Log In Register

Looking Up

Invest Local

by Miriam Axel-Lute May 11, 2011

I recently got to hear Robert Eggers, the blunt, energetic founder of the DC Central Kitchen. He likes to talk about the power of the non-wealthy’s collective economic decisions: Bus riders’ pennies in Montgomery, average ...

Ditch the Mansion Subsidy

by Miriam Axel-Lute April 27, 2011

A couple weeks ago I was in Washington, D.C., for work. My day job is as the editor of Shelterforce magazine, a national nonprofit magazine for people working in the fields of affordable housing, neighborhood ...

Victory Conservation

by Miriam Axel-Lute March 30, 2011

The disaster unfolding in Japan over the past few weeks has, not surprisingly, energized anti-nuclear advocacy. As well it should. Assertions of safety for something that complex always need to be qualified. They are never ...

Grow a Spine, Dems

by Miriam Axel-Lute March 16, 2011

OK Dems (including you, Mr. President). In case you haven’t quite gotten it yet, which it seems you haven’t, here’s the message of Wisconsin: If you’ve got a spine, ...

Wisconsin: Five Things

by Miriam Axel-Lute March 2, 2011

1. Who caused Wisconsin’s budget shortfall. In the short term, it was Gov. Scott Walker. “Before Wisconsin’s budget went bust, Governor Walker signed $117 million in corporate tax breaks. Wisconsin’s immediate budget shortfall is $137 ...

Lifestyles of the Poor and Struggling

by Miriam Axel-Lute February 16, 2011

I’m known to enjoy a good Cracked.com list. Reasons why Glinda the Good Witch of the North is actually a villain was fun even after reading Wicked. Professions whose predictions are regularly worse than random ...

Mommy Manners

by Miriam Axel-Lute February 2, 2011

‘How about you ask nicely?” If you’re a parent of kids of certain age, I’m sure you’ve said something like that in the past 24 (12? 2?) hours. Asking nicely has three components in ...

Weird Expectations

by Miriam Axel-Lute January 19, 2011

On Monday afternoon, I was sitting in my parents’ car, in the middle of the usual New York City/New Jersey bound Thruway traffic that comes at the end of a long weekend. We were wondering ...

Hard Times

by Miriam Axel-Lute January 5, 2011

You probably remember your English teacher chastising you about using the passive voice, that reverse construction that put the object of a sentence first (“The ball was hit by Mary”) rather than the subject (“Mary ...

Pay Cash

by Miriam Axel-Lute February 18, 2010

I always figured I was putting one over on the credit card companies. I had it engrained in my head very early on (thanks Mom and Dad!) that I should never ever carry a balance ...

Dream Bigger

by Miriam Axel-Lute February 4, 2010

Is 2030 soon? Depends who you ask. Through the buzz of the Albany 2030 visioning forums I’ve heard people say that it’s both too close and too far to be focusing on. “We need something we ...

What’s Your Vision for Albany?

by Miriam Axel-Lute January 21, 2010

A couple weeks ago, at the packed-to-the-gills grand opening party for the new Delaware Avenue library branch, another parent in the neighborhood commented that looking around him, he was suddenly struck by the fact that ...

events calendar