make friends
Wear a smile, not a frown, don’t you put your neighbor down
While traveling through this world, try to make friends

• “We…are…the nine-ty-nine per-cent!”
• “The whole world is watch-ing!”

Double-clicking

• Opening a program on your desktop
• Opening a file in most places
• Selecting the entire word when you’re editing text

Single-clicking

• Selecting/highlighting an icon
• Pressing a button
• Clicking a link
• Most other things you want to do

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that this problem isn’t just one exhibited by older computer users, but also apparent in low-confidence computer users my age and younger (yes, they do exist, in force). Also interesting, is this assertion on Wikipedia that “Macintosh Operating Systems only require one mouse click for most executions.” It seems like Apple tends to be at the forefront of desktop culture, so it’s not surprising that we use single clicks for more and more. Of course, what with the rise of tablets and touchscreens, soon we may not be using mice at all!

1. Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien – I’m reading this to Nicole right now, and it’s really fun, especially because she’s never read it before.
2. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card – I once aspired to re-read this every year, but that didn’t happen. I’m long overdue.
3. Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis – I never read this, and while I’m cautious of the Christian overtones, it’s one that I feel I missed out on.
4. The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper
5. Redwall, by Brian Jacques
6. The Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander
7. The Enchanted Forest series, by Patricia Wrede – Feminist and irreverent, while I didn’t see these as most favorite, I think they’re important.
8. The Pit Dragon Trilogy, by Jane Yolen
9. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman – I actually read this in college, but I like the idea of exposing children to Neil Gaiman’s writing early.
10. Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling – So that the kids will have read the books before seeing the movies.
11. Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman

Big March

I went with my roommate Emma today to participate in the anti-war march to Occupy Boston. There were hundreds of people in the march. We stood by the headhouse and watched everyone go by, then walked straight to Dewey Square, while the march went off down Tremont. I have no idea where the march got to, because while I expected them to be there in fifteen minutes or so, they didn’t arrive for about an hour. In that time, we wandered around the site, which had changed a little since I was there a week ago, mostly expanded by more tents on the edges.

'Thumper

While we were waiting for the march to get there (they took forever!) we were captivated by an interaction happening on the plaza between protesters and a rotating slate of 4-5 bible-thumpers who had a milk crate and a megaphone and weren’t afraid to use them. The protesters were initially standing in a line in front of the active ‘thumper, with signs that said “this man does not speak for us” and chanting “equality”for everyone!” Then drums were added to the mix, and more chanting, which became an encirclement. My stomach was slightly turned by the tactic of drowning out those whose views you don’t like, but I imagine it would’ve been turned further hearing the ‘thumper’s words. Emma told me that this is a common tactic when Fred Phelps comes to town to tell gay people they can’t go to heaven. I continued to feel weird about it all until someone started playing a trumpet. We started dancing. I think it’s better to combat hate by displacing it with a dance party than by simply saying “no!”

Arrival of March

Crowd on the Plaza

Then, finally, we saw the march approaching from the same side street that we had. They must’ve doubled back and come at Dewey Square from Downtown Crossing. We positioned ourselves on the north edge of the plaza, right next to the tunnel exit. There were lots of police directing traffic, and suddenly the other side of the street was filled with protesters waiting to cross. Then they crossed, led by some anarchist folks who seemed to cross before the police were completely ready. But it’s hard (without riot gear and great numbers) to stop the crest of a hundreds-strong march when they want to cross a street. Then the entire march was crossing the street, and it was fun to watch the reactions of the people stopped in cars coming up from the tunnel. The energy was great. Then the plaza was filled, and we were standing near the police at the periphery. It was somewhat awkward standing near them while people were speaking to the crowd with lots of anti-cop language. But there weren’t any real problems. We then walked around for a bit, then got in the subway and went home.

• I used my roommate’s bike, which has panniers, and it feels great carrying things in panniers.
• First I went to Shaw’s and got cereal, eggs, olive oil, and red peppers. All organic.
• Then I went to the Davis Square farmers’ market, and got apples, garlic, kale, and one giant sweet potato. By this point the panniers were very full.
• Then, as there was one more thing on my list, I went across the Square to Dave’s Fresh Pasta, and got two jars of honey, one with a honeycomb inside.
• I biked home, and had plenty of time to put everything away and grab a bite before heading off to my next commitment.

It feels great buying healthy food, buying food from farmers, and using a bike to transport it. Here’s to many similar expeditions.