Lucky -- that's me (or, according to Ms. LB, high school English teacher, "That'd be I.") Sitting for 20 years at the corner of Campsie and Campsie, about four blocks north of Main, wondering when or if people will notice that it's great to live in Lexington's promising-but-not-yet-fulfilled downtown.
And then, people start noticing. About 20 seconds after they start noticing, they start moving in. There's a geneaology of who-told-whom-what to get the ball rolling, and then there are huge important moments in how it's all unfolding.
Key Group: Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association, Inc., chugging away on little projects so we can be proud of the place we live.
Key Visionary Persons: MLKNA founder Peggy Tichenor and her man Virgil, who defied all wisdom and moved from a snug suburb into a condemned house on North MLK -- and now it's an award-winning, HGTV-televised showplace.
Key Realtor Person: Donna Elder, realtor with a conscience extraordinaire, who helped save the Brand-Barrow House at Fourth and N. MLK by convincing the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington that moving into a promising-but-seedy-looking neighborhood could be an expression of faith. And then Donna got busy and showed house after house in the 'hood, acting as if these houses were really for sale, really good deals, with really good neighbors. So people started buying.
Key Savvy Energizer Persons: Todd and Sonya Blaydes, moving in, buying up houses with great potential, attracting energetic others to come too. Sonya formed a habit of forwarding info about houses for sale that Donna Elder posted to the MLKNA email list, and ......
Now Mick Jeffries and Lucy Points are moving onto Campsie, after they move some dirt. Their wonderful blog tells all about it. http://campsie.blogspot.com
And Mick's other blog is the very pattern of urban warm and cool -- spectacular.
http://minglefreely.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
The Duncan Park Snow Globe
That's what it looks like when I stop at the light at Fifth and N. Lime. Ahead on my left: Duncan Park.
Designer snow flakes slow dance around the stately 1810 Morton House in the center of the Park. The house and the snow are two forms of beauty are so perfect I laugh out loud -- a Lexington picture of peace on earth.
Then the first mercenary little thought: I wonder if the MLK Neighborhood Association could make snow globes of Morton House and Duncan Park? What about other beautiful places in our part of town? The Old Episcopal Burying Ground. The Living Arts and Science Center. Could we make snow globes of favorite spots and sell them? Are the globes only made in exploitative factories in distant countries? Could we start our own factory?
The light changes. I drive alongside Duncan Park's beauty and history, through the perfect snow, home to Campsie Place.
Designer snow flakes slow dance around the stately 1810 Morton House in the center of the Park. The house and the snow are two forms of beauty are so perfect I laugh out loud -- a Lexington picture of peace on earth.
Then the first mercenary little thought: I wonder if the MLK Neighborhood Association could make snow globes of Morton House and Duncan Park? What about other beautiful places in our part of town? The Old Episcopal Burying Ground. The Living Arts and Science Center. Could we make snow globes of favorite spots and sell them? Are the globes only made in exploitative factories in distant countries? Could we start our own factory?
The light changes. I drive alongside Duncan Park's beauty and history, through the perfect snow, home to Campsie Place.
Schedule for Lexington's Conversations on Slavery and Reparations
This is a text version of a brochure The Lexington Network produced. Thanks to Marilyn Dishman for sending it. (I've deleted sessions already concluded).
Lexington Network
"The Reparations Controversy: A Community Conversation"
A Series of Presentations / Panel Discussions, February - June, 2005
Presented by The Lexington Network
Introduction
On numerous occasions since the Emancipation Proclamation, national movements have emerged calling for reparations to redress the crimes of slavery and the post-slavery oppression of African-American people in this country. Fraught with controversy, the reparations debate is more often sidestepped than explored. This is partly because some people assume reparations means sending a government check to individual descendants of enslaved persons, when actually various proposals have been suggested that take a broader approach to educational and economic development strategies that would "level the playing field."
While the Lexington Network believes that there is much to be learned from a thoughtful consideration of the questions raised by the reparations debate, it takes no position about what specific actions, if any, should eventually occur around this issue. Through a series of monthly community dialogues, the Network hopes to introduce the key questions that frame this debate with the goal of determining how the Lexington community may wish to approach this issue in the future.
"The Reparations Debate: The Legal Perspective"
May 24, 2005 7-8:30 pm Lex'n Public Library Auditorium
Dr. Alfred L. Brophy will highlight the legal precedents set by reparations granted to survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and those Japanese/ Americans interred during World War II. He will also discuss the legal strategies that led to the successful suits by African American farmers against the U.S. Agriculture Department and cases that are the centerpiece of the reparations strategy.
