A. Simon Mielniczuk's Web Log

Community organizing and politics – bodies, bucks, brains.

simon — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:08:00 GMT

President to be Obama has learned, applied and taught us all the best of community organizing. Change comes first from listening, listening to whomever will share their lives and thoughts, wherever they share....(read more)

Celebrating the local

simon — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:17:00 GMT

Enjoying Ontario's West Coast, especially its hospitality.

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Nothing like a Friday afternoon polka

simon — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:44:00 GMT

Friday afternoon's can be full of surprises. Today, thanks to Jack Orlandi and our Facebook connection, received a video link of our mutual St. Francis High School friend, Mitch Biskup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cRYq3smxA4 As I mentioned in a previous...(read more)

Parenting is grand!

simon — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:39:30 GMT

Owen Robert Mielniczuk joined family and future friends this morning at Toronto East General Hospital. Seven and half pounds, long, pink, lots of hair. Some of it appears to be red like his mom's and several others from both families. His mom's glow from...(read more)

A New Way for Women to Talk Culture, Politics & Gossip | WOWOWOW

simon — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:13:00 GMT

One of the pleasures of working in an environment like ours is the ability to take lunch whenever. WNED, the PBS station in Buffalo offers Charlie Rose. Interesting guests, great interviewer, probing, yet respectful. Some say too easy. Speaking personally,...(read more)

St. Francis Alumni Mass '08

simon — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Yearbooks mark passages. They express hopes, dreams, best wishes. In front of the alter at this year's Memorial Mass for Alumni the display of yearbooks marked the graduation years of those whose names were read. There were the expected and the unexpected....(read more)

Advocacy 1-3-3

simon — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:02:00 GMT

Attention spans and windows are decreasing. The impact of that trend on social action and public policy is taking shape. This is one group that is riding the current. http://actnow.healthyrivers.org/front...(read more)

St. Francis Alumni Mass '07

simon — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:20:00 GMT

The view is great. Lake Erie stretching out to Canadian shores. When homesick, I would stare out the third floor window, unconsciously reconciling the tensions. On one side the friendships of fellow boarders. On the other family, friends and far deeper...(read more)

Another view of the hood

simon — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 10:09:00 GMT

Occassionally I teach at Ryerson. In one of the courses, Information Architecture, we discuss language and audience within information spaces. I use the online Rap Dictionary, a wiki based compendium of hip-hop slang as a discussion reference. It is an example of the role of language enriching group communications and also creating exclusivity that requires special entry points.

During a recent review, several familiar places show up in the list of new terms. For reasons unknown to me, a significant number of neighbhourhoods are showing up in the Rap Dictionary. Toronto, in particular, has many references to neighbourhoods and housing projects. Canadian entries seem disproportionate to one describing US places. Quality and tone varies. Whatever you think about hip hop culture, there is no denying that it is creating new channels of self, group and community image making.

There are entries on Laval and the Plateau in Montreal where I grew up. Regent Park, where I spent several years and still visit, has an entry on Blevins Place, the home of the community association. After leaving there, I spent three years in the Woolner area of the old Borough of York. While working briefly as a CAS community worker, I worked with tenants in Tanridge. Six more years after that in Flemingdon Park. Until recently our family lived in the area of the Esplanade and Crombie Park.

My hope is that some of these neighbourhood chroniclers will grow into significant public voices and tomorrow's change leaders.

Community Name Tags?

simon — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 20:35:00 GMT

Everyone moving around more often. Looking to make a connection. Check the web; text; start a conversation in the checkout. Go to any organized meeting and almost certainly you'll leave with a name badge. Maybe a business card or two. The process is the same. Get into a space where others with shared interests.

For many of us the social space around work has displaced the one around where we live. In the Jamaica Plain neighbourhood of Boston, they are learning from meetings.

Want to get to know your neighbours? Wear your nametag! No bits. No typing. Just a friendly signal to say hello. Brilliance is the courage to explore the simple.

http://nametag.neighborsforneighbors.org/