(weird that I took all the tv pics at the same size and downloaded them all togather at the same time but some will show up and some won't hopefully in a couple of days I will have all my hockey pics up and a link to them)
Metalpeter's Journal
My Podcast Link
01/02/2006 19:35 #28263
NewYearsCategory: photos
(weird that I took all the tv pics at the same size and downloaded them all togather at the same time but some will show up and some won't hopefully in a couple of days I will have all my hockey pics up and a link to them)
01/02/2006 19:20 #28262
Returning to BuffalCategory: politics
In my last journal [inlink]metalpeter,520[/inlink] I mentioned someone who I went to school with and how they came back to Buffalo. That Article is below. I found in at the Buffalo News web page it is an article in First sunday and I didn't read the dating articles but they are there also. If you get the sunday and you like the article then you may want to look at the pictures.
An Organizer at Heart
A HARVARD-EDUCATED NATIVE SON RETURNS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
By MARK SOMMER
1/1/2006
Aaron Bartley used to be disturbed by the poverty he saw from the window of hisschool bus. Those rides in the late-1980s took him from his home in North Buffalo to City Honors on the East Side.
That trip and the education he received in and outside the classroom left an indelible impression.
"It was educational beyond the 3 Rs," Bartley says. "I got to meet a lot of diverse people who were poor and wealthy, and understood class dynamics even before I knew what they were."
Bartley, a 2001 graduate of Harvard Law School, could have followed the lucrative path of corporate litigation or securities law, as many of his classmates did.
Instead, he cast off the class privilege of a Harvard degree to become a community organizer, rolling up his sleeves to throw in his lot with the city's poor and disenfranchised.
"Buffalo has always been on my mind, and one of my aspirations (after going away to school) had been to do work here," says Bartley. He returned to Buffalo a year ago and directs People United for Sustainable Housing, known by the acronym PUSH. It's a new organization mixing nonprofit development with community activism.
Bartley's plans for Buffalo were recently boosted by a $60,000 fellowship from Echoing Green, a New York City-based non-profit that named him one of the world's "best emerging social change entrepreneurs." The funds include a stipend for Bartley and another staffer.
His "Niagara Community Initiative" was one of 10 applications accepted out of more than 700 requests, says Lara Galinsky, a foundation vice president.
"Aaron is both extraordinarily intelligent and humble, as well as very dedicated and connected to his hometown," says Galinsky. "He is an organizer at heart."
Bartley, 30, lives on the West Side's Plymouth Street, near the Massachusetts Avenue Project, a community-building organization on whose board he sits. He served briefly as its executive director.
PUSH has acquired a building on 19th Street to redevelop into a low-income co-op where poor people ineligible for mortgages can develop equity. He hopes it will become a model for redevelopment elsewhere.
Bartley joined with others outside the Buffalo Convention Center in September to criticize a city-run foreclosure auction. The protesters said low-income homes are often resold to out-of-state buyers looking for a quick profit and not concerned about the community.
"This encourages the speculative market that is highly destructive to neighborhoods," says Bartley, who teaches a course on community organizing in the University at Buffalo's Urban and Regional Planning Department.
PUSH is promoting auction reform that would follow New York City's example and give low-income, first-time home buyers priority in buying homes. It also wants to see larger city grants available to these would-be home buyers.
PUSH held its first community forum in early November with the help of the UB planning department, and about 100 residents attended. They were invited to imagine the kinds of improvements they would like to see on the West Side.
"We did a lot of outreach for the meeting," Bartley says. "We probably knocked on a thousand doors."
"There's a ton of frustration, but that's not bad for the West Side, either. It's warranted when you see things like abandoned houses on every block."
Michael Clarke, program director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a not-for-profit that works to revitalize distressed neighborhoods, says Bartley's efforts hold promise.
"Aaron is a pretty inventive young guy," says Clarke. "I think he has a lot of really good ideas, and a lot of different ways of approaching some of the problems we see here.
