NYC Homeless....

"Us and them, and after all we're only ordinary men" - Pink Floyd

Be grateful for the things you have because you never know what tomorrow brings, and for some people tomorrow brings the same "nothing" and despair that came the day before. What would you do if you lost everything and you were on the street? These are the things I'm thinking about tonight as I wait for Noella to fall asleep here (yes, I finished my grant...hooray!). Noella asked a question about something recently that caused me to try and explain why someone poor didn't have food to eat or a place to live. This is another thing to keep on the "parent radar": explaining the hard-knocks life to a child who has all her basic needs met and being grateful for what she has.

The David Gilmour Blogsite had a post today about this issue and it got me thinking. I'll share here what I posted there, but all this raises the question, What exactly are we doing about the 40,000 people who are homeless in NYC? There is so so so much housing going up in the city today, but who can afford them? What are we doing about preventing homelessness or helping those who have lost everything to rebuild their lives because the root issues are much deeper than just giving someone a roof over their head?

Hmm....

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My post from the David Gilmour Blogsite:

"The issue of homelessness is one that is never gets the kind of attention it deserves. I applaud you guys (David Gilmour, Features Editor, et al) for using this corner of the internet to raise awareness.

I used to work at a transitional living community in the village here in NYC. The place was all about helping people get off the street and on their feet in every sense by providing mental health services, substance abuse services, life skill building, public benefits assistance, work readiness skills, and placement at single room occupancy units around NYC. What rings true is this: you can not cure homelessness without rebuilding lives. I’m glad to see Crisis raising awareness and influencing policy on this issue back in the UK.

Homeless youth are persistent problem in the village, and there’s a community coalition trying to tackle the issue. For those of us here from NYC, I read that almost 50% of homeless are children. Local governments are taking the brunt of the storm with mixed results with little support from state governments or Washington, D.C. Get involved or at least stay informed.

Check out what NYC Department of Homeless Services are up to. New York Cares and the New York City Rescue Mission are two places you can check out to see how you can help locally.

The food pantries and the soup kitchen in the neighborhood where I work today are forever running low on supplies as are many others in the NYC area. Try to find one close to home, give what you can, and put on a little “Dark Side of the Moon” in your mp3 player as you walk away feeling good about getting involved….."

Joy in Mudville!!!

Well, thanks to David Gilmour fans at his blogsite, I soon will have in my possession two tickets to see Gilmour at Radio City Music Hall...and I'm buying them at regular price, not the inflated prices those profiteers are scamming for!

These fans are from Tennessee, too. Boy, this internet is an amazing place....

As far as this grant writing is concerned, I've fallen behind on my schedule, but should get it in on time minus a few shorter nails....

I want to get back and finish my "Big Picture" posts...these issues are bugging me and I gotta get'em off my chest.

Noella is bored. With both her parents swamped with work at home, she's left to entertain herself. At this point, she's running out of things to do. Time to go to Blockbuster Video......

Scalpers, Profiteering, and Frustration....

Man, I missed a chance to get tickets to see a great musician yesterday!!!! David Gilmour, the Pink Floyd guitarist who is going on tour this year, will be in NYC in a few months, and can you believe those tickets sold out in minutes.....and do you know why??

People snatched them up to sell them at inflated values on E-Bay or even scalp them, I imagine, at the venue the day of...... Why isn't selling these tickets on e-bay illegal? Geez, man...I mean come on!!!! Do these people realize what this does to the common fan?

My agency better get this grant I'm working on; I might have missed my chance to get ahead of those profiteers because I've been focused on this damn application!!!! If I would have missed out because they sold out in a few hours then maybe I'd feel different, but this just isn't fair.

Anyway, I better get back to this grant....

What's Important....

This picture was when Noella turned four years old this past October. I have this picture of her and Christine on my home computer, work computer, and laptop desktops to remind me that very little else matters except their happiness. There is very little else that gives me more satisfaction than when I see these two happy, excited, content, etc.

I'm now in "grant mode", as I like to call it. There is a potentially huge grant from the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development due next Thursday, and it could make a huge difference for the kids in the community where I work. When I get into "grant mode", I shut the door and go on a writing marathon that keeps me up all night and causes more of my hair to fall out. This picture is going to help keep me grounded; no matter how busy or stressed I get, they are there waiting for me...

Well, enough of this blogging stuff for now.... I've begun pulling stuff together for my next TBP Part 3, but I have a grant to write!!!

