Life as Edward Jensen

For what it’s worth…this was on the PBS NewsHour’s 19 February 2010 broadcast.

-Edward Jensen

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, emphasis added]

Thus begin the Amendments to the United States Constitution. As anyone who’s taken a civics course knows, the US Constitution is the “supreme law of the land” (cf. Article VI par. 2; also see the 14th Amendment).

Consider also the late developments happening with Crossroads United Methodist Church. As preface, they had a homeless ministry at their church, Central Avenue and Northern in the quasi-upscale North Central neighborhood. Then the neighborhood didn’t like seeing homeless people in their posh neighborhood, complained, got the city involved, and the city made a decision that Crossroads had to stop this ministry. After an appeal made by Crossroads, the city still stood by its decision.

Depending on your angle, it’s NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) at its finest or its worst.

Granted, when one thinks of the neighborhood around Central and Northern, one doesn’t really think about homeless ministries. Most of the homeless reside in and near Downtown Phoenix. I would think that if Crossroads wanted to do this in a more effective (whatever this means) fashion, then doing outreach and meal service would be more effective there. There’s a fantastic human services campus at 12th Ave and Jefferson–maybe a partnership there should be in the works.

But that’s irrelevant to my argument. I am, however, reminded of something from Scripture:

“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” [excerpted from "The Judgment of the Nations," Matthew 25:31-46 NRSV]

As The Rev. John Petty (All Saints’ Lutheran Church, Aurora, Colorado) noted in his blog Progressive Involvement,

In liberation theology circles, this is called the “preferential option for the poor,” which is supposed to be controversial, but, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. All four gospels state very clearly, one way or another, that Christ is a friend of the poor, identifies with them, is found with them. It’s not for nothing that Jesus was born to a poverty-stricken Jewish family from a hick little town. [source]

Jesus was a friend of the poor. Christians – followers of Christ – should be friends of the poor as well.

This brings me back to the original crux of this entry, taken from the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

Let’s make a few assumptions here. First, that the Gospel of St Matthew is accepted canon in Christianity. Second, Christianity is accepted as a religion. In essence, the city is redefining Christianity. Christianity by city policy.

If a church wants to reach out to “the least of these” in a homeless ministries program, then it has its Constitutional rights to do so. NIMBY-ists can complain until they’re blue in the face, but it should be a Constitutional right. Wait: it is.

Lord, have mercy!

-Edward Jensen

continue reading Thoughts on Crossroads and “the least of these”

Yes, yes, I know: when you’re reading this, the world slowly is marching into 2010.  That doesn’t take away from the spirit of this post, which is looking forward and offering my hopes and dreams for this place that we all call home.

Let’s get to it…

First, I hope that Phoenix (and even the metro area) start realizing that there is enough infrastructure here into which we need to grow.  We don’t need to keep sprawling out as we have.  Let’s fix that which is already here.  There are some true gems that we don’t need to go and unsustainably expand.  Let’s also diversify how we build and not put all our economic eggs in one basket.  Arizona was one of the hardest hit states in this recession because we put all our energy into growth.  Nothing else.

For the light rail, I have three wishes. First, let’s get rid of the one-car trains.  They look silly.  How much more does it cost to operate a two-car train?  Second, let’s take a look at frequency.  Sundays operate at three trains per hour.  The riders are there: let’s say that the minimum frequency is four trains per hour (or, 15 minutes between trains).  Third, let’s not eliminate the Friday/Saturday late night service (to 3am).

For Arizona, I hope that our state legislature realizes that it cannot cut our way out of this budget crisis.  We need to find new, reliable ways to gain revenue and invest in things that will keep the people here.  Because, given how you’re disenfranchising those who call this place home by cutting monies to public education, parks, protection, etc., people are going to evaluate if they want to stay here.  As for me, I’m on the fence.

And lastly, for me: this time come next year, and provided that everything goes as planned, I’ll have my Bachelor of Sciences degree in Urban & Metropolitan Studies.  I’ll have written and defended a thesis on social network analysis and how Web 2.0 has affected that.  I’m sure I’ll meet some fantastic people along the way.  And maybe someone special, too.

So Happy New Year 2010. May this year be peaceful, engaging, and productive.

Peace!

-Edward Jensen

Well, we’re at that point of the year wherein everyone is taking a look back at the year that will be ending tomorrow.

To commemorate the year, here’s a look back at the major themes of posts I’ve written.  Links will open in a new window.

