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| ==letters==
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| This guy reminds me of you or maybe of you and your children.
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| Happy birthday my sweetheart. To my hardworking friend. You are always brave, finding your way through thick and thin.
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| You inspire me.
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| You were eighteen and beautiful we met. You've had babies and been a mom. I got to be there. I still get to be here. It is my greatest luck to know you
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| To the Executive Director and Board of Rebuilding Together:
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| Last month, April 24th and 25th, I was present at the Edgewater Community Garden/Food_Forest site in Mattapan. From what I could see, their were the following groups working on the site. First were the people in the community organization of neighbors. Second was a the crew of a local small business who had been awarded the contract for the project. There were people from your organization. There were other volunteers unaffiliated with your organization. I was part of the latter group.
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| Your group seemed to be made up of teams of volunteers that came on in four hour shifts, some volunteers who were there all day, and a couple of Rebuilding Together staff. On the morning of April 24th I was approached by someone identifying himself as a Rebuilding Together volunteer who told me that Rebuilding Together had a "no dog" rule. I responded that I was not part of Rebuilding Together and so that rule could not apply to me. The volunteer backed down. My dog Ulysses, no stranger to construction sites, stayed out of the way in the place where he was told to be.
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| The next day I returned to be told that my dog would have to leave because of an incident between that same volunteer and a young women of color who was one of the owners of the Restoring Roots Cooperative. This young woman, Jaqueline Ewing, after being accosted by this same man was forced to take her dog Blu home.
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| Restoring Roots is a young business that has been successful in their community. I have seen them working with community groups on gardens from East Boston to Ellington St in Dorchester. They are diverse, and knowledgeable, drawing on the resources of the communities in which they work, providing jobs and training to local residents.
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| Restoring Roots works outdoors and Blu is part of the crew. This is pretty typical in Boston. From landscapers to carpentry crews to start-ups companies downtown, these turn out to be fine places for a dog to accompany their masters to work.
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| Working Together seems to have a problem of accountability and sensitivity. Your volunteers cannot and should not be empowered to make policy and wield power. They should be trained to be sensitive to the community in which they are volunteering and the people they encounter there. Intimidating Jackie Ewing had consequences for that project. Her leaving the site mean that 33% of the knowledgeable professionals on the site were no longer there to manage the project. These had real costs to the project as unsupervised volunteers did things like combine ordinary garbage with compostable organic material leaving a mountain of plastic bags to be dealt with once your volunteers left.
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| An organization that thrives on their ability to raise money based upon the promise of community good cannot and should not damage local small businesses they encounter as they go about their mission. Jackie Ewing should get reimbursed for time lost. Restoring Roots should be reimbursed for the costs incurred.
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| As a builder of affordable housing in Boston for 20 years, I have worked on many projects with community involvement. Volunteer organizations can have a positive impact but their staff and members need to be trained to be sensitive to communities in which they work. It is more than just a photo op for some young volunteers. Based upon my experience, your organization has some work to do.
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| ===ari 3/12/20===
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| What do you for your next piece of journalism? So many areas you have interest and knowledge in. I can totally understand not wanting to be an education reporter yet I would keep it in your arsenal. Consider. There are almost no kid focused, bottom up innovators stories enlightening the debate on how we should teach our kids. Finding them and telling their stories would be great.
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| ==2/28/18===
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| Whats going on Bri….and Kell..and DAVE. got forwarded this too, nice.
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| Can you believe we are almost dead. I hope mom doesn't go to hell.
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| Decide to chill at my desk and surf. I like naps to but I fear them. Dad liked them too much. I shake my phone a lot so it looks like I'm taking a lot of steps and every other day I spend a 1/2 hr on the stationary bike; (4min at 140 bpm, 3min takin_it_easy) x 4. I read some fake news somewhere that it is a way to fool your body into producing some new cells. I'm tired of my old cells. Still workin at getting to 90 kilos but first I have to reach 1/8 ton.
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| Speaking of Vietnam...We went to Crash Arts festival last Saturday at the maze of a place called the House of Blues near Fenway. It lasted 61/2 hours with different bands on 3 different stages. (see attached video). My favorite food truck guys were dishing out Vietnam food. Yummy.
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| We are going out to eat tonight. (Ah, you can seem my recurring problem) Anniversary today. Not much in common, worth to pursue a future with her,me thinks. My boys have lots of opinions too but they can't help it. My dog Ulysses has a rocking body (see attached photo)
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| Been on a trip for a while now. Microdosing on Psilocybin .Noah showed me how to grow the shrooms. You inject spores into a cake made of brown rice flour and vermiculite, let them colonize it, and then watch them fruit. I travel every 3 days, 1 day on 2 days off. Gets you there on time. Upper class. Been nice to to reflect upon my wife.
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| By now there is not so much winter left so I am happy to be home. Vegetable seedlings are sprouting indoors and outside the occasional 60 degree+ days are starting to show. Soon the fish will start back up the coast. Hope I can convince my descendants to get together for a week on the selfsame coast this summer.
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| I think I'll go out on my bike. Its free but its worth it
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| All the best,
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| Tim
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| (857)498-2574
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