Author: Staff

  • The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

    by Richard Rothstein

    The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
    The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein – Available from Amazon.com

    Widely heralded as a “masterful” (Washington Post) and “essential” (Slate) history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law offers “the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation” (William Julius Wilson). Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods. A groundbreaking, “virtually indispensable” study that has already transformed our understanding of twentieth-century urban history (Chicago Daily Observer), The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past. 13 illustrations

  • Say Something Good – Meetings

    By Art Fettig

    Meetings

    Meetings. Attending the Trade Show of the AENC this week at the fabulous new Raleigh Convention Center, I met with perhaps a couple of hundred people who are involved in creating Association meetings that make a difference in their particular field. It started me thinking about the conferences and conventions I had attended in my earlier career. The first one was in Texas and I had won an Assoc. of American Railroad’s Award for an article I had written. My wife and I were treated almost like celebrities and somehow it made all of that extra work I had done in writing such articles worthwhile. My horizons expanded all the way from Michigan to Texas. I learned more attending sessions at that meeting than I had learned in my entire career as a claim agent for the railroad. It was like being exposed to a big, new, wonderful world.  I know, like me, you have attended far too many disorganized, unprepared meetings than one should endure in one’s lifetime, still, it was exciting to be exposed to all of these wonderful people who are so totally dedicated to make their meetings and conventions really have a positive impact on their attendees and their profession..  May God bless America and keep our troops from harm. 

    Form Art Fettig’s Newsletter – December 14, 2009

  • I love A Parade

    By Art Fettig

    Art Fettig
    Art Fettig laughing while sitting in his “borrowed” Lamborghini – The seat is almost on the floor…

    No, I didn’t ride in that beautiful red Lamborghini.  The seat is almost on the floor of that beautiful car and I figured it would take a crane at least to get me out of it. One strong man managed the job. Instead. I rode in the annual Mt. Airy, NC Christmas parade in a 1938 Chevrolet coupe and it was a real thrill. The sign on our vehicle read, “Almost  Andy…Art Fettig” I couldn’t resist the temptation to get out and walk and I must have walked half way from here to eternity before the parade was over. My new business card reads, “Almost Andy,  Close enough for most.”  No matter how many times I told greeters that I was not Andy Griffith the more they went right on telling me how they loved the TV show and how they had seen every program. Some families told how they taped the program every day and watched it at 5 PM every day as a family. At least a dozen individuals told me how happy they were to finally have an Andy Griffith look-alike that really looked like Andy. I hope I didn’t deceive anyone unintentionally.

    Seeing all of those smiling faces I hope that I brought a little joy into the lives of those hundreds of people watching the parade. Meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus was the most fun of all.  It’s great to be eighty and I sure do love a parade. I do. 

    From Art Fettig’s Newsletter – December 14, 2009

  • When Does Life Being?

    A Jewish Perspective

    Baby Finger

    “Nineteen hundred years ago when Caesar Anthony asked this question of Rabbi Yehudah Ha’Nasee, the rabbi replied: “From the moment the fetus emerges from the womb” (Midrash Bereishit Rabbah 34:10). The 11th-century Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) explained: “for the fetus in the womb is not considered a person until it is born” (Talmud Bav’li, Sanhedrin 72b). Earlier rabbinic codes clearly place the welfare of the mother first, and “if a woman experiences difficulty in childbirth, the fetus is dismembered within her, limb by limb, because her life takes precedence” (Mishnah Ohalot 7:6 and Talmud Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin, end of Ch. 8).

    Not only her life, later rabbis added, but her emotional well-being. “While woman is biologically equipped to bear children,” writes Rav Yeruchem Perilman (19th century), “she is nevertheless not as a clump of earth, and is therefore not obliged to nurture seed implanted within her against her will” (in Ohr Gadol No. 31).

    Classical Jewish rulings concerning abortion rely primarily on the woman’s instinct, and they respect that until the fetus emerges from the womb, it remains an integral part of the woman’s body alone.

    Rabbi Gershon Winkler
    Walking Stick Foundation
    Thousand Oaks, CA”

    References:

  • Trying Something and Failing is Far Better than Not Trying and Regretting – Ross Reck

    Trying Something and Failing is Far Better than Not Trying and Regretting – Ross Reck

    Blind dart thrower

    Many people have bought into the myth that failure is fatal and is something that should be avoided. In reality, failure is nothing more than a very effective learning experience. Most of our greatest accomplishments were made possible through failure—learning to walk, ride a bike and drive. Why should the rest of our life be any different? As my father used to say, “Talk with any self-made millionaire and you’ll find they’ve gone broke at least three or four times.” Why? These people took risks, failed, learned from their failures, and tried again. Each failure taught them some very important lessons that ultimately paved the way to their success. On the other hand, not trying something because you’re afraid of failing sets you up for regret. There are few things in life that are worse than asking yourself over and again, “I wonder what would have happened if I had followed my dream when I had the chance.” As John Greenleaf Whittier put it, “Of all sad words of tongue and pen, that saddest are these, ‘it might have been.’”

    References: