tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13021405354840848272024-03-13T02:17:29.769-07:00Nathan RothsteinNathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-57989524501157901822010-03-04T16:36:00.000-08:002010-03-04T16:45:54.188-08:00Asking YI have a new blog over at<a href="http://www.trueslant.com/nathanrothstein"> Trueslant.com</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br />News Alert: Millennials Change their Mind, and that is OK</span><div class="post-byline post-byline-individual"><br />A recent Pew Research Center <a href="http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf">study</a> describes millennials as: “Confident, Connected and Open to Change.” Not surprisingly, our generation (those born after 1980), are very different than the boomers. Most of the findings are not groundbreaking. We text more. We tweet more, and many of us have online social profiles. Many of us voted for Obama in 2008, but like the rest of the country, we have not voted since. Part of the reason Scott Brown won in Massachusetts is that only <a href="http://www.good.is/post/why-young-voters-turned-out-in-2008-but-not-in-2010/">15% of millennials voted</a> in the election. The decrease in participation can be attributed to “change” is slow, and progress does not come over night and we are not patient.....Read <a href="http://trueslant.com/nathanrothstein/2010/03/03/news-alert-millennials-change-their-mind-and-that-is-ok/">more</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br />Social Innovation, Poverty and the HBS Social Enterprise Conference<br /></span>While many Americans gathered around for the final hours of the Olympics, I walked into the last session of the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Conference. Throughout the day, I had attended a variety of conference sessions that tackled some of our world’s most pressing issues. It was inspiring to hear talented practitioners, but I was also overwhelmed by the problems we were facing.</div> <p>Read <a href="http://trueslant.com/nathanrothstein/2010/03/01/social-innovation-poverty-and-the-hbs-social-enterprise-conference/">more</a><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-81628421260639190842010-02-17T18:56:00.000-08:002010-02-17T19:31:32.031-08:00Why the Celtics should trade the Big 3<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>It's sad to even write, but sometimes, what is most difficult, is the right decision. The Celtics have not been the same since Ray Allen <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/24/ray-allen-twitter-tweet-t_n_403336.html">sex tweeted</a>, and lost the focus to hit open jumpers. Paul Pierce had more fun at the all-star game untying people's shoes and winning the 3point contest than winning playoff games, and Kevin Garnett scored 9 points last night in Sacramento. Something needs to give. <div><br /></div><div>I have this fear that the Celtics, if they do not make smart decisions, will digress into the Celtics from 1994- 2007. The best part of those years was seeing Antoine Walker in the parking lot in Waltham, MA and my friend offering him a cheeseburger from Mcdonalds. It was the one time in his life he turned down Mcdonalds, and then he did the wiggle back to his car.</div><div><br /></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 298px;" src="http://jumpedtheweis.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/the-walker-shimmy.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Now that the Cavs just traded for Antawn Jamison, they are unstoppable. They are the best team in the NBA, and the Celtics will not beat them. If the Celtics trade now, they can get draft picks and players that will get them back to the NBA Finals sooner, rather than fourteen years later. With Rajon Rondo, Big Baby, and Perkins, they will still be an exciting team to watch, with a lot more potential. It is always more fun to think about a brighter future, than to painfully watch as the Celtics over the hill players struggle to beat the Kings. </div><div><br /></div><div>Danny Ainge, do something crazy, and pull the trigger. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-5708104818003015842010-02-12T14:29:00.000-08:002010-02-12T18:32:33.313-08:00Jerry West to Mark Twain<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGMiKRIzE2L8LCOHRUz19hsQS1_yfcBsI4hRnn1p_-W9C31_E7hfibs2doMLs262LWd7yXcfPkaPmTWrLYRHjQyCkmhOBgIyMtVEl0IIUf9hbnmD8SiNSZVCuYOnHvE2A3ZCQ2D0abizT/s1600-h/800px-USAE_-_Mark_Twain_Village.jpeg"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.basketwallpapers.com/Images-03/thumbs/Jerry-West-LA-Lakers-Wallpaper.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" border="0" alt="" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><u><br /></u></span></div><br />I got a haircut today on Mass Ave in North Cambridge. The barber was 47, a Laker fan because "Jerry West was the best player ever,"and in 1984 joined the US army and was stationed in Germany.<div><br /></div><div>According to Wikipedia, we have 50 Military Installations in Germany</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>One is called Mark Twain Village. Mark Twain was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Prayer">pacifist</a>, </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>He once wrote, </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;">"Statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;">So I doubt he would be pleased if he knew a military base was named after him, least of all in Germany. Despite knowing the language, he called it <a href="http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html">"awful."</a> On February 3, author of the new book about Twain's late chapters in life speaks emphatically about this subject, and many more on <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123336585">NPR</a>. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This post is random and some would say unnecessary. In college, I had to do an exercise in Creative Writing, where you emulate an author's writing style. This writing is based on Dan Shaughnessy's "<a href="http://www.blogger.com/Picking%20up%20where%20we%20left%20off">Picking up where we left off</a>."<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 21px; font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;font-size:15px;"><h1 style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 30px; line-height: 23px; font: normal normal bold 22px/normal arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><br /></h1><div><br /></div></span></div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKoD2X6e_soNUrX5i-mdg21dc78l-mBhZfrtDHLbdcq4vkUnSQ68E8xPdS779Dr3EHpCed3hn5LvKbs6mtIGJL2krXjfi-0IPbDo3SA1Oja9CpC7MnkfbDf6m458eREHzz7BeI_M9_qziF/s320/Book+cover+%27Mark+Twain:+Man+In+White%27.jpeg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 297px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437509845556355922" /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGMiKRIzE2L8LCOHRUz19hsQS1_yfcBsI4hRnn1p_-W9C31_E7hfibs2doMLs262LWd7yXcfPkaPmTWrLYRHjQyCkmhOBgIyMtVEl0IIUf9hbnmD8SiNSZVCuYOnHvE2A3ZCQ2D0abizT/s320/800px-USAE_-_Mark_Twain_Village.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437550159982454018" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-17628083376241259202010-02-05T17:43:00.000-08:002010-02-05T19:38:52.959-08:00What 6/11 teaches us<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3WI_gobTe_DhLaLZ9phsp4lZaa15nB6Dil8y-Xi4Fw7Jv_rfydqV5E1-n0j8yuxUWyf4ASkmC1qvd91YHSFO3Sr8xVvCYfzPR8dYAgSShyZ471u8TgY78wBhdDTUHeIykhkaTdypjWZwI/s1600-h/looming-tower.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3WI_gobTe_DhLaLZ9phsp4lZaa15nB6Dil8y-Xi4Fw7Jv_rfydqV5E1-n0j8yuxUWyf4ASkmC1qvd91YHSFO3Sr8xVvCYfzPR8dYAgSShyZ471u8TgY78wBhdDTUHeIykhkaTdypjWZwI/s400/looming-tower.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434969486079347090" /></a><br />On September 11th, everyone remembers where they were when they heard planes had (deliberately) crashed into the World Trade Center Towers. First one, then the other, less than an hour later. It changed the course of our country's history. But there may have been a different date that shall remain as Roosevelt would say, "in infamy."<div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div>In Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer Prize winning book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Looming-Tower-Al-Qaeda-Road-11/dp/037541486X">The Looming Tower</a>, he tells a story about a meeting on June 11th, 2001 that could have prevented the events on 9/11. The CIA was meeting with the FBI in New York City in order to share information about the U.S.S Cole bombing. At one point a photo was displayed of suspected terrorists. The FBI asked if anyone in the room knew any of these faces. The CIA members did, but did not have clearance to divulge the information. They did not want to turnover their case to the FBI, afraid they would give up their sources, and ruin their investigation. After yelling and shouting, all parties calmed down, and another name was brought up- Khalid al-Mihdhar. Two months later Mihdhar would be one of the five hijackers, but on June 11th, he was a name the CIA would not turnover. As Wright explains this photo presented "the fact that al-Qaeda was inside the US and planning to strike."</div><div><br /></div><div>Throughout the last hundred pages of the book, Wright painfully details the sparring between the FBI and CIA that prevented a cohesive solution to handling intelligence that could have prevented 9/11. It is almost too much to bear to think of how different our country would be, and how many lives and dollars would not have been spent in two wars, if all the evidence was made transparent. While 9/11 teaches us about the dangers of religious extremity, 6/11 teaches us about the need for government agencies to work together and not let personalities get in the way of making our country safe. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-65446208100389577632010-01-28T09:12:00.001-08:002010-01-28T10:32:21.022-08:00Zinn's words in 1980 ring true in 2010<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAGObW7MiuyHIBK4lGMEaI3kjjO4h-K4gD1dj5N2jloj7YXDHcnQZFhcNpNflG0D3AE6ydfjy5nHU1z2x73ih-fSUXAufMDv9QKZKBiMC6Zqnd3sXcY2jdf9jtTxrEWvirAWomdghUmp6l/s1600-h/cover-600.jpg"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhcuisOPcWj5S1rvNXu3lT_5lvzz_X4eMO2vuh37rI7JFIHblTOi2K3gmICfGOnEsuY8WRG_nyrqI55eKPN5iArpo8VBq8cX5b7SRmtsFG3MVfh2i4oToxQj2dOt8PQH8BGNsYO3ycMG7/s1600-h/9780061968358.