Compassion in Politics: Christian Social Justice, Non-Profits, and Life Theology

Fireworks from Nashville, TN
(image credit: used under a creative commons license from paul nicholson)

What are your favorite restraurants in the Music City (Nashville, Brentwood, and Franklin)? Some of the best and some of the most reasonably priced food in Nashville can be found oddly enough on Nolensville Road which borders the Antioch, Crieve Hall, and Brentioch neighborhoods. Good Magazine’s“Tastiest Streets in America” article

What Nolensville Road lacks in charm and walkability, it compensates for with a thorough culinary road map to the New South—count on Mexican, Middle Eastern, and African cuisines…

Good Magazine recommends:

ABAY ETHIOPIAN RESTAURANT 3792 Nolensville Pike
Try the: Meat combo with seven items

NORMAN COUSER’S COUNTRY COOKING 3754 Nolensville Road
Try the: Fried chicken

ISTANBUL CAFÉ 2631 Nolensville Road
Try the: Lahmacun

LA HACIENDA MARISQUERIA 3744 Nolensville Road
Try the: Fish tacos

PARISA’S 2424 Nolensville Pike
Try the: Fessenjoon

I’m getting hungry just thinking about it….

Update: You can also check out my post at Creative Fusion Media about the Best Places to Eat in Nashville, Brentwood, and Franklin, TN

(h/t to Music City Bloggers)

Thoughts? Whats your favorite place on Nolensville Road or around the Nashville area?

Do you ever have trouble deciding where to spend your money? Do you have trouble finding the best business in town? Do you want to hear testimonials of businesses you want to patronize with unfiltered views from real customers? Wait and pull your hair out no longer.

I ran across Grayboxx today. While it doesn’t have the community features of Yelp, which makes Yelp so fun to return to again and again, it has a plethora of reviews and shows up high in search results. I tend to trust this review of Kristen Nicole from Mashable:

“I tried [grayboxx] out for cities as large as New York and Chicago, and even my birthplace of Kalamazoo. For towns large and small, the search results were consistently better than Google, Yahoo and even Yelp.”

For instance, here are the top 10 recommended photographers within 10 miles of Nashville. And I’m not alone. The statistics from Compete indicate that Grayboxx is experiencing amazing product growth in users, especially given that it only launched nationally on December 3rd.

Yep, when it comes to local search, I believe its just possible that Grayboxx has a strategic advantage of the wisdom of crowds on its side. This is business is a more democratized and transparent. Its Consumer Reports and the Better Business Bureau at your digital fingertips.

I, for one, hope Grayboxx gets all the publicity and use it deserves….and ultimately makes our lives easier. So if you’ve got a great review, a bad review, want to get testimonials from customers for yourself or your business, Grayboxx may very well have the answer for you.

Check it out and tell me what you think.

I was driving down West End yesterday and noticed that Five Guys and Jason’s Deli moved into Fuddrucker’s former location near the Vanderbilt campus.  If you like greasy hamburgers and fries made to order, check out Five Guys.  

Five Guys is all the rage in DC (see also the Washingtonian rankings). If you’d like to eat on the healthier side of the food spectrum, Jason’s Deli is a great option.

If you would like to check out Five Guys menu click here. (I think they still have some work to do before they beat Fat Moes or Fuddruckers)

What restaurant has the best burger in Nashville?

Podcamp Nashville was just announced!
What is Podcamp?
When: Saturday, Feb 9, 2008
Where: Edgehill Cafe in Nashville, TN

If its anything like Barcamp Nashville, it should be a blast! Marcus and Dave from My Emma are heading this project (and there was much rejoicing). So if you are interested in podcasting or engaging the podcasting community, you should check it out. Alternatively, if you aren’t around Nashville, you check out more info about the global locations for upcoming podcamps at the Podcamp wiki.

FYI: Big Sight, a sweet blog about young people doing new and creative things in non-profit, new media, and industry, did a write up about Barcamp Nashville. [note: this was written before barcamp on July 23rd] I’m mostly adding it because I thought the concept of Big Sight was very cool and cutting-edge.

Phil Fulmer’s job is in the crosshairs. There is a moderate chorus of voices around the bloggosphere to let go of Phil Fulmer due to a lackluster season (1-2) for our Tennessee Vols:

I mentioned in earlier post that Cal was the strongest offense TN would see all year. I was wrong. Florida beat TN like a drum…..like that drummer from Def Leppard had two arms.

