The jumping off discussion area for the rest of the Deck. All things Lakewood.
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Jim O'Bryan wrote:
So my question is. Is it more correct to let designers design, or to make sure blacks, asian, round faced Irish, some Mid-Easterners are included. Which breeds hatred and diviseness? Which is correct. Should we wonder why the Mona Lisa is Italian? Or are we just over thinking everything.
To me the courageous conversation is teaching people we are all human, we are all in it together, and we really have to get away from labels.
't help
FWIW
ps - 6'4" brown hair, blue eyes, Irish
Jim-
It depends on the designer. If what we want to have is a booklet that has more pictures of well kept houses than the people inside them, great. That sends a message that keeping your house neat is very important.
Being inclusive takes a little extra effort and a little extra thought. We could show that all sorts of neighbors keep their houses neat.
Reflecting who our neighbors include has intrinsic value because people like to see themselves as good examples of good neighbors.
Are we are reaching out to one demographic? Who is supposed to hear the message? What is the best way to communicate?
I can understand using old people for rest homes. I can understand using fat and thin people for weight loss. I understand target marketing.
I just think we have to move past labels and stereotypes, and the place to start is in advertising, media, and public space.
We have to knock down walls, not build them.
You are aware I am sure from the early meetings of the paper where I insisted "no descriptions of people we are not looking for." I have no problem with police saying they are looking for XXXX. I have a huge problem with any description after they are in custody!
Of course you realize I am not Irish-American, but American of Irish descent.
The courageous discussion is one with no labels. Where people are judge but what they do, not who they are, or what they look like.
If America is to be inclusive, then we have to act like it. Until then it will always be petty BS.
.
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system." Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it." His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Chris Karel wrote:John thanks for posting the link. After re-reading the pamphlet I was curious to see how the city communicated the penalty for dog waste.
It says:
ALWAYS clean up after your dog on public or private
property. Dispose of it in your own trash. Do not put it
down the drain.
Currently, there is an ordinance passed in 04 - 505.15 DOG EXCREMENT REMOVAL. that states " Whoever violates any provision of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor and for each subsequent offense a misdemeanor of the fourth degree."
This provision needs greater enforcement. I am a father of two school-aged boys who walk to school multiple blocks each day. It has become routine to watch out for doggie "land mines". It is obvious that the poo-poo is stepped in. It gets tracked into school and ultimately homes. I believe this is avoidable by getting the word out that you will be fined if you are caught not cleaning up after your animal.
Any suggestions?
How do you enforce this ordinance if you have no idea who created the infraction? That's where there's a problem. And then what do you do if you see someone breaking this law....if after asking them to clean it up and they don't, do you follow them, call the police and have them cited? It's just a tough one to enforce, unfortunately.
While I understand your vision of equality - Lakewood is not there yet.
Look back at the threads from the summer and from the election.
While people in this town and in this country look at a person and decide who they are by the way they look, there is a great deal of work to do.
We ain't there yet - people are very vocal about their judgements and it is appalling that people I once respected have shown prejudices that make me sick and sad and discouraged.
The civil rights movement is not over. This city still has problems with tolerance for the minorities that look just like them, gay and lesbian. Again refer back to some of the discussions from this summer.
Racism and prejudice needs to be confronted, interrupted, discussed and people must be willing to do the hard work that that entails.
Someday we may be where your vision (and mine) has come to pass.
We're not there yet. It may not even happen in our lifetime.
I look to the next generation with hope and firmly believe that 20 - 30 years down the road the world will be different. Then again we thought that was going to happen because of where we were in the 60's and 70's.
"When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." - Audre Lorde
You're right - I still have bronchitis and I'm still fuddle headed.
I edited it.
Thanks.
