Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Community Matters) Interesting supposition:

Politico Playbook: NYMag’s Jonathan Chait, “Will Olympia Snowe join Americans Elect?”: “Snowe’s statement seems unusually specific (‘unique opportunities to build support for that change from outside the United States Senate’) about her intent to do something. I suspect it may not be coincidental that David Boren, the former Democratic senator from Oklahoma and oil industry lickspittle, came out for Americans Elect today. The group is set up so that its presidential and vice-presidential candidates need to come from opposing parties.” http:// bit.ly/wLuuUY

(Community Matters) Per Salon, via Playbook, “Gen. McCaffrey [retired] privately briefs NBC execs on war with Iran . . . he all but predicts war with Iran within the next 90 days: one that is likely to be started by them.”   PowerPoint

Salon

(Community Matters)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

(Community Matters) 10 hottest chorus boys in NY musicals per TimeOut New York

Hat Tip: JoeMyGod

(Community Matters) went viral

some background

(Community Matters) notes while reading:

Symbolic Analysts (Robert Reich), Cognitive Elite (Murray & Herrnstein), Bourgeois Bohemians (David Brooks), the Creative Class (Richard Florida) – the managerial & professional occupations of the upper middle class. Those who run the nation’s economic, political and cultural institutions the new upper class.

Murray defines the new upper class as top 5% of adults ages 25 & older in managerial positions in medicine, law, engineering, architecture, sciences, universities & content-production jobs.

Status-income disequilibrium.

Cognitive ability and cognitive segregation – this resonates. Plus, cultural capital is an advantage to entry into the elite universities (read: Daniel Golden’s *The Price of Admission*), or is it homogamy?

Socialeconomic segregation. I’ve been talking about this for years – the real culprit & increasing risk in Austin. Austin is even cited as one of three cities.

How thick is your bubble? Too many Americans today know nothing about the lives of other Americans.

Murray’s The Founding Virtues – industriouness, honesty, marriage & religiosity. Ok, my turn to drive now

(Community Matters) David Brooks – The Possum Republicans. I might be abstaining from partisan politics – endorsing, giving and raising – yet I’m damn sure participating in civil discourse about politics.

Not sure what’s the fix to the phenomenon David Brooks references. It was operatives who incubated brown shirt tactics flaming cries for religious and national purity, for rolling back women’s gains, even the availability of contraception. This doesn’t only threaten a party, it threatens the entire country. Encouraging honorable people to stand up against these cries isn’t only one party’s challenge, we’re all threatened. It could take an independent candidate in 2016.

(Community Matters) You know it’s been a good night when the table is spilling over with plates, glasses, bottles of wine, tequila, brandy and grapa.

Lovely evening at our dear friend Julie’s & Fran’s with our dear friend Tim Johnson and three new friends Garrick Stephens, Jamie & Constance Garza.

(Community Matters) I’ll be bummed if the International Hostel I helped launch in 1988 isn’t allowed to remain at the old, Tow Lake. We spent lots of money & sweat equity repairing the place and pay rent. It’s an important hospitality asset for our community. AAS story

(Community Matters) Steven and I are in Marfa for a couple of nights. Day of staff meetings at Marfa Public Radio tomorrow. We’re debriefing our Birkman tests and planning our 360 evaluations.

(Community Matters)

Hat Tip: Austin Gunter

Tolstoy wrote: “If you can’t explain it to an ordinary peasant, that’s your problem, not his.”

(Community Matters) how to find 30 families willing to give $10k per year for 3 years? Someone asked me earlier today, would we take $500k from one family and the remainder in different denominations. I answered no. In order for us to prioritize spending time on this station and in this market, I want to see broader community support at at least these levels from a bi-partisan group of investors – public radio for Midland-Odessa.

Steven and I hosted a dinner tonight at the Midland Petroleum Club –  Marfa Public Radio & West Texas Public Radio board members, a couple of the staff members & spouses and prospective donors. Walking back to the hotel, we reflected on how different the conversation is from the political conversations of the last several years. We’re completely focused on bridging political divides and softening political undertones.

And, oh my gosh, times are so different here: lowest unemployment, signing bonuses, and no vacancies in housing. I’m starting to focus not only on importing national, state and regional programming but believing that we’ve got to produce and export content for other regions.

The station in Midland-Odessa will be known as the New 91.3 FM, KXWT (across west texas)

update: lots of conversation about fracking, wealth, jobs, housing, philanthropy including investment in the arts, other culture, public television & yes, of course public radio. I’m told the most menial starting jobs at any oil & gas related company start at $20/hour. People are moving to the Permian Basin from all over the world. Housing is a problem. Steven and I are enjoying meeting new people and learning so much more about West Texas