Fulmer has a stellar record at UT (138-43) but productivity has slipped the last 4 years and I am beginning to wonder if the program needs to cut down the Johnny Majors tree and begin looking for some fresh talent.

Third Saturday in October (a reference to Vols upcoming game against Alabama) concurs about Tennessee and the consequent fate of Phil Fulmer:

Where the problem with the fanbase lies is NOBODY thought this would be a 1-2 team allowing 41 points per game. NOBODY thought a Florida team that lost nine defensive starters would hand Tennessee its worst loss in 26 years. NOBODY thought that we’d be so embarrassed we dreaded going to work on Monday.

He continues:

The face of college football is changing. The schemes are changing, and simply, the game is changing. EVERYBODY is fast now. Scheme is as much important as talent….What it amounts to is Meyer is getting his guys in there, and his scheme is simply too much for Fulmer. The longest-tenured SEC coach simply looks lost trying to fix the leak, and the water continues to gush out….He’s simply worn out his welcome, much like Bobby Bowden. It’s just time to move on.

He concludes:

To keep up, we have to keep evolving. To keep up, we have to get in new blood. Right now, this coaching staff is living in 1998. We can talk about Bama fans living in the past, but their administration went out and DID something to ensure they have a future.

It’s time we did the same.

And the 507 comments on the Go Vols Xtra piece is pretty devastating (perhaps more by now). As a Tennessee fan who witnessed the losses to Cal and Florida, one worries whether the Vols can put together enough wins over their next 9 games to put together a .500 season. If this SEC football season isn’t salvaged, I can’t imagine the UT athletic director being able to rationalize holding onto a head coach who can’t maintain the Volunteer’s legacy of championships.

thanks to SharpWits and wtstoffs for the photos

Although Lipscomb’s website says that only Chris Tomlin is playing, 94 the Fish said that Louie Giglio was coming as well. Watching Louie Giglio’s video podcasts is always a treat and very spritually enriching. Chris Tomlin’s music is always a pleasure to listen to. I’m sure this will be an awesome, amazing, and uplifting experience for all involved. Both Giglio and Tomlin are involved in the Passion movement. The concert is October 6th at 7pm. Doors open at 6pm.The kind folks at Lipscomb dropped this about the Chris Tomlin performance. Tickets are $25 plus the (evil) TM extracharges. If you have more info about this Christian concert in Nashville, TN….send it on….

thanks to balloonist33 for the pic of Chris Tomlin

Are Factory Farms Immoral? One of my favorite blogs, Justice and Compassion discussed the issue and then today I ran into a decent resource for finding environmentally sustainable food sources.

Earlier this evening I was @ Portland Coffee Brew (note: not where my earlier post about hate speech originated) and ran across this publication: Local Table. It has fabulous info about more environmentally sustainable ways to eat, which can help you locate environmentally sound local resources and food outlets in your area. For instance the American Community Gardening Association and the Community Food Security Coalition.

Slow Food Nashville also provides surprisingly great resources for Nashville folk too. For those outside of the Nashville TN area, Slow Food Nashville suggests Slow Food USA andFoodroutes.org

Thoughts? Resources? (thanks to mac_vegitarian/peta for the pic)

 Its Christmas in September the 18th and 19th at Union Station in Nashville, TN.  Just fill out the form and print out your free tickets for you and a guest to see Jars of Clay and American Idol’s George Huff, Mandisa, and Israel.  Sponsored by Way FM.  thanks to CMCentral for the photos 

Its as if its Groundhog day in mayoral politics in Nashville, where each day is generally more of the same.  You wake up each day and the campaign shenanigans of one camp (aka Clement’s) repeat themselves like a 45 record with a bad skip…. Clement’s avoiding a debate on the issues in the name of his “Read my lips” taxes pledge, while both campaigns want to hold the line on taxes except for the rhetorical games played by the Clement camp.

I hope Dean makes a big deal about this…..a) he deserves to b) it might just change the tenor of the race. Is Clement’s education policy that questionable? Perhaps its better, because I’m sure if the debate happened Clement would just shift the discussion to taxes, which would be annoying and lame-o or maybe he would selectively edit another two second clip of highly dubious veracity.

Are cheap shots now the norm in Nashville elections?

