Tuesday, March 24, 2009
creating model blocks in cleveland neighborhoods
Neighborhood Progress Inc., a nonprofit that serves as an intermediary to community development corporations in Cleveland, is working on a "Model Blocks Resource Guide." The purpose of the guide is to help Cleveland residents to create a model block. What I find exciting about this project is that the "model block approach" combines grassroots action with coordinated and targeted resources. Done well, it seems to take community organizing to a higher level, layering various approaches to community redevelopment on top of one another, and applying these tactics simultaneously to maximize the impact. One example would be forming a block club, then applying for grants to fix up houses on your street while also using volunteer labor. NPI hired me to assist with the writing and organization of the brochure. Read more about NPI and model blocks by clicking here.
ciff
If you plan to check out some films at the Cleveland International Film Festival, I highly recommend "Pachamama", "El Camino" and "German Plus Rain". I had an opportunity to view these films before the festival, as I was hired as one of the synopsis writers for the program guide, and enjoyed both of these films. I know, I know - so many movies, so little time!
the namesake
I had a chance to read The Namesake, a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, while I was vacationing for a few days in California. What a great book! The novel explores issues of ethnic identity in our so-called post-racial world. It also has some very tender and funny scenes, and the lead character, Gogol, unexpectedly turns out to be a bit of a lady's man. The novel centers around an Indian family that emigrates to the U.S. Told largely through the eyes of the second-generation Gogol, it asks the question, "can you ever go home again"?, yet does so in such a charming way, with seemingly fresh insight into the immigrant experience in today's world, that it works.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
schools study ways to promote digital alumni connections
By Lee Chilcote
Published in Crain's Cleveland Business, 1/26/09
clbfreelancer@crain.com
Imagine a group of Oberlin College alumni, gathered in front of a high-definition television in New York City or San Francisco to watch a concert being performed live on campus.
That’s the vision of Ben Jones, Oberlin’s vice president for communications. “We need to create a communications system that engages alumni in lifelong participation,” says Mr. Jones, who sees technology as a tool to link alumni with campus activities.
Alumni communications in Northeast Ohio are rapidly changing as colleges and universities use the next generation of technology — including blogs and social media tools — to reach out to alumni. But many alumni groups are struggling to effectively use technology and stay on top of technological trends.
“Technology has shrunk the world, and it makes it easier to communicate,” says Dan Clancy, executive director of alumni relations for Case Western Reserve University. “But we don’t want to send out e-mails that people don’t read, so we try to be strategic.”
Citing a digital divide, most schools still send alumni magazines by mail. Many of these institutions also offer additional content online and send e-mail newsletters to appeal to Internet-savvy alums.
“We have many alumni who grew up with technology, and others who didn’t,” Mr. Jones said. “In five to 10 years, this gap may not be there. In the meantime, we don’t want to leave anyone behind, but we also don’t want to limit ourselves.”
The divide, Mr. Jones adds, is not necessarily between older and younger alumni. “We have older alumni who are computer scientists that helped to create the Internet, and younger alumni who don’t use the Internet every day,” he says. “There is a spectrum in each generation.”
The primary difference, says Carolyn Champion-Sloan, executive director of alumni affairs for Cleveland State University, is in how alumni use the Internet: “Those over 35 use e-mail to communicate, but aren’t necessarily on it all of the time.”
Lines of communication
Technology has afforded alumni groups the chance to communicate quickly and to target communications to specific alumni groups, CWRU’s Mr. Clancy said. He cited a recent visit to Tokyo by CWRU president Barbara Snyder. After the alumni association sent out an e-mail invitation to the Tokyo alumni chapter, 50 alumni attended the reception.
“The next morning, when I arrived into the office, pictures from the event were waiting in my e-mail in-box,” Mr. Clancy said.
In order to cultivate personal relationships with alumni, schools also are trying to personalize their communications by creating alumni-only sites that allow graduates to specify their interests and network with other alumni where they live.
“Our graduates could be anywhere, chatting with one another in real time,” says Mr. Clancy of the AlumNet system recently launched by CWRU.
Oberlin also is working on an opt-in communications system that will, among other things, allow graduates to receive their alumni magazine by e-mail only. “We need to move beyond a one-size-fits-all strategy,” Mr. Jones said.
Another trend is the explosion in popularity of social media sites such as Facebook. This popularity has led alumni groups to use these sites for networking.
“We know that our graduates are already using these sites, and this is one way we can reach them,” says Lori Randorf, director of alumni relations for Kent State University. Ms. Randorf has created Kent State alumni groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Other schools, such as Oberlin, are using interactive blogs to communicate with the extended campus community. Mr. Jones recently launched a blog (www.weareoberlin.org) and hired student bloggers to write entries.
Many schools also view technology as a tool for raising money. “Through the Internet, schools can cultivate relationships without relying on face-to-face contact and phone calls,” said Ann Womer Benjamin, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education. “It’s also easier to maintain contact lists.”