January (see all posts)
Happy New Year 2009! The new Valley METRO light rail system began revenue operations after five free-ride days and ASU Downtown Phoenix campus students were figuring out how to leverage the system in their transportation arsenal.  There were two “miracles“: the Miracle on the Hudson and the Miracle at University of Phoenix Stadium sending the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl.  Obama was sworn into office (twice!) to become this nation’s first African-American president.  The Spring 2009 semester started sending me to the sea of humanity that is the ASU Tempe campus (meh…).

February (see all posts)
There was the Barrett Honors College Light Rail Party on the 6th, and I’d like to think it was the first major non-METRO-sponsored event to occur on the then five-week-old system.  Our patience was rewarded as Janet Echelman revealed the name of the public art piece suspended above the then soon-to-open Civic Space Park: “Her Secret is Patience.”  And we learned that installation of Ms. Echelman’s work would begin on 9th March, though it didn’t quite take the first time.  I moved this blog from Blogger to Wordpress and haven’t looked back.  Constructive arguments win, and this post demonstrated how. Then, upon learning that Glendale wanted to route its share of the light rail mainly through Phoenix (viz. I-10 and the Loop 101) to Westgate, I proposed using Grand Avenue as an alternative.

March (see all posts)
I went on a writing terror in March, penning 43 posts.  I evaluated a thoughtful sustainability curriculum in response to two sustainability classes I was taking at the time, and then evaluated (the lack of) academic integrity demonstrated by a student. Her Secret is Patience, the artwork at the Civic Space was set to be installed during the spring recess, then was delayed because of fabrication errors, then installed, then taken down.  The great Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach was fêted in JS Bach Week with six unique pieces leading up to the 324th anniversary of his birth.  Keeping with the music theme, I shamelessly promoted Cantemus’s performances of The Salzburg Mozart, with me playing tympani in the orchestra.

April (see all posts)
Janet Echelman’s Her Secret is Patience was finally corrected and reinstalled on a rainy Saturday morning.  And the Civic Space Park opened on the 16th!  SNL’s parody of Barack Obama found that ASU was better than the University of Arizona.  I thought (and still think) that the DASH Downtown Loop was made redundant by the light rail and proposed a free-ride zone that should save the City some money.  The Phoenix Symphony performed Carmina Burana on the 23rd and I reviewed it.

May (see all posts)
Final examinations and writer’s block were not my friends in May.  The Class of 2009 graduated and President Obama spoke.  The posts were of a light-hearted nature to make people not think of exams.

June (see all posts)
With ASU’s semester finished, Valley METRO light rail started running silly-looking one-car trains on the line, even during rush hours, causing the line’s many fans to wonder what was going on.  ASU Parking & Transit announced that the free U-Pass program would be going away leaving students to pay $40 each semester.  A new series on ASU Downtown Phoenix campus adventures was born…and quickly died. But in good news: Segways are allowed on the light rail!

July (see all posts)
The world was still lamenting the death of Michael Jackson and at Trinity Church on Wall Street, the most appropriate tribute was performed.  Answers were attempted at questions concerning the ASU on Facebook application, but even to this day, nobody really knows what’s going on with it. Walter Cronkite died.  Pi Approximation Day was celebrated on the 22nd with an approximation of success.

August (see all posts)
Most of the month was spent answering the question, “Is Phoenix a place that is suitable to raise – and sustain – a family?” in the Policy, Family, Future four-part series. The Camerata Singers performed and made my summer one of the best I’ve had.  ASU relaunched its Facebook application.  The College of Public Programs reevaluated why it’s using social media.  Twitter robots failed Turing tests.  Edward Kennedy passed away.

September (see all posts)
ASU’s Online Applications service was evaluated and given a thumbs-up, and the University’s student-run newspaper gave a cursory look to online learning.   Google Docs was demystified.  A new “Did You Know” video surfaced causing heads to turn (again).  The Phoenix Symphony performed Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony meriting a review from me and also the Maestro himself, Michael Christie, chimed in (see the comments).  And the Symphony’s College Club Card lets students see the Symphony for cheap.  We said farewell to the Mountain Bell Building, imploded on the 27th.  We also said farewell to reasons why Downtown Phoenix isn’t scary.

October (see all posts)
Phoenix-area policymakers forecast growth for the area calling for 400 miles of new freeways to be built, making me wonder if Phoenix still doesn’t get it.   I wanted METRO light rail tchotchkes but nobody was selling them.  Phoenix selected David Cavazos as its new city manager, replacing the retiring Frank Fairbanks.  ASU’s Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.  Finally, and sadly, the composer Paul Manz died, leaving a void in contemporary sacred music.

