Our Values

"Neighborhood": Should we spell it N-I-M-B-Y?

2010-07-29T04:00:00Z

(This week, we welcome back veteran communicator Terry Gallagher.)

What’s so bad about NIMBY? Wikipedia says the acronym for “not in my back yard” is “used pejoratively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them.”

There are plenty of good reasons for people to want to control access to their neighborhood. Some of the claims go pretty far: “Compact, walkable communities—the opposite of poorly planned sprawl—are the solution to some of our biggest shared challenges, from childhood obesity to social isolation, from crash deaths to disappearing farmland, from the high price of gas to the architectural blight of strip development.” (That’s an excerpt from a website promoting communities planned so they’re walkable.)

In addition, for most Americans, their home represents their single most valuable asset. So it seems pretty reasonable that people will object to new developments in their neighborhoods. In my community, some residents are objecting to higher-density housing units on nearby properties. In coastal areas, people are opposing wind farms because of their impact on scenic views. In a neighborhood in San Francisco, residents are objecting to a city plan to provide transitional housing for “aged-out” foster care children.

But how far should NIMBY-ism go?

And how do we weigh competing claims?

Higher-density housing seems to be a good thing in a downtown area. Alternative energy and wind power are good things. Housing young, needy people in an area where they have access to social services is a good thing. So where should those good things go, if not in your neighborhood, or mine?

Earlier this year, residents of Staten Island objected when a Muslim congregation planned to convert a former Catholic convent into a mosque. Is that going too far? Remember that the great fast of Ramadan is just around the corner so Americans soon will be more aware of their Muslim neighbors, due to news media coverage if not personal experience. What anxieties will resurface this year in neighborhoods?

This is one of many real-life NIMBY stories unfolding this summer. The photo above is an earlier Staten Island Live news photo by Michael McWeeney, part of a story by SiLive reporter Anthony Barone. Their headline? “Mosque is a peaceful sanctuary on industrial row.” A solution still has not been found. The latest SiLive story this week says the convent is no longer an option and Muslims on Staten Island will be spending Ramadan still searching for a site.

These are urgent “Neighborhood” issues. How do we weigh development requests? Maybe we should draw some lines—but how do we weigh the requests?

Please, share with us your thoughts on this: How do you draw these lines?
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ABOUT TERRY GALLAGHER: After working more than 20 years in higher education, Terry Gallagher is exploring new ways to use media and messages to build stronger institutions and communities. Most recently, he has joined the board and helped launch communications efforts at the InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit, a new group with a long history.

My Neighborhood: Being alone might be better

2010-07-28T04:00:17Z

(This week, we welcome back veteran communicator Terry Gallagher.)

In yesterday’s column, I talked about some of the ceremonies and rituals on my block. But I don’t live in paradise. One neighbor doesn’t like how the guy next door takes care of his lawn. Someone called the city when a neighbor didn’t shovel the sidewalk promptly enough after a snowfall. The man across the street crosses me out every election day, voting the other way on every candidate and issue on the ballot.

These are trivial issues, though, compared to the terrible problems many people face in their neighborhoods, and because of their neighborhoods.

Public health researchers have studied how “social capital,” one of the benefits from living in a decent neighborhood, influences an individual’s well-being. On the other side of the coin, there is strong evidence that living in a poorer neighborhood can have a strong negative impact on children’s mental health. And the negative effects are stronger the more connected the children’s families are with their neighbors in those settings.

But other people shun neighborhood life, too.

“We all live in the boondocks to be left alone,” regular OurValues.org reader Eoghan wrote in the first comment posted on this week’s series. “I live on a private road. All of us have 10-acre parcels, or larger. It is a dead-end road and we get no traffic other than neighbors. We all know each other and wave as we pass, but only stop to talk with a few.”

Eoghan might be alone on his road, but he’s not alone in his desire. How about you: Would you rather be left alone?

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My Neighborhood: 'Where all’s accustomed, ceremonious'

2010-07-27T04:00:00Z

TAPPING MAPLE TREES: A family posed for this photograph 100 years ago.

(This week, we welcome back veteran communicator Terry Gallagher.)

On our block, one family used to be in charge of the Easter egg hunt. Another family offered a hot-dog supper on Halloween right before the kids went out begging. Someone else always had a party the week before Christmas, and another one marks the end of summer. As for us, we’ve been putting on the New Year’s Eve soup-a-thon for more than 20 years. No invitations, just show up around dinner time. Kids welcome. Nothing fancy. Lentil soup for the vegetarians, and corn chowder is very popular, too.

Some of those traditions are fading as a generation of kids goes off to college. But new traditions are emerging. Last year, a group of families tapped maple trees all around the block. You could see steam rising from a neighbor’s grill for three days straight one weekend in March as they evaporated sap down to syrup. No, it wasn’t quite like the photograph above, but you get the idea: American communities have been doing things like this, together, for a very long time.

We’ve never had a real block party, with the city permit and the barricades, but these other gatherings have built a very strong sense of community on our street. In his poem, “A Prayer for My Daughter,” W.B. Yeats hoped that she might live “where all’s accustomed, ceremonious.”

If we want lives rich with customs and ceremonies, we might want to start right in our own neighborhood, right on our own block.

Are there similar rituals in your neighborhood?

What are they?

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My Neighborhood: What do we know about home values?

2010-07-26T04:00:00Z

(This week, welcome back veteran communicator Terry Gallagher. If you’re just joining us, here’s Part 1 of Terry’s eye-opening series on the “Real World,” last week. Starting today, please enjoy Terry’s look at values in our neighborhoods. Then, I’ll return next week. —Dr. Wayne Baker.)

“Why is it that in an age of discount airlines, unlimited cell phone minutes, and the Internet, when we can create community anywhere, we often don’t know the people who live next door?”
That’s the question that led journalist Peter Lovenheim to invite himself into his neighbors’ homes, to explore their lives more closely over the breakfast table. His experience led to a book published earlier this year: “In The Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time.”

You know what most of us really want to know about our neighborhoods, based on the latest Internet search trends? Home values. The vast majority of us are checking on real estate. That’s perhaps understandable given the widespread anxiety about our economy.

But Lovenheim wanted to know more when he became aware of a very disturbing event close to his home. On his street, a man killed his wife and then himself, their children went to live with the grandparents and the house was put on the market. “Yet my neighborhood seemed little affected,” he wrote in the Huffington Post earlier this year. “A family had vanished, yet the impact on our neighborhood was slight. How could that be? Did I live in a community or just in a house on a street surrounded by people whose lives were entirely separate?”

I haven’t read Lovenheim’s book yet, but I am really interested in this subject: how we live in neighborhoods, and how the relationships we build with our neighbors are essential to the quality of our lives, for both good and ill. We don’t have to have a murder/suicide on our block to realize that we could be better connected with our neighbors. And that our lives might be fuller, richer, safer and healthier as a result. Our lives are more than a matter of housing values. Our relationships with our neighbors say a lot about our personal values, and I hope to look at a few of those this week.

And the main question I’ll be asking this week: How well are you connected to your neighbors?

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Staying in the 'Real World': Just ... don't come back!

2010-07-23T04:00:00Z

(This week, we welcome veteran communicator Terry Gallagher. Here is the final part of Terry’s series on the natural world. You can read all 5 parts through links in the right-hand column.)

Most of us would agree that the worst part of a vacation is when it ends. That’s especially true when you’ve taken a trip that has allowed you to get reconnected, reacquainted with that “real world” we’ve been talking in this series this week, the natural world of air, water, earth, plants animals and sunshine.

My advice? Stay there. Don’t come back.

Of course, I don’t mean that literally. Your office needs you, there’s laundry to do, lawn to mow, bills to pay. But one of the goals I’ve set for myself in the past few years is to extend the vacation as long as possible. I don’t mean refusing to come home. But I would really like to get better at keeping up the habits I get accustomed to when we’re living in a rented cabin on a lakeshore.

So we try to keep a jigsaw puzzle out on a table at home. We leave the cribbage board out, pegs marking a game in progress. Sad to say, before too many weeks pass, the toys get in the way and are put back on the shelf. And we’re back to old habits, meeting deadlines, scrambling for work, jumping when the phone rings.

What I miss more than the games, though, is the weakening of my connection to the natural outdoor world over the course of the rest of the year. So as this week’s series comes to an end, I’m thinking about how I can continue living in the real world, and continue to explore the authentic connections and genuine values we learn there, as long as possible.

So what’s your advice?

How do you keep the vacation going?

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'Real World': Can you name Real vs. False?

2010-07-22T04:00:00Z

Do you know which one is Solomon’s Seal? And which is False Solomon’s Seal? I do. And, in a moment, I’ll answer this question. But, first: What’s in a name?