"When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." - Audre Lorde
My name is Mary Coleman and I work for the City of Lakewood in Community Relations. As a member of the Community Reinvestment Committee I was asked to put together the Lakewood Good Neighbor Guide in response to the many complaints we recieve from residents about their neighbors on issues that seem pretty basic. I researched guides that other communities had put together; one with cartoon pictures which I don't think people would necessarily take seriously, and another with no pictures at all, which looked like a very boring book of rules, which I think many peple would be inclined to glance through and then toss it. I keep an archive of pictures of Lakewood events and general Lakewood photos. From these I chose the pictures that seemed to fit in the guide, with the exception of the dog park and the refuse workers......one of whom, by the way, is Afro-American. That was not by design. It never occurred to me to "choose" people to be in the photos to represent the city in any way. I chose pictures that represent Lakewood; lovely old homes on beautiful tree-lined streets, state of the art new schools, and others, some featuring people, that were applicable to the subject being addressed. I had several people review it, got very good feedback and went to print. I was really surprised by the negative comments here, and offended by the suggestion that we're trying to market an all white community. First - this is not a marketing piece, it's an information piece for people who already live here. It was delivered to every resident and it's being distributed in the new-resident packets and to new families when they register their children for school. Some of the information may seem basic and silly to some of you but please remember, everyone is different. Some people move here from communities where it may be acceptable to park on your front lawn, walk in the middle of the street, or lay on the horn in your friend's driveway. We've laid out some basic expectations and provided some good information with the hopes of improving the quality of life for everyone in Lakewood. As for the other part, I appologize if some of you don't care for the pictures I chose, As I said before, most were my stock photos, nothing was "staged". People who live here already know Lakewood to be the most diverse community on the west side of Cleveland and I think that's one of the things that continues to draw people here. It's one of the greatest strengths of our community. One thing that does NOT help is the negativity that I see so much of on some of these threads. There are alot of positive people out there but there are a handfull who just seem to want to find something wrong in just about anything. If you really want your city to move forward try to be a part of the solution, when you see something you don't like, think about what you might be able to do to help make a positive change rather than complaining or criticizing. Encourage that in your children too. Complaining doesn't spark progress, action does.
I've gotten a little off track here. Anyway, I hope you'll take another look at the GNG and see some good in it. If a future administration down the road wants to redistribute the booklet someday, they can always edit and change photos. For now, I think it serves it's purpose. Thanks.
Thanks for posting. Your explanation, not that you needed to make one, is reasonable.
There was no nefarious plot to exclude people of color.
Unfortunately, I think the piece was attacked solely because it came from the George administration. Some people would have found fault with it no matter what it looked like.
Thanks for posting. Your explanation, not that you needed to make one, is reasonable.
There was no nefarious plot to exclude people of color.
Unfortunately, I think the piece was attacked solely because it came from the George administration. Some people would have found fault with it no matter what it looked like.
Why don't you jump all over remarks made by men - you got a woman hating thing going - or are you afraid of women.
It's getting boring.
Mary -
I can appreciate you not even thinking about the pictures featuring white faces. I can certainly understand that.
What you see as negativity is oh so much more than that.
There is an old time civil rights strategy that is based on confronting racism. When you see or hear something that you interpret as being racist, you say it. Being quiet doesn't make it go away. Some people even assume that your silence makes you complicit.
Just because it is perceived a certain way doesn't always make it so.
The way to find that out is to say something about it and why it is important.
Make no mistake, it is important.
Remember the old poem that says "First they came for the Jews and I said nothing"?
Just because something makes you uncomfortable doesn't mean it is wrong. It means that it doesn't jibe with your perceptions.
I believe you when you say that it didn't occur to you. That is a perfectly legitimate reason for this happening.
The lesson here is that someone saw the piece as racist and said something.
Others agreed.
You came on and told us your process in picking the pictures and it had nothing to do with excluding people.
Lesson learned: Maybe we need to think about what image (verbal or visual) we want certain things to convey. I see you took that view with a lot of the approach to the good neighbor piece.
Lesson learned: Maybe next time the pictures will show a compendium of our population.
Peace!
"When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." - Audre Lorde
