The following was originally published in the May 12 issue of The Herald Dispatch. For more information, go to www.herald-dispatch.com.
I was working with a team of people on a grant proposal recently. As we were identifying the community’s strengths, I jotted done the following in my notes: “H(untington) = creative, engaged, adaptable, open to change, …” and continued on with the list without thinking. Later in the meeting, as I reviewed my notes to make sure that we had captured all of the salient points, it struck me: I had …

The Chat ‘n Chew this Thursday is shaping up to be one packed with discussions and work on some very cool projects. Here are a few of the things going on:

CAFÉ Huntington (formerly the Starving Artist Foundation) to provide micro-grants to artists and creative projects. The group plans to announce the date for the first dinner: www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x540213341/Starving-artist-foundation-could-be-useful-to-city
Culture Center to create a space where people from different backgrounds can share their culture’s food, music, dance, language, history, and art with others. The group will continue working on a location for the …

Join us at the Create Huntington Chat ‘n Chew this Thursday, 5:30 – 7:00 in the lobby of the Frederick Building, 940 Fourth Avenue
The Chat ‘n Chew this Thursday is shaping up to be one packed with very cool projects. Here are a few of the things going on:

Starving Artist Foundation to provide micro-grants to artists and creative projects: www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x540213341/Starving-artist-foundation-could-be-useful-to-city
Recycling: www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x540212889/Cabell-County-pursues-recycling-program
Culture Center to create a space where people from different backgrounds can share their culture’s food, music, dance, language, history, and art with others: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104793586232582&v=info
New downtown Deli/Market – Sylvia Crickard, …

One of my absolute favorite things about Huntington is that some people here just don’t quit. If they see something about the city that bothers them they pull their boot straps up and get to work and today, when I came home, I saw a perfect example of that can do attitude hard at work in a little park in my neighborhood.
Highlawn is home to two small parks; one is just a little bitty patch of grass and the other, the larger of the two, is loaded with amenities …

The following was originally published in the April 7th edition of The Herald Dispatch. For more information, go to www.herald-dispatch.com.
There will be some very special guests at the Create Huntington Chat ‘n Chew this Thursday, April 8th. We will host a conversation with a group of college students and faculty from Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden. They are in Huntington studying our efforts to revitalize the community and to establish a new economy that is competitive in the 21st Century.
What is important for us is that Malmö is a de-industrialized …

The following was originally published in the March 31st edition of The Herald Dispatch. For more information, go to www.herald-dispatch.com.
Huntington, take a bow. In a little over one month you came together as few other communities could and participated in a grand effort to invite Google to launch a new ultra-high speed network in the area. The Google Fiber project has the ability to transform our area with internet connection speeds 10 times faster than anything normally available.
Of course, we have no idea if they will select Huntington as a …

On April 2nd and 3rd, Marshall University’s College of Fine Arts will present two sessions with Michael Rohd that, I believe will be of great interest to the community.
He will explore how theater can help examine the values that bring American’s together and keep us apart; and open a dialogue so that we may address some of society’s most difficult problems.
The sessions are free and open to the public. Please feel free to share this with others.
Michael Rohd is the author of Theatre for Community, Conflict & Dialogue; the Hope …

About four weeks ago as I was driving to work I heard about other cities working on their bids to get Google to come to their town for the Google Fiber for Communities project and I thought – why am I not hearing about anything going on in Huntington? So, that day, I made a few phone calls and discovered the city and Marshall University were going to be having a meeting that day to work on a plan. My boss, Mark Miller, and I asked if we …

The following was originally published in The Herald Dispatch (www.herald-dispatch.com). It is part of a regular series of columns focusing on the activities of Create Huntington.
On a recent business trip I found myself with plenty of time on a plane. I used the air-time to catch up on a book I’d been intending to read for months. That book, both a simple story and complex allegory, held me in check until I finished it and, in many ways, hasn’t let go yet. The book is The Art of Racing in …

The following column was originally published in the March 17th Edition of The Herald Dispatch. For more information, go to www.herald-dispatch.com.
Today’s column is going to begin with a little reader interaction. To do this, I’ll need you to put down your coffee. Now, raise your hand if you have complained that the leaders in the 60’s and 70’s let the Interstate bypass downtown Huntington. I imagine there are lots of hands raised and many of you saying how much better our City would be if we just had high speed …