Don't often get to announce that a newspaper story I wrote for the Ventura County Star made the front page of the Sunday edition. Pretty thrilling for a late-blooming ink-stained wretch. Here's the lede:
Nor have they agreed on what it will be called, its denomination, whether it will be printed on paper or be a plastic debit card or work off an Internet site.
“We have an amazing range of perspectives on what kind of complementary currency would work best, but we all have exactly the same goal,” said Dave Farber, an activist, philanthropist and founding member of the Ojai Economy Group, which has about a dozen members and has been meeting since March. “The goal is not to replace the existing economy but to add a new form of exchange to help develop the community.”
As the story mentions, on the East Coast a complementary currency called BerkShares is well-established in the Berkshires. This currency was founded by a society inspired by the great 20-century economist E.F. Schumacher, who argued with good evidence that local commerce can protect an area from international downturns. The Berkshares group actually prints their own, compete with pictures of local heroes.
Here's a pic of the currency — you'll notice that Herman Melville is worth twenty bucks. Not bad for a writer type!
Kit Stolz 
hehe that sounds fun…*
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