SEIU President Andy Stern talks about the Since Sliced Bread contest. The contest has gotten a phenomenal response. The quality of the discourse is equally remarkable, and a stark contrast with what passes for dialogue in Washington. Americans across the country have a strong desire to share their ideas for making our country a better place to live and work. Andy's excited about it and wanted to share his insights and his reaction to all that's happening.
Collected by popdose It’s generally agreed upon that if you don’t have any new flavor to add to the original, you shouldn’t bother doing a cover. But what exactly are the ingredients for a great cover? There’s no secret recipe. Some of the songs below are great because they completely deconstruct the original, stripping it [...]
"M" is for the many things she gave you, and … well you know the rest. It’s that time again. Time to buy a card, send some flowers, and make plans to call your mom or send greetings to the mom or moms in your life. (You may still have time to get it together between now and Sunday.) While you’re making plans to honor the mom or moms in your life, we at Since Sliced Bread came up with a way to honor all moms.
"M," it turns out, is also for the many great ideas you submitted to Since Sliced Bread – from child care to helping parents balance work and family – that would make life easier for parents and families all over the country. We’ve taken those ideas and put together a report, that we’re sending to media and policy makers. Grab a PDF summary. It’ll make great reading on your way to the florist and the nearest greeting card shop.
It’s that time of year again, perhaps the only time of year, when a great many Americans are all thinking about the same thing: taxes. And many of us are of the same mind on the subject: there’s got to be a better way. Well just happens that there are several, and you’ve already thought of them. In fact, nearly a quarter of the ideas submitted to Since Sliced Bread were tax-related. We’ve compiled a report featuring some of them, and covering the major themes of your ideas about taxes. Download the summary in PDF format and check it out.
Even a cursory glance at the ideas submitted here and the comments on some blog posts makes it pretty clear that a lot of people out there are concerned about jobs, particularly the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries. But I've been thinking the kinds of jobs that aren’t going anywhere; jobs that could employ quite a lot of people in the business of bringing to fruition a lot of ideas that are achievable on a community level – ideas much like some of the ones you’ve submitted here.
It occurred to me recently when a friend’s blog pointed me in the direction of a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It’s no secret that the first wave of the baby-boomer generation is nearing retirement. The report, points out that retiring boomers are likely to leave behind them a leadership vacuum in the non-profit sector.
Having spent a good deal of my adult years working in the non-profit sector, I can attest both to the importance of the work done in that sector and the unremitting need for leadership in organizations in that sector serving the various needs of their communities. So, I toss this out there as one idea among so many others. It’s a truism that nature abhors a vacuum. Now that one’s pointed out, I bet more than a few of you out there have ideas on how to fill it, right in your own communities.
Check out our latest podcast with Since Sliced Bread blogger Marshall Wittman.
I had the opportunity to chat with Marshall recently about his experience with Since Sliced Bread and what it's told him about the concerns of every day Americans, from blood boiling issues to retirement, healthcare, and college tuition. Towards the end, Marshall also shared his thoughts about the future of Since Sliced Bread, beyond the end of the contest and the announcement of the winners.
Stay tuned to the blog for more podcasts and other surprises we have in store.
