Congratulations, Will & Laura Barrett

We're proud of you, Will.

Feed the hungry (somewhere else)

The Vicenete Martinez Ybor Neighborhood Association is rallying together in opposition to a local organization that serves meals to hungry neighbors. For ten years, Trinity Cafe has been serving meals restaurant-style: china and flatware on a cloth-covered table, with respect and dignity for the people served.

Neighbors are concerned about crime going up and property values going down. Not that they are opposed to any of these negative effects happening elsewhere, just not in their neighborhood. Nor is the V. M. Ybor Neighborhood Association concerned about homelessness or hunger in Tampa, just the sight of it on their streets. How individualized have we become? If people could be dying one street away, and somehow it wouldn't affect my house or your house, would we then not care? If we could tint the windows of our cars with suffering-opaque tinting so that we couldn't see hurting people as we drive to work, would we be OK with that?

House Day: September 2011

Once each month, the whole lot of us Lake Housemates spend the day together. Very often we spend the time doing some kind of work, a project for productive bonding. This September's house day saw us working on our property to streamline the needless clutter, and to take better care of what we have.