So you think you would not last a day on Project Run Way? Maybe you never learned to sew or maybe you are the creative type but fashion is just not your media? This past Friday I realized anyone can make "wearable art." Tie-dying is easy, no sketching, cutting or sewing, most of the process is left up to chance. Park Works (a great oganization that brings fun events to Cleveland parks) held a tie-dye event at Fairview Park near where I live in Ohio City. Park Works made it easy; they provided free white t-shirts, coolers of cold water for soaking the shirts, rubber bands and rubber gloves and bottles of dyes in every color you could want.

As the Cleveland Plain Dealer assigns blame for the plight of Cleveland as the most impoverished city in America, they target the black poor. I find this highly disturbing, especially as they completely white-wash the greatest flaw in our economy, which is a century of cow-towing to industry causing and perpetuating toxic contamination of our people and neighborhoods in our urban core.

As I drove from the site of the murder of Detective Schroeder, on West 98th Street, I passed the park dedicated in the honor of the murder of John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi on West 65th, and it occurred to me that there must be a similar park dedicated to Detective Schroeder. This is a fitting way to memorialize the victims of murder, and all violent crime, in our city, as it replaces death with life, and sorrow with joy... it gives people young and old a place to move on in the most healthy possible ways. I do not believe the people of Cleveland want to brush away such tragedy, but rather they want to have a remembrance of those who we lose, and a bright spot to remember that... and they want their neighborhoods to grow stronger so there will be less tragedy there in the future.

"Self-identified evangelicals provided roughly 40 percent of George W. Bush's total vote in 2004." This startling statistic, from a thorough overview of the role of religion in US foreign policy, published in an article in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs titled "God's Country", makes clear the shift in power in American politics and foreign policy leadership in America today. Further, this article reports, "Evangelicals have been playing a major role in congressional and Senate elections as well, and the number of self-identified evangelicals in Congress has increased from around 10 percent of the membership in both houses in 1970 to more than 25 percent in 2004."

I am very excited! I recently volunteered to become an Energy Ambassador at Case Western Reserve Univeristy, part of the Adopt a Building program. I will be adopting Mather House, the building where I work. Mather House is a  century old Gothic Revival former girls dorm  turned office building -- probably not the most energy efficient on campus. I suspect the most  significant improvements at Mather House will be directly related to changing the residents' behavior. I think I could be a good energy ambassador; I am always turning out lights, I go to great pains to recycle, I hate air conditioning and I walk rather than using the campus shuttle bus. But I am looking for suggestions as to how myself and the other residents of Mather House could really make a difference. Please post your ideas. I would also appreciate links to good energy conservation sites. The Adopt a Building program is just getting started. My first "Ambassador's" meeting will be next Wednesday. I will fill you in with more details late next week.

The disturbing juxtapositioning of social unconsciousness in NEO, reflected by the billboards above, found on Detroit at W. 28th Street, says it all about what is wrong with America today and our economy. Raw selfishness championed by the baby-boom generation has corrupted core, co-conspiring, selfish Gen-X leadership, placing Cleveland and human existence in jeopardy. In a quote from a 20/20 program today on the end of life on Earth, a scientist said "our children and grandchildren already tell us we ruined everything" and that is so correct. I apologized this weekend to my 12 year old daughter for today's leaders destroying her planet, and challenged her to focus her life on saving Earth, as the future clearly depends upon her and the next generations. After an hour and half of the 20/20 program "Last Days on Earth", exploring what may end human existence, from comets and pandemics to nuclear war, the program's conclusion was that we are already destroying the planet through CO2/pollution, and climate change will end human existence in less than 100 years, without significant change in human behavior and global leadership.

I took the rapid transit from Shaker Heights to the Terminal Tower last night and rather than continue home to Ohio City by bus or train I decided to walk across the Veterans Memorial Bridge and see the public art there, and enjoy the spectacular views of the flats and city by night. It was the first time I ever walked across the bridge and knowing it was a place community leaders invested much time and effort I was hopeful it would offer a good NEO experience. What I found was good art and facilities on the bridge, but a tragic disconnect created in the delivery of the experience to the public. While the bridge now features cool lighting and public art installations, a wide pedestrian sidewalk, a bike lane, seating and even a bike rack, the good experience was entirely obliterated by an oppressive 10 foot tall wall of metal spikes set, about three inches apart, from one end of the bridge to the other, not only destroying the experience of enjoying the bridge and art, but obstructing one of the most dynamic views in America. Who is to blame?

USDA Designates 20 Biobased Items for Federal Procurement

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2006- The U.S. Agriculgure Department has announced two proposed rules under the Federal Biobased Products Preferred Procurement Program, designating 20 items that must receive special consideration by all federal agencies when making purchases.