Not everyone agrees, however. “Fundraising electronically just isn’t warm and fuzzy,” says Vondea Sheaffer, coordinator for development and alumni relations at the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, who says that personal outreach is essential. “You still need to create a connection.”
Not without its downfalls
While technology offers many advantages, it can be time-consuming and expensive.
“People think technology is cheap, but it isn’t always,” said Mr. Jones. The toughest part of his job, he adds, is choosing what to prioritize. “It changes quickly. There’s always a danger that by the time we implement ideas, they’ll be outdated.”
While technology is certain to advance in the coming years, it also is likely that some things will remain the same.
“Just because Amazon introduced the Kindle doesn’t mean that books are obsolete,” Mr. Jones says. “The alumni magazine will always have a print version, because some people want that.”
Published in Crain's Cleveland Business, 1/26/09
clbfreelancer@crain.com
Imagine a group of Oberlin College alumni, gathered in front of a high-definition television in New York City or San Francisco to watch a concert being performed live on campus.
That’s the vision of Ben Jones, Oberlin’s vice president for communications. “We need to create a communications system that engages alumni in lifelong participation,” says Mr. Jones, who sees technology as a tool to link alumni with campus activities.
Alumni communications in Northeast Ohio are rapidly changing as colleges and universities use the next generation of technology — including blogs and social media tools — to reach out to alumni. But many alumni groups are struggling to effectively use technology and stay on top of technological trends.
“Technology has shrunk the world, and it makes it easier to communicate,” says Dan Clancy, executive director of alumni relations for Case Western Reserve University. “But we don’t want to send out e-mails that people don’t read, so we try to be strategic.”
Citing a digital divide, most schools still send alumni magazines by mail. Many of these institutions also offer additional content online and send e-mail newsletters to appeal to Internet-savvy alums.
“We have many alumni who grew up with technology, and others who didn’t,” Mr. Jones said. “In five to 10 years, this gap may not be there. In the meantime, we don’t want to leave anyone behind, but we also don’t want to limit ourselves.”
The divide, Mr. Jones adds, is not necessarily between older and younger alumni. “We have older alumni who are computer scientists that helped to create the Internet, and younger alumni who don’t use the Internet every day,” he says. “There is a spectrum in each generation.”
The primary difference, says Carolyn Champion-Sloan, executive director of alumni affairs for Cleveland State University, is in how alumni use the Internet: “Those over 35 use e-mail to communicate, but aren’t necessarily on it all of the time.”
Lines of communication
Technology has afforded alumni groups the chance to communicate quickly and to target communications to specific alumni groups, CWRU’s Mr. Clancy said. He cited a recent visit to Tokyo by CWRU president Barbara Snyder. After the alumni association sent out an e-mail invitation to the Tokyo alumni chapter, 50 alumni attended the reception.
“The next morning, when I arrived into the office, pictures from the event were waiting in my e-mail in-box,” Mr. Clancy said.
In order to cultivate personal relationships with alumni, schools also are trying to personalize their communications by creating alumni-only sites that allow graduates to specify their interests and network with other alumni where they live.
“Our graduates could be anywhere, chatting with one another in real time,” says Mr. Clancy of the AlumNet system recently launched by CWRU.
Oberlin also is working on an opt-in communications system that will, among other things, allow graduates to receive their alumni magazine by e-mail only. “We need to move beyond a one-size-fits-all strategy,” Mr. Jones said.
Another trend is the explosion in popularity of social media sites such as Facebook. This popularity has led alumni groups to use these sites for networking.
“We know that our graduates are already using these sites, and this is one way we can reach them,” says Lori Randorf, director of alumni relations for Kent State University. Ms. Randorf has created Kent State alumni groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Other schools, such as Oberlin, are using interactive blogs to communicate with the extended campus community. Mr. Jones recently launched a blog (www.weareoberlin.org) and hired student bloggers to write entries.
Many schools also view technology as a tool for raising money. “Through the Internet, schools can cultivate relationships without relying on face-to-face contact and phone calls,” said Ann Womer Benjamin, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education. “It’s also easier to maintain contact lists.”
Not everyone agrees, however. “Fundraising electronically just isn’t warm and fuzzy,” says Vondea Sheaffer, coordinator for development and alumni relations at the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, who says that personal outreach is essential. “You still need to create a connection.”
Not without its downfalls
While technology offers many advantages, it can be time-consuming and expensive.
“People think technology is cheap, but it isn’t always,” said Mr. Jones. The toughest part of his job, he adds, is choosing what to prioritize. “It changes quickly. There’s always a danger that by the time we implement ideas, they’ll be outdated.”
While technology is certain to advance in the coming years, it also is likely that some things will remain the same.
“Just because Amazon introduced the Kindle doesn’t mean that books are obsolete,” Mr. Jones says. “The alumni magazine will always have a print version, because some people want that.”
Friday, January 30, 2009
the most points on a single turn in the game of scrabble
Was for the word "quixotry". 365 by a carpenter named Michael Cresta in Lexington, Mass.
