Becoming the Solution

I'm eagerly/nervously awaiting the phone call that will let me know that PeaceBuilder: Homewood has gone live on Facebook. I was going to say something like, "I expect it to change everything," but it has already changed a lot. Last night I became known among Greens, Grahams and affiliates as the uncle (primarily) who has a game coming out on Facebook. That's a big ol' change.

I began reading a new book last week: "The Coming Jobs War," by Jim Clifton, chairman of Gallup, the polling company. Clifton describes how in 2005, Gallup took their work global, polling people from around the world on a series of issues, and says that all of their results pointed overwhelmingly to one surprising conclusion. He puts it this way:

Six years into our global data collection effort, we may have already found the single most searing, clarifying, helpful, world-altering fact.

What the whole world wants is a good job.

Defining a good job as "a job with a paycheck from an employer and steady work that averages 30+ hours per week," he goes on to say:

Humans used to desire love, money, food, shelter, safety, peace, and freedom more than anything else. The last 30 years have changed us. Now people want to have a good job, and they want their children to have a good job.

The assertion that people all over the world want a good job more than they want peace or freedom is startling, especially in light of the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement (if "movement" is the right word). But Clifton says that's what the research shows.

Unfortunately, while there are 3 billion people on the planet who work or want to work, there are only 1.2 billion full-time, formal jobs in the world. That shortfall of 1.8 billion jobs may be the world's biggest problem.

As I continued reading, it suddenly occurred to me that with PeaceBuilder: Homewood, I created work for guys that they didn't have before. I don't know how much time specific people spent on it at specific points, so I don't know if it ever became anyone's full time job, even if only for a week. But creating work has moved me in the direction of creating jobs. I am becoming a jobs creator.

That is hugely satisfying to my ego. For decades, I have wanted to help other people to put food on their tables. Now I've begun doing that. Yay, me!

As the game makes money, I do want to create one full-time job for sure: the position of editor at Homewood Nation. Creating that job and filling it would take Homewood Nation to an entirely new level.

And it would take me to an entirely new level personally.

Reading "The Coming Jobs War" reminds me that, for all of my community involvement, perhaps the best thing I can do for Homewood is to build a company that creates good jobs.

I think I'm on my way toward that. And that feels mighty good.

Video games - the key to Pittsburgh's future?

Yesterday I wrote a story that appeared in today's paper, about a visit to Pittsburgh by Mike Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association.

Squished for space, I left out stuff I would have liked to have included, like the fact that from 2003 through 2006, the video game industry grew at 17 percent a year, while the U.S. economy grew at about 4 percent a year.

Or Mr. Gallagher saying that the way video game technology is advancing, the day may come when animated sportscasters are doing play-by-play analyses of Steelers games - from Disneyland.

He'll be back in about 10 days to speak at Carnegie Mellon University, which is bidding fair to become a hub for creative technology. I may go to see him.

His presentation to the Economic Club, while stuffed with statistics, was not academic; it was an passionate exhortation for Pittsburgh and Pennyslvania to get in on the game, so to speak, by attracting videogame developers to the region.

I could see videogame developers setting up shop in Homewood. John Wallace emailed me today to say that a program he is working on for Homewood students would help them to move in that very direction. And that an average industry salary of $92,300 could provide a pretty good carrot.

The thing about vacancy is that it can be filled with anything. Why can not Homewood's vacancy be filled with videogame developers? And filmmakers? And writers? And sculptors and painters? Along with technicians, attorneys, and commodities traders?

I just now discovered the website for a conference coming up next month in Detroit, "Creative Cities Summit 2.0." My first thought is that I want to go.

Getting more done.

Over the last week-and-a-half, I have had three articles, one "The Week That Was," and two posts to "My Homewood" published. That level of productivity feels good, especially after a period when I seemed to struggle to produce one or two pieces a week.

I don't know what makes the difference between the two levels of productivity, but I need to get more deeply rooted in getting more done. To put it another way, I need to notice what I'm doing when I'm getting more done, and do more of that.

Here are the articles:
"Summer doesn't mean you can't dress for success"
"Game on: Software company may bring headquarters to Pittsburgh"
"Saturday Diary: Life in the slow lane"

"The Week That Was" is not so much an article as a look back at the week's business news (in the Business Department we call it "Weekback). I like doing them, because they're a chance to have fun, and they force me to read the paper (confession: this newspaper reporter is a magazine junkie. I have just received my first check for writing a magazine piece, from Pitt Magazine, the alumni magazine for the University of Pittsburgh - in fact, my first check for a freelance piece, period. I am excited about that.).

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George Carlin is dead, and the only thing I can think of to say is *%$##!!&*@&!! - that would be any two of the "Seven Words You Can't Say On Television."