Matt Hampel | matth.org » chicago

What’s happened to digital access networks in Chicago?

Matt Hampel — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:39:31 +0000

The digital divide scene in Chicago is littered with empty shells, the rubble of heavy construction activity in 2006-7 that hasn’t been completed. Everything feels like part of one larger network, and it’s as if all the staff were suddenly vacuumed up sometime in late 2007 and transported to a distant universe.

The Chicago Digital Access Alliance has not posted anything in years, and the link to their central report is broken. Their mailing list has gotten hundreds of what look like automated (but relevant) forwarded messages in the last month, but held no discussions.

The homepage of the national Community Technology Centers’ Network is filled with five filled with broken links and ASP pages that no longer execute. That’s one clue — did the funding stop? Did a systems administrator leave? The CTCNet Chicago page is (c) 2002, and its most important link goes to a domain placeholder.

Maybe, but even the influential Benton Foundation’s website is filled with references to projects that ended in 2007 — or earlier. They’re the source of a lot of financial support, but the mysterious two-year blight has had a similar effect on their public face.

The Digital Divide Network‘s page looks great, but once you start reading, you realize that it’s been overrun by spam bots. All the recent activity has centered around Russian linkbombing.

Maybe this all is a sign that all these organizations are actually doing something, and are too busy to update on the web. But I doubt it. It’s a mini-mystery that I hope to solve.

Tune in next week for another episode of Masterpiece Theater Contemporary.

Co-op dinners 2, 3

Matt Hampel — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:43:15 +0000

With luck, nearly none of these recipes require more explanation to replicate.

On Tuesday, R. and I made:

Fiery tofu with chilies, orange, and ginger, from Vegetarian Times February 1, 2009 p.46 (one version online)

Lightly cooked broccoli and roasted red peppers, chopped , with mixed balsamic vinegar and sesame oil, sesame seeds sprinkled on top. Red peppers roasted over a gas flame with tongs.

Potatoes, sliced in the Cuisinart, laid out on baking sheets, splashed with soy sauce and oil, and baked at about 475º

Mellons, balled, with some chopped mango.

Wednesday: Found extra lasagne noodles. Made a white sauce, dumped whole canned tomatoes in the blender (oops, thought they were crushed before I opened the can), mixed together, put in oven.

Intersting green things in Chicago

Matt Hampel — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:10:46 +0000

City Farm sells produce to high-end restaurants, runs a CSA program, has a market stand (7 June to 11 October), trains homeless folks in agriculture, will help you convert one of Chicago’s 11,000 abandoned lots into a garden, sells (among other things) Power Ranger cards, printer paper by the inch (thick), bubble wrap: http://cityfarmchicago.org/

The Experimental Station in Woodlawn runs a bike co-op, community garden, community buying club, lots more: http://www.experimentalstation.org

(do you know of a buying club in the Burns Park area?)