Author: SeanTubbs

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Citizen Philosopher: The Ethics of Friendship

Are friendships optional? Are they necessary to live the good life? Is there a universal need to give and receive affection? Where do our feelings about friendships come from? Why do we treat our friends the way we do? Are friendships more “disposable” than they used to be? How do friendships come to be? How much is it by choice? How much is it by chance? Does it require willful action? What are friends for? What are the motives for making and keeping friends? How can we know if a friendship is “true”? What do we expect from friendship? How do expectations differ? Are friendships meant to last forever? What are the ethics of ending a friendship? Is friendship an investment? Is it ethical to end a friendship with unequal investment, “an unbalanced account”? Is it ethical to just fade away? Must we know and must we give a reason for ending a friendship? How do we reconcile the need to grow and to be free with the expectations of friendship? Can we ever fail to profit from our friendship “investment” so long as we see friendship as its own reward without any further expectations?

These are some of the questions asked during Citizen Philosopher’s June podcast. For more information, check out the website.

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Growth and Development update with Brian Wheeler (6-19-08)

On the June 19 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville-Right Now!” Jay James, filling in for Coy Barefoot, speaks with Brian Wheeler, the Executive Director of Charlottesville Tomorrow. The topics include:

  • The great water debate– Brian explains the basics of the controversy over the water supply plan. Betty Mooney from Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan called in to express her concerns about the current course of action and the fact that, in her opinion, the dredging option has not been fully explored.
  • The Downtown Mall renovation– The city is moving forward on a $7.5 million renovation of the bricks on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. The newest iteration of the plan would start the process in January, and finish by the end of April. The proposed fountains and Sister City Plaza have been removed from the plan.
  • Deferred maintenance- “Howard” called in to say that he sees a pattern of deferred maintenance in local government, both with the water infrastructure and with the Downtown Mall bricks. Brian responded that there are definitely examples of lack of maintenance, but that doesn’t mean that local government isn’t now trying to look ahead.



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Bolling skeptical special session will accomplish results

On the June 12th edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville-Right Now!” Coy Barefoot talks with Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling (R) about the upcoming special session on transportation. Bolling summed up the prospects for the special session.

“There’s just no consensus… my fear is we’re going to go there on the 23rd, it’s going to be very short, its going to be very non-productive,” Bolling said., “I just don’t see a consensus building right now, and again it’s always possible that it could happen here in the next few days, but right now it seems highly unlikely.”

Governor Tim Kaine (D) has presented a plan that would increase fees for vehicle registration and increase taxes on car purchases, as well as levy a one cent sales tax increase on residents in Northern Virginia.

Bolling made it clear that he is opposed to such tax increases, stating his view that “there’s never really a good time to raise taxes, but frankly this is a horrible time to raise taxes because of the state of the economy.”

He also painted the Democrats in the General Assembly as out of touch with Virginia voters, arguing that there’s agreement between Republican lawmakers and voters.

“The problem in Richmond is not a lack of money, the problem in Richmond is a lack of fiscal discipline. We’ve got enough money through existing revenue sources to solve our transportation problems if we just use that money for transportation, as opposed to spending it on all of these new and expanded government programs, and the people of Virginia are a step ahead of the members of the General Assembly.”

Bolling outlined his proposals for solving the transportation problem without raising taxes. He said that reserving just 1% of the existing state sales tax for the transportation trust fund would result in approximately $950 million a year for transportation. As an alternative, he mentioned the possibility of requiring 10% of future revenue growth to go towards transportation expenses; he said that if the state had adopted this policy 10 years ago, it would have generated $800 million over the past decade. Bolling also laid out his plan for budget surpluses, arguing that “those budget surpluses are by definition one-time money, I think they should be used to fund one-time things like capital projects, building roads and bridges.”

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Farm Bureau President Tinder, Planning Commissioner Loach spar over land use taxation

Listeners of the May 27th, 2008 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville Right Now with Coy Barefoot” heard two sides of the continuing debate over Albemarle County’s land use taxation program. Carl Tinder, President of the Albemarle County Farm Bureau, and Tom Loach, who represents White Hall on the Albemarle County Planning Commission, debated the merits of the program, which lowers the tax burden for land used for agriculture, open space and forestry.

A full write-up of this story by Ben Doernberg is available at Charlottesville Tomorrow.