"If he succeeds with this, it could be something that is modeled in other transitional neighborhoods as well."
On the Battle Lines
Bartley grew up in North Buffalo. His mother, Maureen, operates a downtown flower shop, and his father, John, is a computer programmer and former fiddle player in the Happy Richie's Polka Band. His parents divorced when he was 11. He remains close to them, and with a younger sister who is a school teacher in Portland, Ore.
As a law student, Bartley co-founded the Harvard Living Wage Campaign after graduating from Swarthmore College with a political science degree.
The student-led coalition won $10 million in 2001 in annual wage and benefit gains for more than 2,000 janitors, dining service workers and others.
The summer after graduating Swarthmore, Bartley took an internship with the AFL-CIO, assigned to a Denver suburb where striking immigrant janitors were seeking union recognition.
Bartley was cynical at first. "I didn't know that the picket line was anything but an empty symbol."
After the union drive succeeded, he gained more organizing experience before returning to Buffalo in 1998 as the Western New York coordinator for Mark Green's unsuccessful U.S. Senate run.
From there it was on to Harvard - where Bartley felt like a fish out of water.
"At Harvard Law School, the career track is very much about fitting into a particular set of 10 law firms that everyone is striving to get into," Bartley says. "There was a small subset of law students - maybe five or 10 per year out of 550 - who were committed to social justice."
He compensated by getting to know Harvard service workers. After discovering the world's wealthiest educational institution was paying them $7 an hour without benefits, with many of the jobs outsourced to low-wage companies, he and two other students began the Harvard Living Wage Campaign.
"We had a simple demand," Bartley says. "Raise the wage to $10.25 and give everybody health care."
The campaign lasted three years, ending four months before his graduation. A 24-day sit-in inside Harvard President Neil Rudenstein's office galvanized the protest. It also led to Bartley receiving a formal censure by the administration, which was later noted in his student records.
The successful labor campaign attracted national attention, as rallies drew thousands and politicians such as Massachusetts senators John F. Kerry and Edward Kennedy, and the Boston Globe lent their support.
The Nation ran an article entitled, "Joe Hill Goes to Harvard," referring to the early 20th-century labor organizer.
After graduation, Bartley worked for the Service Employees International Union's "Justice for Janitors" campaign. It was the first mass mobilization of Latino immigrants.
"The important part of that campaign was getting tens of thousands of brown people - immigrants - visibility and some power and some recognition," says Bartley.
"I learned a lot, especially from Latin Americans who had done a lot of organizing in their home countries," says Bartley.
In the end, 2,000 workers received health care gains and slight wage increases - better than before, if less than organizers hoped for.
The diversity of that janitorial work force is what attracts Bartley to the West Side, given the recent influx of Africans, Central Americans and Asians.
And he is encouraged by new trends in urban planning reflected in the Elmwood strip.
"There is a whole current in American thinking of a New Urbanism - pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods," says Bartley. "It's about refocusing on the quality of life for the neighborhoods and the commercial strips that touch them, and not relying on silver-bullet solutions.
"We want to be a voice in that movement and that process, especially from a low-income perspective."
Mark Sommer is a staff reporter for The News.
An Organizer at Heart
A HARVARD-EDUCATED NATIVE SON RETURNS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
By MARK SOMMER
1/1/2006
Aaron Bartley used to be disturbed by the poverty he saw from the window of hisschool bus. Those rides in the late-1980s took him from his home in North Buffalo to City Honors on the East Side.
That trip and the education he received in and outside the classroom left an indelible impression.
"It was educational beyond the 3 Rs," Bartley says. "I got to meet a lot of diverse people who were poor and wealthy, and understood class dynamics even before I knew what they were."
Bartley, a 2001 graduate of Harvard Law School, could have followed the lucrative path of corporate litigation or securities law, as many of his classmates did.
Instead, he cast off the class privilege of a Harvard degree to become a community organizer, rolling up his sleeves to throw in his lot with the city's poor and disenfranchised.