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhcuisOPcWj5S1rvNXu3lT_5lvzz_X4eMO2vuh37rI7JFIHblTOi2K3gmICfGOnEsuY8WRG_nyrqI55eKPN5iArpo8VBq8cX5b7SRmtsFG3MVfh2i4oToxQj2dOt8PQH8BGNsYO3ycMG7/s320/9780061968358.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431848770448185106" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /></div>Yesterday, Howard Zinn passed away. But like with all great writers, his life lives on with his words. Zinn wrote many great books and articles, but in the last chapter of A People's HIstory of the United States, he masterfully summarizes the problems in our country in 1980 that still ring true today. <div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Democrats all over the country have felt the pain of this month's losses. Many of the reasons for our defeat are due to what <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/books/review/Will-t.html">Nixon</a> called, the "silent majority,"-the white working class population that feels alienated, and ultimately, has helped move our country to the right in the past forty years. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAGObW7MiuyHIBK4lGMEaI3kjjO4h-K4gD1dj5N2jloj7YXDHcnQZFhcNpNflG0D3AE6ydfjy5nHU1z2x73ih-fSUXAufMDv9QKZKBiMC6Zqnd3sXcY2jdf9jtTxrEWvirAWomdghUmp6l/s320/cover-600.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431848884037609650" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 172px;" border="0" /></span></div><div><br /></div><div>In one of many paragraphs that predicts our current problems, Zinn writes, </div><div><br /></div><div><i>" In the mid-seventies, another study (Donald Warren, The Radical Center) found that alienation has spread upward into families above the poverty line. These are white workers, neither rich or poor, but angry over economic insecurity, unhappy with their work, worried about their neighborhoods, hostile to their government-combining elements of racism with elements of class consciousness, contempt for the lower classes along with distrust for the elite, and thus open to solutions from any direction, right or left."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>After re-reading Zinn's last chapter in A People's History of the US, I am in awe of his ability to summarize the problems in 1980 and predict the ones in 2010. He knows that once all the oppressed groups can align themselves, a new people's movement that acts on the behalf of the majority, without race or class acting as a hindrance, is attainable. He writes, </div><div><br /></div><div><i>"In the past, aggrieved groups had been set against one another, preventing that unity which was necessary to combat the power of the elite. Was there a new possibility, now, for such unity</i>?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's honor Zinn and Obama's words in the State of the Union, and find new ways to form coalitions that put a stop to an establishment that does not benefit the majority of American citizens.</div><div><br /></div></div>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-39982086273474059412010-01-26T18:45:00.000-08:002010-01-26T19:28:57.275-08:00State of the Union Eve<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Obama's first State of the Union is upon us, and it has been quite the year for the 44th President. We all had high hopes after a groundbreaking campaign, but we also knew the scope of problems that he was expected to fix. After Scott Brown's surprise win in Massachusetts, the Tea Party is setting high expectations for the potential of their political power (see this week's <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/01/100201fa_fact_mcgrath"><span style="color:#42007B;text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">New Yorker</span></a> article). To others, we fear what that may mean. Thomas Friedman wrote last September about the sentiment against Obama that has become angrier and more hateful. It reminds him of the months leading up to Rabin's murder in Israel in 1995. </span><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><i><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"I hate to write about this, but I have actually been to this play before and it is really disturbing...Even if you are not worried that someone might draw from these vitriolic attacks a license to try to hurt the president, you have to be worried about what is happening to American politics more broadly. Our leaders, even the president, can no longer utter the word “we” with a straight face. There is no more “we” in American politics at a time when “we” have these huge problems — the deficit, the recession, health care, climate change and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — that “we” can only manage, let alone fix, if there is a collective “we” at work."</span></i><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family: Times;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Why can't we, the American people, agree that we are getting screwed? How many people voted for Scott Brown who have been denied access to an affordable health care plan because of a previous illness? How many people in Massachusetts rail against health care when they have been receiving benefits from the government to make their lives easier? The anger coming from the Tea Party is scary and out of control. Obama must feel helpless. No matter what he says, he does not reach people who scowl at his presidency. </span><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">In a March 11, 2009 New York Times Book Review Article, Michael Tomasky reviews a <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/brieflynoted/2009/01/26/090126crbn_brieflynoted3"><span style="color:#42007B;text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">book</span></a> that analyzes what the lobbying industry has done to Washington and our country. At the end of his review, he looks at the road ahead for Obama. </span><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Times;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">" Obama's approach on health care and other matters is to bring all interests together and tell everyone up front that they'll be heard but won't end up getting everything they want. This openness may well end up being a weakness. The President's bet- and he might be overestimating his own powers of persuasion- is that he can use his high approval ratings and popular support for reform on these matters to force outcomes that are negotiated in more or less good faith. "</span></i><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Times;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:22.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Times;mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"">Almost a year later, it is sad to see the opportunity that was squandered and those who have stood in his way, for no other reason, but a political one. While Friedman examines the pressures that Obama feels, Tomasky accurately predicted the mistakes he made. Obama no longer believes he can use his popularity to bring about change. Instead, he should return to the skills that allowed him to emerge from the trenches of Chicago city politics. In a time of crisis, our country needs strong executive leadership. No more consensus building moderate positions. We may not agree on everything, but we elected Obama to fight for us, and we hope he will. </span><span style="font-family:Times"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </span>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-1324060336084163712010-01-19T13:28:00.000-08:002010-01-19T18:54:31.197-08:00Deconstructing Parties and Cars<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBUwS0pD9IJmqd-6GhwObpbmGJqZnF6n_lxCRjN6HpseZPyc9csHFyjcn3ySj6yohMtvAmn0ghHYho21Ln8TlMC6ZoJK6NC6f4iHr6ztx-yaTfwiyh02lc7d4ZzUlz_5hHM26hepRVZ8t/s1600-h/photo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBUwS0pD9IJmqd-6GhwObpbmGJqZnF6n_lxCRjN6HpseZPyc9csHFyjcn3ySj6yohMtvAmn0ghHYho21Ln8TlMC6ZoJK6NC6f4iHr6ztx-yaTfwiyh02lc7d4ZzUlz_5hHM26hepRVZ8t/s320/photo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428566536890024562" border="0" /></a><br />If Coakley doesn't win today, the Democrats must deconstruct their strategy, just like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/arts/design/30ortega.html">Damian Ortega</a> did with the Volkswagen Beetle.Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-78903227093136029922010-01-18T20:08:00.000-08:002010-01-18T20:18:29.973-08:0010 in 10 Version 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhasewnSkNm1P4nJOX40LfdrKIkCaVPV7uCN4aw96C0hLA-6WvTinURvy9z6uiayIb9ye3sjS_rKs8kFqanxmgIFCxM0U9PQztIgLuoVrxfn6tsfWS5WuvIZOfHWx8zWX1Kqs5bt7C6o730/s1600-h/tenin20101.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhasewnSkNm1P4nJOX40LfdrKIkCaVPV7uCN4aw96C0hLA-6WvTinURvy9z6uiayIb9ye3sjS_rKs8kFqanxmgIFCxM0U9PQztIgLuoVrxfn6tsfWS5WuvIZOfHWx8zWX1Kqs5bt7C6o730/s320/tenin20101.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428298563249077826" border="0" /></a><br />A slightly altered version for <a href="http://invadenola.com/2010/01/17/new-orleans-ten-in-2010/">Invade NOLA</a>, the new brain child from Curious Tribe. I met Justin Shiels several years ago, and asked him to design flyers for NOLA YURP.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvrEkr6ek2Vbfs5Jd0RC3geMuwzNSj93NV6_Lls7FZ61vScbpjxKREs93_hYi3f8TqNtjzBAD7LsXBDbzfCaaWRgWFiDgyvyjhIBV0FPCKIPOKQEnFOXBJTsjUDOQ_n4zVPLyS0jXtkGQk/s1600-h/financial-literacy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 247px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvrEkr6ek2Vbfs5Jd0RC3geMuwzNSj93NV6_Lls7FZ61vScbpjxKREs93_hYi3f8TqNtjzBAD7LsXBDbzfCaaWRgWFiDgyvyjhIBV0FPCKIPOKQEnFOXBJTsjUDOQ_n4zVPLyS0jXtkGQk/s320/financial-literacy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428300403513495810" border="0" /></a><br /><br />His work was always very impressive. I've been wrestling a lot with the future of media, and this online magazine has a lot of potential.Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-24702186051215710632009-12-26T16:46:00.000-08:002009-12-26T19:01:04.605-08:0010 to Watch in 10<a href="http://joluproductions.com/trailer.html">Land of Opportunity</a><br /><br />When I arrived in New Orleans in the summer of 2006, I started attending every planning meeting I could. While sitting there witnessing history, an American city trying to rebuild itself, I thought to myself, someone should be making a movie about this. And someone was. Land Of Opportunity has been spearheaded by Luisa Dantes, and follows the lives of several New Orleanians over the past few years. They also try to make sense of what it means to rebuild New Orleans. Watch the <a href="http://joluproductions.com/trailer.html">trailer </a>(they have footage of inside the council chambers the day the council voted to demolish the big 4 public housing complexes).