I find myself increasingly compelled by Dean, but the the Nashville Scene’s write up the Nashville Mayoral race this week borders on Clement character assassination.  Why is it necessary to have a psychological analysis of him?  No one looks good when psychologists look for the Freudian super-ego or Lacanian lack you are said to be making up for.  Rich? Poor?  Young? Old?  White? Black? Or any color of the rainbow?   If you analyze Clement like that at least do the same for Dean in the name of being “fair and balanced.”  Apparently its wrong to want to be like your father and apparently its wrong to love public service.  

I don’t think you have to go to such extremes to prove Dean is the superior candidate.  I think footnote #12 says it best via Lamar Alexander’s characterization of Clement’s congressional record:

 Clement was the primary sponsor of only 64 bills in this 15 years in the house.  Of those, only five became law, and four of those were to name October “Country Music Month”

While I don’t know how true or untrue this statement is, it resonates and sounds like real journalism.  Fair journalism.

From the the headline cartoon picture and suggesting Clement resembles a cartoon to a The Scene’s article is saturated with a journalistic tilt thats remarkably consistent throughout the article right down to the coverage of the candidates wives.  Its well written, well researched (dude they have footnotes…although to be fair about half read more like asides), but simply journalistically slanted.  I thought the mainstream media held higher standards.  

In fact, the article seems to have precious little about the issues, precious little about the effectiveness of their proposed solutions (i haven’t seen ANY of that over the past 2 weeks), and precious little about anything positive Clement has done.

Food for thought….in light of Ms. Garrigans undefended lambasts of the blogging community.  Please don’t mistake this for what it is not.  I’m not trying to out the Scene [perhaps they've done that themselves without my efforts or perhaps they don't care].  The Scene generally has interesting things to say about topics relevant to Nashville’s cultural and political landscape.  I realize the Scene has endorsed Dean, but isn’t some monicrum of balance called for?  This is just a simple call for fairness in the coverage of Nashville’s mayoral race and a simple request for more brick and mortar issue coverage.  Is that so hard?

What do you think? Did you find the Scene’s mayoral race write up biased?  Do you care if the Scene is biased on such a salient issue?

So I hit 8 off 8th or whatever its called at Mercy Lounge tonight.  The bands we saw rocked out!!  Very impressive.  They are raising them right at BMI.  Just hope that the Branded Brothers can do their thing soon too…  The first two or three bands were most impressive.  The second band, which consisted of two females rocking out on bluegrass instruments was by far the highlight of the night…The ride home was acoustic “Better than Ezra.”   Who, as Olan pointed out should have seized the NO love by the horns (hello….Kanye West from Chi-town did and they are actually from closer than 1000 miles than Kanye)  Anyway, rocking out this evening was great…. Oh  Damien Horne and the Mummies are both coming to Mercy Lounge!!!  Love it!!!  Keep rock’n in the free world! 

 I noticed this post at Volunteer Voters and it concerned me:

The “New Wine Ministers” will be talking mayoral politics tomorrow at theFifteenth Avenue Baptist Church tomorrow. Who are the “New Wine Ministers”?Mary Mancini didn’t know either so she made a call.

I spoke to Reverend Singletary, who explained that they are a progressive-minded group of ministers who take their name from the biblical passage, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.” Their issues of concern are social justice issues - food security, diversity, affordable housing, income disparity, etc. - and they look at what they are doing as a paradigm shift.

 This new movement reminded me of two of my recent posts on the separation of church and state (which, to be honest, don’t on point address the issue contextually but touch on salient issues none-the less). As churches move to address issues they are concerned about I hope they do so in a bipartisan manner, such that members are able to answer the question for themselves, rather than being force fed one political diatribe or another. Irrespective, I like this more social justice perspective of the church, as it seems to answer the over zealous and misguided diatribes by folks like Christopher Hitchens.

Dave and Marcus are going to SXSW 2008 and want to present.  Vote for them and leave a comment.  Show some local Music City love for all the effort and hours they put in for the Nashville, Brentwood, and Franklin Tennessee tech and blogging community at Barcamp Nashville. 

Ps. Thanks to Kevin Lawver who I grabbed this photo from on flickr.

