I was recently in Nashville on a press trip sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Tourism Development. The tour was for writers interested in the state’s music industry, which is, of course, huge. Once again, I was reminded that the money often goes to everyone but the artists. There are so many people in the… [Read More]
Blog
Tag: economic development
Ethiopia: “The God Who Begat a Jackal”, by Nega Mezlekia
Ethiopia is a strange country: the home of a large Christian Orthodox population, but also the birthplace of one of the largest religions in the Caribbean, Rastafari; a nation associated with famine, a famine that was largely man-made; a country where the large Christian population, monarchical social structure, and convenient location made it loom large… [Read More]
The Heartbreak of the Heidelberg Project
In 2011, I took a press trip to Detroit. The city’s tourism office was anxious to show off the interesting aspects of the city, which are legion. One of the things that fascinated me was The Heidelberg Project, an open-air art installation on the city’s East Side. The artist, Tyree Guyton, started re-doing old houses… [Read More]
The Gambia: The World and a Very Small Place in Africa
The African-Nation-A-Week project was delayed by a long book: The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: A History of Globalization in Niumi, The Gambia. But what a fascinating book! Donald Wright takes a district in The Gambia, Niumi, and uses it as a starting point to explore the effects of globalization on the… [Read More]
Paying for College: The Kalamazoo Promise
This weekend, the New York Times Magazine had a story on the Kalamazoo Promise. Some anonymous philanthropists in the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan have offered to pay tuition for any graduate of Kalamazoo’s public high schools for any public university or community college in Michigan – including the University of Michigan, one of the country’s… [Read More]