This week, I’ve been writing about experiencing the real world: the world comprising air, water, earth, plants, animals and sunshine, not the phony world where we spend most of our working lives, but the world we find outdoors in the summer. And for me, I feel better acquainted, better connected with that world when I know the names of things.

So as I walk in the woods in the spring, I’m looking to see if the Canadian dogwoods are blooming along the trail from the lighthouse to the Hurricane River. In August, I steer my walks towards an area where I know I’ll find ripe blueberries. I can boast that I have seen the carnivorous Northern Pitcher Plant in full bloom. And, because this week’s series has a spiritual angle to it, I should say that I know where to look for Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

I’m no scientist, and I don’t know if knowing the names of plants is even considered science any more. And I really hope you won’t think me a drudge. But, I learned in college that there are a lot more nouns than there are verbs, both in our language and in the real world; every little thing has a name. And I agree with Plato when he said that “inquiring after what we do not know will make us better and braver and less helpless.”

Naming the beasts in the field and the fowls in the air was one of the first jobs that God gave to Adam in Genesis, “and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”

So when I go out in the woods, I keep my eyes and ears open. And when I get back to the car, I check out what I have seen in my field books and manuals. Which is how I know that really was a Baltimore Oriole I saw at the Log Slide a week ago.

The real question today: How do you know you’ve been in touch with the real world?

Ohhh, right! I promised to identify the two photos: Top is Polygonatum biflorum or Solomon’s Seal; below that is Maianthemum racemosum or False Solomon’s Seal.

Now, don’t forget to answer the main question. Once again: How do you know you’ve been in touch with the real world? The link to click and leave a “Comment” is below!

'Real World': What rare sights have YOU seen?

2010-07-21T04:00:00Z

(This week, we welcome veteran communicator Terry Gallagher. Here is Part 3 of Terry’s thought-provoking series on the natural world.)

“Did you see anything?”

I hike a lot when I’m out in the real world, on my vacations up along the southern shore of Lake Superior. (Remember we’re talking about the real real world this week, the one that consists of air, water, earth, plants, animals and sunshine.)

When I come off the trail, I often I run into car campers or other tourists and, given my nature, we usually fall into conversation. They always seem curious about the idea that I just walked a half-dozen miles through the woods, and that I’m about to turn around and walk back. Invariably, they always want to know one thing: “Did you see anything?”

I’ve figured that they mean did I see any big animals, what my biologist friend calls “charismatic megafauna.” People who watch a lot of TV must think the woods are just teeming with wildlife, but in reality you almost never see anything much bigger than a chipmunk or a chickadee.

On the other hand, every now and then I’ve seen some great, big animals in the real world and it is a deeply thrilling experience. Last week I saw a bald eagle soaring over the cliffs and dunes east of the Au Sable Light Station, and was reminded why animals at the top of the food chain don’t need camouflage.

On other trips, I’ve seen a moose, a bear, and a wolf. They were extremely fleeting encounters, but we knew immediately that we were in the presence of something completely wild. It is very rare, though, so you have to know to grab hold of it when it happens.

“How many moments of religious experience are lost to some men because of incredulity?” One of my college profs attributed that tag to Heraclitus, and it’s one of the things that I think about when I get reconnected with the real world: when you’re in the presence of something great, magical, mysterious, majestic and fleeting, that you have to grab hold of it and recognize it as a moment of religious experience.

Do you have similar moments of religious experience in the real world?

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'Real World': Nature's power forces us to consider—options

2010-07-20T04:00:00Z

(THIS WEEK, we welcome veteran communicator Terry Gallagher. Here is Part 2 of Terry’s thought-provoking series on the natural world.)

“The Lake is the Boss”

This week, we’re looking at the real world, not the ersatz one of pettiness and meanness we find in our work lives, but the real real world, the one made up of air, water, earth, plants, animals and sunshine. Many of us taking vacations at this time of year find peace and reflection out in nature.

But it would be wrong to think of the natural world as simple, uncomplicated, unchallenging, benign.

A couple of years ago, I went kayaking with a group of Boy Scouts in the Apostle Islands, an archipelago in the western part of Lake Superior, the northernmost point of Wisconsin. It was a little choppy in the bay when the outfitter dropped us off, but she assured us it was safe: “You’ll be just like a bar of soap bobbing on the surface!”

