Saturday at 11 a.m. we will podcast from "10-01," a restaurant and pub located in Broad Ripple at the southeast corner of Broad Ripple Avenue and—those familiar with Broad Ripple will understand—what could be called Winthrop Avenue or Westfield Boulevard. Actually it is Winthrop, but Winthrop changes a block north to the better-known Westfield Boulevard. The address of the establishment is 1001 Broad Ripple Avenue, hence the name.

   Most weeks we have podcast "Civil Discourse Now" from the second floor of Big Hat Books, 6510 Cornell Avenue. I felt it was appropriate to plug the store, particular (usually newly-released) books, and the gallery that displayed paintings, for purchase, on the walls of the second floor.

   I caught flak from one person who said comments about the store were boring.

   Perhaps, one day, we shall be lucky enough to sell commercial ad time or pick up a commercial sponsor for The Show. Maybe I shall win either the Hoosier Lotto or Powerball tomorrow. We try to podcast from local businesses—Big Hat Books, 10-01, Broad Ripple Tavern, Indy Cigar Bar, the Red Lion in Fountain Square—as a means of showing support for local businesses. I do not like doing business with large corporations, and minimize such patronage. I would think each of the businesses from which we have podcast is incorporated. There is a qualitative difference between a business entity incorporated under the laws of the State of Indiana, whose shareholders are entirely or nearly-entirely Hoosiers, and a corporation such as Wal-Mart, Barnes & Nobles, etc. The latter corporations receive all the help they need from lobbyists in Washington and reap huge profits.

   Local businesses give our community its identity—as do local businesses nationwide. In the 1970s, McDonald’s® engaged in a campaign to mold its stores to the particular locality of a store’s location. The effort was in response to criticism that McDonald’s® had homogenized American culture. Its locations had replaced local drive-ins or small diners with thousands of identical buildings. On South Lafountain Avenue in Kokomo, the McDonald’s® installed framed display cases, about two feet wide and three feet tall, reciting facts about the history of Howard County. There were other McDonald’s® locations that I visited (as is inevitable in modern America). The effect of the corporation’s campaign was the same: local culture was blended somehow into the already-homogenized McDonald’s corporate face.

   This is a society in which we espouse the value of freedom. Anyone is free to criticize what I write in this blog or what panelists on The Show say. I will endeavor to respond to criticism in a civil manner. On this point I will say: we shall continue try to shoot from local businesses. We have not been paid to advertise for the businesses from which we have shot. We want to promote locally-owned businesses, at a time when locally-owned businesses are on the downslide.

   So, unashamedly, I shall continue to plug any business from which we podcast. If you own a business in our area, call me. Let me know if you would like to host a show. We shoot at 11 a.m. The facility needs to be ADA-compliant, so that any member of the public can attend.

   In the meantime, join us Saturday at ll when we stream live from "10-01" and discuss bullying.