FYI: After several edits, my video with Future Islands is done … so expect it soon.

For all the videos assignments I’ve done while at the Times-News (gotta be close to 100), this was a memorable one. I had never heard of breast painting before. Well, maybe with the exception of living in Asheville – it seems like something one would do at a weekend festival.

But this was actually for a good cause. Women who either had breast cancer, or those who hadn’t but knew someone with it and wanted to support them, came out to an intimate gathering of about 10 or so women. Participants pour paint onto a palate, and then dip their breasts into the paint, which are then pressed to a canvas. The women can then add to the breast impression with actual brushes after that. It makes for an abstract memorial to the artists’ breasts, some of which are mostly gone to mastectomies.  The paintings were later auctioned off, with proceeds going to breast cancer support groups.

I’d done a few other articles on breast cancer while at the paper. I don’t have to tell you it’s a common disease, but there is so much support out there.

Anywho, for one of my earliest videos, it’s nice to see people actually still watch them. Even if they thought they were gonna see Phish/Bonnaroo-style breast painting.

$1,980,012,224 is the cumulative amount of stimulus money granted to Wake County, starting from the beginning of the Recovery Act’s inception, February 17, 2009 to March, 31 of this year. Let’s just call it $1.98B.
That’s out of North Carolina’s lump sum amount of $7,640,645,327 or $7.64B. Which means Wake County got about 26 percent of all the state’s federal funding. Fun with numbers!

I know there are economics involved here on planes I haven’t explored yet. For example, population: Wake has 927,140 people residing in it’s perimeters. But Wake County has an unemployment rate three percentages better than the rest of the state (9 percent compared to a shudder-inducing statewide average of 12 percent).  Edgecombe County, just a few counties to the east of Wake, has an 18 percent unemployment rate in its 56K+ population. Incidentally, they received about half a percentage of the total federal stimulus funds.

I’d like to say I’ve not drawn any real conclusions to the spreading of the wealth. I’m merely scraping the surface. But it opens up some questions.

Back to Wake, the headline of this post may lead you to think this money hasn’t been spent appropriately. Honestly, I don’t know if it has or not. That’s the whole point of being a reporter. I’ll be researching each element of funding in the coming weeks and posting to the Raleigh Public Record. Find out if “Putting America Back to Work”… well, worked.

I’ll be researching some of these direct allocations that went to the following seven focus areas:

A • Workforce Development Appropriation (got about $3.2M)
B • Homeless Prevention & Rapid Rehousing (got $500K+)
C • Food & Nutrition Services ($121K+)
D • Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) (got $416K)
E • Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) (got a little over $3M)
F • Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) ($380K+)
G • Medicaid Credit Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) (estimated to be $2.2 million)

According to a stimulus summary provided by the county, the intent of each funded area is as follows:

A • Workforce Development Appropriation
Offer summer employment for youth, help underemployed adults find full time work, and help those recently laid off with job training and employment.
B • Homeless Prevention & Rapid Rehousing
Assist families who are homeless or in rental housing, or in institutions and in imminent danger of becoming homeless and earn below 50% of the area median income ($38,450 for a family of 4). Grant could include case management services, rental subsidies, and utility payments to help families stabilize and prevent them from becoming homeless or limit the duration of their homelessness.
C • Food & Nutrition Services
Funding to assist with the administration of food stamps and nutrition services due to the increase in clients asking for assistance.
D • Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG)
Funds will be used for: new targeting systems for the Firearms Education Training Center, emergency equipment and in-car cameras for vehicles, additional surveillance equipment, and summer adventure camp for at-risk middle school students and for supplies for the crime prevention.
E • Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EECBG)
Reduce Energy Use or Carbon Emmissions. Project will be used for three energy efficiency projects at the Hammond Road Detention Center for: 1) Automated Building Energy Management System 2) Roof Insulation 3) Reflective Roof Membrane.
F • Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
Funds must be used to benefit low and moderate-income families and neighborhoods. The federal government is encouraging grantees to use funds for hard development costs associated with infrastructure and public facilities activities that provide basic services to residents. Funds are scheduled to be used on the Cornerstone Facility for upgrades/renovation to HVAC unit and Crosby-Garfield Fire Alarm System.
G • Medicaid Credit Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP)
Federal Government increases their match portion of Medicaid which offsets County expenses. Applied for County Medicaid expenses of Oct 08 – Jun 09.

Let the fun with stimulus numbers begin!

9. I’ve put more than 100 miles on my wack Subaru, which lacks A/C, during said heat wave. Though it’s more like a slap than a wave at this point.

8. More positively, I got to see (and film) one of my favorite bands last night, Future Islands, plus (non-literal) Springsteen offspring Titus Andronicus and bookish-wookish Okkervil River.  Check out NEW RALEIGH (and Titus at FORMOSA) for the pics/interview. Sweated QUITE a lot!

7. I may have patted myself on the back for recently chopping off 10 inches of my hair. My showers last about 5 minutes now, if that – so I am also saving the planet. It also takes zero time to get ready for work so I am never late! Efficiency.

6. A good friend from Asheville named Snoopy is visiting from his new home in Chicago. He snores quite loudly but luckily it’s hot enough to run the air conditioning at night so he gets drowned out.

5. I bought shorts because the GAP had a sale and I had some money. But buying shorts was against my will. Why don’t I like shorts? I would dress like a nun if I could. Not because of extreme self-consciousness (or holiness) but I get eaten alive by mosquitoes and my flesh needs to be shielded at all times . I’m just one of the lucky ones they love to feed off of. Apparently, the attraction is a combination of various suspect factors – sweating, heavy breathing and wearing dark colors. And being a Sagittarius! I am a sitting duck.

4. Having lived in Asheville, my deoderant is, of course, made by Tom’s of Maine and its “essence” is a cross between Honeysuckle and Quinoa. Under normal atmospheric conditions, this is suitable for my ladylike pH. But now that there are air quality warnings, I break out the men’s deod: Which means I smell like Old Spice; it’s not like I’m transgendered.

3. This may not count but I’m losing steam with this: so excited to go to Philly next week.

2. made this list

and 1. stopped making the list.