Jonathan Haidt on why we should “think asteroids”
When Dr. Haidt was in Florida this month, he spoke at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at University of Florida. They did this videotaped interview that features an important concept he shared with us: if we want to succeed in these conversations, we need to think common threats more than common ground. We need to think asteroids.
OUR TOWN: Burying the Franklin Blvd. ditch – wise or wasteful?
Like it or not, the deep ditch dividing Franklin Blvd. is currently being buried to alleviate flooding risks and to make this roadway more friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists, too. The ditch has a much more pleasant history as a stream, the St. Augustine Branch, but its more recent past has come to define it as more of a hazard, eyesore and great inconvenience. The construction currently underway on Franklin is part of the “Capital Cascade Trail” project led by the city-county collaborative Blueprint 2000. This is phase 1, and phase 2 is Cascades Park. The renovation of Franklin will reduce it down to 2 lanes and add both sidewalks and bike lanes. It certainly sounds more pedestrian/bike-friendly, but perhaps less appealing to drivers during rush hour. Some area residents say this is a good thing because they’re tired of it being a dangerous speedway. Others say the old stream could have been spared and revitalized with a different approach. The ultimate decision appears to be that the safest options just didn’t include the ditch/stream and drivers coexisting. So, as early as this August, we will drive over top the ditch instead of navigating around it. We still have Cascades Park to look forward to, which is where the former stream flowed to in its heyday.
Check out The Village Square‘s discussion on the topic in our “Get Local” Tallahassee section of our We the Wiki website. Feel free to add to it, too — additional sources, 
fact checks, even write an op-ed. Remember, the content of our Wiki is made greater by factual, civil, diverse contributions from people like you. So, go ahead — check it out. And if you’re a first-time user, be sure to check out the Tools & Tips page, too. If you have trouble with the site using Internet Explorer, try switching over to Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari.
Miss last week’s Dinner at the Square? WFSU will air the program Friday at 7PM
Did you miss Wall Street, Main Street, Easy Street, our Dinner at the Square focused on the economic crisis, particularly in Florida? WFSU airs the program this Friday night, May 4, from 7 to 8pm. Mark it on your calendar now! Tune in to 88.9FM to listen.
Tomorrow: Alistair Cole at FSU on “Sarkozy’s Hyper-Presidency”
The Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French & Francophone Studies
& the College of Social Sciences & Public Policy at
Florida State University
announce a public lecture by:
Alistair Cole
Professor of Politics, Cardiff University
Sarkozy’s Hyper-Presidency: France 2007-2012
Tuesday, February 21st
5:00 – 6:00 pm
The Pepper Center’s Broad Auditorium
636 West Call St. on FSU’s Campus view
Sponsored by the
Ruth K. and Shepard Broad International Lecture Series
Download a flyer for the program HERE.
(Something we could stand a little more of.
“After 9/11 we came together as a country and you got this feeling – like you heard in WWII – in the foxholes, there weren’t Democrats or Republicans… there were Americans.” — Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe
Latest from the Town & Gown project
From TAG Tallahassee’s Tallahassee Democrat blog:
Tallahasseeans hoping for more town-gown cooperation should be buoyed by this morning’s meeting among the top K-12 and higher education honchos.
Superintendent of Schools Jackie Pons arranged a meeting with FSU President Eric Barron, FAMU President James Ammons and Tallahassee Community College President Jim Murdaugh to discuss opportunities for collaboration. Possibilities include energy conservation, land management, expanding college student volunteer/mentor efforts, and help with K-12 fine arts programs.
TAG Tallahassee project director Mike Pate, who attended the meeting, said the town-gown initiative would provide a solid platform to enhance the kind of cooperation the education leaders envisioned.
Check out Ashley Ames’ news story on the event on Tallahassee.com …. And don’t forget about the Feb. 22 town-gown forum at the Challenger Learning Center Planetarium from 7-9 p.m.
Florence Snyder: Tip of the hat to Skip Perez
The University of Florida’s journalism star maker machinery is internationally known, and this story by Lakeland Ledger Managing Editor Lenore Devore shows why.
It’s a retrospective on the life and times of Skip Perez on the occasion of his retirement as the paper’s executive editor. Mr. Perez, 64, logged off last Friday, having spent more than half his professional life at The Ledger.
Under the ownership of the New York Times Company and the leadership of Mr. Perez, The Ledger became a sort of Hogwarts for journalism. He hand-fed generations of reporters and editors the magical skills of comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable, and speaking truth to power. If Dumbledore had been a ‘Gator, he might have grown up to be Skip Perez.
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Florence Snyder is a corporate and First Amendment lawyer. Contact her at lawyerflo@gmail.com
(Photo credit: lakelandlocal on Flickr)