"Buffalo has always been on my mind, and one of my aspirations (after going away to school) had been to do work here," says Bartley. He returned to Buffalo a year ago and directs People United for Sustainable Housing, known by the acronym PUSH. It's a new organization mixing nonprofit development with community activism.
Bartley's plans for Buffalo were recently boosted by a $60,000 fellowship from Echoing Green, a New York City-based non-profit that named him one of the world's "best emerging social change entrepreneurs." The funds include a stipend for Bartley and another staffer.
His "Niagara Community Initiative" was one of 10 applications accepted out of more than 700 requests, says Lara Galinsky, a foundation vice president.
"Aaron is both extraordinarily intelligent and humble, as well as very dedicated and connected to his hometown," says Galinsky. "He is an organizer at heart."
Bartley, 30, lives on the West Side's Plymouth Street, near the Massachusetts Avenue Project, a community-building organization on whose board he sits. He served briefly as its executive director.
PUSH has acquired a building on 19th Street to redevelop into a low-income co-op where poor people ineligible for mortgages can develop equity. He hopes it will become a model for redevelopment elsewhere.
Bartley joined with others outside the Buffalo Convention Center in September to criticize a city-run foreclosure auction. The protesters said low-income homes are often resold to out-of-state buyers looking for a quick profit and not concerned about the community.
"This encourages the speculative market that is highly destructive to neighborhoods," says Bartley, who teaches a course on community organizing in the University at Buffalo's Urban and Regional Planning Department.
PUSH is promoting auction reform that would follow New York City's example and give low-income, first-time home buyers priority in buying homes. It also wants to see larger city grants available to these would-be home buyers.
PUSH held its first community forum in early November with the help of the UB planning department, and about 100 residents attended. They were invited to imagine the kinds of improvements they would like to see on the West Side.
"We did a lot of outreach for the meeting," Bartley says. "We probably knocked on a thousand doors."
"There's a ton of frustration, but that's not bad for the West Side, either. It's warranted when you see things like abandoned houses on every block."
Michael Clarke, program director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a not-for-profit that works to revitalize distressed neighborhoods, says Bartley's efforts hold promise.
"Aaron is a pretty inventive young guy," says Clarke. "I think he has a lot of really good ideas, and a lot of different ways of approaching some of the problems we see here.
"If he succeeds with this, it could be something that is modeled in other transitional neighborhoods as well."
On the Battle Lines
Bartley grew up in North Buffalo. His mother, Maureen, operates a downtown flower shop, and his father, John, is a computer programmer and former fiddle player in the Happy Richie's Polka Band. His parents divorced when he was 11. He remains close to them, and with a younger sister who is a school teacher in Portland, Ore.
As a law student, Bartley co-founded the Harvard Living Wage Campaign after graduating from Swarthmore College with a political science degree.
The student-led coalition won $10 million in 2001 in annual wage and benefit gains for more than 2,000 janitors, dining service workers and others.
The summer after graduating Swarthmore, Bartley took an internship with the AFL-CIO, assigned to a Denver suburb where striking immigrant janitors were seeking union recognition.
Bartley was cynical at first. "I didn't know that the picket line was anything but an empty symbol."
After the union drive succeeded, he gained more organizing experience before returning to Buffalo in 1998 as the Western New York coordinator for Mark Green's unsuccessful U.S. Senate run.
From there it was on to Harvard - where Bartley felt like a fish out of water.
"At Harvard Law School, the career track is very much about fitting into a particular set of 10 law firms that everyone is striving to get into," Bartley says. "There was a small subset of law students - maybe five or 10 per year out of 550 - who were committed to social justice."
He compensated by getting to know Harvard service workers. After discovering the world's wealthiest educational institution was paying them $7 an hour without benefits, with many of the jobs outsourced to low-wage companies, he and two other students began the Harvard Living Wage Campaign.
"We had a simple demand," Bartley says. "Raise the wage to $10.25 and give everybody health care."