November (see all posts)
With Frank Fairbanks and all his amassed experience gone, from where will the next generation of public servants come?  The New York Yankees won the World Series and Carl Kasell (of NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!) had a great quip worth posting.  Mayor Phil Gordon gave his State of Downtown Phoenix address and it went over like a lead balloon.  This set off a debate on how to fix Downtown Phoenix.  And the Muppets gave the world the best rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

December (see all posts)
The Fall 2009 semester ended.  Same-sex marriage was again a hot topic, this time in New York.  METRO light rail celebrated its first birthday, even though the celebrations were a week early.  Mike Rowe celebrated the spirit of dirty jobs.  And then it was Christmas.

So…from here, where do we go?  That’s for tomorrow.

-Edward Jensen

Presented without comment.

-Edward Jensen

Ever since Mayor Phil Gordon’s State of Downtown address that seemed to go over like a lead balloon, people have been sharing their reasons, opinions, and assessments on Downtown Phoenix and how it can be improved.  For starters, there’s Tyler Hurst’s analysis that sparked tonight’s Radiate Phoenix event, another analysis by Derek Neighbors, Yuri Artibise’s analysis, and others have thrown their voices into the discussion.  Some have been productive voices offering concrete solutions, some have denounced the blind cheerleading that goes on, but all voices have been heard and ruminated.

Surprise: this is another post on that same topic.  But, as preface, remember that I’m in the Urban and Metropolitan Studies program at Arizona State University, and as such, this is what we study.  What makes cities work?  What makes them not work?

[Author’s note: Yes, I know that Radiate Phoenix is tomorrow night and that this topic is the main item on the agenda.  It’s just that this is horrendous timing with Thanksgiving being a couple days away.  The holiday is pretty important to me and it's big in my family and, as strange as it might seem, I’m going to need all the preparation I can get.  I write this as my two cents’ worth to the discussion.  But I wish you all a spirited and productive conversation.]

Why is Downtown Phoenix not what we want it to be?  How can it get there?  I’m prepared to argue that Phoenix (its downtown, the city as a whole, and the region) focuses too much time and energy on the things that bring people here but not keep them here.  In August, I wrote a series of posts that explored this issue. As proof for this thesis, know that for every five people that are enfranchised by the area and come here, three people are disenfranchised and leave (source: Making Sense of Place – Phoenix: The Urban Desert).

It’s important to take a step back and look at the region’s recent history.  After World War II ended, those that were stationed in the various military outposts in this region came and settled here with their family.  With the land readily accessible, developers built new houses on virgin land outside the central core.  This began, inevitably, a culture and a mindset that if something isn’t just quite right, then just forget about it and build again—anew.  Downtown Phoenix began to become desolate, and so rather than quickly fixing the problem when it would have been an easy fix, we (true to form) ignored the problem and built new urban villages away from the core.  Those who could afford to leave did; those who couldn’t became disenfranchised as policy and governance focused on the new things, because they were politically more “sexy.”

This pattern repeated and repeated and that’s how we’re in this present state.  Rather than maintaining and sustaining present infrastructure, we’re always looking for that next “crown jewel” in the desert.

Downtown Phoenix has many different crown jewels that are already here.  Just because something is new and shiny does not mean that it’s automatically one of those jewels.  Let’s focus on that infrastructure which is already here.  From a physical infrastructure point of view, what’s here already is fantastic.  Now we have to fill in the gaping holes with a sustainable people infrastructure.

What is this people infrastructure?  I’m thinking places where people go: bars, restaurants, coffee shops, schools, parks, etc.  This is what academics like to call third places—places outside of one’s home and office.

What can we do to support this people infrastructure?  Make it a habit to shop and buy local.  Go beyond our elected leaders’ response to shopping local (what seems like mere lip service).  Tell friends, family, fellow students, colleagues, coworkers, anyone, and everyone about your favorite local places.  And go with them to these places!  I cannot tell you how much it pains me to see so many Starbucks cups carried by students, faculty, and staff on the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, given the fact that the wonderful Fair Trade Café is set in the Civic Space Park.

How do we “fix” Phoenix?  Recognize our past.  Learn from our mistakes.  Diversify how and what we build.  Recognize that a healthy city needs a vibrant downtown core.  Focus on institutions that keep people here instead of those that just attract new blood.

-Edward Jensen

epilogue. Join me in making a pledge to purchase all your holiday gifts at locally-owned shops across the Valley.  If you’re throwing a party or preparing a big meal for your family to mark the season, shop at places like the Phoenix Urban Market or, if you must go to a supermarket, then there’s Bashas’.

[author's note: This post originally appeared 2 March 2009 titled "Thoughtful sustainability curriculum." It has been modified slightly in response to my disgust that the term 'sustainability' is being used ad naseum. For an alternate perspective on this, read "Sustainability ad naseum," originally posted 11 September 2008.]

