Having one blog makes it easier to manage the posts, reduces overlapping and make is easier for you to find posts.

So if you landed here and want more of community, hop over to the ToolzDO blog.

It is that time of year again for hurricane season. The season starts June 1 to November 31. The last major hurricane in south east Florida where I live was Wilma in 2005, a category 1-2 when it made landfall, which caused quite a disturbance in our lives but no major destruction in our area.

Despite the loss of power for days or weeks for some (thankfully it was in the cooler month of October), restriction on water usage, and lack or poor telephone service, something quite magical and wonderful happened. We all stepped out of our houses and reconnected (for some connect for the first time) with our neighbors by taking walks, chatting on the street and helping one another. Neighbors put out lawn chairs in their front yard and sat out under the starry night sharing laughs and worries. Those who had generators satisfied caffeine addictions by making coffee, shared freezer space. In my street, the neighbors even coordinated in taking “gas trips” to cities hundreds of miles north of us who had power already restored to refill gas containers. It was a beautiful thing.

But also a sad thing also happened. When power, water and phone services were restored – everyone retreated back to their dwelling and shut the doors. We returned to our daily lives absent of the people closest to us in proximity. The streets became deserted and we became “night dwellers” once again.

It has been about 5 years since Wilma and 5 years since I’ve seen some of my neighbors.

Do we really need another hurricane this year that will force us to reconnect with our neighbors?

We can choose to be good neighbors and stay connected through out the year. This would make an even stronger bond during times of great need, like a major disaster.

Neighborliness makes life more fun, easier, more enjoyable and makes a safer community when you get to know your neighbors. Be the change you would like to see in your neighborhood. Here are some ways to stay connected:

Take a walk around the neighborhood – it’s not only a great way to casually touch base with neighbors but walks are good for the body, mind and soul. Do this when most people are home (i.e. evenings and weekends during non-diner hours).

• Invite neighbors over for coffee, tea or what ever you’d like to share.
• Organize summer block parties. Rotate among streets or have a common one but held on different streets.
• Create groups to tackle common problems like speeding on streets which many young children reside.
• Organize Really Realy Free Market or swap parties to pass unwanted stuff along to someone who could make good use of them and get stuff that you want or need and spend nothing. Select a charity to donate the unclaimed items - a great way to get the stuff out of closets or storage and make donations that would not have been made otherwise. I am currently planning one for my neighborhood.  Stay tune to my future posts on swap parties.

There are countless of other things that can be done. What are some of the ways your neighborhood stays connected through out the year?

• Do you have a desire to meet your neighbors but a bit timid about it?
• Have you thought of inviting your neighbor over but cultural differences created an insurmountable wall?
• Have you ever needed a cup of sugar or a helping hand but felt uncomfortable asking the neighbor?
• Ever asked yourself “I wander what other people are doing in other parts of the world - right now?”
• Or maybe you have not thought, asked or desired any of these things.

Have you noticed that many of our neighborhoods have become cold and the neighbors disconnected? This may not be your neighborhood and if yours is the opposite of what’s described here, we would love to hear all about it - you and members of your neighborhood could be featured in our Portrait of a Good Neighbor series.

Now imagine a place where you can meet your neighbors, say hello, exchange a few notes, share your thoughts, discover what you have in common, and take a peak in each others’ lives without feeling nervous, nosy or totally awkward.

Imaging no more. ToolzDo Community is a place online just for neighbors; a place where you don’t only offer and get “stuff” to help protect the environment, but also:

• discover who and how interesting the members of your community are.
• maybe get a helping hand or two offline from doers next door (moving, painting, what ever you may be doing).
• create new friendships online and offline.
• get tips about things of interest to you from doers or experts in your local community as well as from your neighbors around the globe.
• discuss and take action together on social issues in your community or globally.
• find people to network with around your town.
• open up a window into neighborhoods around the world and see how, although different in many ways, we are really the same.

Together we can make ToolzDo not only a useful tool that helps us keep more cash, make eco-friendly choices, and live a less stressful life but a tool that also helps connect neighbors in real life through the stuff we possess and the things that we do -  it’s social network on purpose. ToolzDo is not a website – a movement.

So if you are a changemaker or just would like to see your neighborhood have a greater sense of ccommunity, we hope you are inspired to join us in this journey of discovery and start being the change you would like to see.

Thank you for helping us reconnect neighbors by spreading the word.

Carline and the ToolzDo team.

This is the first article in a category I call DAKWIGO: Does Anybody Know What Is Going On? And the first article to kick off the community blog.

Last week, State Rep. Betty Brown (R) said that Asian Americans should change their names because they are too hard to pronounce and would make it easier for them and poll workers:

Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese - I understand it’s a rather difficult language - do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told [Organization of Chinese Americans representative Ramey] Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

As of Saturday, April 11, the Houston Chronicle article, the original source of the article with over 1000 comments, is no longer accessible!

A government official asking citizens, in this day and age, to change their names to make things easier for clerical staff is absurd, shocking and frightening.

Many times, we get so isolated in our own world that we lose touch and consideration of others who may not look or sound exactly like us. Do you think State Rep. Betty Brown could have been more sensitive to the Asian culture if she had more interaction with Asian people? Or is her self-absorption so deep that she cannot see pass her nose to consider the full implications of her request?

One of the goals of ToolzDo is to create a melting pot of communities around the world where commonalities are discovered through opportunities to interact and learn more about each other (locally and globally) and where diversity is embraced to help build stronger local communities and a better world. It is natural for us to be drawn to our own likeness. It is our comfort zone, but it creates separation in our neighborhoods, in the work place and anywhere community exists. The cultural separation creates results like State Rep. Betty Brown. Our commonalities give us the opportunity to connect. But it is our diversity that actually offers more to talk about, discover, learn and make us stronger.

It takes effort to be considerate of others. What a different world we would be in if everyone would put to practice the golden rule.

[via: Think Progress]

[original Source: Houston Chronicles]