RNeighbors - Society & Culture

Islam and Catholic Leaders Meet to Find Common Ground

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:50:41 -0600

Leaders of the Catholic and Islamic religions have been meeting to discuss ways to improve relations between them and to discuss issues that unite or divide them.

Meetings have been held at the Vatican and included an audience with Pope Benedict. The Islamic leaders had met previously in the United States with Protestant and Anglican church officials.

Before the meetings in the United States, the Islamic leaders had issued a manifesto called "Common Word" which argued that "both religions share core principles of love of God and neighbor." The talks focused on what this means for the religions and how they can create harmony between them.

Community Discussion on the root causes of youth violence and gangs and proposed solutions

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:04:44 -0500

What:
The Eastside Pioneers Neighborhood Association (ESPNA) is sponsoring a community-wide discussion on the root causes of youth violence and gangs. Our keynote speakers will seek to shed some light on this subject as well as provide us with solutions to help youth whose destructive belief system results in negative behavior.
Who:
Wendell Amstutz MA, author of A Handbook on Youth Violence and Gangs and Youth Violence: The Belief-Behavior Connection. Wendell spent 23 years as a youth worker on staff with Campus Life. Besides being a national conference/seminar speaker, he is the founder and Executive Director of the National Counseling Resource Center (NCRC). He was co-founder and first chairman of the Community Youth Violence Intervention Council (CYVIC) in Rochester, Minnesota, a city-sponsored task force, created in the 1990’s, geared toward combating street gangs.

Neighborhood Housing and History

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:30:46 -0500

The Eastside Pioneers Neighborhood has a wide assortment of houses of all different ages, shapes, sizes and styles. A number of these homes were built in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Large or small, old or not so old, historically significant or not, all are worth preserving. There is a history to the neighborhood and it along with the homes that reflect it deserve to be preserved.

It seems logical to assume that if people are more knowledgeable about the history of their neighborhood that they would be more motivated to fight to preserve the neighborhood.

Did you know that one of Rochester’s top photographers, Earl Cutshall, lived in our neighborhood up until his death a few years ago?

Defining Community

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:31:20 -0500

Defining your community may not seem imperative, but in reality, it has a tremendous effect on how we go about our daily lives. Community in Morocco exhibited a very different set of characteristics than community does back here at home in rural Minnesota. We each make choices that affect how we interact with our neighbors and within greater society, and it is up to each of us as individuals to change those choices if we think it is necessary. Maybe we want to see a closer-knit neighborhood or a world more at peace. Set a vision and work to create that new, brighter world.

A difficult part of the readjustment process from Morocco to the U.S. was the redefinition of community. In many ways, I missed the close-knit connections Morocco represented. We certainly have our own sense of community here in the U.S. and in southeast Minnesota, but I think there exist a few things Morocco can teach us, as well as a few things we do pretty well that could be shared with others.

Change is Inevitable - Progress is Optional

Tue, 01 May 2007 09:44:48 -0500

I just finished a book by Andy Stern, president of SEIU the largest and fastest growing union in the country, "A Country that Works." In it Andy Stern confronts all the major areas of concern for our country: economy - the working class is falling behind, healthcare - are we ever gonna dig ourselves out of this hole, education - China and India graduate more science and engineering students from college than we graduate people from college over all...etc. etc.

These are large issues, no doubt. But I'm not too influential on the national stage, like Andy Stern. However, all of us are highly influential locally: we run in to our city and county officials at the grocery store, at the farmer's market, we know what kinds of cars they drive and what they do for a living - we're citizens of the same small community. And they are all very responsive and will take our phone calls.

The Example of the Amish

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:35:29 -0500

Thrust into the limelight by a shocking tragedy is a quiet community seeking to be self-sufficient. So counter-culture is their lifestyle that for most people the Amish serve only as a tourist attraction. Busy caring for their families and the earth, they have now been forced to articulate to the world their core beliefs which are based on the teachings of Jesus.

Their mandate to forgive even their enemies was evident when the father of the intruder--murderer of their children—was immediately assured by an Amish spokesman, “We will forgive you.” Subsequently many Amish attended the funeral of the “enemy.” Presently we hear that monies sent them are being shared with the murderer’s family and disaster victims anywhere as determined by Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Disaster Service. (Rochester benefited by their compassion during the aftermath of the 1978 flood.)

5th Anniversary of Interfaith Hospitality Network!

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 18:07:52 -0500

Congratulations to Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Rochester (IHN) on their 5th anniversary of serving homeless families in Rochester! Thank you to Joanne Markee, Executive Director; Emily Otto, Family Stabilizer Counseler; and over 1200 volunteers for helping homeless families get back on their feet.

Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Rochester http://www.ihn-greater-rochester.org/) provides temporary housing and assistance to homeless families with children. IHN is part of a national organization called Family Promise. (www.nihn.org).

IHN of Greater Rochester has over 39 congregations involved! The host sites take turns providing temporary overnight housing for the families for 1 week at a time. The support congregations help to cook dinner for the guests, play with the children, and help children with their homework. There is a day center where families can go during the day. The day center also provides guests with a mailing address and a base for housing and employment searches.

Diversity Council Dialogue on Gender and Sexism

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 16:48:40 -0600

The Rochester Diversity Council invites you to join their dialogue on Gender and Sexism.

A Time to Talk: Dialogue on Gender & Sexism
Thursday, March 30, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Heintz Center Commons

Phrases like "runs like a girl", "man's man", or "feminazi" show that our ideas about gender are still defining women's and men's roles in our community. While these ideas may seem harmless or old-fashioned, they manifest themselves in very real ways, such as wage disparity, harassment, and unequal opportunities for both men and women. Our ideas about gender affect us all-regardless of our sex.

Bus Route Envy

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 13:23:47 -0600

Bus Route Envy

After spending a little time brainstorming on topics for RNeighbors blogging, I thought about bus culture and wondered what goes on in some of Rochester’s city buses. I mentioned this to my book group and discovered that, indeed, some of these women had some stories to tell. That week, I made a sketchy plan in my head regarding when I might ride one of these buses and how frequently, picturing myself with a steno pad and pen and having a keen sense of reflective observation. Well, this plan went by the wayside when one of my friends from the book group called me with a scoop. Apparently, a woman she’d met is a regular on a city bus and this bus rider already has a plan to write a one act play in the near future about her experience. Aha! This sounded interesting.

March is Minnesota Foodshare Month

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:59:02 -0600

March is Minnesota Foodshare Month. As of March 16, the community raised 34,000 pounds of food and $35,000 towards the goal of 50,000 pounds and $100,000 for the Channel One Inc. Food Bank and Food Shelf campaign.

In addition to providing food for individuals in need, Channel One provides food to many other programs including two that I volunteer for: Saturday Noon Meals and Interfaith Hospitality Network.

Saturday Noon Meals has served a nutritious hot meal to persons in need every Saturday for 12 years. Saturday Noon Meals serves between 60 - 90 people every week. The people served are needy for many reasons - some have mental illness or addiction problems, many are seniors with a limited income, some are homeless, others have serious health problems. Because of the low cost food available from Channel One (Saturday Noon Meals pays 4 -18 cents per pound of food for processing fees) and the many volunteers who help cook and serve the meals, Saturday Noon Meals can afford to feed people every Saturday.