Monday July 31, 2006

New Orleans -- Rising Beneath The Radar

New Orleans: sure, you've been hearing a lot about murders...still unidentified Katrina victims, and the National Guard. And all other sorts-a-things that methinks contribute unfairly to the perception that New Orleans is somehow disconnected from the rest of this country -- both culturally and economically.

And although I think New Orleans is a wholly unique place for a panopoly of reasons both good and bad, the "disconnected" perception, of course, is based on a very small sample. New Orleaneans still wake up each morning, turn on their tvs and radios to the same channels we do, still send their kids off to school, still work a job, still care about their neighborhoods, still bring new businesses to life and still keep the old ones churning along. It's challenging, but it's still life in America.

So today we look at three stories of the roll-up-your-sleeves variety that, although they've been published or broadcast in major media outlets, may have fallen off your media-diet's radar. Each contributes to a bigger picture of progress and hope than what I've become used to reading about in the last 10+ months since the hurricane hit.

From the New York Times: Despite a City’s Hopes, an Uneven Repopulation

"There may be no clearer indication that the people of this city have taken the recovery into their own hands than the homemade street signs in the Claiborne-University area. Along Nashville Avenue, the signs, made mostly from scraps of wood and debris, announce Rocheblave, Tonti, Galvez and Miro Streets with the decorative flair of flowers and stars. Such homemade signs can be found all around the city."

From NPR: Tasty Summertime Tradition in New Orleans

My wife and I were excited to hear college-friend Ashley Hansen on national radio last week. Her story: the family's decades-old Hansen's Sno-Bliz business [Flickr pics] suffered a major blow when the founders (Ashley's elderly grandparents) both passed in the hurricane aftermath last year. Now Ashley's re-opened, and it marks the continuance of a gastronomic staple in a city still known for its food. Interview includes audio.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Roadside Renaissance for Farm Stands

Can farmers be the new "rock stars of agriculture?" Richard McCarthy (another college compadre[!]) of Loyola's Economics Institute and the Crescent City Farmers Market thinks so. But that's just a catchy hook for me to lure you into reading about the model he's building for tweaking the all-too-familiar concepts of markets. His work is gaining significant traction in the South -- and it all started with a small stand on Magazine street in downtown New Orleans.

( Jul 31 2006, 11:41:35 AM PDT ) Permalink

Monday July 17, 2006

Whole Foods: The Upward Flow of Human Development

Wow. Three things I never expected to hear from the CEO of a leading, publicly traded grocery chain:

"Sprial dynamics is a bio-pshycho-social-spiritual framework..."

"The creation of animal 'factory farms' has greatly lowered the costs of all animal products, but it has come at a tremendous cost in animal welfare."

"We are all connected together in an upward spiral flow toward greater health, happiness, peace, love, and ecological sustainability."

...and yet it's so. Whole Foods's bloggin' CEO John Mackey goes deep. Warning text-scanners: print this out, as it'll probably be the most interesting thing you read this week.

( Jul 17 2006, 04:49:09 PM PDT ) Permalink

Friday July 14, 2006

What's your Brasil name?

Great fun for a Friday lunch break:

Get your own BrazilName here. There's a 95 percent chance your name won't be as...uh...dorky as mine.

( Jul 14 2006, 01:56:10 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]

Wednesday July 12, 2006

Audio branding quick hits, July 12

-- Go and play: Musiclens recommends music for you based on tempo, mood, color, etc. Very similar to ColorofMySound.com, but with a few more attributes for better and worse.

-- More playing: Paul and the cool gang at Rumblefish recently launched their Music Licensing Store, which provides pre-cleared music for immediate purchase and download. Normally, the process of using licensed music requires many calls to many agencies (or the help of a highly paid middleman named Muzak) to get what you need in a legal fashion. No more. It's about time someone relieved that nightmare of a digital divide.

-- Come and listen: I'll be speaking on audio branding at the Industrial Designers Society of America National Conference in Austin this September. Fritz Doddy from Elias Arts and I will provide an insider's peek into the Sun audio-identity creation process, and we'll also touch on some of the larger themes related to brand-boosting via product sonification. (Kudos, BTW, to Scott, Rayan, Fritz and Glenn for helping make our audio brand as powerful, innovative and mind-numbingly excellent as it is.) Join us, won't you?

( Jul 12 2006, 03:57:20 PM PDT ) Permalink