Alisa has been involved with the Amherst Family Center basically since we arrived in Massachusetts. Over the course of the year, they run several fund raisers, which draw Alisa like a moth to the flame. Today its Winterfest. I brought the boys in time to see 
Roger Tincknell, a wonderful folk musician who plays a wide repertoire of songs for kids. He has an environmental album that I rather enjoy, so its nice to listen. He played several of the children's favorite songs, including The Bear Missed the Train. After the performance, Daniel ran up to look at the CDs and to speak with Roger. I mentioned to Roger that Daniel was one of his biggest fans. We got a CD of Cookin' up a Rainbow because Daniel is convinced we've lost the tape. Afterwards, Roger passed me at the door and thanked me for bringing Daniel. "Its so nice to feel appreciated by the kids," he said. "That's what makes it all worthwhile."
Looking over the crowd of mothers and fathers with little children, I can't help thinking of families in Baghdad, who must be dreading the seemingly inevitable hostilities. I can't get the image out of my head of what our festival would look like if it were hit by a cruise missile: the smoke and fire, the shattered bodies, the screams. What a downer.
Umoja, an African rythmic dance class, has taken the stage. A large group of children, dressed in white shirts and black pants, predominantly, but not exclusively African-American, march and stamp and sing while adults drum in the background. The tempo begins slow and begins to increase. Gradually a march becomes a trot and then a run, arms waving, the kids move forwards and backwards until the beat reaches a crescendo and then slams to a stop. The crowd cheers.
My reading is that the monied class really believes that by managing the economy for their own success they believe they increase the success of everyone. The World of Ends does a nice job of laying out the arguments for why creating and preserving a commons, in the case of the Internet, helps everyone create more wealth, even though it itself can't be managed directly to put wealth in someone's pocket without destroying (or at least diminishing) its value. The point they don't make is that all commons are like that. Of
course,there is such a thing as the tragedy of the commons too. Still I
think you can make the same arguments for everything. Business is always
about trying to commonize costs and privatize profits.
Of course everyone (except the businessman) makes more money and does better if you don't that (until the commons is exhausted).
By this point a huge crush of people has come in. I hate being in crowds of people, so I'm ready to go. Now if I can just get the beasts together and out the door...