As preface/context, I am pursuing dual undergraduate degrees at Arizona State University: Urban & Metropolitan Studies (UMS) through the School of Public Affairs and Sustainability through the School of Sustainability.  Being in the fifth semester of my UMS studies and in my second for Sustainability studies, I am taking the introductory classes to the latter.  And while the curriculum for Sustainability is what I thought it would be and that I understand the importance of such a program, there are just a couple of concerns I have.

Something that we are taught in these introductory classes on sustainability is that true sustainability is the intersection of environmental protection, social equity, and economic justice.  If I may borrow from ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS, the parent organization of the School of Sustainability), a sustainable society

considers the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, and social systems; reconciles the planet’s environmental needs with development needs over the long term; and avoids irreversible commitments that constrain future generations. (from here)

Being a UMS major, I have taken a lot of classes rooted in policy analysis.  From those classes (and also from being a student of history), long-term policy changes are best achieved through incremental policy shifts.  In other words, it is not wise to disregard previous policy and enact a new set of policies.  This sets any institution up for serious failure.  While troubling times do call for widespread measures, the rule of thumb is to change present policy in an incremental fashion.  This might be the result of society’s teaching that we should look upon extreme movements with a cautious eye and critical analysis.  The simple cultural clues that we get in our early years – don’t go too far from mommy and daddy, ignore the person on the street yelling that “the end is near”, and so on – teach us to ignore (and quite possibly tune out) extreme points of view.

I am prepared to argue that this is why programs such as Greenpeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) might be looked upon with widespread cultural disdain.  These programs have adopted a wildly different policy agenda for (in their words) saving the planet.  For instance, PETA advocates for everyone to go vegan: one step above and beyond simple vegetarianism.  To live a vegan lifestyle means to eliminate everything produced by animals.  Generally, these products are more expensive than their non-vegan counterparts, and so those who find that basic food for survival is too expensive could not adopt this lifestyle.  While it might protect the environment, it is not economically just.

It seems like sustainability is the current buzz word.  But I fear that people automatically associate sustainability with liberal tree-hugging hippies.  I believe that the reality of sustainability and the genuine need for sustainability education is far from this perception.  As a disclaimer to both my introductory courses in Sustainability this semester, the instructors conceded that there is not a wide literature on the field.  With that justification, I fear that I am getting a perception that my instructors teaching this curriculum are adopting that mantra (sustainability=save solely the environment).  Using their School’s (GIOS’s) definition of sustainability (see above), there is a definite disconnect.

The first real acceptance of the importance of sustainability was back in 1987 when the Brundtland Commission (formally World Commission on Environment and Development) of the United Nations released their report, Our Common Future, and said (about sustainable development):

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts: the concept of ‘needs’, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.

I bring this up to show that the idea of sustainability is relatively new.  The textbooks for both my introductory classes to the concept are from the disparate areas of sustainability: environment, economy, and society.  But the emphasis seems to be on the first of those areas.  The PETA agenda example I listed above just targets one of those disparate areas (environment).

Let me be clear that I am not dismissing that we need to change our current habits of consumption. I am arguing that the best way to do this is in an incremental manner.  Take the customary New Year’s Resolutions that people make.  Most resolutions proposed are on a large scale: stop smoking, lose 30 pounds, or do some other behavioral change.  Most of those resolutions do not make it through the end of January.  I bring this up because this is an argument that we are creatures of habit.  We do things with the best of intentions but we fade back into our prior habits.  I fear that true sustainability, if its associated polices are not adopted in an incremental fashion, will be looked upon as a fleeting fancy and nothing will happen.

As I was discussing with one of my colleagues, there are a lot of incremental changes that individuals can make to affect the course of this planet and adopt sustainable living.  If everyone switched out one incandescent light bulb and replaced it with one compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL).  The micro change that this would bring would be massive on the macro scale.  All being equal, however, it is still an incremental change.

If an institution is going to be sustainable in all three uses of the definition, then it should just be sustainable and not talk about it. It should not talk up how ‘environmentally friendly’ it is but use the term ’sustainable’ to talk about it. If we were going to promote environmentally friendly practices, sometimes the way it’s been done is the best way to do it.

-Edward Jensen

So every city, it seems, has a place where one can buy trinkets of the usual touristy traps there. New York City’s visitors are inundated with tchotchkes of the Empire State Building or snowglobes with the Manhattan skyline. London’s tourists find models of what most people call Big Ben (but what’s technically called the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster) or those fuzzy hats that the Buckingham Palace guards wear. Toronto visitors can buy models of the CN Tower, this hemisphere’s tallest free-standing structure.