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tuttidynamics.com/TuttiDynamics.com/Tutti_Dynamics.html">Tradition is a Temple</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhetxk-rAbrd5XXcJ5I8BWwySobWi2hmNaboslpigMef98Xvjgc7OGAYqSLDvenoCHOOx3l85okA3BP3yzoZd8ipJAzy0jkkEeNae1y5WnEwXOf3kiloqXFN8SZmSg1sdhUFzLleE1kf6qB/s1600-h/Teaser+Still+01.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhetxk-rAbrd5XXcJ5I8BWwySobWi2hmNaboslpigMef98Xvjgc7OGAYqSLDvenoCHOOx3l85okA3BP3yzoZd8ipJAzy0jkkEeNae1y5WnEwXOf3kiloqXFN8SZmSg1sdhUFzLleE1kf6qB/s320/Teaser+Still+01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419716691801084978" /></a><br /><br />Not only has Darren Hoffman's company, Tutti Dynamics, created the first iphone App in New Orleans, but he is also working on the finishing touches on a beautiful and powerful documentary about jazz in New Orleans. It includes new performances by legendary artists, Jason Marsalis, Shannon Powell, and the Treme Brass Brand. Watch the <a href="http://www.tuttidynamics.com/TuttiDynamics.com/Motion_Picture/Motion_Picture.html">trailer</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.rightquestion.org/">The Right Question Project</a><br /><br />Most people assume that the average citizens' only way to participate is at the voting both. Yet, each day, millions of Americans have interactions with the welfare office, food stamp officials, community health centers and public schools. In most cases, citizens do not have the tools to actively participate and get the answers they need. They feel disempowered and helpless. The traditional approach is to tell people how to solve the problems, but The Right Question project has developed a tool that gives each participant the ability to ask their own questions and actively seek out the answers they deserve. This method treats each individual equally and prepares citizens "who expect accountable decision-making and have specific skills to use to try to insure that there are good decisions and accountable decisions being made. The hundred million encounters individuals have with public agencies on a micro level – currently the endpoint of their interaction with decision-making in the public sector - can be transformed into examples of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1302140535484084827">Microdemocracy</a>."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.crescentcitycafe.com/">Crescent City Cafe</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3gmAuYjD6q3Y8R4328dRkCYR8cUsFp2OUhrOvOJUvxuars823xNerpum8TW1C-ApyQmgrHHZ9ISdhE54-YwjiPKQhdn975LKqHDcGW26nsemrUmh_1J3M4GSseKmgoQQJCyEOLt2FsFHs/s1600-h/dsc_0124-300x200.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3gmAuYjD6q3Y8R4328dRkCYR8cUsFp2OUhrOvOJUvxuars823xNerpum8TW1C-ApyQmgrHHZ9ISdhE54-YwjiPKQhdn975LKqHDcGW26nsemrUmh_1J3M4GSseKmgoQQJCyEOLt2FsFHs/s320/dsc_0124-300x200.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419722094938127634" /></a><br /><br />When we started NOLA YURP a few years ago, we looked for ways that young people from all over the city could connect with each other. The founders of Crescent City Cafe have not only found a way for young people to connect, but they also help feed the homeless with dignity while they are at it. Recently, the <a href="http://www.nola.com/religion/index.ssf/2009/12/post_5.html">media </a>has taken notice, and they are starting to get the attention they deserve.<br /><br /><a href="http://americancity.org/">Next American City Magazine</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqBk8g0TCcMAn4i8dU5EuFQpZbivld6IaW3Rt1fYKf7g69YOMcT750w6uUIEyoK1k_vEiXyLCKLwKvl1RpMHzrA1mjEPINEdkPDOxVyMJHQDrj-gZexHAoSfFzsVx2BecyaQPEPzbBAkUK/s1600-h/nac24_big.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 287px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqBk8g0TCcMAn4i8dU5EuFQpZbivld6IaW3Rt1fYKf7g69YOMcT750w6uUIEyoK1k_vEiXyLCKLwKvl1RpMHzrA1mjEPINEdkPDOxVyMJHQDrj-gZexHAoSfFzsVx2BecyaQPEPzbBAkUK/s320/nac24_big.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419722745189599602" /></a><br /><br /><br />Many improvements to cities can be drawn from the best practices of others. We can learn from their mistakes, while taking into account what others do well. Next American City has provided that blueprint, with academic, but readable investigative stories. They also combine their print magazine, with conferences and workshops around the country, and a superb website with daily blogs.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jamesperry2010.com/">James Perry<br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKIZsQ33kFX_efE8MKz1P1QmFdauzw_SdlzXMz3VWIlTD_0cClvhak79y55kh3Kym5zFv69Rc5SHLzqahqT7LX8PeTO0B6NU0y4teupuHy_g-qcmJT2nPQT7Y3Vs9c1-NJ7Cnu-jxNI-sG/s1600-h/n44367664564_2671.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKIZsQ33kFX_efE8MKz1P1QmFdauzw_SdlzXMz3VWIlTD_0cClvhak79y55kh3Kym5zFv69Rc5SHLzqahqT7LX8PeTO0B6NU0y4teupuHy_g-qcmJT2nPQT7Y3Vs9c1-NJ7Cnu-jxNI-sG/s320/n44367664564_2671.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419725423435610210" /></a><br /><br />With the field set, there is nobody else that will bring the change that James believes in. It is easy to criticize the candidates and to swing back and forth with every move they make, but James has consistently shown he has the policy knowledge and awareness that the others lack. New Orleans deserves politicians who understand what the average citizen is going through, and know the issues. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesPerry2010#p/a/u/2/T2B2jBCb5mM">Watch</a> James at a recent debate<br /><br /><a href="http://thelensnola.org/">The Lens<br /></a><br />A key ingredient to a healthy democracy is a news source that reports fairly, accurately and does not mind asking the tough questions. With many dailies cutting their investigative journalists, the public is in danger of being led astray. We need journalists to hold elected officials accountable and The Lens in New Orleans will keep this crucial tradition alive.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNvbcLccElo">Budrus</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYg1A82WkhtMx4oSCLr1fxmLAH0uCAr-JNOkl1Saf4lpB_y1kyUHA784nkHgG3NHkfUfG_NbqXBahDrb0vzRje0l884mPHV26AXQCZt5j7RM0gwUlHAIpqKW9U395QGKBb_iWQ5jmYpWiG/s1600-h/still11-thumb.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYg1A82WkhtMx4oSCLr1fxmLAH0uCAr-JNOkl1Saf4lpB_y1kyUHA784nkHgG3NHkfUfG_NbqXBahDrb0vzRje0l884mPHV26AXQCZt5j7RM0gwUlHAIpqKW9U395QGKBb_iWQ5jmYpWiG/s320/still11-thumb.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419735247873480098" /></a><br /><br />This documentary showcases a non-violent movement that portrays a partnership between Israelis and Palestinians. It already has won several awards and gives an accurate depiction of different sides of the conflict. You can read the synopsis, <a href="http://www.budrusthemovie.com/synopsis.html">here</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://greenstreetrecords.blogspot.com/">Green Street</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsyKCv0diHSgSHdEqLjaAajcf8jEkTQxzP15l5RXjW0CyOd7Eue26TiK0m4ljhPwRQcDEDkfkftr6viL4jgH33LJyLkxHKFKcw47YFHDhQ48ca0HaOayE0YL7RhDFLJviemmWY4-s_MDw/s1600-h/blog2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsyKCv0diHSgSHdEqLjaAajcf8jEkTQxzP15l5RXjW0CyOd7Eue26TiK0m4ljhPwRQcDEDkfkftr6viL4jgH33LJyLkxHKFKcw47YFHDhQ48ca0HaOayE0YL7RhDFLJviemmWY4-s_MDw/s320/blog2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419741256786861746" /></a><br /><br />Three and half years ago, I sat in their studio (upstairs bedroom) watching them mix records and talk about their music. This past year, they won the UMass Battle of the Bands and had some great performances in New York. I've been watching from afar and look forward to seeing what they come up with in 2010.<br /><br /><a href="http://ourfutureistbd.com/">TBD</a><br /><br />Over the past few years, we have seen the power of the email list. A good list is now worth a lot of money, and can be a valuable tool to spreading your product, organization or message. Unfortunately, most of the times, we are flooded with emails that we hardly even bother to read. What gets people to sign up to receive your information? According to people at TBD, inside information about a great cause. It's often hard to filter what is out there, and it helps to have a trusted source.Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-6908765840545304612009-12-06T21:47:00.000-08:002009-12-06T21:59:53.153-08:00Joe Biden may be on to something<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioWe6f1UYiG-lmUCUIdBFIV2XpL-cpX6D-ehGxcJ00BQ2k4o4kIjmJ0OnRqs5zpnnPTaZfp-KTBlkSNiyHz_QUPGQcexdfmOft3vVqN_Sxlaw4uhiOxBoqyvAc8gwJl64oixq5w6D9G4T4/s1600-h/articleLarge.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 233px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioWe6f1UYiG-lmUCUIdBFIV2XpL-cpX6D-ehGxcJ00BQ2k4o4kIjmJ0OnRqs5zpnnPTaZfp-KTBlkSNiyHz_QUPGQcexdfmOft3vVqN_Sxlaw4uhiOxBoqyvAc8gwJl64oixq5w6D9G4T4/s400/articleLarge.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412369547071572002" /></a><br />What is happening to Joe Biden's skepticism? From the Sunday NY Times<br /><br />"The deep skepticism he expressed at that opening session was reinforced by Mr. Biden, who rushed back overnight from a California trip to participate. Just as he had done in the spring, Mr. Biden expressed opposition to an expansive strategy requiring a big troop influx. Instead, he put an alternative on the table — rather than focus on nation building and population protection, do more to disrupt the Taliban, improve the quality of the training of Afghan forces and expand reconciliation efforts to peel off some Taliban fighters.<br /><br />Mr. Biden quickly became the most outspoken critic of the expected McChrystal troop request, arguing that Pakistan was the bigger priority, since that is where Al Qaeda is mainly based. “He was the bull in the china shop,” said one admiring administration official."<br /><br />Will we look back at Biden's caution and be remorseful? I watched Nightline the other night and saw young American soldiers sit in tanks, a few explosions, and a profile on the medic. In Vietnam, the media was used for the first time to show the horrors of war. Viewers at the time saw limbs torn off, and the awful cruelty of war. What I saw the other night was mild, eery, and tragically dull. I understood there was a war going on, but it was not happening on screen. Why aren't the images that leave soldiers with severe PTSD being shown to the American viewer? <br /><br />Again, why are we there? Frank Rich and Thomas Friedman don't know either. Do you?Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-76974027533734152162009-12-04T13:51:00.000-08:002009-12-04T13:57:09.955-08:00Bold<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-buQVqnOa9GvBsCFZ8jCPqV3CntBLQFXmZzAusbdl1JzHLbiqRh3ozXDyNdXYNc4GUia95IVd4HsGEZlMNLZrNffSaxaThasz1HsgIdEX_UwLSUxyBWlX7BSYK2xFbd7884WtmcQGuBT/s1600-h/articleInline.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 190px; height: 285px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-buQVqnOa9GvBsCFZ8jCPqV3CntBLQFXmZzAusbdl1JzHLbiqRh3ozXDyNdXYNc4GUia95IVd4HsGEZlMNLZrNffSaxaThasz1HsgIdEX_UwLSUxyBWlX7BSYK2xFbd7884WtmcQGuBT/s400/articleInline.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411503246190941202" /></a><br />There is so much on the internet. Where should I find stories of interest?<br /><br />Sometimes all it takes is nytimes.com<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/fashion/03Boyer.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=france,%20women,%20legislation&st=cse">Point, Shoot, Retouch and Label? </a><br /><br />"VALÉRIE BOYER is 47, a member of the French parliament and a divorced mother of three. She is tall, fashionable and, dare we say it, slim.<br /><br />But she has also created a small furor here and abroad with her latest proposal: a draft law that would require all digitally altered photographs of people used in advertising be labeled as retouched."<br /><br />This woman proposed some bold, innovative legislation. I will continue to follow this storyNathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-36095418683132645062009-12-02T14:36:00.000-08:002009-12-02T14:47:16.492-08:00John Brown: 150 years laterI was always fascinated with the story of revolutionary John Brown. Apparently today, so was the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/opinion/02reynolds.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=john%20brown&st=cse">NY Times</a>. <br /><br />David Reynolds, who wrote the piece today, is also behind, John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE04299A_EU0csG3HS0UJanEA7e6Tp7tlUkMq6L5Q9dtiy7H1otdF98z-BicX1rVgn67G-8S55HImA1SCAFMh2B3yALVfQu3sx6f_-wur-j-BayAVB7_qABsXxVfp0GTYcN_YyzrB1IrJI/s1600-h/0375411887.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 271px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE04299A_EU0csG3HS0UJanEA7e6Tp7tlUkMq6L5Q9dtiy7H1otdF98z-BicX1rVgn67G-8S55HImA1SCAFMh2B3yALVfQu3sx6f_-wur-j-BayAVB7_qABsXxVfp0GTYcN_YyzrB1IrJI/s400/0375411887.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410772817185875522" /></a><br /><br />Barbara Ehrenreich, who just spoiled America's obsession with positive thinking in her latest book, captured Brown's story and the way Reynolds re-created it, eloquently, ""[F]or all its wealth of detail and scrupulous attempts at balance, [JOHN BROWN, ABOLITIONIST] has a shockingly simple message: Far better to have future generations complain about your methods than condemn you for doing nothing."Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-27442473275822800692009-12-01T11:43:00.000-08:002009-12-01T12:23:58.350-08:00Mayor: No Mas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCykhngHT4w5vyDDE0y4NqKm9TKyaFOQ5ZUBJG7IQwnNoAQMh5JXhXaBwKLy-326YkLquFupSoKSPO_Gns3fUjDme9a6gEWowBITzPeBw6dmutcmbGj33P3LiGmJwf9bGMiZIi6RPq8Og/s1600/dixon.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCykhngHT4w5vyDDE0y4NqKm9TKyaFOQ5ZUBJG7IQwnNoAQMh5JXhXaBwKLy-326YkLquFupSoKSPO_Gns3fUjDme9a6gEWowBITzPeBw6dmutcmbGj33P3LiGmJwf9bGMiZIi6RPq8Og/s400/dixon.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410356724508388786" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/01/us/AP-US-BaltimoreMayorTri.html?hp">Baltimore’s Mayor Is Convicted </a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nomas-nyc.com/">No Mas</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKRN3IpjzEXvtYQqeY1ZpFalqgi-ninDgl8jviTx1aaPzbWxGpZRHC8IyXwhe9oUoZcYM6wRuRxBniHwQ0FaJpcCL1UG_kQ0vbCergMYWH1XCNSQo6VHQLxGz1c1JPJ5JhUHuPVnWi-Rv/s1600/DOCK-promo.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKRN3IpjzEXvtYQqeY1ZpFalqgi-ninDgl8jviTx1aaPzbWxGpZRHC8IyXwhe9oUoZcYM6wRuRxBniHwQ0FaJpcCL1UG_kQ0vbCergMYWH1XCNSQo6VHQLxGz1c1JPJ5JhUHuPVnWi-Rv/s400/DOCK-promo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410357378425719970" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd1EjJx4ZKH_CMzbiPQa6Vg2IvuqHEPDFJ-5nswJXuLc-nqOnnYRoDJvLLGSP_bFvUpPHdPKMEcACljJCkgY-yuNJadPO93QC1QOsL1GIFzQvuCH3qiRbwk-JbFEAHGaTKC6AXuGJiZPD9/s1600/Tyson-Holyfield-emailable-jpeg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd1EjJx4ZKH_CMzbiPQa6Vg2IvuqHEPDFJ-5nswJXuLc-nqOnnYRoDJvLLGSP_bFvUpPHdPKMEcACljJCkgY-yuNJadPO93QC1QOsL1GIFzQvuCH3qiRbwk-JbFEAHGaTKC6AXuGJiZPD9/s400/Tyson-Holyfield-emailable-jpeg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410357477378107298" /></a>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-3969750951171351702009-11-03T10:13:00.000-08:002009-11-03T11:05:50.453-08:00Blakely- Mayor, Problem Solver, Recovery Tsar, Police Chief and Heartbreaker<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPc6PcecLccHNMwcIsdWCNUQ3079GaewajsCZ-2OW8Yptprz4dcWe8XPtKgTMJ-yAUaeAsuwYtLSQzuMO2aPzeiBjXLobqBSDAfB1WR9j7UyWwXi6Mf5tcCGfob4dZQTHb3ZjELy3CLHVt/s1600-h/heartbreaker.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPc6PcecLccHNMwcIsdWCNUQ3079GaewajsCZ-2OW8Yptprz4dcWe8XPtKgTMJ-yAUaeAsuwYtLSQzuMO2aPzeiBjXLobqBSDAfB1WR9j7UyWwXi6Mf5tcCGfob4dZQTHb3ZjELy3CLHVt/s400/heartbreaker.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399951542063321202" /></a><br />In December 2006, New Orleans hired someone to lead the Recovery. After more than a year of planning, there was a glimmer of hope when Dr. Ed Blakely arrived. He appeared to be confident, emotionally stable, and seemed to have the technical skills to take the planning and turn it into implementation. As an Americorps volunteer, I went to listen to him, on January 29th 2007, introduce himself to the people of New Orleans. <br /><br />"Tonight at the University of New Orleans Alumni Center, Ed Blakely spoke to New Orleans residents about his new role as "Recovery Tsar." He began by apologizing for having to run out early, but the mayor had a "fire drill." Several interpretations of that phrase could be made, but it was actually supposed to mean a meeting between the city and the tourism industry. But his main point for the twenty minutes that he spoke was, he was the new sheriff in town, " I've been involved in post disaster planning, California after the earthquakes and New York City after 9/11...rebuilding cities is my kind of bag, it's what I do."<br /><br /> At that point, the 150 people in the room gave a huge sigh of relief and at least for one moment, thought the city was going to be rebuilt tomorrow. A few minutes later, Blakely stated his three vital necessities to improving and rebuilding the city. On each necessity, he received a couple forceful claps from a man in the back of the room, but the rest of the crowd was not ready to worship the newest man to take the heat away from Nagin.Vital necessity #1- Rebuilding of our port to support international trade. Vital necessity #2- Make Health Care a Major Export. Vital necessity #3- Tap into the Digital Economy-export New Orleans music. Once the floor was opened to the public for questions, just two, because Blakely had to go to his fire drill, reality set back in.<br /><br /> The first question, asked by a professorial-type middle aged white man, was about how HANO was not allowing <br />people to return to their public housing units. Blakely said firmly that he is going to Washington to figure it out. Next question. A middle-age black woman, asking what he was going to do about people stealing copper from her home? Very quickly and confidently, he told her that the "police can't do the work the community must do themselves...take a picture," then he got ready to walk out, " and send it to me, and I will put them in jail." Blakely marched over to the woman, shook her hand, and as she tried to kiss him on the cheek, he stormed out of the building as if there was a fire alarm. Mayor, problem solver, recovery tsar, police chief, and heart breaker!"<br /><br />Almost three years later, he made some alarming comments in an interview conducted by the Cal-Berkeley public access <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcVOvMFat-c">station</a>. Maybe he didn't think New Orleans would see it. The video was posted on October 16th. We almost missed it. But the <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/11/post_112.html">Times-Picayune</a> analyzed his inflammatory interview yesterday, and it set off a firestorm. I can only imagine the frustrations he faced when he tried to implement his vision. Yet, he was never able to build the diverse coalition that is mandatory to push for reform. <br /><br />There is always a fine line between emitting confidence and acting arrogant. I know there were people who really respected his work, his intellect and his hope for the city, but he always seemed to over promise to the citizens. We needed hope, but we also wanted public officials to be honest with us about the reality of the recovery. Too many times in New Orleans, public officials promised us the world, but then couldn't even get a major intersection light fixed. As you can see above, he may have been correct about our "vital necessities" for recovery. But by saying in his recent interview, that he wanted to leave more than a year earlier than his summer of 2009 departure, Dr. Blakely mentally checked out prematurely, and ultimately, acted his role, as heartbreaker.Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-73230460732923869802009-10-20T21:12:00.000-07:002009-10-20T21:40:44.734-07:00A Retrospective on Planning in New Orleans<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17_jyA5h9JKN3lIL89F8C26NCkXicqceO4o_Itv2t2CsHrnvB4IeDUfgM12seijAfZM24zRdgR9VukK94HDs7lutjg1DGzoAN_IsO2qoC_ODSodxQhrAXas20D9lXPDFCGs6OdU8WeE9d/s1600-h/NOUR_poster_FN3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17_jyA5h9JKN3lIL89F8C26NCkXicqceO4o_Itv2t2CsHrnvB4IeDUfgM12seijAfZM24zRdgR9VukK94HDs7lutjg1DGzoAN_IsO2qoC_ODSodxQhrAXas20D9lXPDFCGs6OdU8WeE9d/s400/NOUR_poster_FN3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394902317638447906" /></a><br />This weekend planners and academics are gathering at <a href="http://www.project-neworleans.org">Tulane</a> to analyze all the planning that has occurred since Katrina. It should be interesting to all, especially those who sat in hours of steering committee meetings, voted for their favorite planner, and pressed a button at the Community Congresses. <br /><br />Three years ago, on my second night in New Orleans, I sat in the St. Joseph's Church on Tulane Avenue and listened to a planner tell residents to write out a wish list, and it will come true. About a month later, the Lambert Plan had turned into the UNOP plan. The first city wide meeting was to be held at the Pavilion at City Park. This blurb was taken from a piece I wrote three years ago. You can find more of the photos and a review of the plans at the site created by Jed Horne and Brendan Nee at <a href="http://www.nolaplans.com">nolaplans.com</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCtwLr1ltz10nmPr99V7QyiwjJbq9r2zurXr4XvxhP4tpdaoMNfAd31rldHUrKzvHzBJZ2w_tol253rD2Bpau5TEOgfzu1m9EuZQeoixtHcaGyTd6HgQlSoUMUCcKQO48ovZk9eBLe2-vU/s1600-h/main.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCtwLr1ltz10nmPr99V7QyiwjJbq9r2zurXr4XvxhP4tpdaoMNfAd31rldHUrKzvHzBJZ2w_tol253rD2Bpau5TEOgfzu1m9EuZQeoixtHcaGyTd6HgQlSoUMUCcKQO48ovZk9eBLe2-vU/s400/main.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394907327963561826" /></a> <br /><br />"When I arrived at the Pavilion at five minutes to twelve, there was already a long line stretching out the door. It had the feeling of voting day in any city where the polling stations are inefficient and under supplied. Some people were registered and could just walk in once they received a packet, but others had to wait in line to register. By 12:30, people were still streaming in. In the middle of the room were two large tables with food and drink. On each side, were makeshift dividers, that made six sections on the left side, and seven on the right. The thirteen total "rooms" signified the number of planning districts in the city. I found District 4 and was told to put on the map a red sticker where I lived. It was quite amusing to see a bunch of older citizens with small red dots in their hands trying to get them off their fingers and on to the map. Once everyone had a sticker on the map, it was clear there were too many concerned citizens in our district. While other districts had empty seats, district 4 was over capacity. People crowded around the edges and leaked over into other districts. Behind me was the district that included Lakeview. After Concordia welcomed everyone and gave a brief overview of the process, our district 4 session began. Right from the beginning, it was clear that the citizens had a better understanding of the planning process than the facilitators. Carlos, our facilitator wearing a guavera, a short white moustache and thin reading glasses, began speaking, but was quickly interjected.Nobody could hear him. All of the chatter around the room was quickly invading our privacy, and communication was breaking down. Carlos was way over his head, and was very confused about the process.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh8VeBR5OshIB0Mu2pKbAlRJLmRFpbJsmO_Uf_wQz0oW8TXWpzr7fmEW0mEtcuPX6QeHWEQ03acUm3hX5NMG9wZ9HYEqdMxQ5VY36LaimsXtcUNd7S3CP_pX4pz9QMgaJ_6RHoiDtxoUSJ/s1600-h/main-1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh8VeBR5OshIB0Mu2pKbAlRJLmRFpbJsmO_Uf_wQz0oW8TXWpzr7fmEW0mEtcuPX6QeHWEQ03acUm3hX5NMG9wZ9HYEqdMxQ5VY36LaimsXtcUNd7S3CP_pX4pz9QMgaJ_6RHoiDtxoUSJ/s400/main-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394908058285012690" /></a><br /><br /> Throughout the meeting, he had to look down at his notes to see what to do or ask next. He also still had a red dot on his forehead. Somehow it had not landed on the map. It was embarrassing. Thirty minutes into the meeting, a representative from Concordia had to get on the microphone and tell people to use an "inside voice." I felt scolded. When we were allowed to speak again, we were told by Carlos to break off into small groups and write down what the most important criteria is for picking a planning team. We were also given colorful markers! People wanted planners with experience in urban planning, the ability to implement projects, skills to decode the funding matrix and having the background to address issues of racial and economic diversity. Carlos really liked how we all had our thinking hats on! As I walked around the room listening to different conversations, there was a variation of responses to this organized chaos. In some districts, people were literally yelling at each other, in others, people were just yelling to be heard. Every five minutes, the noise level would rise, and never fall back to the old volume. But wherever I went, I heard similar criticism. People felt patronized. Grown men and women were being treated as children. By 3pm, many people were already too frustrated by the process, and had left. Two Sisters Pavilion had begun to empty out, making it easier for the people remaining, to hear each other. By the time 4pm rolled around, people were fed up and ready to go home. They needed a break since they would be back in just a few days. As people left, you could feel the concern and reservations people had about the process."Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-28822473973811223202009-10-19T13:13:00.000-07:002009-10-19T13:51:26.366-07:00Around the Globe According to my Gmail InboxA digest of my inbox 10/19/09- <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidW5WrfXarU9xgH4OAfCoUl1W-uU3m3hliFtJr5c4tMIaopTt1nQkhMyJr2EOJqv6SBcVtRW9k6Jhm2D30AAiaI5rKsVb_Jy3mhylrM-EppzaNgwzqggF7avrBKHFv25Bic-T4bRax_Akl/s1600-h/10330_586623888889_2808409_34722787_7805756_n.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 105px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidW5WrfXarU9xgH4OAfCoUl1W-uU3m3hliFtJr5c4tMIaopTt1nQkhMyJr2EOJqv6SBcVtRW9k6Jhm2D30AAiaI5rKsVb_Jy3mhylrM-EppzaNgwzqggF7avrBKHFv25Bic-T4bRax_Akl/s400/10330_586623888889_2808409_34722787_7805756_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394407370244780946" /></a><br /><br /><br />Erica Trani, owner of <a href="http://inexchange.org/default.aspx">In Exchange</a> is having a Super Sale<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pnola.org">Phoenix of New Orleans</a> (my first job in New Orleans) is making a big push to finish in the Top 10 of America's Giving Challenge.Help them out!<br /><br />Groundwork NOLA is having an event on October 22nd to showcase their rain gardens. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtC2Vups4f5i0HAAAHRsfW-3edt43HFlTE5RNciRxt4r4WWwVUxjb6zxEHHkRIqTLciG_n8i3WGyDQ5tQgoKMi22o9ZE85LiOJeu58wJPNbaEQRuXcIGZird-lQpYarl47m9ZFpQQ-SGA/s1600-h/-1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtC2Vups4f5i0HAAAHRsfW-3edt43HFlTE5RNciRxt4r4WWwVUxjb6zxEHHkRIqTLciG_n8i3WGyDQ5tQgoKMi22o9ZE85LiOJeu58wJPNbaEQRuXcIGZird-lQpYarl47m9ZFpQQ-SGA/s400/-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394409124465493602" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.veryshortlist.com">Very Short List</a> introduces me to <a href="http://vimeo.com/3097281">"One Love"</a><br /><a href="http://www.idealist.org/if/idealist/en/CareerFair/Viewer/default?career-fair-id=234"><br />Idealist.org</a> is having a graduate school fair at Tulane on October 29th<br /><a href="http://www.moveon.org"><br />Moveon.org</a> is telling me to call FED EX ((901) 369-3600) and encourage them to leave the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is spending a 100 million to stop the public option. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.servicenation.org/"> Service Nation</a> announces a partnership with Banana Republic. <br /><br /><a href="http://mangoswithchili.wordpress.com/">Mangos with Chilis</a> is showing Wednesday night <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz1l-K8SViUBZ50Yw4nkrDjwdv0sbrg-ToWqfXHVR79iKuG9T3USIUgWsjmk6r4LK5vXRR7Tk74eJaY10S6DrbXq_LJ2Z9qMQkWeoGL5r8xsa1xdhI1oioR3h6drFWlwocJ2HtVaUaifZd/s1600-h/238.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz1l-K8SViUBZ50Yw4nkrDjwdv0sbrg-ToWqfXHVR79iKuG9T3USIUgWsjmk6r4LK5vXRR7Tk74eJaY10S6DrbXq_LJ2Z9qMQkWeoGL5r8xsa1xdhI1oioR3h6drFWlwocJ2HtVaUaifZd/s400/238.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394414776382707154" /></a><br /><br /><br />Integrated Planning Webinar by <a href="http://www.synthesispartnership.com/clients7.html">Synthesis Partnership</a><br /><a href="https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/713/l/eng/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=55256"><br />GRN'S</a> Cruising for the Coast Fundraiser<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqy9DPeAr03D1Ytb5-b4nZM8lAvSvqFzjN7e3Kg0nthUblPUp4WM-ja7yXSTkwahwHBBbHl3SAnK4sJs0GBlUGuLmfovaGP_dxO7xZLg1eK5U0gXiAGAoiw5yvT3h0sBSziFF9aR7ARxAb/s1600-h/MS09+button-big.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqy9DPeAr03D1Ytb5-b4nZM8lAvSvqFzjN7e3Kg0nthUblPUp4WM-ja7yXSTkwahwHBBbHl3SAnK4sJs0GBlUGuLmfovaGP_dxO7xZLg1eK5U0gXiAGAoiw5yvT3h0sBSziFF9aR7ARxAb/s400/MS09+button-big.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394415614362511570" /></a>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-53225582442648544752009-10-14T17:15:00.000-07:002009-10-15T18:22:28.049-07:00Trying something new<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzVJEIhK3WCWunBlL-qmmq2FY7IZ6bDwXNtLFlaaw3mZbD2QdpFjcT8WahkedQmwgwkHYNVQgzMnozBExSH9HHV6sBOH636cXkMQiyIC-3uKYk4aIDe7WnkdrxulEndNYiycqK0KPs0gc/s1600-h/deval-obama.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzVJEIhK3WCWunBlL-qmmq2FY7IZ6bDwXNtLFlaaw3mZbD2QdpFjcT8WahkedQmwgwkHYNVQgzMnozBExSH9HHV6sBOH636cXkMQiyIC-3uKYk4aIDe7WnkdrxulEndNYiycqK0KPs0gc/s400/deval-obama.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393000640806500002" /></a><br />Sam Yoon, who I had the chance to meet in February ( the cover of the Boston Phoenix when I was there, was Yoon being carried by Obama and Patrick), came in third last month in his bid for Mayor. When we met in his corner office at City Hall, I was impressed by his humility, and graciousness. He listened, as <a href="http://www.jamesperry2010.com/">James Perry</a>(who has now raised money from nearly 600 donors!) explained his story and they bonded over the belief that the old guard had had their moment. It was time for a new generation of leaders. More than six months later, it has been inspiring to watch from afar, as Yoon has joined hands with his former rival, Michel Flaherty. If Flaherty wins, Yoon will join him as the Deputy Mayor. <br /><br />Today, I got a call from one of their volunteers, asking, with a strong Boston accent, " Since you are a Yoon supporter, will you consider voting for Flaherty?" Yes, I would, but I live in New Orleans. She asked me about the weather, which I replied, "It's hot."