The campaign lasted three years, ending four months before his graduation. A 24-day sit-in inside Harvard President Neil Rudenstein's office galvanized the protest. It also led to Bartley receiving a formal censure by the administration, which was later noted in his student records.
The successful labor campaign attracted national attention, as rallies drew thousands and politicians such as Massachusetts senators John F. Kerry and Edward Kennedy, and the Boston Globe lent their support.
The Nation ran an article entitled, "Joe Hill Goes to Harvard," referring to the early 20th-century labor organizer.
After graduation, Bartley worked for the Service Employees International Union's "Justice for Janitors" campaign. It was the first mass mobilization of Latino immigrants.
"The important part of that campaign was getting tens of thousands of brown people - immigrants - visibility and some power and some recognition," says Bartley.
"I learned a lot, especially from Latin Americans who had done a lot of organizing in their home countries," says Bartley.
In the end, 2,000 workers received health care gains and slight wage increases - better than before, if less than organizers hoped for.
The diversity of that janitorial work force is what attracts Bartley to the West Side, given the recent influx of Africans, Central Americans and Asians.
And he is encouraged by new trends in urban planning reflected in the Elmwood strip.
"There is a whole current in American thinking of a New Urbanism - pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods," says Bartley. "It's about refocusing on the quality of life for the neighborhoods and the commercial strips that touch them, and not relying on silver-bullet solutions.
"We want to be a voice in that movement and that process, especially from a low-income perspective."
Mark Sommer is a staff reporter for The News.
01/01/2006 11:02 #28261
The New Years SurveyCategory: poll
Well I got the survey from (e:ladycroft)'s Journal [inlink]ladycroft,154[/inlink] (look below for answers). On a quick side note in today's paper in the first sunday section there articles about dating that I didn't get to read. I did find a very interesting article about some one I know and went to School with named Aaron Bartley. The term for Aaron I guess would be a community activist. Hopefully I will be able to put the article up it will take some time for me to figure out how since I can't find it on line but I have an idea. Ok here is the survey.
Where were you when 2005 began?
My Living Room
Who were you with?
Myself
Where will you be when 2005 ends?
I was at my apartment
Whom will you be with when 2005 ends?
Myself
Was 2005 a good year for you?
Yes it was good. Hockey Returned. I got to meet a bunch of (e:peeps). My job got more enjoyable and I bring in more money. Plus I still go to sporting events, concerts and Movies.
What was your favorite moment of the year?
Not sure really maybe going to The Great American Bash at HSBC Arena.
What was your least favorite moment of the year?
Can't think of anything that is two negative.
Did you keep your New Year resolutions of 2005?
I don't do resolutions, i can't remember if I ever did.
Do you have any New Year resolutions for 2006?
none
Did you fall in love in 2005?
unfortunately or furtunatley for the ladies no.
Did you breakup with anyone in 2005?
N/A
Did you make any new friends in 2005?
Yes
What was your favorite month of 2005?
Not sure sometime in summer since it went so fast.
Did you travel outside of the US in 2005?
Went to Toronto a few times.
How many different states did you travel to in 2005?
I don't think I left NY state except to go to Canada, gotta change that this year.
Did you lose anybody close to you in 2005?
No
Did you miss anybody in the past year?
Not really even sure what missing someone means. I think about all my friends but does that count as missing them?
What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2005?
I guess Star Wars Episode III
What was your favorite song from 2005?
To many to even try to pick one
What was your favorite album from 2005?
To many to chose from Was St. Anger 2005?
How many concerts did you see in 2005?
I'm guessing: 9 at least from what I can remember
Did you have a favorite concert in 2005?
Seether was verry good and so Was Trans-siberian Ochestra hard to pick a favorite
Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2005?
No but more then usaul
Did you do drugs in 2005?
no
Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
Not really, nothing I can think off
What was the worst lie someone told you in 2005?
Can't think of any lies I told to anyone.
Did you treat somebody badly in 2005?
No.
Did somebody treat you badly in 2005?