"The designation of these 20 biobased items is a major step in advancing the federal preferred procurement program for biobased products," said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. "When finalized, 1,500 biobased products will be given procurement preference by federal agencies, generating new economic opportunities for biobased product producers and U.S. farmers and ranchers, while providing new choices for U.S. consumers." Full text at the North Coast Green Spieler weblog

I went to the Beck Center for the first time for the Masumi Hayashi memorial. I was interested to see the place, as it has sufaced in controversy as the Beck Chairman of the Board wants to move it to Crocker Park, and the media and arts powers that be agree. What I found was a very expensive, expansive, high quality arts facility, as ugly as sin, on the skin, and poorly managed in obvious ways, but far from beyond redemption. That the regional arts leadership is ready to demolish this solid facility is beyond belief and shows how disposable our leadership finds our core and inner-ring community.

As a largely grey and blue crowd of arts and peace lovers assembled in Lakewood to think and talk about renowned contemporary artists John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi, now living only in spirit and retrospect, a young and multi-colorful crowd gathered in the "Market Square" pocket park at W.25th and Lorain (across from the West Side Market) to give props to scores of nameless contemporary artists that live on in the streets of Cleveland's urban core, through their art of aerosol paint, rap, scratch and break... otherwise known to the establishment as counter-culture, noise and pollution.

Today the bleak Beck Center for the Arts had a heart pounding inside, to the beat of a Masumi Hayashi retrospective... that is the power of art, even when the artist is dead. 100s of friends of slain artists Masumi Hayashi and John Jackson consoled themselves and those who joined them, with staged remembrances to the memorial gathering, which were broadcast throughout the center and had great impact. There were places to read some of the articles that have been written about Masumi over the years... mostly since her death... and a project of having attendees write messages to the artists on tissue paper and tying them to cords strung in front of the center, in what was described as a Japanese tradition.

During a gathering tonight of 100s of Clevelanders, promoting peace and honoring the lives of artists John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi, at the West Clifton Park and labyrinth at W. 65th Street and W. Clinton Avenue, now dedicated in the artists' honor, the heavens shed tears in a light, cleansing rain... followed by scores of uplifting tributes to the artists and other lost lives, numerous musical selections, the play of dozens of innocent children, in a coming together of good souls with love in their hearts.

Leave it to a great artist to know great artists, and to a great publication to get the right words out. In this week's Free Times, one of my favorite artists from Northeast Ohio, and our finest arts journalist, Douglas Max Utter paid tribute to John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi, and finally shared true insight about these great artists and their work, characters and visions with the world.

When I saw The Redhead's posting on REALNEO for "green :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck :: every sunday!" I knew this was a good thing and decided to invite some friends and attend. I'm certainly glad I did. Not only did I have the best meal in recent memory, from good homes and hearts, but it turned out to be a real "NEO Excellence Roundtable" where I met a bunch of awesome people making NEO special... we all even learned lots about vegan baking, from an entrepreneurial pro chef... all on a beautiful Summer's eve, in a setting hard to beat, on the shore of Lake Erie, at Lakewood Park. Learn more about all of this, and plan to join in next week... read on!

green. :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck

concept ::  to promote healthy and conscious 'meatless' eating (along with educate on living a 'green' lifestyle)...  to think about how we eat and what we eat and the effect it has on the planet.  if you eat meat we still want you to come!  try new things, meet new people and learn a little.  it is about health, support and the celebration of life!  no judgement here!  : )  i personally am a 'new vegetarian' and am still learning myself!  it is just amazing all the incredible foods that do not contain meat! 

An especially exciting project 7GEN Canada is undertaking is the transformation of the premier gallery of the glass art of Canada, Material Matters, into a virtual community. In doing this, we are taking a physical gallery at 215 Spadina Avenue, in Toronto (which 7GEN also calls home), and transforming that into a community of all Canada's glass artists, and a global marketplace for their art.

Lisa Wuohela in front of Material Matters, the premier gallery of Canadian glass art in the world.

The August 14, 2006 REALNEO header (included below) has great meaning, as it introduces a new initiative of 7GEN, LLC, the organization formed by Phillip Williams, Evelyn Kiefer and myself following the attempted theft of REALinks, LLC, property by my former partner, Peter Holmes. This header is of a great NEO art collection, of my parents, Doctors Ann and Norman Roulet, which Phillip, Evelyn and I are documenting on-line as a first service of May Show for the NEO community... in the future, my parents and other NEO art collectors and art dealers and artists may show the world the art they create, sell, collect and exhibit here in Northeast Ohio. The May Show portal being developed by 7GEN, LLC, will be the only interface in NEO to so well document art and make it available to the public, far eclipsing capabilities of even our beloved Cleveland Museum of Art. But that is not the most exciting development for 7GEN I have to share with NEO today, as we are basing future operations at the location shown above, on Spadina Avenue in Toronto, Canada. Read a brief introduction of what, how and why 7GEN will operate in Canada below.

Welcome to the home of Material Matters, and now 7GEN Canada, at 215 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Canada

McDonald's back sliding!?!
Yep! Even though they adjusted their menu after the Supersize Me movie, they have slid back this summer by offering toy Hummers to children in Happy Meals. Read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/business/media/10adco.html?_r=1&oref=s...

An annual tradition sponsored by Great Lakes Brewery and several other local foundations and organizations is the Burning River Fest.  This event combines great and healthy food, local entertainment and vendors, local environmental conservation and advocacy groups, and of course, a selection of one of the world's most famous beers.