WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
Chicago I’ve been to many union conventions over the years, both here and abroad. They tend to be well organized, orderly, often even scripted affairs, very much like political conventions, because, duh, they are political conventions. Whether that’s a state convention of the AFL-CIO in Arkansas or Louisiana or something huge like the conventions …
Heerlen I broke my personal boycott of Starbucks in the Amsterdam train station at Schiphol Airport, partially in desperation after an overnight flight running for the train, partially because I didn’t have a choice since it was between the ticket counter and the track, and mainly because there was encouraging news that the company …
Pearl River My lifelong habit of reading the newspapers that stack up while I’m traveling persists, because I swear it pays dividends. Reading online can never capture everything that is in print, so I maintain the hard copy is a way to harvest what is easily missed otherwise. For all I know, some items …