Announcement: The Regional Social Concerns Council and MOSES presents:

Faith Connections: Regional Solutions for Local Problems Monday, May 7, 2007 from 7:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. at St. Mark's Lutheran Church on Harris just north of Grove. Read more about it here. Read more about MOSES here. Special thanks to Tad Wysor for getting the info out.

Traveling for my new gig

My new job (which I just love and will blog about in more detail when I have a free moment) involves a fair amount of traveling, most of which involves flying in early in the morning and coming home that same evening. Last week, I had a couple of hours to kill before my flight home from St. Louis, so I went to see the arch. Never having seen it (except from a plane), I must admit I was impressed. It is much larger than I ever would have thought. It dwarfs the buildings in the downtown area and seems so thin at the top that I never would have expected that one could actually go up to the top in it. A trip to the top only costs $10, so I did it. The way up is via a tram/elevator hybrid that has small little cars that five people cram into (little headroom, little knee or elbow room). At the start, it is oriented in a horizontal, but upward sloping, somewhat diagonal position. As it starts moving, each car tilts, and the orientation gradually changes to vertical, with a car above and a car below. The orientation shifts 180 degrees completely by the time it stops near the top and the passengers exit. In other words, though your car never goes upside down, and its upward/downward orientation stays the same, the car that started on your left at the bottom is now on your right at the top. If you were in the first car at the bottom, you are now in the last car at the top. Once at the top, the structure is just big enough in which to comfortably walk around. There are very small windows to look through, and the view of the downtown area and the water is spectacular. I couldn't help but think of what a great bungy-jumping platform it would make. I did get a number of good shots from the top, and I made a composite of the downtown area as seen from the top of the arch. Hopefully, if everything works right from my end, you should be able to click on the image to zoom: Here's one last shot of the arch that I snapped as I was leaving. For some reason, it looks an awful lot like the Washington Memorial from this side angle:

Hannah's Talent Show performance (with her 3rd grade class)

Here's Hannah and her 3rd grade class, which her teacher, Mrs. Hubbard, choreographed and directed. It was the grand finale of this year's Chapelle Talent Show! Pretty cool, eh?

Rock for Darfur - Press Release

Contact: Jennifer Williams (586) 764-5486 jwilliams10@emich.edu Dan DuChene (248) 231-0368 dduchene@emich.edu www.standnow.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Students “Rock for Darfur” YPSILANTI- Students from EMU will be hosting a concert, called Rock for Darfur, to raise awareness and money to benefit the genocide taking place in Darfur. The student organization, called STAND, will be hosting the benefit concert from 7 p.m. to midnight on April 15 at Club Divine in Downtown Ypsilanti. Bands will play music while information is given, a raffle of local business coupons is drawn and Save Darfur merchandise is sold. The event is all ages with admission at $5 for those 21 and older and $7 for those younger. All the money is being donated to the Genocide Intervention Network. War-torn Sudan has been burdened with violence and fighting for decades, including the recent three-year tragedy in the country’s western Darfur region. Violent militias have murdered, raped and displaced millions of civilians in the area. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been forced from their homes to displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad. Little has been done to combat these atrocities; this is where STAND comes in. Formerly known as Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, the organization is now called the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition. STAND is an umbrella organization of over 600 high school and college chapters dedicated to putting an end to genocide, specifically the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The EMU chapter of STAND has been operating for more than a year on campus and has been working to publicize the genocide and raise funds to help stop the catastrophe. This will be EMU-STAND’s last hoorah for the 2006-2007 school year and we hope to go out with a bang. Please help by spreading the word and attending the show. For more information visit: STAND on the web at www.standnow.org Save Darfur on the web at www.savedarfur.org Genocide Intervention Network at www.genocideintervention.net

So long, farewell

I sent the following memo via email today: M E M O R A N D U M To: Ypsilanti Board of Education Cc: Sup’t Hawkins From: Cameron R. Getto Date: April 6, 2007 Re: My resignation, effective immediately --------------------------------------------------------------------- With sadness, I tender my resignation from the Ypsilanti Board of Education, effective immediately. Over the last several years, we have achieved great successes together. Our schools have gone from struggling to meet AYP to meeting AYP consistently. We now have a Blue Ribbon School in our district. We have sent children to some of the top colleges and universities in the nation, including Yale, Oberlin (my alma mater), University of Virginia, University of Michigan and the U.S. Naval Academy, a number of them on full scholarships. Our sports teams have excelled, and we have brought the names of our teams in line with the guidelines of the State Board of Education and the clear consensus in the educational community. We have successfully balanced our budget under extremely difficult circumstances, bringing our community into the fold and truly collaborating. We have hired key educational leaders that have begun the journey down the long road of redefining our approach to educating our children, and the early results have been outstanding. Though I cannot take credit for these accomplishments, I do want you to know how grateful I am and how privileged I feel to have been a part. As many of you know, the past two years have brought a number of personal challenges for me as well. Though I have tried my very best to rise to all of them and excel in the many endeavors I have chosen to pursue, it has become clear that the demands of my career and my obligation to my family will require more of my time and effort than Board service permits. It has been a sincere pleasure serving my community and our schools, and I will always value the close working relationship we have shared on this Board. Despite the personal need to move on at this time, I will remain a strong supporter and believer in our public schools.

The lucky ones

As I stood in line to buy lunch for the gazillionth time last Friday, I extended my hand to the small Korean woman who has called me her best customer for at least five years. "This is goodbye," I said. "Goodbye?" she replied. "I'm leaving my job here and moving to another job in downtown Detroit," I said. "You're leaving?" she stated. "I am," I said. "Oh, you've been my best customer for all this time," she said. "And it's been my pleasure," I said. I picked up my lunch, returned to my office, and ate it. As I did, I reflected on the decade I've spent practicing law with some of the best lawyers, nicest people, and some of the most wonderful friends and colleagues I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Over the next couple of hours, I walked through the office shaking hands, getting hugs, sharing stories, and reminiscing. I talked with others who are leaving, some who are staying, and many who don't know what the future may hold for them and their families. As I took my office keys from my ring, and my security card from my wallet, I realized that I have it better than most. I have a new job that represents a significant step up for me, and with this difficult round of downsizing, I am one of the lucky ones.