Blog Action Day: The Power of We

Bloggers around the world today are posting on Blog Action Day.  it started in 2007 and the global topic today is The Power of We. I believe in thinking global and buying local.  I live in a community of 10,000 people in my entire county, and our livelihoods are dependent on residents buying local.  This…

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Transparent – maybe not always.

I was going to tell you the story of my estranged brother.  However, is this a story I really need to share?  No, it’s not.  It’s a story for my family, not a story for the public. How many of us tell all of our stories in order to be truly transparent?  Is transparency always…

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King/Vilsack Debate September 17, 2012

Our local Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce hosted the King/Vilsack debate at the historic Windsor Theatre.  This is for the Senate seat in District 4 in Iowa. It was a lesson in local politics for many people.  Enjoy the debate – and see how very different both sides are.

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Comment Please

I just spent about 10 minutes reading a few blog posts.  One was particularly poignant and I started to post a comment on Facebook where the writer had originally put the link. Then I stopped and remembered how important it is to the blogger that you comment ON THE BLOG. I went back, and put…

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A Garden View

The birds outside my window make the leaves of the trees wiggle in the sunshine.  I see flashes of yellow finches and happy go lucky barn swallows flit and fly here and there.  There’s a beautiful old bench, with plenty of room to sit.  See the white flowers, and the red tree?  I can’t see…

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Saturdays are made for reading

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”- Confucius Saturday mornings belong to me.  Of course these mornings start about 5 am and go until 9 ish – or until a prior appointment is made.  I drink coffee at home, listen to…

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Need Ideas? Conduct a Quest!

Barbara Winters is joyfully jobless, and one of my favorite people to listen very close to.  Today she is guest blogging for us.  You can follow her at www.joyfullyjobless.com During the Middle Ages, knights set out in droves in search of the Holy Grail. Many of these quests lasted for years and, as you may…

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Partnering with Crafters – in rural Iowa

TownsEnd Winery is a little, family owned and operated operation located in Hansell, Iowa.  It’s also a small town success story.  I’ve written about them before and today I want to show you how they’ve partnered with other small businesses in North Central Iowa. September 1 and 2 was the 2nd Anniversary of the TownsEnd…

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Midwest Maybe

Ben Milne from Dwolla said at the Social IRL Conference on Thursday you can contribute in a positive or negative way. Are you someone who complains a lot? You’ll find that negative attracts negative and you’ll soon be surrounded by negative people. Jason Freed from 37 signals taught him that the concept of recognizing bad…

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Concentric Circles

Melanie Mayberry is a lot like you and me.  She goes to work, she volunteers in the community, she has good friends and she sings in the choir.  She also can put pen to paper and write an interesting review, tall story or the truth.  I’ve asked her to share here monthly with a blog…

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