Daily Archives: July 8, 2017

Dovecote Cafes owners want to stay put in their Reservoir Hill digs, so theyre working to raise funds toward a down payment on their building.

The cafe launched an Indiegogo campaign Monday in a push to raise $30,000 for a down payment on their building at 2501 Madison Ave. Dovecote raised more than $10,000 in the first 24 hours of its campaign, and as of Friday, the fundraiser had amassed more than $20,000 from over 230 backers.

Its just been just so refreshing, co-owner Aisha Pew said. You hope that when you jump someone catches you, and its just been almost overwhelming to watch how quickly people showed up for us.

Dovecote Cafe opened in January 2016, offering baked goods, breakfast, sandwiches and coffee in a community-centered atmosphere.

When Dovecote Cafe opened in January 2016, the owners hoped to approach their landlord after a couple of years and express their intention to buy the building, Pew said. But earlier this year, the landlord gave them the chance to buy it.

We just knew that this was a huge opportunity for us, Pew said. We do a lot of work around intentional community building.

Pew and co-owner Cole, who goes by a single name, decided to crowdfund their down payment and use the fundraiser to highlight how ownership provides more security to small businesses that anchor communities. They wanted to demonstrate their vulnerability by getting stakeholders to picture their neighborhood without Dovecote.

We are very much a community anchor and the idea of us not being here I think really strikes a chord with people, Pew said. It was also kind of a way to tell a story.

The owners hope to build out a patio on the side of the cafe to host events, and bring whats happened inside Dovecote out, Pew said.

The building also includes five apartments.

In exchange for donations, Dovecote is offering perks such as mugs engraved with #TheDovecoteWay ($50), star-studded private dinners ($1,000) and parties with a three-course dinner for 50 people ($10,000).

The online campaign is open for a month.

We love our space. We love our community. We need to be here, Pew said.

The cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

smeehan@baltsun.com

twitter.com/sarahvmeehan

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Dovecote Cafe owner says response to crowdfunding campaign has been 'overwhelming' - Baltimore Sun (blog)

St. Benedict the man who wasnt in The Benedict Option? (a href=https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/statue-san-benedetto-norcia-474808711?src=rDIbSNfCmsQmlp1UiO8Qaw-1-7>Antonio Nardelli/Shutterstock)

The Benedict Option, says George Demacopoulos, distorts the St. Benedict of history. Excerpts:

Surprisingly, Dreher says little about the historic St. Benedict. In his rendering, the saint lived when the Roman world was entering the dark agesbarbarian invasion spurred the decline of government institutions, which in turn led to widespread moral decay among the population. In response, St. Benedict is said to have deliberately left the Roman world behind in order to establish a new and independent community where the practice of Christian life could survive the trials to come.

The reasons for this ought to be clear in the book: because Im riffing off of Alasdair MacIntyres reference to Benedict as the founder of intentional religious communities in the sixth century, and how we need a new and very different St. Benedict in our time. Of course the analogy only goes so far! MacIntyre himself wrote:

It is always dangerous to draw too precise parallels between one historical period and another; and among the most misleading of such parallels are those which have been drawn between our own age in Europe and North America and the epoch in which the Roman Empire declined into the Dark Ages. None the less certain parallels there are.

An analogy doesnt have to be perfect in every way to be instructive and helpful.

I spent the whole book talking about the kinds of chaos and decadence this new and very different Benedict would have to deal with. Theres an entire chapter ona contemporary monastery of traditionalist Benedictines, who talked to me about how some of the core aspects of the Benedictine monastic life can be adapted to help lay Christians live in the contemporary world.

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Among other things, he asserts historical causality where there is no evidence for it. For example, he implies that the moral decay of Roman civilization in St. Benedicts lifetime was caused by the barbarian invasions. Im not sure how we are to measure moral decay in any society, especially a pre-modern one, but I dont know of a single Christian text from the ancient world that attributes moral decline among Christians to the presence of barbarians or the failure of the Roman government to respond to the barbarian challenge.

