There is no hiding the pride felt by Michigan Representative to Congress John Conyers, Jr., as he speaks of Barack Obama. A 21 term US Senator, Chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, and leading Obama supporter, Conyers traveled to East Cleveland, Saturday, February 23, 2008, to share his pride with over 100 volunteer organizers assembled at The Inner Circle to canvas area neighborhoods for “our next President of the United States”.

Change may be the theme of this campaign, but pride is the operative word.

Cleveland City Council should rescind its involvement in AMP-Ohio's proposed coal-fired utility in southern Ohio. A fifty year commitment to coal is the wrong direction, for Cleveland Public Power (CPP), its customers and the environment. Instead, CPP should develop a comprehensive plan for energy need and energy sources, that includes efforts to reduce demand through conservation, insulation, wind, solar and other alternative sources.

is timing really everything? Maybe to a utility company.

Michael Chattem, Semen is Thicker Than Blood. Blood, ink, marker

One of the greatest times when the Cleveland School May Show is the Cleveland Institute of Art’s Annual Student Independent Exhibition, now in its 62 year. Drawing from a huge, diverse body of work in every imaginable media and medium - this year, including semen?! - from an awesome pool of talent, connected by a world-class arts college, in a great arts community, the SIE always delivers an inspiring, mind-expanding experience of genius.

Jessica Jurca, Reliquary to the Brontosaurus. Enamel on Copper, pine.

This is a wonderful and insightful report on the current state of mixing "sustainability" with existing businesses. It is one thing to start up a sustainable business, and it is something else entirely to take an existing business and try to re-design/retrofit it to be more sustainable. The problem is akin to the "green" building problem... building a new "green" building is a lot easier than "greening" an existing one.

I am at home now, so I am allowed to say this:  If you live in the City of Cleveland,
please don't forget to Pass Issue 2.

Meet the Bloggers produced an insightful interview with Holly Carroll and Pam Eyerdam of Cleveland Public Library.  Please give it a listen.  Please also visit your local library.  If you haven't been able to visit lately, you will be surprised by the breadth and depth of our services. 

 ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2008) — A new study sheds light on the relationship between women who smoke while pregnant--or are exposed to second-hand smoke--and an increased risk of SIDS to their babies.

Researchers at McMaster University have found a mechanism that explains why an infant's ability to respond to oxygen deprivation after birth--or a hypoxic episode--is dramatically compromised by exposure to nicotine in the womb, even light to moderate amounts.
"While cigarette smoke contains many different compounds, we found there is a direct impact of one component, nicotine, on the ability of certain cells to detect and respond to oxygen deprivation," says Josef Buttigieg, lead author and a PhD graduate student in the department of Biology. "When a baby is lying face down in bed, for example, it should sense a reduction in oxygen and move its head. But this arousal mechanism doesn't work as it should in babies exposed to nicotine during pregnancy."
The research, which was conducted on laboratory rats in collaboration with Dr. Alison Holloway, explains the critical role that catecholamines--a group of hormones released by the adrenal glands--play in a baby's transition to the outside world.
During birth, the baby is exposed to low oxygen, which signals the adrenal glands to release the catecholamines, which contain adrenaline, or the 'fight or flight' hormone, explains Buttigieg.
It is these catecholamines that signal the baby's lungs to reabsorb fluid, to take its first breath, and help the heart to beat more efficiently. And for some months after birth, the adrenal gland still acts as an oxygen sensor, aiding in the baby's arousal and breathing responses during periods of apnea or asphyxia. But the ability to release catecholamines during these moments--a critical event in the adaptation of life outside the womb--is impaired due to nicotine exposure.
"At birth, the nervous control of the adrenal gland is not active and so a baby relies on these direct oxygen sensing mechanisms to release catecholamines," says Colin Nurse, academic advisor on the study and a professor in the department of Biology. "But nicotine causes premature loss of these mechanisms, which would normally occur later in development after nervous control is established. Thus, the infant becomes much more vulnerable to SIDS."
The findings are published online in the journal Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and will appear in the May 2008 print issue.
The study was funded in part by the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Focus on Stroke.
Adapted from materials provided by McMaster University.

One minor question involving subprime vacant houses which I haven't seen asked much is: Where did the occupants go?  And the answer I can tell you  is: UNDERGROUND.

When a foreclosure takes place, and a lender gets a judgment against a homeowner/borrower, that judgment is good in the courts for decades – in some states for 21 years. 

When your government gets “sin” tax money from cigarettes (and gambling), and uses these taxes for their pay checks, there will never be a real incentive to improve the public health and  welfare. 

If your politicians decrease smoking – it will threaten their income stream. 

When your government gets “sin” tax money from cigarettes (and gambling), and uses these taxes for their pay checks, there will never be a real incentive to improve the public health and  welfare. 

If your politicians decrease smoking – it will threaten their income stream. 

When your government gets “sin” tax money from cigarettes (and gambling), and uses these taxes for their pay checks, there will never be a real incentive to improve the public health and  welfare. 

If your politicians decrease smoking – it will threaten their income stream. 

Back in the summer while researching the history of Cleveland Trust, I came upon this fascinating chapter in Carl Stokes' book Promises of Power: A Political Autobiography. Thank you Cleveland Memory!

Everywhere I go, everyone I see, I proselytize: ORIGINAL CONTENT!

What I mean is - speak out. 

Splashing up such colorful and lusty images has to be therapeutic for the artist.  Right on the edge of an urban dumping ground, full of scrap tires and trash, here's this little fellow sitting comfortably with his leg on the ledge (complete with scrap tire and vines) waving at the buxom gal below.

This past week during a cinquain exercise for the Cultural Exchange Read Baby Read program, I asked a second-grader what she saw herself doing as an adult. 

I am listening to a podcast of Bill Drayton talking about Social Entrepreneurship. Check it out. The Citizen Sector Transformed

The Meet the Bloggers interview with library administrators Holly Carroll and Pam Eyredam triggered this ponder.   How many people see libraries as part of their growing lives, but then "move on?"

How to upload an image for the RealNEO header -- without using a blog post:

This giant water lilly pad - about 5 feet across - is in the greenhouses at Kew Gardens in London, England.