Monthly Archives: March 2010

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The Detroit Foundation – Helping to Rebuild The D

The Mission:

Detroit Foundation is a nonprofit venture fund that seeks creative-focused entrepreneurial endeavors to rejuvenate the Detroit Metropolitan area in the wake of recent economic crises. Our goal is to provide a blend of philanthropic capital and public funds, combined with business acumen and professional services, to stimulate the Detroit economy and revitalize its surrounding neighborhoods. Our investments focus on driving commercial business to Detroit through innovative approaches.

Shorter version:

Bring together the ex-pat Detroit community worldwide to help support entrepreneurs and job growth in the city.

@dfoundation
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Also, my college buddy Adarsh is one of the founders.

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nef: Shorter Working Week Soon Inevitable

A recent study published by UK-based nef (the new economics foundation – “economics as if people and the planet mattered”) says a 21-hour working week is inevitable.

Published today (Saturday, 13 February, 2010) the study, 21 hours, forecasts a major shift in the length of the formal working week as a consequence of dealing with key economic, social and environmental problems. And this can be seen as a positive opportunity, say the researchers, rather than a threat.

Andrew Simms, co-author of the report and Policy Director at nef said: “The last two years revealed many to be consuming well beyond our economic means and beyond the limits of the natural environment, yet in ways that also fail to improve our well-being. Meanwhile many others suffer poverty and hunger. Our research shows that moving to a shorter working week could be the only way left untried to square this seemingly impossible circle. A cultural shift will throw up real challenges, but there could also be massive benefits for our economy, our quality of life and our planet. After all, hands up who wouldn’t like a four day weekend?”

Basically, working less means you earn less which forces you to spend less (e.g., spend less on crap that’s not making you happier anyway), but you can use your free time to work on things that do make you happy and things that you really can do for yourself that you were previously buying because you didn’t have time to do it yourself. And we could all generally be less stressed out.

It’s got a spread-the-work-around and reduce-the-class-differences flavor to it, which is fine with me, but which I know some of y’all don’t like.

The summary describes the long-term benefits (bullet points!) and also mentions some short-term measures that could be implemented to ease the transition (also bullet points!). Those sorts of things fascinate me since the government uses taxes to incentivize behavior so much, and we don’t even realize it’s happening most of the time.

(via @leifpettersen)

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Myths and falsehoods on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Here are the myths:

MYTH: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is working

MYTH: Repeal would undermine morale and unit cohesion

MYTH: Military experts oppose the repeal of DADT

MYTH: The public does not support repeal of DADT

MYTH: Right-wing attacks on DADT repeal are not anti-gay

MYTH: DADT repeal would adversely affect retention

MYTH: Experience of other nations aren’t relevant because “nobody counts on” their armies

MYTH: Only progressives support the repeal of DADT

MYTH: DADT repeal would expose servicemembers to greater HIV risk

Now go find out what the real truth is.

(via Prop 8 Trial Tracker)

Filling Out Our 2010 Census Form as a Gay, Multiracial Couple

I’ve been looking for recommendations for how to fill out the census form with regard to our relationship status.

Basically, if you in any way consider your same-sex partner to be your spouse, mark down Person 2 as your “husband or wife.” If you do not think of your partner as your spouse, mark down Person 2 as an “unmarried partner.”

2010 Census Form

For the large numbers of lesbian and gay couples who are not legally married in any way, I realize that this is completely subjective and that some say the more “correct” thing to do is mark yourself as unmarried partners. Outfront Minnesota specifically recommended the former choice. So did The Williams Institute. (pdf)

Both categories – spouses and unmarried partners – provide valuable information. Indicating that you consider yourself to be married will help advocates quantify how many people would get married if they could, and thus how many people are currently disenfranchised by a lack of marriage equality. Indicating that you consider yourself to be unmarried partners helps advocates quantify how many lesbians and gays there actually are in the country, since there is no other way to indicate that on the census form. More info on that at Our Families Count.

The FAQ at QueerTheCensus.org has further information on gender identity issues and also includes this piece of information:

A note for bi-racial couples: It is not widely known that the race of the household member who fills out the Census form determines the racial designation of a family in one of the Census’ major statistical tables. Given that people of color are often undercounted by the Census, couples or families may want to consider having a person of color identify as household member #1 when filling out the form for a family.

I had no idea! Good thing we had already decided I was to be Person 1.

2010 Census Form

Filling out the short form was really anti-climactic, but it was still fun to do. I felt like I made a statement. Count me, dammit!

2010 Census Form