Hubris Nation

hu·bris= (n.) [hyoo-bris] Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance...
- American Heritage Dictionary; Third Edition

The word "hubris" is Greek in origin, and in Ancient Greece the word referred to "a reckless and violent disregard for the personal space of another person resulting in some kind of social degradation for the victim...most often referred to violent outrage wreaked by the powerful upon the weak" (Wikipedia). Looking at our nation today it is hard not to see how national politics have become modern theatrical versions of Greek tragedies and mythology. The political climate today is a toxic atmosphere where assaults on character and political assassinationss have become common place. Washington, D.C. has become the ultimate dichotomy representing all that could be great amout this nation while showcasing all that is wrong.

The hubris comes from the leaders and defenders of both sides of the political spectrum, and it is eroding our political system almost as much as the dollars and perks used to curry favor in the beltway...

(Note to self: Remember to teach Noella good listening and people skills, good analytical skills, and the value and virtue of humility...)

TBP Part 2: The Energy Industry

"To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything."
- Anatole France

All over the major news networks tonight are the reports of the mining tragedy in West Virginia. I mention it here because, as a parent, I feel so much more sensitive to harrowing human stories than I used to. Maybe I've become too sensitive, or perhaps now I've become "re-sensitized" to how precious life is after 30 years of media desensitization? Whatever the case maybe, the story behind the story of this current tragedy is the Coal Industry and ever-present and ever-growing energy problems.

There has never been a hurricane season like one we saw in 2005 since we started documenting weather statistics in the mid 19th century. The entire Gulf Coast region was hit and our energy production and import facilities were crippled. We all know the rest of the story: oil price spikes, $3 gas, home heating through the roof. One concern of mine is how fickle oil prices continue to be given our current geo-political environment and uncertain weather patterns. The United States is the world's largest consumer of oil, and with the explosion of economic growth in China and India increasing demand of oil our dependence on fossil fuels puts us in a precarious position. All this and there is little understanding among the general public just how uncertain some scientists are as to exactly how much oil is under Saudi Arabia and just how sensitive production wells can be. If you push production too far, you could actually trap the remaining oil that's underneath. The oil picture, however, is only one piece of our energy collage.

Looking at the bigger picture one can start to appreciate the place of coal in our society. You can truly appreciate the sacrifice of those West Virginian coal miners who lost their lives once you see that about 49% of our nation's electrical power came from coal in 2005!!! Mid-western and the southern states are some of the largest consumers of coal for electricity production (including Texas and other "red states"). Considering that the coal industry is practically the spine of our electricity infrastructure there is no excuse why safety standards in coal mines have become more lax. It's ironic (or suspicious) that US electricity production from oil increased 49% in 2005 when compared to 2004 when we have the largest known reserves of coal on the planet that are the equivalent of four times the oil reserves under Saudi Arabia!!! Coal is incredibly cheap when compared to oil, but the production and utilization of it remains dangerous and dirty. The US has to make the industry safer and cleaner to the point where we can truly become the "Saudi Arabia of Oil" and begin to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy. These energy facts are still only part of the bigger picture.

In case people haven't been keeping track of the "buried" news out of Iraq or how our involvement there relates to our need to be close to oil resources, do people realize that our "good friend" who sold us the war, Ahmed Chalabi, is now the Iraq Oil Minister? What about our electrical infrastructure? Has everyone forgotten how vulnerable and antiquated our electrical grid is? Have we forgotten about the 2003 Black Out? What about the Auto Industry? Do people realize how slow US car makers are to capitalize on the popularity of Hybrid models and how their dependence on SUV sales is one reason why Toyota may outpace US auto makers like Ford and GM?

The competition between the US and Russia to gain a strategic advantage gave birth to the "Mercury", "Gemini", and "Apollo" programs and a wave in technological innovation. What we need today is a new space race, or a new "Apollo Program", or you could even call it a new "Independence" movement that will create huge Federal and private investments in education, innovation, science, and technology that increases our independence from foreign energy sources. We can copyright our new technology and infrastructure and sell/export our new energy expertise globally. We can revitalize "American Pride" as we did in 1969 when we landed on the moon, and we can outpace Asia and the European Union as our economy is invigorated by a new booming Energy Industry all the while reducing our colonial ties to the middle east that have given so much impetus to the fundamentalist Muslims that seek to destroy us.

In the meantime we will all be wise to watch the Energy Industry in the near future, maybe even invest a little on wall street as energy company stocks rise. I'll be keeping track of how alternative energy companies are doing despite how slow they've been able to progress due to limited Federal and private investment. Heck, I might even guide Noella to pursue a science, engineering, and/or technology track to fight those "bad guys"as those skills may come in handy if I'm right about renewable sources of energy?....