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The Charlottesville Glocal Food System: Challenges and Opportunities for our Community’s Local and Global Food Sources

What are the true costs of buying food from around the globe? How much food can we grow close to home? Is it enough to support us and can we afford it?

These and other questions inspired a UVA class to conduct assessments of Charlottesville’s glocal (global + local) food system.

The class, consisting of both graduate and undergraduate students, is titled “Healthy Communities, Healthy Food Systems (Part III): Global-Local Connections” and is taught by Timothy Beatley, Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities, Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, and Tanya Denckla Cobb, Senior Associate, Institute for Environmental Negotiation. Sponsored by UVa’s Center for Global Health, and designed for planning students, the class has drawn students from numerous disciplines.

The UVA class assessments are the next step in a longer-term community project to foster better links between local farms and community schools and organizations, food stores, restaurants and residents. Nine class teams have analyzed food-related entities in Charlottesville: farms, families, grocery stores, restaurants and community organizations. Each group examined local and global inputs, searched for potential local sources and identified methods to improve connectivity within local or global food systems. At this presentation, they look forward to sharing their findings.

(write up and timeline provided by Regine Kennedy)

Timeline

  • 0:00 Podcast Introduction
  • 0:46 Project Introduction by Professor Tim Beatley and Tanya Denckla Cobb
    Describing the local and global context of food systems and the scope of the course project presentations.
  • 6:44 Project: Wild Oats Farm presented by Nick Feucht and Nicolette Leung
    Understanding the challenges of managing land organically, observing conservation practices, while raising natural meat products for niche markets.
  • 16:37 Project: Roundabout Farm presented by Jenny Jackson and Elaine Quick
    Profiling a small, sustainably managed, independent farm’s primary inputs from a geographic and sourcing perspective.
  • 21:10 Project: Feast! presented by Fania Gordon and Meg Johnstone
    Creating a Best Practices Guide based on the successful example of a gourmet food store that supports the local system.
  • 27:48 Project: Blue Moon Diner presented by Esther Diehl and Sara Teaster
    Assessing the viability of using locally sourced foods at a local, moderately priced restaurant.
  • 36:11 Project: Chipotle presented by Jonathan Coble, Alexandra Rosas and Clarice Newton Zusky
    Analyzing local food options for a national food chain and its impact on our community food system.
  • 43:24 Project: University of Virginia Dining Services presented by Linda Bartusiak and Laura Sparks
    Looking at what we feed ourselves and how far we have come: Reviewing Newcomb Dining Hall food offerings.
  • 49:56 Project: Jefferson Area Board for Aging presented by Megan Bucknum and Regine Kennedy
    Understanding the challenges of providing locally grown food to a specialized population.
  • 58:35 Project: Blue Ridge Area Food Bank presented by Ben Chrisinger and Lauren Short
    Assessing the potential for including local food in a food bank’s distribution system.
  • 1:08:10 Project: Harold Folley and the Folley Family presented by Jennifer Feigert and Thomas Roberts
    Working to understand factors that influence food-purchasing decisions for a family living in Charlottesville’s public housing projects.
  • 1:14:25 Q & A / Community discussion
    2:00:35 End of program



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91 Seconds on Film: The Visitor

Ben Nuckols reviews The Visitor, a film about a 62-year old teacher who loses his passion for his life and takes up the piano. What does Ben think? Click below to find out. This Tom McCarthy film is now playing at Vinegar Hill.

91 Seconds on Film is made possible by Sneak Reviews. You can also check out the YouTube page for 91 Seconds on Film.

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Kluge-Ruhe: A Safe Keeping Place: Shifting Museum Spaces and Embedded Aboriginal Cultural Protocols

On April 25th, 2008, Kimberly Christen, Assistant Professor in Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University, gave a lecture entitled A Safe Keeping Place: Shifting Museum Spaces and Embedded Aboriginal Cultural Protocols. She discussed her work in developing cultural protocols to protect sacred and sensitive information while creating a community digital archive in collaboration with the Warumungu community in Tennant Creek, Northern Territories. The archive, called Mukurtu, contains thousands of photographs, recordings and other historical documents from this community in central Australia. Much of the material was supplied by missionaries, museums and even local cattle stations. A demonstration of the Mukurta archive can be seen online at www.mukurtuarchive.org . You can also visit Christen’s blog, Long Road, at www.kimberlychristen.com