Programmed by the Percentages

Celebrities go to great lengths to obtain the children of their dreams. Singer Céline Dion recently announced that she's pregnant with her second child through in vitro fertilization. Madonna and Angelina Jolie can't seem to visit Africa or Asia without leaving with a kid. Then there was Michael Jackson, whose children's mysterious origins continue to be the topic of endless speculation.

Whether their intentions are noble or egotistical, the rich and famous like to cross the lines of race, gender, and biology to get the children they want. But what if they could actually design and create a baby exactly the way they wanted? It's a scary thought, but one that may soon become a reality.

"The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you are eating, because if you knew you might not want to eat it " -- Food, Inc.

I recently headed out to a sold-out showing of the documentary Food, Inc. at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema here in Austin, Texas. Generally, getting dinner and drinks along with my movie is my favorite "night out" activity, but in watching a film which critically examines our industrial food system, it was a bit strange. Granted, all around me I heard orders for veggie burgers and the local organic veggie platter, and there wasn't a high fructose corn syrup soda to be seen, but I was glad to have finished my (veggie) burger by the time the previews ended. Although I have sought to inform myself about the injustices in our modern food system, Food, Inc. presents the most comprehensive and disturbing summary of that system I have seen yet. It is a necessary film for basically anyone who eats food.

Every day across America we see self-segregation in lunchrooms, in classrooms, and in church pews on Sunday morning. But how about online?

Recently I began looking around the online spaces I frequent: Twitter and Facebook. I wondered if people, particularly those who were just online for social reasons, mix and mingle any differently than they do face-to-face.

Even in our current political climate, as President Obama has demanded that every child has the ability to access the Internet, we must develop new approaches to dealing with technological disparities.

In the past, "digital divide" referred to the difference between those who had a computer in their home and those who didn't. It was very easy to assess. Once the Internet became popular, we could figure out who was on either side of the digital divide based on who had Internet access. As Internet access becomes more widely available, many people are claiming that the digital divide is closing. However, there are still many people on the other side of the digital divide, unable to fully utilize the Internet for their well-being.

Is it possible to create a new economy in the 'hood that would create jobs, lower energy costs, reduce the carbon footprint of an urban neighborhood, and allow neighbors to get to know one another at the same time? I think there just might be a way to make this a reality. I would like to green my 'hood.