Not that I recall
What was your proudest moment of 2005?
Tie between Getting the new job position and for meeting new (e:peeps) (really niether was my doing I didn't hire myself that was picked by someone else, even though I was the best choice, and (e:ladycroft) is the one who really got me to meet her and then some other (e:peeps))
What was your most embarrassing moment of 2005?
Can't think of anything embarrassing at this time
If you could go back in time to any moment of 2005 and change something, what would it be?
I would have liked to travel someplace outside of NY or visted NY City, but my summer was still good.
What are your plans for 2006?
No real plans but somethings I would like to do are:
Visit Pitsburgh (home to the Steelers and Penguins)
Go to a PPV wrestling event out side of NY state
Go to NY City
Meet a cool chick who I have fealing for and who isn't taken
Visit a country other than Canada or a major city that isn't toronto
Call my friends (like that will happen, yeah right I can hope)
Have fun at festivals like MIA 06 during the Summer
try to be less lazy at home (don't think that will happen)
Go somewhare I have never been just to take pictures there
I think I may go through pictures as I watch the Bills game and get my mind ready for the sabres game. Sometimes looking through pictures can change your perspective on the year and if it changes any of my answers I may repost but who knows.
Where were you when 2005 began?
My Living Room
Who were you with?
Myself
Where will you be when 2005 ends?
I was at my apartment
Whom will you be with when 2005 ends?
Myself
Was 2005 a good year for you?
Yes it was good. Hockey Returned. I got to meet a bunch of (e:peeps). My job got more enjoyable and I bring in more money. Plus I still go to sporting events, concerts and Movies.
What was your favorite moment of the year?
Not sure really maybe going to The Great American Bash at HSBC Arena.
What was your least favorite moment of the year?
Can't think of anything that is two negative.
Did you keep your New Year resolutions of 2005?
I don't do resolutions, i can't remember if I ever did.
Do you have any New Year resolutions for 2006?
none
Did you fall in love in 2005?
unfortunately or furtunatley for the ladies no.
Did you breakup with anyone in 2005?
N/A
Did you make any new friends in 2005?
Yes
What was your favorite month of 2005?
Not sure sometime in summer since it went so fast.
Did you travel outside of the US in 2005?
Went to Toronto a few times.
How many different states did you travel to in 2005?
I don't think I left NY state except to go to Canada, gotta change that this year.
Did you lose anybody close to you in 2005?
No
Did you miss anybody in the past year?
Not really even sure what missing someone means. I think about all my friends but does that count as missing them?
What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2005?
I guess Star Wars Episode III
What was your favorite song from 2005?
To many to even try to pick one
What was your favorite album from 2005?
To many to chose from Was St. Anger 2005?
How many concerts did you see in 2005?
I'm guessing: 9 at least from what I can remember
Did you have a favorite concert in 2005?
Seether was verry good and so Was Trans-siberian Ochestra hard to pick a favorite
Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2005?
No but more then usaul
Did you do drugs in 2005?
no
Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
Not really, nothing I can think off
What was the worst lie someone told you in 2005?
Can't think of any lies I told to anyone.
Did you treat somebody badly in 2005?
No.
Did somebody treat you badly in 2005?
Not that I recall
What was your proudest moment of 2005?
Tie between Getting the new job position and for meeting new (e:peeps) (really niether was my doing I didn't hire myself that was picked by someone else, even though I was the best choice, and (e:ladycroft) is the one who really got me to meet her and then some other (e:peeps))
What was your most embarrassing moment of 2005?
Can't think of anything embarrassing at this time
If you could go back in time to any moment of 2005 and change something, what would it be?
I would have liked to travel someplace outside of NY or visted NY City, but my summer was still good.
What are your plans for 2006?