Preface given. Back a couple of weeks in the Dean’s Office of the College of Public Programs, friend and colleague Lonni Summers were discussing this same thing. Where’s the METRO light rail gift shop? Where can I buy a bumper sticker that says, “My other car is METRO light rail”? Or what about a keychain with a model of the trains?

The Phoenix METRO’s success isn’t really hinged on how many people ride it during the week. A recent New York Times article posited that it was the weekend users that make our light rail a success. My point here is that Phoenicians do it differently.

Why just limit this to the light rail? Who wouldn’t want a little replica of Her Secret is Patience (the art installation hanging over the Civic Space park) sitting on their desk? (I do!) Yes, the Grand Canyon might be the most clichéd and tourist-exploited place here in Arizona, but what about for urbanistas?

The economy is bad. Cities need to be creative in generating new revenue. So why not start here? And I really want my light rail tchotchkes.

-Edward Jensen

Phoenix’s (and here, I mean the entire metropolitan area) leaders still don’t get it. Surprise? Probably not: even our own Governor has called this place a “hellhole.”

Our leaders think that we’re going to grow, and to satiate that growth, they’re calling for 400 miles (!!!) of new highways in the metro area over the next four decades. (In fairness, the plan does call for 320 miles of rail.)

What a boondoggle. What an environmental calamity. What an incredibly short-sighted 1950’s solution to a 21st century problem. What a waste of money.

Plus, how can we sustain that growth? I’m thinking in terms of water. With more growth comes the increased demand for more water. Water that is incredibly under-priced for desert living.

Do I need to remind you what happens when a region puts its entire economic development’s eggs in one basket? Phoenix was hit the hardest during this economic recession because our economy was because we had a growth-centric economy. Yeah, it provided fantastic revenues for the state when it was going gang-busters, but now that it isn’t, well…you know where I’m going.

Here’s my bold proposal: let’s institute a growth boundary around Phoenix. Like Portland, Oregon, for instance. Let’s force the 25 municipalities to play nice together and act in the region’s best interests. There’s minimal growth happening now, so this is the perfect wake-up call. Plus, there’s plenty of virgin land that’s been leapt over during the region’s explosive expansion. And there are a lot of places in Central Phoenix that desperately need attention.

Oh, wait, fixing what’s already here isn’t politically sexy.

-Edward Jensen

By way of preface, this post is sort of a semantical rant on the state of online learning (or e-learning). I have the unique perspective of working on both ends of the spectrum: having taken courses that are partially (or fully) online to helping faculty and staff in the ASU College of Public Programs develop online learning courses. What’s more, I work with Dr. Colleen Carmean, who knows a thing or two about e-learning best practices.

What really inspired me to write this post was the discovery that the assessments (read: quiz) feature of Blackboard (ASU’s course management system) is incompatible with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8. And then I got to thinking about the big questions of the Internet: the whys and the hows.  Over the summer, I was enrolled in a non-ASU online course (the institution shall remain nameless for its sake) that required the use of Internet Explorer and whose accompanying e-textbook was solely for Windows environments.

I understand that I’m in the minority of home computer users: I solely run Ubuntu (a Debian-based Linux distribution) on my machines. A few programs I use still require Windows, and so I have a virtualized installation of Windows XP on two of my machines that I can call up whenever I need (but if and only if they don’t work in WINE). But in the end, I’d like not to use Windows or have my computer masquerade around as Windows. If the world is moving more toward the Internet, shared knowledge, and cloud computing, then shouldn’t the operating system be irrelevant?

But here’s the big question: Isn’t the point of the Internet (let alone distributed learning and shared knowledge) that it transcends operating systems and Internet browsers? Isn’t that why we have standards like HTML (hypertext markup language)?

Forget Internet Explorer and its slow adoption of Internet standards. Forget the fact that some instructors and institutions mandate certain computing requirements for their courses. As I see it, if an instructor is going to have an online course or if an institution is going to mandate an online course management system, then it shouldn’t just support 90% of computers (read: those that use Windows). It shouldn’t just support the big two operating systems (read: Windows or Macintosh). It should support the entire realm of computing, so the Windows-based instructor can talk to their Ubuntu-based student who can in turn talk to others in class who run Macintosh or Windows.

At the macro level, the Internet, it seems, is a standard. All browsers should support 100% of that standard. Enabling “compatibility modes” in an Internet browser seems silly and stupid, as IE8 users in Blackboard must do.

Come on, people. Goodness gracious.

-Edward Jensen