Initially, I’m not sure why I’ve heard such hints of disparaging comments about Clement’s communications director Larry Woods.  I’ve known Larry Woods and his family for 18 years and I have nothing but respect for him.  I think its great that these guys have had such an endearing relationship since high school–what a testament to friendship.I’ll re-iterate that Nashville is extremely lucky to have such great candidates vying for its CEO. Second, I feel that Clement did feel some devastating body blows in the debate particularly on the issue of “who is more Nashvillian” and the issue of spending time and resources courting the Olympics.  The consistent display of credibility, confidence, and compelling answers from Dean simply trumped most all of Clement’s answers.  At the very least, Dean just sent perceptions that were more appropriate for management and the negotiation of contracts locally, nationally, and globally.I’m curious what indicators suggest that a move toward courting the Olympics is economically viable?  What polling data indicates that Nashville believes this is possible?  While I salute Clements vision, I believe that sacrificing the rest of his vision for the pursuit of this windmill, may be practically and politically devastating. Thoughts? 

Trendspotting Online: Web 2.0 and Social Networking (Digital Natives: the MySpace and Facebook Generation)
A shift is occurring beneath our feet as more people are actively leaving the ranks of mass media consumers and followers to new media pro-sumers who actively voice their opinions in the newer, more interactive web environment.  

This weekend at BarCamp Nashville new media guru Mitch Joel of Six Pixels of Separation pointed out that consumers are spending 48% of their free time online.  This, alongside the millions that are hopping on the Facebook bandwagon and that are daily joining of the diverse ranks of the bloggosphere.  

Mitch also pointed to the incredible diversity in users and methods of communication.  With mega-events like Blogher and the sprouting up of unconferences like Barcamp this trend will only continue.  Events like these and virtual collaboration and communication is increasingly flattening the earth, such that you don’t have to be a tech geek in San Francisco to have social networking access to the stars of the digital world.  And far from being withdrawn wizards behind the curtain that may characterize other industries, these folks generally seem to be women and men of the people. The monumental and viral Free Hugs video is really a metaphor for the diversity and community, that are embraced  by this change is far more human than the top-down culture and one-way communication of the era that came before it.

The Mass Media and Commercial Shift:

One more sign that the old guard might be crumbling is “You Tube Killer the Video Star” with some Steven Colbert love.  Corporations are seizing this opportunity too.  Tracking the Influence of Conversations: A Roundtable Discussion on Social Media Metrics and Measurement is a manifesto and testament to this shift.  I highly recommend it for anyone looking at the cultural or commerce ramifications of this fundamental shift in the way we communicate and do life.

“The advent of social media–blogs in particular–thus brings with it at least the potential for removing the barrier between a sellar and buyers who are likely remote–geographically, economically, culturally, and otherwise.  The social media platform truly leverages the Web’s massive scale to carry information–fact or opinion–globally and instantly.” 

Jeremiah Owyang of Podtech.net and Matt Troll of Down Jones 

The Personal Shift or What this Means for You, Me, and the Human Community:
I guess the balls in our court now.  We are no longer sitting on the bench, we are potentially active participants in the game.  In our hands, we have the power to forge or disrupt conversation and community. 
What will you do?

Oddly enough Mitch Joel has a great post about linking up via social networking communities.  Thats a great start.  Whats next??

Ps.  If all Canadians are as nice as Mitch Joel, it might not be half-bad place to live.  Like Nashville, but with French accents and pronounce “about” like “a boot.”  Diversity is lovely indeed.

 Each day in this mayoral season brings more intensity as the election of Nashville’s next CEO approaches.  Tonight the candidates Bob Clement and Karl Dean gathered with members of the community and media at Belmont University to discuss the future direction of Nashville.  Clement and Dean are vying for the respected office of Mayor of Nashville that is to be determined by voters on the 11th of September.  

I have a small prediction for the upcoming elections: Nashvillians will be the winners in the upcoming elections.  Hands down and by a wide margin.  We have two smart, articulate, and dedicated public servants to lead Nashville into the 21st century.  Here are my observations of their respective political communication strategies:

• Image Politics and Credibility.  Dean’s rhetoric is truly galvanizing and he consistently seemed more confident and articulate.  He also appeared much more in his element, opposed to Clement.  Karl consistently provided comparably better answers, with specifics and compelling rationale, while Clement occassionally sputtered. 