<br /><br />I like their game plan. Also, <a href="http://www.alanforsenate.com/">Alan Khazei</a> is battling for a spot as the new Senator from Massachusetts. Last September, I joined hundreds of others dedicated to national community service in New York City, for a conference that Khazai's group, <a href="http://www.servicenation.org/">Service Nation</a> put together. It was an impressive guest list, so when he reported that he raised a million dollars in one week, it did not surprise me. He is still an underdog, but worth watching, and rooting for. <br /><br />Since Obama is in town, he may want to take a look at recommendations for a <a href="http://nathanrothstein.blogspot.com/2008/11/barack-obamas-new-orleans-cabinet.html">New Orleans Cabinet</a>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-55408020096488271752009-10-13T22:51:00.000-07:002009-10-13T22:58:47.048-07:00Images<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4iJ9Fp0BQO7O-4a7H3aBoAausNcxQxUQxPXYY02SYQghvPiSurCmCk6dTiQnIMaU1BRlJkLZXx_-bTTIrsmXdKysF7CHshuQ-U6jp1SmmxvR9eYrm_j6lmzKG4VTmRMuQPSN9CMIGMyNW/s1600-h/9220_190203394224_571789224_3796855_6668897_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4iJ9Fp0BQO7O-4a7H3aBoAausNcxQxUQxPXYY02SYQghvPiSurCmCk6dTiQnIMaU1BRlJkLZXx_-bTTIrsmXdKysF7CHshuQ-U6jp1SmmxvR9eYrm_j6lmzKG4VTmRMuQPSN9CMIGMyNW/s320/9220_190203394224_571789224_3796855_6668897_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392329546995816642" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2lPslGKoTLEd32Fk2Mz_OV5plfNGDRSWDUhJrWr1ULUHHkvVgQ73USOe5Yv6VLCyyUGFVDUN3Jf09lRwCZ070SLG4LloaPDilTXzu21Sx2HfyJ1uxEktkKPzC9jFWOEHbV4lvfsC9roT/s1600-h/5811_154919614224_571789224_3380039_8171093_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 208px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2lPslGKoTLEd32Fk2Mz_OV5plfNGDRSWDUhJrWr1ULUHHkvVgQ73USOe5Yv6VLCyyUGFVDUN3Jf09lRwCZ070SLG4LloaPDilTXzu21Sx2HfyJ1uxEktkKPzC9jFWOEHbV4lvfsC9roT/s320/5811_154919614224_571789224_3380039_8171093_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392329540241950642" /></a><br /><br />Photography by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=571789224&ref=nf">Noah Cameron Ksiazkiewicz</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw0CYLBNK6bKhxLaF-Ngzi_sQYDG1veZBk8rMMKnJ81TolWMfN0qEnpP93decHE-a6bVIoOKkGnyM2XMcayo8JzO0btDlFgWQ92z0heXptwoutmXI-gVB7FK-ftlZUXrmuPN2V1aAC9uZ1/s1600-h/rssp5d.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw0CYLBNK6bKhxLaF-Ngzi_sQYDG1veZBk8rMMKnJ81TolWMfN0qEnpP93decHE-a6bVIoOKkGnyM2XMcayo8JzO0btDlFgWQ92z0heXptwoutmXI-gVB7FK-ftlZUXrmuPN2V1aAC9uZ1/s320/rssp5d.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392330025580363826" /></a><br /><br />Music by <a href="http://www.myspace.com/floopyhead">Floopy Head</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk6VtCZ5SVRPHqwqFf-YnsWw-l_sASlVFtH70QwKs8yjkcgec2D6InAnm5UV1BeN7k1AhTwgWnVuUBCc7od0vwCZbvw0HUP-MghUv9rMpsEamT2YHhKCiMGFVHV9iS-P9gPCo2xhrLPTpZ/s1600-h/GOOD-magazine-100.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 308px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk6VtCZ5SVRPHqwqFf-YnsWw-l_sASlVFtH70QwKs8yjkcgec2D6InAnm5UV1BeN7k1AhTwgWnVuUBCc7od0vwCZbvw0HUP-MghUv9rMpsEamT2YHhKCiMGFVHV9iS-P9gPCo2xhrLPTpZ/s400/GOOD-magazine-100.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392330803779813362" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />The making of one of the <a href="http://awesome.good.is/good100/scenes.html">greatest magazine covers</a>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-53380380893656744152009-10-12T15:05:00.000-07:002009-10-12T20:32:04.425-07:00This is what I read this weekend... sometimes out loud<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmezFW7hW7yDQyD-fqI-Ccm27PQs_GO6s9RsKbPt_Of-z9piZMVHczLTJqFl8YPuJys347z_wqLN5dHSY4GJ5IU-r7MuPcQwLOFOEvEZByPZej46OfZv1_1oTeEswPT0KzMmq92kcM5Ki/s1600-h/clintontapes_large.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 162px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmezFW7hW7yDQyD-fqI-Ccm27PQs_GO6s9RsKbPt_Of-z9piZMVHczLTJqFl8YPuJys347z_wqLN5dHSY4GJ5IU-r7MuPcQwLOFOEvEZByPZej46OfZv1_1oTeEswPT0KzMmq92kcM5Ki/s320/clintontapes_large.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391838538922566050" /></a><br />How <a href="http://www.taylorbranch.com">Taylor Branch</a> decides to spend hours with Clinton in the White House, and then produces this magnificent tome. Chapter two of The Clinton Tapes<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/12/091012fa_fact_lizza">New Yorker</a> had an overview of Larry Summers career and what it means that Obama has picked him as the head of the NEC. This excerpt was worth reading out loud. This is even more provocative than the certain comment he made over a decade later as President of Harvard. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJ39XRViwS6YAVfTg3yxgHo3lLoUpSTGCKjd6SdlaPyBkkUGfnYmHer-8CTcwgWQ3G2KgeEGI_DS9TVCQyXAVyWb0_b5ySgsGAD86_Vwxxce4kQWinrcc3gY3OoHyg8NBIpTVDKGA5gqI/s1600-h/2-larry_summers.11.07.08._color_lrg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJ39XRViwS6YAVfTg3yxgHo3lLoUpSTGCKjd6SdlaPyBkkUGfnYmHer-8CTcwgWQ3G2KgeEGI_DS9TVCQyXAVyWb0_b5ySgsGAD86_Vwxxce4kQWinrcc3gY3OoHyg8NBIpTVDKGA5gqI/s320/2-larry_summers.11.07.08._color_lrg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391917431745768930" /></a><br /><br />"At the World Bank, in 1991, Summers’s penchant for provocation had led him to sign a memo written by a subordinate, which argued—in a tone that was meant to be outrageous, in the hope of stimulating debate—that developed countries should ship their pollution to the Third World. “The economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest-wage country is impeccable,” the memo said, citing the mutual benefits of such an arrangement between developed and undeveloped countries (one group had lots of waste; the other needed ways to make money). It was the kind of argument that would thrill a college debater but which in the world of public policy can be a killer. The so-called “toxic memo” was leaked to the press in 1992, precipitating an avalanche of outrage from columnists and environmentalists. Al Gore, the incoming Vice-President, made it clear that Summers was not welcome in the new White House."<br /><br />Read the article to learn about what he told Cornel West to make him flee Harvard for Princeton. Just as good as the juice above.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYvYT-GaPHk2gKjL6jSlXXXrqQO4d5dWkQ64x_ja4pyOBEZZaAYCp0y4xApxesZ7BstLoh2C6jWj1SWEdJZ3zXGnvje_WpqjOmZiBQWvR6VxMzyd6wCd7mPM-coGoLpNfG8dnv4Rz5tOc/s1600-h/givenday.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 151px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYvYT-GaPHk2gKjL6jSlXXXrqQO4d5dWkQ64x_ja4pyOBEZZaAYCp0y4xApxesZ7BstLoh2C6jWj1SWEdJZ3zXGnvje_WpqjOmZiBQWvR6VxMzyd6wCd7mPM-coGoLpNfG8dnv4Rz5tOc/s320/givenday.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391918445605083138" /></a><br /><br />Chapter 2 of <a href="http://www.dennislehanebooks.com/books/givenday/index.html">The Given Day</a>. The first chapter was read at an airport a year ago. It describes the scene during the first world war of Babe Ruth's train breaking down, and he finds a group of African-Americans playing pick-up. He joins. For me, a year later, the second chapter is set in South Boston. The police, like today, were not paid enough and needed to have intramural boxing matches to raise funds. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2GTFgTcliSEjx8w8LN7ZITYYRdzN-rlfMDgLjyeh8q2SmFxmRVn8UDKM1zFFr65hMJR2nSu-ecfjEUqRpYxia4g9Xff-jfFME5L3YtPDpGzNUm2ONZ09bnwmE1sLnAJYO600W4bg9dNTK/s1600-h/franklin.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2GTFgTcliSEjx8w8LN7ZITYYRdzN-rlfMDgLjyeh8q2SmFxmRVn8UDKM1zFFr65hMJR2nSu-ecfjEUqRpYxia4g9Xff-jfFME5L3YtPDpGzNUm2ONZ09bnwmE1sLnAJYO600W4bg9dNTK/s320/franklin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391919878377917266" /></a><br /><br />The first chapter of Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography, describes his fallout with his brother. His brother had started one of Boston's first newspapers, but Franklin was excluded, for being too young. He ended up falling out of graces with his publisher brother, and painfully details his horrific, yet character building, travels to Philadelphia. The rest is history, inventions, government, and enterprise.<br /><br />Worthy enough to note-<br /><br />Gusman finally gets the media tongue lashing he <a href="http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/PrintFriendly?oid=62929">deserves</a> and Next American City <a href="http://americancity.org/daily/entry/1839/">recap</a>s the Feast in NYCNathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-8563161289312971452009-10-08T10:35:00.001-07:002009-10-08T10:53:55.980-07:00Tutti, Twitter and Things<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTbbJqyq7Fxp-LfEYTS0HCsn_67ITTSu7RIquMSVqQSq5D2aDy1Rn9Wf92b2bbzY8DUYcRpdk06b7d5QOvJ2dr6Mgow6sOpPq5hGR3PmDdZ_n_Cd2UmaSi1oyw66UoONUwK8vlwT7euW1/s1600-h/n98630184906_3450.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTbbJqyq7Fxp-LfEYTS0HCsn_67ITTSu7RIquMSVqQSq5D2aDy1Rn9Wf92b2bbzY8DUYcRpdk06b7d5QOvJ2dr6Mgow6sOpPq5hGR3PmDdZ_n_Cd2UmaSi1oyw66UoONUwK8vlwT7euW1/s320/n98630184906_3450.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390285061267105650" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.tuttidynamics.com">Tutti Dynamics</a><br /><br /><br /><br />My good friend Darren Hoffman's company is the first to create an iphone App in New Orleans. "Super Looper." He is also finishing up a documentary about Jazz in New Orleans. Watch the <a href="http://http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tutti-Dynamics/98630184906?ref=ts">preview</a><br /><br /><br />My dad's organization, <a href="http://rightquestion.org/"><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Right Question Project</span>,</a> hits the Social Media Universe with a Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Right-Question-Project/288907585462?ref=mf">Fan Page</a> and a <a href="http://www.twitter.com/rightquestion">Twitter Page</a><br /><br /><br />Erez Horovitz, who spent a month blogging and photographing for <a href="http://nolayurp.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html">nolayurp</a> last September<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7YMQJVq7x9Zov5QW2dMzxRt7dy60y3wJxIdZvK-t8C6YOgP8Q5Zrzf3FGqnNiS689lK60Ua4Y5-WFNEU3UsyUhyWEkU9EQ6Q_VqowMghEiqhIN81FalRL5rf3dTcwTzQTbT1aIV8nDVu/s1600-h/Nate+at+post+gustav+npn+meeting-19.