“Before I die I want to…”

Subtitle: “About Dreams, Hope and Community Transformation–Starbucks CEO & Co. too.”

A much more recent alum of the graduate school I attended shows how she cares about the vitality of her community in this marvelous 6-minute TED Talk. She’s trained as an urban planner, and is an artist.

This picture shows a neglected building in Candy Chang’s New Orleans neighborhood. As she aims to alter the dynamic of the place where she lives, she came upon the idea of turning the walls of this eyesore into a community sharing place–a giant chalkboard for completing the sentence: “Before I die I want to…”

This may seem to stretch a bit the objectives of this blog about sustainability, but Chang says she lives near this house and wondered: “How can I make it a nicer space for my neighborhood?”

“How can we share more of our memories of our abandoned buildings, and gain a better understanding of our landscape?

“And how can we share more of our hopes for our vacant storefronts so our communities can reflect our needs and dreams today?”

In her talk, she features select entries- “Before I die I want to…

be tried for piracy

straddle the International Date Line

live off the grid

sing for millions of people

hold her one more time

be someone’s cavalry

Chang has taken this building/community retrieval space concept to a number of places around the globe. Like Kazakhstan. Australia. Argentina. others.

Here’s her TED Talk-

I admire Candy Chang’s disruptive creativity and change-making. Gives me something to try think deeply about; at several levels. You?

♣♣♣

Last week I listened to and heard Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz being interviewed on NPR Morning Edition’s Marketplace Morning Report. Here’s some of his latest take on the American community he so clearly cares about.

Going into online content product, under the co-direction of former Washington Post senior correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Starbucks is currently producing online articles, podcasts, video feature stories, etc., to be distributed through its website and mobile app, and other online media such as Mic and Upworthy.

What about?

“I think we’re trying to, in many ways, rekindle and remind people how ordinary people every single day are doing extraordinary things. And I think given how divisive and vitriolic this political season has been and continues to be, and how the media, unfortunately, has painted America with such a dark cloud, I feel it’s really not the true American story.

“The true American story is in communities across the country, really [sic] people doing things that are advancing their community and loving thy neighbor. And these stories need to be told, and I think we have an opportunity given how many millions of people come into Starbucks to share those stories. It’s not a marketing gimmick; it’s not PR.”

“Really, it’s not going to help you sell coffee?” asks interviewer David Brancaccio. Schultz chuckles, then says: “No, this is not about selling more coffee. This is not about branded content. There’s no Starbucks logo…

“We need to do everything we can as a company to elevate the national discourse on what we think is important.”

“We’re now telling the story of 10 ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.” The series is called “Upstanders,” and includes a story about a bunch of residents of Baldwin, MI, who are underwriting college scholarships for every high school graduate of the town. Another is about a man who employs autistic people to work at his car wash.

“This is about real people…[who] are longing” for heartwarming stories about other Americans.