How the NAZ Ball Lost Its Luster

Photo from the envelope of this year's NAZ Christmas card.

First things first, I do think the Northside Achievement Zone is doing good work in north Minneapolis, and we're a better community for it.  And I chose to publish this now, instead of around the time of their gala, so as not to discourage supporters from attending.

The Peace Ball, now known as the NAZ Ball after the Peace Foundation changed its name, was the social event of the year for north Minneapolis.  I looked forward to it every year, as it was a chance to come together and celebrate our community.  But to me, it hasn't felt that way for a few years now.  The change in what the NAZ Ball meant to me happened when...

MPR Sound Points at Five Points Building

Post, photos, and video by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Almost a year ago, I did a blog post about one idea of the many nifty things one could do with QR codes.  I tossed out a few other ideas to neighborhood partners, but the right project hasn't come along yet.  What I forgot to do, however, was to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the President of Inventions, along with a detailed summary of all my great ideas.  Had I remembered to do that, I might have gotten credit for the work shown above.  Instead, like most people who come up with interesting ideas that never get fully developed, I'm relegated to saying "Yeah, but I thought of it first."

And then the real credit here goes where it's deserved:  to Minnesota Public Radio, the City of Minneapolis, Catalyst Community Partners, and the various artists who participated in the project.

For those of you new to QR codes, they are the equivalent of bar codes for your smart phone.  And they work like this...