This week gave me the chance to make the fourth stop on my local tour of the Open Mic scene abuzz in our fair town.   This journey began four months ago as a personal exploration of the questions: What kind of function do open mics play in our local community for its economy, musicians and music-lovers?   What is the unique flavor of each open mic happening across Sarasota?   So far, I’ve checked out the scenes brewing on the North Trail on Tuesdays at Growler’s Pub; out east at [...]

I value citizenship—the ability we each have to make a difference through our actions around something we care about, in the company of others. Yet, from over at least a decade of witnessing people trying to make the world a better place in one form or another, I find the thing that seems to plague most “do-ers” is that ugly phenomenon called “burnout”: A person who’s passionate about something takes on more and more responsibility, becoming isolated in and consumed by that responsibility. Eventually, they give up, heartbroken and alone in [...]

Who lives around me? What makes them amazing? How could knowing that be useful? This is what I’ll be exploring in a new series of blogs called “Amazing Neighbors.” My first interview is with someone I’ve admired since we first talked years ago: Don Hall, founder and Executive Director of Transition Sarasota, who lives about five blocks from my house off the edge of beautiful Gillespie Park. Don is a friendly guy about my age with bright blue eyes, sandy hair, and a wide smile. We met several years ago [...]

As I shared in previous articles (like this one), I’m on a personal mission to make my neighborhood a caring, connected place.  Besides the enjoyment I get out of it, I’ve also seen and experienced what a drastic change these connections can make in how we live, and in how our communities function overall, from increased safety and economic thriving to better health, education, and use of resources.  This is all tied to my work as a community-builder, but I feel it’s something that anyone can do. To that end, one of the [...]

Come August, Sarasotans will have an opportunity to help create a new kind of economy by joining Sarasota’s first time bank known as Common Wealth.   What is a Time Bank?  In the words of Time Banks USA founder Edgar Cahn, “The concept is simple: One hour of help of any kind given to another member earns one time credit, exchangeable for an hour of help in return.”  Think of it as a system of exchange based on a different kind of currency, made of what we already have in abundance [...]