Tag Archives: Mindy

Many uses for vacant campuses

Passing through Vanderbilt’s fairly vacant campus tonight, Mindy pointed out how sad it was that all these dormitories and other buildings sit pretty much vacant for about three months out of the year. At the same time, plenty of folks spend the nights out on the streets with no where to lay their head. The Fine brainstorm ensued and here where some thoughts the brilliant Mindy produced…

Imagine a three month rehabilitation center set up on vacant university campuses each summer. That is a good amount of time to offer a sort of detox and rehab program for a number of folks. It’d also be ample time to help diagnose mental health concerns and provide plans of care for those in need. Something like this could easily be supported by current students serving as interns and having an opportunity to gain some hands on real life experience related to their field of interest.

Another idea was to set up a three month summer education program for and put together by both students and community members (particularly those in need of living spaces). Imagine being part of a three month summer school that offered classes, workshops, discussion groups and more put together by college professors, students, homeless and formerly homeless persons, and a great many other people. Imagine living in a dorm with that sort of array of people and backgrounds. Imagine breaking bread together with folks from the other side of the tracks. Unfortunately, current colleges don’t seem to provide this, but what about the opportunity to offer these sorts of things on empty college campuses in the summer.

This is me thinking out loud.
What are your thoughts?

Cover the Uninsured Week

I didn’t realize it till now, but this is Cover the Uninsured Week. This might be somewhat of a controversial issue, but I think it’s something we need to seriously consider. Rather then spewing my own unintelligent thoughts about this, I’d like to direct you to my brilliant wife’s words:

Healthcare. Is it a right? Is it a priviledge?

No matter where you stand on this issue it is absolutely horrendous that in a country where we have the means to address the health of every individual many go without the healthcare that could preserve or greatly improve their wellbeing.

Health is something that we all have in common. Good or bad, we all have health; and this is a leveling factor. Disease knows some discrimation (as far as affecting on a greater level those of lower socioeconomic status due to the lower qualities of sanitation or higher levels of pollution in certain areas of the United States) but on a large scale the diseases that are plauging citizens of the United States have a higher correlation with life-style and access to primary care than at any other time in history. No longer are we treating infectious disease as a number one killer, but we are addressing cardiovascular health, preventative cancer screenings, and screening for diabetes.

Read the rest of the article at The Fine Print.

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses.

(You know when you write “excuses” three times it starts to look funny)

I write to give you three very good excuses as to why you have been left bored this week with mostly postings of research info and not much of my own personal thoughts this week.

  1. I recently switched positions at my work, but that has meant doing my old job and my new one both during this week (and likely next week). It’s caused some very long days, but I’ve enjoyed them a lot. My mind hasn’t been able to wander to other things so I haven’t had much to write about, nor the energy to do so.
  2. As I’ve mentioned, Soulforce’s visit to Wheaton College is coming up next weekend. I’ve been posting alumni stories as I’ve gathered them and posted them at Overflowmag.com. It’s been a very exciting project and it’s gotten a LOT of traffic, and hopefully some more will come before the events next weekend.
  3. This one is obvious:
    mindy

I hope you can understand. I’ll post some more this week if there is time. I might just start posting some old writings I’ve dug up recently. We’ll see.

The OFFICIAL MINDY Podcast

Now, if you thought I was decent at podcasting, wait till you hear the lovely, amazing and brilliant Mindy!
That’s right folks, after much begging, appealing and convincing, Mindy has reluctantly agreed to give us a few minutes of her time each week.

ASK MINDY will feature a three minute podcast with Mindy where she will answer a question presented by her husband Ariah, or maybe even emailed in by a listener. She’ll share her brilliance with the rest of the world in bit size chunks for all to enjoy.

So, what are you waiting for? Check it out today.

My Odeo Channel