The society you're up against

Starting small and networking are the best means. Every Christams season here in Boston we have a group of crafters that selll there products at a sort of flea market setting. A few have used this type of setting to open up a storefront marketing their products. No, we will not be able to produce all that we need but we can try to produce most of what we need.
I ran across an article a few months ago about a brother in Detroit that has loaned money to people in Africa to start a business. He dicussed being sadden something like this couldn't happen in Detroit but realize it would take more than he alone could afford.
We also have to get out of the mindset, if we don't support oursleves we are doomed. I had hoped this site would focus on this. Sure it's ok to hear the lastest news but have we progressed because of this site.

I will talk to you later about my thoughts and ideas.

Clark, that's the president or President Obama. Yes, we do need to focus on education. I was sadden to hear our kids are lacking the skills to pass the entrance exam fro the Army. Not, to say they should be joining but this give a picture of how our children are not measuring up. Currently, I tutor math and reading to a group of elementary children three days a week. Those were my strong areas when Iwas in school. This is what I wanted to see us focus on on this site not on who has the most blogs, news about celebrities unless they are reaching back.
We do have some companies that are still making things here in the US and at a comparable price as that "made in China" crap. We just don really support them.
There is nothing wrong with thinking big. Banks are reluctant to invest in anyone that has not proven themselves. This is one reason I talked about in one blog/article about us supporting or banks. We can't do banking at Bank of America and need a loan and go to One United for a loan and get mad because One United denies us.

Okay, maybe if I put this here it will get some exposure. The is an application called Scratch, developed by MIT. The state of computer science education at the K-12 levels in this country is appalling. We are surrounded by technology, the kids are major consumers of it, but they are not being guided in the process of how it is CREATED. Scratch has the potential to be part of the solution. But if the parents won't put in the effort to understand it, the kids sure as hell are not going to do it on their own. We can talk all day, but if I understand this blog, it is about DOING something.

I've written my second program with Scratch. I'm in the early stages of evaluating its potential. The program here is nothing remarkable to look at, but it does illustrate a number of important computer science concepts. I wish I could get more people to take a serious look at this.

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/adamfate/1...

The link above brings up the program and starts it automatically. This is a glitch of the website (there is another minor one as well). Read the documentation to start the program properly so that all functions work as documented. And if you want to take the next step, download Scratch and its documentation, and my program, and you will be able to see how it's put together.

I will check it out.

Two interested articles I read a couple weeks ago, it has to do with farming. I am posting the link in case anyone is interested. No, it's not about being in the south with acres of land.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/23/technology...
http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/29/news/econo...
Stella, the second link refers to a developer/investor in the Detroit area.

Stella my cousin in Detroit uses a friend's land to grow vegetables and sell products to the community. It can be done. Just imagine a couple of people doing something like this. There are ways to getting around the politics.
I volunteer with a group of low income tenants who after much planning started a garden behind their apartment bldg. They were able to harvest enough vegables to feed the five families in the bldg . They are already planning on doing the same thing next year and sell some of their produce at a weekly community flea market in the area. Is it going to provide full time employment...probably not but the skills they have picked up and team building that incurred is well worth it. But then again who knows.
I saw on CBS news a story about Paper Street Motors. It has become a business incubator.The rent is very inexpensive. Do you know anything about this?

Stella, roadblocks are made to go over, under, through. Don't allow the politics to get the best of you guys. By any means neccessary. I would like to express my thoughts/ideas a little further but am not sure of the real audience involved in this medium.

One group that I am a member/supporter of here in the Boston area is Union of Minority Neighborhoods( wwwunionofminorityneighborhoods.org) that has made some gains in the plight of
issues that concerns us.

when and if we ever decide to stop playing the victim, we have a lot of tings we can do.

start with what you already have on hand...grow more tahn you need and sell this...have a yard sell...learn some crafts and use the net to sell them,,,if you like near a college and can type..if you have a spare room become a foster parent or do baby sitting in your home and branchout, .type up their term papers in your home, ect...

You your own self is the begining of a business, etc. (smile)