January 2010 Archives

Today is the fifth and final installment of TTLA's 2009 interview with Matt Harrison, founder and executive director of The Prometheus Institute, and author of the book, American Evolution.

TTLA: In addition to hip-hop, what's another example of modern "American Evolution?"

MH: Another example I give, very personal to me, is snowboarding. Back in the '80s, a bunch of stoner / surfers decided to strap some trays to their feet. It seemed stupid. Everybody thought it was stupid. Ski resorts banned them. There was a big civil war between the snowboarders and the skiers. And two decades later, snowboarding is a billion dollar industry. We have seven Olympic medals, we all watched on TV, there's a Wheaties box cover and inspired little kids.

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Went to TiGeorges' last night. Shock. Unity. Action. Support.

200 people. Six television vans. A vase being filled with cash and checks for Yele Haiti. Organizers talking about their newly founded org, Californians for Haiti.

People asking after each other's families.

Members of the Diaspora sharing rumors. Others batting those rumors down. One man telling how a family member's house had survived the 7.0, and then fallen, not even during an aftershock. Another man saying the same thing, about a wall. People saying phone service barely extent. A man able to get in touch via Facebook and Twitter and email.

An organizer, saying he'd been in Haiti, at the Montana, just four days ago.

The restaurant announced as drop-off location for medical supplies and any other donations.

I've never been to Haiti, but like many Angelinos, I feel like I have thanks to TiGeorges Laguerre.

TiGeorges is a longtime friend, and I've been working with him on his memoirs. The manuscript is about Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Haiti, where Georges is from.

I stopped by his Echo Park restaurant, TiGeorges Chicken, a few minutes ago. Two television news vans were parked out front. No surprise -- TiGeorges is our city's preeminent Haitian cultural ambassador. He's also undertaken philanthropic, social, and business ventures both here and there.

Georges said he had been able to reach people in Haiti only once, yesterday, briefly. With the aftershocks, he said, he's had no contact today.

He said he's having a meeting at his restaurant Thursday @ 5pm to discuss relief efforts.

Anyone is welcome to attend, he said.

Also, here's a list of aid organizations and how to contact them, via KCRW and the Clinton Foundation.

Today we run part four of TTLA's 2009 interview with Matt Harrison, founder and executive director of The Prometheus Institute, an upstart, Gen Y, L.A. think tank.

TTLA: Do you or anyone involved with Prometheus have goals of working in local, state, or federal government?

MH: I don't think so, right now. We try to represent ourselves as the anti-Washington group, being beyond what people think of as "politics." The difficulty is, anything with politics, people just think it's a dirty game and they don't care.

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Today we post part three of TTLA's 2009 interview with Matt Harrison, founder and executive director of The Prometheus Institute, an upstart, Gen Y, L.A. think tank.

TTLA: The Prometheus website features catchy, pop-culture related essays. Like, "Patriot Games: Lessons on American foreign policy from the former NFL superpower." Or, "Being Big Vs Being Powerful: Foreign policy lessons from the gym." You probably won't find those same pieces at Foreign Affairs quarterly --

MH: You wouldn't.

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This is part two of TTLA's 2009 interview with Matt Harrison, founder and executive director of The Prometheus Institute, an upstart, Gen Y, think tank headquartered in a downtown L.A. loft.

TTLA: Did you set out to work for one of the established think tanks?

MH: I don't think so, because I've always had an entrepreneurial streak. It's always been my dream to do this. It's funny – people think I'm joking. But in my high school job, working at the grocery store, pushing grocery carts, I was dreaming about starting a think tank. I was sixteen, so it's been my dream as long as I can imagine.

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Last year, TTLA visited the downtown L.A. loft apartment headquarters of the The Prometheus Institute, an upstart, Gen Y, libertarian think tank. Founder and executive director Matt Harrison daydreamed about launching such a tank while he was an Orange County high school student, working in a grocery store. This week, TTLA runs – admittedly, belatedly – our 2009 interview with Harrision. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

TTLA: Let's start with the basics: What is a think tank?

Matt Harrison: A think tank is any organization dedicated to forwarding an idea or ideas. The approach can take a lot of different styles in terms of research or activism, or in our case, more marketing approaches.

TTLA: Do you consider Prometheus to be a tank?

MH: Yes. But there are a lot of other people who don't. It's one of those words with different definitions.

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The Prometheus Institute -- that upstart, downtown Los Angeles, libertarian, Gen Y think tank -- has released an iPhone application. Called, "DIY Democracy," the app is marketed by PI as "the ultimate civic engagement tool."

More from the PI website:

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USC's US-China Institute posted this item, about the think tank work of doctoral student Chin-Hao Huang.

The political science/international relations grad student was the co-author of a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute study on China's growing role in United Nations peacekeeping undertakings.

A teaser of the report reads:

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