But the weather changed for the worse in the hour it took us to load the kayaks and start paddling, and when we got out of the protected bay, we were literally in over our heads, with two miles of open water to go. With waves going three or four feet, we could only see the other boats when we crested the swells, and water washed over the boats when we were in the troughs.

Scary stuff!

Later that week, we stopped in the park’s visitor center and watched the video where one old-timer was shown repeating a local mantra, “The lake is the boss.”

There’s a thing they warn you about when you take off on one of these adventures: Take extra chow in case you become “wavebound.” You’re wavebound when the water is too rough for you to leave the island you’re on.

Since then I’ve found analogies to that in other parts of my life, and I bet you have, too. There are times in the real world when we have to yield, to surrender our willfulness and autonomy, to recognize that the lake is the boss.

When have you found yourself wavebound?

How did you respond?

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Welcome to 'Real World': Tough talk? Outdoor adventure?

2010-07-19T04:00:00Z

(THIS WEEK, please welcome veteran communicator Terry Gallagher! Here is Part 1 of Terry’s thought-provoking series on an appropriately summery theme. There’s more about Terry at the end of today’s article. I will return in early August—Dr. Wayne Baker)

“Welcome to the real world!”
You’ve heard that expression, usually said with a sneer or a world-weary sigh. I’ve heard it, too. It’s how we explain away a dirty trick in the office or workplace, some behavior that’s mean or low. Whenever we express disappointment with that kind of behavior, you can trust that someone will say, “Well, welcome to the real world.” It means that we should be wiser and more cynical, that we should expect that kind of thing. It says that honorable behavior and solid values are not found in the real world.

But it isn’t true, is it?

The real world is actually something different. Today, I hope you’ll add a comment about where you truly connect with the real world. At this time of year, a lot of us go on vacation, many to places that allow us to reconnect with the real world.

A biologist friend of mine once told me that the real world actually consists of only six things: air, water, earth, plants, animals and sun. Last week, I was lucky enough to spend time along the shore of the largest freshwater lake in the world. On Lake Superior, the weather report really matters. Sometimes you have to raise your voice to be heard over the waves. When the wind is blowing too hard, you can’t go out in the kayak or even walk in the woods. The eagle that comes sweeping in over the lakeshore isn’t there for your entertainment. Sundown is a big deal.

I’m not a simpleton. I know that politics is part of life, both in the office and in the nation. Human nature includes a capacity for bad behavior, big and small. But let’s not pretend that that’s the real world, or the complete extent of it. Instead, we can take this time of year to look at a more distant horizon, and to experience more directly the real world, the world of air, water, earth, plants, animals and sunshine.

Welcome to the real world!

Now, tell me today: Where do you go to find the real world?

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Predicting the Future: Environmental Apocalypse by 2050?

2010-07-16T04:00:00Z

Can you predict which group of Americans is most worried about an environmental Apocalypse?
Pssst! There’s a big hint in the photo above!

All this week, we’ve reported some startling news: If Americans’ predictions about the future come true, we may have to reset our assumptions about “Apocalypse 2012“—to 2050. Many Americans foresee the Second Coming of Christ by 2050, along with a new world war.

Today, please tell us what you think about the danger of an environmental calamity.

What did the April poll by the Pew Research Center and Smithsonian magazine turn up? When it coms to environmental concerns, the assumptions all depend on which group you ask. Who is most pessimistic? The young! Of course, pollsters couldn’t ask children, but collectively our young adults, ages 18 to 29, are most worried. Three of four in that youthful group say the world’s oceans will be less healthy than today, and that the earth will get warmer. The April poll was taken before the extent of the BP oil disaster was known, so I’m sure the young are even more pessimistic now.

Does political affiliation make a difference? Yes! Republicans are more much optimistic about the long-term health of the environment than Democrats are. Only 37% of Republicans say the U.S. will face water shortages, compared with 56% of Democrats. Only 48% Republicans say the earth will get warmer, compared with 83% of Democrats. Compared with eleven years ago, Republicans today are even cooler about the prospect of global warming. In a May 1999 survey, 68% of Republicans predicted that the world will get warmer—so we’ve seen a drop of 20 percentage points in just over a decade. Similarly, a 2009 Pew Center poll reports a decline in the number of Republicans who believe there is solid evidence that the earth’s temperatures are rising.

What are your predictions about global warming in the next 40 years?
Do you side with the Republicans or the Democrats?
Will temperatures rise? Stay the same? Or fall?
As we end this week, add your thoughts about what the next 40 years will bring!

Please add a “Comment” below before you go.