• The question of the Olympics Bid was a dramatic way to begin the debate and to characterize Clement’s vision and credibility.  Dean is able to make Clement look like a pie in the sky dreamer.  No articulation of why we should gamble resources on an Olympic bid by Clement.  Vision has to be accompanied by real world voter engagement and traction and I’m not sure Clement has it on this issue of public policy.  However, Clements practical joe-six pack proposals for vocational education, pre-school programs, and school choice may have some resonance with the voting public.

• Clement has vision, but didn’t articulate it much beyond the Olympics.  Alternatively, Clement being able to draw on his “Good to Great” vision plan plays significantly into his court.  Perhaps he has articulated it as a theme enough for voters to check it out and read it for themselves.  He probably should have articulated this as a Pepsi challenge to the voting audience.

• Clements strategic framed various discussions about the issues such that Dean was implicitly blamed given his current role in Nashville government.  Nashville has issues now and part of the blame, we can lay at Dean’s feet.  Although this probably wasn’t articulated as a theme or hammered in as a theme to have a dramatic effect.

• The hardest question of the night for Dean came from Clement on the issue of who is more of a Nashvillian.  When challenged on his authentic Nashvillian cred, Dean handled the barbed question with deft ease and genuine, passionate care.  Dean turned the question on Clement who was made to look both like an outsider and just a little foolish.

• The difference articulated between the candidates in the debate was on the issue of incentivizing corporations, but the relevative effectiveness or dollar import remains unresolved.  The question: do business want to be here and what will we have to do to get them here is certainly more of a case by case consideration.

• No candidate mentioned empirical examples of their programs working in other major cities.  It would seem with the health and economic prosperity of our city on the line, hedeing the best practices of other major cities and leveraging that in a public televised debate would be a high consideration.

• Clement avoided at least two questions, although to be fair one of the questions was on the issue of “accountability and benchmarks” and he may not have had time to articulate an answer.

• Both articuated and empirical record of volunteer service.  It seems incredibly odd that Dean hasn’t backed Clements plan for volunteerism.  The values of community and public-private partnerships looked to be a Clement advantage, particuarly at the end of the debate.

• Clement looks more like a family man coming into the debate but fails to capitalize or leverage it as an advantage.

Channel 4 did a great job with the segment of “person on the street” series, which included salient questions from a construction worker on immigration and the heart of the innercity projects on poverty.  The questions came from the frontlines of where the issues are lived out in the real world, from people who really cared.  The candidates did a fabulous job of maintaining civility and articulated good questions for their opponents.

I came into the debate with a significant advantage to Clement, but after the debate I have a clearer idea of the specific proposals Dean will implement.  The runoff election on September 11th should truly be down to the wire.  At this seminal moment in the history of Nashville, we are truly lucky to have such upstanding, qualified candidates to advance our safety, education, and economic welfare.

 Need to make a decision in the upcoming election?  Not sure how you are going to vote or want to make sure you are making the right decision?  NPR has a direct comparison between the candidates on an assortment of critical issues in the election.

So what did you think of the debates?  Who do you think won?  What do you think are the most important issues in the debate or the upcoming election? 

(thanks to C. Wage for the photo from an earlier discussion between the candidates) 

This morning I noticed that in Sunday’s Tennessean Issues section that Dean provided more specifics and more policy proposals compared to Clement’s identification of problem areas and discussion in vaguer generalities. Especially on education and business, Dean honed in on specific proposals and constituencies (small business, African American business). Even Clement’s consistent rhetorical mantra that “We will move Nashville from good to great” seems to resonate this call. (Although, for all I know, Dean may have just had a better interview than Clement or may be better at succinctly articulating his views to the press) I talked about this shift from policy wonkery to principles in an attempt to better understand the psychology of the Political Brain.

At the end of the day voters probably do vote with their gut (perhaps the Blink theory of gut based decision making. See Malcomb Gladwell). It certainly is in line with the ethos, pathos, and logos (credibility appeals, emotional appeals, and logical appeals) model of communication outlined by Aristotle (so many years ago and in what seems like a galaxy far, far away).

Personally, I want to know both what policies the politician will actually espouse in office and a statement of vision. Not one at the expense of the other.

What do you think? What happens to the policy discussion in such a world? For folks that are more concerned about actually changes in public policy, how can we compare candidates?

Is this policy vs. principle divide true? Do voters care more about principles over policy? Is this divide occurring on some level in the Nashville’s race for our next mayor? Will this continue in the upcoming debates? Will this be a larger national trend?