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7YMQJVq7x9Zov5QW2dMzxRt7dy60y3wJxIdZvK-t8C6YOgP8Q5Zrzf3FGqnNiS689lK60Ua4Y5-WFNEU3UsyUhyWEkU9EQ6Q_VqowMghEiqhIN81FalRL5rf3dTcwTzQTbT1aIV8nDVu/s320/Nate+at+post+gustav+npn+meeting-19.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390287165019423938" /></a><br /><br /> is back in New Orleans capturing photos. He has been traveling around the country, beautifully capturing our country's best and worst attributes. Here are some photos from his first day on the trip. You have to request his friendship to see them. Don't be afraid, I will encourage him to accept. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtyeI2IINAWG_IczoRQ0cfheVMn7ZUUtA3ZD2T8r0NNOvE97JHgvJAl3rZRtelbMyMrhQIhVdbRcvz0xRQeUcfVmlp5kTkvrGGQMtFekLZnnrdFCKc2gbElRTmV_LdnLcsfpBz6oDeXyn1/s1600-h/9318_149689347969_685757969_2560872_7002684_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtyeI2IINAWG_IczoRQ0cfheVMn7ZUUtA3ZD2T8r0NNOvE97JHgvJAl3rZRtelbMyMrhQIhVdbRcvz0xRQeUcfVmlp5kTkvrGGQMtFekLZnnrdFCKc2gbElRTmV_LdnLcsfpBz6oDeXyn1/s320/9318_149689347969_685757969_2560872_7002684_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390287963777314098" /></a><br /><br />This opportunity was passed on to me from my friends at <a href="http://www.startinbloc.org">Startingbloc</a>, check it <a href="http://startingbloc.org/files/On_Purpose.pdf">out</a>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-39498375810784080932009-09-12T14:25:00.000-07:002009-09-12T14:29:52.152-07:00Katrina Op-ed in NY Jewish Week<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjd0tlUYlxNT07DVGa6yX6Rs34OZMuEu7EroHhyphenhyphenGaV_kwg5rCwtK9N6Pjx3XFNGPnjVhDplU1mzDPkB3wn7U9vDFrWIZAFb-CxkR6TfSx2MZW6FS-Hoa4EgoirEUECkfH63QIzD8hyphenhyphenZM9P/s1600-h/lakeview.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjd0tlUYlxNT07DVGa6yX6Rs34OZMuEu7EroHhyphenhyphenGaV_kwg5rCwtK9N6Pjx3XFNGPnjVhDplU1mzDPkB3wn7U9vDFrWIZAFb-CxkR6TfSx2MZW6FS-Hoa4EgoirEUECkfH63QIzD8hyphenhyphenZM9P/s320/lakeview.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380696075700916466" /></a><br /><br />By Nathan Rothstein<br /><br />In late August of 2005, a hurricane started brewing in the Gulf, gained momentum, and struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast and southern Louisiana. As we now know, the levees that the Army Corps of Engineers maintained, failed, and the rest is history. Deep in the comfort of my college bubble in Amherst, MA, my connection to New Orleans was as weak as the levees that had failed the city. I saw the images of black people waiting at the Superdome and Convention Center -- but then I switched the channel.<br /><br />Sometimes a college student still needs some pushing from his mother to make social change. I was no exception. In the fall, my mother had received a newsletter from the Hillel about an Alternative Spring Break Trip to the Gulf Coast. She picked up the phone and encouraged me to sign up. The Jewish community, like many other religious communities, had responded immediately to the disaster, in many ways shaming the government's failure to assist Americans in the disaster zone. By January of 2006, Hillel was already sending down hundreds of college students from around the country to do relief work.<br /><a href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c55_a16606/Editorial__Opinion/Opinion.html"><br />Full Article</a>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-4665585161296617682009-02-23T17:32:00.000-08:002009-02-23T17:39:26.701-08:00On the Campaign Trail<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AN-TMZlYxhsUAgBPYpbicnujGPFP6H2ThkA-l8I68kR_CHa-Dsankns43NRm0bKPB9AHSzE-W_6sJm57WUMu7f-1eKgtS_aJo446_199Sr2DCesQ8w_SlnaxiRoM8DOASEO2tyvjU037/s1600-h/IMG_1528.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AN-TMZlYxhsUAgBPYpbicnujGPFP6H2ThkA-l8I68kR_CHa-Dsankns43NRm0bKPB9AHSzE-W_6sJm57WUMu7f-1eKgtS_aJo446_199Sr2DCesQ8w_SlnaxiRoM8DOASEO2tyvjU037/s320/IMG_1528.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306172478852879186" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtcl2lLVxhVGaX8Pb-XrTuny6Gx7FjvO1UVlzP668m5tYRC8agFY1imwt9f7sEjGqXWmo1UUXCWyHxz6SOwEW95q3rMTatSKdarKUU24nwdBVOAhEbkwJQeAAqBVSp5vLU4O6DSktgj8U/s1600-h/IMG_1538.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtcl2lLVxhVGaX8Pb-XrTuny6Gx7FjvO1UVlzP668m5tYRC8agFY1imwt9f7sEjGqXWmo1UUXCWyHxz6SOwEW95q3rMTatSKdarKUU24nwdBVOAhEbkwJQeAAqBVSp5vLU4O6DSktgj8U/s320/IMG_1538.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306172478375863010" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQRtbnkmTJ9EiW1HohW3_fSGwqd5_MMEilZCwF0-o5DUYliyR9nuNkHJKZ19n-EFjkOU17BTf_gHL12HJcQ9Ny6CIsYFMFFJPPmNK_D9UkZGXe2s1bmwp0_-jADssPacuzX8enHIjywWF0/s1600-h/IMG_1430.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQRtbnkmTJ9EiW1HohW3_fSGwqd5_MMEilZCwF0-o5DUYliyR9nuNkHJKZ19n-EFjkOU17BTf_gHL12HJcQ9Ny6CIsYFMFFJPPmNK_D9UkZGXe2s1bmwp0_-jADssPacuzX8enHIjywWF0/s320/IMG_1430.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306172473304099090" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jemWgrWtkePqnQycISSRXWEMkpujrE6EyQ-jyelhKMbIK2F3GPDep-Uv3ZoGdWzbrJjlzbqD8KG8jyJyQeium1qxUBrcXzGb0AaZnOFhJH-D2p4noouB8awdzPAlNwpxwDutsALnVsYV/s1600-h/IMG_1545.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jemWgrWtkePqnQycISSRXWEMkpujrE6EyQ-jyelhKMbIK2F3GPDep-Uv3ZoGdWzbrJjlzbqD8KG8jyJyQeium1qxUBrcXzGb0AaZnOFhJH-D2p4noouB8awdzPAlNwpxwDutsALnVsYV/s320/IMG_1545.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306171795162975810" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFkL_-VVqSBSVNj7_O_ouC0KmspPZXTxBkxofPwIMEjyjxQWGz6MiKdm47_H5NqjtvfE6Knesf8qK9qp1K6JgfzR1ghjkk_sGDd8sdYz6LQo0zVcKHSOQf-rSGQlKLk7xm5cgp7dDt42hG/s1600-h/IMG_1547.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFkL_-VVqSBSVNj7_O_ouC0KmspPZXTxBkxofPwIMEjyjxQWGz6MiKdm47_H5NqjtvfE6Knesf8qK9qp1K6JgfzR1ghjkk_sGDd8sdYz6LQo0zVcKHSOQf-rSGQlKLk7xm5cgp7dDt42hG/s320/IMG_1547.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306171790430239618" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMU52PIQvX14c9n7GctNXq137uyA3aLv_PNdmSxusg7J3MNaCl6FGqVKSIFPIAptlrvm1PVUCZTiO9fSCTkHkCUI06s6JdqqNo-S7uZ9tO87R5ybBMBCiK-u8OrrV5-zUZgWaS4GnlCmH/s1600-h/IMG_1556.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMU52PIQvX14c9n7GctNXq137uyA3aLv_PNdmSxusg7J3MNaCl6FGqVKSIFPIAptlrvm1PVUCZTiO9fSCTkHkCUI06s6JdqqNo-S7uZ9tO87R5ybBMBCiK-u8OrrV5-zUZgWaS4GnlCmH/s320/IMG_1556.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306171778453540450" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAYTyM8HfRL5nYxdSNu8ivNUkQPgJ-sLO-j2KB3JF-uSRwWnCKuTUgmKbHDy_0K7YUv69nNyKP5V8UOVuRV9E6RTBOdmfmYN5HherXMBE4AqAk4Jc48ZGyrxm4IL1_lzCRFgZlYSLbpfQ/s1600-h/IMG_1566.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAYTyM8HfRL5nYxdSNu8ivNUkQPgJ-sLO-j2KB3JF-uSRwWnCKuTUgmKbHDy_0K7YUv69nNyKP5V8UOVuRV9E6RTBOdmfmYN5HherXMBE4AqAk4Jc48ZGyrxm4IL1_lzCRFgZlYSLbpfQ/s320/IMG_1566.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306171774324560546" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBDCCmuj-wVu4iAnmwVx9ORdPs1po6wKOsoewkPUwuQx2wHCxuluecfMk9mlIwCg_zfFCNlxRa9gs31VP3JanIVpgHV7kZ6SxqGoCbWolavKLGr4x658Ld_0yYNM2EUNwLWM1IULmEwUU/s1600-h/IMG_1562.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBDCCmuj-wVu4iAnmwVx9ORdPs1po6wKOsoewkPUwuQx2wHCxuluecfMk9mlIwCg_zfFCNlxRa9gs31VP3JanIVpgHV7kZ6SxqGoCbWolavKLGr4x658Ld_0yYNM2EUNwLWM1IULmEwUU/s320/IMG_1562.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306171767923559042" /></a><br />From New Orleans to Boston to New Haven....campaign season heats up. And this is only the beginning.Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-91886721445979025712009-01-26T14:41:00.001-08:002009-09-16T07:41:20.767-07:00A New RoleAs of this month, I will now be the Political Director for the <a href="http://www.jamesperry2010.com">James Perry Mayoral Campaign</a>. Right now, we are testing the waters, getting input, and trying to raise money. Here are some photos from the past few weeks<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsB4Jy_VZY3K9CMXTd9su_Df0pbgNTz8JNsCBFCdTzuGA1AS1KgbCmM3Ol3ta8YXLkoTLrXljtiWm0nYB4wS5FXm9LAKNklJOmyw5AStXcnfargLGxx2SaZXOvB2lsgCcuSiowZ1wCzJ2/s1600-h/IMG_1441.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsB4Jy_VZY3K9CMXTd9su_Df0pbgNTz8JNsCBFCdTzuGA1AS1KgbCmM3Ol3ta8YXLkoTLrXljtiWm0nYB4wS5FXm9LAKNklJOmyw5AStXcnfargLGxx2SaZXOvB2lsgCcuSiowZ1wCzJ2/s320/IMG_1441.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295737648818501890" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIDDPjI62zEZodOKdGupWBjKZCNTu-Fj_I7ir2lCQHkSJoh4q9maDrLNZK9BYmtKes99sy4NjYKWAOvEXjz3GPC7ZsqGUCKng-kc6GqAZJOaemkxVzS9sPG71NwoXu4VGVoWMR1GEhu_G/s1600-h/IMG_1466.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIDDPjI62zEZodOKdGupWBjKZCNTu-Fj_I7ir2lCQHkSJoh4q9maDrLNZK9BYmtKes99sy4NjYKWAOvEXjz3GPC7ZsqGUCKng-kc6GqAZJOaemkxVzS9sPG71NwoXu4VGVoWMR1GEhu_G/s320/IMG_1466.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295737641462573698" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZMIQ89mJh2hyYbcpWZY7yNPYDKg8bA4iU8pU6FrOiVXQMxihvtrMKRvgjb73Ez9ge2PBmR5K8z_R3mPvz56wE9ZAjBjysVlAN_dz_8OU5Bfxpt3RGK7NXw2fQcaxFSh3fM94Pqc2GBIV1/s1600-h/IMG_1475.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZMIQ89mJh2hyYbcpWZY7yNPYDKg8bA4iU8pU6FrOiVXQMxihvtrMKRvgjb73Ez9ge2PBmR5K8z_R3mPvz56wE9ZAjBjysVlAN_dz_8OU5Bfxpt3RGK7NXw2fQcaxFSh3fM94Pqc2GBIV1/s320/IMG_1475.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295737636977052146" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPJTyOm0fuE3alPb-BtdHMhh7okBmtoCwLJO19d-cunMw6v8IL79tT-CCgWZplXqDAdwJYSsvx4fIGYlYxkey-hTLDCCa56gAVkjlxeIbwuZwK06iluaEOiV2kAJ9aFCCK9M_8RG54OEK/s1600-h/IMG_1483.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQPJTyOm0fuE3alPb-BtdHMhh7okBmtoCwLJO19d-cunMw6v8IL79tT-CCgWZplXqDAdwJYSsvx4fIGYlYxkey-hTLDCCa56gAVkjlxeIbwuZwK06iluaEOiV2kAJ9aFCCK9M_8RG54OEK/s320/IMG_1483.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295737632262496226" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMfxuSTu2LRn8ADCL_R71fcLK9PhL66_X8WPAjtC906X72mgEOOctPKfm0XHN_kAx_yQczz6KMIx2BDRcMfYkZM5OTEw4XGrwoROL0LkiEkcbOEI6husBGZXPVqKofUCyX21l4H2vGFdI/s1600-h/IMG_1494.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMfxuSTu2LRn8ADCL_R71fcLK9PhL66_X8WPAjtC906X72mgEOOctPKfm0XHN_kAx_yQczz6KMIx2BDRcMfYkZM5OTEw4XGrwoROL0LkiEkcbOEI6husBGZXPVqKofUCyX21l4H2vGFdI/s320/IMG_1494.