(Confirmation of Dr. Brophy is pending.)
"The Reparations Debate: The Moral Perspective"
June 21, 2005 7-8:30 pm Lex'n Public Library Auditorium
Dr. James Kirby of Lexington Theological Seminary and Rabbi Marc Kline of Temple Adath will discuss the moral obligation to address the legacy of racism and discrimination. They will also explore the controversies and strategies that are raised by the current reparations movement.
For More information about this initiative, contact any of these members of the Lexington Network Reparations Community Conversation Steering Committee:
a.. Dr. Dinah Anderson (859) 323-7484 / dgande1@uky.edu
b.. Kimberly Judd (859) 257-1116 / kjjudd2@email.uky.edu
c.. John Lindsay (859) 252-7781/ jclind2@msn.com
d.. Ron Alpern (859) 293-9355 ronalp@aol.com
e.. Larry Johnson (859) 258-3108 / ljohnson@lfucg.com
Lexington Network
Featured Presenters
February
Dr. Randolph Hollingsworth is the author of the recently published book, Lexington - Queen of the Bluegrass. She received her Ph.D. in History from the University of Kentucky and presently serves as the "Director of Product Development" of the Kentucky Virtual University for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education's Virtual University.
Dr. Marion Lucas is a Professor of History and University Distinguished Professor at Western Kentucky University, having earned a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Sherman and the Burning of Columbia and A History of Blacks in Kentucky. Vol. I: From Slavery to Segregation 1760-1891. He is currently researching a biography of Kentucky abolitionist and educator John G. Fee.
Dr. Anne Butler earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. She is an associate professor in the Whitney Young School of Honors and Liberal Studies at Kentucky State University where she also serves as the Director of the Center of Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African Americans. She is a contributing author in a forthcoming book entitled African American Fraternities and Sororities -The Vision and the Legacy.
March
Molly Secours, is a Nashville-based writer and filmmaker who has been called an "uncompromising fighter for racial equity and social justice". She will discuss the concept of white privilege and "The Big Five" reasons commonly given by those dismissing the idea of paying reparations.
In addition to being a contributor to Raymond A. Winbush's, Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations, Ms. Secours is a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows. Her articles and columns have appeared in more than fifty newspapers and internet magazines. She attended the United Nations Prep-com in Geneva, Switzerland and, as a journalist, covered the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa in 2001. She has written a bi-weekly column for the daily Nashville "City Paper" and has served as an Advisory Board Member at Fisk University's Race Relations Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. See her website http://www.steveconn.com/molly .
April
Dr. Joanne Melish received her Ph.D. from Cornell University and is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the American Studies Program at the University of Kentucky. Her fields of interest include the history of racial production in the United States, slavery and emancipation, nineteenth-century American culture and social history, and nineteenth-century African American history. She is the author of the book Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and "Race" in New England, 1780-1860. She is the recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship.
Dr. Mark Gooden (to be confirmed) is an Assistant Professor in Education Administration and Urban Leadership Education at the University of Cincinnati. He has written and lectured widely on legal issues in Technology and Educational Administration and was the featured speaker at the University's Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday celebration this year.
May
Alfred L. Brophy, (to be confirmed) received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and J.D from Columbia. He is currently a Professor of Law at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. He has written extensively on race and property law in colonial, antebellum and 20th Century America and has lectured nationwide on reparations.
June
Dr. Jimmy Kirby is Professor of Church and Theology at Lexington Theological Seminary (LTS). He received his doctorate in theology from Boston University School of Theology. His graduate studies combined a major in Christian education with a strong focus in social ethics. Prior to joining the LTS faculty in 1994, he served as a director of Christian education at a CME church in Indianapolis, IN.
Rabbi Marc Kline earned law degree from University of Arkansas Law School. He practiced civil rights law before entering Hebrew Union seminary in Cincinnati. He led a congregation in Florence, North Carolina prior to assuming the post at Lexington's Temple Adath Israel in 2002.
Lexington Network
"The Reparations Controversy: A Community Conversation"
A Series of Presentations / Panel Discussions, February - June, 2005
Presented by The Lexington Network
Introduction
On numerous occasions since the Emancipation Proclamation, national movements have emerged calling for reparations to redress the crimes of slavery and the post-slavery oppression of African-American people in this country. Fraught with controversy, the reparations debate is more often sidestepped than explored. This is partly because some people assume reparations means sending a government check to individual descendants of enslaved persons, when actually various proposals have been suggested that take a broader approach to educational and economic development strategies that would "level the playing field."