Sheila Schwartz has a new book coming out entitled "Lies Will Take You Somewhere". It's kind of like a twisted travelogue about self-deception, love and family. There will be a celebration of the publication of this novel by Etruscan Press on Feb. 28th at the Lit. Sheila, who taught at Cleveland State, unfortunately passed away in November 2008 after a lengthy battle with cancer - an incredibly sad loss to the Cleveland literary community. I am currently reading the book, and writing a review that I hope will find a home soon.
I have been writing film synopses for the program guide of the Cleveland International Film Festival. This fulfills my lifelong goal of getting paid to sit on my couch and watch movies. Seriously: go see "German Plus Rain," "Pachamama" and "El Camino." So many films, so little time. What better way to escape the snowmelt/snowfall season that we call March here in the Cleve.
This week, I had a piece published in Crain's Cleveland Business, in a special section about alumni at colleges and universities. The piece that I wrote is about the challenges and opportunities that schools face in using technology to reach out to and engage alumni.
And finally, here's my recession story: as I said last year, "bad year for real estate, good year for writing". The state of the economy has pushed and prodded me to focus on my writing, and lately I've been freelancing and writing non-fiction and poetry like nobody's business (what does that phrase mean, anyway?). As always, if you've got a referral, please send it my way.
Thanks for reading.
Sheila Schwartz has a new book coming out entitled "Lies Will Take You Somewhere". It's kind of like a twisted travelogue about self-deception, love and family. There will be a celebration of the publication of this novel by Etruscan Press on Feb. 28th at the Lit. Sheila, who taught at Cleveland State, unfortunately passed away in November 2008 after a lengthy battle with cancer - an incredibly sad loss to the Cleveland literary community. I am currently reading the book, and writing a review that I hope will find a home soon.
I have been writing film synopses for the program guide of the Cleveland International Film Festival. This fulfills my lifelong goal of getting paid to sit on my couch and watch movies. Seriously: go see "German Plus Rain," "Pachamama" and "El Camino." So many films, so little time. What better way to escape the snowmelt/snowfall season that we call March here in the Cleve.
This week, I had a piece published in Crain's Cleveland Business, in a special section about alumni at colleges and universities. The piece that I wrote is about the challenges and opportunities that schools face in using technology to reach out to and engage alumni.
And finally, here's my recession story: as I said last year, "bad year for real estate, good year for writing". The state of the economy has pushed and prodded me to focus on my writing, and lately I've been freelancing and writing non-fiction and poetry like nobody's business (what does that phrase mean, anyway?). As always, if you've got a referral, please send it my way.
Thanks for reading.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
War and Peace
Last night, I went to an engagement party for a friend from elementary school, and I bumped into a number of my parents' friends that I had known growing up. I got into a long, interesting conversation with one couple, who are avid readers and have had a lifelong dialogue about the books that they've read. I haven't read any Orwell, so we were discussing that, but it was when I told them that I hadn't read War and Peace that they began to lobby most heavily for me to pick up a copy and read it in the coming year. Apparently, the most difficult part of reading it is getting past the first one hundred pages, because Tolstoy introduces so many characters, it's almost impossible to keep up. However, once you reach this mark, if you're not completely confused, the rest of the book is a bit easier. I did read Anna Karenina in college, and enjoyed it very much.
We also talked about book clubs, and how difficult it is to find one that is truly serious, because there simply aren't very many people that carve out the time to read literature these days. "Life takes over", as we all know, and it's easy to get distracted by work, family and friends. The book club that I am a member of is famous for its many slackers, and when we gather, typically only a few of us have finished the book. It's a very fun group, yet I admit that it's a bit annoying to have really spent time with the book, and find that not everyone has done the same. One of my goals for the coming year is to start a new book club, and to develop relationships that are based around reading books that move me and cause me to grow - personally and as a writer.
We also talked about book clubs, and how difficult it is to find one that is truly serious, because there simply aren't very many people that carve out the time to read literature these days. "Life takes over", as we all know, and it's easy to get distracted by work, family and friends. The book club that I am a member of is famous for its many slackers, and when we gather, typically only a few of us have finished the book. It's a very fun group, yet I admit that it's a bit annoying to have really spent time with the book, and find that not everyone has done the same. One of my goals for the coming year is to start a new book club, and to develop relationships that are based around reading books that move me and cause me to grow - personally and as a writer.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Book Club at the Lit
I am working on a collaboration with Judith Mansour-Thomas of the Lit to establish a regional book club that focuses on writers that either live in or have roots in Northeast Ohio. This organization is the nonprofit organization that serves the literary community in Northeast Ohio. We are hoping to launch the new book club in March, and to host special events in which we bring writers in to talk about their own work. I am excited about the chance to help foster a community of writers and readers in Northeast Ohio, and also to help celebrate the talented writers that we have in our region. For more information on the Lit, visit www.the-lit.org.
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