Shout-Out: Roundup

Every now and again, I’ll round up a few items to give them shout-outs in one post.

Here are four — including Woodworking with Tom Bodett; news on a new threat to Global Food Security; a look at how a public-private partnership has led to a new state park in South Carolina; and 40 reasons to cheer.

“You’ve probably heard the name, and the voice…”

That is how Jane Pauley introduces the July 2 CBS Sunday Morning segment I’m about to share with you.

In this six-minute clip, Faith Salie checks in with Tom Bodett. It begins with Bodett exhibiting his woodworking knowledge and skills, which you might not yet know him for. Less than 30 seconds in, however, viewers see him in his studio and hear that iconic voice doing some of the work you likely recognize him for: Motel 6 commercials and advertisements.

That’s how I first came to know of Tom Bodett. My family didn’t travel as much as we would’ve liked to when I was growing up because we didn’t always have the means or the time. But when we did hit the road, we often thought about, and overnighted, when we could, at Motel 6s.

Affordable. Reliable. And always with a light left on — thanks to Tom Bodett (who informed us of that on the airwaves, and, as the segment reveals, has his mom to thank for the trademarked catchphrase).

Years later, I’d become a ‘Public Radio Nerd’ (I have the shirt to prove it thanks to a WQLN Public Media pledge drive). It was on those airwaves that I’d learn about the other side of Tom Bodett. My first car (a hand-me-down ‘88 Buick LaSabre) didn’t come with the luxury of pre-programming several station. Just a radio with a dial. Without taking my eyes off the radio, I got pretty good at cranking back and forth between WESA in Pittsburgh, and WVPM in Morgantown, West Virginia. I did grow up with the luxury of having NPR options.

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I got to know Tom Bodett, woodworker thanks to Deborah and James Fallows, and my work with them at their Our Towns Civic Foundation. That led me to discover Tom’s latest venture: HatchSpace.

A nonprofit center based in Brattleboro, Vermont, it’s a place, as Salie tells listeners and viewers, where anyone can share tools and ideas. As HatchSpace’s website explains, they’re “building community by spreading the joy of woodworking.”

Here is the segment1:

Already a fan — thanks, Motel 6! thanks, NPR! — my appreciation for Tom Bodett and his talents and drive have deepened. In that segment, you can sense the real joy he has in being a woodworker, and helping others enjoy that craft, too.

Bonus share: It was a real honor to have been able to invite Tom to Erie, Pennsylvania to participate in the Jefferson Educational Society’s Global Summit in 2022 after the Fallowses introduced me to him. He took me up on the offer, and when he was there, we got to head over to my buddy Brad’s shop, BOTH Studios, and tour a bit of Erie’s Community College.

That evening, Tom presented on the path that led him to HatchSpace. It’s a moving talk, and afterwards, I had the pleasure of joining him on stage to ask a few questions of my own, and then relay questions from the audience.

Here is that recording:

Second bonus share: Tom’s terrific essay, “Life at the Workhouse,” also on CBS News.

On Monday’s episode of PBS Newshour, anchor Geoff Bennett relayed the news that Russia would not extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The United Nations-backed and Turkey-brokered deal reached last July and renewed several times since allowed grains to be shipped from key ports in Ukraine — known as the ‘breadbasket of Europe’.

The short-term implications: Millions of tons of corn, barley, and wheat are trapped in those ports.

The longer-range implications are playing out, which is why I recommend we turn to the experts, as featured here:

One of those experts is Caitlin Welsh, the director of the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She has been my top go-to resource for anything food-security related, including when I talked to her in 2021 about the ongoing Covid 19-related impacts to global food supplies here:

On Monday, July 17, I learned that Lancaster, South Carolina has a new state park. The preservation effort will lead to a 600-acre park along the Catawba River, and will honor the Catawba Nation.

That’s credited to a public-private I learned about thanks to the Arras Foundation sharing the news. I first learned about the health legacy foundation from an August 2022 reporting trip to South Carolina. In April, I wrote about the transformational work the foundation is doing, particularly through its partnership with the Vermont-based, resident-driven community development model, Community Heart & Soul. In March, I wrote about other exciting developments (nature-based recreational tourism efforts in Great Falls, South Carolina) along the Catawba River.

Having written about preservations efforts before (this one led to a state park in Pennsylvania), I’m excited to see what the future holds for this new South Carolina state park, and the growing efforts in Great Falls, and hope to make it to see both sooner rather than later.

Need one more reason to cheer? How about 40:

Above are the 40 folks featured in this year’s 40 Under 40 published by the Erie Reader, northwest Pennsylvania’s independent, alternative publication. (I had the pleasure of serving as managing editor from its first issue in 2011 through 2014, after which I then began serving as a contributing editor.) Last year, the marquee issue celebrated its 10th anniversary, the meaning of which I was honored to have written about here.

In that editorial, I explained its origin:

It was an idea new to Erie, but not elsewhere. Publications nationwide have, and continue to, run lists like these — ones that celebrate the remarkable achievements of a town, city, or region's young people. Those around at the time — including me — thought: Why not publish such a list for Erie? So, we did.

I also explained why publishing such a list matters:

It's also worth saying again why doing this matters. A measure of the civic vitality of a place is to take stock of how engaged its young people are. Do they do more than clock in and clock out of jobs? Do they volunteer in their community? Do they try new things? Create new businesses? Search for new answers to new and old challenges? Do they stay because they want to? Do they move in and plug in because they want to?

In Erie, 10 years ago, the answer was yes. It remains the same today, even though challenges and opportunities, circumstances and conditions have inevitably changed.

Those that told us we'd exhaust Erie's young talent in just a few years have something in common with those who saw the billboard in Seattle in 1971 that read: Will the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights? They thought: Yup, things are so shitty here that young people won't want to stay here, they're all headed out elsewhere to pursue prospects, our place is destined for darkness. They thought the city and region's best days were in the past.

We disagreed 10 11 years ago, and still disagree today. We believe Erie's, and the region's, best days are ahead thanks in large part to the font of youth.

So, to this year's 40, cheers and congrats! And to the 360 400 that came before them, cheers and congrats! And more importantly: Thanks for not just leaving the light on; thanks for making it brighter than before.

Leaving a light on? Hey, now that’s a bright idea we’ve heard elsewhere!