I have about 45 minutes to kill in Nashville before visiting with John Seigenthaler, friend and former aide to the Kennedy brothers and noted journalist, and the drive up from Birmingham was productive in terms of generating some ideas for the blog/other things.
Here are the ideas. I'm hoping these will become more than just ideas, so hold me to it!
1. An open letter to Tuscaloosa Mayor Maddox expressing my hope for redevelopment after the storm to be focused on sustainable technology/design, innovative community spaces to facilitate interaction between traditionally isolated groups (can be based on socioeconomic levels, race, religion, student v resident, etc), and anything other than chain restaurants/sprawling condos/vast apartment complexes.
2. An open letter to UA President Dr. Witt expressing my hopes for UA in the Tuscaloosa redevelopment + development of the Bryce properties. Like the letter to the mayor, I hope UA will use innovative urban design principles to create community "hotspots" and interactive flex spaces that emphasize "collaboration as innovation" to facilitate "community based problem-solving in a spirit of creative entrepreneurship." Those ideas may sound familiar because I attempted to discuss their meaning on the PBS Student Freedom Ride blog (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/2011/2011/05/17/marshall-essay-2/)
3. Vignettes from the 2011 Student Freedom Ride that continue to pop up in my mind.
4. Images/sights that send my thoughts back to Tuscaloosa and my attempts think about how I can contribute to the Tuscaloosa rebuilding effort from Colorado.
5. Thoughts about an article on building intellectual capacity, the "mindset" of the future, how social media plays into this idea....
We'll see what happens. I plan to post the first draft of the letter online, revise it, then send it to Mayor Maddox & Dr. Witt. I might even include pictures of the letter going into the mail...
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