No real plans but somethings I would like to do are:
Visit Pitsburgh (home to the Steelers and Penguins)
Go to a PPV wrestling event out side of NY state
Go to NY City
Meet a cool chick who I have fealing for and who isn't taken
Visit a country other than Canada or a major city that isn't toronto
Call my friends (like that will happen, yeah right I can hope)
Have fun at festivals like MIA 06 during the Summer
try to be less lazy at home (don't think that will happen)
Go somewhare I have never been just to take pictures there
I think I may go through pictures as I watch the Bills game and get my mind ready for the sabres game. Sometimes looking through pictures can change your perspective on the year and if it changes any of my answers I may repost but who knows.
12/30/2005 19:07 #28260
TransWrestling I went to see Trans-Siberian Ochestra on wensday night. They where amazing. The music was good plus they put on a great show. Sitting in section 200 I thought I wonder what a Hockey Game would look like from here. Those club level seats are to much for the Sabres. They where the only seat available when I went on line for tickets for tonights game they where around $70. Back to my point. I thought the show was awesome. If they come back next year in support of there new CD I would go again I also met Ladycroft's friends, they seem very nice. I also went to see smackdown last night. I had a lot of fun and there were some really good matchs. I was thinking about going to see Jeff Martin formaly of The Tea Party tonight. But I don't know any of his solo stuff. Plus I want to watch the sabres and wrestling. I really need two TV's in the same room so I can watch both at the same time. I know 3 people from work who are going to the game tonight seperatly one of them won tickets in the 200 club level (not sure what section). But any one in the club level can go to the resturant there and watch the game from there. I have heard they have great food, or atleast differant stuff then at the stands. I still can't decide what I want to do for the ball drop. I would kinda like to see it live it is more fun. But then again when by yourself then you feal more alone. But on TV you can watch all the differant specials and performances. But then again sometimes that can be depressing. A friend of mine that I work with is going to NYC to see the ball drop he left today that should be a blast. He was telling me that some hotel has a Suite that is $2,500 a night and you have a perfect view of the ball drop (he isn't doing that). I don't want to do anything to tiring (well I can think of a couple things I would like to do over and over again that are exhausting, if ya know what I mean) since I have a Sabres game on Sunday to go to. Hope everyone has a great Holiday.
imk2 - 01/02/06 19:38
man, i wanted to see the trans-siberian orchestra. i'm so jealous!
man, i wanted to see the trans-siberian orchestra. i'm so jealous!
theecarey - 12/31/05 22:01
Trans Youngstownian belching orchestral chicas sya Happy New Year metalperters. We're durnk. Lacyrdotf and thepcarery!
Trans Youngstownian belching orchestral chicas sya Happy New Year metalperters. We're durnk. Lacyrdotf and thepcarery!
ladycroft - 12/31/05 13:30
I'm glad it was a great show. I'm really bummed I missed it, but it makes me happy to know you enjoyed it so much. Glad you liked my friends, they are really sweet.
I'm glad it was a great show. I'm really bummed I missed it, but it makes me happy to know you enjoyed it so much. Glad you liked my friends, they are really sweet.
12/27/2005 20:51 #28259
empty First of all Carey thanks for your comments on the previous post. Secondly I don't know why as soon as I got home I felt this like emptyness or sadness kinda mixed togather. I don't know it is a weird fealing. I know I will have to great nights coming up then on the weekend go to a sabres game, so maybe it is an emotional let down. Maybe it is Holiday stress. Maybe it is needing Some Hatebreed and Rammstein blairing in my ears. maybe there is a dark presance in my apartment. "Hey dragons you are there to protect me, expell it please if that is the case, tigers help the dragons ok. It could also be that I often feal as if I don't have enough time in a day. Who knows maybe I just "need a dirty women, I need a dirty girl" i forget what song that is from but it is a great song. If i don't post again before The New year I hope everyone has a great New Years eve. I may check out Townballroom they are having something hosted by 92.9 Jack'd FM but who knows may stay in.
alicia - 12/29/05 00:04
Young Lust~ Pink Floyd :)
Young Lust~ Pink Floyd :)
I'm glad you came out to meet me then, so that you could meet everyone else! Happy new year!