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295737611185578882" /></a><br /><br />You can find some more, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/971075@N24/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=50175738447&ref=ts">here</a>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-70561905040117993952009-01-06T22:18:00.000-08:002009-01-06T22:28:02.974-08:00Marketing New Orleans<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwc0jjZyzjfjcUDmjNbbGO1jZyf6bjxLTauHSRLNBAhk_1CyrlMXceql62iAe9ub-Wqtp8rHIYYS3DF8m2_9prWZfQaXY2wxHcgNE5DPTwGQMEcGLkzhZY2B05UpW6pC0H0Io5S_ZKxlSR/s1600-h/IMG_1415.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwc0jjZyzjfjcUDmjNbbGO1jZyf6bjxLTauHSRLNBAhk_1CyrlMXceql62iAe9ub-Wqtp8rHIYYS3DF8m2_9prWZfQaXY2wxHcgNE5DPTwGQMEcGLkzhZY2B05UpW6pC0H0Io5S_ZKxlSR/s400/IMG_1415.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288432918721095906" /></a><br />I spoke to students from Brown who are doing service work in New Orleans about the leadership vacuum in New Orleans.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUgv0J-B01YB2Ea-sQ91E82WhWwiiI4EgK_ifgVJLzwGziiflwUVCVTzTfA-Alri4sdGrNzLkpmvOoF2H2HZmzgz6AXuBNSwKZJ6uIqM3-Dwbw8AG5ewhaDaApJ8uMOfxtZsar_uuIkPkI/s1600-h/IMG_1422.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUgv0J-B01YB2Ea-sQ91E82WhWwiiI4EgK_ifgVJLzwGziiflwUVCVTzTfA-Alri4sdGrNzLkpmvOoF2H2HZmzgz6AXuBNSwKZJ6uIqM3-Dwbw8AG5ewhaDaApJ8uMOfxtZsar_uuIkPkI/s400/IMG_1422.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288433506786235426" /></a><br /><br />Ted Hornick, Gill Benedek, Daniel Hoffman, Tess Monaghan, Jon Grayboyes, Hampton Barclay and James Perry spoke about why New Orleans still matters and what needs to happen to more the recovery faster. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMDI20yeVtfYye8W-bL0fe4F3NspCPAzAuyV8bNkFNxG53GUJlNYPuHAAOP3SS1D_dn4V_jd3Vvgv8MILzJp11ZVCvV6mOF4S_2vA_rbiwHUy1HTy9sYC1aEvNrl2PqzX9rzG07bICoAn3/s1600-h/IMG_1405.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMDI20yeVtfYye8W-bL0fe4F3NspCPAzAuyV8bNkFNxG53GUJlNYPuHAAOP3SS1D_dn4V_jd3Vvgv8MILzJp11ZVCvV6mOF4S_2vA_rbiwHUy1HTy9sYC1aEvNrl2PqzX9rzG07bICoAn3/s400/IMG_1405.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288434510351125778" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zMG3oJGobyQi87Tt-EXvFHCiQe61VahHNEBHWnFChzr6koMBXOJrHX9oHnh6jp701z-wRjuLShBqSI9y8Z9X0D_3AqwiY51KEAcBLpzuB2L-a5qlspn_1ZC2Rr9mEAYABjM9EljMBpr8/s1600-h/IMG_1408.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zMG3oJGobyQi87Tt-EXvFHCiQe61VahHNEBHWnFChzr6koMBXOJrHX9oHnh6jp701z-wRjuLShBqSI9y8Z9X0D_3AqwiY51KEAcBLpzuB2L-a5qlspn_1ZC2Rr9mEAYABjM9EljMBpr8/s400/IMG_1408.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288434702133119554" /></a>Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1302140535484084827.post-2539596249999667262008-12-28T19:42:00.000-08:002008-12-28T19:46:54.487-08:00Not on Drugs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsr_55Wjb6CH-6ehMC9WFQEhCF2egjpPQxxzgQ-8p8Sobg_8uBtyOMgdc2-L3XSs1G2FMhWr14lA1XhTmUDP4-POi84RpNwDvOW-X5S8KIEVQRuXMff92J1i4ET3-1iu094mxMBzDhVPKV/s1600-h/Coming+to+nola.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsr_55Wjb6CH-6ehMC9WFQEhCF2egjpPQxxzgQ-8p8Sobg_8uBtyOMgdc2-L3XSs1G2FMhWr14lA1XhTmUDP4-POi84RpNwDvOW-X5S8KIEVQRuXMff92J1i4ET3-1iu094mxMBzDhVPKV/s320/Coming+to+nola.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285052731753495138" /></a><br />...finally, someone can verify that, yes, I'm not on drugs...<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl122708mlrothstein.115460cc.html">Coming to NOLA: Bostonian tries to attract, keep young people here</a><br /><br />03:29 PM CST on Saturday, December 27, 2008<br /><br />Michael Luke / Eyewitness News<br /><br />New Orleans is an impossible place, a place up against the odds environmentally and long forgotten economically, a place where vanishing wetlands have left the city’s chin exposed and guard down like a tired prizefighter and with the next big storm playing the role of knockout blow. A bastion of crime and poverty, the city has been up against the odds since Bienville tried to carve out a home here. Then it was yellow fever, today the epidemic is violence. It takes a special sacrifice to live here, and is not for the faint of heart.<br /><br /><br /><br />So why live here? Why live in a town where the job market perennially stinks – whether or not the national economy is tanking – the levees leak like sieves, the public education is comparable to Bolivia, the murder rate is akin to Mogadishu and the government is rotten like a festering Katrina-soaked house in the Lower 9?<br /><br />I asked all of this and more to Nathan Rothstein, a young man who arrived in New Orleans from Boston when the floodwaters of Katrina ebbed. <br /><br />In fact, Rothstein spends most of his days convincing young people to stay here and others to come. Is he on drugs? Not that I could tell. He seemed pretty level-headed, just another person, who, for better or for worse, fell under the spell of New Orleans.<br /><br />A 24-year-old man, Rothstein heads NOLA YURP -- the New Orleans Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals Initiatives -- a job network that connects young people with one another in New Orleans and whose mission is “to connect, retain and attract young professionals from diverse backgrounds for a sustainable New Orleans,” according to the website, which is quite the challenge pre-Katrina, but an even greater one post-Katrina, as people scattered all over the country, many to never return.<br /><br />With a membership of over 2,800 people, the organization was started in spring of 2007, when he, Zach Kupperman and Ross Cantor started a website that featured young people and why they were here. They created a social network, where people could share job information and leads. He had been speaking to young students and many were looking for opportunities in the city but didn’t know where to look. The idea was born and planned to counteract the negative press New Orleans was getting from the Dinerral Shavers and Helen Hill murders. <br /><br />The Wild, Wild West<br /><br />“It was empty, and there were not many people here. It kinda had that wild, wild west feel to it,” he said of his early reactions of being in the city. “I was also around a group of people – some came to help out and were struck by what happened, some came because there was really nothing else to do.”<br /><br />Two weeks removed from UMass-Amherst, he arrived in June of 2006, ten months after the Big One, working for Americorps gutting homes, settling in the rough and tumble, heavily flooded Tulane-Gravier area of Mid-City, but quickly became interested in rebuilding plans, such as the UNOP meetings.<br /><br />“I went to every neighborhood meeting possible,” he said. Rothstein had wanted to get involved in city planning and organizing in college and here was a city with its canvas wiped clean, a perfect opportunity for a young man ready to change the world straight out of college.<br /><br />“The city was basically investing in people,” he said of the input that was being asked at planning meetings, and that stirred the juices for him to want to stay. “They were raising the expectations for what people can do.”<br /><br />Looking back to find that moment that crystallized his desire to stay, he recalled the UNOP plans he was participating in and attending: “At those moments when it was like, ‘What do you think would be best?’ or ‘How can we work together to make things happen?’ that was when I had feeling that I want to be a part of this.”<br /><br />He went home for a week to Boston, but said that it didn’t feel the same. He quickly returned.<br /><br /><br /><br />Saying that it was exciting being at the table, fresh from college, as plans were being drawn up to rebuild in New Orleans, he, however, quickly learned changing the world or fixing New Orleans wouldn’t be so easy.<br /><br />“At the first UNOP meeting you could already see it going wrong,” he said. “They invited the whole city and put it in a room for 200 people.” What he was finding out was there wouldn’t be a social utopia built from the ashes; rather it was the decades-long divisions – class, race, politics and neighborhoods – that stratify the city emerging once more. Just like Rothstein, others saw the Katrina as their moment too, a moment to settle old scores, or grab power in a vacuum, or return power to the elite who run the city. It was a lesson no classroom could teach, but he was not deterred, and he isn’t now, feeling there could be ways to overcome those boundaries.<br /><br />Initial Buzz<br /><br />In addition to being apart of New Orleans’ rebirth, the culture grabbed him as well, especially the party atmosphere that many seek out in the city. While he sought to help create order in the city, the chaotic nightlife was an early attraction. “There are even less boundaries -- there are no rules,” he said of the nightlife which rivaled and surpassed the party school culture of UMass. “You can go out every single night of the week until 4, 5, 6 in the morning, and, I remember, we did.”<br /><br />After the initial buzz wore off from lax rules and late nights at Ms. Mae’s, Rothstein learned something important enjoying those nights on Frenchmen Street, seeing music and having a good time. “There is something about a city, even now, that everyone that is here, in someway or another is connected in the sense they’re all sacrificing to be here: the roads don’t work, the health care is inadequate, the schools are bad, the job market is lousy. You’re probably making less than what some of your peers are making in New York and Boston.”<br /><br />But with all of these problems, Rothstein believes, there is a bond unlike those other places that keeps the important sacrifice alive and the city relevant, and it burns in the hearts of many outsiders and natives alike.<br /><br />So why sacrifice? Why not move somewhere else where the grass is greener, aside from the unique culture?<br /><br />"There is a certain opportunity in the city right now because there is no blueprint for how to rebuild a city,” he said. “History is happening right now, and we’re going to look back and talk about this forever. The case that I make to young people, whether they’re from here or not, is you have the chance to be doing this -- given the responsibility -- that people won’t give you for 5, 10 years.”<br /><br />(WWL-TV.com is profiling the new New Orleanians, people who have moved to the city post-Katrina for a variety of reasons, from charity causes to capitalist ones. If you know someone who has moved to the city since the storm, contact us and tell why this person should be profiled at mluke@wwltv.com)Nathan Rothsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08051975472787011414noreply@blogger.com0