Comments on Cincinnati Re-adventure: Linchpin giveaway

Alexis, thank you so much for your comment. I bel...

2010-03-08T09:11:40.929-05:00

Alexis, thank you so much for your comment. I believe Dan will be responding to it in-depth some time in the future. Thank you again for bringing your voice to our blog.

I arrived here via VisuaLingual and have read your...

2010-03-07T00:40:12.726-05:00

I arrived here via VisuaLingual and have read your Linchpin posts with interest. Just a thought about your comment that "Over-the-Rhine is full of people who go above and beyond the call of duty to create art, community and progress." This seems to put entrepreneurism or for-profit development or rebranding a community in a moral light that it doesn't deserve. I very much believe that the OTR newcomers work hard to bring services, shops and cache to the community *but* it's entirely in their self-interest to do so. There's no 'call of duty' in regards to gentrification or urban pioneering or development (whatever you choose to call what's happening in that part of Cincinnati) and every bit of time that a shop owner spends in pushing "the hood" or a developer spends in recommending the newest art gallery or a new condo owner spends in marketing their area is a self-serving venture (however heartfelt and not necessarily cynical). I think development and rebranding can be productive for certain people but I think it should not be regarded as a moral enterprise unless seeks to, and succeeds in, benefiting all members of society which so far, the OTR gentrification seems not to do.

I always loved Ralph Emerson's The Invisible M...

2010-03-05T12:58:09.175-05:00

I always loved Ralph Emerson's The Invisible Man - nobody else in my class "got" it - but I loved it.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is the most import...

2010-03-04T15:40:29.633-05:00

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is the most important book I have ever read.

Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon and/or Anathem...

2010-03-03T09:48:58.509-05:00

Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon and/or Anathem.
Made me look around and see things in a different way.

This will sound silly, but the Harry Potter books ...

2010-03-02T15:04:00.665-05:00

This will sound silly, but the Harry Potter books have meant a lot to me. After the sixth one was released, a few friends and I got together to eat and drink and talk about the book. We had so much fun that we did it again a few weeks later - and invited more people. We still get together for "Harry Potter parties," and I've met so many wonderful friends I wouldn't know if it weren't for our little fandom.

Parker Palmer's Courage to Teach. He really h...

2010-03-02T11:54:24.202-05:00

Parker Palmer's Courage to Teach. He really honors the internal and external experience of educators.

Griffin & Sabine - Nick Bantock Story telling ...

2010-03-02T11:43:53.530-05:00

Griffin & Sabine - Nick Bantock
Story telling by other means - it made me fall in love with letter writing and take chances I never would have otherwise through letters.

The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley. I read this...

2010-03-02T11:27:01.576-05:00

The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley. I read this for a graduate course I took this past winter, and it has truly influenced the way I treat others. Brinkley details the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina and the 7 days that followed. It was an eye-opening book and one that tells the tales of so many of the survivors and so many of the victims.

Zeitoun by David Eggers. Not only is it brilliant ...

2010-03-02T10:48:13.660-05:00

Zeitoun by David Eggers. Not only is it brilliant reading, but its also the first accurate book about that days after Katrina and the levee failure drowned my home town. The fact that I know a lot of the people in it is purely incidental.

Powerful and vital, even if I was not from NOLA I would advise it.

East of Eden by Steinbeck absolutely kicked my ass...

2010-03-02T10:44:26.024-05:00

East of Eden by Steinbeck absolutely kicked my ass. I realized that I could be transported by words. Amazing.

Lamb by Christopher Moore. While I am not a fan of...

2010-03-02T10:41:18.649-05:00

Lamb by Christopher Moore. While I am not a fan of organized religion, if there was a religion like the one described in that book, I would get behind that banner in a second.

Since you said we could name little kid books -- t...

2010-03-02T10:36:48.872-05:00

Since you said we could name little kid books -- there was a kid's book called, "Colors" that I adored as a child. I memorized it and could recite it word for word. Obviously it set the tone for my love affair with art, so it's important to me.