I (heart) local bookstores! More reasons to avoid Amazon

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/amazon/mc-allentown-amazon-complaints-20110917,0,2859554,full.story

Book Bin on Court Street is it for Salem, afaik. Does Salem have any other locally, owned, general interest bookstores that carry new books?

WORD: The Madness of a $500 Million+ Rivercrossing Project

Cops, psychologists, and lawyers and all the others whose professions bring them in contact with people at their worst become acquainted with the ravages that people can inflict on themselves when in the grip of addiction. Addicts often squander thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars and waste years of their lives, rather than admit that they can no longer service their addiction and that they have to change their self-definition.

Multiply the losses by 10^6 when a city is in the grip of addiction and denial, desperately seeking another fix of mainlining concrete, even as the children are ill-fed and the schools keep on advancing to the rear, cutting libraries and teachers.

Madness indeed.

http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2012/02/city-council-feb-13th-madness-of-500.html

Worth a million reads: ClubOrlov: A Million Gardens

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2011/11/million-gardens.html

The Truth about Violence : 3 Principles of Self-Defense : Sam Harris

Scary good insights.

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-truth-about-violence

Let's start a yard share program in Salem! (GROWSalem, anyone?)

A dear friend is hobbling about this winter, wondering what she's going to do -- or, more likely, not do --- with her great raised beds this coming year. She's got at least one surgery on tap that will lay her up for some time, and she's struggling a bit with mobility anyway, which the surgery aims to fix. She has terrific beds, with water and good sun, and all the tools. All she needs is a gardener (or would-be gardener willing to be tutored some) to do the legwork for her in return for a share of the proceeds.

We we talking about it, and I suggested she call the Marion-Polk Food Share or Local Harvest about helping her with finding someone who had the gardening itch but no good place to scratch it. But then, later, I realized that both those fine organizations have more than enough to do to put food on others' plates already, and that there was really no reason that LOVESalem couldn't be helping this idea get growing in Salem.

So what do you think? If I put together a GROWSalem website, do you think that can serve as a matchmaking service to connect people with gardens at-risk of going idle (or, even better, with lawns they want to turn into gardens) and people with the need or the urge to grow some food but inadequate locations or access to garden space?

Anyone interested in heading this up? (Eagle Scout project? Capstone high school project? College internship? Self-directed study and opportunity to show potential employers or admissions officers that you're REALLY a self-starter and problem solver. Retirement activity and social mission?)

If you have feedback or ideas for this, drop a comment below, especially if you want to pitch in!

The Faces of Choice

thefacesofchoice.com

Making a decision to terminate a pregnancy or not forces women into emotional exile. I want to change that. I want a world where women are encouraged to talk honestly about difficult decisions with their friends and family without being ostracized. I want to live in a society where we don't shun each other during some of the most challenging times in our lives. I hope that, in sharing some of these painful and compelling stories, I can help move us toward a better understanding of how we can come together on a human level to help one another instead of using laws and moral judgments as barriers to honest communication.

Maybe the most important Salem Progressive Film Series offering yet

Great Stuff: Seed Exchange @ MP Food Share, Feb 25, 10 am

Marion-Polk Food Share continues its excellent efforts to build more food security by building more gardens and gardeners.

If you don't know where they are, at first it can seem like an odd location, on NE Industrial Way, but that's because they are a substantial warehouse and food collection and delivery operation. Here's a map.

These seed exchanges are a lot of fun. We are still eating some of the onions we grew from a handful of starts we picked up at one of these.

Don't Forget: Oregon State Bank forum Weds Evening, Feb 1

Image via Wikipedia

I want to invite you to a forum on using our common financial resources to grow a sustainable economy sponsored by the Working Families Party (WFP) and Occupy Salem next Wednesday, February 1 at the Salem Public Library, 6-7:30 PM.

Latino Business Alliance President Jose Gonzalez and WFP Director Steve Hughes will join me in the discussion Right now, 66% of all bank deposits in Oregon are held by just five big banks. If we want to build a local economy, we are going to have to break our state's dependence on Wall Street.

This forum will discuss how we can best use our common financial resources to grow a sustainable economy. We will examine policy proposals including efforts by Oregon cities to move their money out of big banks, the Oregon State Bank proposal, and the State Treasurer's "Oregon Investment Act," which he will be introducing in the 2012 legislative session.

The address is 585 Liberty Street Southeast.
Call 503-841-7161 for more information and register online.

WORD again