If you didn’t get a chance to read them earlier and want to check out the Tennessean’s articles yourself:

Bob Clement tells why he’s the right man to be mayor. In direct response, Karl Dean tells why he’s the right man to be mayor. The difference between the candidates may be very nuanced on the policy vs. principles split.

Looking forward to covering this evenings debates and seeing if the trend continues. Check them out! September 11th is coming up quickly.(thanks to C.Wage for the nice photo)

 While I feel for smokers and share some libertarian sensibilities, I don’t understand why this is an issue, except for the issue of the massive tobacco lobby in Tennessee….The oceans, the air we breath, and the water we drink at the tap are all collective goods that form a commons that makes life livable. Individual rights as trumps fail to recognize our collective destinies that it “takes a village to raise a child.”  Otherwise enabling funding for collective goods education, transportation, the natural wonders of our local and national parks would be rather impossible to come by. Even John Locke recognized that safety and health were natural rights. Additionally, the negative ripple of health effects imposes a hidden coercion on tax payers. Workers in the restaurant industry shouldn’t have to face a wall of smoke as a fundamental barrier of entry. I for one like coming home from a night out not smelling like cigarette butts and don’t think should be the norm. In light of the above, is it so hard & such an infringement of rights to take 15 steps and smoke on the sidewalk? What do you think??? 

After living in the DC area for the past 2 years I’m re-experiencing the joys of my Nashville hometown coffeehouses, along with their music-filled, Wifi-enabled digs.

CafeCoco.I think Cafe Coco is the coolest of the places, but not the best for business as you can only use the internet one hour at a time. When your internet runs out the digital no-person’s land feels 10 x worse than a Mario Brothers Game Over. Alternatively, this place wreaks of funk. Funky music (live and otherwise) as well as a dearth of funky people.
(4.5 for bringing the funk and being the only funky one open 24 hours, but 3.5 or lower for actually getting internet work done. Get ready for digital life rollercoasters. On the upside $2.50 for a beverage + an hour of wifi isn’t bad. I just pity your bladder. They also get mad props for sponsoring the recent tech and new media event BarCamp)

JJ’s. Artsy. I think they generally have jazz or classical playing and they have a couple assorted books around. This place is located just up from red door and has a great selection of non-coffee beverages in their coolers. Very artsy. Haven’t ever had a problem with a long line. Alternatively, internet was a little slow, but my guess is it fluxuates. (4.1 for fluxating internet and low numerical population when I showed up)

Fido. I believe only one plug in the whole joint and its outback. Located in Hillsboro Village in the Vanderbilt area. Artsy and usually has a nice assortment of alterna-rock playing. (3.7 for no plugs)

Panera-Green Hills. It’s a chain, but unfortunately the easiest to get actually internet work done. Lines can be a bit of an issue, but overall pleasant. Having Davis Kidd next door is very nice. (3.99 for being generic and lines)

Panera-Brentwood. Same review as above, except Target is located nearby instead of Davis Kidd. (3.75 for being generic and lines and not being across from Davis Kidd)

Know any other java joints, cafes, or restraints with Wifi?? (Funky or otherwise)
Also, in the Cool Springs area, as 4/5 of these are near the Hillsboro/West End area??
What do you think of my reviews? Any favs or non-favs?

Honorable mention:
Bongo Java. Located across from Belmont and with an open air deck, this one will be great as fall hits and the area actually cools down below 100. Haven’t used their wifi yet, sorry and frequent their sister joint, Fido instead. Comments?

I’m getting pretty excited about the local new media and tech unconference BarCamp coming to Nashville this Saturday at the Exit/In.  All this excitement has me thinking:  what have other folks done in terms of creating a robust blogger community thats been successful?  How can the blogging and new media community best get its tech on?

I know big mega-conferences like yearly Blogher, Gnomedex, YearlyKos can all be helpful.

I realize free unconferences which are all over the globe like BarCamp and PodCamp can be helpful as well. 

Monthly meetups like Blogging meetups, Social Media Club , and Net Squared are likewise an addition to the community.  I imagine that San Fransisco, Boston, and London are on the frontlines of new clubs like Open Coffee Club for the tech community.

I know local information hubs are critical too.  For instance, a friend of mine in DC kept DC Tech Events, which was a weekly posting of upcoming events in the DC area.  Very simple, very helpful.

What ideas do you have?  What have you seen thats worked?  How can we collaborate and community build virtually better?