No. If anything, I would say that the barbarian invasions occurred because of the weakness of the Roman state and Roman civilization a weakness that was due to a number of factors. Historians still argue over why Rome fell, but the overall point is that it succumbed to barbarian invasion because it had become internally weak. MacIntyre says that today

the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time. And it is our lack of consciousness of this that constitutes part of our predicament.

My book is an argument not that barbarians are coming over the frontier, but that they have already been governing us (broadly speaking, to include media, entertainment, academia) for some time. They accomplished this because of our own moral weakness and religious infidelity.

More Demacopoulos:

Given the books thesis, an even more problematic assertion of historical causality lies in Drehers suggestion that St. Benedict established his monastery in order to escape a world that was collapsing both politically and morallyfor Dreher, the political and the moral are always intertwined.

In this regard, it is noteworthy that Mr. Dreher seems to have ignored the famousLife of St. Benedict, which was written by St. Gregory the Great, a great ascetic teacher in his own right. From a close reading of theLife of St. Benedict, one learns not only that Benedictine communities had widespread interaction with the world outside of their monasteries but that the saint himself routinely engaged with the Roman secular elite and even with barbarian warlords who had little interest in Christianity.

Well, lets go to the tape. From the prologue of the Life of St. Benedict, which I certainly did read:

There was a man of venerable life, blessed by grace, and blessed in name, for he was called Benedictus or Benedict. From his younger years, he always had the mind of an old man; for his age was inferior to his virtue. All vain pleasure he despised, and though he was in the world, and might freely have enjoyed such commodities as it yields, yet he esteemed it and its vanities as nothing.

He was born in the province of Nursia, of honorable parentage, and brought up at Rome in the study of humanity. As much as he saw many by reason of such learning fall to dissolute and lewd life, he drew back his foot, which he had as it were now set forth into the world, lest, entering too far in acquaintance with it, he likewise might have fallen into that dangerous and godless gulf.

Therefore, giving over his book, and forsaking his fathers house and wealth, with a resolute mind only to serve God, he sought for some place, where he might attain to the desire of his holy purpose. In this way he departed, instructed with learned ignorance, and furnished with unlearned wisdom.

He withdrew from the world precisely because he did not want to fall into that dangerous and godless gulf. As I say over and over in the book, the Benedictine monks could not have done so much to preserve and proclaim Christian civilization in the West if they had holed up and had no contact at all with the outside world. Never do I claim that they did that, or that we lay Christians today should do that. In fact, heres but one example from the book of what I actually advocate:

This is not just about our own survival. If we are going to be for the world as Christ meant for us to be, we are going to have to spend more time away from the world, in deep prayer and substantial spiritual trainingjust as Jesus retreated to the desert to pray before ministering to the people. We cannot give the world what we do not have.

To imply that I argue for total withdrawal indicates to me an eisegetical reading of the book. To put it diplomatically.

I dont mind critical reviews, but I do wish people would review the book I actually wrote instead of the one they believe I wrote, according to their own presuppositions. I know, I know, same song, seven-hundred-and-seventy-seventh verse

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St. Benedict vs. Dreher's 'St. Benedict' - The American Conservative

Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Arizona Properties has added real estate sales executive Nikki Bernstein to its Scottsdale office. Bernstein, named the 2016 Rookie of the Year by the Arizona Journal of Real Estate and Business, sold $5.5 million in real estate last year and has already sold more than $6 million to date this year.

Nikki is one of the top-selling real estate sales executives in Scottsdale, and in the first six months of this year has already outsold her record-breaking numbers from last year, said Mark Stark, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties. She is ambitious and fun, showing up every single day for her clients and her team. We are thrilled to welcome her to the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices family.

