What is Regionalism?

I woke up late this morning, not that unusual for me, with a full day ahead filled with 3 meetings and a Team Green event. After pushing the snooze button so many times that I thought the alarm was going to start snoring back at me, I managed to swig some mouth wash, throw the dogs outside, and grab some lotion and deoderant rather than take a shower. Well, that lotion was not lotion at all, it was hair conditioner!!! On my way out, I had reached into my travel bag of small bottles to grab lotion with me to apply while driving. As I rubbed and rubbed the quite creamy sticky mess, the "cream" would not absorb into my skin. I looked closer at the bottle with my half awake eyes and brain to see the words bounce out at me clear as day- CONDITIONER! Well, screech went the brakes, illegal U-turn, and I was in my shower in not time. I then applied REAL lotion and arrived at my meeting 15 minutes late. The meeting I was late to was cumberland region tomorrow's strategic planning session. it was an educational, inspiring, and productive 5 hour session with high stakeholders in our region's future. we mapped out our goals for the next 1, 3 and 5 years. CRT is a fantastic organization that is pioneering talk and decision making on regional and global levels- check them out at http://www.cumberlandregiontomorrow.org I arrived to the station in the afternoon to find the office empty- everyone had driven to Bonnaroo and left us here with our air conditioning, free showers, and fridgerators at our hands. After a quick meeting, off to set up for TG's urban walk. We had over 50 people ranging from all different demographics, backgrounds, and ages come out to a free urban walk. Guided by Mark from Village and TK Davis from the Civic Design Center, we walked around downtown, over Shelby Bridget, then back over Gateway and across to Rolling Mill Hill. The entire event made me want to live downtown and get excited about the new developments and healthy living opportunities now available to us. The evening event tied quite nicely to my morning event from discussing regionalism to discussing urban prosperity. Well, off to apply conditioner- to the hair this time! Nite.