A change in how I blog

No more politics

After talking with some good friends tonight, I've decided for my own good to close off part of my blog. I've written about politics a fair amount on this site. But I've decided that it's not for me any more.

The problem is that politics has the tendency to separate us at times when we most need to pull together. Sometimes, when we're arguing, saying, "as a nation we should go this way", we really need to be looking at each other and saying, "I really like you, and I need you to know that".

Why the change? Someone who I care about very deeply is sick now, not doing very well at all. He and I don't agree politically. But I love him. I don't want to waste another second trying to convince him of anything. He's a grown man and he's entitled to his opinions, and the fact is that compared to how he's feeling, I don't really care about his politics.

That goes for everybody. I'm done trying to convince you of anything. It's not that I don't care anymore. But I'll talk politics as soon as I've gotten around to telling my loved ones just how much I care about them. That might take a while.

10:28 Down Market and Back

This barely counts as a run, but it's been a while since I ran regularly and I just wanted to get started again. I don't want to injure my knees (again) so I'm taking it easy.

"Lost Values: A Study of Predatory Lending in Philadelphia" Released

I rarely write directly about the non-technical part of what we do here at my work. The one real mention I've made of our mission here was in hate. where I decided that the one best way to handle the problem of homeless guys on the street screaming at me for smiling was to do my job as well as I could-- building opportunity allows more people to live lives with dignity.

I work for The Reinvestment Fund. We're a non-profit financial services organization. We fund a lot of stuff-- under-privileged housing, sustainable energy, charter schools... stuff I'm proud to be a part of. I hold together the databases that help make our work possible, and help folks get their hands on usable data so we can do our job better.

TRF put out a publication today called Lost Values: A Study of Predatory Lending in Philadelphia. It is a study of predatory lending practices. It explains its concepts at both a macro and personal level. It also points to solutions that may lead to the regulation of the sub-prime lending market. In the right hands, this information may lead to more opportunity for people who need it. I'm proud that an organization I'm a part of does things like this.

Incidentally, the author of the study is Ira Goldstein, the husband of Linda from How We Evacuated from Hurricane Katrina. Small world.