Bernstein has worked in both commercial and residential real estate, working with Himovitz Properties commercial portfolio from 2004-2015 and beginning her work in residential real estate in late 2015. She specializes in working with mid-market properties in the Scottsdale area.

Working with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices makes my team feel like we are standing on the shoulders of giants, said Bernstein. It matters to us and our clients to be affiliated with a company whose name carries such cache and fiduciary reputation of the Warren Buffett family of companies.

Bernsteins team, The NikkiB Group, now operates from its Scottsdale office at 14635 N. Kierland Blvd. More information on Bernsteins services and team are online at http://www.nikkibsellsaz.com/.

Bernstein holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Arizona State University. She volunteers with several community organizations including the annual Beach Ball for Phoenix Childrens Hospital. She is also involved with Gesher Disability Resources, an organization that serves people with disabilities, the Jewish Federation on its real estate and finance committee and the Jewish National Fund. She said Berkshire Hathaways commitment to its team and its communities was important in her intentional decision to join one of the worlds top brands.

This company has a bottom-up way of doing business, and its very meaningful, she said. Were invested in our businesses and our communities. Berkshire Hathaway is known for this and it shows in the success of their companies. There is a joyful energy here.

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Nikki Bernstein joins Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties - AZ Big Media

Dear Sinclair board members, shareholders and decision makers,

We the people of Humboldt County, on the Redwood Coast of California, would like to welcome you to our community. With your recent acquisition of four local television channels, you are now a major part of our media landscape. We may be a small market demographically, but we support our local news outlets and we have high standards and expectations for corporations that control access to information in our communities.

As the comedian John Oliver pointed out recently on his show Last Week Tonight, Sinclair has earned a somewhat unsavory reputation for biased coverage and inflammatory must-run segments that routinely misrepresent facts in order to benefit right-wing political agendas (more on this at http://tinyurl.com/LWT-Sinclair). While this behavior may stem from a legitimate belief that you are doing the right thing, you should be aware that it often comes across as cynical manipulation and intentional distortion of the truth.

From past experience, we know that consolidated absentee ownership reduces competition, threatens media localism and harms information diversity. For example, when the digital television transition modified the transmission systems for local TV broadcasters, coverage in large swaths of Humboldt County was significantly reduced.

While Bonten has made substantial investments in local origination, Sinclair has a reputation for requiring their owned affiliate stations to air non-local editorial content during local newscasts. This must air practice reduces local origination of news and information programs that address controversial issues of public importance. To become a trusted local broadcaster, your policies need to provide reasonable opportunities for local and opposing views to be expressed.

Since we would like to give you the benefit of the doubt as a new player in town, we have developed a short list of suggested actions that would help to demonstrate your commitment to becoming a responsible provider of high-quality information:

Ensure localism with meaningful investments in local news and information programming to support public interests of local and tribal jurisdictions:

* Station broadcasts should identify must air non-local content on-screen.

* Provide equal airtime for local editorial content expressing opposing views.

* Ensure that Spanish language channel(s) include equivalent local program origination as other channels, and that tribes have in-language programming available on-air.

Promote universal access with investments in new infrastructure for our least-served people and places:

* Install and maintain additional translator/repeater facilities to ensure full multi-casting coverage over the entire Designated Market Area served.

Transparency and accountability to local jurisdictions through community-based participation in local programming:

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* Maintain public files, including annual reports on compliance with contractual promises available at every local library location.

* Dedicate multi-cast channel(s) programmed entirely with locally originated non-commercial content from local jurisdictions. (Note: This could be accomplished in coordination with public-education-government access community media available now through the counties, cities and tribes served.)

While we would love to see all of the above actions incorporated into Sinclairs local operations, we dont hold out much hope that these issues will be addressed. After all, were just one small piece of a growing monopoly, and there is lots of money to be made through media manipulation and control. Still, we promise to do everything in our power to make sure that you deliver services that meet local needs and community interests.