While the Lexington Network believes that there is much to be learned from a thoughtful consideration of the questions raised by the reparations debate, it takes no position about what specific actions, if any, should eventually occur around this issue. Through a series of monthly community dialogues, the Network hopes to introduce the key questions that frame this debate with the goal of determining how the Lexington community may wish to approach this issue in the future.
"The Reparations Debate: The Legal Perspective"
May 24, 2005 7-8:30 pm Lex'n Public Library Auditorium
Dr. Alfred L. Brophy will highlight the legal precedents set by reparations granted to survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and those Japanese/ Americans interred during World War II. He will also discuss the legal strategies that led to the successful suits by African American farmers against the U.S. Agriculture Department and cases that are the centerpiece of the reparations strategy.
(Confirmation of Dr. Brophy is pending.)
"The Reparations Debate: The Moral Perspective"
June 21, 2005 7-8:30 pm Lex'n Public Library Auditorium
Dr. James Kirby of Lexington Theological Seminary and Rabbi Marc Kline of Temple Adath will discuss the moral obligation to address the legacy of racism and discrimination. They will also explore the controversies and strategies that are raised by the current reparations movement.
For More information about this initiative, contact any of these members of the Lexington Network Reparations Community Conversation Steering Committee:
a.. Dr. Dinah Anderson (859) 323-7484 / dgande1@uky.edu
b.. Kimberly Judd (859) 257-1116 / kjjudd2@email.uky.edu
c.. John Lindsay (859) 252-7781/ jclind2@msn.com
d.. Ron Alpern (859) 293-9355 ronalp@aol.com
e.. Larry Johnson (859) 258-3108 / ljohnson@lfucg.com
Lexington Network
Featured Presenters
February
Dr. Randolph Hollingsworth is the author of the recently published book, Lexington - Queen of the Bluegrass. She received her Ph.D. in History from the University of Kentucky and presently serves as the "Director of Product Development" of the Kentucky Virtual University for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education's Virtual University.
Dr. Marion Lucas is a Professor of History and University Distinguished Professor at Western Kentucky University, having earned a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Sherman and the Burning of Columbia and A History of Blacks in Kentucky. Vol. I: From Slavery to Segregation 1760-1891. He is currently researching a biography of Kentucky abolitionist and educator John G. Fee.
Dr. Anne Butler earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. She is an associate professor in the Whitney Young School of Honors and Liberal Studies at Kentucky State University where she also serves as the Director of the Center of Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African Americans. She is a contributing author in a forthcoming book entitled African American Fraternities and Sororities -The Vision and the Legacy.
March
Molly Secours, is a Nashville-based writer and filmmaker who has been called an "uncompromising fighter for racial equity and social justice". She will discuss the concept of white privilege and "The Big Five" reasons commonly given by those dismissing the idea of paying reparations.
In addition to being a contributor to Raymond A. Winbush's, Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations, Ms. Secours is a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows. Her articles and columns have appeared in more than fifty newspapers and internet magazines. She attended the United Nations Prep-com in Geneva, Switzerland and, as a journalist, covered the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa in 2001. She has written a bi-weekly column for the daily Nashville "City Paper" and has served as an Advisory Board Member at Fisk University's Race Relations Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. See her website http://www.steveconn.com/molly .
April
Dr. Joanne Melish received her Ph.D. from Cornell University and is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the American Studies Program at the University of Kentucky. Her fields of interest include the history of racial production in the United States, slavery and emancipation, nineteenth-century American culture and social history, and nineteenth-century African American history. She is the author of the book Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and "Race" in New England, 1780-1860. She is the recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship.
Dr. Mark Gooden (to be confirmed) is an Assistant Professor in Education Administration and Urban Leadership Education at the University of Cincinnati. He has written and lectured widely on legal issues in Technology and Educational Administration and was the featured speaker at the University's Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday celebration this year.
May
Alfred L. Brophy, (to be confirmed) received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and J.D from Columbia. He is currently a Professor of Law at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. He has written extensively on race and property law in colonial, antebellum and 20th Century America and has lectured nationwide on reparations.
June
Dr. Jimmy Kirby is Professor of Church and Theology at Lexington Theological Seminary (LTS). He received his doctorate in theology from Boston University School of Theology. His graduate studies combined a major in Christian education with a strong focus in social ethics. Prior to joining the LTS faculty in 1994, he served as a director of Christian education at a CME church in Indianapolis, IN.
Rabbi Marc Kline earned law degree from University of Arkansas Law School. He practiced civil rights law before entering Hebrew Union seminary in Cincinnati. He led a congregation in Florence, North Carolina prior to assuming the post at Lexington's Temple Adath Israel in 2002.
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