The North Coast is a very special place to its residents, and we sincerely hope you will thoughtfully consider these and other ways that we can work together to develop and support community-based media. Think of this as a golden opportunity to improve your reputation and become a trusted and reliable source of news across the Redwood Coast region.

Welcome to Humboldt County, and rest assured that we will be watching closely and working tirelessly to help keep you accountable to the high standards of our community. Thats one piece of local news you can definitely count on.

Sincerely,

Access Humboldt

Sean Taketa McLaughlin is executive director of Access Humboldt, a non-profit community media organization managing local cable franchise benefits on behalf of the county of Humboldt, California, and the cities of Eureka, Arcata, Fortuna, Rio Dell, Ferndale and Blue Lake. For more information, visit http://accesshumboldt.net. To read more about the Sinclair-Bonten deal, visit http://tinyurl.com/FCC-Sinclair-Bonten.

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An open letter to Sinclair Broadcast Group - Eureka Times Standard

There's an iconic painting at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona called "Washington Crossing the Delaware." When my mom and I visited the museum last year, a security guard sat down with us and pointed out a variety of important details. If it hadn't been for him, I would've missed most of what makes Emanuel Leutze's 1851 painting so noteworthy. Instead of sitting down to study it thoughtfully, I would've briefly glanced and kept on walking, believing that since it was mildly familiar-looking, I already knew everything I needed to know.

It's easy to miss the more nuanced details of paintings and people and places that seem familiar. Thankfully, there are helpers who empower us to notice what we might otherwise miss.

My experience of Rochester has been similarly awareness-building as of late.

I moved to the area nearly a decade ago with a highly Mayo-centric perspective. Growing up in northeastern Iowa, the only thing I knew about Rochester was that really sick people traveled here hoping to be healed.

New dimensions of our region came to the surface when I served as a pastor in Stewartville, one of Rochester's neighboring communities. With each passing year, there were helpers willing to highlight the qualities that make this part of the country special. Farmers, business owners, quilters, nurses, community bankers, naturalists and museum curators: They each had unique insights to share.

Yet over these years, there have still been so very many details of southeastern Minnesota that I have missed. It's easy to fall back into my default, clinic-centered perspective. I'm grateful for helpers who point out the otherwise unseen details, layers, and connections.

At a recent tour of a downtown collaborative working space called Collider, I sat down with the community manager, Jamie Sundsbak. The room was buzzing with creative energy and entrepreneurs of all kinds. Sundsbak described his desire to nurture ideas and a Rochester community willing to invest in and support people who think outside the box. Prior to our conversation, I hadn't paused to consider how important it is to support spaces like Collider.

A few days later, I visited Dwell Local, a shop in the Cooke Park neighborhood owned by Paul Bennett. The store features the art, jewelry and furniture of more than 50 local artists and makers. Especially great was the opportunity to view the beautiful jewelry on display created by Amy, one of the techs from the Charlton Lab who regularly draws my blood. Prior to talking with Bennett, I hadn't thought much about what it would look like to make a stronger and more intentional commitment to buying local goods when possible.

Southeastern Minnesota is anything but one-dimensional. For this, we can all give abundant thanks. There are many elements and influences of Rochester and the surrounding region. Mayo Clinic is one profoundly important component of what makes this area great. Founded in 1889, the clinic's commitment to patient-centered service is a guiding force for all of us. But it isn't the only guiding force.

The mural depicting this region is large and complex and ever-changing. We can't just rush right by assuming we've already seen it all and know it all. We've got to keep looking at the painting; we've got to keep participating in its creation.

May we be helpers for one another, co-journeyers willing to sit down together to highlight the beautiful details we might otherwise miss.

Holy Everything is a weekly column by Emily Carson. She is a Lutheran pastor serving at the Southeastern Minnesota Synod Office in Rochester. Visit her blog at emilyannecarson.com.

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Holy Everything: Know it all? Even familiar sights can contain surprises - Post-Bulletin